Theory 2 Action Podcast
Theory 2 Action Podcast
MM#397-- The Game That Transformed Basketball: How Magic and Bird Launched a Cultural Phenomenon
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Basketball changed forever on March 26, 1979. What might have been just another NCAA championship game instead became the launching pad that transformed college basketball into the cultural phenomenon we now know as March Madness. Seth Davis' masterful book "When March Went Mad" chronicles this pivotal moment when Magic Johnson's Michigan State Spartans faced Larry Bird's undefeated Indiana State Sycamores.
The magic of this matchup wasn't just about the basketball. It was about contrasting personalities that captured America's imagination—Magic with his megawatt smile and flashy play style versus Bird's stoic demeanor and precision shooting from "another zip code." Their presence on college basketball's biggest stage drew an astounding 35.1 million viewers and a 24.1 Nielsen rating, still the highest-rated basketball game ever broadcast, outperforming even Michael Jordan's most-watched NBA Finals game.
What makes Davis' storytelling particularly captivating is how he goes beyond the box score to reveal the human drama. Through interviews with over 150 people connected to the game, we're transported behind the scenes to production meetings where NBC executives made the pivotal decision to focus on star power: "Nobody cares about Bob King. What about Magic and Bird?" That decision set the template for how basketball would be marketed for decades to come. (see below about Bob King and his good health outcome)
While Michigan State won 75-64, the true victor was college basketball itself. This single game lit the fuse that would explode into the tournament obsession we know today, complete with office pools, bracket challenges, and buzzer-beater moments that unite fans across America each March. Whether you're a longtime basketball junkie or just curious about how cultural phenomena take shape, this book reveals how forty minutes of basketball forever changed American sports.
Key Points from the Episode:
• Basketball junkie David Kaiser shares personal memories of falling in love with March Madness as a child
• The 1979 championship game drew an unprecedented 24.1 Nielsen rating with 35.1 million viewers
• NBC executives made the crucial decision to focus coverage on Magic and Bird rather than other storylines
• Behind-the-scenes look at how television production decisions shaped basketball broadcasting
• Michigan State won 75-64, but the real winner was college basketball itself
• No basketball game since—college or pro—has matched the ratings of this cultural touchstone
• The decade following this game (1979-1989) represents the golden age of college basketball
Keep fighting the good fight and enjoy the madness of March!
Other resources:
Side note on Bob King stepping down as head coach which may result in questions, here is my research
"After leaving his coaching role, King continued as Athletic Director until 1980, after which he largely withdrew from public roles in athletics, likely due to his health. King passed away in 2004 at age 81, he is remembered for his basketball legacy at Indiana State and the University of New Mexico."
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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser.
Speaker 2:Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. Now, folks, it is March. It is a time when the madness of March comes alive. If you don't know or you haven't been paying attention to this podcast over the years, you will know that I am a certified tournament basketball junkie, an addict of addicts, if you will. The NCAA College Basketball Tournament for me captured me in my youth and it has, frankly, never let go.
Speaker 2:As this podcast unfolds, I'm going to share some stories with you, and in fact, let me just share a story with you right now, because when I was, I'm guessing, seven or eight years old, my mom worked at the local library in our hometown. She worked in the audiovisual area, as they called it back in the day, and they had those old 33 millimeter films. You know, the big ones, not the small ones. These were as big as almost like a car tire, maybe a little bit smaller, but they were big. They were big for a seven or eight year old. And she brought home one of those big movie projectors, the kind you had to thread the film into and you'd hear the whole time it's playing, and one of the movies that they had access to that was new it was hot off the press was the NCAA title game of 1979. Now I have to believe this is probably like 1981, 1982, but my brother and I were captivated about being able to see the game over like that was just unheard of back then. Then we would get so fired up my brother's five years older than me we would go down in the family room and play Nerf basketball and when you remember, there was little Nerf basketball hoops. We had one that went out to our garage door, or we put it on the door that went out to the garage and we played so much in that whatever four by six foot area that also had a couch jutting into it, but we played so much that we careened into the door so many times that the door jam became busted. My dad had to actually reinforce the door jam or replace it or something, cause the door actually got to the point where it almost did not work and he was a little fired up about that. But you know, for whatever three, four years, uh, we were, we were, you know, just going at it and it was crazy. But after watching that 1979 game on that movie projector and then connecting the dots with the help of my dad that the tournament I was watching in 1983 that was on ESPN because they had just gotten the rights to it, I think in 1981, 82. But I connected the dots with the help of my dad that the tournament I was watching live on ESPN in 1983 was the same tournament that I saw on the movie projector.
Speaker 2:And frankly, folks, if you ever remember the 1983 tournament, that was incredible, well, not one of the all time great tournaments, with the championship game just being fairytale ish. Now you might remember that championship game hosted two vastly different teams NC state, headed by Jim Valvano, and Houston Cougars. Can't even remember who their coach was, but Houston was the dominant team that year. They had five slamma jamma, that was their team's nickname because they were high flying. Clyde Drexler was on that team. They were just acrobatic, dunking all over the place. We had never seen anything like that. Usually you had one player that was acrobatic or could dunk the rest of us or the rest of them were stiffs. But that team had three or four guys and they were just flying all over the place.
Speaker 2:And then NC State. They were known as the Cardiac Pack. Their real nickname is the Wolf Pack, but the name Cardiac Pack, stuck with them because they had a mediocre 20 and 10 record going into the tournament. They were a six seed that year. They weren't expected to do that much, and the Cardiac Pack referred to how they won close games down the stretch, giving their fans cardiac issues.
Speaker 2:But the key moment in that championship game was with the score tied 52-52. Just seconds left, nc State had the ball. They got into their play and their set way late. They delayed and delayed and then they had to rush because they got into the set way too late and NC State's Derek Wittenberg launched a desperate 30-foot shot and right when it left his hands you could tell it was going to fall short. It did fall short but Lorenzo Charles leaped up out of nowhere, caught the air ball falling well short and slammed it home as time expired. The dunk sealed the 54-52 victory upset. It's one of the most replayed moments in all of sports history Pure March Madness at its peak. And it was the first national title for NC State, and it remains a defining underdog triumph. Jim Valvano's ecstatic run around the court looking for someone to hug became the enduring image of the madness that we all love and hold dear at this time.
Speaker 2:So, okay, I totally got way off on the story there, so I need to refocus on our book of the day. Our book of the day is going to take us straight to the heart of March Madness, when March Went Mad, the game that transformed basketball by Seth Davis. And if you've ever wondered why the NCAA tournament grips the nation every spring, this story is ground zero. So grab your brackets, let's settle in and let's talk about the night that changed college hoops forever. Picture this it's March 26, 1979, salt Lake City. The special event center is buzzing. The special event center is buzzing.
Speaker 2:Two teams are about to tip off in the NCAA championship game Michigan State, led by a charismatic sophomore with a big grin named Irvin Magic Johnson, and Indiana State's powered. They were powered by the quiet but deadly tight-lipped Larry Bird. Now, this just wasn't another title game. And Seth Davis argues and I would agree with him this is the game that put March Madness on the map and after reviewing this book, I cannot disagree. After reviewing this book, I cannot disagree. Things kick off in the book with back in 1979, the tournament wasn't the wall-to-wall spectacle we know now. It was big, sure, but it hadn't become the cultural juggernaut that it is now. But then came Magic and Bird. These two weren't just players, they were personalities. Magic was all smiles and flash, leading a Michigan State team hungry to shake off a shaky start to their 79 season. And Bird was the stoic, like I said, tight-lipped, like I said, tight-lipped, small-town sharpshooter carrying Indiana State from Terre Haute, indiana, an unknown mid-major, to their first ever title game. And Seth Davis digs into the stories. He interviews over 150 folks, from coaches to teammates to broadcasters, and you feel like you're right there with them. In fact. Let's go to our first pull quote.
Speaker 2:The following morning, don McGuire sent Billy Packer and a camera crew to the University of Utah's Special Events Center where the Indiana State Sycamores were just completing their game day shoot-around. Fortunately for NBC Bird, larry Bird agreed to answer a couple of questions. Packer began by asking him how he felt about playing for the national championship. Well, this is probably the biggest game I'll ever play in my life. Bird replied in his high-pitched Hoosier twang, which made life sound like laugh. As he spoke, larry looked not at Packer but straight ahead and slightly downward. He had a disconcerting habit of resisting eye contact with people he didn't know. Well, bird continued I just feel like I'm representing not only myself and my team but we're representing our school and our town of Terre Haute. It means so much to me just to be even here that we're going to try and give it all we got and we're going to try our hardest to win. You know, packer said A lot of people were surprised yesterday, larry, when you had mentioned you played ball with Magic Johnson in the World Invitational Tournament.
Speaker 2:Packer was referring to the tournament the two had played for Team USA the previous summer. That cultivated with a game against the squad from Russia in Lexington, kentucky. Larry cracked a wry smile. Well, you know me and Magic played in that game and you know it's funny because Magic's such a great passer. But he wouldn't give me the ball and you know I need the ball. The interview had been surprisingly pleasant and light. Larry left the court with his team and the Michigan State Spartans strode into the arena.
