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Bird: The Making of an American Sports Legend
Details the rags-to-riches rise of Larry Bird from small-town boy to NBA superstar, tracing his difficult early life, his emerging leadership in college, and his personal and professional roles with the Celtics
342 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 5, 2023
It seems like this is the only book written by Lee Daniel Levine, and I'm not surprised. It's not very good. The research is fairly prodigious, if you count looking at magazine and newspaper clippings and watching TV interviews --- all rather easy. But the writing is stilted, many facts are wrong, and the book is severely repetitive. It also suffers journalistically from the author not identifying if any of his thousands of quotes were obtained directly by him. It seems that some are, such as from Bird's first wife and his mother. But it seems like the Bird quotes aren't, though the author gives no indication of whether Bird cooperated in any way in this book.
First, let's get a few howler mistakes out of the way, just to give an indication of the caliber of the book and the sophistication of the author. On one page, he writes that four NBA champions in a five-year period were West Coast teams. One of those he mentions is the Washington Bullets, who are based in Washington, DC! Not quite West Coast. He apparently thinks they are based in Washington State, a cohort of the Seattle Supersonics. Strangely enough, he states the team's prior name, Baltimore Bullets, a paragraph later. Did he think they moved?
Still on the Bullets, I'll rant that he apparently hasn't heard of Wes Unseld. The author notes that Red Auerbach, the Celtics legendary coach, said only centers truly turned around a team's fortunes by themselves, until Bird fixed the Celtics. Levine mentions several great centers, but not Unseld, who was named the league's most valuable player in his rookie year -- the only player so honored -- because he helped his team win 21 more games than the year before. So when Levine lauds Bill Walton for what he calls a nearly unprecedented gain of 12 wins in his rookie year, he misses the Unseld picture.
One more. In describing the transition to the NBA that Bird faced, the author describes how the game operated prior to his ascension. He says that in the 1970s, the game exploded in popularity and many new teams started, as well as a competing league, the ABA. All true. He also says that with new teams there was "expanded travel and schedules." Not true! The NBA season has been 80 games since the 1950s, moving to 82 in the mid-'60s. It was 82 games when the book was written in the late '80s, and it's 82 games now. How is that expanded?
I'll mention a few things I like about this book. First, I think it's great that the author tried to seriously look at Bird's difficult and sad upbringing, and to relate it to at-times tough treatment he received from the media. "The Hick from French Lick" stuff was pervasive in Bird's early career, and while I took it as being done in good humor and with the wink-and-nod from Bird himself, Levine says that this stuff really hurt Bird at times. He uses Bird's own words, as well as those of coaches and teammates, to explain repeatedly that Bird is a simple guy, not a stupid guy. He doesn't care for fancy stuff, and that's ok. To some degree, he was being judged by college-educated sportswriters as not being worthy of their intellectual pretensions --- and unfair standard that has nothing to do with his seriousness and worth ethic as a basketball player and a teammate. In this book, Bird's side of the argument gets good airing (though it's stated way too many times).
Similarly, the author dives into numerous dicey issues in Bird's life that he tried to downplay, in order to keep his privacy, but which then led to media sensationalism. This book tries to set the record straight on Bird's first marriage as a teen and virtual abandonment of his infant daughter; the suicide of his father; his one month at Indiana University before dropping out; and his many (too many) incidents of bar fights and heavy drinking. This material is not sensationalized in this book, and it's a rather caring and nuanced look. I think if the book was written today, a few would get more attention, such as allegations of him hitting his first wife and a question about why a 17-year-old was heading off to college as a freshman and engaged to an 18-year-old in the first place. That was obviously dumb, and it's shows the lack of attention that college sports programs gave to players in those days that they didn't seem to care. Same with the violence that recurs in this book; there must be a dozen incidents of Bird "punching out" or "leveling" some guy. That's awful, awful, awful conduct. Who knows how many lawsuits Bird has had to settle due to his violent temper.
I liked the descriptions in the early chapters of what Indiana youth and high school basketball is all about. I've seen the film "Hoosiers" more than once, and this book evokes some of that charm. The look at Bird's career at Indiana State is pretty well done, too, if you like play-by-play of crucial moments in a season.
