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However, on March 16, 2016, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus confirmed that "One Shining Moment" would still be used during years that Turner Sports broadcasts the championship game under the consortium's contract, owing to the long-standing tradition. At the beginning of this arrangement there were concerns that the song might not be used in even years due to its association with CBS. Since 2016, CBS and TBS broadcast the championship game in alternating years, CBS odd and TBS even. The positive public response led to it becoming an annual feature. Towey decided to use "One Shining Moment" to close CBS's coverage of the tournament. CBS then asked Barrett for permission to use the song after the 1987 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game on March 30, in which Indiana beat Syracuse. It was to have been the post-game montage from that contest, but the game ran past the expected airtime and CBS had a prime time show to debut in the next time slot, so the montage was canceled. Towey originally planned to debut the song not after a basketball game, but after a football game, Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987. He wrote the song down on a napkin the next day, later stating that "the song came fully formed" and "all the lyrics just wrote themselves." He passed the song along to high school friend Armen Keteyian, an investigative journalist for CBS Sports and, at that time, Sports Illustrated, who in turn passed it to CBS Sports' creative director Doug Towey. The song is played as the winning team's players cut down the nets to a montage of highlights from the tournament.īarrett, a singer-songwriter from Ann Arbor, Michigan, was inspired to write the song in 1986 when, after playing a set at a bar in East Lansing, Michigan, he stayed and watched Larry Bird play on TV.
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"One Shining Moment" is traditionally played at the end of CBS's and TBS's coverage of the championship game of the tournament.
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" One Shining Moment" is a song written by David Barrett that has become closely associated with the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. For the song by Diana Ross, see The Force Behind the Power.
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