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Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics
From award-winning Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy, an “entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) and nostalgia-filled retelling of the 1980s Boston Celtics’ glory years, which featured the sublime play of NBA legend Larry Bird.
Today the NBA is a vast global franchise—a billion-dollar industry seen by millions of fans in the United States and abroad. But it wasn’t always this successful. Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s—when basketball was still an up-and-coming sport featuring old school beat reporters and players who wore Converse All-Stars.
Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for The Boston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to 1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Shaughnessy knew the athletes as real people, losing free throw bets to Larry Bird, being gifted cheap cigars by the iconic coach Red Auerbach, and having his one-year-old daughter Sarah passed from player to player on a flight from Logan to Detroit Metro.
Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences that would not be possible for any reporter today, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams, capturing the camaraderie as they dominated the NBA. Fans can witness the cockiness of Larry Bird (who once walked into an All-Star Weekend locker room, announced that he was going to win the three-point contest, and did); the ageless athleticism of Robert Parish; the shooting skills of Kevin McHale; the fierce, self-sacrificing play of Bill Walton; and the playful humor of players like Danny Ainge, Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell, and M.L. Carr.
For any fan who longs to return—for just a few hours—to those magical years when the Boston Garden rocked and the winner’s circle was mostly colored Boston Green, Wish It Lasted Forever is a masterful tribute to “the Celtics from 1982–1986 [that] is so good even fervent Celtics haters will have trouble putting it down” (New York Post).
Today the NBA is a vast global franchise—a billion-dollar industry seen by millions of fans in the United States and abroad. But it wasn’t always this successful. Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s—when basketball was still an up-and-coming sport featuring old school beat reporters and players who wore Converse All-Stars.
Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for The Boston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to 1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Shaughnessy knew the athletes as real people, losing free throw bets to Larry Bird, being gifted cheap cigars by the iconic coach Red Auerbach, and having his one-year-old daughter Sarah passed from player to player on a flight from Logan to Detroit Metro.
Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences that would not be possible for any reporter today, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams, capturing the camaraderie as they dominated the NBA. Fans can witness the cockiness of Larry Bird (who once walked into an All-Star Weekend locker room, announced that he was going to win the three-point contest, and did); the ageless athleticism of Robert Parish; the shooting skills of Kevin McHale; the fierce, self-sacrificing play of Bill Walton; and the playful humor of players like Danny Ainge, Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell, and M.L. Carr.
For any fan who longs to return—for just a few hours—to those magical years when the Boston Garden rocked and the winner’s circle was mostly colored Boston Green, Wish It Lasted Forever is a masterful tribute to “the Celtics from 1982–1986 [that] is so good even fervent Celtics haters will have trouble putting it down” (New York Post).
255 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2021
102 people are currently reading
943 people want to read
About the author
Dan Shaughnessy
17 books28 followersDan Shaughnessy is an award-winning columnist for the Boston Globe and the author of several sports books, including The Curse of the Bambino, a best-selling classic. Seven times Shaughnessy has been voted one of America’s top ten sports columnists by Associated Press Sports Editors and named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year. He has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Early Show, CNN, Nightline, NPR, Imus in the Morning, ESPN, HBO, and many others. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
October 17, 2021
Professional basketball in the early and mid-1980’s were defined by two teams and two players. One of them was the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Magic Johnson. The other one was the Boston Celtics and their superstar, Larry Bird. The latter were the subject of this terrific book by the reporter who was a beat writer for the Boston Globe during that time, Dan Shaughnessy. He covered the team between 1981 and 1986, leaving the team’s beat midway through that season, which was the third one for the Celtics during this time, to become the beat writer for the Boston Red Sox. While he didn’t regret his decision to cover baseball, it is clear that Shaughnessy truly enjoyed his time covering this all-time great team.
More than just writing about the team’s accomplishments, in both this book and his articles and columns for the Globe, Shaughnessy’s best work comes when he writes about the players, their stories and their personalities. One great story is when Bird had his right hand taped in a practice due to an injury, Shaughnessy decided to try to win a bet with him by challenging him to a free throw contest – 100 shots for each one with Bird’s hand remaining taped. Without giving away any more, just assume that it finished the way the reader will think it will.
The excellent prose on players is especially brought out in later chapters for the 1985-86 season when Bill Walton joined the team. It almost felt like that team was all about a backup center instead of one of the best frontcourts in NBA history with Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. That is quickly forgotten when the reader learn just how happy Walton was to be part of the team and how upset he was with himself when he felt responsible for the first loss of the season by the Celtics. Bird immediately told him to forget about it and then told “Scoop” Shaughnessy that he didn’t think that he could endure that for a full season.
“Scoop” was a nickname given to the author by the team, not necessarily a term of endearment as Shaughnessy was not only a new writer for the Globe but he was also among the first sportswriters who would be more than just a buddy with the players who would write only fluff pieces or game recaps. Some of the players, most notably Parish, would freeze Shaughnessy out or shun him on the buses or planes (at the time, media covering the team would travel with them).
However, this book is not just about the player’s lives or the social issues of the time – it is also a very good account of some of the basketball played as well, especially the two times during this time when the Celtics faced the Lakers in the NBA finals. For readers who enjoyed professional basketball during this era will love reading about those epic finals when the two main figures in the sport met to decide the championship. As one of those readers that fall into this category, I believe that the title apply to both the book and that era of Celtics basketball – wish it lasted forever.
I wish to thank Scribner Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
More than just writing about the team’s accomplishments, in both this book and his articles and columns for the Globe, Shaughnessy’s best work comes when he writes about the players, their stories and their personalities. One great story is when Bird had his right hand taped in a practice due to an injury, Shaughnessy decided to try to win a bet with him by challenging him to a free throw contest – 100 shots for each one with Bird’s hand remaining taped. Without giving away any more, just assume that it finished the way the reader will think it will.
The excellent prose on players is especially brought out in later chapters for the 1985-86 season when Bill Walton joined the team. It almost felt like that team was all about a backup center instead of one of the best frontcourts in NBA history with Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. That is quickly forgotten when the reader learn just how happy Walton was to be part of the team and how upset he was with himself when he felt responsible for the first loss of the season by the Celtics. Bird immediately told him to forget about it and then told “Scoop” Shaughnessy that he didn’t think that he could endure that for a full season.
“Scoop” was a nickname given to the author by the team, not necessarily a term of endearment as Shaughnessy was not only a new writer for the Globe but he was also among the first sportswriters who would be more than just a buddy with the players who would write only fluff pieces or game recaps. Some of the players, most notably Parish, would freeze Shaughnessy out or shun him on the buses or planes (at the time, media covering the team would travel with them).
However, this book is not just about the player’s lives or the social issues of the time – it is also a very good account of some of the basketball played as well, especially the two times during this time when the Celtics faced the Lakers in the NBA finals. For readers who enjoyed professional basketball during this era will love reading about those epic finals when the two main figures in the sport met to decide the championship. As one of those readers that fall into this category, I believe that the title apply to both the book and that era of Celtics basketball – wish it lasted forever.
I wish to thank Scribner Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
April 6, 2022
This book has an interesting viewpoint, as it is sort of an autobiography of a Celtics beat writer (Shaughnessy) while he was with the Celtics. I've probably read a bit too many Bird/Celtics books for my own good, but I'd say that this one is worth the read.
But stay far, far away from the audiobook.
It could be used as evidence (Exhibit 1) in a case against having authors read their own books out loud. Shaughnessy's writing style is nice, but his reading is stilted and uninteresting. That, by itself, can be forgiven. But when Bill Walton is introduced, Shaughnessy (who until that point has NEVER changed his voice while reading direct quotes) deepens his voice, probably to imitate Walton, but instead sounds more like a bad imitation of Homer Simpson. It was cringe-worthy to start with, and went downhill after that. Bill Walton with a Boston accent? Hardly.
But stay far, far away from the audiobook.
It could be used as evidence (Exhibit 1) in a case against having authors read their own books out loud. Shaughnessy's writing style is nice, but his reading is stilted and uninteresting. That, by itself, can be forgiven. But when Bill Walton is introduced, Shaughnessy (who until that point has NEVER changed his voice while reading direct quotes) deepens his voice, probably to imitate Walton, but instead sounds more like a bad imitation of Homer Simpson. It was cringe-worthy to start with, and went downhill after that. Bill Walton with a Boston accent? Hardly.
January 8, 2022
You probably have to be a basketball fan to enjoy this book. Especially a fan who remembers the 1980s and Larry Bird. But if you fall into those categories, then this is pure literary delight, chicken soup for the soul.
I guess the book sort of has a narrative arc, but its greatness lies in its little anecdotes, the tales of Bird challenging the author to a shooting contest, of Bill Walton taking the team to a Grateful Dead concert. None of these stories really further the story, but I would have been happy had the author piled on another 200 pages of them.
We don’t read books like this to find out what happens at the end. We read them because we want an escape from our present troubles. We need to take a break from the rat race and be taken back to simpler times. Sometimes we need to worry about deadlines and carpools, but sometimes we just need to pull up a chair in some smelly locker room and listen to the heroes of our youth razz one another and bullshit on and on.
I guess the book sort of has a narrative arc, but its greatness lies in its little anecdotes, the tales of Bird challenging the author to a shooting contest, of Bill Walton taking the team to a Grateful Dead concert. None of these stories really further the story, but I would have been happy had the author piled on another 200 pages of them.
We don’t read books like this to find out what happens at the end. We read them because we want an escape from our present troubles. We need to take a break from the rat race and be taken back to simpler times. Sometimes we need to worry about deadlines and carpools, but sometimes we just need to pull up a chair in some smelly locker room and listen to the heroes of our youth razz one another and bullshit on and on.
May 8, 2022
A well-written, well-researched book on the Boston Celtics' teams from around 1981 to 1986 told by the author that covered that squad, Dan Shaughnessy. This book will talk about all the great rivalry games between the Celtics and Lakers, as well as Celtics and 76ers during this time. Good stories here on Bird, McHale, Parish, Parish's wife (what was HER problem?), Walton, Ainge, Dennis Johnson and Bill Fitch to name a few. Although much has been written about this team and era I felt a lot of the material sounded new. A lot written about what happened off the court. I guess the one thing I would have liked to have read about is more on the 1986 Finals as well as the 1987 and 88 seasons. However, Shaughnessy had left the beat by that time to cover the Red Sox. So not his fault really. NBA fans will really enjoy and Celtic fans will love.
June 18, 2023
This is good. Shaughnessy was the Globe beat writer for the Celtics for four seasons, 1983–1986. Those were the most frustrating, disgruntled season of Bird’s career, a rebound season that ended with Bird getting revenge ( for the 1979 NCAA finals) on Magic, a great season that ended with a disappointing loss to LA, and the 1986 season, when the Celtics were one of the greatest teams ever. The book is a breezy read with a lot of the “greatest hits” anecdotes from those years. It’s worth a weekend read, especially for NBA fans and especially so for Bird fans.
May 22, 2023
B+
Dan Shaughnessy is a reporter who covered the vaunted Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics of the 1980s for the Boston Globe. In Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics, Shaughnessy remembers his time with the team and explores their place in N.B.A. history.
Shaughnessy was the Cetltics team reporter from 1981 until 1987. Because of how close sports writers were with the teams they covered in the 1980s, Shaughnessy has unprecedented incites into the inner workings of Coach K.C. Jones' legendary Celtics teams that featured Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert "Chief" Parish, Bill Walton, and Dennis Johnson among others.
Since Shaughnessy traveled with the team on the team's bus, he can provide a realistic experience of sharing such close quarters with a team many consider the greatest of all time. To protect his journalistic integrity, Shaughnessy had to be cautious of becoming too close with Celtics players. He is open and honest about how difficult this was because he spent more time with the Celtics than with his family during the basketball season.
Shaughnessy remembers times when players (and their wives) were upset with him over something he'd written. Larry Bird didn't speak to Shaughnessy for nearly a year after Shaughnessy published an article about a bar fight Larry was involved in, injuring his hand and likely costing the Celtics the 1984-85 N.B.A. Championship.
I found Shaughnessy's story about the bar fight particularly compelling since I read a book co-authored by Bird about his career last week, and Bird didn't mention the fight whatsoever.
Shaughnessy is an exceptional writer whose reporting appears fair and unbiased. I devoured Wish It Lasted Forever in a day. The only fault I can find with the book is that it's too short.
I wish Shaughnessy had explored more of his time with the Celtics. I enjoyed Shaughnessy's anecdotes about his interactions with the team and his keen insights into the personalities of Celtics players and staff.
Shaughnessy hilariously recalls the awkwardness of introducing his daughter Sam to iconic Celtics coach/executive Red Auerbach. I love the dichotomy between the bumbling, socially awkward person Auerbach is when meeting baby Sam and the commanding presence who once lead the Celtics to eight straight N.B.A. Championships.
Wish It Lasted Forever is a well-written time capsule of life and basketball in the 1980s. While it's required reading for any Celtics fan, it will also appeal to anyone who enjoys nostalgia and exceptional storytelling.
Dan Shaughnessy is a reporter who covered the vaunted Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics of the 1980s for the Boston Globe. In Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics, Shaughnessy remembers his time with the team and explores their place in N.B.A. history.
Shaughnessy was the Cetltics team reporter from 1981 until 1987. Because of how close sports writers were with the teams they covered in the 1980s, Shaughnessy has unprecedented incites into the inner workings of Coach K.C. Jones' legendary Celtics teams that featured Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert "Chief" Parish, Bill Walton, and Dennis Johnson among others.
Since Shaughnessy traveled with the team on the team's bus, he can provide a realistic experience of sharing such close quarters with a team many consider the greatest of all time. To protect his journalistic integrity, Shaughnessy had to be cautious of becoming too close with Celtics players. He is open and honest about how difficult this was because he spent more time with the Celtics than with his family during the basketball season.
Shaughnessy remembers times when players (and their wives) were upset with him over something he'd written. Larry Bird didn't speak to Shaughnessy for nearly a year after Shaughnessy published an article about a bar fight Larry was involved in, injuring his hand and likely costing the Celtics the 1984-85 N.B.A. Championship.
I found Shaughnessy's story about the bar fight particularly compelling since I read a book co-authored by Bird about his career last week, and Bird didn't mention the fight whatsoever.
Shaughnessy is an exceptional writer whose reporting appears fair and unbiased. I devoured Wish It Lasted Forever in a day. The only fault I can find with the book is that it's too short.
I wish Shaughnessy had explored more of his time with the Celtics. I enjoyed Shaughnessy's anecdotes about his interactions with the team and his keen insights into the personalities of Celtics players and staff.
Shaughnessy hilariously recalls the awkwardness of introducing his daughter Sam to iconic Celtics coach/executive Red Auerbach. I love the dichotomy between the bumbling, socially awkward person Auerbach is when meeting baby Sam and the commanding presence who once lead the Celtics to eight straight N.B.A. Championships.
Wish It Lasted Forever is a well-written time capsule of life and basketball in the 1980s. While it's required reading for any Celtics fan, it will also appeal to anyone who enjoys nostalgia and exceptional storytelling.
November 9, 2025
5 stars
I loved these Celtics teams. I live in a non-NBA city, so I've never been a fan of any one team. I was a fan of every team, every player. I knew EVERYTHING about the NBA at the time.
I ran one of the first NBA fantasy leagues nationally. I wrote freelance basketball columns for The Sporting News when I wasn't writing sports for the local newspaper. Needless to say, I didn't mind all the behind-the scenes, sportswriter talk.
This was Dan Shaughnessy's experience covering those great Celtics' teams, not necessarily a book about the Celtics. That may throw some people off, but I thought those insights were better than telling readers a bunch of game stories they already knew.
Back in the summer of 1981, I attended Larry Bird's basketball camp in Millbrook prior to my junior year of high school. Bird, M.L. Carr, Cornbread Maxwell, and several other Celtics worked the camp. They were coming off their first NBA championship. Since I flew in from out-of-town, I got there a day early. I played pick-up ball with several counselors and Bird himself before the camp opened. Bird put on the most amazing shooting performance I ever saw in person, but that's a story for a different day.
Needless to say, between the people, places, and all things 1980's NBA basketball, this book was meant for me. Your mileage may vary.
Shaughnessy researched and wrote this book during the pandemic. It was great to see so many former players recount their experiences from more than 30 years ago. I particularly liked that Robert Parish and a couple of other players never liked Shaughnessy and still wouldn't speak to him now. Bird and a few others were playfully adversarial with Shaughnessy during those years. It made for a great book. He wasn't "friends" with this team. Shaughnessy is a sports journalist. He covered the team. He wasn't their PR director.
For an old sportswriter like me, this was a fun book.
I loved these Celtics teams. I live in a non-NBA city, so I've never been a fan of any one team. I was a fan of every team, every player. I knew EVERYTHING about the NBA at the time.
I ran one of the first NBA fantasy leagues nationally. I wrote freelance basketball columns for The Sporting News when I wasn't writing sports for the local newspaper. Needless to say, I didn't mind all the behind-the scenes, sportswriter talk.
This was Dan Shaughnessy's experience covering those great Celtics' teams, not necessarily a book about the Celtics. That may throw some people off, but I thought those insights were better than telling readers a bunch of game stories they already knew.
Back in the summer of 1981, I attended Larry Bird's basketball camp in Millbrook prior to my junior year of high school. Bird, M.L. Carr, Cornbread Maxwell, and several other Celtics worked the camp. They were coming off their first NBA championship. Since I flew in from out-of-town, I got there a day early. I played pick-up ball with several counselors and Bird himself before the camp opened. Bird put on the most amazing shooting performance I ever saw in person, but that's a story for a different day.
Needless to say, between the people, places, and all things 1980's NBA basketball, this book was meant for me. Your mileage may vary.
Shaughnessy researched and wrote this book during the pandemic. It was great to see so many former players recount their experiences from more than 30 years ago. I particularly liked that Robert Parish and a couple of other players never liked Shaughnessy and still wouldn't speak to him now. Bird and a few others were playfully adversarial with Shaughnessy during those years. It made for a great book. He wasn't "friends" with this team. Shaughnessy is a sports journalist. He covered the team. He wasn't their PR director.
For an old sportswriter like me, this was a fun book.
March 27, 2024
This books was everything I look for in a sports book with behind the scenes stories without getting to in-depth on play by play regurgitation of games. I understand this was from Shaughnessy's time on the beat but I feel like the story ended prematurely. Finish the story of Bird's career with the Celtics. I understand your beat ended in '86 but I feel like its owed to the reader to finish Bird's Celtics story.
Otherwise it was a fun, fast and easy read. I enjoyed what was offered.
Otherwise it was a fun, fast and easy read. I enjoyed what was offered.
November 25, 2021
Came of age during the Celtic's reign under Bird. Was like taking a walk down memory lane. Not too many things I didn't already know but was still a fun, quick read. Interesting to see the dynamic and tension between the team and the beat writer. Basketball and newspapers just aren't the same, but then again what is?
May 22, 2024
Such a fun read about one the greatest eras of basketball with one of the best reporters there. If you like basketball this is for you, and if you love the Celtics you’ll love this. Plus, Bill Walton has some killer quotes in here.
January 1, 2023
Loved it! It brought back memories of the 80s Celtics. Dan Shaughnessy is such an easy writer to read. I recommend it to anybody who remembers those great Celtics teams of the 80s.
September 24, 2023
Really interesting read but would have been a 5/5 if the author wasn't so vocally biased towards the celtics
June 17, 2025
Great read for a Celtics fan. The inside stories from Dan are amazing and it’s fun to walk with the Larry Bird Celtics for a while.
March 18, 2022
I loved reading about all the great basketball players I watched growing up. Great book!
June 18, 2022
Loved reading about Larry Bird’s endless grievances.
March 25, 2023
This might be the most fun I've ever had reading a book. Halfway through I wanted to run out and buy a copy despite listening to it on a library audiobook. Usually, my wife can tell how much I'm enjoying a book by I how much I read/tell her. I felt like I wanted to share this entire book with her real-time. It's certainly not for everyone; you have to be a Celtics fan of a certain age, but with that qualifier I can't imagine a better book about the 1980s Celtics.
April 7, 2022
Great trip back to the era of the 80s Celtics. Well worth a read even if you weren't around for this.
And the book is confirmation that Shaughnessy is a dick but at least a self-aware dick.
And the book is confirmation that Shaughnessy is a dick but at least a self-aware dick.
March 15, 2022
Basketball fan?
This is really a book for the Celtics fans.
Written by Dan Shaughnessy, who covered the Celtics for a number of years. Shaughnessy did not believe in lavishing praise on every little thing the Celtics (and later, the Red Sox) accomplished. Rather, he sought out anything that would capture the readers' attention. And, yes, this included taking shots at the stars. Oh well. The result is that there is a bit much of Shaughnessy, and not enough of the Celtics. I personally do not believe that everything the Celtics did was praise worthy. But I really no not need to wallow in the noise of contentious behaviors.
Anyway, it is cool to read about past stars.
This is really a book for the Celtics fans.
Written by Dan Shaughnessy, who covered the Celtics for a number of years. Shaughnessy did not believe in lavishing praise on every little thing the Celtics (and later, the Red Sox) accomplished. Rather, he sought out anything that would capture the readers' attention. And, yes, this included taking shots at the stars. Oh well. The result is that there is a bit much of Shaughnessy, and not enough of the Celtics. I personally do not believe that everything the Celtics did was praise worthy. But I really no not need to wallow in the noise of contentious behaviors.
Anyway, it is cool to read about past stars.
August 13, 2021
WISH IT LASTED FOREVER: LIFE WITH THE LARRY BIRD CELTICS
By Dan Shaughnessy
Scribner, 256 pages.
★★★★
Were the 1985-86 Boston Celtics the greatest team in National Basketball Association history? Such questions are pointless because sports–rules, equipment, players–evolve. Few analysts, though, take umbrage with saying that the Celtics front court of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish–with Bill Walton coming off the bench–defined the adjective dominant.
Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy revives memories of the 1980s. He was a newbie at Globe in 1981, the year after Larry Joe Bird was the NBA’s 1980 Rookie of the Year. The epic battles between Bird’s Celtics and Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers in the years 1980-87 redefined the NBA and brought it into national prominence.
Perhaps you wonder about the showdowns in the 1950s and early 1960s between the Bill Russell-led Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors? Today, the NBA is a global product and the second-most popular team sport in North America. When Russell was a rookie in 1956, he and Chamberlain shed light on a 10-year-old league that played in crummy gyms and had franchises in places like Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Rochester, and Syracuse. The Lakers were in Minneapolis and the Warriors in Philly. Russell helped define the NBA. It grew from the mid-60s on, but didn’t become a media-fueled juggernaut until Bird, Magic, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Julius Erving, and others broadened TV viewership and won sponsorships.
The best parts of Shaughnessy’s book deal with change, not just in the game but also in the media and social mores. Shaughnessy was dubbed “Scoop” by Celtics players and it wasn’t endearing. He was part of a new wave of sportswriters whose perspective was investigative and (in many cases) combative. Consider, for example, that Boston Herald writer Mike Carey had been so chummy with players that he lent them his car and acted as their agents. Today that would be conflict of interest. Bloody on-court fisticuffs would yield lengthy suspensions; in the 1980s, they didn’t always lead to technical fouls. Bill Walton reveals that he knew he loved new coach when K. C. Jones when he put the Lakers’ James Worthy into a headlock during a melee.
Shaughnessy was in the seam between the chummy old-style NBA and the emergent; he wanted access to players, but it was not his job to write fluff. His style ruffled feathers. He had a hot/cold relationship with Bird and Parrish refused to talk to him at all. Diehard basketball fans might wish to skim the parts of the book that rehash the long familiar: Red Auerbach’s iron-fisted management style, coach Bill Fitch’s abrasive egoism, Parrish’s sullenness, and Bird’s cockiness. (Bird took trash-talk to the next level. He once defended BYU grad/teammates Danny Ainge and Greg Kite by saying nobody would have heard of Utah without them–and murderer Gary Gilmore!)
Bird was the pivot piece, but Auerbach’s unsentimental roster retooling was the lever. During Bird’s peak years he was league MVP three years in a row and the Celtics won the NBA title in 1980-81 and 1983-84, lost the finals in 1984-85, and won again in 1985-86. Auerbach had no problem jettisoning popular players he felt were no longer useful, such as Cedric Maxwell, Quinn Buckner, or Rick Robey. (He robbed Seattle by trading Gerald Henderson for Dennis Johnson.) He also felt (rightly) that the Celtics lost in 1984-85 because the players despised Fitch. Enter K. C. Jones and a magical season.
You may never see another team like it. The roster had eight white players, just four African Americans, a black coach, and not a hint of racial tension. (Bird called Jones “the nicest man I ever met.”) Walton claimed that coming to Boston saved his life. That’s hyperbolic, but the Celtics played with infectious joy. McHale set a team record by scoring 58 points, which fell the very next game when Bird poured in 60. They were so cohesive that they went 37-1 at home, wrapped up their division so early they didn’t bother to try for an NBA victory record, and won their final game by playing only the bench. There was no partying when they won the conference title; as Bird insisted, celebrations only came after titles. He also proved that a slow white dude who didn’t jump well could become a hoop god through hard work and a high court IQ. (Shaughnessy advises skepticism re: the “Hick from French Lick” guise; Bird knew how to conjugate verbs!)
Wish It Lasted Forever has eyeopeners, including pranks that wouldn’t fly today, like putting an M. L. Carr jersey on a car lot’s advertising gorilla. Casual sexism was also a thing. We laugh when Shaughnessy loses $160 in a free throw challenge with Bird, who taped his entire hand and thumb. Shaughnessy also gets another booby prize for leaving the basketball beat in the spring to cover the Red Sox, then the city’s biggest sports attraction. (Today, they might be number four.) We appreciate Bird’s color-blind judgments, including his prediction that Michael Jordan would become the NBA’s greatest player. (M.J. transformed the game a third time.) Alas, nothing lasts forever. Injuries took their toll and it would be 22 years before the Celtics hoisted another championship banner.
Rob Weir
By Dan Shaughnessy
Scribner, 256 pages.
★★★★
Were the 1985-86 Boston Celtics the greatest team in National Basketball Association history? Such questions are pointless because sports–rules, equipment, players–evolve. Few analysts, though, take umbrage with saying that the Celtics front court of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish–with Bill Walton coming off the bench–defined the adjective dominant.
Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy revives memories of the 1980s. He was a newbie at Globe in 1981, the year after Larry Joe Bird was the NBA’s 1980 Rookie of the Year. The epic battles between Bird’s Celtics and Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers in the years 1980-87 redefined the NBA and brought it into national prominence.
Perhaps you wonder about the showdowns in the 1950s and early 1960s between the Bill Russell-led Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors? Today, the NBA is a global product and the second-most popular team sport in North America. When Russell was a rookie in 1956, he and Chamberlain shed light on a 10-year-old league that played in crummy gyms and had franchises in places like Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Rochester, and Syracuse. The Lakers were in Minneapolis and the Warriors in Philly. Russell helped define the NBA. It grew from the mid-60s on, but didn’t become a media-fueled juggernaut until Bird, Magic, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Julius Erving, and others broadened TV viewership and won sponsorships.
The best parts of Shaughnessy’s book deal with change, not just in the game but also in the media and social mores. Shaughnessy was dubbed “Scoop” by Celtics players and it wasn’t endearing. He was part of a new wave of sportswriters whose perspective was investigative and (in many cases) combative. Consider, for example, that Boston Herald writer Mike Carey had been so chummy with players that he lent them his car and acted as their agents. Today that would be conflict of interest. Bloody on-court fisticuffs would yield lengthy suspensions; in the 1980s, they didn’t always lead to technical fouls. Bill Walton reveals that he knew he loved new coach when K. C. Jones when he put the Lakers’ James Worthy into a headlock during a melee.
Shaughnessy was in the seam between the chummy old-style NBA and the emergent; he wanted access to players, but it was not his job to write fluff. His style ruffled feathers. He had a hot/cold relationship with Bird and Parrish refused to talk to him at all. Diehard basketball fans might wish to skim the parts of the book that rehash the long familiar: Red Auerbach’s iron-fisted management style, coach Bill Fitch’s abrasive egoism, Parrish’s sullenness, and Bird’s cockiness. (Bird took trash-talk to the next level. He once defended BYU grad/teammates Danny Ainge and Greg Kite by saying nobody would have heard of Utah without them–and murderer Gary Gilmore!)
Bird was the pivot piece, but Auerbach’s unsentimental roster retooling was the lever. During Bird’s peak years he was league MVP three years in a row and the Celtics won the NBA title in 1980-81 and 1983-84, lost the finals in 1984-85, and won again in 1985-86. Auerbach had no problem jettisoning popular players he felt were no longer useful, such as Cedric Maxwell, Quinn Buckner, or Rick Robey. (He robbed Seattle by trading Gerald Henderson for Dennis Johnson.) He also felt (rightly) that the Celtics lost in 1984-85 because the players despised Fitch. Enter K. C. Jones and a magical season.
You may never see another team like it. The roster had eight white players, just four African Americans, a black coach, and not a hint of racial tension. (Bird called Jones “the nicest man I ever met.”) Walton claimed that coming to Boston saved his life. That’s hyperbolic, but the Celtics played with infectious joy. McHale set a team record by scoring 58 points, which fell the very next game when Bird poured in 60. They were so cohesive that they went 37-1 at home, wrapped up their division so early they didn’t bother to try for an NBA victory record, and won their final game by playing only the bench. There was no partying when they won the conference title; as Bird insisted, celebrations only came after titles. He also proved that a slow white dude who didn’t jump well could become a hoop god through hard work and a high court IQ. (Shaughnessy advises skepticism re: the “Hick from French Lick” guise; Bird knew how to conjugate verbs!)
Wish It Lasted Forever has eyeopeners, including pranks that wouldn’t fly today, like putting an M. L. Carr jersey on a car lot’s advertising gorilla. Casual sexism was also a thing. We laugh when Shaughnessy loses $160 in a free throw challenge with Bird, who taped his entire hand and thumb. Shaughnessy also gets another booby prize for leaving the basketball beat in the spring to cover the Red Sox, then the city’s biggest sports attraction. (Today, they might be number four.) We appreciate Bird’s color-blind judgments, including his prediction that Michael Jordan would become the NBA’s greatest player. (M.J. transformed the game a third time.) Alas, nothing lasts forever. Injuries took their toll and it would be 22 years before the Celtics hoisted another championship banner.
Rob Weir
January 3, 2024
Pleasantly surprised. Book didn’t reveal a ton, but still a fun read
March 7, 2025
Quick read from veteran Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy from his time covering the Larry Bird-era Boston Celtics. Listened to this one on audio and Shaughnessy did his own narration. It’s a bit of monotonous delivery that belies the writer’s dry sense of humor. I wasn’t into it at first, but the ridiculous if not completely inaccurate portrayal of Bill Walton kind of made up for it.
Shaughnessy appears to have to written this during the pandemic and early on calls out the shift from his era of reportage when beat guys were essentially embedded with the teams and players and reporters could develop relationships literally made impossible during the bubble ball of covid. The game has definitely changed and access isn’t what it was in the 80s, but nor did the restrictions of the bubble social distancing become the new normal Shaughnessy alludes to here.
It's against this backdrop that Shaughnessy’s reminiscences and stories take place. He had intimate relationships with the players that cut across five decades as evidenced by the amount of present-day interviews that alternate with the author’s Globe stories, notes, and his own memories to bolster a quick moving narrative that covers 5-7 years of the 80s Celtics.
While Bird was the obvious star of the team, Cedric Maxwell and Walton take center stage of Wish It Lasted Forever. These colorful athletes-turned-commentators added levity and wit to the team in the 80s and again in interviews in 2020. Shaughnessy’s talent shines through in giving the players the space to tell the story and in particular, the personalities of Maxwell and Walton. What’s more is his ability to tell the story from a first-person lens while maintaining a role of a background character.
The whole premise of the title is about how unique and fun this group of Celtics was. The endless ball busting set against possibly the greatest pro basketball team of all-time (85-86) with a generational talent like Bird at the helm and a diverse cast of characters that included the Mormon Danny Ainge, gangly fun-loving post-threat Kevin McHale, stoic and moody Chief Robert Parish (with cameos from his wife), towel-waving former corrections officer ML Carr, cigar chomping Red Auerbach, Maxwell, Walton, Jerry Garcia, Bruce Springsteen and whoever else I’m overlooking have elicited an interest in this team that exceeds anything I’ve seen dedicated to the Showtime Lakers (plenty of ink on this team too), the 90s Bulls (if you read The Jordan Rules or watch The Last Dance or read Scottie Pippen’s autobiography, you’ll walk away thinking this is one the unhappiest bunch of winners ever), or the Bad Boy Pistons (a bit of a cult following but with a guy like Laimbeer, this was never an endearing team). The Lakers and Spurs early 2000s dominance is a mix of petty (Lakers) and meh (Spurs). The only team I can think of that comes close is Golden State Warriors of the 2010s.
Good treatment of a great team.
Shaughnessy appears to have to written this during the pandemic and early on calls out the shift from his era of reportage when beat guys were essentially embedded with the teams and players and reporters could develop relationships literally made impossible during the bubble ball of covid. The game has definitely changed and access isn’t what it was in the 80s, but nor did the restrictions of the bubble social distancing become the new normal Shaughnessy alludes to here.
It's against this backdrop that Shaughnessy’s reminiscences and stories take place. He had intimate relationships with the players that cut across five decades as evidenced by the amount of present-day interviews that alternate with the author’s Globe stories, notes, and his own memories to bolster a quick moving narrative that covers 5-7 years of the 80s Celtics.
While Bird was the obvious star of the team, Cedric Maxwell and Walton take center stage of Wish It Lasted Forever. These colorful athletes-turned-commentators added levity and wit to the team in the 80s and again in interviews in 2020. Shaughnessy’s talent shines through in giving the players the space to tell the story and in particular, the personalities of Maxwell and Walton. What’s more is his ability to tell the story from a first-person lens while maintaining a role of a background character.
The whole premise of the title is about how unique and fun this group of Celtics was. The endless ball busting set against possibly the greatest pro basketball team of all-time (85-86) with a generational talent like Bird at the helm and a diverse cast of characters that included the Mormon Danny Ainge, gangly fun-loving post-threat Kevin McHale, stoic and moody Chief Robert Parish (with cameos from his wife), towel-waving former corrections officer ML Carr, cigar chomping Red Auerbach, Maxwell, Walton, Jerry Garcia, Bruce Springsteen and whoever else I’m overlooking have elicited an interest in this team that exceeds anything I’ve seen dedicated to the Showtime Lakers (plenty of ink on this team too), the 90s Bulls (if you read The Jordan Rules or watch The Last Dance or read Scottie Pippen’s autobiography, you’ll walk away thinking this is one the unhappiest bunch of winners ever), or the Bad Boy Pistons (a bit of a cult following but with a guy like Laimbeer, this was never an endearing team). The Lakers and Spurs early 2000s dominance is a mix of petty (Lakers) and meh (Spurs). The only team I can think of that comes close is Golden State Warriors of the 2010s.
Good treatment of a great team.
June 2, 2022
Wish it Lasted Forever cover author Dan Shaughnessy's time working as a Boston Globe reporter covering the Boston Celtics in the early-middle 1980's. This time frame features the Larry Bird led Celtics, as well as aspects of the then growing NBA. While the book is well written, I was torn between rating 2 or 3 stars as I feel that there are better basketball books available, as well as many Celtics-specific ones.
One aspect that is particularly jarring about the book is that it ends during the middle of the Celtics' 1985-86 championship season. Real life intrudes, as Shaughnessy changes assignments to the Boston Red Sox mid-season due to the departure of another reporter at the Globe. While understandable, it felt a bit off to be reading about the season and then transitioning directly into the epilogue. Having said that, the core audience for this book will certainly know the outcome with the Celtics winning that year's championship. Dan Shaughnessy's relationships with the players is also detailed in the story and how access to professional players has changed in the years following.
Ultimately, this is a quick and easy read that can appeal to Celtics or basketball fans, especially those of that time period. The stated goal of providing some of the differences between the NBA of the 1980s and today was met I believe and this book can be breezed through in a few sittings. For my own tastes though, I recall enjoying other basketball books more although I am not particularly well-read on the subject. I would recommend The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam as a look at an even earlier NBA and the inventive Forty-Eight Minutes: A Night in the Life of the NBA by Bob Ryan which takes a look inside the NBA via a single Celtics game in the 1980s. Celtics fans should also enjoy the more recent, When the Game Was Ours detailing the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson rivalry.
One aspect that is particularly jarring about the book is that it ends during the middle of the Celtics' 1985-86 championship season. Real life intrudes, as Shaughnessy changes assignments to the Boston Red Sox mid-season due to the departure of another reporter at the Globe. While understandable, it felt a bit off to be reading about the season and then transitioning directly into the epilogue. Having said that, the core audience for this book will certainly know the outcome with the Celtics winning that year's championship. Dan Shaughnessy's relationships with the players is also detailed in the story and how access to professional players has changed in the years following.
Ultimately, this is a quick and easy read that can appeal to Celtics or basketball fans, especially those of that time period. The stated goal of providing some of the differences between the NBA of the 1980s and today was met I believe and this book can be breezed through in a few sittings. For my own tastes though, I recall enjoying other basketball books more although I am not particularly well-read on the subject. I would recommend The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam as a look at an even earlier NBA and the inventive Forty-Eight Minutes: A Night in the Life of the NBA by Bob Ryan which takes a look inside the NBA via a single Celtics game in the 1980s. Celtics fans should also enjoy the more recent, When the Game Was Ours detailing the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson rivalry.
November 27, 2021
Subtitled: Life With the Larry Bird Celtics
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I was in my early-to mid 20s when it seemed like every year that the NBA Finals came down to Magic Johnson and the Lakers against Larry Bird and the Celtics. While I was definitely a Lakers fan, when I saw this book available on Net Galley I immediately knew I had to read it. Author Dan Shaughnessy covered the Celtics for three-plus years for the Boston Globe during a time when sports reporters travelled with their teams, sharing flights and hotels with the players and coaches.
To me, the most interesting parts of the book concerned Shaughnessy’s relationships with players and coaches, often made awkward by the writer’s publishing stories that the players would rather have been ignored, such as the time Larry Bird was injured in a bar fight during the NBA playoffs. As a journalism school graduate who never worked in the field afterward, I was fascinated to read about how he managed to walk the very thin line between reporting unpleasant facts and maintaining a working relationship with the Celtic players.
I gave Wish It Lasted Forever five stars on Goodreads despite my lack of appreciate of the Celtics because of the way Shaughnessy brought out the personalities of players such as Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Cedric Maxwell, and Bill Walton. While he definitely couldn’t be considered close friends with any of them, Shaughnessy got to know each of them quite well and was able to convey that knowledge to this reader through his writing.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I was in my early-to mid 20s when it seemed like every year that the NBA Finals came down to Magic Johnson and the Lakers against Larry Bird and the Celtics. While I was definitely a Lakers fan, when I saw this book available on Net Galley I immediately knew I had to read it. Author Dan Shaughnessy covered the Celtics for three-plus years for the Boston Globe during a time when sports reporters travelled with their teams, sharing flights and hotels with the players and coaches.
To me, the most interesting parts of the book concerned Shaughnessy’s relationships with players and coaches, often made awkward by the writer’s publishing stories that the players would rather have been ignored, such as the time Larry Bird was injured in a bar fight during the NBA playoffs. As a journalism school graduate who never worked in the field afterward, I was fascinated to read about how he managed to walk the very thin line between reporting unpleasant facts and maintaining a working relationship with the Celtic players.
I gave Wish It Lasted Forever five stars on Goodreads despite my lack of appreciate of the Celtics because of the way Shaughnessy brought out the personalities of players such as Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Cedric Maxwell, and Bill Walton. While he definitely couldn’t be considered close friends with any of them, Shaughnessy got to know each of them quite well and was able to convey that knowledge to this reader through his writing.
February 21, 2023
A collection of anecdotes regarding Shaughnessy's time covering the Celtics in the mid-1980's. The focus is probably on Larry Bird and later in the book on Bill Walton, with lesser space given to Ainge, DJ, Chief and the supporting cast.
Unfortunately, nobody really comes out of this well. As great as the Celtics team was, that greatness thrived within a culture of aggressive competition, misogyny and outdated attitudes to sexual diversity. Shaughnessy makes the point that times were different then, but a lot of the anecdotes came across more as mean than funny. The beauty of the way the team played is not always reflected in the nature of the characters that made up the team; having said that, the author doesn't really come across as any better, overly negative, anti-social and dismissive of others who had a better relationship with the team.
More fundamentally than the above - it is possible to have great books about people that we dislike - is that there isn't a great narrative to the book and it never really seems to find its focus, veering from a history of the Celtics great championship team of that era (in which case the death of Len Bias is sparingly mentioned), to a character analysis of the players (although Walton is the only player who seems to get the deep-dive), to an analysis of the chemistry that led to success. There is no 'centre' within the book and it is ultimately rather like listening to a retired hack in the bar spinning off anecdotes in the hope that this will make the speaker appear more interesting.
Unfortunately, nobody really comes out of this well. As great as the Celtics team was, that greatness thrived within a culture of aggressive competition, misogyny and outdated attitudes to sexual diversity. Shaughnessy makes the point that times were different then, but a lot of the anecdotes came across more as mean than funny. The beauty of the way the team played is not always reflected in the nature of the characters that made up the team; having said that, the author doesn't really come across as any better, overly negative, anti-social and dismissive of others who had a better relationship with the team.
More fundamentally than the above - it is possible to have great books about people that we dislike - is that there isn't a great narrative to the book and it never really seems to find its focus, veering from a history of the Celtics great championship team of that era (in which case the death of Len Bias is sparingly mentioned), to a character analysis of the players (although Walton is the only player who seems to get the deep-dive), to an analysis of the chemistry that led to success. There is no 'centre' within the book and it is ultimately rather like listening to a retired hack in the bar spinning off anecdotes in the hope that this will make the speaker appear more interesting.
January 19, 2022
Wish it Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics by Dan Shaughnessy
Boston Globe reporter Dan Shaughnessy was assigned to cover the Boston Celtics from 1982 to 1986, and in this book, he chronicles his time on the beat, detailing the team’s success on the court and their antics off it. This book sent me down a rabbit hole of nostalgia. I grew up with the Boston Celtics teams of the 80s. In the early 90s, I worked at SportsChannel New England, which televised the Celtics. This story took me back to that time. It evoked memories of when newspapers dominated sports coverage, and the NBA was a different game. In 1986, Larry Bird led the NBA with 194 3-pt Field Goal Attempts. After 39 games this season, Steph Curry led the league with 500 3-pt Attempts. Kevin McHale said “The NBA was different when we played. The money hadn’t exploded and we were treated like basketball players, not rock stars. It was more of a ‘we’ league than a ‘me’ league.” The Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale anchored the team. This book centers around Bird and the personality he embodied. Stir in characters like ML Carr, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge, and Johnny Most, to name a few, and there are many laugh-out-loud moments in here. So many incidents that could never happen today—it was truly a special era. Tracing the legend of Larry Bird and his teammates and ending with the 1985-86 team that is in the argument for the best of all time, this is a very entertaining stroll through basketball history.
Boston Globe reporter Dan Shaughnessy was assigned to cover the Boston Celtics from 1982 to 1986, and in this book, he chronicles his time on the beat, detailing the team’s success on the court and their antics off it. This book sent me down a rabbit hole of nostalgia. I grew up with the Boston Celtics teams of the 80s. In the early 90s, I worked at SportsChannel New England, which televised the Celtics. This story took me back to that time. It evoked memories of when newspapers dominated sports coverage, and the NBA was a different game. In 1986, Larry Bird led the NBA with 194 3-pt Field Goal Attempts. After 39 games this season, Steph Curry led the league with 500 3-pt Attempts. Kevin McHale said “The NBA was different when we played. The money hadn’t exploded and we were treated like basketball players, not rock stars. It was more of a ‘we’ league than a ‘me’ league.” The Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale anchored the team. This book centers around Bird and the personality he embodied. Stir in characters like ML Carr, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge, and Johnny Most, to name a few, and there are many laugh-out-loud moments in here. So many incidents that could never happen today—it was truly a special era. Tracing the legend of Larry Bird and his teammates and ending with the 1985-86 team that is in the argument for the best of all time, this is a very entertaining stroll through basketball history.
February 15, 2022
Although he was not my favorite among the heralded sports scribes of the Boston Globe in the 1970s when Dan Shaughnessy was covering the Celtics on the daily beat his columns and pieces were must read material. This book harkens back to the days when the NBA game was played in gymnasiums that were often old barns with uneven flooring that were often drafty in the winter and stifling during the playoffs. The Celtics were a team built around ball handling, teamwork and quickness in a game that was more of a lunch bucket sport instead of the glossy, polished production that it is today which largely features spoiled, ball hogging superstars. Shaughnessy offers insight into the off the court shenanigans and histrionics of this team and he chronicles the team from Larry Bird's arrival, year by year, to the 1985-86 team which may have been the greatest team in the history of the sport. His details of the comradery, competitive fire and sheer joy of this team are captivating. This is a book for anyone who followed the Celtics or lived in Boston during that era should have on their shelves.
December 30, 2023
Journalism nerds will know that an entire shelf could be filled with wonderful books written by Boston Globe sportswriters, who over the past 30 years have formed something of a newsroom Dream Team. Dan Shaughnessy’s fond memory of the 1980s Boston Celtics is a worthy addition to the canon.
Like Leigh Montville’s “Tall Men, Short Shorts,” which was part memoir and part history, Shaughnessy writes from a beat reporter’s perspective as he covered a legendary era. That can be tricky, but he manages to keep himself out of the story except for well-timed self-deprecating anecdotes. He also delves nicely into the intricacies of access journalism that would be a good basis for debate in a college classroom.
But the book shines most brightly through Shaughnessy’s new interviews with Celtics players who were part of three NBA title teams that actually managed to underachieve. Perspectives from Kevin McHale, M.L. Carr, Scott Wedman, Danny Ainge, Bill Walton and others add a rich texture to the author’s fun anecdotes of life on the road with arguably the best NBA team of all time. We’ve heard a couple of these stories before, but they just seem to get better with age.
Like Leigh Montville’s “Tall Men, Short Shorts,” which was part memoir and part history, Shaughnessy writes from a beat reporter’s perspective as he covered a legendary era. That can be tricky, but he manages to keep himself out of the story except for well-timed self-deprecating anecdotes. He also delves nicely into the intricacies of access journalism that would be a good basis for debate in a college classroom.
But the book shines most brightly through Shaughnessy’s new interviews with Celtics players who were part of three NBA title teams that actually managed to underachieve. Perspectives from Kevin McHale, M.L. Carr, Scott Wedman, Danny Ainge, Bill Walton and others add a rich texture to the author’s fun anecdotes of life on the road with arguably the best NBA team of all time. We’ve heard a couple of these stories before, but they just seem to get better with age.
July 9, 2022
It’s easy to forget, in this world of commonplace multimillion-dollar contracts across the professional sports landscape, that it wasn’t always about the money. Well, not entirely about the money anyway.
Take the NBA, for example. Today, the league is a global powerhouse, a corporate machine featuring massive television contracts and marketing deals and individual teams worth literal billions of dollars. But it wasn’t so long ago that pro basketball was a good living, but far from providing the generational wealth it does today.
It was a different time. A time worth remembering.
“Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics” takes a look at an iconic team in the days just before everything changed. Written by Dan Shaughnessy about his time covering the Celtics beat for the Boston Globe (1982-86), it’s an up-close-and-personal look at a time that simply doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a book packed with the sorts of stories that could never happen today, tales from the road when everyone – players, coaches and media – traveled together and dined together, staying in the same hotels and generally being a constant presence in one another’s lives.
These stories – stories about what the players were really like in the locker room and at the bar after the game as well as about their performance on the court – are a fascinating snapshot of a bygone era, featuring compelling and thoughtful looks at some of the greatest to ever play the game. Rendered with the standard self-deprecatory wit and good humor by Shaughnessy, it’s a book that any Celtics fan – any NBA fan, really – will find to be fascinating reading.
The Boston Celtics had a long and storied history long before Larry Bird showed up. This is a team that utterly dominated the early days of the NBA – they won two titles in the late ‘50s (1957 and 1959) and two in the ‘70s (1974 and 1976) … and NINE in the ‘60s (every season but 1967). One might think there’d be some sort of downswing, but then, in the 1979-80 season, here comes Larry Bird, the Indiana standout whose game – along with that of cross-continent rival Magic Johnson – would play a major part in catapulting the league into the stratosphere.
Imagine, then, that you are Dan Shaughnessy. You’re a young up-and-comer of a sportswriter. All of a sudden, you’re tasked with covering a team that is starting to look like one of the greatest ever, all while replacing an icon on the beat in Bob Ryan. That is a one-two punch of pressure, to be sure, but one that Shaughessy weathered.
Shaughessy came into the picture on the heels of yet another title in 1981 – the first for Bird. He would be there for everything that would come over the next few years. He would be there to see the team grow and thrive around the incredible skill set that Bird brought to the table. From exceptional shooting to needle-threading passing to fundamental rebounding to joyously confrontational trash talk, Larry Bird could do anything that needed doing on a basketball court.
(Bird led the way in the team’s eventual agreement to refer to Shaughnessy as “Scoop,” ostensibly to recognize his dogged reporting abilities, but really just some not-quite-totally-friendly ball-busting. This was an era where writers and athletes were very much mutual backscratchers – a game that Shaughnessy wasn’t interested in playing.)
The general attitude around those Celtics teams – initiated from the top down by the legendary Red Auerbach – was that basketball is a team game, a game built around contributions from everyone on the roster. A noble notion, to be sure, but when the roster looks like that one did, what you get is something transcends a mere team-first ethos.
We talked about Bird, of course, but one can’t discuss this era of Celtics basketball without talking about Kevin McHale – who made his debut with the Celtics as a rookie in 1980 – and Robert Parish, who arrived that same year via a trade with the Golden State Warriors. Shaughnessy watched as this trio came together as one of the most impactful groupings in the history of professional basketball, three all-timers, Hall of Famers all.
A big highlight is the arrival of Bill Walton, whose contributions to that 1985-86 squad – considered by some to be the greatest team ever assembled – were vital. It was a quote from Walton that lent itself to this book’s title, an acknowledgment that he would never be so blessed as to be part of that phenomenal a team again.
Shaughnessy divides his time pretty equally between behind-the-scenes stories and on-court action. There’s some great stuff here about the burgeoning disdain he inspired in Robert Parish, who eventually flat-out refused to speak to him (even now – he did not participate in interviews for this book). Maybe the best of the bunch, however, is when Bird was suffering from an injury to his shooting hand and Shaughnessy wound up in a free throw shooting contest with him. Taped hand or no, you can probably make a pretty good guess how it played out.
And when Shaughnessy puts you there on the parquet floor … man. Spectacular stuff, sweeping the reader up into the moment with an immediacy that makes it easy to forget you’re reading about events from nearly 40 years ago. The dripping sweat of the overheated Garden, the squeak of the sneakers on the floor, the titanic clashes between teams battling not just for the championship, but for dominance of the era. But while the title fights are key, so too are the accounts of moments during small, seemingly inconsequential regular season contests – no matter what the stakes, Shaughnessy finds ways to bring the game to vivid life.
“Wish It Lasted Forever” is a remarkable, close-up account of one of the most iconic teams in the history of one of the NBA’s most iconic franchises. It was a special time for the Boston Celtics, featuring a handful of guys who to this day are among the greatest to ever play the game. And thanks to Dan Shaughnessy, even those who weren’t there in the moment are gifted with an intimate portrait of that team.
Take the NBA, for example. Today, the league is a global powerhouse, a corporate machine featuring massive television contracts and marketing deals and individual teams worth literal billions of dollars. But it wasn’t so long ago that pro basketball was a good living, but far from providing the generational wealth it does today.
It was a different time. A time worth remembering.
“Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics” takes a look at an iconic team in the days just before everything changed. Written by Dan Shaughnessy about his time covering the Celtics beat for the Boston Globe (1982-86), it’s an up-close-and-personal look at a time that simply doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a book packed with the sorts of stories that could never happen today, tales from the road when everyone – players, coaches and media – traveled together and dined together, staying in the same hotels and generally being a constant presence in one another’s lives.
These stories – stories about what the players were really like in the locker room and at the bar after the game as well as about their performance on the court – are a fascinating snapshot of a bygone era, featuring compelling and thoughtful looks at some of the greatest to ever play the game. Rendered with the standard self-deprecatory wit and good humor by Shaughnessy, it’s a book that any Celtics fan – any NBA fan, really – will find to be fascinating reading.
The Boston Celtics had a long and storied history long before Larry Bird showed up. This is a team that utterly dominated the early days of the NBA – they won two titles in the late ‘50s (1957 and 1959) and two in the ‘70s (1974 and 1976) … and NINE in the ‘60s (every season but 1967). One might think there’d be some sort of downswing, but then, in the 1979-80 season, here comes Larry Bird, the Indiana standout whose game – along with that of cross-continent rival Magic Johnson – would play a major part in catapulting the league into the stratosphere.
Imagine, then, that you are Dan Shaughnessy. You’re a young up-and-comer of a sportswriter. All of a sudden, you’re tasked with covering a team that is starting to look like one of the greatest ever, all while replacing an icon on the beat in Bob Ryan. That is a one-two punch of pressure, to be sure, but one that Shaughessy weathered.
Shaughessy came into the picture on the heels of yet another title in 1981 – the first for Bird. He would be there for everything that would come over the next few years. He would be there to see the team grow and thrive around the incredible skill set that Bird brought to the table. From exceptional shooting to needle-threading passing to fundamental rebounding to joyously confrontational trash talk, Larry Bird could do anything that needed doing on a basketball court.
(Bird led the way in the team’s eventual agreement to refer to Shaughnessy as “Scoop,” ostensibly to recognize his dogged reporting abilities, but really just some not-quite-totally-friendly ball-busting. This was an era where writers and athletes were very much mutual backscratchers – a game that Shaughnessy wasn’t interested in playing.)
The general attitude around those Celtics teams – initiated from the top down by the legendary Red Auerbach – was that basketball is a team game, a game built around contributions from everyone on the roster. A noble notion, to be sure, but when the roster looks like that one did, what you get is something transcends a mere team-first ethos.
We talked about Bird, of course, but one can’t discuss this era of Celtics basketball without talking about Kevin McHale – who made his debut with the Celtics as a rookie in 1980 – and Robert Parish, who arrived that same year via a trade with the Golden State Warriors. Shaughnessy watched as this trio came together as one of the most impactful groupings in the history of professional basketball, three all-timers, Hall of Famers all.
A big highlight is the arrival of Bill Walton, whose contributions to that 1985-86 squad – considered by some to be the greatest team ever assembled – were vital. It was a quote from Walton that lent itself to this book’s title, an acknowledgment that he would never be so blessed as to be part of that phenomenal a team again.
Shaughnessy divides his time pretty equally between behind-the-scenes stories and on-court action. There’s some great stuff here about the burgeoning disdain he inspired in Robert Parish, who eventually flat-out refused to speak to him (even now – he did not participate in interviews for this book). Maybe the best of the bunch, however, is when Bird was suffering from an injury to his shooting hand and Shaughnessy wound up in a free throw shooting contest with him. Taped hand or no, you can probably make a pretty good guess how it played out.
And when Shaughnessy puts you there on the parquet floor … man. Spectacular stuff, sweeping the reader up into the moment with an immediacy that makes it easy to forget you’re reading about events from nearly 40 years ago. The dripping sweat of the overheated Garden, the squeak of the sneakers on the floor, the titanic clashes between teams battling not just for the championship, but for dominance of the era. But while the title fights are key, so too are the accounts of moments during small, seemingly inconsequential regular season contests – no matter what the stakes, Shaughnessy finds ways to bring the game to vivid life.
“Wish It Lasted Forever” is a remarkable, close-up account of one of the most iconic teams in the history of one of the NBA’s most iconic franchises. It was a special time for the Boston Celtics, featuring a handful of guys who to this day are among the greatest to ever play the game. And thanks to Dan Shaughnessy, even those who weren’t there in the moment are gifted with an intimate portrait of that team.
December 18, 2021
I simply never get tired of books about the Boston Celtics, Red Auerbach, Bill Russell and many other former members of the Boston Celtics family. The Boston Celtics were a very important part of my childhood that goes back to the Bill Russell days. And, I still follow the team with the same level of interest for the past 60 years. This book captured the Larry Bird days when the author was the Boston Globe journalist assigned to the team in the mid-1980's. As I still read the Boston Globe regularly, especially the sports pages, I often wonder why this author/journalist has to be so negative. It was good to see he has always been like that and often really pissed off this era of Celtics.
April 22, 2022
For those that loved the heyday period of the Boston Celtics (early 80s) with Larry Bird, this account of that time period is well documented by Shaugnessy.
As a reporter for the team during this time with the Boston Globe, Shaughnessy writes a book that is well detailed and well written.
You’ll learn a lot about the players (Bird, Walton, McHale, etc..), and you’ll also get a feel for all of their personalities. If I could actually give this book 3.5 stars, I would have. The only thing missing from this book would be some better player stories. Cedric Maxwell’s recent book on the Celtics has better stories, but is not nearly as well written as this book by Shaugnessy. This is good, just not great.
As a reporter for the team during this time with the Boston Globe, Shaughnessy writes a book that is well detailed and well written.
You’ll learn a lot about the players (Bird, Walton, McHale, etc..), and you’ll also get a feel for all of their personalities. If I could actually give this book 3.5 stars, I would have. The only thing missing from this book would be some better player stories. Cedric Maxwell’s recent book on the Celtics has better stories, but is not nearly as well written as this book by Shaugnessy. This is good, just not great.
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