Burdell’s Bracket 2022: Sports Television Broadcast Theme Music - Elite Eight

Methodology, Schedule, and Bracket:

A bunch of sports themes were listened to. Some were snubbed, and some forgotten about. A set of automatic qualifiers were invited to maintain a broad range of representation. I will refrain from my opinions on the themes that were eliminated in the past round. It is also worth stating that the middle two matchups were both completely coincidental, but nonetheless totally fascinating.

Schedule and Bracket:

Jake Grant

Winner will be decided via the sum of polls embedded in the article and Twitter. This Elite Eight may be slightly delayed, but the Final Four is still on track to drop the Friday before the men’s real-life Final Four, with the Championship coinciding with that game.

#1 March Madness Theme (NCAA Basketball on CBS) vs. #8 Heavy Action (Monday Night Football)

#1: This theme not only perfectly matches its sport and context, but it is the theme song for an entire month of the sports calendar. Most Americans, let alone American sports fans, likely know exactly what this song is within the first two beats of it playing. It is also the song for the phenomenon that birthed this here fine format. Taking a page out of Jon Rothstein’s playbook, this theme, quite literally, is March. A newer theme is used here, but throughout all of its iterations it has been superlative.

#8: Provides a great setting for football - it is strong, without being imposing or over the top. It is also a key indicator that a theme has staying power when, much like Roundball Rock, the theme transcends its broadcaster, league, or calendar period to earn a name of its own.

#4 SEC on CBS (NCAA Football on CBS) vs. #5 ESPN College Football (pre-2014)

#4: CBS may not air the most sports, but they are certainly represented well on this list. As much as the general anti-SEC fan in me hates to admit it, this is the setting for the biggest game of the week, and unlike a lot of great football themes, it manages to stay upbeat and exciting, rather than feel very imposing and plodding. There’s likely a lot of that bias on the list - sports are fun! - but uptempo, lively themes really resonate with me.

#5: This is an excellent fit for college football, be it by tone, instrumentation, memorability, or originality. The marching band and drumline sound immediately conjures college football in particular, and the soaring, aspiring nature of the song both lends fun and excitement to the event at hand. It was tough not to rank this higher, but, even independent of that, it is among my personal go-tos.

#18 NFL on FOX vs. #7 MLB on FOX

#18: The amount of people that claim this deserves any superlative other than overrated is mind boggling to me. Maybe I’m biased as a hockey, baseball, and college sports guy, but after the introduction, I don’t find this all that inspiring. I will likely get destroyed over this take, but, really, there are just so many better options out there. A suggestion from the writer’s room was to use the elevator music cover that they play during injuries instead, but that felt a bit tacky.

#7: Remember when they phased this out for a while in favor of a version of the NFL theme? Me too. There’s a reason it’s back, though, after a few years of hiatus. As notable as the NFL theme is, MLB is its own entity, and, well, this one is both catchy and interesting. Perhaps this a benefactor of my bias towards uptempo and higher energy numbers, but, if I’m wrong, then tell us via your votes.

#14 NFL on CBS vs. #6 Olympic Fanfare / Bugler’s Dream

#14: I hear this and I think “a very big game is about to come on,” but then I remembered that it also plays during most Jaguars games, so maybe not.

#6: John Williams wrote a fanfare for a sporting event, and it absolutely fits the tone of the Olympics. Plenty of stuffy formality and flourishes, but that isn’t to say it is bad. It just fits what it is supposed to represent.

Final Four on Friday. Let me know your thoughts below.