Sharp or Square - Legend of Larry Bird: From Indiana State to NBA Glory with Keith O'Brien

Welcome to Sharper Square from The Volume. We turn the squares sharper and make the wiseguys pay attention. I’m Chad, here with my partner and pro bettor, Simon Hunter.

Hearing from new listeners is a blast, especially the ones meeting Offseason Chad for the first time. Some loved the stories, some were stunned, but yeah, Chad was on one.

I was out of my comfort zone and on planes for eight straight weeks for the book, Indiana, All-Star, consulting, and a quick Philly stop to see my kid. It’s been wild in the best way.

On prediction markets, the space is chaotic right now. DraftKings took a hit while attention and valuations around Polymarket and Kalshi surged, and they’re running the move-fast-and-force-the-issue playbook.

PASPA fell in 2018 and states took the wheel, but the CFTC is now asserting federal authority that could override state blocks on Kalshi. That collides with conservative states-rights logic and may end in an all-or-nothing ruling, with the open question being whether sports gets pulled into prediction markets.

Now, I’m fired up to welcome back Keith O’Brien. His new book, Heartland, zeroes in on Larry Bird’s 1979 Indiana State run that met Magic in a title game that helped shape March as we know it, set against a month that also saw a Middle East peace accord, Three Mile Island, and the birth of the spreadsheet.

Love it. Let’s move the line on books.

Given all that, what’s the hook and the why now for a Bird 1979 story?

We’ve told Bird wrong by always pairing him with Magic. Focusing on Bird and that Sycamores team reveals a pure underdog tale, the kind we likely won’t see in the NIL era, when a young Bird would’ve been poached and on national TV much earlier.

That team feels mythic to me. Is there a modern comp?

The prior season flamed out, yet Red Auerbach still burned a top pick on Bird’s rights, betting a year flies by faster than people think. Then the head coach fell ill, Bill Hodges stepped in, roles clicked, the group toughened up, and the closest recent echo is Butler’s 2010 run.

Your reporting threads are incredible. Put us on the ground in Bird country—what did you see that made him possible?

No one called back, so I checked into a Best Western, lived in the library archives, and became a fixture at the American Legion bar. I walked his world, from his father’s gravesite to the small house he built for his mom and the cracked backyard court from that Converse shoot with Magic.

That drop-in work gives me hives. Book brain takes over so hard I once sat at a gate for nearly an hour before noticing I’d left my bag behind.

I get it; when a chapter won’t unlock I even mutter to myself while walking the dogs. In town, you push through the record-scratch moment, introduce yourself, and the same bar that goes silent when you walk in becomes the place that welcomes you back.

Clips show Bird as ice-cold. Who was he really?

The killer and the trash talk were real, but so were the tender spots; slights stuck to him. He wasn’t a big deal when he arrived at Indiana under Knight, felt unseen, and went home after a few weeks.

How would that version of Bird handle today’s nonstop spotlight, given the personal history the press later surfaced?

He carried real trauma, like his father’s suicide and a young marriage, which local reporters knew but didn’t print until national media arrived; when an SI writer said he wanted the man behind the game, Bird shut down. Today he simply opts out and doesn’t engage, which suits him.

How did this idea lock in for you?

After the Pete Rose book I wanted another Midwestern saga with a tight frame, not a full bio. I found a remarkable homecoming scene after the title game, and once I had that ending, I built the story backward.

Did Bird ever sit down with you?

I tried through his reps a few times and it fizzled, but close friends and teammates opened up. Stitching many perspectives often yields a truer portrait, and this story belongs to the team and the town too.

You stuck the landing. Heartland is beautifully reported and woven—may it sell a million.

Thank you, Chad, and thank you, Simon. Great to be back.

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