Sports Poets Society

Photo The Boston Globe. Getty Images Dans les années 80, le meneur des Lakers de Los Angeles et l’ailier des Boston Celtics ont incarné tous les clivages états-uniens : racial, social, géographique… Un duel sportif qui aura ressuscité une NBA moribonde. «Mon but,  c’était de ramener deux ou trois de ses dents à la maison.»     - Larry Bird ancien ailier des Boston Celtics 1 Aug 2026 - Libération Par Romain Métairie  Earvin Johnson a un rictus. Assis dans les travées vides du Longacre, une salle de théâtre nichée en plein Broadway, l’ancien joueur des Lakers assiste en ce mois de mars 2012 aux répétitions d’une nouvelle pièce : Magic/Bird. Et il peste : «Mon personnage ne sourit pas, alors que c’est moi le type souriant et jovial. Même quand j’avais envie de vous briser la nuque ou de vous tuer.» Ces pensées inavouables remontent aux années 80, lorsque «Magic» Johnson ne devait céder ni aux insultes ni aux coups bas et autres fourberies assénés par ses meill...

Berceau du basket lycéen et universitaire, l’État de l’Indiana a vu grandir la légende de la NBA et des Boston Celtics (68 ans).  «L’Équipe» est partie sur ses traces, dans sa ville d’enfance, à la rencontre de ceux qui l’ont côtoyé et vu débuter "Son petit frère Eddie était plus costaud et talentueux"     - BUTCH HEMMONS, PREMIER       ENTRAÎNEUR DE LARRY BIRD 13 Jun 2025 - L'Équipe DE NOTRE ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL MAXIME AUBIN REPORTAGE INDIANAPOLIS (USA) – Partir sur les traces de Larry Bird dans l’Indiana revient à faire un saut dans le temps. Au départ d’Indianapolis, l’Interstate 69 nous conduit vers le sud à travers une campagne au vert éclatant, avant de laisser place à de petites routes cabossées et entourées de fermes amish, cette minorité religieuse qui utilise encore la calèche comme moyen de transport. Un peu plus de deux heures plus tard, la fin de l’itinéraire réserve un tout autre spectacle: au beau milieu de la végétation se dresse un dôme...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1988/01/25/a-chirp-off-the-old-block ALEXANDER WOLFF JANUARY 25, 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT The home arena and uniform look pretty much the same , even if the former isn't as full and the latter isn't as filled out. The face and playing style are familiar , too, though the mug is more youthful and the moves are rougher . The surname, alas, is the only thing Indiana State freshman Eddie Bird gets exactly right as yet. There are easier fates than being Larry Bird's kid brother . It seems, for example, that whenever someone mentions that Eddie broke Larry's career scoring record at Springs Valley High in French Lick, Ind., someone else points out that Eddie's 1,172 points came in four full seasons, while Larry missed virtually his entire sophomore year with an injury and still scored 1,125. Consider, too, that when Larry bought his widowed mother, Georgia, a new house in 1983, he installed, in time for Eddie's sophomore year ...

Celtics great Larry Bird and Pistons star Isiah Thomas at their 1987 press conference. TLUMACKI, JOHN GLOBE STAFF/THE BOSTON GLOBE https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/25/sports/1987-larry-bird-isiah-thomas-controversy-became-laughing-matter/ REPLAY | LEIGH MONTVILLE In 1987, a Larry Bird-Isiah Thomas controversy became a laughing matter By Leigh MontvilleUpdated April 25, 2020, 2:27 p.m. Editor’s note: While the games are on pause, the Globe is reaching into its archives to bring you “Replay,” stories and columns from the past that highlight something interesting, timely, or revealing. This Leigh Montville column on the controversy surrounding Isiah Thomas’s comments about Larry Bird appeared in the Globe on Friday, June 5, 1987, under the headline, “It’s a laughing matter for Thomas, Bird.” INGLEWOOD, Calif. — I wonder why I don’t attend more of these hastily arranged events. I wonder why I don’t watch more people try to take back what they had said in earlier conversations. I wonder ...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1988/05/02/black-whiteand-gray PISTON DENNIS RODMAN'S LIFE WAS COMPLICATED BY RACIAL MATTERS LONG BEFORE HIS INFLAMMATORY WORDS ABOUT LARRY BIRD BRUCE NEWMAN Sports Illustrated - MAY 02, 1988 Dennis Rodman could not stop himself, did not want to stop himself really. He wanted to take all the hurt that had built up inside him like water behind a dam and just let it out. He heard the words as they tumbled out, but he didn't think about them, didn't think about anything. He just talked until he felt no hurt. Then he knew it was time to go home. The Detroit Pistons, for whom Rodman was a rookie forward, had just been beaten 117-114 by the Boston Celtics in the seventh game of last season's NBA Eastern Conference finals , and Rodman was furious with the Celtics and the taunting Boston Garden crowd, and he ached for one last chance to get back at them. He said, "Larry Bird is overrated in a lot of areas. I don't think he's the greate...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2020/05/09/how-dennis-rodman-was-forced-to-apologize-to-larry-bird-over-racial-comments-in-1987/?sh=5d611eaf7d72 Adam Zagoria  - Contributor When Dennis Rodman was forced to apologize to Scottie Pippen for violently shoving Pippen into a basket stanchion during the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals , that wasn’t the first time he was forced into apologizing to a big-name NBA star. Four years before the Pippen incident — and eight years before Phil Jackson told Rodman to apologize to Pippen before he joined the Chicago Bulls in 1995 — Rodman in 1987 was told to apologize to Larry Bird for racial comments, according to Rodman’s former agent Billy Diamond. While the Rodman/Pippen apology has been featured in ESPN’s The Last Dance , the Rodman/Bird apology is uncovered territory. After the Pistons were eliminated by Bird and the Celtics in Game 7 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals , Rodman was asked in the locker room about Bird’s performance ...

