Years Later, Bird Okay In My Book

There are two athletes who, in their playing days, rankled me to no end, for different reasons: Wayne Gretzky, and Larry Bird. Both were thorns in the sides of our Detroit teams. Both were superstars in their respective sports. And both were annoying as hell to me; Gretzky with his whiny approach to the game, especially in the 1980's, and Bird with his, well, whiny approach to the game. And Bird's dislike of the Pistons meant that the feeling was quite mutual.

But both Gretzky and Bird -- they're alright in my book now. I've learned to respect both of them as their careers advanced, and especially now that they're done playing. I am most certainly rooting for The Great One to be a Great Coach, and I am supportive of Larry Bird in his role as the president of the Indiana Pacers -- as long as they don't beat the Pistons, of course.

Bird has grown up nicely, thank you


Bird's reign as Pacers president doesn't get the acclaim as Joe Dumars' does in Detroit, but the job that the Hall of Famer has done in guiding the Pacers -- first on the sidelines as coach and now in the front office, is nothing short of brilliant, too. He has managed to cobble together a championship-contending team with more distractions and in a more volatile situation, frankly, than Dumars has had to contend with in Detroit.

The latest, of course, is the Ron Artest situation, although with Artest, you need to put Roman numerals after that; I think we're probably in Artest Situation IV, or maybe V. The loose cannon that is Ron Artest is a handful for any team executive to handle, and Bird is probably up to the challenge. But Artest's latest distraction -- publicly demanding a trade out of Indianapolis -- has pushed Bird over the edge, as far as biting his tongue publicly.

"I think enough is enough," Bird told the Indianapolis Star. "I think Ronnie will do fine, but not here." Bird added that he felt "betrayed" by Artest, rightly pointing out that he -- Bird -- has done nothing but try to please his fragile star.

"He was clearly frustrated," Bird said of Artest's trade demands. "Ronnie thinks if we lose, we would have won the game if he had the ball every time. The offense bogs down at times, but it's still a great offense. He held the ball a lot of times. Nothing frustrated me more than him not rebounding, but I didn't go out in the public and say anything."

Bird, at this point in his career, is a sort of hero of mine. As a coach, Bird was hesitant to take much of the credit for the Pacers' success, admitting that most of the real coaching was done by his assistants. He has matured and grown into his executive's role just fine, and has made mostly good decisions. If you want to call him the white Joe Dumars, then that's just fine, and also ironic. It was Dennis Rodman, if you recall, who complained in 1987 that if Bird was black, he wouldn't have gotten the recognition he did as a player. That assertion was ridiculous, of course, but so were some of the things Larry Bird said around that time.

But Larry Bird -- the executive -- no longer says outrageous, smarmy things. He no longer carries himself with all the spoiled graciousness of the high school jock who knows he's popular and to hell with everyone else.

Instead, he manages them.