Drive

Drive; My Life Story, Larry Bird with Bob Ryan, Bantam, 1990

Larry Bird was one of the great players of the 1980s in the NBA. He seemed like he could do it all...he could shoot the 3, score down low, he was a tremendous passer, solid rebounder, good defender...it was no accident that he made the first "Dream Team" or that the Celtics were in the Finals 4 consecutive years, winning twice when he was in his prime. Bird Parish and McHale comprised one of the great front lines of all time and as Celtics were hugely popular. That popularity was enhanced by Bird's career paralleling Magic Johnson's at a time when the popularity of basketball was skyrocketing.

In Drive he put pen to paper to outline his life. He gives a little insight into what life was like growing up in French Lick, Indiana, how much of a culture shock college was, and then brief overviews of a few seasons.

You can tell he is not a writer as the accounts are fairly repetitive. It seemed like once he got into the NBA, every season was, "We had a good team, player X was new, he was really good, player y was gone, we missed him, we could have won but next year we will have another good team."

He does occasionally have a deeper insight into a player or situation but for the most part, he just relates the bare bones basics...we played here, it was a good game, we played there, it was a good game, we played there the next year...

It is readable at first but tends to get a bit monotonous about half way through. Still, he does give you a look at the NBA from the eyes of a guy who didn't know anything about the NBA before he started playing in it, and there is some value in that. It is also an honest approach...this book is easy to distinguish from one that was ghost-written by its "Hick from French Lick" approach and that shines through when he talks about his gratitude to the fans and for his ability to make a living by playing a game.