Jerusalem March Madness

The hot sports ticket and the conversational buzz this week is about the NCAA’s annual March Madness tournament. In our text, some madness is going on as well. It’s a madness that will continue throughout the week, although the tone will change.

March of 1983. Some serious buzz was building.

That was the year -- exactly 35 years ago -- that the N.C. State Wolfpack squeaked into the NCAA tournament. Called "The Cardiac Pack," these players and their young coach starred in the greatest Cinderella story in the history of college basketball.

At the beginning of the month, no one was paying much attention to the Wolfpack. But coach Jim Valvano and his team began to march through the brackets. They beat Pepperdine, UNLV, Utah and the powerful Virginia Cavaliers. Soon, fans were greeting them at the airport like they were rock stars, and pep rallies around N.C. State became legendary. Valvano was a joyous entertainer in front of a crowd, but also a master motivator on the sidelines.

When they reached the title game, it looked like the end of the road. The Wolfpack faced a star-studded Houston team including Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. But when the players took the court, they produced one of the greatest basketball games of all...