30 years ago today....

Going a little off topic here...

On March 26, 1979, I was a fifth grader at Daniel Webster elementary school in Dallas, Texas. I was in Mr. Pantello's gym class. He starts class off by asking us, "So, who you guys got? Magic? or Bird?"

Some of the kids said Magic. Others said Bird. And I was like, "Magic? Bird? What are you talking about? What's a Magic? What's a Bird?"

Mr. Pantello was talking about Michigan State's Magic Johnson and Indiana State's Larry Bird. They were playing the NCAA basketball championship that night, and it was a game that would revolutionize the NCAA tournament and kickoff one of the greatest basketball rivalries of all-time. When they turned pro, Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics met three times in the NBA Finals, with Johnson coming out on top twice.

But it was their first meeting, in a game staged in front of the most television viewers to ever watch an NCAA college basketball game, that is the most famous. And that day, in Mr. Pantello's class, was the first time I'd ever heard of either.

I remember it like it was yesterday.