Today on Barstool, Jerry Thornton gave his 4 best Boston athletes of all time: Bobby Orr, David Ortiz, Brady, and Bill Russell. He talk about how much it pained him to leave Bird off the list and I get that, because Bird should never be off this list. As far as influential athletes in Boston go, the Hick from French Lick is above and beyond Bill Russell. Yes, Russell won 11 championships, definitely nothing to scoff at, but he was doing it at a time when there weren't nearly as many dominant big men as there are today and the league as a whole was much less daunting than what we saw in the 80s and 90s. Bird basically went toe to toe with Magic Johnson, and came out on top in the '84 Finals. No single player that has ever stepped on a basketball court approached the game like Bird did, he was too mental, too psychologically superior to slow down. He was one of the first true point forwards; he shot, he rebounded, he passed, and he played stalwart defense against multiple positions on the court. He is and probably always will be the greatest basketball player Boston has ever seen, and there is nothing wrong with that. Larry Legend is the Boston Celtics and deserves to be on this list more than Russell.
At the end of the day I don't really care because I'm not even from Boston, but I think its worth mentioning that as someone born and raised in Chicago I've said time and again that if Michael Jordan played for any other team besides the Bulls, then Larry Bird would be my favorite player of all time. His approach to the game was unparalleled and he fought his ass off for every single inch when he stepped foot on that court. Everyone feared Larry Bird. Everyone.
PS - I agree with the rest of the list, Ortiz is playing in a better era of baseball and is still shredding opposing pitching at the times when his team needs it most. I agree with him over Teddy Ballgame.
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