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When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball

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In 1979, when I was at Ohio State University, the sports buzz was all about the Michigan State Spartans and their great player Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and a guy named Larry Bird who played for Indiana State. One team was undefeated, and the other was cutting a swath through the Big Ten.

But this was before (gasp!) cable TV in any but a primitive form. There was no ESPN. There was virtually no way to see these teams unless you scored tickets in person. And so it was that one of the great rivalries in sports history could barely be seen, much less analyzed by sports fans around the country. Only when Bird met Magic in that season's NCAA finals, could basketball fanatics really see not just what the fuss was all about, but the future of pro and college hoops.

In "When March Went Mad," Seth Davis, a basketball analyst for CBS, tells the wildly entertaining tale of how NCAA basketball came out from behind the shadow of college football to become a sports juggernaut in its own right. Even in college, Johnson and Bird were basketball virtuosos, capable of bringing their teams up to whole different level. There was something new and different and even a little mysterious being played out in college hoops that year, which brought in its wake a new crop of superstars like Michael Jordan and college sports TV contracts generating literally billions of dollars a year.

And it all started with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

With excellent attention to detail, Davis tells the real story behind that storybook year, relating the ups and downs, the PR and game-day disasters, the come-from-behind victories, the challenges overcome almost daily by two teams who had been completely ignored pre-season by pundits and analysts. From the head coaches to the scrubs, from the college presidents to legendary NBA names like Red Auerbach and Jerry West who were relying on Bird and Johnson to save a floundering NBA, Davis tells the exciting true story of two young men who together changed not just basketball but the business of sports, forever.

"When March Went Mad" is well worth the time of *any* fan who truly loves the game of basketball.

I'm a sucker for a book like this, having lived through and loved the Bird era (and Russell, Cowen, and the rest of the glorious heritage, later almost destroyed and now revived) and having once been a 20-year resident of Red Sox Nation who even remembers the Patriots as the Boston Patsies. But even for a fanatically fanatic fan, it's hard to get excited about it. It's workmanlike but basically is a newspaper style narrarive of the season, with too much play-by-play of regular season games with useful though unexciting comments. Perhaps the very format of the book bounded its possibilities. It ends up just OK -- nothing special but delvering what it promises.

Lurking in the text is the complexity of Bird, who came from a background that almost guaranteed drift and failure but whose tenacity and integrity of his inner core won through. He clearly was less likable and more volatile than the persona presented by the press, and almost cruel in much of his behavior; he was also apparently a two-fisted drinker and enjoyed the resulting combination of party and put downs. This makes his growth and maturation even more impressive. The book hovers around this element of Bird but at a surface level. It also gives little depth about Magic's very different personality, that also seems to have had hidden quirks. These are two young men of whom perhaps there is little to discuss beyond what they achieved on court and there is little to say about that in words rather than through the televised game itself.
The writing is solid and avoids hype and purple prose. The material seems accurate in its quotes from and comments on players and coaches but the overall result is unexciting. There's little to criticize about it but little to enthuse about either.

Today, college basketball is big business, with massive TV contracts and incredible hype. During the annual NCAA tournament, college basketball mania reaches its apex with "March Madness." Every red-blooded American fills out a bracket or ten and watches raptly as Cinderellas, dark horses, and favorites vie for supremacy.

But it wasn't always this way, and Seth Davis's When March Went Mad tells the story of the single game that arguably made college ball such a big deal: the 1979 tournament final, which pitted Magic Johnson's Michigan State Spartans against Larry Bird's Indiana State Sycamores.

Davis has done his research, with nearly 100 interviews and extensive trips to the radio and television archives. The result is a well-written, informative account of the season that led up to the crucial game. He provides ample background on Bird, Johnson, their teammates, and coaches, and puts the reader on the team bus as they crisscross the country over the 1978-9 season.

The Bird/Johnson classic came at a crucial time: the UCLA dynasty that dominated the sport in the 1960s and 1970s had begun to fade and television executives wondered if the public would continue to watch a game with no obvious favorite. With coverage limited, most of the country did not get to see many of the smaller schools play. With the advent of cable television, though, the game could get more exposure. The question is, would anyone watch?

