Saturday, January 20, 2007

39th Anniversary of Game of the Century

Today is the 39th anniversary of the Houston-UCLA Game of the Century.

As detailed in earlier postings on this site, current UH Coach Tom Penders' hope for a 40th anniversary game next year (and a resumption of play between the schools more generally) had cold water tossed on it by UCLA Coach Ben Howland. I suppose there's still time for such a game to be scheduled for next year, but I've seen nothing to indicate it will happen.

As I've also discussed previously, what I would consider the definitive resource on the 1968 classic is Eddie Einhorn's book (written with Ron Rapoport) How March Became Madness. Released last year, the book consists of short chapters, each presenting an interview with a major figure in the modern history of college basketball. The book is not entirely on the Game of the Century but does have 10 chapters specifically devoted to it. Not only that -- the book comes with a DVD of the Game of the Century (actually, just the second half, plus the closing minutes of the first half).