Meyer taught a lesson worth remembering

I have a confession to make: I have a terribly selective memory.

I can bump into someone I haven't spoken with in 15 years and usually come up with a name. Just don't ask me the score of Wednesday's Jazz-Sonics game.

I can recall the password to the boys-only club I belonged to in the third grade, but I can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday.

I couldn't name all the teams in last year's Final Four without looking it up. I don't recall that much about the 1979 Final Four, either, even though I was there.

But there are a few moments I'll never forget.

Especially the one with Ray Meyer.

The championship match-up that year was sublime: Magic vs. Bird, the two best college players in the game, who would go on to become the best in the pro game, too.

I was lucky. I had been out of college only months and was assigned to help cover the Final Four.

Magic Johnson was everything I expected — irrepressible, intuitive, innovative. He was also accommodating with the media.

Larry Bird, though, was surly and uncooperative. One of the big stories that week was whether he would talk to the media. He had boycotted reporters that season, after a writer referred to him as the "Hick from French Lick."

Bird did appear at a press conference once before the championship game. But that didn't mean he enjoyed it. His remarks were terse and unenthusiastic. Part of that was a natural reticence. But clearly his heart wasn't in doing interviews. After losing in the championship game, he boycotted the media again, issuing a press release instead.

Despite their differences in handling publicity, it was obvious both Bird and Johnson knew the game masterfully. They seemed to see the plays several moves ahead, recognizing patterns amid in the ebb and flow.

I went to the MSU locker room to do a sidebar on the winning team, long after the championship game ended. By the time I arrived, almost everyone was gone except a handful of reporters waiting for Johnson to return from the shower. He had already been through the TV stand-ups, post-game press conference and dozens of locker room interviews.

Someone asked what he felt, now that the reality of a national championship had sunken in. I could tell he'd been asked that question numerous times already.

"Man," said the Magic Man gamely, "it feels great."