{"id":1258135,"date":"2020-10-31T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T16:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1258135"},"modified":"2020-10-31T12:40:01","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T16:40:01","slug":"larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While it's been almost 30 years since <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-hated-playing-against-a-white-guy-during-his-time-in-the-nba\/\">Larry Bird last hit the NBA hardwood,<\/a> no basketball fan can forget the Boston Celtics star. The forward was more than just a knock-down shooter; he was a pure scorer, deadly trash-talker, and a relentless winner. And, behind the scenes, he was apparently a pretty nice guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, you read that correctly. While it's easy to remember <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/Larry-Bird\/\">Larry Bird<\/a> as the player who roasted Craig Hodges ahead of the Three-Point Contest and talked trash to an entire team at once, the legendary forward actually had a softer side once he stepped off the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Larry Bird's legendary basketball career <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Larry Bird ULTIMATE Mixtape!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hcXv0JtzNQA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-once-bailed-on-the-celtics-white-house-visit-saying-the-president-knows-where-to-find-me\/\">Larry Bird Once Bailed on the Celtics\u2019 White House Visit, Saying the President \u2018Knows Where to Find Me\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since he's literally nicknamed &#8216;Legend,' it's not exactly groundbreaking to say that <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-is-a-living-legend-but-hes-not-afraid-of-thinking-about-death\/\">Larry Bird was great at basketball.<\/a> His decorated career, however, almost ended prematurely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After high school, Bird headed to the University of Indiana to join Bobby Knight's Hoosiers. The Bloomington campus, however, overwhelmed the Hick from French Lick; Bird headed back home and started working as a garbage man until Indiana State University basketball\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-may-have-stayed-a-garbage-man-if-not-for-a-man-named-bill-hodges\/\">coach Bill Hodges<\/a> paid him a visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bird agreed to give college basketball another chance and joined the Sycamores. He promptly grew into a star, averaging 30.3 points per game for his NCAA career, claiming 1979 National Player of the Year honors, and leading Indiana State to the NCAA Tournament Finals, only to fall at the hands of <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/we-can-thank-larry-bird-and-magic-johnsons-1979-finals-clash-for-march-madness\/\">Magic Johnson and Michigan State.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/ranking-the-5-players-taken-ahead-of-larry-bird-in-the-1978-nba-draft\/\">the 1978 NBA draft <\/a>rolled around, the Boson Celtics snagged Bird with the sixth-overall pick; while it briefly looked like he wouldn't join the team, he eventually signed on the dotted line, changing the course of franchise history. He spent 13 seasons in Boston, averaging 24.3 points, 10 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game for his career. Bird also won three consecutive NBA MVP titles and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-many-nba-championships-have-the-boston-celtics-won\/\">lifted three Larry O\u2019Brien Trophies<\/a>\u00a0as an NBA champion, establishing himself as a living legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trash-talking with the best of them <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Happy 63rd Birthday Larry Bird...<br>He was a baaaaaadddd man ! His step back game,shooting, passing and trash talk was soo\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25GOAT status.  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uU7xKdyQqX\">pic.twitter.com\/uU7xKdyQqX<\/a><\/p>&mdash; MarkJonesESPN (@MarkJonesESPN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkJonesESPN\/status\/1203491353914675200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 8, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-birds-heated-brawl-with-julius-erving-in-1984-began-innocently-enough\/\">Larry Bird\u2019s Heated Brawl with Julius Erving in 1984 Began Innocently Enough<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Larry Bird was more than just a relentless winner and pure scorer, though. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-once-torched-the-entire-phoneix-suns-bench-with-a-single-piece-of-trash-talk\/\">He could also talk trash<\/a> as well as anyone else in the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it's not clear what Bird actually said\u2014some episodes have probably grown into sports legends over time\u2014there are plenty of stories about Larry Legend's verbal exploits. According to reports, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/if-you-think-michael-jordan-burned-craig-ehlo-heres-what-larry-bird-did-to-him\/\">once asked Craig Ehlo<\/a>\u00a0if his mother was watching the game to see him get embarrassed. On another occasion, he claimed that no one was guarding him after scoring over\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/dennis-rodmans-drive-to-becoming-one-of-the-greatest-defenders-and-rebounders-in-nba-history\/\">Dennis Rodman.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-called-this-player-the-biggest-trash-talker-hes-ever-faced\/\">Even Michael Jordan,<\/a> a legendary trash-talker in his own right, saluted Bird's skills. MJ called Larry Legend the best trash-talker he ever faced, saying, \u201cHe talks a lot of trash. Good trash, though, not dirty trash.