After reaching into the backgrounds of the two principles, Davis charts the entire season in a way that keeps the reader's interest. By midway through the book, you'll be eager to learn what happened at the Michigan State/Northwestern game thirty years ago. Davis keeps it interesting enough to get you through the season and into the tournament.

Even if you already know the results of the final game (and most sports fans do), the book is still a fun read. Davis makes a strong case that this game not only set the stage for the Celtics/Lakers rivalry of the 1980s, but profoundly changed the way Americans watched college basketball.

It might just be impossible to have a book with two better characters: Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Two of the greatest, if not the two greatest basketball players of all time. This book does a truly remarkable job of chronicling the 1979 season of the Indiana State Sycamores and the Michigan State Spartans. A lot of attention is paid to the teams, the coaches, the teammates, and the communities that were directly (and sometimes indirectly) affected by their respective teams.

There is not a lot to say about this book other than if you are a basketball junkie, a Bird or Magic fan, or someone who calls in to work to watch NCAA games, then this book is for you. It has wonderful accounts with direct quotes and accounts of fans, media personalities, coaches, and community members.

My only disappointment is that, despite the title, there is not a lot of depth regarding the rise of the NCAA and "March Madness." The author does a nice job in talking about TV ratings, contract rights, and other relevant topics; but, there just was not enough depth. I left the book realizing that the 1979 season impacted college basketball in the eyes of the nation; but, I did not realize exactly how dramatic this effect was and the details of the growth and interest.

J.Stoner

Being born in the early 1960's and not heavily into televised sports, I vaguely remember the 1979 contest between Michigan State and Indiana State. Perhaps I should modify the above statement, because prior to the pivotal year of 1979 it was rather difficult for anyone to be heavily into televised sports, NCAA men's basketball in particular. And though there were certainly pockets of the country where college basketball had a large and loyal following, in 1979 NCAA basketball was not a truly national sport and the NCAA men's tournament was not a national event.

But 1979 was the turning point that started the NCAA men's basketball tournament towards the March Madness that we see today, and Seth Davis does an admirable job of documenting the events leading up to the pivotal game played between Michigan State and Indiana State on Monday night, March 26, 1979. Though we can all look up the final score of the game (Michigan State 75, Indiana State 64), Seth is able to present an entertaining behind-the-scenes narrative that few people probably knew at the time and that very few remember today.

Of course this book is aided by the passage of time - time which was placed the MSU vs. ISU title game into a context that nobody realized while the events were unfolding. But then that context is also what makes this such an enjoyable read.

My son is the trivia consumer of the family. Although he was not yet born when the Michigan State Spartans (featuring Earvin "Magic" Johnson) and the Indiana State Sycamores (with Larry Bird) played their epic game in the 1979 NCAA finals, he watched the two as superstars in the NBA and has enjoyed biographies of both men.

Nobody expected either of those two college teams to make their way to the NCAA finals; both teams were like Cinderella at the ball. This book details the historic impact of that game and its effect on the NCAA tournament, and explains why the NBA became as big as it was a decade later. This is a great read for any basketball trivia buff.

Seth Davis has documented one of the turning points in basketball history by detailing the lives of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and the 1979 NCAA championship between Michigan State and Indiana State. Up to this point in college basketball history, fans were interested in the NCAA championship but weren't truly Mad about it. Well, Magic and Bird changed all of that. They were the catalyst that transformed the sport and the NCAA championships would never be the same again.

Seth Davis describes the lives of Magic and Bird and their maturation into basketball stars with great detail and extensive research. The reader comes away more informed about how the game changed at the end of the 1970's and how these two players affected the game in the years to come. The author gets a little bogged down in statistics and facts at some points in the book but it is easily overlooked as the reader comes away more informed about how college basketball was changed, not just in sporting terms, but in business terms.

The old-school book cover depicting an art style of promotional boxing posters sums it up; this was an extraordinary time when college basketball seized the spotlight and two heavyweights emerged on the stage to transform the game into a sports marketing monster.

Author and broadcaster Seth Davis provides a full-court press by delving into lives of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and the game they made famous; the 1979 NCAA championship between Michigan State and Indiana State. Davis utilizes meticulous research - including the use of media sources from the era - and a wealth of interviews to place the reader at center-court for this remarkable point in time.

