BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A look at "CNN 20" today, and the topic: the retirement of baseball -- basketball legend Larry Bird. Have a look and listen here.</s>ANNOUNCER: Bringing you the world for 20 years, this is CNN.</s>MIKE GALANOS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Larry Bird was a 6'9" forward and you did not see a guy his size pass the ball and dribble and rebound, and it was just like, wow, you know, he is -- he's something special. He was a champion and you hear the stories, and he talked trash as much or more than anybody else, so, you know, he brought a fire to the game that guys still -- to feed off that, in a sense, that he was a founding father of a new resurgence in the NBA. He'd had injuries, he'd had back trouble and he couldn't do the things he was used to doing and I think it just became too much of a struggle for him. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AUGUST 18, 1992) LARRY BIRD, PRO BASKETBALL PLAYER: I had one injury I couldn't shake. I've had a lot of injuries throughout the years, but the back situation, I just could not shake it. It feels better now, but it's not going to be 100 percent ever again.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: And even if his body finally betrayed him, his spirit never did. And even though he knew and we knew it had to end...</s>BIRD: It's a -- I didn't ever want this day to come. It's here so I got to deal with it now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: What he leaves us with is this: a steady stream of fireworks on the court to remember, and to know that the game will always be better because of him. There won't be another like Larry Bird.
CNN 20: Larry Bird Retires, August 18, 1992