Larry & Magic

After reading When the Game Was Ours, by Larry Bird & Magic Johnson (but not really . . . as the book was written by Jackie McMillan) I had to read Seth Davis's fascinating look at the 1979 season and NCAA finals game between Indiana State University and Michigan State. When March Went Mad is a great book, full of sub plots and personal drama.

I watched most of the ISU games that year, and attended the first nationally televised game when ISU played Witchita State on a Saturday afternoon during a blinding snow storm. And I do remember specifically where I was, and whom I was with, when I watched the final NCAA game that Saturday afternoon in 1979 . . . a game that sported a nearly 25% Nielson rating (meaning that almost 1/4 of all American homes were watching the game). I was at home in our Shelburn basement, watching the game on an RCA color TV that was held together with rubber bands. My folks were there, as was my best friend, Bryan.

The championship game between ISU and Michican State is still the most highly-rated (per Nielson %) of any televised sporting event in history. Nothing else (no Super Bowl, no other NCAA final, no Stanley Cup final, no World Series game) has even come close to matching it.

The fact is, there have been no other college basketball players since who have matched the hype and the talent of Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson. Not even close. And since Larry Bird, there has been no college player who has come close to matching the amazing scoring, rebounding, and assists totals of his senior season. (Again, not even close. I thought, surely there's been someone since, so I looked it up. But no one . . . absolutely no player since 1979, is even on the same planet as Larry was.) Larry the Legend was head and shoulders above his peers in 1979, and Magic Johnson was a phenom, too.

When March Went Mad was one of those books that brought back a great many memories, but also reminded me of how much college sports has changed in 30 years. Perhaps it's just nostalgia talking, but now it's all money. But I realize that ISU has changed, too.

When I took Chelsey to tour ISU her junior year of high school, she looked at me after walking around the campus for 30 minutes and said, "Dad, there's no way I'd attend here!"

Not even Larry could change her mind.