• VIDEO: Larry Bird’s 60 Points By E.J. Smith
• Bullying Climate Skeptics By Debbie Young
• Burning the Constitution? By Debbie Young
• Crude-Oil Stocks at Eight-Decade High! By Richard C. Young
• Nasdaq Missing the Boat: Part II By E.J. Smith
• The Armed American Family: Part I By Richard C. Young
• Provence in a Bottle By Richard C. Young

What was so great about watching Larry Bird was you actually felt like every shot he took had a chance of going in.

Boston.com’s Chad Finn writes:

Roaming the basketball court during his heyday, Larry Bird was a genius, an artist, a purist, and perfectionist, an ingenious passer, deadeye shooter, savvy rebounder and sly defender. Of course, that’s just the abbreviated list of attributes. Ego-puncturing trash-talker definitely should have been mentioned sooner.

During the 1984-85 season, Bird was 28 years old and all of those powers — visceral, intangible, and virtually unprecedented and unmatched – were operating at peak levels. Bird averaged 28.7 points and 10.5 rebounds that season, hit 42.7 percent of his 3-pointers, 52.2 percent of his field goal attempts, and 88.2 percent from the foul line.

No one in the NBA played more minutes. No one in the NBA played better minutes. He won his second of three straight NBA Most Valuable Player awards, receiving 73 of 78 first-place votes.

Thirty years ago, Bird submitted one of the most memorable performances not just of that marvelous season, but his entire career, though it should be noted that he does not consider it one of his favorites.

“Fans and you guys think in terms of points, and I get that,” said Bird in a recent interview. “But my favorite games are the ones in which I did a lot of different things to help us win the game.”

On March 12, 1985, Larry Bird set a Celtics franchise record by scoring 60 points in a 126-115 win over the Atlanta Hawks. It broke the record held by teammate Kevin McHale, who dropped 56 on the Detroit Pistons just nine days before.

…

You notice a lot of Larry’s big, huge games are against Atlanta? That’s because Larry lit up every time he was going up against Dominique. Larry just tortured him, because he knew Dominique could not play a lick of defense. Larry would just go right at him. Right at him. He knew he could beat him off the dribble, hit the fadeway, make that little dribble-drive and then back off for that wing shot. I remember him saying once he also knew that halfway through the shot process, Dominique would cheat and start to head down the floor.

…

Bird got his record 57th point on a free throw, which brought a very high high-give from McHale. And points 59 and 60 came after McHale pulled down an offensive rebound of a Bird miss and kicked it back out to DJ, who fed a cutting Bird for the perfect punctuation mark, a foul line jumper at the buzzer.

But it was a shot that came a few moments before – one that didn’t count – that is remembered more than any of Bird’s 22 made field goals that did count. With 14 seconds left, Bird catches a pass in front of the Hawks bench, takes one dribble to his left, and launches a step-back jumper with Rickey Brown draped all over him. The shot falls through the net just as Bird, nudged by Brown, falls into the lap of Hawks trainer Joe O’Toole. The shot did not count — a foul was called on the floor – but that makes it no less amazing. As Hawks announcer John Sterling shouts “Larry Bird! Larry Bird!” while proclaiming it the greatest shooting performance he has ever seen, the players at the end of the Hawks’ bench – particularly Levingston – can’t even pretend to contain themselves now. They fall all over each in giddy amazement. Only later did we find out the real reason for the reaction: Larry Bird called his shot.

RIVERS: He said ‘in the trainer’s lap’ coming down the court, which meant it was going to be a three and it was going to from deep. Then he said, ‘who wants it?’ Then I think Rickey Brown, I’m not sure who it was, ran out after him, he shot this high rainbow, it goes in, Rickey bumps into him — and accidentally knocks him on our trainer’s lap. So it was exactly what he said, it was an accident but it was almost fate. They show a shot of our bench, Cliff Levingston and Eddie Johnson are standing up giving each other high fives. It was pretty awesome.

With the majority of Americans not convinced that “climate change” (remember when it was called “global warming?”) requires the comprehensive political controls on American energy and industry that the Obama administration would like to see in place, three members of Congress—Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)—recently sent 107 letters to think tanks, trade associations and companies, demanding info about their funding.

