For some NBA players, the game they make a living playing can create quite a love-hate relationship with the sport. Even Hall of Fame greats like Boston Celtics small forward legend Larry Bird ended up looking at the sport he so loved at the outset of his career in the Association with loathsome eyes by the end of his storied time in the league.
The Hick From French Lick actually said as much himself about the end of his time playing for the Celtics in his autobiography “Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love.” Oddly enough, you can see the strong feelings Larry Legend has to this day about basketball. Yet, the grueling NBA season and Bird’s health robbed him of that joy by the time the Terre Haute, Indiana native decided it was time to hang it up as a player. “On August 18, 1992, I announced my retirement from the Boston Celtics,” wrote Bird. “It was one of the happiest days of my life.”
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“You have to understand how screwed up my back was at that point,” he explained. “I had been playing through back problems for almost ten years, and I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
BOSTON – AUGUST 18: Boston Celtics President Red Auerbach speaks to the media during a press conference to announce Larry Bird’s retirement on August 18, 1992 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1992 NBAE (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)
“The pain was relentless,” added Bird. “No matter what I did-whether I was standing up, sitting down, lying down, leaning over-I couldn’t escape it.”
“It had completely taken over my life. There were some days I couldn’t even bend over to pick up a basketball, never mind try to shoot one. Some nights, I had to eat dinner sitting on the floor. Even lifting up my son, Conner, hurt so much that I had to stop doing it. When I’m hurting, and not able to play the way I want, I can be a pretty miserable person to be around. I don’t know how my wife, Dinah, lasted through that last season of my career, because I was in pain all the time, which meant I was in a bad mood all the time too. Maybe that’s why when I walked up to the podium at my press conference in the Boards and Blades Club at Boston Garden and finally said out loud that it was over, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I can’t tell you what a relief it was not to have to push myself through all that pain anymore. I can honestly say I hated basketball at that point.”
“As soon as that press conference was over, me and some of my good friends, including my physical therapist, Dan Dyrek, went out and celebrated,” said Bird. “There was nothing to be sad or sentimental about. It was time for me to be done.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Celtics icon Larry Bird on his love/hate relationship with basketball