Larry Bird is one of the most cold-blooded superstars in NBA history, he was as blunt as they come, even when facing other superstars. Larry Legend came into the league as an incredible collegiate player and enjoyed a historic career that has seen him become a consensus Top 10 player in the history of the game. But like with almost every superstar before and after him, Bird had to deal with his fair share of criticism and doubt in his career.
There were a few that believed that despite his epic college performances, Bird didn’t have what it took to make it in the NBA. There were 5 other players picked ahead of him in the 1978 draft as well, but he would go on to have a career that eclipsed all of theirs. So it’s understandable that the people that doubted Bird were forced to admit that they were wrong about him.
Skip Bayless has admitted that he was one of Larry’s doubters, sharing a story on ‘The Skip Bayless Show’ of how he tried to apologize to Bird for it after he had already become an NBA superstar. Bayless explained that Bird wasn’t even that interested in hearing the apology though, walking away from him after just 30 seconds or so.
.@RealSkipBayless took it upon himself to apologize to Larry Bird…here's why: pic.twitter.com/XaklkVchPW
— The Skip Bayless Show (@SkipBaylessShow) March 31, 2022
“As Larry Bird rolled on into the NBA, it made me look dumber and dumber… He was on his way at that point to his third NBA ring. He’d obviously won Rookie of the Year, and he was on his way to his third straight MVP. I went from wrong to wronger to wrongest about Larry Bird.”
“I’m gonna suck it up and I’m gonna apologize to Larry Bird. It’s like I owed it to him…So I caught him and said, ‘I’m just gonna take a second of your time. I was really wrong about you. I wrote blah blah blah.’ And he listened patiently for about 34 seconds and he shrugged and said, ‘Okay,’ and walked away. And I deserved that. I deserved that put down.”
Larry Legend’s response is also an epic one, an excellent example to everyone to just do your own thing and not care about what people have to say about you. Bayless now had Bird comfortably in his top 10 of all time, so it’s safe to say that he didn’t stick to his original, terrible take. There’s next to no chance though, that Skip ends up having a similar conversation with LeBron James.
