When the Game Was Ours - Larry Bird [121]
First, Johnson was touched. Then he was tempted. Then he was determined to play.
"I'll call Stern," Rosen said.
The commissioner had done his homework since Magic's diagnosis. He consulted specialists. He read every piece of literature he could find on the subject of HIV, including an English publication that purported to have found an incident of an English soccer player having become HIV-positive through skin-to-skin contact.
"We were being told that couldn't happen," Stern said. "It had to be an open sore to open sore, and even then it was unlikely. But that was the kind of information that was circulating at the time."
Stern supported Magic's return for the All-Star Game, although he initially balked at the notion that Johnson, who had not played a minute of the 1991–92 regular season, should be a starter.
"If he doesn't start, he's not coming," Rosen said.
The commissioner had been prepared to name Golden State guard Tim Hardaway instead, but Hardaway graciously stepped aside to allow Magic to have center stage.
As news spread of Stern's decision to allow an HIV-positive athlete to compete among some of the world's most gifted athletes, his phone began ringing in earnest. Some of the calls were supportive, but an overwhelming number of them were skeptical, even outraged. Some NBA owners, concerned about their investment, weighed in with their protests.
"Aren't you getting a little too ahead of the curve on this?" asked one owner. "Why don't we do some polling?"
"No," Stern answered. "That doesn't work for me. I think we can affect the polls."
"Do you know what you are doing?" asked another powerful NBA owner. "Because this is some helluva risk you are taking."
Stern and Magic shared a common goal: they wanted to change the way the world looked at HIV. Yet Stern did not welcome Magic back to the fold without some trepidation. He knew that if his decision backfired, it could lead to serious consequences—for him, his league, and Magic Johnson. Although the backlash over Johnson's inclusion in the All-Star Game was heated and, at times, contentious, Stern successfully concealed most of that dissension from his discerning fan base.
"We were not aggressive in public," Stern said. "We didn't say anything. We were under fire from many of our own people, but the public didn't need to know that."
Magic was the first player to arrive at the 1992 All-Star Game in Orlando, Florida, and he brought along Glaser to speak to players and their wives about HIV. She debunked many of the myths about how the disease is transmitted and explained in detail the battle she and others were waging to stem the tide of AIDS. By the time she was done, many members of the audience were crying.
One particularly distraught woman approached Glaser after the program and confessed that her son was scheduled to present the MVP of the All-Star Game with a trophy.
"I'm so ashamed," she said in between sobs. "I told my son that he was, under no circumstances, to touch Magic Johnson if he won that award."
The wife of a prominent NBA star also walked up to Glaser after her moving presentation and told her, "I'm praying for you and your family. But I'm sorry, I still don't want my husband out there playing basketball with Magic Johnson."
On the surface, Magic's All-Star return was a heartwarming story with a fairy-tale ending. He scored 25 points and dished out 9 assists in a 153–113 win for the West and walked off with the MVP trophy. Yet there were underlying issues throughout the weekend that suggested a more complicated story line.
Philadelphia forward Charles Barkley, whom Magic counted among his NBA friends and who had petitioned to have his number changed to 32 in Johnson's honor once he was diagnosed, had no issue with Johnson's HIV status, but declared that it was unfair for a retired superstar to take away a spot from a younger player who might have been making his All-Star debut. The intimation: Johnson was being selfish.
Magic attempted to