Larry, Magic, and Some Other Intriguing Revelations

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon of the Great Fenway Writers Series at which Jackie MacMullan was the featured speaker, talking about her new book on the relationship between Larry and Magic entitled, "When the Game Was Ours." As you probably know, Jackie is a former basketball great who became a highly respected journalist and covered the Celtics for the Boston Globe (during two different stints) in the 1980s. She has also been with Sports Illustrated and is currently under contract with ESPN (a deal that allows her to stay home with her kids most of the time).

I had the added pleasure of sitting next to Jackie during lunch and listening to her expound on a number of topics related to the NBA. She has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of everything that occurred in the NBA (whether or not it was public or behind the scenes) during what she calls "my era"—basically the 80s.

Her discussion of the book and the writing process was spectacular. She talked about how Larry and Magic first knew one another well BEFORE the national championship college game that still ranks #1 in teievision viewership. The summer before that confrontation, they were both selected as second-stringers on a team of college all-stars to
play in an international tournament. Kyle Macy played ahead of Magic and (get this) Rick Robey started ahead of Larry. The coach, Joe B. Hall, basically refused to play the two, so they individually started their own campaigns.

Magic's approach was based on his bubbly, outgoing nature. He set out to charm Joe B. Hall and make Hall fall in love with him because EVERYONE who met Magic fell in love with him. Larry's tack was to decimate the starters in practice. On bus trips, Magic (the youngest guy on the team) would have everyone on the team laughing and dancing
in the aisles—everyone except Larry, who would just stare sullenly out the window. And, at practice, Larry finally got Magic's cooperation in attacking the starters. The two had a trap play that invariably flustered the trapped "regular" so that he wound up flipping a looping desperation pass that was easily intercepted. They were causing so much consternation that Joe B. Hall finally ordered them to stop the trapping. But he still wouldn't start time.

That was their first collaboration. But it wasn't anywhere near the beginning of their friendship because they both disliked one another and were incredibly jealous of one another. Before the championship game, Magic decided to be friendly and went over to greet his former collaborator. Larry just looked right through him. When they both entered the NBA and Magic's team won the championship before Larry's, Bird figured Magic was now up 2-0 on him (the college championship and an NBA championship). Larry went to his dad and couldn't talk about anything but how he just had to get that guy.

For Magic's part, I'm sure you all know about the 1980 NBA championship game when, in Kareem's absence, he played center and most other positions and almost single-handedly won the championship for the Lakers. What you may not know is what kindled his motivation. Shortly before that game (the sixth and last of the series), the league's Rookie of the Year award was announced. Someone came to tell Magic, and he said, "It's Larry isn't it?" When informed that it was, Magic said, "Was it close." No, it had been something like 60-3. Magic said, "We'll show them who the Rookie of the Year is," and he proceeded to go out and dominate that historic game. There was
already TREMENDOUS jealousy between the two.

In fact, they didn't even BEGIN to become even polite friends until they made a commercial together in the summer of 1985. After the shoot, they sat and talked about their backgrounds—everything from growing up poor to having to fight sisters for the bathroom. Both were surprised that they shared a lot in common. So that fall, Magic was talking with Byron Scott, and he said something like, "You know that Larry's not that bad a guy." Whereupon Scott replied, "What are you talking about? We HATE Larry Bird." But the flame had been ignited, and Larry soon afterwards
was calling Magic the best player in the league.

Yet STILL the relationship was more one of respect than of friendship. When they met in the 1985-86 season, Magic went up to hug Larry, and Larry simply said, "Hi Magic" and walked away.

And it pretty much stayed that way until Magic made his HIV announcement in 1991. Apparently, Larry was nearly inconsolable, being convinced that Magic was going to die. "I need to talk with Magic," he kept saying. People assured him that Magic was involved in all sorts of turmoil. "I need to talk with Magic" insisted Larry until someone found a way for Larry to talk with Magic. And they kept talking while others (including Magic's own teammates when he
tried to practice with them) shied away from him like a leper, and fans would even cross to the other side of the street when they saw him coming. During that really dismal period in this normally effervescent guy's life, Larry Bird was one of the constants. They were now fast friends.

Then came 1992 and the Dream Team. Larry was actually having trouble walking, and the only reason he hadn't retired was because he wanted to have his spinal fusion operation before his Celtics medical insurance
ran out. He flatly refused the many pleas to join the Dream Team. Magic finally convinced him. Apparently there was a particular passing combination they had perfected in that earliest collaboration. Magic implored him. "Larry, I just want to throw you that pass once more. Then I'll let you alone." So Larry gave in to his friend, and the rest
is history.

