The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 55 Thriller
The 1982 CIF California Championship Division 1 final is underestimated in its impact on television broadcasting history; it was a night that witnessed a television miracle. It provided a good model for future NBA broadcasting strategies and featured two iconic figures.

—Excerpt from John A. Fortunnato's 2001 book, *The Ultimate Assist: The Relationship and Broadcast Strategies of the NBA and Television Network*.

During the 15-minute halftime break, the control room at the CBS headquarters in New York began broadcasting commercials to television: Burger King beef patty burgers and Kellogg's boxed tortilla chips.

Neil Pearson, the newly appointed head of sports at CBS last November, asked in the control room, "Halftime, has Nielsen transmitted the ratings data?"

After a flurry of activity in the control room, a staff member came over with a fax and said, "The data just came in. The ratings are around 4.3, which is pretty good. It's not much different from the ratings of an NBA regular season game."

Nielsen is the largest television ratings company in the United States. They use both signal receivers and questionnaires to calculate program ratings for various television stations, providing data to determine the quality of television programs and advertising rates.

During halftime, Nielsen transmitted coarse data from the signal receiver to CBS Sports. This data was unprocessed and inaccurate, but it was what Pearson requested; he couldn't wait for the precise data.

Upon seeing this result, Pearson frowned, because broadcasting the CIF California Championship live was one of the important decisions he made after taking office as head of the athletics department in November.

The development of the basketball market in the 80s was not satisfactory, and professional basketball entered a slump. The viewership rating of the 1981 Finals was only 6.7, which was a quarter of the viewership rating of the 1979 NCAA Finals.

Taking advantage of this downturn, Pearson, shortly after taking office, seized upon the league's weakness in the negotiations for the NBA broadcasting contract, securing the contract for an incredibly low price of $8800 million, which can be considered Pearson's successful start.

But once the contract is signed, Pearson naturally hopes that the basketball market will recover and that more people will be willing to watch basketball programs.

This CIF North-South Finals was an experiment for Pearson, and a month later, on March 29, CBS will also broadcast the NCAA College Finals, with high school and college teams taking turns to compete.

He hopes that these youth sports events can attract young basketball fans, show the market a different kind of competition than professional basketball, and shape a positive image for basketball.

"A rating of 4.3 is just so-so. It's halftime now. In the third and fourth quarters, more and more viewers will be lost, and the final result will definitely not be as good as 4.3."

Pearson wasn't too disappointed with the 4.3 rating, but he wasn't entirely satisfied either. He thought he had overestimated the appeal of high school games.

Although this game was full of hype, with a battle between Northern and Southern California, it also featured a Chinese team and their Chinese stars.

The last Chinese person who could attract Americans was Bruce Lee, who has been dead for almost 10 years.

To be honest, Pearson has never watched that young man named Gan's matches; he's just too busy to have time.

However, in places where Pearson and Nielsen's data cannot be monitored in real time, in California, and in other parts of the United States, something is happening.

In San Francisco, at restaurants like Gan's Restaurant, Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, Korean restaurants, and bars like The-Begining, many people gathered in front of their televisions to watch the game.

In the first quarter, everyone watched, drank, ate, and chatted. But when Gan Guoyang delivered that block at the start of the second quarter, everything changed.

People started to focus, get excited, and become more engaged, until halftime when Gan Guoyang and Miller were exchanging barbs near the center line, and everyone was already eager to see the third quarter.

The commercials became lengthy, and some people decided to go home. Fifteen minutes was enough time to get home, turn on the TV, and continue watching the rest of the game.

At night, in an underground music bar in Los Angeles, halfway through a performance, a musician suddenly brought up a television and said that the show was over and they had to watch a game.

There was a chorus of boos from the audience, but the musician said that this was a request made by a deceased friend of his. He said that if that person made it to the finals, he had to go to the stadium or watch the live stream.

Some people left shouting and cursing, but most stayed to see what kind of game it was—it turned out to be basketball, a dull and boring game with no appeal.

