rewind! the remixxx jigga jigga weeeeee

So for all of last season, the NBA TV postgame show featuring longtime TV analyst Ahmad Rashard and former players Gary Payton and Chris Webber had been just about everyone's favorite highlight show. They took the loose and loud approach of Barkley/Ernie/Kenny's Inside the NBA and turned up the ghetto another notch.

Don't think I'm making racial stereotype with the last line, as even GP will tell you that's exactly what they're doing. Sports show for most of the past several decades had been old, boring TV personalities sitting on screen crunching numbers. To see two young, passionate, outspoken former athletes embrace their culture and talk onscreen as they would offscreen was not only "fun" but yet another step in the right direction.

Media outlets started writing about the show. "Watching the three on air is like hearing genuine barbershop talk. They talk like how buddies would talk offscreen about sports," wrote some dude in NY Times last year. Slam did a two page story following GP around for 24 hours. The show was unscripted and it was raw. Incidents like Gary Payton calling out former player Kenny Smith and telling him he only won championships because he rode the coattails of legend Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Webber telling a certain NBA player he should "shut the hell up" because he was disrespecting teammates with his outburst are all nightly occurrences. But don't think they're just cynical cats talking trash. They gave plenty of love as well.

Well, I read last week that GP wouldn't be returning to NBA TV. I dunno why--I can't fathom him willingly quitting the gig as all he did was talk trash about bad players and give props--outspoken props where he screams it out and pounds his chest--to good players.

Needless to say, my friends and I are sad. One of the best things they do is they take the normally straightforward NBA highlight reel and add their own commentary, the result is something that sounds like the stuff friends say to each other while having beers in a backyard.

Here's an example:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8SVDHXaqgQ

check out Webber's hilarious French accent at the 2:50 mark hahahah

I will miss you, GP. And NBA TV aint gonna be the same.