Convict Requested, Received Extra Prison Time As Larry Bird Tribute

Eric Torpy went down for armed robbery a few years back and was sentenced to 30 years in an Oklahoma prison. But if there's anything Torpy liked more than armed robbery, it's Larry Bird.

Put his arms together and the tattoos on his elbows read "33.'' He also has a small green shamrock tattooed near his eye.

"I'll always represent Larry Bird,'' he says. "He'll always be on me.''

So Torpy thought it would be a fitting tribute to number 33 to ask the judge for his sentence to be increased to 33 years. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, but after six years behind bars, he's rethinking his gesture.

"Now that I have to do that time, yes I do [regret it],'' says Torpy. "I kind of wished that I had 30 instead of 33. Recently I've wisened up.

"That three is a big deal, you know? Three years matters.''

Larry Bird declined comment.

The Bird man of prison [Boston Globe]