Price: Another ‘Moment’ in time for fans

The lyrics are cornball (“The ball is tipped, and there you are. You’re running for your life. You’re a shooting star”) and the melody sounds like something you could put together using an old Casio keyboard. But after tonight’s NCAA title game, hoop fans who wouldn’t be caught dead crying in public will inevitably be choking back tears again when CBS rolls out the latest edition of “One Shining Moment.”

The song was written by David Barrett, and originally scheduled to be used at the end of Super Bowl XXI, but was ultimately scrapped. However, later that year, CBS execs had the good sense to remember the song when it came time to put together a postgame highlight package for the 1987 tournament. The NFL’s loss was college basketball’s gain, and Barrett’s song gave birth to a legion of hoop fans that wait for the goose bumps the highlight reel inspires every year.

“We cry at the thought of how influential One Shining Moment is on a generation of American males,” the brilliant sports blog Busted Coverage wrote recently. “It’s possible that these video montages are the only time in a guy’s life that he’ll cry in front of another guy.”

In 20-plus years, the thing has gone from throwaway highlight reel to a pop culture icon. Google “One Shining Moment” and you get 117,000 responses, including a series of political gaffes and a highlight video for a beer pong team. For many, the video package has become as important as the title game itself.

“I just love it against the video that they put up there,” said a friend of mine who used to videotape it every year, going back to 1989. “It sums up the tournament, and shows you all those great moments, and reminds you that ‘Oh, I remember that great Western Kentucky game against Drake.’ You kind of forget about that at the end of the tournament.”

Thanks to YouTube, they now exist forever on the Internet, cultural touchstones for a game that’s always in transition. Want to see Rick Pitino at Providence? Dial up the 1987 version. Jerry Tarkanian chewing on a towel? Check out 1990. And Chris Webber’s timeout? It’s in the 1993 video.

So tonight, around 11:30 or so, if you come across a college basketball fan with the sniffles and puffy red eyes, it’s not allergies. Blame David Barrett. And remind them it’s only 12 months until their next shining moment.

Christopher Price is sports editor of Boston Metro and the author of “The Blueprint: How The New England Patriots Beat The System To Create The Last Great NFL Superpower,” published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.