European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday july 14, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary coming to the defense of or. Bird maybe after these eight year mine we relying eyes aft Crall. Maybe after All these years the old cerebrum was distorting the images thai were making their Cit Cui Law. Way through the Lens and optic nerve of the Schlemm canal. Maybe i Only thought i saw Larry Bird playing basketball at least As Well As it has Ever been played. Maybe it was t happening at All. Could it be that William Sampson a sociology professor at Northwestern University and a twice a week columnist on the opinion Page of the Chicago Sun times was Correct in his column of last week or. Bird n a great jump shooter. The u his Only asset wrote Sampson he is Stow cannot jump cannot play defense and would never get his jump shot off if the referees did t allow him to take three slept As opposed to the Legal one and a half Steps every time he louche the Ball. Further his team mates Are allowed to set illegal picks Tor him All the Lime. What s More a defender had better not think of playing or. Bird dowdy. The Reft simply will not allow it. All this goes on while the fawning announcers Dummy up and act As though or. Bird is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It s pan of the plan. The plan to have great White Hope in a sport that b dominated by Macks. Indeed even the player come to believe or. Bird s press clippings and that stuff the announcers spout about How he is the Bat and smartest player in the game. He is nowhere near being in a column in new Day fast week. Let Payne also on the opinion Page wrote that Bird was Over rated simply stated Payne wrote Bird has been marketed for reasons More psychological than commercial Ai the irreproachable White Payne added though that Bird who it a very Tine Forward is not As great As Spon writers would have us no rational person can dispute that there is racism in this country and that it ought to be con Ira Berkov damned and obliterated. Bui these two writers both Black picked the wrong target. Anyone who truly knows basketball anyone who knows sports for that matter and is thinking and seeing clearly can appreciate Bird. Sugar Ray Leonard was in Boston Garden thurs Day Ekht alter the celtics beat the lakers in game Sof the Aba finals. I look at Bird he said and i see thai special Aura again that certain something that gives everyone around him the impression Damn we can do it " the columns of Sampson and Payne stemmed from remark a few weeks ago by Isiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman of the Detroit pistons after their learn was eliminated by Boston in the seventh game. Rodman a Rookie said hut Bird Wai overrated and that the Only reason he won three straight awards As map was that he s White. Asked to comment right afterwards Thomas said he agreed and that if Bird were Black he d be just Mother Good Thomas later contended thai he was kidding about Bird being just another Good Guy if he were Black. Larry is a magnificent player Thomas said. Bird said he believed Thomas initial remarks were made in the beat of Battle under great frustration and disappointment. The feeling Here is that Bird was right. Thomas meant them just As he said them at that moment. But Bird also knew the respect hat Thomas has for him. I went out of my Way last summer to seek out Larry and Bill Russell to ask them How they win and How i can help make the players Amund me better players Thomas said privately. Thomas has also discussed this topic with magic Johnson one of his Best friends. It is Johnson in fact who Bird says is the Best right now " Johnson is of irks mind toward Bird. When 1 play against Larry Johnson said it takes my game to another level. It s so much fun. It s like if heroes before 1 go and retires i la probably leave right after that because it s not the same with nobody Johnson Ami Bird both 6-foot-9, entered i Hina tonal basketball association in the same year. 1974. Johnson is a guard. Bird a Forward both have my sol an enormous amount in their teams including their unselfish play team leadership passion for winning As Johnson Calls it along with their Superb passing shooting Ball steal ing and rebounding. Johnson joined one of the great players in the game Kareem Abdul Jabbar and they be been in the finals for six of the last eight years winning three. Bird joined uie celtics who had the second worst record in the Aba the season before 29-53 and with no other change in the Starling lineup held them to the Best record in the Aba in 1979-go 61-21. The Noil season Boston won the league championship. They be since won two More. Johnson this year s map is Black. If he and Bird were turned into photographic negatives it is conceivable that charges of overrated might in a moment of frustration and disappointment be levelled at Johnson. Bird has Laboured to make his left hand so Good that he s As Quick to shoot with it around the hoop As he is with his right his natural shooting hand. Leaving Boston Garden after game 5 and holding a cup of soda in his right hand. Bird was asked to sign autographs. He casually signed with i lefthand. Do you always write left handed he was , no he said shrugging but i be got something in my right hand . Open Golf championship returns to heartache club Bubo Bekken san Francisco a Greg Norman brings a hit wry of Heartbreak in major tournaments into the 87th United states open Gott championship at the olympic club maker of some historical heartaches of its own. Whether either history will add a chapter will be determined Over 72 Boles of play on the olympic club s Lake coarse next thursday through sunday. Olympic s Saga centers around the Only other Amer ican National championships it has baited the 1955 artdl96u-5,. Each is known As an open that was lost not won. And it could be argued that Ute loser in each Case was never the same again. In 1955, an obscure dub pro from Iowa Jack Fleck birdied the 72nd Hole to tie the great Ben Hogan who appeared to have cured a record fifth open title and then Watt on to bet the Texas Hawk in an 18-Holeplayoff. Eleven years Laler 36-year-old Arnold Palmer held a seven do Lead with tune Tola to play and was. Admittedly thinking of breaking Mogul s open scoring record. But Palmer blew the big Lead in perhaps the most famous collapse in golfs Long history fell Back into Atie with Billy Casper and eventually lost to Casper in a playoff. After those visits to olympic neither Hogan nor Palmer Ever again won a major i tie. Norman s horror stories Are of More recent Vintage Bob Tway s 72nd-Hole Bunker shot and Larry Mize s pm aloft pitch in. Those shots beat Norman in golfs last two major championships the 1986 pea and the 198 7 in happen again "1 didst i think it could happen the first two the flamboyant australian can t let yourself think about things like that. There s nothing you can do about it. All you can do is play your Busl and Hope nobody else plays better Norman said. Norman is Well off he record Selling Pace of last year s dominating season. Winner of 10 world wide titles lost year has woo but once this year and not at All in the United states. I be played Well. I be had my chances. I just san l happened. Thai s Golf shrugged Norman. But his Lack of titles does nothing to detract from his role As the Man to beat in the open. What he s done in the last five majors is absolutely amazing Tom Watson said. There s no reason to think be wont be a Factor Norman led adj four of golfs major championships the masters the . And British opens and Thetga through. 54 notes last year. He won the British open was second to the master by stroke to Jack it cumin and to Tiv try in the pea. This rear he was the victim of Mize s magic at Augusta. Right new Morrow is the Best player in the world said Nicklaus who had that petition for Many year before going into whal he Calls " sew Ballesteros in t far behind but then it s a pretty Good drop off Nicklaus said. L of Norman balls Stvros is at his Best in the big ones. The spaniard twice a masters Champion and also a two time British open Winner also Wai eliminated in the masters playoff in april. In five european starts since then he s won once finished second twice and third he admits to a fascination with the american National championship. In is no. I for me Ballesteros said. I have won the masters and the British open. Now the . Open is my no. 1 other major foreign figures in the Field of 155 play ers the survivors of a record entry list of 5,696, in clude Bernhard longer of West Germany Tommy Nakajima of Japan and Sandy Lyle of Scotland a former British open Champ and Winner of the important tournament players championship earlier this season. But Palmer now 57, is among the missing after failing to make it through the second round disqualifying. The 47-s-ear-old Niclaus a four Lime open Winner insists he s Nill capable of winning in the but his Brief record for the year gives no indication that he s on the track at the moment. Greg Nonnan can it happen again
