With a new wave of racial divisions plaguing the country in the 1980's, many associated certain basketball players' abilities and talents in the game with the color of their skin, and dividing up both player and teams as a whole by race. However, Larry Bird's involvement with the schism, or lack of involvement thereof, showed the country that the NBA is not about the color of your skin, but about your ability to play the game and want to win.
|
Teams of ColorThroughout a large portion of the 1980's many fans of basketball saw NBA teams through a segregated point of view. Larry Bird and the rest of his Celtics team was largely white, and indirectly embodied white superiority in what was referred to as a "black sport". This was also fueled by the fact the the Bird-Johnson Rivalry was seen as a competition between blacks and whites. However, unlike many other players who fed into the growing tensions, Larry Bird all but ignored it. Bird focused on the fact that it took him lots of hard work to go from being called the "Hick from French Lick" to being an NBA superstar, and decided to not engage in any interactions with anyone regarding the idea that the color of his skin gives him a superior edge over that of other players.
|