Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals Is Riveting

I grew up smack dab in the middle of the NBA's renaissance in the mid-80s. It was lead by two superstars who couldn't have been more culturally different, yet seemed to be created out of the same fiber.

When I started to watch basketball there were three big stars. Dr. J was in the latter stages of his career, but his posters were still everywhere. And then there were Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

I'll admit that I didn't like Larry Bird all that much growing up. He didn't smile. He was slow. He didn't dunk creatively. And his dang teams always won. My friends and I called him "Big Nose" Bird.

Magic on the other hand looked like he was having a great time on the court. He was cool, slick, and win or lose, you knew the basketball court was the number one place in his life.

They'd eventually cross paths time and time again throughout their careers and even after they stopped playing. When looking back at the history of the NBA, you'll see Johnson, Earvin and Bird, Larry side-by-side. They're like peanut butter and jelly.

I think that most of us born during that time frame will admit that the NBA is where it is today thanks in-part to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry. Though Michael Jordan came soon thereafter and transcended the sport even further, the league is not taken out of the tape delay doldrums of the early 80s without the two icons.

Ezra Edelman's HBO documentary Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals gets every feeling right. Going back to when I said that I didn't like Bird, those feelings were front and center at the start of the documentary. I was watching it with my kids and early on, and my youngest admitted to not liking Bird either without any prompting.

Edelman had the perfect story to tell. One player is affable and kind when the cameras are on. The other's hair is unkempt and he looks like a cold-blooded killer. Yet, when the camera is off, the roles change.

Magic Johnson admits that when he was able to be Earvin, he was the greatest guy in the world. But once he was Magic, he was intense, competitive, and he had an affinity for too many things, including sex. Larry admitted that being an unfriendly player on the court was calculated. He wanted every edge possible. He didn't like Magic, but he liked Magic being there. Magic was someone he could compare himself to night in and night out. He would wake up in the morning to read what Magic and Lakers did in the newspaper. He could use Magic to pump himself up and push himself to go higher.

(Check out the video clip I added in which they talk about their dislike for each other: http://www.fanbase.com/video/3884.)

When I was younger, I figured the Lakers and Celtics played each other in every NBA Finals of the 1980s. It was really only three, and for whatever reason, I remember them well. I remember Magic being one of the main reasons that the Celtics won the championship in the 1984-1985 championship. He made a few crucial errors that Larry and company capitalized on and swung the series to the Celts. He had to pay for it in the off-season. It was an off-season in which he says was the first time in his life he'd ever been depressed.

The Lakers would win the next two times they battled in the Finals, and Magic would gain the respect back by hitting a baby hook as the clock ran out to win one of those games. After being "Tragic" Johnson, he was officially Magic again.

Those three finals gave me some of the best back and forth basketball I'd ever seen. Jordan would one-up them both in the 90s and become the greatest ever. But he never had a foe. He never had a Larry or Magic to stand toe-to-toe with him. He didn't have a Frazier to his Ali. Larry and Magic had that.

Even though I love the basketball scenes and reflecting on how great the league was when I was a child, I think my favorite part of the documentary is when their careers were coming to an end. Larry's back injury caused an early end to his career. Watching him suffer made my back stiff as I was watching. I knew it was bad, but still, it was painful to watch.

And who doesn't remember where they were when Magic announced that he had acquired HIV? I was in study hall with the rest of the players on the varsity and JV basketball team and the varsity head coach came in and said what happened and that it's now more important than ever to practice safe sex. I think most of us were astonished, but you had to be cool in study hall and not too long there after, people were cracking jokes.

I'd heard an interview with Edelman and he said that he shot a lot of long interviews with people close to Larry Bird because he was afraid that he wouldn't get an interview with Larry himself. And even if he did get one, he didn't think it'd be good. But for whatever reason, Bird brought it. He looked uncomfortable, but he spoke from the heart and he didn't mince words. He didn't like Magic. Didn't want to hang out with him after games even if Magic thought they'd grown closer. Even today, their relationship is built on competition and respect. They don't see each other often because they don't have to.

The most touching part of the entire documentary was when Magic announced he had acquired HIV. His own buddy Isiah Thomas questioned his sexuality which frustrated him. Larry called him to let him know he'd be there for him and that it would be ok. Magic couldn't play anymore and that hurt Magic. But it also hurt Larry because he didn't have anyone's box score to read to push him any more.

Go out of your way to see the film. These men were the best basketball players on the face of the earth in the 80s and we as fans were so lucky they were connected like they were.

After the movie was over, my youngest son told me, "I didn't like Larry Bird at the beginning, but at the end, he was a good guy."

