The Josh Innes Show - Anniversary of MJ's Return Part 2

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Let's actually watch the NBA on NBC coverage of the return. Man, I forgot how good Bob Costas was. There was a time we had standards for broadcasters... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So, scene has been set, 1995, young Josh. I'm not jaded at this point. I cry over sports. I love sports. I play baseball as a young kid. The numbers I choose are based on my favorite players. I love the St. Louis Cardinals. I live in Montana.

I don't know that there are people outside of Montana that might hate Michael Jordan. There's no internet. There's no social media. There's none of that shit. Let's play a couple commercials. and then let's revisit Michael Jordan's return on the NBA on NBC. At Desjardin, our business is helping yours. We are here to support your business through every stage of growth,

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only in theaters, Friday. Get tickets now. All right, here we go. This is MJ. let's go now. Let's see. The following is a presentation of NBC Sports. NBC logo. And then what's going to happen, I would imagine,

is you get the Bob Costas intro for it. And Bob was so good at that shit. And that's another example of being jaded. Like when I look back on Bob Costas as a studio host, I didn't think Bob was a good play-by-play guy. He got the gig for Jordan's last, I think, two years because Marv bit the chick on the back. So he got whacked.

So Costas had to do the play-by-play. Michael's iconic shot against the jazz that was called by Bob Costas. But like even back then, I thought Bob Costas is the shit. You know, now as you get older and you realize these guys are puds, like it sucks. The word retire means you can do anything you want from this day on. So if I desire to come back and play again,

maybe that's what I want to do. Maybe that's the challenge that I may need someday or down the road. Oh, boy. And then they're showing the highlights. MJ's warming up. I guess this would have been at not Conceco Fieldhouse. Oh, what the hell was the name of the old arena?

Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Fuck. And that day has arrived. Michael Jordan warming up at Market Square Arena more than three hours before today's scheduled tip-off. 21 months have passed since Michael Jordan last played competitive basketball. For 21 months, the NBA was without its supreme artist. I mean, think about this.

like, and nobody questioned this. And I'm sure, like, in Houston, you were probably super pissed. Like, oh, great, Jordan's back. We've won a title. We might want another title. And you guys are just blowing Michael Jordan. You probably got, I mean, I know people in Houston got sick of hearing that they only won the championship because Jordan didn't play and all that shit.

But, like, in my mind, like, think about the way they're hyping this up. This is, like, the most important player in the history of a sport. There's no fucking panel show where there's Stephen A. Smith yelling at Kendrick Perkins about whether or not MJ is better than LeBron. It's just MJ getting ready, and it is a fact. It is not stated as opinion. It is stated as fact that the most important player in the NBA is back. There may be many interesting peripheral aspects to both his departure and return,

but at the heart of it is simply this. The best in the world is back. And in a sports world darkened by constant talk of money, strikes, and lockouts. Oh, you forget that, um, the lockout in baseball, the strike that killed baseball, was just months away, right? Because if this is in March of 95, that would have happened, one, in August, July or August of 95?

God, like, MJ was like a savior. My God, it's beautiful. Here's a shining reminder of why we're drawn to sports in the first place. The drama, the anticipation, the sheer beauty of the moment. Today, an artist returns to his true canvas, the hardboard court. of the NBA, Michael Jordan is back. Oh, God.

Like, look, you could say whatever you want about Bob Costas, and he's a smarmy pud and, you know, his little monologues during the football games, got him a lot of negative attention. My man could set a fucking scene for anything. That's a scene setter, man. We're ready to go. You know, like, no offense to guys like Pat McAfee, but, like, you see, like, the Pat McAfee can.

to some of these games and you're like, boy, we used to be a classy world, right? Like, you do that. And then what's going to happen is you're going to get that awesome intro with, you're going to get, you know, the round ball rock. But you're going to get, to me, what was even more iconic was like the laser beams that were making the peacock and shit with the little NBC jingle right before round ball rock. It's back. This is so good.

This is the NBA on NBC. Today, it's the Chicago Bull. versus the Indiana patient. God, and it was so simple and great and amazing and wonderful. And it's like, how do I feel this way again? I just want to feel. God damn it, let me feel, man. And maybe that's part of getting older.

