March 19, 2025

MM#397-- The Game That Transformed Basketball: How Magic and Bird Launched a Cultural Phenomenon

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message

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."

Want to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly, thank you so much!

00:00 - Intro to Theory to Action Podcast

00:34 - David's March Madness Memories

03:20 - The 1983 Championship Game

06:47 - "When March Went Mad" Book Introduction

10:25 - Behind NBC's Coverage of Magic vs. Bird

18:09 - Impact and Ratings: A Cultural Phenomenon

24:15 - Closing Thoughts and Recommendation

WEBVTT

00:00:07.612 --> 00:00:20.807
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.

00:00:20.807 --> 00:00:24.849
Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:36.225
Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

00:00:36.225 --> 00:00:36.847
Now, folks, it is March.

00:00:36.847 --> 00:00:38.933
It is a time when the madness of March comes alive.

00:00:38.933 --> 00:00:53.389
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.

00:00:53.389 --> 00:01:01.527
The NCAA College Basketball Tournament for me captured me in my youth and it has, frankly, never let go.

00:01:02.862 --> 00:01:17.254
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.

00:01:17.254 --> 00:01:26.909
She worked in the audiovisual area, as they called it back in the day, and they had those old 33 millimeter films.

00:01:26.909 --> 00:01:29.064
You know, the big ones, not the small ones.

00:01:29.064 --> 00:01:33.905
These were as big as almost like a car tire, maybe a little bit smaller, but they were big.

00:01:33.905 --> 00:01:36.471
They were big for a seven or eight year old.

00:01:36.471 --> 00:02:04.927
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.

00:02:04.927 --> 00:02:19.008
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.

00:02:19.008 --> 00:02:29.372
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.

00:02:29.372 --> 00:02:57.949
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.

00:02:57.949 --> 00:03:10.644
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.

00:03:10.644 --> 00:03:19.500
But you know, for whatever three, four years, uh, we were, we were, you know, just going at it and it was crazy.

00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:40.277
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.

00:03:40.277 --> 00:03:59.939
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.

00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:12.088
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.

00:04:12.088 --> 00:04:23.492
Now you might remember that championship game hosted two vastly different teams NC state, headed by Jim Valvano, and Houston Cougars.

00:04:23.492 --> 00:04:30.288
Can't even remember who their coach was, but Houston was the dominant team that year.

00:04:30.288 --> 00:04:35.170
They had five slamma jamma, that was their team's nickname because they were high flying.

00:04:35.170 --> 00:04:37.826
Clyde Drexler was on that team.

00:04:37.826 --> 00:04:41.029
They were just acrobatic, dunking all over the place.

00:04:41.029 --> 00:04:43.048
We had never seen anything like that.

00:04:43.048 --> 00:04:50.411
Usually you had one player that was acrobatic or could dunk the rest of us or the rest of them were stiffs.

00:04:50.411 --> 00:04:55.805
But that team had three or four guys and they were just flying all over the place.

00:04:56.827 --> 00:04:58.110
And then NC State.

00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:00.262
They were known as the Cardiac Pack.

00:05:00.262 --> 00:05:11.610
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.

00:05:11.610 --> 00:05:13.052
They were a six seed that year.

00:05:13.052 --> 00:05:24.103
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.

00:05:26.545 --> 00:05:32.108
But the key moment in that championship game was with the score tied 52-52.

00:05:32.108 --> 00:05:35.790
Just seconds left, nc State had the ball.

00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:39.134
They got into their play and their set way late.

00:05:39.134 --> 00:05:57.168
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.

00:05:57.168 --> 00:06:08.262
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.

00:06:08.262 --> 00:06:13.149
The dunk sealed the 54-52 victory upset.

00:06:13.149 --> 00:06:21.047
It's one of the most replayed moments in all of sports history Pure March Madness at its peak.

00:06:21.047 --> 00:06:27.461
And it was the first national title for NC State, and it remains a defining underdog triumph.

00:06:27.461 --> 00:06:38.988
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.

00:06:39.430 --> 00:06:46.911
So, okay, I totally got way off on the story there, so I need to refocus on our book of the day.

00:06:46.911 --> 00:06:57.392
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.

00:06:57.392 --> 00:07:06.470
And if you've ever wondered why the NCAA tournament grips the nation every spring, this story is ground zero.

00:07:06.470 --> 00:07:14.779
So grab your brackets, let's settle in and let's talk about the night that changed college hoops forever.

00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:20.004
Picture this it's March 26, 1979, salt Lake City.

00:07:20.004 --> 00:07:22.466
The special event center is buzzing.

00:07:22.466 --> 00:07:23.807
The special event center is buzzing.

