“One Shining Moment” Honors Jason Ray, UNC Mascot

For all the crap I gave CBS the other day about abusing “One Shining Moment”, I have to give them credit for paying tribute to Jason Ray in this year’s montage.  Jason was a Carolina senior who portrayed Rameses, the North Carolina mascot.  He died last week, three days after being struck by a car before the team’s NCAA tournament regional semi-final game in New Jersey.

You can’t tell from this screen capture because it’s so grainy, but this clip is not from the NCAA tournament at all.  It’s from a game at the Smith Center earlier this season.  I can’t think of another instance where CBS has used footage from outside the NCAA tournament for a 1SM montage, so they definitely went out of their way to pay Jason their respects.

By all accounts Jason Ray was a great kid with a bright future ahead of him, and he left us way before his time.  I know the university is planning to honor him in several ways in the near future, and I think it’s cool that CBS was thoughtful enough to immortalize him in one of the 1SM montages.

Here’s the YouTube clip I took this from.  The shot of Jason is at the 1:18 mark.