Top 10 Moments in NCAA Tournament History
By Joe Nardone
Magic vs Bird (Not the Video Game)
Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are credited with helping making the NBA a national sport. Their battles on the hardwood, however, started a little bit before the two of them got the NBA Finals off of tape-delay.
We have to travel in the way-back machine, though, to reach their first national moment. 1979 that is — or the year that my father made the first mistake of his life (my sister, not me you dope).
Bird played for Indiana State. If you are young, think of them as the Wichita State Shockers you see today. A mid-major, undefeated and not many believed in them. Then there was Magic on Michigan State. People already knew the dilly-yo as far as his talents went.
The match-up between these two schools, with those two players, was a really big deal at the time. It also helped put the spotlight on the NCAA Tournament in a big time way. The Spartans had far more talent than Bird’s team, but the Sycamores did hang around long enough to keep it interesting.
Eventually, Michigan State just had too much talent on it and took Indiana State down, 75-64, giving them the National Title. Oh, and it was the precursor to the awesomeness that became this:
One can only assume EA wasn’t really into hoops back in the day. As the video game version of Larry Bird isn’t really that resembling to the real life person — even for back then.