Speaker 2:Packer knew there was no concern over whether Magic Johnson would consent to an interview. The broadcaster had never dealt with an athlete who so enjoyed the give and take with the media. It's a dream come true, really for me. Magic Johnson said in his answer to Packer's first question I won a state tournament in high school back in my home state, and then my next accomplishment was going to the NCAA and playing a game like tonight in the finals. It's a dream come true. Like I said, it's an awfully, awful, important game. I just hope we play up to par and we win the game.
Speaker 2:Packer then told Magic what Bird had said about him. Johnson flashed his bright ivory smile. That would soon earn him millions of dollars. Well, I hope he don't think I'm going to pass it to him tonight, magic said. But I thought I passed him the ball. Maybe he forgot.
Speaker 2:So right away we're behind the scenes, we're getting the players interviews and in fact, here's the great broadcaster at least in my lifetime Jim Nance, with his endorsement of this book. He says I can't remember a behind the scenes story I've enjoyed more, a transcendent moment in sports that is so fully captured by Seth Davis. I feel as if I was right in the middle of it all. Thanks, seth, for the insight as to how this magical game is still a standalone event even 30 years later. Again, that's the great Jim Nance with his endorsement of the book. And what makes this book so gripping is how Davis zooms in on the clash Michigan State's up-tempo style versus Indiana State's deliberate precision Magic, dishing no-look passes while birds draining jumpers with precision from another zip code.
Speaker 2:The game itself ends up a 75-64 win for the Michigan State Spartans. Not a blowout, but not a nail-biter either. It's the stakes of the game that stick with you. This was the first time two future legends squared off on this stage, and the world had noticed. Nbc aired it. They pulled in 35.1 million viewers, a record at the time, which was beating some Super Bowls back then. But here's the kicker Seth Davis doesn't just recap the box score, he shows you how this game rewrote the whole script for college basketball. The TV numbers caught the network's eyes Suddenly.
Speaker 2:The NCAA tournament wasn't just a sports event, it was a goldmine. The quirky broadcast trio of Dick Enberg, billy Packer and Al McGuire added this raw, unpolished energy that hooked viewers. It was as if you were going to the game through your TV with some good friends, and they just happen to be experts watching these teams all throughout the year. So much so that all my friends, or at least those of you older than, say, 35, 30, maybe 30 years old, I'm guessing you will remember the great Billy Packer as the play-by-play guy sitting alongside the great Jim Nance play-by-play guy sitting alongside the great Jim Nance. Now, you might not know that Packer and Nance would go on to work together for 18 years, 1991 to 2008,. As CBS's lead college basketball broadcast team, they covered countless NCAA tournament games, including the incredible, enduring 19 Final Fours.
Speaker 2:Now, packer's reputation was to give sharp, unfiltered commentary and his deep knowledge of the game made everything raw and captivating and you just sat on the edge of your seat. Let me just share another quick story, because we still talk about this to this day. So my buddy and I are watching a game and I didn't even know who was playing. I didn't even know the player. But out of nowhere, packer is all excited. Think Tony Romo nowadays, but on steroids, packer's all excited. You feel like he's going to jump out of the seat. He's sitting courtside with Jim Nance Now, packer was known for focusing on the minutiae of basketball strategy, player habits, small details that others might overlook, and we loved him for that.
Speaker 2:But out of nowhere, in that classic Packer tone, he says Jimmy, jimmy, look at the finger. And they just happened to be zooming in on a player's finger. He's favoring it. I think it's affecting his shot, jimmy. Now he's tapping the finger up and down. Jimmy, he might've jammed it earlier. Let's check. Like three or four plays go by, he refers to it again. Packer says this could play havoc, jimmy, coming down the stretch. My buddy and I are sitting there looking at the TV, looking back at each other, looking back at the TV, totally captivated, like what just happened. We've never heard anybody get that detailed. Holy smokes. We were on the edge of our seats. The drama was dripping from the TV set. The drama was dripping from the TV set.
Speaker 2:Now, packer, you know, with these kinds of offhanded game-specific comments. They were typical of his analytical approach. He often delivered with a blunt edge, sometimes rubbing people the wrong way, and that contrasted obviously with the great Jim Nance, who was the smoother play-by-play guy. But my buddy and I just loved it. We still talk about it to this day.
Speaker 2:So let's in fact go back to the book of the day, because what I love most is how Seth Davis, throughout this book, balances both teams. You get a recap of Indiana State's incredible Cinderella run and that gets as much love as Michigan State's triumph. You got coach Bill Hodges scrambling throughout the game to keep his sycamores alive While Earl Higgins is pushing Magic Johnson to shine, telling him to keep going. Keep it up-tempo. Now is the game. Is the book perfect? Nah, maybe not. I mean, if you're a stats junkie you might want more play-by-play, but that was never the point of the book.