But when the first half ended, there were even more people in the music bar than before. Everyone was engrossed in the game, and the duel between number 11 and number 30 was exciting.

During halftime, some people left, wanting to find somewhere else to watch the game – a shopping mall, a church, or somewhere that could receive CBS television.

In his office at the Olympia Tower in New York, David Stern was reviewing and revising the draft of the labor agreement line by line; he had lost count of how many revisions he had made.

Since last summer, the NBA's labor and management have been mired in negotiations, with owners wanting to cut spending and establish a new revenue-sharing system, especially a salary cap to control unrestricted salaries.

The players, however, strongly disagreed. Stern, as the league's executive vice president of business and legal affairs (a new position created specifically for him by O'Brien in 80, where he was responsible for a whole range of matters including legal, marketing, public relations, and television broadcasting), engaged in a head-to-head confrontation with Larry Fleischer, the president of the players' union.

Fleischer played a crucial role in the 1964 All-Star strike, the 1970 Robertson lawsuit, and the 1976 ABA-NBA merger. He was also a well-known agent in the league.

Stern, who is 12 years younger than him, is the only person in the league who can rival Fleischer in terms of legal experience, physical strength, and cunning.

Someone knocked on the office door, and Stern didn't even look up, simply saying, "Come in."

"David, stop what you're doing, let's watch a game together."

It was President Larry O'Brien's voice.

Stern looked up and asked, "What game? Today is March 1st, there are no games in the league."

"The league isn't everything in basketball. Come on, let's watch together. I watched the first half, it was really fun. You call Granick and Bateman, tell them to turn on their TVs too. The more people who watch, the better."

Stern quickly put down his work and left the office with Larry O'Brien.

In many other corners of the United States, people listen to sports broadcasts in their cars, listen to the game on the radio at home while reading the newspaper, and are captivated by televised games while visiting other people's homes.

Some of them turned on the TV as soon as they got home, some turned off their familiar radios and decided to turn on the TV to see what was going on, and some decided to go home during the break, only to turn on the TV again once they got home...

In the 1980s, neighborhood relations were not as distant and cold as they would become later. In middle-class communities in California, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas, young and adult men would gather to drink, talk about sports, baseball, football, horse racing, and bull riding.

Then someone came up and said, "Hey, this is an interesting match, let's watch it together. My friend just called and said it's very interesting."

Or in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, in poor but lively Black communities, the elderly sit in the yard while children play outside.

As people passed by in twos and threes, one said, "There's a game on CBS that everyone says is good. Go back... Grandpa! Stop standing around in the yard, go back and turn on the TV cabinet!"

In an era without the internet, where people mainly communicated by phone and all news releases were delayed, it was extremely rare for a program or competition to experience a sudden surge in viewership in the second half after the first half had begun.

All the publicity was finalized before the event; those who were interested would pay attention, and those who weren't wouldn't receive any information.

Unless someone gets killed during the match, most people are unlikely to turn on the TV to watch the game in the middle of it.

However, the exciting second quarter of this CIF California finals brought about a boost in reputation.

At the same time, there were no other major games on March 1st, all NBA teams were on break, NCAA March Madness had not yet started, and the NFL and MLB were in their off-season.

This lone California high school basketball matchup suddenly became the focus. Perhaps many people were not interested in the game, but they had all heard that a Chinese basketball prodigy had recently emerged in Northern California.

Driven by this curiosity, they decided to turn on the TV to see what kind of match it was and what kind of Chinese football star it was.

Nielsen began receiving CBS Sports signals from television receivers placed in many homes, which were then continuously transmitted to the company headquarters via signal towers.

The players on the field were unaware that more and more eyes were watching them; their eyes were only on their opponents and the championship trophy placed on the sidelines.

The slow pace at the start of the game was gone, and the second half began with a fierce and intense contest. The Shuizhong team trusted their only ace player and kept getting the ball into Gan Guoyang's hands.

Riverside Polytechnic High School's journey to the finals wasn't due to luck. They possess extremely strong outside shooting ability, making them virtually invincible in high school games dominated by zone defense.

