ABSTRACT
There were people who wondered when Larry Bird was announced as the coach of the Indiana Pacers why Bird would want to be a coach. What suggests itself in answer is another question: why would the prospect of retirement around age 40 seem so attractive? Perhaps Baryshnikov’s move in the ’80s to being artistic director of the American Ballet Theater occasioned similar questions but it seems unlikely. There is some recognition that ballet may be interesting and worthwhile enough that a major practitioner might wish to continue in it even given diminished capacities and no obvious financial need to do so. But, basketball is also sufficiently interesting and worthwhile.
