Cowtown, schmowtown! Ernie, Kenny, Chuck and Shaq are throwing a party on Speer Tuesday, and Denver’s invited. We’ve made it, kids.
“Oh yeah, (Denverites) are NBA cool, without question,” Ernie “E.J.” Johnson, the venerable broadcaster and straight man on the wildest, wackiest party in sports broadcasting, told me Monday en route the “NBA on TNT American Express Road Show.” “The ring validates a lot of things, man.”
“Inside The NBA” is live from downtown Tuesday afternoon, when the best basketball team in the world hosts the No. 1 studio show on the planet. The “Road Show,” a pregame soiree with games, prizes and live bands, starts at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus — two-and-a-half hours before the Nuggets raise their title banner.
“I think it’s always great when you can celebrate a new champion. And it’s so richly deserved,” Johnson said of the Nuggets, who’ll open their NBA title defense against LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the reigning Western Conference runners-up.
“There’s no denying that they’re the best team in the NBA. They’re the champs. We’ve seen for seasons now that Nikola Jokic is the real deal. And the way he plays the game, it’s great to watch because he’s such an unselfish player who can do everything. There’s no doubting the validity of the Denver Nuggets. No way.”
What “NFL Today” and “Monday Night Football” were to the ’70s and ’80s, “Inside The NBA” is to now — one of those blessed, perfect storms of production, talent and chemistry. The good stuff is planned. The even better stuff isn’t. And the end result is a no-holds-barred verbal brawl, the kind of celebrity roasting that would have Dean Martin and Don Rickles tipping their caps. If E.J., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal sat around playing “Dungeons & Dragons” on the set for three hours, we’d watch. It’s that good.
How good? They’re the rare outlet that can make Jokic appear as if he actually looks forward to talking to them. No small feat. You haven’t lived until you’ve watched Shaq attempt to speak to the Joker in smartphone-assisted Serbian, the kind of comedy gold ripped straight from the gospel of “Monty Python.” Minus the naughty bits.
“(It’s worth it) simply because he knows that before it’s all over, Shaq will break out his Serbian and Jokic’s going to have a chance to try and figure out exactly what he was saying,” Johnson said.
“(O’Neal) will sit there and he has his phone out, preparing for the interview, googling whatever Web site that can give him some kind of Serbian phrase to throw at him. And it always fails in some way.”
The failing is half the fun. On a panel with big hitters at every chair, everybody takes their respective jobs seriously. But never themselves. And, luckily for us, never each other.
“It’s so much fun to take the show on the road and to be able to just meet folks who watch the show,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a big night.”
This is Johnson’s first trek to Ball Arena since Denver hosted the NBA All-Star Game back in 2005. He goes a lot further back with CU Buffs football coach Deion Sanders, with whom he shares real estate inside the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame. Oh, and shares a tailor.
“His name is Dave Corbitt,” Johnson said of the owner/designer behind St. Louis’ Bespoke Apparel. “He’s made suits for both of us, so that tie continues there. I don’t know how many guys are making Deion’s clothing, but I know David Corbitt has done that for both of us.”
A proud Georgia Bulldog, Johnson was a weekend sports anchor at WSB-TV, transitioning to what was then Turner Sports in 1990, when a young Coach Prime showed up as a Falcon for the first time.
“I just remember it was kind of a chaotic day,” the broadcaster recalled. “When we got to the plane, (Sanders) was trying to figure out where he was going to go. And we’re trying to keep up with him, going a million miles an hour.”
Three decades later, not much’s changed. Well, except maybe Prime’s 40 time.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Johnson said of Deion The FBS Coach. “But he was just a phenomenon.
“(His coaching) doesn’t surprise me because he’s that driven. And so it’s been a lot of fun to watch this (develop).”
Almost as much fun as watching Shaq mangle Serbian.
“It’s always good to see the Joker’s reaction to it,” Johnson laughed. “But I think he appreciates the effort.”
As do we all, E.J.. As do we all.