Larry Bird

IN THE MID-1980s, I fell hopelessly, fanatically and totally in love with professional basketball. There were three reasons for my unbridled passion for the game. Each of those reasons is no longer playing: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.Johnson first retired in late 1991 when he tested HIV-positive. Bird left a year or so later because of back problems. Jordan announced this week that he was hanging up his Nikes.The National Basketball Association's golden era -- which began in 1980, when Magic and Bird entered the league -- ended this week with Jordan's retirement.

It's happened to many, even before they took center court. And the abuse from the crowd, jammed three deep outside the chain-link fence, can happen for simple stuff: Maybe they didn't like your gear. The lines in your haircut. Maybe even the way you walked.It's life at "the Dome," Baltimore's hot spot for basketball. Smack dab in "the 'hood" on Baltimore's east side. A place where only the strong -- and thick-skinned -- survive.And that's where the legendary court figured to claim another victim last summer when this lanky, pale white kid from Pikesville, an Orthodox Jew -- complete with yarmulke pinned to his hair, mind you -- came to play.

NBA games lost yesterday: 8.Total games missed: 77.Earliest estimated date that season can start: Dec. 15.Negotiations: Nothing scheduled. Commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter were supposed to speak by phone yesterday.Projected player salary losses (through Dec. 15): $250 million.Today's best canceled game: Lakers at Boston. Sure, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are long-since retired, but it's always special when these teams meet.Pub Date: 11/13/98

THOUGH IT is difficult to choose sides in the dispute between National Basketball Association owners and players, a referee would have to hit owners with a technical foul for whining about outrageous salaries of their own making.Team owners drove a gigantic loophole through a strict salary cap in 1983 to allow the Boston Celtics to re-sign superstar Larry Bird for an amount that exceeded that limit. It was this salary cap that was supposed to rein in owners' competitive impulses when bidding on top players.

INDIANAPOLIS -- There are three minutes until game time at Market Square Arena. Reggie Miller and Chris Mullin are among the Indiana Pacers warming up, although in the stands there are more than a few fans who couldn't care less about what's happening on the court.Their focus is on the tunnel.Suddenly, applause begins to build almost wave-like, section by section. By the time the focus of their attention reaches the top of the tunnel, the entire arena is standing and applauding. Just like the scene that played out in Miami two nights before, in San Antonio last week and Detroit last month.

Boxers or briefs?Pistachio or Rocky Road?Mantle or Mays?Magic or Michael?The debate over which player, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan, is the greatest to lace up a pair of basketball sneakers has been refueled by the return of Johnson to the Los Angeles Lakers, and Turner commentators have taken lukewarm positions.Jordan's supporters, who are legion, point to his acrobatic brilliance, three championships won with a group of players perceived to be inferior and seven straight scoring titles as proof that he is the best player of all time.

Magic Johnson will be elected to the basketball Hall of Fame.When? Someday.His enshrinement remains a first-ballot certainty. But now the date of the induction, having already been altered once, is up in the air now that Johnson has come out of retirement, again.His last regular season was 1990-91, so he should have been part of the class of '97 in Springfield, Mass., since players must skip five elections before they go on the ballot.Then he played in the 1991-92 All-Star Game and in the 1992 Olympics.

Michael Jordan and Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller had not always been the best of friends, as evidenced by their on-court scuffle late last season.But there was never any doubting of Jordan's ability and tremendous following in the league, which left Miller wondering just what direction the NBA is headed with yesterday's announcement of his rival's retirement."It's a big loss, not only for myself, but for the NBA," Miller told The Indianapolis Star. "The NBA might be suffering for a little bit now. The major stars are gone."

Michael Jordan and Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller had not always been the best of friends, as evidenced by their on-court scuffle late last season.But there was never any doubting of Jordan's ability and tremendous following in the league, which left Miller wondering just what direction the NBA is headed with yesterday's announcement of his rival's retirement."It's a big loss, not only for myself, but for the NBA," Miller told The Indianapolis Star. "The NBA might be suffering for a little bit now. The major stars are gone."

BOSTON -- After nearly 2 1/2 hours of testimonials, of highlight video, of hugs and high-fives and endless standing ovations, the stage was cleared, the white spotlight shone down and Larry Bird stood alone.Wearing his old Celtics warm-ups, and holding a microphone instead of a basketball, he stood on the center-court stage. The penultimate standing ovation from nearly 15,000 pairs of hands had finally subsided, and now, as Bird addressed the crowd, the voice of a male leatherlung pierced the air."