Drive : the story of my life by Larry Bird

I remember when Dennis Rodman publicly claimed that "if Larry Bird were Black he would be average"  It caused such a stir and discussion especially when Isiah Thomas seemed to concur.  At the time what really impressed me was the reaction of Mr. Bird - "it don't matter to me"  He seemed to dismiss the whole affair.  Then I started to follow Mr. Bird's career as someone who lived in Northern California.  He seemed to be able to get a shot off against anybody!  But his passing skills stood out for their "no look" quality.  Red Auerbach had stated that knew that Bird could shoot but that he did not know what a good passer he was or that he was a good defender or that he could steal the ball so well.  Larry Bird is one of greatest all around Basketball players ever.  One only needs to go on YouTube and find countless films that followed his career and countless Black players comment about him.

This featured memoir gives a glimpse of Larry Bird's natural modesty since the whole book makes positive observations about everyone that he came in contact with during his Basketball encounter. There is no criticism of others, only expressions of feelings of hurt, anger and frustration over losses, missed calls, altercations and injuries. The concept of 'appreciation of others' is ever present in this brief easy read.  He complements almost everyone from his teammates, coaches, front office people, unknown support people (trainers etc) and opposing players.  He has very positive comments about Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas despite their negative outbursts.  He has special praise for Magic Johnson with whom he regards as the greatest all around rival. 

What is clearly missing from the book is Larry Bird's reputation as a "trash talker", "provocateur" and "prankster".  Every documentary about Larry Bird or any interview of a player asked about Larry Bird always features some unique bravado expressed by Bird.  For example, he was known to call his shot or play to the opposing player or team before he received the ball and proceed to fulfill his predicted agenda!  The ability to back up his taunts made him a very respected player in the league.  

Kareem Abdul Jabbar called him "the greatest opposing player that he has faced" He would go on to describe that fact that Bird was smart and used his head in every game situation to win.  His shrewdness made him in the top tier of the NBA.

What also is clear from the book and consistent with other sources of information about Bird is the fact that he was incredibly self motivated. For example, the way he would think would be: If I would dribble the ball 100 times (to improve), I assumed that there was someone else out there dribbling 101 times! (This is consistent with the Talmudic dictum 'reviewing a lesson 100 times does not compare to reviewing the lesson 101 times!)