Bye, Bye Larry Birdie

There’s a lot of chirping going on today over the new Twitter logo, a similar version of the old blue bird. If you ask us, it looks like the bird just got a buzz cut and a dye job, but one of the more intentional changes is the creature’s new upward flight path. Twitter has some deep thoughts about the graphical tweak—involving the words “hope,” “freedom,” and “possibility”— but we’re more concerned about the fate of the famous logo’s Indianapolis DNA.

The old bird, you see, was named “Larry the Bird,” after our own basketball god. That trivia wasn’t exactly common knowledge—the Pacers’ social-media handler wasn’t even aware of it until today, but Bird himself was. He just doesn’t particularly care. “He doesn’t comment on that,” says David Benner, the Pacers director of media relations. (Nor does he tweet about it; Larry Legend doesn’t have an account, though there are some imposters about.)

So with all this talk of hope and possibility, is there a chance that the new creature will still be named Larry the Bird? Not much. According to Robert Weeks from Twitter, “The bird is the Twitter bird. It doesn’t have an additional name.”

Given Bird’s banner spring—Broadway homage, NBA Executive of the Year—it’s hard to feel bad for him losing this bit of pop-culture relevance. But we still hope Twitter has a change of heart. Until then, RIP Larry the Bird.

» BONUS: Larry Legend himself was one of our “XLVI Super Reasons to Love Indy” in February.

Illustration by Claire Bolatto