Jalen and Jacoby Need To Bail On Their New Intro ASAP

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Over the years, Jalen and Jacoby has risen up the ranks at ESPN (and in the podcast world) by simply being cool dudes. Like most popular sports radio and TV duos, the pair seems to generally care about one another, and if the opportunity ever came up, both guys would certainly be a good hang at the barbershop, bar room, or wherever.

Having earned their way into a daily TV show on ESPN2, the former Grantland disciples are now bona fide trendsetters and tastemakers. Among others, Jalen Rose and David Jacoby have brought “Don’t Get Fired” into normal speech — a slang phrase for “watch what you say, sir” — and managed to make The O’Jays relevant in NBA culture. Even their studio, potentially the final relic of Grantland on current ESPN programming, is a man-cave dreamworld that most fans drool over.

But recently, the boys from J&J Radio pulled a D-Wade and made a rare misstep.

On the January 30th episode of Jalen and Jacoby — which happened to be Jalen’s birthday — my man came out with the oddest request known to man: start calling me “Jalen vs. Everybody” at the top of the show instead of Jalen Rose. Now, besides being a moniker that sounds like trash and was self-given, the Jalen and Jacoby intro is sacred and not to be messed with. It is, by all means, the most recognizable and catchy part of their program.

So at this point, Jacoby, like he should, pushes back on the idea. It’s obvious that he knew the new moniker was wack and let it be known. In fact, the producers likely thought the same thing because this part of the show is only on the podcast (not TV). Crisis avoided, right?

Wrong.

Jacoby gave in at some point, making him just as guilty as Jalen. He’s a producer, he knows the difference between good and bad, so maybe Jalen just wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d like to think Jalen was just super relentless with the texts and Jacoby wanted to shut him up.

Regardless, all the new episodes have this clunky intro and something needs to be done. If you’re reading this, Jacoby, hold your ground…it’ll be better for everyone.