I think the topic of race is handled pretty well, especially for a book written more than 30 years ago. It's pretty frank in describing the racism of Boston fans, even as they were treated to the NBA's greatest dynasty in the 1960s, and it was shocking to read that the Celtics rarely sold out home games even during their heyday. The author runs through the entire NBA "problem" of a league of Black superstars and a White-majority US audience. To his credit, Levine doesn't dwell on this stuff, as he sticks to his main topic, but he picks some useful quotes about how the presence of Bird as a White star was helpful to the league at the time.
Unfortunately, however, overall the book just isn't very good. In addition to the mistakes I enumerated (among many others), there's an overall lack of sophistication in the analysis. I think this is due to Levine being a fan-boy rather than a basketball expert. For example, he reviews the famous decision by Red Auerbach to draft Bird when he was a junior in college and likely to stay for one more season. Thus Auerbach had a year to try to convince him to sign, or else Bird would be drafted by another team. This was a hugely savvy move that isn't given its full due. On top of it, Levine doesn't excoriate the team with the first pick in that year, the Indiana Pacers, who could have chosen Bird before the Celtics. Indiana! Yes, Bird's home state, the place he obviously preferred to play! Levine gives the Pacers a pass by saying they couldn't afford to wait a year, but that's exactly wrong. Completely wrong. The smart move for them would have been to pick Bird and then stink for a year without him and get the top pick again, and then have Bird and another star join the team at the same time. The NBA actually changed the rules for drafting to avoid that being done, even though the Pacers were too stupid to do it.
The book is also way too silent about Magic Johnson, who was Bird's great rival. Magic is in this book, but barely. It's as if, yeah, there were other good teams in the NBA, like the Sixers and Bucks and Lakers, but the world revolved around the Celtics. This just doesn't reflect the NBA at the time, as Johnson was more popular, more photogenic, more exciting than Bird. This isn't to say Bird was unappreciated, but only that he was appreciated for toughness and fundamentals, while the fun in the NBA was Magic firing passes to James Worthy and others. I think this downplaying of Magic was, again, due to the fan-boy nature of the author.
To conclude this overly long review of a forgettable book, I'd say that there are probably better Bird books out there (I haven't read any). I know there are better Bird-Magic era books out there, and I know there are books with better analysis of what makes a great NBA player. If you find this book for a dollar at a yard sale, go for it. But don't spend a lot to add it to your sports library.
First, let's get a few howler mistakes out of the way, just to give an indication of the caliber of the book and the sophistication of the author. On one page, he writes that four NBA champions in a five-year period were West Coast teams. One of those he mentions is the Washington Bullets, who are based in Washington, DC! Not quite West Coast. He apparently thinks they are based in Washington State, a cohort of the Seattle Supersonics. Strangely enough, he states the team's prior name, Baltimore Bullets, a paragraph later. Did he think they moved?
Still on the Bullets, I'll rant that he apparently hasn't heard of Wes Unseld. The author notes that Red Auerbach, the Celtics legendary coach, said only centers truly turned around a team's fortunes by themselves, until Bird fixed the Celtics. Levine mentions several great centers, but not Unseld, who was named the league's most valuable player in his rookie year -- the only player so honored -- because he helped his team win 21 more games than the year before. So when Levine lauds Bill Walton for what he calls a nearly unprecedented gain of 12 wins in his rookie year, he misses the Unseld picture.
One more. In describing the transition to the NBA that Bird faced, the author describes how the game operated prior to his ascension. He says that in the 1970s, the game exploded in popularity and many new teams started, as well as a competing league, the ABA. All true. He also says that with new teams there was "expanded travel and schedules." Not true! The NBA season has been 80 games since the 1950s, moving to 82 in the mid-'60s. It was 82 games when the book was written in the late '80s, and it's 82 games now. How is that expanded?
I'll mention a few things I like about this book. First, I think it's great that the author tried to seriously look at Bird's difficult and sad upbringing, and to relate it to at-times tough treatment he received from the media. "The Hick from French Lick" stuff was pervasive in Bird's early career, and while I took it as being done in good humor and with the wink-and-nod from Bird himself, Levine says that this stuff really hurt Bird at times. He uses Bird's own words, as well as those of coaches and teammates, to explain repeatedly that Bird is a simple guy, not a stupid guy. He doesn't care for fancy stuff, and that's ok. To some degree, he was being judged by college-educated sportswriters as not being worthy of their intellectual pretensions --- and unfair standard that has nothing to do with his seriousness and worth ethic as a basketball player and a teammate. In this book, Bird's side of the argument gets good airing (though it's stated way too many times).
Similarly, the author dives into numerous dicey issues in Bird's life that he tried to downplay, in order to keep his privacy, but which then led to media sensationalism. This book tries to set the record straight on Bird's first marriage as a teen and virtual abandonment of his infant daughter; the suicide of his father; his one month at Indiana University before dropping out; and his many (too many) incidents of bar fights and heavy drinking. This material is not sensationalized in this book, and it's a rather caring and nuanced look. I think if the book was written today, a few would get more attention, such as allegations of him hitting his first wife and a question about why a 17-year-old was heading off to college as a freshman and engaged to an 18-year-old in the first place. That was obviously dumb, and it's shows the lack of attention that college sports programs gave to players in those days that they didn't seem to care. Same with the violence that recurs in this book; there must be a dozen incidents of Bird "punching out" or "leveling" some guy. That's awful, awful, awful conduct. Who knows how many lawsuits Bird has had to settle due to his violent temper.
I liked the descriptions in the early chapters of what Indiana youth and high school basketball is all about. I've seen the film "Hoosiers" more than once, and this book evokes some of that charm. The look at Bird's career at Indiana State is pretty well done, too, if you like play-by-play of crucial moments in a season.
I think the topic of race is handled pretty well, especially for a book written more than 30 years ago. It's pretty frank in describing the racism of Boston fans, even as they were treated to the NBA's greatest dynasty in the 1960s, and it was shocking to read that the Celtics rarely sold out home games even during their heyday. The author runs through the entire NBA "problem" of a league of Black superstars and a White-majority US audience. To his credit, Levine doesn't dwell on this stuff, as he sticks to his main topic, but he picks some useful quotes about how the presence of Bird as a White star was helpful to the league at the time.
Unfortunately, however, overall the book just isn't very good. In addition to the mistakes I enumerated (among many others), there's an overall lack of sophistication in the analysis. I think this is due to Levine being a fan-boy rather than a basketball expert. For example, he reviews the famous decision by Red Auerbach to draft Bird when he was a junior in college and likely to stay for one more season. Thus Auerbach had a year to try to convince him to sign, or else Bird would be drafted by another team. This was a hugely savvy move that isn't given its full due. On top of it, Levine doesn't excoriate the team with the first pick in that year, the Indiana Pacers, who could have chosen Bird before the Celtics. Indiana! Yes, Bird's home state, the place he obviously preferred to play! Levine gives the Pacers a pass by saying they couldn't afford to wait a year, but that's exactly wrong. Completely wrong. The smart move for them would have been to pick Bird and then stink for a year without him and get the top pick again, and then have Bird and another star join the team at the same time. The NBA actually changed the rules for drafting to avoid that being done, even though the Pacers were too stupid to do it.
The book is also way too silent about Magic Johnson, who was Bird's great rival. Magic is in this book, but barely. It's as if, yeah, there were other good teams in the NBA, like the Sixers and Bucks and Lakers, but the world revolved around the Celtics. This just doesn't reflect the NBA at the time, as Johnson was more popular, more photogenic, more exciting than Bird. This isn't to say Bird was unappreciated, but only that he was appreciated for toughness and fundamentals, while the fun in the NBA was Magic firing passes to James Worthy and others. I think this downplaying of Magic was, again, due to the fan-boy nature of the author.
To conclude this overly long review of a forgettable book, I'd say that there are probably better Bird books out there (I haven't read any). I know there are better Bird-Magic era books out there, and I know there are books with better analysis of what makes a great NBA player. If you find this book for a dollar at a yard sale, go for it. But don't spend a lot to add it to your sports library.
Read
November 11, 2019Didn’t f8nd it to interesting
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2013
It was okay
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews