You Might Want to Avoid the NBA on Christmas Day Especially on ESPN and ABC

In the increasingly annoying habit of ESPN using mainstream music artists to introduce programming or be a theme throughout a season, we have yet another example of this for Christmas Day. ESPN will be utilizing a video from Mariah Carey that will be seen on both the Mothership and ABC. Not being an NBA or Mariah Carey fan, I’ll be purposely putting the Yule Log on the TV so I won’t have to be subjected to Mariah’s screeching voice. Here’s the press release and subsequent video. You have been forewarned.

Five-Time Grammy Winner Mariah Carey Contributes to ESPN’s Christmas Day NBA Coverage

Mariah Carey, a five-time Grammy winner who has amassed 18 No. 1 singles during her career, has recorded a music video which will accompany ESPN’s NBA Christmas Day coverage. The music video features the holiday-themed “All I Want for Christmas is You,” which will air throughout the day on ESPN and ABC during NBA game and studio content.

Time (ET)	Teams/Commentators	Networks
12 p.m.	Miami at New York Dan Shulman, Doris Burke	ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes
2 p.m.	NBA Countdown	ABC HD
	Stuart Scott, Magic Johnson, Michael Wilbon
2:30 p.m.	Boston at Orlando	ABC HD
	Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown, Heather Cox
5 p.m.	Cleveland at L.A. Lakers	ABC HD
	Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, Lisa Salters
	Jim Durham, Dr. Jack Ramsay	ESPN Radio
8 p.m.	L.A. Clippers at Phoenix Dave Pasch, Jon Barry	ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes
10:30 p.m.	Denver at Portland Kevin Calabro, Tim Legler	ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV

And this is an example of the NBA no longer treating Christmas Day as special. It’s just another full slate of games for the league.