Seth Davis' 'When March Went Mad'

Even the casual basketball fan knows about the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry, and its beginnings in the 1979 NCAA National Championship Game. Seth Davis' book, "When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed College Basketball," chronicles the beginning of that rivalry in '79, and the long-lasting effect that the game has had on the way we all watch college basketball. The book drops Tuesday, just in time for the 30-year anniversary of the game (you can purchase it here). Read FanHouse's review of the book after the jump.

Because of the media coverage -- and the general proliferation of technology -- in today's world, countless "bloggable" stories emerge from every major sporting event. When we look back at particular sporting events in a very generic historical sense, it's easy to miss the trees for the metaphorical forest that is the overall theme. This is especially true with the 1979 national championship game between Indiana State and Michigan State, which is looked at today as "Magic vs. Bird."

But Seth Davis, in "When March Went Mad," does an outstanding job of recapturing that season in a narrative-styled, insider's look at the perfect storm that formed to lift college basketball into the national spotlight.

The subject matter, on its face, is simple enough: Magic and Bird meet in Salt Lake City for a game that, despite its underwhelming nature (the game itself was actually pretty lopsided in favor of Michigan State), jump-started a longstanding rivalry between the two players. But as Davis' narrative weaves back and forth between each program's season, it manages to lift an incredible number of story lines to the forefront.

There is the stark comparison -- on any number of levels -- between Magic and Bird. There are the vast differences between Michigan State and Indiana State. Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote and Indiana State's Bill Hodges maintain many similarities but their coaching styles juxtapose fascinatingly in Davis' narrative.

And that's what this factual retelling of events actually becomes a narrative. You can tell, while reading the book, that Davis spent countless hours re-watching old game film, listening to radio broadcasts of games and interviewing the various subjects of the book.

There are innumerable quotes from everyone ranging from Bird himself, to both schools' team managers, on up to the bigwigs at NBC (as well as this little fledgling-at-the-time network named ESPN). What makes all the interviews so compelling, though, is that Davis took media, player and coach reactions throughout the season and combined them with his own interviews from modern day.

It's a blend that works especially well in this setting, because while it's one thing to hear Heathcote's immediate reactions to his team's mid-season troubles, it's especially fascinating to listen to an elderly legend removed from coaching as he ruminates on his possible failures at the time (and they called Bird a perfectionist).

Taken as a whole, the book is actually a history lesson. That might be considered a bit of a turnoff for someone under 40 years old, even if they're a basketball fan. But the truth of the matter is that Davis' method of transitioning back and forth across figurative state lines while also building a foundation for understanding the Bird-Magic rivalry is enough to intrigue any fan of college basketball, regardless of age.