European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 20, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday March 20. 1989 the stars and stripes Page 23 says Boston superstar i Arry Bird i am 95 percent certain hit i will walk a a Hen my contract is no in to Bye Bye Bird maybe d David Falkner no Hyork times Larry Bird at 31, in his ninth and possibly Fine season us the Boston celtics has been making the spectacular seem Ordinary fur so Long that there is a danger of taking him for granted. He is not however a figure on mount Rushmore but n player passing before us and one who will perhaps sooner than anyone realizes be gone. I am of percent certain Bird said he other Day in Boston that i will walk away when my contract is up in two it was the strongest statement he made on the subject and there was not the least hint of politicking in 11. It in t a question of Money i be made More Ihan i la Ever need he continued there just in t much More for me to do. I m sure i can play five More years but there s just not enough left. The Surprise in this was that Bird was not speaking out of fatigue or Flag Ging interest in his work. Cove of the game is still his driving engine and his ability to devote himself totally to basketball is still undiminished. Basketball took me really my whole family from haying nothing in this world to being financially secure and feeling Good about ourselves he said in his soil Indiana twang the travel and the things i be seen and Learned have been everything to me. I could sit in a history class for a War and never learn As much As going to Europe one time to play a basketball the game for Bird is hard work year round Blue Collar Puritan Indi Ana new England or whatever Othir term the ethic is advertised by. But he has a sense of what he does that might raise an Eyebrow in the French facade my As Well As in French lick. One thing that always amazed me about he said is that if you think about it it s really s stupid game. You re trying to put a Ball through a Little hoop. I think of the Many hours that i be done that and i still can t believe it but what really amazes me is when 1 sit on the Bench in the Garden and look up and Sec All those people who have come to Sec you do that and not Only for one big game but every Bird do cells this dimension of Absurdity totally it is How you play the game not the possibly senseless fact of it that counts. Listen to him speak about Boston Garden. Looking at the 16 championship banners gels me every time every night he said. And Uicon you know what s funny about the Garden is trial i go in go up the ramp go to the locker room and out on the floor and that is it. I d get lost if they put me on the other Side of the building. 1 feel at Home in the Garden of course but it s still really a place of mystery to a Long Lime ago. Before he hit the National basketball association Bird said he was gripped by fear before every game he played. The feeling has never entirely Ica him but it is like a great actor s stage fright. Bird has come to understand that it will be Lime to get out of the game if that fear Ever leaves him. The fear a become a Souter of creativity Tor him. His fabled two hour Solo shoot around before a game has something of hat in ii also. Thai s Why i spend All them hours before the games taking those extra shots because making them later is one of the greatest feelings you can have he explained and i be been in situations where i be taken a lot of them my teammates go to me because they know i be been out there taking those extra fear Joy passion for the game it is All one. It is a life Force. Bird Calls it some chemical in your body it s unbelievable he added. "1 wish 1 could drink it. I mean. I be never done drugs yeah some Beers und with them you get a Little Tipsy and think you can do anything but it s More like being seared except you re not. You somehow get real Cool and in control at he same playoff Lime is coming Bird is mov ing toward it with a kind of yearning. He said that the return of bin Wilton was the key to the celtics chances and that when Walton and Robert Parish Are healthy we have a completely Dif Ferent look we ran move the Ball up belter we can play a lot belter defense than we be been playing we re Gonna be ready to it is Bard to imagine Bird leaving the game taking an Era with him. He is and always has been the consummate celtic. He is As aware of bos ton players of the past As he is of his present teammates. Coach . Jones and others from those earlier great teams reinforce his sense of Devotion to the game. I listen to pm talk about the Olden he said. Guys used to play Hurt and Guys used to play every night. There was t none of this Well play tonight and tomorrow Well take off you look up at them banners and you see the Way they played every night. Ripken or. Hopes Bat comes Back by Tim l1otta Miami a since he was a Young boy Cal Ripken or. Hus taken the Success or failure of the Baltimore orioles with a special mat. Last year that got him into trouble. After getting off to one of the Belt starts of Nis career Ripken let the Strain of what turned into a 67-45 season far the orioles gel to him. A career ,283 hitter. Ripken batted just .229 after May 11. He had opened by with six Home runs and Zjr Bisin april. Everything was along real Ripken said. And then when we did Start to lose your attitude changes a Little bit because you feel a certain amount of Ripken pressure in cause you re he meat of the order the third hitter. At the Lime it fell like we were going so bad i was doing Well bul thought it must not be enough so then 1 tried to do More. And when you try to do Marc your attitude changes. You go up there and try to play outside of your Means. As senior his father orioles manager col Ripken would put it you try to hit a five or seven run Home run which is impossible to do. I d like to look Back and say i Learned from last year was the first year Ripken played with his father As the orioles manager. I d fell similar things in 1985 and 1986 when we were going Ripken or. Said. My dad was i the manager then and 1 still Felt the pressure to do Loo much. What has happened to the Oriole is a double
