As a result of the latest dispute between Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, MSG Network is not available on my cable system these days. Time Warner has replaced it with NBA TV, which has been great, because now I can watch real basketball, not the Knicks.

But anyway, I was most excited to see that NBA TV uses "Roundball Rock," the theme music by John Tesh that NBC used for the "NBA on NBC." Whatever you think of other John Tesh music, this is one of the best sports themes ever composed. For something like nine years, it appeared in every intro and outro and never got stale.

NBC has had a number of great sports themes. Another classic is the theme from the Major League Baseball "Game of the Week" (with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola) from the mid 1980s. But it hasn't always scored: its NFL theme from a few years ago was hopelessly flaky, casting even the most suspenseful football games into a nebulous drift.

Other great sports themes:

• The Fox Major League Baseball theme. It's about as dramatic as you can get without being melodramatic.

• MSG Network's theme music for the Yankees, before coverage of that team switched to the YES Network, was brilliant. There was the baseline theme, used in perhaps the greatest ever introduction montage of any sports programming, perfectly synchronizing the music's flow with great moments in Yankees history. There were also variations, a slightly jazzy version, and a slightly folksy one, used during the game at different innings. The YES Network music is okay, but has never matched up to this terrific MSG Network piece.