Winning Time handled his father’s death with compassion.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty often focuses heavily on Laker territory. However, the Showtime Lakers’ 1980s dynasty would not have been as successful without the Boston Celtics. The dialogue between Celtics coach Red Auerbach (Michael Chiklis) and Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) is among the show’s highlights. In the most recent episode of Winning Time, the show takes the most in-depth look yet at the life of a character who is not a member of the Lakers organization, delving into a trauma that forever changed Celtics star Larry Bird.
In 1 1/2 seasons of Winning Time, Bird hasn’t said much except to mock Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) on the court and in his head. When the Boston Celtics celebrated winning the 1981 NBA Finals the year after the Lakers won, Bird’s beady-eyed glare into the camera seemed to pierce through the national TV audience only to hit Johnson where it stung.
Johnson’s hatred was so intense that it felt as if smoke from Bird’s celebratory cigar had blown through his TV screen and into his face. The show portrays Bird as an emotionless robot created by the basketball gods to score baskets and rip out hearts. In reality, he was a guy with flesh and bones—and a heart distorted by toxic family dynamics.
Georgia and Claude Joseph “Joe” Bird gave birth to Bird in West Baden Springs, Indiana. For years, the family lived in poverty, which inspired Larry to pursue basketball in order to improve their situation. His mother has yet to come on the show, but Larry has previously stated that his mother made significant sacrifices and worked many jobs to support him and his siblings. His father, Joe (Mac Brandt), made his Winning Time debut, and by the end of the episode, he had become a pivotal role in one of the series’ darkest storylines.
Who was Larry Bird’s father?
Joe Bird is little-known outside of his relationship to the basketball hero he and Georgia produced. Joe, who was born in the Indiana hamlet of French Lick and reared Larry there, was a construction worker who also participated in the Korean War. While Joe was proud of his son’s basketball success, Larry’s early career was not a primary focus for him
Larry had stated that his father did not attend many of his basketball games while the Boston Celtics great was in high school, including when Larry shattered the Orange County scoring mark. To his credit, Joe walked from home to the arena where his son was creating history because the family did not own a car, and Larry’s uncle contacted Joe at halftime to beg him to find a way to watch his son’s historic performance.
Joe was also not the finest companion for Larry’s mother. Joe and Georgia separated while Larry was in high school, and their relationship was strained, owing in part to Joe’s failure to pay child support on time. Joe suffered from drinking and struggled to hold a job. Georgia’s sister, Virginia Smith, wrote a biography about Joe’s physical violence, including how he left Georgia with a black eye while she was pregnant. Larry’s connection with his father was strained until Joe died tragically when Larry was still in high school.
.How did Larry Bird’s father die?
Larry Bird’s father, HBO.
Joe unexpectedly shot himself in the head with a shotgun in February 1975, after a police officer arrived at his home to collect child support. Joe instructed the police to return later in the afternoon. According to the Indianapolis Monthly, Joe called his ex-wife soon before his himself to persuade her that the family would be better off without him. Joe committed suicide just moments after hanging off the phone.
Larry’s best pals recall the basketball phenom refusing to discuss his father’s death for decades. Larry has spoken openly about his father’s influence, but he has rarely mentioned his death publicly. In a 2015 interview with Indianapolis Monthly, Bird expressed his unhappiness with his father’s decision to commit suicide, a sentiment that has remained unchanged throughout the decades. “I sort of always felt my dad gave up on not only himself but us kids,” Bird told me. “I still had two younger brothers at home and a mother. That’s how I saw it back then, and how I see it today. “I think I handled it well.”
How does Winning Time’s representation compare to reality?
Winning Time avoided the frat house comedy and dramatic exaggerations of the first season in favor of depicting Larry’s love for his father with sensitivity and grief, demonstrating the show’s developing maturity. While Joe’s death in Winning Time differs from what is generally known about his actual death, the show carefully selected critical facts to adequately contextualize the tragic moment.
In the episode, Joe and Larry discuss Joe’s failure to pay child support and Larry’s strained relationship with his mother. However, before to his death, we do not see Joe phone his ex-wife and advise her that the family would be better off without him. Instead, when Larry visits his father in his shed, Joe informs him that the family would be better off without him.
The most dramatic aspect of Joe’s death was the way Larry found out. During the episode, one of the town’s police officers communicates the news that something horrible has happened to his father. When Larry enters the shed where he and his father exchanged memories, Joe’s lifeless body is found lying face first on the floor, while the police and coroner take both his body and the shotgun used. We don’t know how Larry learned about his father’s death. However, regardless of how Winning Time emphasized it, Larry’s father’s death struck a chord with its viewers, which could be an indication of where the program is headed in the future.
