INDIANAPOLIS - No one knew the thoughts swirling in Larry Bird's head the summer of 1992. Bird was in Barcelona, Spain, on a court battling Croatia in the gold medal basketball game of the Olympics -- and he had a secret.
Bird was a member of the USA's star-laced Dream Team, but he wasn't there as some token player. He was not some perfunctory add to the roster.
If he had been anyone other than Larry Bird, he might not even have been on that team at all and, if he were, maybe as a backup.