SPORTS THOUGHTS ⚫ BY MIKE KILLBREATH
March Madness fun clearly my favorite time of every sports year
Thursday, March 20, 2025
March Madness has arrived.
It's my favorite time of year, not only because of the NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments.
It's also the time of year when spring ushers in the start of a new baseball season while the NBA and NHL quickly follow the March Madness fun of college basketball brackets and college hockey's march to its Frozen Four.
High school sports reach a fevered pitch of their own with the prep version of March Madness for hockey, boys' basketball and girls' basketball.
As this life-long sports fan enters the closing chapters to a fun-filled life, my thoughts during this season of spring turn to the many childhood memories of playing sports from sun-up to sundown and vivid visions of watching so many big games this time of year with all the friends and family no longer with us.
Young fan upset about losing Kirk Gibson from Detroit Tigers' telecasts don't even recognize names like Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey, George Kell and Al Kaline — baseball broadcasters I grew up listening to as a young sports fan.
I can still hear their voices in my head with so many historic calls forever etched inside my brain.
The favorite part of doing my sports shows is listening to our open with a rotating mix of all the greatest calls I've collected and obtained permission to replay.
It's funny how nobody has ever said "no" to letting me share their particular team's historic clips.
For me, I guess sitting back to relax a few minutes before getting every sports show started has a special significance. I swear there's a special memory tied to every single clip.
Who I heard it with at the time.
Where I was in my life when it happened.
Take for example these special memories attached to each big moment in sports history.
The 1968 Detroit Tigers? Turning a cub scout meeting into a backyard football game as the radio blared the weekday afternoon call as the Tigers won to stay alive after going into a 3-games-to-one hole.
Mark "The Bird" Fidrych's starts during the magical summer of 1976? My dad crouching down on his knees in my bedroom to hear Ernie Harwell describe the final outs on the radio almost every game he pitched as packed crowds at the old Tiger Stadium had the place rocking like never before, or after. Those special memories of the absolute delight on my father's face will live with me forever as he so loved the crazy pitcher who talked to the ball in his Boston accent while manicuring the mound and hopping around the field to hug infielders who made nice plays.
The game-winning, walk-off home run blast by Maglio Ordonez to put the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series? Hearing replays of the radio call remind me of being there to witness it with three special friends who are no longer with us.
The 1984 World Series? My then, not yet 2-year-old son Billy swinging in his little chair and yelling along with us as I celebrated with my grandpa in his living room as my grandma worried about us not eating enough of her chicken dinner because we had filled up on her extra butter popcorn servings.
The big MSU upset over Michigan on the muffed punt in 2015? My oldest grandson was still in diapers but glued to the TV except during commercials when he would turn into a rambling running back with an under-sized football.
The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" victory by Team USA over the Russians? I was at a Goodrich basketball game watching my all-time favorite team to ever cover as my old football coach John Bishop led the Martians to victory en route to a Genesee Eight Conference championship. It's the only time I can remember my dad waiting up for me after a long night of work at the Flint Journal sports department. He awakened from a sound sleep on the couch when I opened the door — turning into a play-by-play, blow-by-blow recapitulation of every last detail of the greatest moment in the annals of sports history.
The 1997 Stanley Cup victory by the Detroit Red Wings? Watching at a bar in Canada with my son and his travel hockey friends, wondering if my father up in Heaven was watching our 42-year wait for a Stanley Cup end.
Chris Weber's infamous time out call in the closing seconds of the 1993 NCA game against North Carolina when Michigan didn't have any time outs left? Watching with my all-time favorite group of employees at the old offices of Tri-County News as we were distracted from producing our daily newspaper before our midnight deadline.
MSU winning it all in the 1979 NCAA version of college basketball's March Madness: Watching with all the sports writers on the fourth floor at the old Flint Journal building as we were all jealous how Assistant Sports Editor and star columnist Dean Howe got to be there as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird went at it on the day America really fell in love with college basketball.
MSU winning it all in the 2000 NCAA basketball tournament? Watching on a small TV in my late uncle Troy's basement as Mateen Cleaves and the Flintstones were dancing in celebration just moments before tears could be seen streaming down our local star's face as they played "One Shining Moment" with a declaration from my favorite uncle that they would be replaying that scene when I'm someday watching with my grandchildren.
Wow. He was right.
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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Daily Gazette Sports Weekend Show Sundays from 6-8 pm, The Daily Gazette Sports Night Show weekdays at 6 pm and on The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 9:30 am. He's an award-winning news columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This fall will be his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekly national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms.