CBS and its associated cable affiliates with Turner Sports once again will be the broadcast home of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year, and the network came up with a create way to promote its upcoming wall-to-wall coverage of March Madness.
Utilizing one of its most revered and longstanding properties — although perhaps one that does not have much crossover interest among college basketball fans — CBS put together a promo featuring actors from “The Young and the Restless,” the iconic daytime soap opera that has aired on the network since 1973.
The clip features the patented, overwrought drama typical of daytime soaps, but instead of a man and a woman over-emoting about their relationship or some sinister scheme the two have cooked up, the dialogue exchanged is all about the Duke Blue Devils and the 2012 edition of March Madness.
“In 2012, I didn’t have Lehigh over Duke like I told everyone I did,” the man tells the woman. “I had Duke winning the whole thing, my bracket was in ruins. The Plumlee brothers, they were amazing, what was I supposed to do?”
“Don’t act like you didn’t think Austin Rivers was unstoppable, too.”
Fans of “The Young and the Restless” obviously would be able to identify these two actors and the characters they portray, but that information is unnecessary to enjoy the absurdity of the clip.
For what it’s worth, the promo of course is making reference of how a CJ McCollum-led Lehigh squad upset the No. 2 seed Blue Devils in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Tournament.
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