General

That Was Not My One Shining Moment

Apr 6, 2010, 2:50 PM UTC

In the face of cynicism, I’ve always been a fan of the sappy “One Shining Moment” song/montage that closes the NCAA Tournament. This season CBS created a new version with Jennifer Hudson. This ... this was not so good.â†µ
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â†µRight off the bat: Why was Jennifer Hudson in this thing so much? OK, maybe you show her once because it’s her first year singing it, but then that’s it. Move on. At that point, there is no confusion. She made a total of five appearances of varying lengths during this thing. What could we have seen in that time? How about any of these teams (talking on-court action, not cheerleaders, fans or mascots):â†µâ†µLehigh, UNLV, New Mexico State, Houston, San Diego State, Georgetown, Ohio, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, UC Santa Barbara, Syracuse, Vermont, Gonzaga, Florida State, UTEP, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Oakland, BYU, Florida, North Texas, East Tennessee State, Marquette, Washington, New Mexico, Montana, Ark-PB, Winthrop, Utah State, Siena, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Richmond or Robert Morris.â†µ

â†µâ†µAfter watching a few times, and cross checking with @pcteeple, I was astonished at the number of teams omitted. Not every team can make it, but there used to be a formula to how they’d do this thing. First minute or so would be devoted to the first-weekend stars, splice in some footage of great individual performances, put in a few big shots, and then focus on the Sweet 16 teams and finally the Final Four.â†µ

â†µâ†µInstead, this thing was pumped full of people doing their best Scheyer Face impersonations. It seemed like every other shot was of someone making some face of anguish like they were having individual hairs plucked off their head for hours at a time. â†µ

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â†µI've read a few people complain that player of the year Evan Turner wasn't in the video, but I assure you, he was! Just look at this great final look at him:â†µ

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â†µâ†µSee, he’s right there ... well, half of him anyway, in about a half-second snippet with a lob being thrown over the top by Tennessee. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of the Vols, who is the Tennessee alum in the CBS production crew? If you were in the team picture, you evidently got a place in “One Shining Moment” this season.â†µ

â†µâ†µWe didn’t see No. 1 seed Syracuse. We barely saw Kansas with a brief shot of Mario Little in a heap on the floor. Our only look at Kentucky was John Wall clapping. That Xavier-Kansas State double overtime thriller that was absolutely the best played game of the tournament? Wasn’t a shiny enough moment. The largest numerical upset -- No. 14 Ohio over No. 3 Georgetown? No room, sorry, but we needed to cram in another shot of Jennifer Hudson in a sterile recording booth, because that is what the NCAA Tournament is about.â†µ

â†µâ†µWhat have you done, CBS?â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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