Magic & Bird on HBO - plenty of Marquette referencesWritten by: noreply@blogger.com (muwarrior92)Wednesday evening I attended the premier of Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals by HBO Sports. A red carpet affair with Magic, Doc Rivers, Bill Walton, Jack Nicholson, Dane Cook, Billy Crystal, Barry Bonds, Frank Robinson, and a whole host of other former and current sports figures from across the spectrum.
The 1.5 hour documentary takes you back to the days when the NBA was at it's peak, with two great players on opposite coasts, two opposite styles, east vs west, black vs white, subdued vs style. It brought back great memories for me, a time when the NBA was fun for me and worth watching. I wish I still had those NBA cravings, but I don't any longer. At least not to that level. I rarely watch a game anymore except for a bit of the playoffs. Back then, it was appointment television by the mid '80s.
Having grown up in Los Angeles with the Lakers, they were our team and we hated the Celtics and hated Larry Bird. I wish I had the appreciation for Bird then that I do now. The interview with him is fantastic. What a warrior that guy is...both players were, but Bird was something else. Talk about old school.
It's a movie that I think you will find to be incredibly interesting, humorous and sad, but generally a well put together documentary by HBO sports. It premiers on television on March 6th.
So what does this have to do with Marquette? It struck me while watching it how many Marquette references appear in the documentary that gave it another twist for me.
Marquette graduate Charlie Pierce, a sportswriter for the Boston Globe, plays a significant part throughout the piece with his musings of both players, but particularly from the Boston point of view. This is countered by the Lakers beat writer for the LA Times who offers the west coast view.
There are several newspaper clips showing the top 20 teams in the nation with Marquette highlighted and another that references the top 10 NCAA basketball games in television viewership of all time....MU vs NC State was on the list (the MSU - Indiana State game was the highest in history). There are several other MU references but you need to keep your eyes peeled wide open.
For the basketball fan, you will enjoy this documentary considerably. Even if you are not a NBA fan, this film will take you to a time when everyone was.
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