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**^{You’d have to be mad to not get this one.}**

March 26, 1979 … the night March Madness was born.

Top-ranked and undefeated Indiana State University, led by a fella named Larry Bird, met the third-ranked Michigan State Spartans and a dude named Earvin “Magic” Johnson on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for the 1979 NCAA Championship.

At the time the pair met, the NCAA Tournament was a quaint little affair of just 40 schools. The next year it was bumped to 48 and by 1985 it was at 64. The ratings for this game topped out at 35% of U.S. televisions and led to seismic jumps in rights fees to the current amount of roughly $900 million per year. What’s more, back in the 1970s, not all games were televised nationally. Today, someone with solid remote control skills and plenty of caffeine for the early rounds could see the tips and finishes of every game live.

Much of this is attributed to the two men in this week’s Fan Teaser. As former Marquette University coach and later NBC college basketball analyst Al McGuire said, “The college game was already on the launching pad. Then Bird and Magic came along and pushed the button.”

Kaboom!

Magic Johnson, left, and Larry Bird, during the 1979 Men's NCAA Championship Game — ^{Earvin “Magic” Johnson, left, and Larry Bird during their first of many high-profile matchups at the 1979 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship in Salt Lake City, UT. (Photo by James Drake/Sports Illustrated)}

For more reading, check out this Michael Wilbon piece from the Washington Post back in 2009, when the game was but a mere 30-years-old.

^{A highlight package of Bird vs. Magic during the 1979 NCAA Championship Game.}

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

Fan Teaser – Week 128

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**^{The fella on the mound is in a club of one! Who is it and why is it?}**

In the 149-year history of Major League Baseball there’s only been *one Opening Day no-hitter. It was thrown by Cleveland Indians’ 21-year-old future Baseball Hall of Famer, Bob Feller.

A special Fan Teaser within a Fan Teaser, there has actually been one other Opening Day no-hitter, thrown by the man in the following photo. It occurred on May 5, 1946, as the Newark Eagles defeated the Philadelphia Stars in the Negro National League opener, 2-0. We’ll get to him in a moment.

It was not Feller’s best-ever performance, as he walked five batters and was, by his own admission, wild early. He did fan eight White Sox and has the claim to fame of owning the first Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history during Cleveland’s, 1-0, victory. (Full boxscore here.)

**^{Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Bob Feller captured during his April 16, 1940, Opening Day}**
**^{no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental}**
**^{Graphics, Getty Images)}**

Six years later another Baseball Hall of Famer, Leon Day, joined Feller in keeping the opposition hitless. Of course it would be another 78 years until MLB began crediting Negro Leagues statistics in the official record. Making Day’s feat even more remarkable is the fact that he was just discharged from the Army in February of 1946 and rounded into form by Opening Day.

Since Day’s no-no, there’s only been one other pitcher hold the opposition hitless into the ninth inning on the season opener: Philadelphia Phillies’ Hall of Famer Robin Roberts against the New York Giants on April 13, 1955. Alvin Dark laced a 1-out single in the ninth to break it up.

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Fan Teaser – Week 127

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The Sports Fan Project Bracket Challenge – Update 2

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The Fan Teaser: Week 126 Solution

March 23, 2025March 20, 2025DouglasTHillLeave a comment

Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe was known to scores of fans as “Mr. Hockey.”

Many of his opponents might have – privately – had other things they called him. In addition to his scoring and playmaking ability, Howe was known to do dirty work in the corners that appealed to fans, while also raising the occasional elbow that likely did not endear him to opponents.

The expression, “elbows up” has been adopted by Canadians in response to ongoing banter by the current United States administration about tariffs as well as the annexation threats.