ESPN SportsCenter Interview 1991

his back hurts his cheek has swollen and he probably feels every one of his 35 years but as of this morning Larry Bird has lifted the Celtics into the second round and a Tuesday game at the garden with the two-time champion Pistons there is a general feeling in basketball this could be Byrd's last hurrah a last best chance for another championship ring already that legend is pretty fair [Music] [Applause] [Music] do you like it sometimes when people will see an interview like this is good I don't really care people are quick to judge other people I think the first impression that someone gets is will always be the impression they have to someone I really don't worry about what people say they do want it like done I'm sure I'm like I'm like my mom I saw Matt well Georgia raised a good thing but you know I can't keep everybody happy you know when I grew up you know it was people in our hometown so there's him starting those bird kids again because we was always in the mist if he's always doing something and if you always listen to other people a lot of people have problems a lot of people's if you just go around even in your job you know there's somebody talking about you behind your back and everywhere you go you have that and you just gotta learn to live with it and I've dealt with a pretty good so your mom how important was she for you I mean she has to be a strong pretty strong woman I would imagine yeah she worked a lot a lot of hours she always worked in restaurants oiz cooking waitress and always worked double shifts work 1215 hours a day and we used to take the her check and buy all the food and my father's check to pay you know most of the bills and we just barely got by but I think it was I think it's a way that everybody should grow up how do you pay her back though with lean money you never pay him back you know I mean you know now you just get her a nice home and pay all her bills and and she hasn't worked now for 12 years and you know I don't know if she she might have been happier working all the time how is your family upbringing helped you I mean does it make you that you didn't have money does it make you always want to have money in the bank oh yeah I always felt that I was gonna do some in life where I couldn't be secure and now I feel secure I don't think money's greatest thing in the world I think security is that gives it to you though doesn't it in some regards in some regards but I think money's way overrated I think it's a root of all evil sometimes and that it's always nice to have things nice things you have so much money that you're afraid to give it to people so there's no question I used to give some money to friends and you know what I found out too not only do you lose your money you lose your friendship so I quit doing that I used to help petty a lot but I feel that at that time that he wasn't doing the things he's supposed to do so I had to cut him off and spank him moving on down the road how difficult is it for Eddie to be in your shadows I know it's been very tough on Eddie but I didn't really understand that back when I was a little bit younger you know what when I first started coming up but a matter of fact I'm sure he had some days where he wish he wasn't a basketball player nice but it's also open a lot of doors for him he's able to get a college education and you know well the main thing he's a great kid you know he turned out to be a really good kid and that's the most important thing but I'm glad was me being the player and I'm glad I'm not the younger brother trying to come up because it is tough it's tough on everybody in my family a Jennifer nightmare that you lost your shot every dream that I ever had about basketball could never make a basket I never make the basket I always shoot it but I never make it and I don't know why but you know I have a lot of dreams and about playing basketball of course because this is all I do but I can never make a basket in my dream we always win the games but somebody else always makes us shots do you think you're a bad businessman that a good businessman would take it easy on the court you know you could prolong your career but you play so competitively that have you ever said maybe I should ease up to prolong my career well I remember when I first came the league and then we played against the artist Gilmore he told me that wouldn't last very long if I keep diving around well it has caught up with me and you know I do dive a lot and I do spend a lot of time on the floor and that's probably why I do have a lot of injuries but that's the way I play and I'm not gonna stop playing like that what makes you want to be cocky and say something to somebody I was taught at an early age to try to get all the bands you can hope it helps or not but it makes me feel better gives me confidence and and I really don't talk as much as I used to because I can't back it up okay he's stupid but I it gets me fired up I don't know if it does anything to to the opponent but it does it fires me up [Music] [Music] [Applause] I can remember in 86 after we wanted that I got taken out of the game my heart was pounding so fast and I thought I was gonna explode it feel like just come down my chest and I don't think you get that feeling ever unless you know it's something that you're caught up in and I have to be caught up in professional basketball and we won the ultimate game the championship game and I don't know it just gives you feeling of euphoria that you can do anything and but it just lasts for a minute or so then it's looking forward to next year when you look at Michael and magic there on the cover of GQ they got clothing magazines with them on it we'll never see you on GQ but you do sometimes downplay this French Lick hick you know that people look at you say well he's just not sophisticated well people can identify with me more than they can serve I like a magic or Michael you know when people look at magic and Michael they seem do a lot of national commercials and you know I had my run of that too and they always seemed and you know real fancy clothes and and I don't think a lot of people can identify that young kids say hey man I like to be like that and you know I like to have the fancy cars and the fancy clothes and stuff but the people back home and the people that that I know can identify with me more so than you can DMS by with my core magic there's a body when people say basketballs a black man's sport none at all a lot of people tell me I'm black on the inside why don't a size but Jeff would think if you could only jump well I think about every once the wall but I used to be able to jump a little bit but a lot of injuries is taking a lot out of my legs and I never once won like they'll fly through there like magic does but magic can jump either so [Music] the psalmist he would like you to take that green jersey off for the final time well it's gonna be tough but you know something you have to deal with it it's gonna happen to everybody I'm just very fortunate to play for an organization that won a lot of championships and when you put the jersey on it means something dan asked Larry about the pain in his back about the possibility of back surgery during the offseason the med spending time in traction Larry does just not want to talk about oh it's just Larry he doesn't want to give away anything he says he wants to go for every advantage he can get he figures if he gives away the fact that he's hurting in some particular area of the body he's giving something away talking about money Bob wolf tells the story his agent when he brought Larry and his older brother in to talk business with him as Larry was coming into the pros put him up in a hotel for a couple of days in Boston and the bill came to Bob's office he expected all sorts you know room service charges this in that phone calls he still to the state keeps that bill not a charge on and scrupulous they were on somebody else's tab so they didn't charge anything just plain old Larry yeah you know millions of dollars later plain old Larry we'll be right back with more on SportsCenter as we go to break

Channel: Justin Retzlaff

Views: 29,556

Rating: 4.9192824 out of 5

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Id: _KKSNjSrAW4

Length: 8min 26sec (506 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2020