If there was ever a tournament made perfectly for a montage like this, this year had everything. Imagine the people responsible for editing this after seeing North Carolina’s Marcus Paige hit the National Championship tying 3-pointer with 4 seconds left, only for Kris Jenkins of Villanova to win it all at the buzzer.
Half-court shots, monster dunks, upsets, high-fives, heartbreaks, and Luther Vandross. Here’s your 2016 ‘One Shining Moment’.
Monday morning, CBS Sports staff writer Matt Norlander helped us all get to know the coaches who will be patrolling the sidelines for the next few weeks during March Madness. I think musical taste could say a lot about a person, and Norlander asked each of the coaches who their favorite band or artist was.
While I have Xavier making a deep run, I might be questioning it more based on head coach Chris Mack’s answer. There is a lot of Eagles and Bob Marley love among the field. I do enjoy Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson mentioning his dad’s band. John Calipari’s is NOT Drake. And of course Mike Krzyzewski was the only one not to answer back…
…so Norlander designated Beyonce to Coach K.
Here are the answers the rest of the coaches gave from each region. I hope this totally influences how you fill out your brackets if you haven’t already.
This month, college hoops takes center stage. What better way to get you prepared for March Madness than talk to a pro that knows everything going into the tourney? Scott Phillips from NBC Sports and I talk about the elite teams, stars who should shine, the bubble teams, potential Cinderellas and more. (Interview starts at the 30:35 mark if you want to jump ahead)
TJ and I also get into some TV talk, the Ballpark Foodie series, and tease next week’s “Selection Monday” show for our TV Character Madness Tournament. We also introduce the Piffcast Cork Board for those of you who have a project, event or cause you’d like to promote. Listen to find out more about it.
It’s March and it’s MAD AS HELL!
Conference tournaments are underway and the NCAA tournament is near. On top of the usual annual March Madness traditions (like bubble teams, brackets, Cinderellas, and buzzer beaters), another favorite of mine is the “One Shining Moment” montage that concludes the tournament and all of college basketball for the season.
The song was written by David Barrett about College Basketball National Championship and made it’s debut as the winning team cut down the nets in 1987. He was inspired to write it on a napkin in 1986 while watching Larry Bird play on TV from a local bar in Michigan. Other versions of the song have been performed by Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, and Jennifer Hudson.
From now until the end of the NCAA tournament this year, we’ll post a “One Shining Moment” of the Day. Appropriately so, David Barrett’s 1987 version and the song’s debut on the CBS broadcast will be our first.
The 44th President of the United States LOVES his sports. He is an unapologetic Chicago White Sox fan. He fills out March Madness brackets for both Men and Women’s tournaments on SportsCenter each year. He also has no problem mixing it up on the White House basketball court.
So on his 54th birthday, lets put the partisan blah blah blah on the back-burner and appreciate something we all enjoy…Sports.
I look forward to the President’s annual segment on ESPN where he joins the rest of the nation in the Madness. Since he was elected, President Obama is interviewed by college basketball reporter Andy Katz from the White House to talk out each of his picks. Last year he took regular season undefeated favorite Kentucky to win it all (like many of you did) over Nova, and was obviously incorrect as Duke beat Wisconsin in the National Championship.
President Obama finished in ESPN’s 72.9 percentile in 2014 and was most successful in 2011 with a bracket in the 87.4%. Both years, UConn won the National Championship and he didn’t pick them. The President did choose a National Champion for his first year in office, North Carolina in 2009.
ESPN isn’t the only network who gets to share air-time with the Commander in Chief as one of CBS’s best color analysts, Clark Kellogg, took him on in a game of HORSE…err POTUS.
I don’t even want to know what would’ve happen if the President got skunked.
Despite referring to his White Sox’s home stadium as “Kaminskey Field” early in his first term, the President has never wavered as a Chicago die hard. When the Bulls re-signed All-Star Jimmy Butler to a longterm deal, he was on it…
(Props to my old teammate Matt Rodewald for getting that tweet picked up)
Before the Blackhawks hit the ice for Game 6, President Obama was leading the chants from Twitter…
And wore his lucky hockey sweater while doing so.
While touring Cooperstown a year ago, the President asked to try on the White Sox World Series ring.
…and then donated the Sox jacket he wore to throw out the first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The President even hosted a White House visit for the Super Bowl winning 1985 Bears team, because they never got the chance to do so before.
(Ironic that it was Mike Ditka handing the President his jersey since he also wanted to run against him for a Senate seat in 2004)
The ’85 Bears and the Blackhawks may be the only Chicago teams that the President has hosted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but he always seems to get a quick shoutout in for his favorite squads when he hosts other teams.
What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama http://t.co/y5Ww74sEID—
David Ortiz (@davidortiz) April 01, 2014
We all remember the drama surrounding Red Sox DH David Ortiz’s selfie with the President and the handful of athletes who make a thing out of not going to visit the White House, despite it being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (looking at you, Tim Thomas)…
But damn, do those photo ops turn out great.
If you haven’t yet, check out this week’s Throwback Thursday Year in Review.
Not a bad year for sports, right?
