As the Big Dance is about to dominate the sporting landscape, it reminds me that Memphis State Tigers’ fans embraced MADNESS in March long before the Big Dance was ever conceived.
I grew up knowing Memphis basketball to be a religion (so to speak), and on Saturday afternoons or nights, I, along with family and friends, gathered in one room (as faithful disciples do) and went to the "Church of Memphis State Basketball". I watched (as my recruitment proceeded) and heard the "Reverend Dana Kirk" and his "Associate Pastor Larry Finch" deliver some of the best sermons to their congregation and lead the likes of Keith Lee, Andre Turner, William Bedford, Vincent Askew, Baskerville Holmes, John Wilfong, Dwight Boyd and others to the Final Four in 1984-85.