According to sports journalist Larry Schwartz of ESPN, Johnson and Bird saved the NBA from bankruptcy. With the two future Hall of Famers, the league won a whole generation of new fans, drawing both traditionalist adherents of Bird’s dirt court Indiana game and those appreciative of Johnson’s public park flair. Prior to Johnson and Bird’s arrival, the NBA had gone through a decade of declining interest and low TV ratings. The rivalry was also significant because it drew national attention to the faltering NBA. Several journalists hypothesized that the JohnsonBird rivalry was so appealing because it represented many other contrasts, such as the clash between the Lakers and Celtics, between Hollywood flashiness and Boston/Indiana blue collar grit, and between blacks and whites. Similarly, Bird admitted that Johnson’s daily box score was the first thing he checked in the morning. Johnson asserted that for him, the 82-game regular season was composed of 80 normal games, and two LakersCeltics games. The rivalry continued in the NBA, and reached its climax when Boston and Los Angeles met in three out of four NBA Finals from 1984 to 1987. Johnson and Bird were first linked as rivals after Johnson’s Michigan State squad defeated Bird’s Indiana State team in the 1979 NCAA finals. © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc.Magic Johnson and Cookie on HIV Diagnosis, Their Gay Son Johnson previously discussed his son’s coming out on an episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” back in 2017. This dude here is just so proud of who he is.” Of his son’s sexual orientation, the Michigan native revealed to the publication, “He changed me. EJ came out to his parents in 2010 and publicly announced his sexual orientation in 2013. That’s when I knew, there’s nothing but love here,” EJ said. “He picked me up at my dorm and I was like, ‘Oh, whatever, hey.’ And he hugged me so hard - he was, like, squeezing all the air out of me. “I had only been gone for two months,” EJ added of the time Johnson came to visit him in the Big Apple. “But it’s really not about scarves it’s really about him seeing you be you.”ĭespite familial tensions running a little high, it wasn’t until EJ left for college at New York University in 2013, that Johnson started to come around. “He’d come up with stupid rules: ‘No scarves in the house,’ ” EJ said. Getty ImagesĪfter the “EJNYC” star told his parents, he noted that his dad often had rules about the way he could dress. Magic Johnson, wife Cookie Johnson and son EJ Johnson in New York City in 2018. But he’s not somebody who works great being cornered or surprised,” he continued.ĮJ didn’t officially come out to the public until 2013 when TMZ posted a video of him holding hands with his partner at the time. And he just was rattling off about things that weren’t particularly nice. I think it was just a lot for him to swallow in that conversation. “Especially my dad, because he was really the last person to talk to. “It wasn’t new for me, but they had to really take that in and digest it,” EJ told the outlet. The “#Rich Kids of Beverly Hills” star noted that while his friends knew of his sexual orientation at the time, his parents were “the last people” he told. The 29-year-old reality TV personality came out to the basketball great, 62, in 2010, and at first, the latter wasn’t too keen about the decision.ĮJ and his pops looked back on the experience with Variety and candidly opened up about their relationship following the news. Magic Johnson is one proud father to his son Earvin “EJ” Johnson.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |