Despite Outcry From Whiny Twitter Folk, CBS Doubles Down On Putting Crying Kids On Blast

Socrates Johnson8 years ago

Last year, just like every year since before I can remember, I was completely invested in March Madness. I may not give a shit about college basketball during the regular season, but during tourney time, I’m all in. However, if you were to ask me to recall any huge on-the-court moments from 2017, other than North Carolina winning, I’d be drawing a blank. Once the tournament’s over, that sort of information just gets filed into the unaccessible part of my brain.

If you were to simply just say the words “Northwestern crying kid,” though, I would know exactly what you were talking about.

What a classic moment. If you’re a Northwestern fan, you empathized with the kid’s frustration. If you’re a Gonzaga fan or were just openly rooting against the Wildcats for whatever reason, you gleefully drank his tears.

CBS has realized that portraying this sort of emotion in its rawest form is ratings gold, and this year they’ve been panning right to those bawling tykes with reckless abandon.

More like March Sadness, am I right? If you were to ask all of the losers crawling out of the woodwork to throw in their two cents, though, this whole crying kid trend seems a lot more like March… Badness.

From Yahoo! Sports:

Many fans have criticized CBS and Turner for their use of “crying kid” shots, calling them “lazy,” “cruel and exploitative,” and “the cheapest way to convey drama.” The clips from the TV broadcast spread across social media and the internet, turning the kids and their tears into the faces of a team’s anguish.

CBS executive producer Harold Bryant, however, defended the networks’ showing of crying kids in a conversation with Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “It’s part of the drama and the storytelling of the tournament,” he said, speaking on behalf of both CBS and Turner. “It’s part of the emotion. We try to capture the emotion and we try to strike that right balance.”

I’m usually not one to agree with network executives, but I think Harold pretty much nailed it here. Wow though, just look at all these Twitter warriors.

Whatever, dweebs. If you have a problem with it, just don’t watch. More tears for the rest of us.

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[via Yahoo! Sports]

Image via Twitter/@CBSSports