CBS's commentary pace was more than twice as fast as in the first half:
"Number 11, Sonny Gan, receives the ball, turns, fakes a move, drives inside, layup done!"

"Riverside's fast break, Reggie Miller hits a mid-range jumper! It goes in, a hasty shot, but it goes in."

"The Water Bell team didn't stop, they were very fast, Gan cut in from the middle to receive the ball, and dunked! Wow! A one-handed slam dunk!"

"Riverside Polytechnic High School also made a shot, God I didn't even see who shot it, the camera didn't follow it."

"Sonnie Gan is unstoppable! He broke through a double team, powered his way to the basket, and dunked again!"

"Gan blocked the opponent's shot on defense, launched a fast break, drove to the basket, Gan alley-ooped, and dunked! Shui Zhong's offense is like crazy! Should Riverside call a timeout?"

"No, Reggie Miller caught the ball and made a long shot from the corner! Woohoo! My god! The offense of both sides can't stop for a moment."

The two teams put on what was arguably the most exciting offensive battle of this year's CIF Championship in the third quarter. Gan Guoyang accounted for almost all of the Water Bell team's points, while Miller consistently managed to hit shots in crucial moments.

Both players were on fire and their verbal sparring never stopped.

At the end of the third quarter, the two bid each other a reluctant farewell at the sideline. Gan Guoyang was no longer the one who would stop short of a fight and had mastered the psychology of the game.

This guy got carried away and poured out everything he'd learned from the Behrman swearing training course to Miller, who took it all and even gave him a few extra.

Berman pulled Gan Guoyang back to the bench and said, "Gan, you played very well, but you need to calm down and stop swearing so much."

"This guy is a piece of shit. If I don't win this game today, I'll hang you in the arena, Bobby!"

"..."

The intense duel between Gan Guoyang and Miller stirred up the emotions of both the fans at the stadium and the viewers in front of their televisions.

In America, nothing is more captivating than a heroic showdown.

Throughout the 70s, the NBA had strong players, but no heroes.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were astonishing; they created a ratings miracle in the 1979 NCAA Championship game, reaching 24.1, a record that remains unmatched.

But the game was actually quite disappointing. Larry Bird made 7 of 21 shots and only scored 19 points, losing the game without much suspense. The evenly matched contest that people wanted to see did not happen, leaving only the image of Bird sitting on the bench, burying his face in his hands and crying.

The Civil War in the CIF reached its climax in the fourth quarter.

No one on the Shuizhong side can stop Miller, and no one on the Riverside Polytechnic can possibly stop Gan Guoyang.

The relatively low overall level ironically led to a knightly duel between the two teenagers.

The entire fourth quarter was a repeat of the third quarter; the two players rested briefly on the bench before returning to the court.

All eyes were on them: Miller was slender, agile, and precise, while Gan Guoyang was a yellow beast.

Gan Guoyang probably had more dunks tonight than in all his previous games combined. All the players on the team could see that Gan Guoyang really wanted to win.

The score between the two teams, which started at 41-43 at halftime, continued to fluctuate and eventually rose to 87-86.

The Water Bell team, which had been dominating Riverside High School, experienced a physical crisis at the last moment.

The 4 quarters and 48 minutes of play took a toll on the players.

Insufficient rest, poor nutrition, and inadequate warm-up all negatively impacted the players' performance.

They gritted their teeth and persevered, but Xu Xun suffered a leg cramp at the last moment and had to be carried off the field.

When he left the field, his eyes were filled with tears, and he tightly gripped Gan Guoyang's arm, but he didn't say a word.

Gan Guoyang understood Xu Xun's meaning. He wiped his sweat and returned to the court for a crucial attack by the team.

"Flank him! Flank him!"

Miller yelled at his teammates. Everyone knew that only Gan Guoyang on the Water Bell team still had the stamina.

Chen Xing almost made a mistake, but Gan Guoyang came out to receive the pass and managed to control the ball.

