Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. He was drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978. In the summer of 1992, Bird joined Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and other NBA stars to play for the United States basketball team in that year's Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. It was the first time in America's Olympic history that the country sent professional basketball players to compete. The "Dream Team" won the men's basketball gold medal. On August 18, 1992, Bird announced his retirement as an NBA player. Following Bird's departure, the Celtics promptly retired his jersey number 33. In 1989, Bird published his… autobiography, Drive: The Story of My Life with Bob Ryan. The book chronicles his life and career up to the 1989 NBA season.
Jackie MacMullan is a nationally recognized sports columnist who spent three decades at the Boston Globe .nbsp;She is a frequent correspondent for ESPN andnbsp;a regular contestant on ESPN's "Around the Horn."