<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Confessions of a Larry krishna. . . . I?ll occasionally heat up something in the microwave for 33 seconds or 3:33. If it?s close, I?ll top off my gas tank to the nearest 33. I?ll select an online password that has a 33 in it, and if I pick up a book, I?ll try to make it to page 33 before taking a break. I could never stand to see Kareem or Jose Canseco wearing No. 33, and I became a big Gary DiSarcina fan when he chose 33 as a tribute to his all-time favorite Boston athlete. Of course, he did. DiSarcina is 39 years old. He grew up in Billerica, and lived through it all, just as I did, first as a fan and then as a member of the media who saw just about every swipe of the sole of Larry Bird?s sneakers. If you were around, you know that Bird did more than just sell every seat and add three championship banners to the rafters of the old Boston Garden. Bird, who turns 50 today, changed things around here. Like no other athlete in my lifetime, he put a chip on the shoulder and an edge in the attitude of this entire sports region. Like Ronald Reagan following the Jimmy Carter malaise, Bird came onto the scene after the dark days of Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe (and Steve Kuberski wearing No. 33) and lifted a sorry Celtics franchise to the top of the sports world. How big were Bird?s Celtics? Big enough to get us to sit around our dorm room in college and listen to regular-season games on the radio. They weren?t in high def, either. It was just lots of static and Johnny Most?s madness and Larry Bird doing things we had never seen or heard before. It?s been 27 years since Bird arrived from French Lick, Ind. The Celtics won 29 games the year before he got here. They played in front of one sold-out home crowd all season. There was no McHale or Parish or D.J. when Bird got here, and still the team won 61 games. To that point, it was the most dramatic one-season turnaround in NBA history, and it was, of course, a preview of things to come. He was on three championship teams, won three MVPs and started the Celtics on a streak of 662 straight sellouts. Perhaps my memory is fading, but I?m pretty sure he hit every big shot he ever took, and the Celtics won every close game he ever played. Michael Jordan since ended the debate over the best NBA player ever, but if you?re talking about the most clutch athlete, any sport, any time, Bird has a permanent place in the conversation. You know what I remember about Bird?s prime? Waking up in the morning and just being glad there was a Celtics game that night. Even in November or December, it was something to look forward to, an event around which you planned your evening. Paul Pierce is a wonderful player, but he could take hostages at center court and not make a Celtics game an event these days. These days the events are on Sundays in the fall. No. 12 is the guy who carries the region on his shoulders. Like Bird, Tom Brady [stats] has three championships, and like Bird, he is Tiger-clutch in big games. But the Patriots were trendy before Brady got here. They had sold out every game since Bill Parcells took over. And Brady was a different kind of messiah: handsome, articulate, a GQ cover boy who came from an idyllic family and a big-time Big Ten school. He hosted ?Saturday Night Live? and dates a dazzling Hollywood actress. He was America?s homecoming king who, in his down time, played golf with dad at Pebble Beach. Bird?s story was a little different, beginning with dad. Joe Bird killed himself when Larry was 19. Larry left his big-time Big Ten school because he didn?t have enough clothes to fill a drawer in his dorm room. He dropped out, rode on the back of a garbage truck and impregnated his girlfriend. He didn?t just use bad grammar when he spoke - he did it on purpose. He was brash and unapologetic and as real as red meat. When asked if he was giving his first-place money to charity after one of the 3-point contests during All-Star weekend, he said, ?Yeah, the Larry Bird fund.? </div> Source In honor of Larry Legend hitting the big 5-0, what's your favorite Larry Bird memory?
When he rebounded his own shot attempt and put it back under hand. I can't describe that well because it was so mystefying.