You know, that's very well the possibility. I get it. But maybe like I can't feel this way again, you know, but God, I couldn't tell you what happened yesterday, but I can tell you where I was at eight and a half years old, this game. I can tell you how the game ended. 45s out on the call. Oh, God. And listen to the roar at Market Square Arena. SRO crowds sitting in on history.

Glad you folks. And this is Prime Costas, too. Prime 90s costas. Coffed hair, got the round glasses on. And this is a random thing. But the red windscreen on the NBC microphones, they got the little windscreens you put on the handheld mics. They always had the red wind screen. I mean, this is fucking incredible. Like, oh, God, I just want to feel this way again.

What do I have to do? What pill can I take to make me feel the way I felt as an eight and a half year old kid watching this shit? Join us to, hi, everybody. I'm Bob Costas. And you knew it was a big deal if Costas was there. Like, Costas, like, it just felt like a big deal. I think that's why I like Al Michael still is because there's a little. hint of, oh, it must be a big deal because

Al Michaels is there. Because no one else really gets that vibe anymore, right? Like, I know that ESPN's going to have a Super Bowl again and Joe Buck's going to call it, but Joe Buck calls Monday night football. Monday night football is not a big deal. Like, Buck has lost that, you know, big game vibe because he doesn't call the World Series and he

doesn't call the Sunday night football or the big football game or the Sunday afternoon one. But, like, you knew it was a big deal. When Costas showed up, you know, like shit. I mean, cost is hosted the final episode of Cheers.

And he was just a likable guy. Think about Costas in in basketball. You know, like he was a likable guy. Somewhere along the way, social media, which is the biggest, you know, culprit in this, social media drove us to a place where we just hate each other

and we hate everything and it turned a lot of people unlikable. To me, Costas is not a very likable guy. Now he's just kind of a shmarmie putts. But in his defense, he is a legitimate talented, well-trained broadcaster. Like, I'm not, like, well-trained, quote-unquote. Like, I think I'm a really good fucking broadcaster. I play up a role on the radio of someone who, you know, like, I don't put up a front of

being better than everybody or whatever. I'm a very good broadcaster who spent my entire childhood trying to learn how to do this. I didn't go to school for it, but I went to the school of standing around at radio stations, learning and reading books. Like, I taught myself and asked questions. Like I think I'm a good fucking broadcaster. I'll kiss my own ass.

I'll suck my own hog on this. I think I'm a really good broadcaster. And if I wanted to be a Bob Costas or wanted to be a Joe Buck, I think I could have done that. I set my mind to it and that's what I wanted to do for a long time. Instead, I decided I wanted to be shock jockey guy on the radio because it's more fun. And I did that. But like if I'm Bob Costas, Bob Costas is a legitimately good broadcaster. Decidedly, guys like Pat McAfee are not.

guys like I like Dave Portnoy and Pat McVee They're not great broadcasters And a lot of these people They're putting on television Are not great broadcasters Bob Costas is a good fucking broadcaster And it used to be

There were standards That had to be met to be a broadcaster And by that I mean You had to kind of be fucking good at it Because there weren't that many gigs You know Like there were obviously like You know

gigs for people doing minor league baseball and shit But there weren't like gigs Like now where there's ESPN Plus and every shitty college basketball game is on, so someone has to be paid to call that game. That wasn't the case. If there was a game on NBC, that was pretty much the game on NBC.

The teams had their local announcers, but you didn't have a thousand network broadcasts where you dilute the marketplace, where you dilute the talent pool. Like, I hear some dudes calling NBA games now that I think are shit. Like, this is an unpopular opinion. I think the gal that calls the games for the 76ers is unlistenable.

And it's like because she's a gal. There are other, like, I think I love Doris Burke. I think a lot of people hate Doris Burke. I like Dorisberg. I'm down with Dorisberg. There are lady broadcasters that I think are good. But like, oh, just the voice and like, and you're not allowed to say these people suck anymore. You can't just say, hey, this person sucks and then you're sexist or whatever.

I really despise her. She's a fine broadcaster. Like, her call of the game isn't bad. But some people just have shitty voices and shouldn't be the. a play-by-play person for the fucking NBA team. Some people just sound like shit. I just don't think she has a very good voice. But anyway, like, there was a standard that used to exist.