Without Bias Is Really Good But It Leaves You With Mixed Emotions And More Questions

If you were a basketball fan in the mid-80s, you knew who Len Bias was. Len Bias had Michael Jordan's body type with James Worthy's aggressiveness and length. I'm really not overdoing the comparison. From everything we saw back then, those were the comparisons.

(If you don't believe that comparison, ESPN writer Bill Simmons, who has probably written more about Len Bias than anyone, gives the same comparison in his new book, The Book Of Basketball.

Here's what Simmons said:

You couldn't have drawn up a better young forward for that particular team (the Celtics), someone who played like a more physical Worthy, but with Jordan's athleticism, if that makes sense.

See, I'm not crazy.)

People loved to see him jump effortlessly above the rim, but he wasn't one dimensional. He had a great mid-range jump shot and since he could jump so high, no one was blocking his shot. He could play below the rim as well as he could play above it.

At Maryland he dominated the ACC and caught the eye of Boston Celtics' GM Red Auerbach. Because of a crazy trade involving the Seattle Supersonics and Gerald Henderson, the NBA Champion Boston Celtics, who won 67 games before beating the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals, held the rights to the number two pick of the 1986 draft.

The Cleveland Cavs held the first pick and took North Carolina center Brad Daughtery. That allowed Bias to fall into the Celtics' lap. Simmons thought it was the perfect fit. He would've come off the bench to spell both Bird and McHale at either forward spot and cut down both of their minutes. And Bird would've had a blast throwing him crazy alley-oops according to Simmons.

(By the way, that 1986 draft was just cursed. Daugherty would've probably been a Hall of Fame center, but only played eight years because of back injuries. Bias died. Chris Washburn was drafted third by the Warriors and he was burnt out on drugs by his second year in the league. William Bedford was picked sixth by the Suns and is still in jail today for drug related charges. Roy Tarpley was drafted seventh by the Mavericks and was kicked out of the NBA twice for drugs and alcohol. Even Scott Skiles had issues with drugs and alcohol. Cursed I tell you.)

Just two days after the biggest day of Bias' basketball career, he died from a heart attack brought upon by a cocaine binge. After watching Kirk Fraser's take on Bias in his ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Without Bias, I was left with mixed emotions. I was sad and angry, left wondering "what if", but also very happy that I watched it.

Len Bias died over 23 years ago. I was barely 10 years old. Yet, I remember nearly every detail about what happened. I remember that he died two days after the draft. I remember that he overdosed on cocaine. And I remember that he was supposed to be great. As much as I knew, Fraser's documentary provided me with many details that I didn't know.

I didn't know that Bias' parents had to go through nearly the same thing again four years later when his brother Jay was murdered. I didn't know that Larry Bird was so enamored with Bias that he was going to show up early to training camp with the rookies just because Bias was going to be there. I didn't know that Auerbach had his eye on Bias three years before they drafted him.

And yet, there are still things I would love to know more about.

Was Bias a drug addict or not? Head coach Lefty Driesell thought it was just a one time thing for Bias, while others mentioned in the documentary that the cocaine he and Brian Trimble scored was more pure than just "starter" coke.

Were Kevin McHale and Larry Bird truly ok with the Celtics drafting the next coming even though it meant their minutes would be cut and someone would eventually have to sit when Bias evolved? Someone (McHale) would've had to eventually be traded, or else accept a lesser role.

Did NBA experts think Bias had enough drive back then to be Michael Jordan's foil like we think today? Magic had Larry. Bill had Wilt. Who did MJ have? We know Bias had the talent, but was he as driven and focused enough as MJ?

Fraser interviews Bias' friends and family which gives a lot of credence into the story. It's one thing to have coaches and guys like Michael Wilbon, who covered the DC area at the time, but when you have Mr. and Mrs. Bias, his brother and sister, and teammates, you know the story is going to be as straight as possible.

One thing that amazed me was how stoic Mrs. Bias was. She felt that Len was going to be taken from her much earlier than he was. And she turned the losses of her two songs into positive work by becoming a spokesperson against drugs. I wonder how many lives she saved as a direct result of her losing two sons.

In no way could Fraser tell this entire story in just fifty five minutes. But he does a stellar job in getting as many interviews and stories into the documentary as possible. He tries to talk about the DC drug scene at the time, but doesn't have nearly enough time to do anything but dip his baby toe into it.

He also tries to discuss what happened to the Maryland program after the Bias ordeal, but again, there's not enough time. We know that Lefty Driesell was forced to quit by the program after Bias died. And though not discussed in the film, the program made the NCAA tournament in 1988 and didn't make the tournament again until 1994.

For the time given, Fraser's documentary gives you a great look at someone who had great promise and left the basketball world way too soon.

Len Bias photo added by Sarah - http://www.fanbase.com/member/sarah