"Thus, as Indiana State and Michigan State convened at center court in Salt Lake on March 26, 1979, all the pieces were falling into place to transform basketball. The only thing those pieces lacked was a catalytic event to transform the interest into true madness," Davis writes. "'The college game was already on the launching pad,' Al McGuire said. 'Then Bird and Magic came along and pushed the button.'"

With the backdrop including the National Basketball Association being a real alternative for the dynamic duo, there was a good chance that the incredible season may have never taken place. Due to the (special) rules in place at the time, Johnson was in (secret) negotiations with a pro club and Bird was strongly considering the jump to the NBA if an interim coach for that season - serious health problems prohibited head coach Bob King from being at the helm - turned out to be an assistant coach he did not get along with.

Davis traces the early careers of both players, the recruiting process - Michigan State was in the throes of a football scandal and the college president demanded that the work surrounding Johnson be "squeaky-clean" - with special focus on Bird getting a second chance with the Sycamores after he left Indiana University and the aftermath for those who are now forgotten footnotes to the cliff-notes version of the story.

And with athletic excellence on a prime-time stage comes lofty expectations for the future. While Michigan State - being a Big Ten powerhouse - could reload due to its rich history, the same cannot be said about Indiana State, whose basketball program emerged from the large shadows cast by Hoosiers and Boilermakers only to fall further into the background, while former players became estranged from the university as it struggled to maintain relevance as a home for students, let alone hoops.

Davis ends the book with an attempt by Indiana State officials to make things right - at least for one night in 2004 - when Bird returned for a ceremony to retire his jersey, with some of his former teammates present. "'There's a whole defeatist attitude at the university," Davis quotes a Terre Haute journalist as saying, "'and frankly, I'm not sure anything the athletic department does is going to overcome that.'"

The march to the madness that will grip the nation from March 17 to April 6, 2009, is a fascinating read, even though time has found the golden ball rattling off the rim for some who had top billing on that magical night in 1979.

I recently read Seth Davis' book, When March Went Mad, The Game That Transformed Basketball. It is a great book and history of what college basketball and the country was like in the 1970's. I did not know, for example, that in 1975, ten players on Michigan State, initiated a walkout. Race relations, while improved from the 1950's and 1960's, were still strained.

Seth Davis does a great job of describing the background of both Magic Johnson/Michigan State and Larry Bird/Indiana State.

The last couple of chapters are epilogues on what happened to both Bird and Magic as well as their schools and coaches. Heathcote coached until 1995, but never got back to another Final Four, though he did reach the Sweet 16 in 1986 and 1990. Bill Hodges, Indiana State's coach, lasted a couple of more years at Indiana State, but was forced to resign in 1982. Indiana State has only reached the NCAA tournament twice since that historic run in 1979, in 2000 and 2001.

Davis is a great college basketball expert as well as good author and I look forward to reading more on this sport from him when he has the chance.

Seth Davis' When March went Mad" gives insight to the most important game in college basketball history. Any basketball or sports historian can now learn about why this game was so important. Davis covers the game from every angle possible: Michigan State vs. Indiana State, Magic vs. Bird, Jud Heathcote vs. Bill Hodges, Bird vs. the Media, Indiana St. fans vs. Billy Packer, CBS vs. NBC. This is a must read to truly understand just what the 1979 Championship game really meant to the game of basketball.

David re-introduces us to the most storied player rivalry of all time in Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird. He brings us stories upon stories about the highest nielson rated basketball game of all time with a 24.1 rating. The book tells the story of the ultimate David vs. Goliath, as the little known Sycamores and their crazy toilet paper rolling fans had a dreamlike season pulling out improbable win after improbable win. "When March went Mad," also shows how Michigan State came within one loss of not making the entire NCAA tournament before streaking to their second straight Big Ten title. It also showed how the game marked the beginning of what makes March Madness what it is today, a billion dollar profit event. Although NBC televised the 1979 championship, CBS would soon capitalize on the sucess and pay billions of dollars to televise the tournament.

Any person who loves the game of basketball will enjoy the story of the biggest game in college basketball history. Every aspect is interesting and some are not widely known. As time goes on and people start to forget just what the 1979 championship did to the game of basketball, "When March went Mad" will serve as an accurate reminder of that night in Salt Lake City and its effect.