The Golden Age of Basketball Chapter 809 - 26 Bird out3

I will never forget that night’s scene, with so many people coming especially to cheer for .

I’m really grateful for their applause.

Bob Costa agreed to fly to Boston for free to host the event, and Magic was as gracefully charming as ever.

To my surprise, Ah Gan was also at the court side, his presence was unexpected, he did not take the stage to grab the spotlight but quietly applauded from below.

My mother made a rare appearance in Boston to watch the ga, my son Conner was still a baby then, he helped raise my jersey to the basket hoop.

We raised over one million US Dollars for 33 different charities.

We donated money to many organizations, it was difficult to choose who should receive the funds, as many of them were deserving.

I rember at that ti, Conner really liked Barney’s show, so I suggested donating money to the public television station that broadcasts it.

I wanted to donate to "Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club" because I saw all the good deeds they had done.

I wanted to donate a new van to a holess shelter in town called "Rosie’s House".

I also wanted to donate to "New England Baptist Hospital", the staff there had been taking care of for years, etc.

People always ask if I regret going through all that pain, if given the choice again, knowing all that I would have to endure, would I make the sa decision.

When I list all the physical problems I’ve had, it sounds like I’m complaining about my injuries, which I don’t like to do.

That’s why you never heard talk about this while I was playing, it’s the last thing I wanted to discuss.

What I want to say is: the spirit of our team was to overco all difficulties to play the ga, to play at all costs, and most of us did just that.

Like when Kevin broke his foot, we knew it was serious, and if Kevin decided he couldn’t go on, we would have respected his decision, and understood him.

But the fact is, Kevin wouldn’t just sit back and watch because he knew we had a good chance at the championship that year, such opportunities were hard to co by.

I believe McHale must have so regrets; in 1987, we lost to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.

As far as I know, so many years have passed, and Kevin’s foot injury still troubles him, he walks with a bit of a limp.

But if you ask him if he regrets it? Definitely not.

I think one problem in the League now is if players get injured, they choose not to play because they don’t want to ruin their reputation as a great player.

There’s also the situation where a player’s contract is about to expire, they think they can make a lot of money, so why should they play if they don’t have to?

And then there are the agents; these young people are letting others make decisions for them, which is not good.

Kids like Marcus Camby, he’s so talented, but he has suffered too many injuries, which has limited him.

I really want to tell him that if he could overco so of the pesky injuries, he might feel better.

I’ve had so very outstanding gas, but I wasn’t in good physical condition, my muscles were strained, or I was sick.

When I took to the court that night, I felt like I couldn’t be worse, but once I started running around for a while, all of those would be forgotten and I’d get into the ga.

However, later when I beca a coach, one thing I tried to understand is that everyone deals with pain differently.

So people know how to overco the pain, so can’t, while so people hardly ever get hurt.

I like to see players play through injuries like sprained ankles, but when the injury is more serious, only you can decide how far you want to push yourself.

My principle is, if you feel like you can’t play, then don’t play. If you can play, then get on the court and play, just don’t spend too much ti talking about it. No one knows your pain threshold except for you.

Sotis I would complain to Dan Drake in private, "Why isn’t this guy playing tonight? We need him."

But Dan always told , "Larry, your pain threshold is incredibly high. You can’t expect others to have the sa threshold because they don’t. It’s unfair to question how far people are willing or able to push themselves."

In dealing with the players I coached, I tried to keep this in mind.

So, was all this pain worth it? When you look around the Boston Garden and see 15,000 people there, then every minute was worth it.

I love looking around and seeing every seat filled, it’s a special mory that I will never forget.

But there are so things I’d rather forget, never to rember again.

A few years after retirent, I was in Boston with a friend who had back problems, I called Dan Drake to see if he could take a look.

Dan’s office had moved to a new place, but even so, as soon as I walked in there, all the painful mories started attacking , and I felt nauseous.

Dan looked at and said, "Larry, you don’t look very well, are you okay?"

I looked around and said, "As long as I never have to co here again, I’ll be fine."]

————Published in 1999, by Larry Bird and Jackie Macmullan co-written "Bird Watching", excerpt.