00:07:24.747 --> 00:07:44.622
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.

00:07:44.622 --> 00:07:46.774
They were powered by the quiet but deadly tight-lipped Larry Bird.

00:07:46.774 --> 00:07:50.730
Now, this just wasn't another title game.

00:07:50.730 --> 00:08:03.560
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.

00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.802
After reviewing this book, I cannot disagree.

00:08:06.802 --> 00:08:14.430
Things kick off in the book with back in 1979, the tournament wasn't the wall-to-wall spectacle we know now.

00:08:14.430 --> 00:08:21.836
It was big, sure, but it hadn't become the cultural juggernaut that it is now.

00:08:21.836 --> 00:08:25.884
But then came Magic and Bird.

00:08:25.884 --> 00:08:28.281
These two weren't just players, they were personalities.

00:08:28.281 --> 00:08:37.383
Magic was all smiles and flash, leading a Michigan State team hungry to shake off a shaky start to their 79 season.

00:08:37.383 --> 00:08:54.081
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.

00:08:54.081 --> 00:08:56.605
And Seth Davis digs into the stories.

00:08:56.605 --> 00:09:04.835
He interviews over 150 folks, from coaches to teammates to broadcasters, and you feel like you're right there with them.

00:09:04.835 --> 00:09:13.173
In fact.

00:09:13.173 --> 00:09:15.279
Let's go to our first pull quote.

00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:25.087
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.

00:09:25.087 --> 00:09:31.792
Fortunately for NBC Bird, larry Bird agreed to answer a couple of questions.

00:09:31.792 --> 00:09:36.354
Packer began by asking him how he felt about playing for the national championship.

00:09:36.354 --> 00:09:39.644
Well, this is probably the biggest game I'll ever play in my life.

00:09:39.644 --> 00:09:44.894
Bird replied in his high-pitched Hoosier twang, which made life sound like laugh.

00:09:44.894 --> 00:09:51.511
As he spoke, larry looked not at Packer but straight ahead and slightly downward.

00:09:51.511 --> 00:09:57.706
He had a disconcerting habit of resisting eye contact with people he didn't know.

00:09:57.706 --> 00:10:07.139
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.

00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:13.910
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.

00:10:13.910 --> 00:10:23.408
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.

00:10:24.075 --> 00:10:29.003
Packer was referring to the tournament the two had played for Team USA the previous summer.

00:10:29.003 --> 00:10:34.210
That cultivated with a game against the squad from Russia in Lexington, kentucky.

00:10:34.210 --> 00:10:36.883
Larry cracked a wry smile.

00:10:36.883 --> 00:10:42.998
Well, you know me and Magic played in that game and you know it's funny because Magic's such a great passer.

00:10:42.998 --> 00:10:47.187
But he wouldn't give me the ball and you know I need the ball.

00:10:47.187 --> 00:10:51.702
The interview had been surprisingly pleasant and light.

00:10:51.702 --> 00:10:57.106
Larry left the court with his team and the Michigan State Spartans strode into the arena.

00:10:57.849 --> 00:11:02.015
Packer knew there was no concern over whether Magic Johnson would consent to an interview.

00:11:02.015 --> 00:11:07.918
The broadcaster had never dealt with an athlete who so enjoyed the give and take with the media.

00:11:07.918 --> 00:11:10.442
It's a dream come true, really for me.

00:11:10.442 --> 00:11:23.879
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.

00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:25.241
It's a dream come true.

00:11:25.241 --> 00:11:28.976
Like I said, it's an awfully, awful, important game.

00:11:28.976 --> 00:11:32.143
I just hope we play up to par and we win the game.

00:11:33.205 --> 00:11:35.775
Packer then told Magic what Bird had said about him.

00:11:35.775 --> 00:11:40.203
Johnson flashed his bright ivory smile.

00:11:40.203 --> 00:11:43.250
That would soon earn him millions of dollars.

00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:47.986
Well, I hope he don't think I'm going to pass it to him tonight, magic said.

00:11:47.986 --> 00:11:49.801
But I thought I passed him the ball.

00:11:49.801 --> 00:11:51.245
Maybe he forgot.

00:11:53.495 --> 00:12:05.349
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.

00:12:05.349 --> 00:12:14.767
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.

00:12:14.767 --> 00:12:17.784
I feel as if I was right in the middle of it all.

00:12:17.784 --> 00:12:26.163
Thanks, seth, for the insight as to how this magical game is still a standalone event even 30 years later.

00:12:26.163 --> 00:12:30.385
Again, that's the great Jim Nance with his endorsement of the book.

00:12:30.385 --> 00:12:50.589
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.

00:12:51.294 --> 00:12:57.168
The game itself ends up a 75-64 win for the Michigan State Spartans.

