Hey @BillSimmons, what is this shit? pic.twitter.com/ttjGuHpuOe
— Starburied (@Starburied) March 18, 2015
I tried looking for more examples in between his time at Page 2 and the creation of Grantland, but he seems to have left it alone until 2013, when he and Malcolm Gladwell exchanged bon mots via email and then posted them on a website. Weird idea, but, hey, whatever works.12 p.m.: Blazers vs. Celtics (March 12, 1992 -- fourth quarter and OTs only)Larry's last great moment: The one where he drains the improbable three to send a nationally televised game into OT (49 points in all). Just remember, the guy was playing with a 15-pound back brace and spending nights in the hospital in traction that season. And this was against a team that made the Finals. Unbelievable. By the way, this game has to be included on NBA Entertainment's upcoming "Rick Adelman's Greatest Collapses" DVD.
The Bird Brace went under again for another couple of years until a reader mailbag in 2015, when it reemerged portlier than ever, at a robust 25 pounds. A reader wrote in about the differences between Peyton Manning, who didn't try to kill himself recovering a fumble, leading the reader to think he was washed up at the time, and Tom Brady, who was "full of the piss and gall to scream after every big play, get in the face of larger competitors, and spike TDs like a 22 year old." (I am actually puking, by the way.)And yet, some of those Bird games doubled as some of my favorite Bird games. Like his last Boston Garden game: Game 6 against the '92 Cavs, with Bird saddled by a 20-pound back brace and taking heat for hurting Boston's chances.
What does all of this mean? Nothing, really. Our memories are fickle and nothing is ever as we remember it, but while our brains lie, the internet never does.I always revered a then-crippled Larry Bird for gutting his way through those last two Celtics seasons with the 25-pound back brace; it wasn't much different from what Manning just did. Seems like we keep forgetting this.