It’s impossible to speak on the greatest rivalries in sports and fail to mention Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Their extensive competitive duels began in 1979, from their time in college when Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores fell to Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans, spoiling the former’s undefeated season. Many years following their retirements from basketball, that fire remains. Even in their business ventures, the two are jockeying for the upper hand
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Despite Johnson and Bird’s rivalry, the two are the best of friends. They hold each other extremely high regard. Their desire to compete doesn’t come from a place of malice but from admiration. As a result, competition has become a love language of sorts between the NBA legends. The two have gone on to tackle different areas of success once they called it quits on their basketball career.
While Bird transitioned into a front office role, Johnson became quite the businessman. The two came back together and made a guest appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman back in 2012. They didn’t waste any time in doubling down on their historic rivalry.
“It’s all about competition,” Bird said. “I mean, even today, if we could do something to compete against one another, I’d still like to do that.”
Magic quickly shared the same sentiment, saying, “I wish we could compete against each other right now.” Johnson’s response made Letterman think. He revealed a way they could compete with each other.
At the time, Johnson had recently led an ownership group to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2 billion. The purchase set a record for the most money ever paid for a US sports franchise at the time. Letterman proposed an idea to Bird on how to compete against Johnson in that regard.
“You could go out and buy a baseball team,” Letterman said. The entire audience erupted in laughter, including the Los Angeles Lakers legend. Bird let out a chuckle before providing a hilarious response in return.
“I thought about buying the Cardinals, but after finding out Ervin paid over $2 billion for the Dodgers, I know the Cardinals are worth at least $500 billion,” Bird said.
Of course, the Cardinals aren’t worth $500 billion, but Bird’s comments insinuate that he would be willing to spend that much money on the MLB franchise. Everyone enjoyed a hearty laugh, but the joke showed just how deep the rivalry between the two truly goes.
