Magic Johnson Choked Up At Larry Bird’s Hall of Fame Induction While Making An Honest Admission On Him The ‘foes to friends’ trope has never been replicated to absolute perfection the way Magic Johnson and Larry Bird carried it out during the 80s. Having been rivals since their days at Michigan and Indiana State, they would go through the ebbs and flows of a highly emotional friendship that culminated with a beautiful speech given by Magic at Bird’s Hall of Fame induction. “[Players today] don’t hate each other. I hated Larry Bird and every Celtic,” said Johnson last year. The feeling certainly was mutual with Bird saying, “Earvin the man, but Earvin the basketball player? I had a little problem with him.” Their competitiveness wasn’t unfounded as they’d played against one another in the 1979 NCAA Championship game with Magic leading the Spartans and Larry paving the way for the Sycamores. Magic came out on top and even in the NBA, holds a 2-1 record against Bird in the Finals. F...