Jackie was struck by the improbability, despite some commonalities, of such two different people becoming friends. One white, one black. One with the Celtics, one from the Lakers. One with a working class team,
one from Showtime. Magic was warm and outgoing. Larry has always been cold, calculating, and readily able to move on when things didn't go his way. In fact, when "Thanks Dad" Gaston fired his friend, Dave Gavitt, Larry never looked back at the Celtics. When he and Steve Belkin failed in an attempt to buy the Charlotte team, Larry found it
easy to move on to the Pacers.

Both Larry and Magic have always hungered to be major owners of a basketball team. Don't be shocked if it happens some day...involving the same team.

Jackie's sure things would have been very different if Larry and Magic hadn't been with the Celtics and Lakers respectively. That was the kind of stage that was required for the whole thing to matter so much
to both of them.

And, of course, it easily might not have happened at all. Red's alert drafting of Larry as a junior-eligible was the first piece of the puzzle. And the Lakers won the rights to Magic on a COIN FLIP with the Bulls, as both teams were tied in 1979. Moreover, the Lakers weren't initially inclined to draft him. But Jerry Buss was about to buy the
team, and he refused to do so unless they drafted Magic.

One could tell how personally invested Jackie had been in this endeavor. She was almost quivering with excitement about what she had to offer and, I'm sure, could have gone on for hours.

While she was at our table, Jackie revealed a number of things that I found alternately interesting and sobering:

• The balloons from the famous 1969 game were donated to a children's hospital.

• Apparently Sam Jones is not the only former Celtic who is hurt not to be more of a member of the ongoing "family" (guess who asked that one). Yes, Russ is around a lot, but he makes thousands of dollars in the process.

• You should forget about Cousy's returning to the airwaves any time soon. (Guess who asked that one.) His wife is in very tough shape, and he has to stick pretty close to home. (Jackie thinks The Cooz is one of the finest men she's ever met.)

• Larry loved both K.C. Jones and Bill Fitch as coaches. But several members of the 1983 Celtics (including M.L. Carr and Kevin McHale) wouldn't rest until Fitch was fired.

• Jackie would pick Larry, Magic, Kareem, Ewing, Hakeem, and either Isiah or Stockton as her team of six to represent the 1980s. (She was too smart to venture outside her self-expressed area of expertise in an "all-time" selection, although she was sure it would include Russ.)

• And, saddest of all (and I'm going to word this very carefully), I hadn't realized that both Len Bias and Reggie Lewis attended a Celtics camp before the 1986 draft, and the two spent quite a bit of time together off the court. I'll leave it at that.

And finally, to conclude on a hopefully more entertaining note, the emcee prevailed on Jackie to relate a story she had told him earlier. It involved the Bruins. First of all (and mostly unrelated to the story), it turns out
that hockey players are the only ones who routinely and universally walk around naked while female journalists are in the locker room. Certain players in other sports will sometimes do it, but most (including all of the Celtics) wear bathrobes.

Anyway, in the mid-80s, the Bruins had a player named Jay Miller. He had attended the University of New Hampshire (as had Jackie), and apparently he was FAR from the sharpest knife in the drawer. One time, Jackie was talking with Ray Bourque, her eyes fixed on some spot on the wall. And Jay Miller came up to her and said, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" Jackie stifled the urge to look downward and say, "Oh yes, I recognize you." Instead, she answered, "Yes, we went to the same college." Whereupon Jay replied, "Oh yeah? Where did you go?"

So he went away as she now attempted to smother laughter without removing her gaze from the wall. And Bourque said, "Don't mind him. He's a good guy, but he's just incredibly dense. In fact, we call him 'C.H.' to his face; and you
absolutely can't tell him this, but it stands for "Cement Head." So Jackie promised not to reveal the secret. But somehow Miller found out that she knew...and he had always wanted to find out why they called him "C.H." So, on the commercial flight homeward, he kept pestering Jackie. "Please please please tell me what "C.H." means. And she
steadfastly refused. Finally, he went back to his seat; the lights dimmed; and people started drifting off to sleep.

And, all of a sudden, she heard this shout from Jay's direction. "I know what it stands for. Shithead."

Sam

Sam,

Thanks, that was very enjoyable to read. Jackie is one person I would love to talk to for a couple hours. She gained the confidence of some of the greatest.


Pete

Sam,

Great story, I'll ask Santa for that book this Xmas.

Hoop

Pete,

I'd love to talk with her for a couple of hours too. Oh my god...I did! I know some of the people at the table were deliberately asking her about obscure and entirely forgettable things they happened to remember...just to show off. And she never once faltered. One guy asked about some quasi-legal legal episode that he identified only as "involving some guy named Williams (yeah, that's not a common name) and, I think, the Cavs." And she came right back with, "Oh you mean Hot Rod" and proceeded to cite all the names of the owners and other principals involved in the situation and the behind-the-scenes details that had never been publicized.

