Count me among those that will be absolutely crushed if ‘Inside the NBA’ goes away. I have written in this space before about my fandom for Charles Barkley. That’s my guy. My favorite number is 34, my personal email address starts with DaveGreene34 and my youngest daughter is No. 34 on all of her sports teams. I had two posters on my wall as an early teen, Heather Thomas and Charles Barkley.
I love him, I love what he says, I love the show, I love the comradery, I love the laughter. It’s everything. It is, without question, the best halftime or postgame show we have ever had the honor of watching as sports fans. I think you have to go way back to some early football shows to really find anything comparable.
With all of that said, I truly hope they are not really thinking of doing anything with it besides making it a halftime and postgame show for the NBA. Rumors of a variety show, covering other sports and/or Barkley staying to work on other TNT or Warner Bros. Discovery content, doesn’t work for me. In fact, I will go as far as suggesting it could be a disaster and ruin part of the legacy of the great show.
I held back a bit while everyone was throwing out scenarios prior to everything becoming (somewhat) final as far as the media rights for the league and whether or not TNT would be part of the mix. Now that it is not, and the show has one year left, let me say this, which is simply my opinion – the show can replace any one cast member and be completely fine as long as it is not Barkley.
I truly believe I am saying that as a television viewer and not just a Barkley fan. Ernie Johnson is great and is a close second to Barkley, but I do think the show can continue without him. I, and many others, would hate it, but if the other three are there, the show is still great.
Replace Shaq? Well, the show was a big success before Shaq and it would be fine without him, as well. Again, prefer to have Shaq, he fits in well, his laugh is unreal, and he gets it. He is hard for me to hear sometimes when he speaks, but when he and Charles are going at it there is nothing better on television.
Kenny Smith? Terrific on the show. Could he be replaced? Absolutely. If it was Ernie, Charles and Shaq and they brought in someone to sit in Kenny’s chair, it might not be the same show, but it would go on and still be one of the best sports shows out there.
But it is first and foremost an NBA basketball show. You get some info, you get league news, you get breakdowns, you get hilarity. You get the perfect mix of all of it, but it starts and ends with the basketball, you know, the sport that Charles, Kenny and Shaq all played.
If you can wade through all Barkley has said about the whole situation and some recent comments made by Smith, you do realize that this is a family. And I don’t mean just the four people who are on the air. Barkley has done 82 interviews, only 64 of which came after he said he wasn’t going to do any more interviews, and in every one of them he has mentioned the behind-the-scenes team at ‘Inside the NBA’ and all of the people who could be looking for work if it were to go away.
I admire the heck out of these guys to think about those people.
I still don’t want them to keep it around just to keep it around. Under no circumstances do I want to see this show get turned into some sort of circus that nobody watches, and it gets cancelled. Nor do I want to see them have Charles or Charles and Shaq start appearing on hockey and baseball broadcasts. I mean, ok, tell me Sir Charles and Shaq are going to call the French Open, maybe I will tune in for a good laugh, but let’s be real. ‘Inside the NBA’ is a basketball halftime and postgame show. That’s the formula that works.
Not that this is a fair apples to apples comparison, but my man Charles just tried something outside of the box and away from his bread and butter. Remember ‘King Charles’ on CNN? No, you don’t because nobody watched it. I don’t even like watching Charles and Kenny working the NCAA Tournament and I know many others who feel the same way.
What we like is watching them do what they do now. That is what we want.
Either figure out a way to keep it together, or let’s all enjoy one more season of the best show of its kind, celebrate its success and then retire it.
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The Best Thing I’ve Heard/Watched Recently
I have really enjoyed all of the retrospectives from 98.5 The Sports Hub this week for the celebration of their 15th anniversary. Not only have they been well done, but also easily accessible on their social media. Here is just one example of the types of things they have been posting:
It’s worth the time to scroll through the station’s X account to see the various posts by clicking here.
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In Case You Missed It
Earlier this week, Demetri Ravanos talked with Paul Finebaum, and it started to get me really excited about college football season being so close you can taste it. The additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC and the rest of conference realignment is a big story going into the season, as well as the new format for the College Football Playoff.
Finebaum told Demetri, “It may be the most eagerly anticipated season I can remember in college football history.” Insert Bart Scott ‘Can’t Wait!’ clip…
You can read the full feature by clicking here.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
