NBA JAM theme song nightmare

Years ago when I was a younger version of myself I had an addiction to video games that couldn't be quenched with just playing the best video games of the time for the consoles that I owned, I had to play each and every game to experience just about everything there is available for EVERY console!!  This is clearly different from how it is today!  As now, I have less hair!

As the name of this post explains, I had an 'experience' with NBA JAM once when it first came out for the 16-bit console- The Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

 I remember it well, a dark and wintery mid March night after school on a Friday.  Our local video store (Lincoln Video, named after a fine President I'm certain!) had just gotten in one of the month's most anticipated titles: NBA JAM.  I had played it a few times in the 'cades and it was a BLAST to play!  I couldn't wait to try it on our home consoles!  So on the day it was released (Or the day Lincoln Video got it) I called to reserve it for myself.  Back in the day in order to get the titles you really wanted, you had to call and reserve it for yourself.  Then they would hold it for up to one hour.  With it being SUPER nasty outside and being across town I thought about asking my parents for a ride, but decided against it because my Dad had asked me a few times about my grades in school, and I was just trying to avoid that conversation as I wasn't doing all that hot.  :(

So I decided to grab my bike and hike it the best I could in what seemed like 10 feet of snow.  After I got going I was riding my bike on parts of the road and some sidewalks that just happened to be shoveled off really well. It was miserable, I fell down a few times, slipped multiple times and was pretty sure I screwed up my ankle somewhere along the way.  But... ALAS, I was able to get to the video store in just 40 minutes!  I walked in, all sweaty and covered in snow and with a stiff limp, walked to the counter and asked for my reserved copy of NBA JAM!

The lady handed it over, I handed her $2 and the EXCHANGE WAS MADE!!  Little did I realize that while I was gone my Dad had decided to go through my backpack and find my report card.  As I stated earlier, I failed a class or two (or three) and he was ready to bite my head off!!  However, on my journey home I was so excited to play NBA JAM that I rode even harder, fell even faster and slipped more often on my way home!!  I was pretty sure at this point that I messed up both my ankle and my knee on my right leg ( I should learn to fall on my left side once in a while), but it didn't matter, I was on my way to playing an arcade game in my bedroom!!  Finally I got home (Not even sure how long it took, it felt like hours!) and when I walked in the door I saw, on the dining room table.  My SNES controllers!!

My Dad walked in from the living room and said "look at these"  And handed me my report card.  I think I had a 0.9 GPA at that point.....  We sat for what felt like an eternity at the dining room table talking about all the things he was going to take away and all the work I was going to have to do to fix this, but all I could think about was getting upstairs to play NBA JAM.  I knew that I was screwed and had no way to play using my controllers (Dad was AWESOME at hiding things, I'd never find them), and at the end he said that he might just take the whole system and games and sell them for a nickel!!  He told me I was grounded and should go up to my room and read or study or work on homework.

I did go upstairs, but I didn't do any studying or reading.... I popped that copy of NBA JAM, just to see the intro music/gameplay demo, into the SNES and sat amazed for what felt like 30 seconds... then when I laid down on my bed I started to doze off, either from how late it was at night, or just from the amount of crazy bikeriding that I did out in the snow finally bringing me down and the absolute exhaustion started to set in.... Then I fell asleep.

All night long the NBA JAM theme song played.  I woke up a few times for a moment or two to see the screen and hear the theme song only to fall back asleep.  Then finally the morning came and I was started to wake up.  The theme/title song for NBA JAM still blaring throughout my room, and then I heard footsteps walking into my room.  It was Dad.  He looked at me groggily trying to sit up out of my bed and saw the SNES on and the game title screen. He didn't say a word, he just disconnected the console from the TV, grabbed it and NBA JAM and just walked out of the room.  I said "I just rented that game from Lincoln Video!" to which he responded, "Well, then you better get your ass out of bed and return it!"

Imagine this song on loop for about 8 hours.....

It hadn't stopped snowing, but luckily for me, they didn't care what time of day I returned the game as long as it was before they closed... So I took a nice LONG walk through the snow to return NBA JAM.......... *sigh*

You read it. You cannot un-read it.

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PS: unrelated, but sort of related I heard NBA Jam's theme song for Sega Genesis recently, and can't imagine how terrible it sounds in comparison to the SNES version... Just, wow.  They put like 5 minutes into composing this.  Sad, it's just sad.....