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INDIANAPOLIS -- A year away from basketball has rejuvenated Larry Bird. Now he wants to win a championship. Bird, the former NBA star who left his job last season after rebuilding the Indiana Pacers and winning the leagues executive of the year award, will be reintroduced to the media Thursday morning as the president of basketball operations. Thats the same job Bird held from 2003-12. "The year off gave me a chance to reflect, to rest, to take care of some health issues and it re-charged me," Bird said in a statement issued by the team. The move is hardly a surprise. He reportedly met earlier this month with Sacramento about becoming that teams general manager and had become a regular in recent weeks as the Pacers held public draft workouts, making his imminent return one of the worst kept secrets in Indy. Following Tuesdays draft workout, general manager Kevin Pritchard even alluded to the fact that Bird appeared on the verge of making a comeback. Donnie Walsh, who preceded Bird as the Pacers top decision-maker then succeeded him last summer as president of basketball operations, will now settle in his new role -- as a team consultant. Walsh had said all along that if, or when, Bird wanted to return, he would gladly step aside. He has. "Hes ready and I couldnt be happier," Walsh said. "I had a great year last year with this team. It is a great group of guys who have the potential for some great things and to remain a part of this, with two people who I love to work with and respect greatly, is very special." Bird has a long track record of success in the NBA. As a player with Boston, he won three championships, three MVP awards, was twice the MVP of the NBA Finals and retired in 1992 as one of the greatest players in league history. In 1997, he returned to the bench this time as coach of the Pacers -- his home state team. He was the 1998 NBA coach of the year and two years later led the Pacers into the franchises only appearance in the NBA Finals. Indiana lost that year to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games, and Bird retired after the season in part because of health problems. Three years later, he came back to the Pacers in a front office job. He and Walsh worked together as a team for five years before Walsh left to join the New York Knicks and Bird took over most of the day-to-day decisions with the Pacers. Under Birds guidance, the Pacers returned to the playoffs in 2011. Birds shrewd moves included a draft-day trade for Roy Hibbert and another draft-day trade for George Hill, the signing of free-agent power forward David West and the selections of Paul George and Lance Stephenson in the 2010 draft. Those five, and Danny Granger, produced the franchises first playoffs series win in seven years last season, and it was those five, without Granger, that pushed Miami to the limit in Indianas first conference finals appearance in nine years. "We are all very happy to have Larry back," team owner Herb Simon said. "Larry had a huge impact on this team and where it is now, so its fitting that he comes back at this time. Donnie has been a friend and a valuable contributor to the franchise and will continue to be both. I wanted him to agree to stay in some capacity as I believe with Larry and Kevin, it gives us three of the best basketball minds in the business." The team will hold a news conference Thursday morning to introduce Bird, who will officially take over July 1. Adidas Superstar Cheap China . For one, he still gets to crank the intensity to the max. "I push pretty angry. I ran pretty angry too though, but I have fun doing it," Lumsden said. Adidas Superstars Sale Cheap . - Carter Verhaeghe scored the winner with 41 seconds to go as the Niagara IceDogs edged the North Bay Battalion 3-2 to even their first-round series at a game apiece in Ontario Hockey League playoff action on Sunday. http://www.cheapsuperstar.net/.com) - The Kansas City Chiefs activated linebacker Joe Mays from short-term injured reserve on Saturday. Adidas Superstar Clearance Sale .com) - Guess whos back, back again? Josh Gordons back, tell a friend. Cheap Adidas Superstar Shoes . There were no real chances until Augsburg broke the deadlock through Raul Bobadilla in the 33rd minute. Frankfurt failed to clear a cross and Bobadilla slotted home from close range at the far post. TORONTO -- Two "silly mistakes" led to two shots on net, and cost Toronto FC a victory in their first game back at BMO Field in almost a month. Nick DeLeon and Perry Kitchen scored on D.C. Uniteds only two shots on target Saturday night in a 2-1 victory over Toronto, putting an end to TFCs six-game unbeaten streak. "Two mistakes, two shots on goal, two goals, two stupid ones as well, two silly mistakes," said an unhappy Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen. "And it cost us three points." Luke Moore scored the lone goal