https://www.amazon.it/bostoniani-Celtics-Greatest-Hoops-Memories-ebook/dp/B01C9ALGT2 Perfetto esemplare del primo principio di Bill Fitch, coach del titolo bostoniano ’81: l’allenatore che si batte per i propri giocatori rafforza la propria reputazione anziché viceversa.  Nei suoi cinque anni sulla panchina dei Celtics, Jones aveva in quintetto sera dopo sera Bird, Parish e McHale nel frontcourt e Dennis Johnson nel backcourt.  Come primo risultato arrivò la più implacabile striscia di vittorie nella storia della franchigia. Poi – come Fitch – anche Jones ci avrebbe messo del suo, anche se quei suoi modi taciturni avrebbero fatto sì che gran parte del suo impatto sui giocatori e sulle prestazioni della squadra finisse per essere – anche qui come per Fitch – ampiamente sottovalutato.  Jones, ex guardia hall-of-famer, potrà anche aver sempre vissuto all’ombra di Bill Russell, sia al college sia nei professionisti. E pure da allenatore forse non riuscì mai ad affrancarsi dal...

https://www.sport-e-cultura.com/2020/12/24/larry-legend-e-david-skywalker/?fbclid=IwAR1GCdRa0SALqXw6NoBU8Sj9M-0tCmnXQu-3mwVfHY7dFENrr8pe2OGgT0s di SIMONE BASSO Sport e cultura, giovedì 24 dicembre 2020 LARRY BIRD In ogni discussione, divertente quanto inutile, sul GOAT, che è come il Mostro di Loch Ness (non esiste!), Larry Joe Bird dovrebbe essere sempre incluso. Apice assoluto, tecnico e agonistico, della palla con estro di uno Stato – l’Indiana – che vive per la pallacanestro. Da French Lick sino all’Hall of Fame, giocando con la passione degli ultimi, dei poveri, e il genio degli eletti: vedendolo, con la 33 verde addosso, si intuiva tutto. Le migliaia di ore spese sul campetto, il babbo alcolista (e suicida), la fuga dal campus di Indiana, l’impiego come spazzino e la cavalcata con Indiana State nel Torneo NCAA 1979. Epitome evolutiva dell’ala piccola, col corpo di un’ala forte e il raggio di tiro di una guardia. Al di là dello stereotipo – sul bianco che non salta – mani fortissi...

https://www.amazon.it/HOOPS-MEMORIES-MOMENTI-BASKET-AMERICANO/dp/1790249775/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO Il duello fra Paul Pierce (41 punti) e LeBron James (45) in gara7 delle semifinali della Eastern Conference NBA 2008, Celtics-Cavaliers 97-92 di domenica 18 maggio al TD Banknorth Garden?  Un remake del western girato da Larry Bird e Dominique Wilkins in quella di domenica 22 maggio 1988, Boston-Atlanta 118-116. Shootout on Causeway Street, così passerà alla storia la sparatoria il cui OK Corral fu il vecchio Garden.  Sembravano due pistoleri uno di fronte all’altro, pronti al duello – ricorda Kevin McHale, ala forte di quella frontline biancoverde, forse la miglior batteria di lunghi d’ogni epoca – Bum! Larry ne metteva uno, Dominique un altro. Larry risegnava, Dominique anche. Fu incredibile. Quattro minuti di basket nella sua forma più pura».  Era come – si scrisse oltreatlantico – guardare Fred Astaire che duetta...