Larry Bird

Today is Larry Bird's 54th birthday. If you grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, during the 1980s, then this fact blows you away.

Larry Bird was the greatest National Basketball Association player of the last 30 years. He also was one of the NBA's hardest workers. Very frequently when I attended Boston Celtics games at the old Boston Garden (or "Bah-stahn Gah-den" as we'd correctly pronounce it) in the '80s, I'd arrive about one hour before game-time in order to hustle a few autographs from the players, and on almost every occasion I'd see Larry Bird, an hour before game-time, alone on the fabled Boston Garden parquet floor, practicing shots and free throws.

Bird already was the best player in the NBA, but there he was, all by himself on the Boston Garden parquet floor, still trying to improve his game even more.

That's what made him the best in the game.

Never rest on your laurels. Never think that you've arrived. Never think that you can't improve your game. Keep practicing. Keep getting better. Keep excelling.

That's what Larry Bird taught me as I used to watch him on an old parquet floor in an arena that is now just a memory.

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