BearTalk

I’ve been to Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan., the Palestra in Philadelphia and Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke. But Thursday will be my first visit to Madison Square Garden.

Although none of the current Cal players have taken the floor at Madison Square Garden, the Golden Bears have been there before. They’re 4-2 all-time at the famed arena, including three straight victories.

Here’s a summary of the Bears’ history at the Garden:

1946 NCAAs: Ohio State 63, Cal 45 (national third-place game)
1957 Holiday Classic: Cal 60, Dayton 55
                                   Temple 69, Cal 59
                                    Cal 96, NYU 65
1999 NIT:  Cal 85, Oregon 69
                  Cal 61, Clemson 60 (championship game)

Originally opened in 1879, Madison Square Garden is in its fourth incarnation, now located at 8th Ave, between 31st and 33rd streets, above Penn Station.

The facility bills itself as the world’s most famous arena, and it’s hard to argue. Here’s an impressive sampling of events staged at the Garden:

– The first Garden seated 10,000 and held a velodrome for bicycle racing, which was popular at the time. The building also housed the nation’s first indoor ice arena for hockey.

– At the 1924 Democratic National Convention someone named John W. Davis earned the presidential nomination, but he lost to Calvin Coolidge. In ’92, Bill Clinton won his nomination at the Garden.

– Boxing events include a bout featuring Jack Dempsey in 1921, Gene Tunney’s only career defeat in 1922, Rocky Marciano’s eighth-round KO of an aging Joe Louis in 1951, and the first two Ali-Frazier fights.

– Willis Reed is famous for his dramatic entrance during the 1970 NBA finals, but the Knicks center also had a 36-point, 36-rebound performance against the Baltimore Bullets earlier in the playoffs that season.

– Coming out of 18 months of retirement, Michael Jordan scored 55 points against Knicks in 1995.

– Pope John Paul II greeted fans at the Garden in 1979.

– The Westminster Kennel Club dog show has called the Garden home for 133 years.

– Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to JFK on his 45th in 1962, and the dress she wore later sold at auction for more than $1 million.

– George Harrison staged his famous “Concert for Bangladesh” at the Garden in 1971, and John Lennon performed his final concert there in 1980.

– The Rolling Stones, Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Springsteen, Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, Pavarotti, Bob Dylan and U2 all played there.

– The Grateful Dead performed 52 times at the Garden, a record until Elton John gave his 53rd show in 2001.

– Before becoming an Olympic icon, gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored her first perfect “10” at the Garden in the 1976 American Cup competition.

– In a 1979 tennis classic, 20-year-old John McEnroe beat 35-year-old Arthur Ashe.

– The New York Rangers, who began playing at the Garden in 1926, won the 1940 Stanley Cup on their home ice.

– City College of New York swept the 1950 NCAA and NIT crowns in the building, the only time in history the same school won both titles in the same season.

– The Rev. Sun Myung Moon married 1,500 couples at the Garden in 1998.