Two players came over to double-team him, and Gan Guoyang was forced into a desperate situation outside the three-point line.

"Sonny Gan, the ball was about to be lost... but he managed to control it and get it back. In the middle, the Riverside Polytechnic players were swarming him, but he took a shot right at the three-point line..."

It seemed like a long time had passed.

"...Goal! Oh my god! Goal! That shot went in!"

During the live broadcast on CBS, and as many announcers on the sidelines couldn't help but jump up and shout.

Gan Guoyang made an incredible long-range shot, surrounded by three players and almost losing the ball.

The score reached 88-87, with Water Clock taking the lead with just a few seconds left in the game!

The entire Great Western Forum erupted in celebration. Fans no longer cared whether it was Southern or Northern California; they just wanted to see a clash of heroes.

Riverside High School called a timeout, leaving them with a chance to turn the game around, and the camera naturally focused on Reggie Miller.

Miller made 13 of 19 shots in this game and has already scored 30 points. His shooting accuracy is terrifying.

Can Cheryl Miller's brother, like his sister, win the CIF championship and leave glory to Southern California?
The pause ended quickly. At CBS headquarters, in Neil Pearson's office, a staff member rushed in without knocking, saying, "Mr. Pearson, here's the latest ratings data from Nielsen!"

"Latest viewership ratings, is the game over?"

"No, it's the final moment, the ratings have already reached..."

"How many?"

"A rough estimate is 15.8, which may be even lower."

"what?"

Pearson couldn't believe his ears. Near the end of the match, the ratings had jumped to 15.8? That's a threefold increase!
If you can't believe your ears, you have to believe your eyes. Pearson scrambled to the control room and found almost everyone gathered there watching the game.

Reggie Miller's final shot in the final moments!
Miller shook off his defender, received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right side, and turned to shoot from a step inside the three-point line!

"Miller's last shot! The ball... the ball was tipped by Gambit, tipped by Gambit! He touched the ball with his finger, and Gambit got the ball! Game over, game over!"

"The Northbridge Waterbell team from San Francisco has won the championship! A miracle, they've created a miracle! This is their first year with CIF! A miracle!"

The TV broadcaster's voice was hoarse; he had reached his limit.

The entire control room erupted in cheers; it seemed everyone supported the Water Bell team, this suddenly rising Chinese team.

Pearson stood there, his heart pounding with excitement. A tremendous sense of surprise filled his chest, like a bullet hitting his heart, the tremor spreading from the center of his body to his limbs, all the way to his fingertips, toes, and scalp.

His body began to tremble involuntarily.

Is this what it feels like to experience a miracle?
It was so wondrous that it sent shivers down my spine.

...At Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, I was completely absorbed in the production of my new album, Thriller. We were so engrossed in our work that we cared about almost nothing but music...

The only exception was the night of March 1st, when I was struggling with the melody of a song and felt like I couldn't find the right feeling. The record company kept pushing me, and I felt immense pressure.

Frank DeLeo then approached me and pulled me aside to watch a basketball game on TV. I declined, as I wasn't particularly interested in basketball, but he insisted on watching, saying it was a very interesting game.

I watched the second half of the CIF finals and that's when I first met Gan. In the final moments, Gan hit the game-winning shot, and I jumped up from the sofa, dancing with excitement. But the game wasn't over yet; Reggie Miller had a chance to close it out, and he caught the ball and shot.

But Gan rushed over from a great distance, sideways, and tipped the ball away from mid-air. The ball landed in his hands, and he held it high with one hand, to the cheers of the entire arena; he looked like a basketball Statue of Liberty.

I was trembling all over at that moment. I found that feeling, that exciting, exhilarating feeling. I immediately returned to the recording studio and finished recording Thriller…

—Excerpt from "Moon Walk," a biography of Michael Jackson published in 1988.

(End of Volume One, "Go to be there".)
On New Year's Eve, I wish all readers a happy Year of the Dragon, good health, and that you find joy and inspiration in reading, and spend every day meaningfully.

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(End of this chapter)