When my son was born in 2004, I wanted to name him Larry Joe*. My wife objected.

I was a huge Celtics fan in the 80’s, and Larry Joe Bird is, by far, my favorite basketball player of all time. In fact - Michael notwithstanding - I still view Larry and Magic as the two greatest basketball players I’ve ever seen play. Granted, I was born in 67, and didn’t really watch much NBA growing up in the 70’s - there wasn’t much to watch - so I missed out on some of the great players of years past. I didn’t really start watching the NBA until the Bird/Magic era of the 80’s (and haven’t watched nearly as much since, either.) I’ve heard/read a fair amount about other great players throughout history and have seen some of the highlights, thanks primarily to ESPN. But I haven’t seen and can’t imagine anyone playing the game any better than Larry and Magic.

I didn’t realize until last night while watching PTI that yesterday was Larry’s 50th birthday. This is a day late since I never got around to posting anything last night.

So, a belated Happy Birthday to Larry Legend. Check out this highlight video. Great stuff (there’s a brief commercial at the beginning that you’ll have to wait out):

* Okay, that’s just not true. I love Bird, but I did not really want to name my son Larry Joe. No offense intended towards Bird or any other Larry Joe’s out there. However, I did manage this - his middle name is Cameron.