00:12:57.168 --> 00:12:59.783
Not a blowout, but not a nail-biter either.

00:12:59.783 --> 00:13:04.796
It's the stakes of the game that stick with you.

00:13:04.796 --> 00:13:11.596
This was the first time two future legends squared off on this stage, and the world had noticed.

00:13:11.596 --> 00:13:13.899
Nbc aired it.

00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:22.510
They pulled in 35.1 million viewers, a record at the time, which was beating some Super Bowls back then.

00:13:22.510 --> 00:13:33.221
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.

00:13:33.221 --> 00:13:36.917
The TV numbers caught the network's eyes Suddenly.

00:13:36.956 --> 00:13:41.947
The NCAA tournament wasn't just a sports event, it was a goldmine.

00:13:41.947 --> 00:13:52.750
The quirky broadcast trio of Dick Enberg, billy Packer and Al McGuire added this raw, unpolished energy that hooked viewers.

00:13:52.750 --> 00:14:03.279
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.

00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:23.158
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.

00:14:23.158 --> 00:14:37.898
Now, you might not know that Packer and Nance would go on to work together for 18 years, 1991 to 2008,.

00:14:37.898 --> 00:14:44.009
As CBS's lead college basketball broadcast team, they covered countless NCAA tournament games, including the incredible, enduring 19 Final Fours.

00:14:45.434 --> 00:14:54.687
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.

00:14:54.687 --> 00:15:03.448
Let me just share another quick story, because we still talk about this to this day.

00:15:03.448 --> 00:15:09.402
So my buddy and I are watching a game and I didn't even know who was playing.

00:15:09.402 --> 00:15:10.686
I didn't even know the player.

00:15:10.686 --> 00:15:13.724
But out of nowhere, packer is all excited.

00:15:13.724 --> 00:15:19.279
Think Tony Romo nowadays, but on steroids, packer's all excited.

00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.981
You feel like he's going to jump out of the seat.

00:15:20.981 --> 00:15:32.816
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.

00:15:33.356 --> 00:15:39.418
But out of nowhere, in that classic Packer tone, he says Jimmy, jimmy, look at the finger.

00:15:39.418 --> 00:15:43.197
And they just happened to be zooming in on a player's finger.

00:15:43.197 --> 00:15:44.500
He's favoring it.

00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:47.485
I think it's affecting his shot, jimmy.

00:15:47.485 --> 00:15:49.537
Now he's tapping the finger up and down.

00:15:49.537 --> 00:15:51.601
Jimmy, he might've jammed it earlier.

00:15:51.601 --> 00:15:52.303
Let's check.

00:15:52.303 --> 00:15:56.039
Like three or four plays go by, he refers to it again.

00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:59.408
Packer says this could play havoc, jimmy, coming down the stretch.

00:15:59.408 --> 00:16:10.201
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.

00:16:10.201 --> 00:16:12.783
We've never heard anybody get that detailed.

00:16:12.783 --> 00:16:14.138
Holy smokes.

00:16:14.138 --> 00:16:15.923
We were on the edge of our seats.

00:16:15.923 --> 00:16:18.378
The drama was dripping from the TV set.

00:16:18.378 --> 00:16:20.100
The drama was dripping from the TV set.

00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:25.447
Now, packer, you know, with these kinds of offhanded game-specific comments.

00:16:25.447 --> 00:16:28.410
They were typical of his analytical approach.

00:16:28.410 --> 00:16:40.527
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.

00:16:40.527 --> 00:16:42.730
But my buddy and I just loved it.

00:16:42.730 --> 00:16:48.899
We still talk about it to this day.

00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:59.270
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.

00:16:59.270 --> 00:17:08.337
You get a recap of Indiana State's incredible Cinderella run and that gets as much love as Michigan State's triumph.

00:17:08.337 --> 00:17:21.326
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.

00:17:21.326 --> 00:17:22.727
Keep it up-tempo.

00:17:22.727 --> 00:17:24.248
Now is the game.

00:17:24.248 --> 00:17:25.428
Is the book perfect?

00:17:25.428 --> 00:17:26.709
Nah, maybe not.

00:17:26.709 --> 00:17:31.771
I mean, if you're a stats junkie you might want more play-by-play, but that was never the point of the book.

00:17:32.393 --> 00:17:40.420
From the get-go, the book was about the story, the story of the people, the pressure and the tipping point.

00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:41.020
Davis writes it like a novel.

00:17:41.020 --> 00:17:43.607
It's crisp and vivid and paced, so you can't put it down.

00:17:43.607 --> 00:17:48.326
That's why I'm going to call it one of the top picks for any NCAA fan.