Our friend John Allison, president and CEO of the Cato Institute, pushed back at this attempt at intimidation with a letter to the three senators. Giving the Senators a lesson on the First Amendment, John wrote, “It surprises nobody that you disagree with CATO’s views on climate change—among a host of issues—but that doesn’t give you license to use the awesome power of the federal government to cow us or anybody else.”

As Patrick J. Michaels, Cato’s director of the Center for the Study of Science, points out, “The actions of these members of Congress are exactly why Cato’s Center for the Study of Science was founded: the government wishes to use science as a weapon to increase its political power, then use that political power to create a more convenient political climate. We wish to change this climate of fear into one of truth—and we would like to extend an invitation to Sens. Markey, Boxer, and Whitehouse to join us.”

Related video:

“Burning the Constitution of the United States … cannot be a part of our national energy policy,” said Harvard constitutional law professor Lawrence H. Tribe before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. According to the Washington Times, Mr. Tribe told the Committee on Tuesday that “the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to limit greenhouse-gas emissions far exceeds its authority under federal law and strikes a blow to the 10^th amendment by essentially making states subservient to Washington on energy and environmental matters.”

Meanwhile, as I wrote yesterday, John Allison, president and CEO of the Cato Institute, gave members of Congress a lesson on the First Amendment. Barbara Boxer, Ed Markley and Sheldon Whitehouse sent 107 letters to think tanks and trade associations in an attempt to intimidate. Mr. Allison is not surprised that these three Democratic Senators do not agree with Cato’s findings on climate change, but as John wrote,  “… that does not give you the right to use the awesome power of the federal government to cow us or anyone else.”

According to Mr. Tribe, “EPA’s proposal raises grave constitutional questions.” Through the EPA, the Obama administration is moving forward with sweeping, unprecedented restrictions on U.S. power plants. Read more here on the EPA’s “unconstitutional trifecta.”

Related video:

The Wall Street Journal’s Liam Denning lays out America’s supply glut.

“Commercial crude-oil stocks in the U.S. stand at their highest level in at least eight decades. Right now, it is very profitable to take barrels, store them, and sell them forward.”

“Before the spigot of oil gets shut off, the spigot of capital will have to dry up. Oil at $50 a barrel clearly wasn’t low enough to do that. We will likely soon learn whether sub-$40 prices will do the trick.”

Related video:

While the Nasdaq has nearly reached its all-time highs in nominal terms, when adjusted for inflation, the index has actually fallen in real value by 33.1% from its peak on 3/10/2000.

See Part I here.

The Second Amendment protects our right to bear arms. There is no downside risk in protecting the security of your family. The first rule of safety is a firearms safety course sponsored by the NRA. Firearms safety is all about education. Organizations like National Shooting Sports Foundation are dedicated to firearms safety. And it is also important when traveling by auto to know the firearms laws in all 50 states.

It is never too early to educate your kids and grandchildren in firearms safety. Back in 1860 Henry Repeating Arms Company introduced the first lever-action repeating rifle. Debbie and I got our grandkids started in gun safety by buying for each a Henry Repeating Arms Youth Rifle, 22lr, 16.125” Barrel (blue finish, walnut stock) model with adjustable sights. This lever-action rifle is downsized for younger gun enthusiasts and is the perfect place to begin gun safety for your younger family members.

The perfect companion for your new Henry’s is 22lr ammo from CCI.

Your family can benefit from understanding the history of the Swiss Militia and how the Swiss militia system has helped keep Switzerland neutral, safe, prosperous, and free for hundreds of years (Read Part I and Part II of my series on how Switzerland’s militia system faced down Hitler and the Nazis).

Related video:

Here francetoday.com introduces readers to one of our favorite and indeed most underrated French red wines, Bandol. Perhaps the finest of all Bandols is, as America’s number one French wine importer Kermit Lynch underscores, Domaine Tempier.

Francetoday.com writes:

So many things make the Provencal commune of Bandol a unique place: its micro-climate, use of Mourvèdre as its primary varietal, steep slopes requiring manual harvests and a pure pedigree as an ancient wine-making region.

Bandol is one of the eight Provençal appellations. AOC Côtes de Provence seems to get all of the attention – apart from Bordeaux, it’s the only other region in France that has its own classified growth ranking. Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace and the Loire, for example, all classify their vineyards by area and not by château or estate.

Related video: