A one day late happy 38th birthday to Derek Jeter, of the New York Yankees. It seems most people either love or hate the Bronx Bombers, but Jeter's definitely been a class act for a long time, both on and off the field. He's a first ballot shoo-in to the Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible, and deservedly so.
Yours truly heard a TV talking head throw out an interesting stat today. Jeter actually has more hits at 38 than Ty Cobb did at the same age. Can that be right? Jeter might be a .300 hitter for his career, but damn, for a few years Cobb hit over .400, and his lifetime average was around .370. Beats me. I'm too lazy to look it all up right now.
Larry Bird's says he's stepping down as President of the Indiana Pacers. Many are speculating just what exactly he'll do next. Surely, it must have something to do with basketball, right? Not so fast.
Bird's an Indiana home boy from the small town of French Lick. He was recruited by legendary Indiana University head coach Bobby Knight, but Bird wasn't comfortable with that situation and went to Indiana State instead. He probably could have went anywhere -- but he stayed close to home.
As everybody knows, he was drafted by the Boston Celtics, where he went on to have a long, glorious professional career as a player. When his playing days were over, he promptly returned to Indiana and hooked up with the Pacers. Roots.
What he has accomplished in basketball is incredible. Over the years he was an NBA champion, the MVP, won an Olympic gold medal, is a Hall of Famer, was coach of the year, and is currently the reigning NBA executive of the year for how he has transformed the Pacers from doormats to contenders, while still being a young team. To my knowledge, no one can even come close to matching his entire resume.
Nobody seems to know why Bird would step down as the Pacers' President. He's a man of few words and doesn't crave the limelight like so many others. When he talks -- it matters. That's just one more reason he's so highly respected.
It's been noted that Bird's entire adult life has been devoted to basketball in either Boston or Indiana. He likely wouldn't go anywhere else for work. Yet the pundits are dumbfounded because they see no place or position for him to go in either of those two cities. He was already as high as one can get in the Pacers' organization, short of being the owner. Doc Rivers, and Danny Ainge, the head coach and Pres/GM of the Celtics, respectively, are secure, so it can't be that. What will he do next, people ask?
The answer might be very simple. Retire. And why not? Bird's done everything there is to do in the game of professional basketball, and been the best at every stop along the way. The man's 55 years old, no doubt has many millions in the bank, and loves to play golf. Sounds like a decent retirement plan to me, if he so chooses.
Besides, after a 3 decade run of being successful at everything he endeavors to do, perhaps he shouldn't push his luck. After all, Bird was born on Dec. 7, aka Pearl Harbor day.
While the chances of Tora, Tora, Tora repeating itself are about the same as Isiah Thomas ever being named executive of the year in anything, there's something far scarier Bird should worry about.
Having the occasion to play 18 holes with Charles Barkley, and being forced to watch his swing over and over and over all day long, while listening to the non-stop BS that came along with it.
Bird's not easy to rattle, but that would be enough to make a statue come out of retirement.
Anything but that.
No comments:
Post a Comment