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The things that some people worry about ...

Over the past few days, there was a certain, very vocal contingent of basketball fans who were overly — and unduly — concerned about a song that was inspired by a bar waitress and written by a guy trying to pick her up.

That song is "One Shining Moment," which has become a tradition on the NCAA men's basketball championship telecast. And there was an online outcry when it was believed that, with the game moving from CBS to TBS this year, the song would be jettisoned.

Like so many rumors spread by social media, this one was absolutely false.

"There was never a conversation about not doing it," Craig Barry, Turner Sports executive vice president and chief content officer, said in a conference call with reporters a few days before the Final Four got under way. "It's obviously a tradition. It's an iconic piece. It's a staple."

That it is. There's nothing like "One Shining Moment" in any other sporting event on TV. The lyrics are pretty much perfect: "The ball is tipped, and there you are. You're running for your life. You're a shooting star."

It's not just a montage of the championship game or even the Final Four. It's got moments culled from the entire tournament — and fans all 68 teams stay tuned to see if their team is included.

Utah's Brandon Taylor (sad on the bench), Weber State's Zach Braxton (getting dunked on), and a Ute cheerleader made the montage.

According to CBS, David Barrett — a "modestly successful club singer" — was inspired to write the song in 1986 when he was trying to pick up a beautiful waitress at the bar where he had just performed. Somewhat tongue-tied, Barrett began talking about the greatness of Larry Bird — a Celtics game was on the TV — and the waitress was unimpressed.

But Barrett scribbled "One Shining Moment" on a cocktail napkin. The next day, he wrote the lyrics on another napkin while waiting for a friend in a restaurant, then went home and wrote the song in 20 minutes.

And that song has been a part of March Madness for 30 years. Sort of accidentally. It was originally supposed to air after the 1987 Super Bowl, but got cut for time.

Not only were some fans afraid it would be cut again, but they were oddly outraged that TBS planned to air a new version of the song performed by Ne-Yo. TBS actually backtracked, airing the Luther Vandross version on its main telecast and the Ne-Yo version of TNT and TruTV, which carried the Villanova-centric and North Carolina-centic "fancast" feeds.

(The "fancast" versions of "One Shining Moment" were all about either the champion Wildcats or the runner-up Tar Heels — as you'd expect.)

What makes that outcry at least a little, well, weird, is that it's not the first time there's been a change. The Vandross version of the song hasn't been used every year. Barrett's own recording was heard from 1987-93 and 2000-2002, and we've also heard Teddy Pendegrass (1994-99) and Jennifer Hudson (2010).

Although a lot of people weren't happy about the Hudson version, which featured clips of the singer — cutting into screen time for the teams and fans.

As for the Luther Vandross vs. the Ne-Yo versions of "One Shining Moment," well, I'm not a music critic. But I liked both of them.

And "One Shining Moment" remains one of the greatest traditions about one of the best sporting events on television.

SCOTT D. PIERCE covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.