I'm not holding myself to some sort of high standard. I'm, you know, I'm not Bob Costas. But there was a time where, like, if you looked at the guys that were calling games for NBC, like football, when they had the football package in, like, the 80s and 90s, go back and listen to those guys. Those are big balls, big voice professional broadcasters. Shit ain't the same, man. And I get criticized by people sometimes that listen to the pod.

They're like, all you do is talk about how great things used to be. Bro, there's one thing that you will not get me to budge on. Broadcasters were just better, and part of it was because there weren't as many options. So you had the cream of the fucking crop. I mean, there's too many games. Like, any college basketball game you want to watch is. is on ESPN Plus. Like the other day, I bet on something.

Queens, North Carolina versus Wright State or some shit. Someone's calling that game. It was like Asheville. Like Carolina, Asheville versus Queens, North Carolina. Like, what the fuck is this? Someone's calling that, probably making decent change to do it. So the talent pool has been watered down. But cost is, as much as I like to shit on the guy,

because I think he's smarmy and dushy now and very holier than now His face is extremely pulled back now. Costas used to be fucking great. Michael Jordan does today, and what he will attempt to do in the next several months and maybe years, is truly unprecedented. It's never happened in team sports. Muhammad Ali, not in a team sport left, regained the heavyweight championship when he came back. But in team sports, guys like Jim Brown who left at the peak or Sandy Kofax,

whose arm wouldn't allow him to continue, they never came back. Today, Michael Jordan at age 32, tries to accomplish what no one else truly has in team sports. history. You know what else I love, if you notice in the background? Wild Knight John Mellencamp is play. I don't know if they still do that. I would imagine they don't. I feel like there's no way Wild Knight plays at an Indiana basketball game now. But in the background, in the stadium, it's a packed house, standing room only. M.J. is making his return. And random Van Morrison cover by John Mellencamp, local icon, who at the time we didn't know John Mellencamp was a smarmy asshole either, but he is.

But we didn't know it then. So you're like, holy shit, people are jamming at the game. Wild nights fucking on, let's go. And now you go to a ball game and it's all some shitty mumble rap and shit. But you're at the game there. And you're getting hyped up for the biggest game ever in the NBA.

And John Mellencamp Wild Knight, a cover of Van Morrison is playing in the arena. He's seen it alongside the voice of the NBA on NBC. Mark, you've chronicled this league for more than a quarter of a century. You've been around after all the great events, but this is truly something special. Well, first of all, in most instances, when an athlete attempt...

All my man, Marv is thinking about is going to bite some broad on the back. To make a comeback, usually they are past their prime. People like, as you mentioned, Muhammad Ali, who was able to come back, sugar-rails. Oh, these guys are just fucking pros, bro. And you feel like, and you felt like these dudes were authorities. This guys were in the shittiest hairpiece you've ever seen yet, and I feel like he's an authority. I hear guys talk now and they just come across his putses. Gordony Howell in the National Hockey League and Bob Cousie,

though Cousie was 41 years of age. So there's been no measuring stick. And when you consider the demands of a sport like NBA basketball, it is truly remarkable what Michael Jordan is attempting to do. Wild. And I remember sitting there watching this game as a kid. And MJ's got a shot to make the game winner. I think he takes a three from the top of the key, I think, and missed it.

And that, oh, but God. I would give my left nut to feel that, like that naivete, just one more time in life. I would give my left nut to feel that. To just, like, I'd give my left nut to just be able to sit there and watch something and enjoy it and not wonder what the reaction on social media is, not wondering what I can tweet that'll get a reaction, not wondering if I can go viral with something. And I know you're probably listening to this saying, Josh, you know, you actually could. fucking do that. I don't know, man. I think my mind is too broken. I think I've been broken by the

world. I don't know what to tell you. But I have. Oh, well, this is an 11-year-old piece of audio. I've never listened to this. This is Chicago radio hosts get fired over Twitter. Well, shit. Now YouTube's got my attention. Hold on. Let me stop the MJ reflection pod. And let's do this. Let's play this audio and see what this sounds like when two dudes in Chicago. This is an 11-year-old piece of audio, so it's ancient, but I've never heard it. So let's see what happens when two dudes get fired in Chicago on the radio. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything.

Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember 988, Canada's suicide crisis hubline. It's good to know just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder. time. 988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada.