The Results For The "Official" Theme Songs For Sports Television

Last week, I asked you to vote on which themes should be the “official” tunes for each sport. This was a fun post and it was linked from Sports Illustrated. I appreciate all of the votes. The polls are now closed so let’s take a look at the results. I’ll provide the number of votes, the percentages and the video that will become the “Official” Theme Song for each sport. Some of the results will not be surprising, others may be.

Here they are:

BASEBALL

Total Votes: 765

Which Should Be The “Official” Theme For MLB?

Answer Votes Percent
ESPN’s MLB Theme 381 50%
MLB on Fox 299 39%
ABC’s Monday Night Baseball 85 11%

The winner: MLB on ESPN

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Total Votes: 713

Which Theme Should Be The “Official” Song For College Football

Answer Votes Percent
SEC on CBS 367 51%
Present ESPN Theme 243 34%
Old School ESPN Theme 103 14%

The winner: SEC on CBS

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Total Votes: 719

Which is Your Choice for “Official” Theme For College Basketball

Answer Votes Percent
CBS/Turner March Madness 628 87%
ESPN College Basketball (1995-2001) 62 9%
NBC’s 1980’s Theme 29 4%

The winner: CBS/Turner March Madness

NBA

Total Votes: 748

What Should Be the “Official” Theme of the NBA?

Answer Votes Percent
NBA on NBC “Roundball Rock” 663 89%
NBA on TNT 48 6%
NBA on CBS 37 5%

The runaway winner: Roundball Rock

NFL

Total Votes: 735

Your Choice for “Official” Theme of the NFL

Answer Votes Percent
ESPN’s Monday Night Football “Heavy Action” 343 47%
NFL on Fox 225 31%
NBC’s Sunday Night Football 141 19%
NFL on CBS “Pots and Pans” 26 4%

Our winner: Monday Night Football “Heavy Action”

While this remix is good, I prefer the ABC version used in the late 1980’s.

NHL

Total Votes: 479

Which Should Be The “Official” Theme For The NHL?

Answer Votes Percent
NHL on ESPN 225 47%
Hockey Night in Canada/Hockey Theme 161 34%
The Hockey Song by Stompin’ Tom Connors 37 8%
NHL on NBC 36 8%
NHL on Fox 20 4%

The Winner: NHL on ESPN over my wishes for Hockey Night in Canada, but the voters have spoken.

TENNIS

Total Votes: 295

Which Do You Like As the “Official” Theme for Tennis

Answer Votes Percent
Wimbledon on NBC 175 59%
USA Network’s US Open Theme 99 34%
BBC Wimbledon Theme 21 7%

The winner: Wimbledon on NBC

SPORTS ANTHOLOGIES

Total Votes: 315

What Should Be Our “Official” Theme For Sports Anthologies?

Answer Votes Percent
ABC’s Wide World of Sports 240 76%
CBS Sports Spectacular 52 17%
BBC Grandstand 18 6%
NBC SportsWorld 5 2%

The overwhelming winner: ABC’s Wide World of Sports as it should be.

This was very enjoyable to do. I hope to do similar polls with you in the future.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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