One Shining Moment Was a Dud

It's been two full years since there's been cause to play the One Shining Moment video and perhaps that's part of the reason the inexplicable somehow came to pass. Perhaps there was no way to live up to expectations or it was not realistic to expect a version from a sparsely-attended, centrally-located tournament to live up to previous iterations. But for a few reasons, the best montage in sports had an off year.

Not having an extensive catalog of crowd-reaction shots to cull, and not having a single shot of a band presented some pretty challenging roadblocks. CBS/Turner worked nobly to create around that, using more play-by-play narration to drive it instead of ambient sound from frenzied arenas.

The result was a video that simply felt a bit off and flat. And that's not to complain too much about one of the best traditions in televised sports. Perhaps this is the appropriate vibe from an unprecedented event.

Here's hoping next year's Shining Moments return to their usual brightness.