for Toronto, which outshot D.C. United 19-7 -- 6-2 on net. "We were very disappointed because we felt we were right in the game, obviously," said captain Steven Caldwell. "Second half, we gave away two very sloppy goals, cost us in the end. "We rolled up our sleeves and did some lovely little stuff, and huffed and puffed. And just couldnt quite get that finish." Moore, who was originally slated to sit out Saturday night on a one-game suspension, scored in the 60th minute to tie the game 1-1, pouncing on a rebound off a shot by Jackson and poking the ball past D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid. "Disappointing for us," Moore said. "Weve made good strides over the last couple of weeks. Today we maybe took half a step backwards." Moore had received a red card and suspension in Torontos 1-1 draw at Chicago on Wednesday, but TFC appealed and the leagues Independent Review Panel rescinded both his one-day suspension and fine. DeLeon had opened the scoring in the 54th minute, dribbling in on net with Torontos Nick Hagglund draped all over him. DeLeon managed to shake Hagglund long enough to get off a left-footed shot that sailed past Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik and into the right corner. Toronto had been dominating possession and appeared poised to score again in the Eastern Conference showdown when Kitchen stunned the red-clad capacity crowd of 22,581 fans in the 70th minute, heading in a goal off a corner kick to put United back on top. Toronto hadnt lost an MLS matchup since May 3 -- 2-1 to New England at BMO Field -- and Saturdays result was a disappointing one for a team that has been marching up the Eastern standings and is on pace to claim its first playoff berth in franchise history. TFC (6-5-3) went into the game two spots behind second-place D.C. United (8-5-4) in the East. Toronto was reduced to 10 men for the last few minutes when Hagglund was shown a red card after Eddie Johnson, the last man back for United, went down in the 88th. "What frustrated me was how many times in the first half, and the game, that we broke away and they pulled us down, knocked us down and we continued and played on. And nothing happened," Nelsen said of the referees decision. ";Unfortunately when it came to our one, the player I think obviously sold a big dummy, did a big dive.dddddddddddd . . He was the last man so the correct decision was the red, but if you look at it, there should have been a big pool of water under him when he did that big dirty dive." The referee originally pulled a yellow out of his pocket, but switched it to red several moments later, which puzzled Toronto players. "Theres a lot of things Ive seen that Ive never seen before, to be honest. But obviously I dont want to criticize referees because Ive never been a referee," said Defoe. "Its absolutely irrelevant what the call IS," Caldwell added. "The call WAS a yellow card and Ive never known anything like it. Are we going to start changing penalty decisions, reassessing everything from above, from the stands, and telling the referee in his ear? Essentially theres no point having the referee out there." Despite missing a man, TFC poured it on in the last couple of minutes, and had a couple of excellent chances to tie the game in injury time. Moore fired a blistering shot that glanced just wide of the left corner, the Daniel Lovitz, a second-half substitution, had a shot that was saved only by a spectacular highlight-reel effort by Hamid. "How he brought that down and showed his technique, it was fantastic. An incredible save," Nelsen said. The game marked the return of midfielder Michael Bradley, who received loud applause during team introductions. The Toronto midfielder is fresh off the United States heartbreaking exit from the World Cup in the round of 16. "I felt good, excited to be back," Bradley said. "Im disappointed that the game went the way it did, because this was a big game against a team close to us in the table and it would have been nice to capitalize." Bradley had a spectacular scoring chance in the 34th minute when Defoe found the American with a nice pass. But Bradley launched his shot just wide of the D.C. net. Defoe had his own scoring chance five minutes earlier when he slid onto a low cross from Justin Morrow, but Hamid got his hands on it. Morrow had a decent scoring chance early in the second half when he got the ball alone at the corner of the six-yard-box, but sent his shot wide of the far post. Caldwell said its important the players put Saturdays loss behind them. "We dont look back," he said. "We get another run of six plus games, hopefully six, seven, eight, nine, 10 games. Disappointing to lose that run, we were feeling good and playing very well. On a different day today we could have won the game." Toronto remains at home for its next two games -- TFC hosts Houston on July 12, then the Vancouver Whitecaps on July 16. ' ' '