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Behind the scenes, though Larry Bird was apparently a pretty nice guy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Magic Johnson &amp; Larry Bird - Lifetime Achievement Award - 2019 NBA Awards\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CdaUy4bv2lI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-is-so-legendary-twitter-named-its-logo-after-him\/\">Larry Bird Is so Legendary Twitter Named Its Logo After Him<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given those trash-talking stories, it would be understandable if you thought Larry Bird was a mean\u2014or at least cold\u2014character. Behind the scenes, though, the forward was apparently a pretty nice guy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When the Celtics won the title in 1984, Bird approached Auerbach and said, &#8216;I'd like to buy a [championship] ring for Walter,' Frank Deford wrote in an old <a href=\"https:\/\/vault.si.com\/vault\/1988\/03\/21\/a-player-for-the-ages-bostons-larry-bird-in-what-may-be-his-finest-season-gets-red-auerbachs-vote-over-bill-russell-as-the-best-ever\">Sports Illustrated<\/a> story. &#8220;Walter Randall was an old equipment man and sometime trainer who died in '85. &#8216;No other player ever thought of that,' Auerbach says. Rick Shaw, the team manager at Indiana State, went up to Bird on the sad flight back from the Sycamores' Final Four defeat at the hands of Michigan State in 1979 and handed him a team pennant to sign. Bird didn't just autograph it. He wrote, &#8216;Thank you for all the things you've done for me. Love, Larry.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bill Walton, who spent a few seasons with the Celtics at the end of his career, offered the best perspective on Bird's personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;So much of it\u2014playing, in the locker room, away from basketball\u2014has to do with how much he cares,&#8221; Walton explained. &#8220;Larry cares about every element of everything he's involved in. With some people, the sphere of their life is so very small. The sphere of Larry's life is just huge.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1258356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4814,62310],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-31T16:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-31T16:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JoeKozlowski_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/\",\"name\":\"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-31T16:39:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-31T16:40:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/54fa4083caedd42dabe199fbc16f92a2\"},\"description\":\"While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg\",\"width\":1850,\"height\":1426,\"caption\":\"Larry Bird was a ruthless trash-talker, but he was apparently a nice guy behind the scenes. | Staff Photo By Christopher Evans\/MediaNews Group\/Boston Herald via Getty Images\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\",\"name\":\"Sports7\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/54fa4083caedd42dabe199fbc16f92a2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/joe-kozlowski\/\",\"name\":\"Joe Kozlowski\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Joe-Kozlowski-96x96.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Joe-Kozlowski-96x96.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Joe Kozlowski\"},\"description\":\"Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sports7 in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope \u2014 both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"JoeKozlowski_\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Joe Kozlowski | Sports7 Writer\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side - Sports7","description":"While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side","og_description":"While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_published_time":"2020-10-31T16:39:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-31T16:40:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1850,"height":1426,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joe Kozlowski","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JoeKozlowski_","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joe Kozlowski","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/","name":"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side - Sports7","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg","datePublished":"2020-10-31T16:39:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-31T16:40:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/54fa4083caedd42dabe199fbc16f92a2"},"description":"While Larry Bird was an elite trash-talker, the Boston Celtics legend was apparently a pretty nice guy behind the scenes.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Larry-Bird-4.jpg","width":1850,"height":1426,"caption":"Larry Bird was a ruthless trash-talker, but he was apparently a nice guy behind the scenes. | Staff Photo By Christopher Evans\/MediaNews Group\/Boston Herald via Getty Images"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-was-a-ruthless-trash-talker-but-the-boston-celtics-legend-also-had-a-softer-side\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Larry Bird Was a Ruthless Trash-Talker, But the Boston Celtics Legend Also Had a Softer Side"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/","name":"Sports7","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/54fa4083caedd42dabe199fbc16f92a2","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/joe-kozlowski\/","name":"Joe Kozlowski","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Joe-Kozlowski-96x96.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Joe-Kozlowski-96x96.jpeg","caption":"Joe Kozlowski"},"description":"Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sports7 in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope \u2014 both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.","sameAs":["","JoeKozlowski_","","",""],"jobTitle":"Joe Kozlowski | Sports7 Writer","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258135"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1260843,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258135\/revisions\/1260843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1258356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}