00:17:48.326 --> 00:17:51.423
It's not about a whole season or a dynasty.

00:17:51.423 --> 00:18:03.027
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.

00:18:03.027 --> 00:18:10.558
So just one more quote because I want to go back to the pre-production meeting in 1979, because this is fascinating.

00:18:10.558 --> 00:18:13.987
And this is about how the game was produced.

00:18:13.987 --> 00:18:19.926
Its dateline is Sunday evening, march 25th 1979.

00:18:19.926 --> 00:18:20.428
Go on to the book.

00:18:20.428 --> 00:18:26.619
Evening, march 25th 1979.

00:18:26.619 --> 00:18:27.020
Go on to the book.

00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:33.661
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.

00:18:33.661 --> 00:18:36.928
George Finkel, the game's producer, spoke first.

00:18:36.928 --> 00:18:46.907
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.

00:18:46.907 --> 00:18:55.759
The next person to speak was Don McGuire no relation to Al who produced the pregame, the halftime and the postgame segments.

00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.769
Those were hosted by Bryant Gumbel Boo.

00:18:59.769 --> 00:19:01.634
Those were hosted by Brian Gumbel Boo.

00:19:01.634 --> 00:19:06.054
We don't like Brian Gumbel.

00:19:16.894 --> 00:19:20.788
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.

00:19:20.788 --> 00:19:46.589
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.

00:19:46.589 --> 00:19:54.405
Now McGuire told the group that he wanted to air a story on King, the incapacitated head coach.

00:19:54.405 --> 00:20:10.404
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.

00:20:10.404 --> 00:20:18.583
Allmire had spent a decade at ABC Sports learning at the knee of the legendary producer Rony Arledge.

00:20:18.583 --> 00:20:30.365
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.

00:20:30.365 --> 00:20:33.121
Nobody cares about Bob King.

00:20:33.121 --> 00:20:36.000
Allmire said to Don McGuire what about Magic and Bird?

00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:45.930
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.

00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:50.223
An uncomfortable silence fell on the room.

00:20:50.223 --> 00:21:02.626
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.

00:21:02.626 --> 00:21:06.442
Well, you're going to do them in the pregame too?

00:21:06.442 --> 00:21:08.898
Allmire snapped those guys are the stars here.

00:21:08.898 --> 00:21:11.207
That's who people want to see.

00:21:11.207 --> 00:21:16.457
All Meyer's edict left McGuire in a bit of a pickle.

00:21:16.457 --> 00:21:23.242
In the first place, he had now less than 24 hours to put together a quality piece.

00:21:23.242 --> 00:21:30.489
More problematic was Bird's notorious antipathy towards the media.

00:21:30.489 --> 00:21:41.065
Frankly, without speaking to the press, and McGuire had no idea whether Bird would consent to be interviewed so close to the tip-off.

00:21:41.065 --> 00:21:56.902
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.

00:21:56.902 --> 00:21:59.277
Did you know?

00:22:00.179 --> 00:22:05.969
This game garnered the highest Nielsen rating ever for a basketball game, college or professional.

00:22:05.969 --> 00:22:13.851
It had a 24.1 rating and it aired on NBC, like we said, march 26, 1979.

00:22:13.851 --> 00:22:17.337
It drew an estimated with that Nielsen rating.

00:22:17.337 --> 00:22:29.392
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.

00:22:29.392 --> 00:22:49.027
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.

00:22:49.027 --> 00:23:11.465
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.

00:23:11.465 --> 00:23:30.968
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.

00:23:30.968 --> 00:23:42.394
No game since pro or college, has matched the 24.1% rating and mark has matched the 24.1% rating and mark.

00:23:42.394 --> 00:23:45.719
Now, modern viewership doesn't like streaming.

00:23:45.719 --> 00:24:03.444
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.

00:24:04.015 --> 00:24:14.208
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.

00:24:14.208 --> 00:24:25.121
This game, the 1979 championship game, was the fuse that lit the college basketball game and put it on the mat and into space.

00:24:25.121 --> 00:24:27.465
It was so stratospheric.

00:24:27.465 --> 00:24:42.361
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.

00:24:42.361 --> 00:24:45.548
What a decade of joy, holy smokes.

00:24:45.548 --> 00:25:02.090
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.

00:25:02.090 --> 00:25:12.346
This is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it and, as always, keep fighting the good fight and enjoy the madness of March.

00:25:15.036 --> 00:25:16.278
Thank you for joining us.

00:25:16.278 --> 00:25:19.667
We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

00:25:19.667 --> 00:25:28.823
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.

00:25:28.823 --> 00:25:42.872
Until next time, keep getting your mojo on, thank you.