By the way, I forgot to mention that, when Larry was selected for that college all-star game in 1978, Gavitt's recommendation probably wouldn't have sealed the deal. But a sportswriter named Bob Ryan had taken the time to go out to Indiana and see this high-scoring nobody in action. And Ryan was so widely respected that he his recommendation on Larry turned the tide.

Sam

Hoop,

I told Jackie, as we were all leaving, that she'd better hope she wouldn't be responsible for some traffic accidents that day. Because I personally couldn't wait and intended to prop my copy on the steering wheel on the two-hour drive home. (We received autographed copies as part of the admission price.) She loved that.

And another "by the way." (She had so much to say that all these things keep popping into my mind).....

Jackie described the writing process, which included meeting with each of the two of those guys (separately) roughly six times—but for two or three days at a time. The first time she met with Magic was while he was in Boston with the Lakers during the 2008 finals. She said that what she loved about Magic was his warmth and willingness to talk about anything. What drove her nuts about Magic was that he was undependable and impossible to control.

When she suggested that they use his Boston visit as an opportunity to meet, he readily agreed. He said, "Let's meet in the dining room of the hotel (The Four Seasons). She was aghast. "Why? It's so public. We won't accomplish anything." His response was, "That way, we'll be able to do two things at the same time—eat and talk."

So she reluctantly agreed, hoping they'd somehow get a corner table and Magic would sit with his back to the room. But noooooo. Magic demanded a table IN THE WINDOW. So she spend the next couple of hours with Magic and the entire population of the City of Boston, as he glad-handed everyone who approached, talked with them, signed autographs, posed for pictures, and basically did everything except to contribute to her tape recorder.

Jackie contrasted that with her first experience in meeting with Larry (whom, of course, she already knew very well). He invited her to stay at his home in Indiana. He said, okay, we'll talk ___ times a day for ___ hours a time. And they wound up talking precisely that number of times for that number of minutes. When Larry was finished, it didn't matter whether or not Jackie had enough. He was always ready to move on when he felt the urge (just as in his relationships with teams); and she'd just have to wait for their next conversation to get what she still needed.

When I think back on it, she didn't simply make me want to read the book (although that was a given). The contrasting personae of these two guys became so compelling to me that I had that "can't put this book down" feeling just through her storytelling.

Yes, get the book!

Sam

Sam,

I might not wait for Santa to deliver it.

Jackie is really one of the best at what she does. All done in a mostly a man's world. I hope she writes more books including her own story.

Hoop

Hoop,

I wish I'd thought of that yesterday. A book about balancing journalistic success and devotion to family by a woman operating in a man's world. I think I'm going to email her about it.

Great idea.

Sam

Sam
Did you tell her of this site you formed?She used to write for the Globe,I wish someone of that stature could tell whosever in charge of how sad and pathetic it is that they let the trolls take over by banning the good guys,further empowering the trolls. cow

Sam,

My friend from Boston recently got me the book as a gift. I haven't had the chance to start reading it yet, but now I'm eager to make the time.

Regards

NYCelt,

It's definitely worth the time, as is any resource that can help us get into the heads of guys like that.

Sam

Cow,

I deliberately help back on telling her because I didn't want to give her the impression that I was just looking for something I could broadcast. She really doesn't seem to have much of a connection with the Globe now and never had a real association with Boston.com, which is a separate entity.

I'm trying to get her email address to let her know about an idea that Hoopdedoo had that Jackie ought to write a book about her own experiences. I might mention this site then.

The friend I wrote about in another thread knew Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio quite well and became one of Dom DiMaggio's best friends. When Joe became very ill and was obviously going downhill quickly, Ted called Dom nearly daily to check on Joe's situation. He was beside himself about Joe, just as Larry apparently became about Magic's HIV problem.

The unique stature and experiences of guys such as they seems to form bonds (sometimes largely unspoken) between them that we mere mortals don't readily comprehend. It's almost as though, if one is somehow threatened, the other feels equally vulnerable.

Sam

Sam
Thanks for all your efforts,I thought that was great that when Magic first came down with HIV when most abandoned him,Larry was there for him,speaks volumes of the class and character that Bird has. cow

Sam

Looks like a must read book.

Wife asked the other day what I wanted for Christmas. Aside for my usual response of "peace on earth" this time I said a book.

After I revived her from fainting ( as I read a lot but hardly ever a "book" ) She opened her eyes and said..............."It's gotta be about the Celtic's."

Gosh I've got her trained real well!!

beat

Great story, Beat. I can picture the whole thing in my mind.

I hope you get your copy of the book.

Oops—time to call Jackie to see about those royalties.

Sam