User:Gregory China/sandbox

Larry & Magic Saviours of the NBA
In the early 1960s, the NBA was encountering a lot of problems. It was losing money and viewers. The amount of Black players in the League was not helping the situation either because a lot viewers were white, and at that time there was a very big racial problem. There had been arguments that the NBA was too black a league and not just in terms of colour, but also in terms of style and the public wanted more white players. They had enough of seeing black players being the dominant. As people stopped paying to go see some games, the league was loosing money therefore they could not pay for live television, and there were no sponsors. There were not only problems on the court but also off the court, when it had been discovered that 75% players were using drugs/cocaine. The NBA was said to be doomed, but if it wasn’t for two young college basketball stars, the NBA as we know today would probably have never been the way it is. It was the fact that they both came from completely different backgrounds that made them famous; otherwise they would have just been another pair of basketball players.

Magic Johnson
Irving Johnson, At a very young age, developed his love for basketball and he immediately knew what he was destined for. When he reached High school he soon realised that there was a big problem with racism in his town, but that didn’t bother him, in fact he frequented whites as well as blacks. He easily made his High school basketball team and became a star. He is referred to as “Magic” because of his incredible skill on the court. Colleges all over the county offered him scholarships but there was only one place he wanted to be, and that was at home in Michigan. Toward the end of his freshman year in college he was expecting to have gotten the rookie of the year award, only to be disappointed to have lost by 60 votes to another player in a far away land that he would soon come to know very well for the rest of his life. Although he lost the rookie of the year award, he was driven to be better than his opponent and from then on it was the beginning of a brand new era.

Larry Bird
Larry Bird grew up in the small town of French lick in Indian, a town that was barley even visible on the map. He was a rough boy often got into fights, and he grew up by the side of his brothers. Even though Larry was consider a demon, (due to his rough behaviour) he was never affected by the amount of racism that surrounded him. Indiana was an extremely racist state at that time, in fact, Indian is where the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) originated. In school he was a relatively good student but he always struggled to get up and talk in front of his peers. throughout his career he would never willingly talk in front of a camera or media, he was always a really shy boy. Larry's brother stated that "whenever he would pick up a basketball, things were totally different" Larry's actions spoke louder than his words. Larry stated, "when basketball came to me, it seemed like easy. I didn't have the quickness, I didn't have the jumping ability, I just thought the game out." By the time Larry became a senior he became a star, and incredible talent, but the town that Larry played in barley a "hot bed of talent" and it was almost impossible for him to be spotted by college scouts. fortunately for him, Indiana University basketball coach, Bobby Knight saw his talent and offered him a full basketball scholarship. When Larry arrived at Indianan University he was overwhelmed by his surroundings and the funds were too high. Due to the pressure of it all he left after only 24 days. Larry returned to French Lick and not long after his return, his father had committed suicide due to drinking problems and demons that have taken over him mind only after his service in the Korean war. Larry became depressed and was practically about to give up on basketball, but if it was not for Bill hognes to convince Larry to play for his school; Indian State, it is believed that the larry Bird as we know today would never have existed. Indiana had barley ever been to the NCAA tournament, but by his senior year he led them to the Finals.

The Rivalry
The first time that Larry and Magic would encounter each other would be on team USA. They both made the largest impacts whenever they were put into a game together, they were like an unstoppable force, but that is all it would be for the time being. Magic's attempts to talk, or try to be friendly with Larry would be useless as Larry didn't want a social relationship with opponents. The two would meet again in the NCAA finals in 1979. It was the most televised Basketball game of the decade, two stars battling each other for the championship. Bryant Scumble in an interview years after the era of Larry & Magic stated, " I mean lets face it, if Larry Bird were black and came from Chicago, it wouldn't have been such big a deal, they were polar opposites, one black, one white, one out going, one shy, and that was the charm of the attraction!" The Michigan State Spartans came ready and too play and they took the game by storm and made it very difficult for larry to score. He would have two men guarding him almost the entire game. Larry was unable to break the Spartan defence or his cold streak. Stoping Larry Bird was like stopping the entire team because they didn't have a lot of talent or a deep bench. They were overwhelmed by the Spartans size, hight, jumping ability, and speed and took a 64 - 75 loss in the NCAA Finals. Larry said in an interview years after his retirement from the NBA stated, " it was over you know, that was my four years, I was done. It still hurts. when you win 33 in a row and you walk into the game, you never know what to expect but, I expected to win and we didn't win. Toughest loss i ever took." The loss in the Finals would haunt him for the rest of his career, but this would drive him to get Magic back. It wouldn't be the last time that the two stars would be encountering each other. Larry Bird was drafted to the Boston Celtics in 1979 and the public referred to him as "The Great white hope" because they had very high expectations of him. They expected him to be the next great white player but he quickly backed out of that name. He made it clear to the public that he was not going to to the the great white hope but just another player, but in his first few games he proved to not only be extremely talented, but also tough enough to take on any challenge. Larry in an interview stated " I always played as if the whole world was against me, I thought everybody was against me. I used to think up things to get me rattled before a game. I played the game hard, I played rough." Fans loved his type of play and he began to attract a larger crowd and only in Birds second season, he led the Celtics to the NBA Championships making him an NBA star. Magic Johnson made an even bigger impact with his arrival to L.A to play for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979. Strait off the bat, from game one, the public saw his potential, his energy, and his dedication. He has always had two personalities, Magic and Irving. Irving was fun, caring, and loveable guy. someone you really would like to be around, and Magic was a very high competitor and as far as he is concerned, winning is all. As the years progress, Magic has already won a high school, college, and one NBA championship, leaving larry to having won only one NBA title, but their competitiveness never faded, in fact it kept on growing and growing to the point were the NBA came up with a solution to fix the leagues problems. Although the stars came from completely different backgrounds and lifestyles, their skills were so similar that they were almost identical in the ways they played, and so they used it as way to attract fans. Magic in an interview stated " thats why we hated each other because we knew that we were mirrors of each other." The NBA signed with a television company named CBS before the 1982 season, which streamed live television. This would finally get more word out to the public of the rivalry that was taking place. Soon the television ratings began to grow and more fans began to flood the stadiums. The very year that the NBA signed with CBS, Larry and Magic would encounter each other in the NBA Finals for the very first time. It was the perfect propaganda, a classic showdown Between Black and white. The Finals battle went all the way to a 7 game series, both teams won 3 games each, but to win the the NBA title, you have to win a total of 4 games. The last game would take place in Boston were the Lakers would fall to the Celtics. After 5 years from the NCAA championship Larry finally got Magic back. The rivalry would continue as they would would encounter each other again in the finals the following year and the Lakers would take the title. They would meet again the the 1987 Finals with the Lakers taking the title again but ever since the the 1984 finals, The NBA had prospered into into a rich and extremely popular league once again.

The Ending
As the years went on, Magic kept developing his game and remaining as the leagues best player while larry bird was slowly breaking down. His back problems were affecting his level of play and soon he would not be able to keep up with the competition. Throughout Magics success it all came to halt when he discovered that he was HIV positive and that he was forced to retire form the Lakers. In and interview years late Larry tell what he thought when he first herd of Magic's problem, " the day that i heard about Magic, it just changed my love for basketball, it shook me up, the same type of feeling when my father died." Knowing that Magic was no longer in the NBA, Larry lost his motivation, and the will to play basketball. He felt like there was no more competition leading him to retire 4 years later. The Magic and Larry era may have come to an end, but the NBA flourished and became one of the most viewed leagues in the United States and still to this day, all thanks to the "show time boy from Michigan and the hick from French lick.