Speaker 2:From the get-go, the book was about the story, the story of the people, the pressure and the tipping point. Davis writes it like a novel. It's crisp and vivid and paced, so you can't put it down. That's why I'm going to call it one of the top picks for any NCAA fan. It's not about a whole season or a dynasty. It's about the 40 minutes that lit a fuse that took college basketball into the stratosphere and helped it become the cultural icon that we know it as today. So just one more quote because I want to go back to the pre-production meeting in 1979, because this is fascinating. And this is about how the game was produced. Its dateline is Sunday evening, march 25th 1979. Go on to the book. Evening, march 25th 1979. Go on to the book.
Speaker 2:The NBC sports production team gathered in a conference room at the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City to go over the game plan for the following night's NCAA men's basketball championship game. George Finkel, the game's producer, spoke first. He laid out the manner in which he and his broadcast team of Dick Enberg, al McGuire and Billy Packer would be presenting the contest between Michigan State and Indiana State. The next person to speak was Don McGuire no relation to Al who produced the pregame, the halftime and the postgame segments. Those were hosted by Bryant Gumbel Boo. Those were hosted by Brian Gumbel Boo. We don't like Brian Gumbel.
Speaker 2:Before beginning a career in television, mcguire had worked as a sports information director at the University of New Mexico, where he was an associate athletic director for a man named Bob King. King had since moved on to become the head coach at Indiana State University, but before the 78-79 season he developed an aneurysm in his brain and had to undergo emergency surgery that forced King to hand over the reins to his young assistant, bill Hodges, who, despite having no previous head coaching experience, had guided the Sycamores to a stunning 33-0 record and a berth in the national championship game. Now McGuire told the group that he wanted to air a story on King, the incapacitated head coach. During the NBC's pregame segment on Monday night, mcguire was abruptly interrupted by Don Ulmire, the executive producer of all of NBC Sports, a large, domineering, sometimes bombastic man. Allmire had spent a decade at ABC Sports learning at the knee of the legendary producer Rony Arledge. While working for the popular eclectic program Wide World of Sports, allmire learned the importance of developing a storyline to pump interest in the sporting event. Nobody cares about Bob King. Allmire said to Don McGuire what about Magic and Bird? Allmire was referring to the great we already know, irving Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the All-American stars at Michigan State and Indiana State respectively. An uncomfortable silence fell on the room. Well, mcguire said Dick, al and Billy are going to be talking a lot about those two during the game and we've got highlight pieces set to music ready to go at halftime. Well, you're going to do them in the pregame too? Allmire snapped those guys are the stars here. That's who people want to see. All Meyer's edict left McGuire in a bit of a pickle. In the first place, he had now less than 24 hours to put together a quality piece. More problematic was Bird's notorious antipathy towards the media. Frankly, without speaking to the press, and McGuire had no idea whether Bird would consent to be interviewed so close to the tip-off. So that is just a fascinating behind the scenes of how this game actually put college basketball into the stratosphere, made it become a cultural icon that we look forward to every year. Did you know?
Speaker 2:This game garnered the highest Nielsen rating ever for a basketball game, college or professional. It had a 24.1 rating and it aired on NBC, like we said, march 26, 1979. It drew an estimated with that Nielsen rating. It drew an estimated 35.1 million viewers, making it not only the highest rated college basketball program but the highest rated basketball game at any level to date. The rating reflects the percentage of US television households tuned in the 24.1, meaning 24.1% of all TV homes watched A staggering figure given that 74 million homes back in 1979 had TVs. For context, this eclipses the highest-rated NBA game, which was the 1998 NBA Finals game six between the Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan led and Utah Jazz with Karl Malone and John Stockton, which earned a 22.3 rating with 35.8 million viewers on NBC. So the 1979 college game championship game was a unique cultural moment pitting those two future legends in their first major showdown, and it was amplified by a growing TV audience and it has kept it atop the charts. No game since pro or college, has matched the 24.1% rating and mark has matched the 24.1% rating and mark. Now, modern viewership doesn't like streaming. This complicates the direct comparisons, so the Raul Nielsen rating, however, still will remain, probably indelibly, as the gold standard for this historical measurement, and 1979 stands alone.
Speaker 2:Now I have shared a lot of stories on this podcast and we have run out of time, but, folks, this book is captivating and I recommend it to any NCAA tournament junkie. This game, the 1979 championship game, was the fuse that lit the college basketball game and put it on the mat and into space. It was so stratospheric. The next 10 years, from 1979 to 1989, frankly, to me was the golden age of college basketball, and the NCAA tournament helped that with incredible Final Fours, championship games almost each and every year. What a decade of joy, holy smokes. So, beginning today, whether you're filling out your bracket or you're hoping for a buzzer beater coming down the stretch over the next several weeks, think back to 1979, magic bird and a game that set the fuse for blast off. This is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it and, as always, keep fighting the good fight and enjoy the madness of March.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on, thank you.