For those of us who saw Bias play, June 19 always makes me wonder "what might have been".
Still shocking after all these years.
June 19- Len Bias RIP
Started by
SBTarheel
, Jun 19 2012 09:23 AM
6 replies to this topic
#1
SBTarheel
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 09:23 AM
@beginthebegin71
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Pedro Cerrano
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 10:51 AM
I was 4, don't remember it at all but it would have been a total nightmare for me if it had happened when I was at school there.
First he gets drafted by my most hated team and then drops dead of a drug overdose. Just unreal.
Sports Guy wrote a very moving column about this incident about 10 years ago.
First he gets drafted by my most hated team and then drops dead of a drug overdose. Just unreal.
Sports Guy wrote a very moving column about this incident about 10 years ago.
There is baseball, and occasionally there are other things of note
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#3
SBTarheel
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 12:33 PM
I was 4, don't remember it at all but it would have been a total nightmare for me if it had happened when I was at school there.
First he gets drafted by my most hated team and then drops dead of a drug overdose. Just unreal.
Sports Guy wrote a very moving column about this incident about 10 years ago.
It was so surreal, I can remember it like it was yesterday ..It was the summer after 9th grade for me, and I was coming downstairs and my Mother told me Len Bias died, it was a heart attack or something. I just assumed she was mistaken and it had to be his Father. There vertainly was no talk of drugs right away, it was really the beginning drugs being so ingrained in pop culutre so to speak..Obviously it was happening, but no one could fathom the extent.
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BSLChrisStoner
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SBTarheel
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 12:43 PM
uiXvNhXWHOc
I didn't love that documentary to be honest. I can't pinpoint why right now, but I recall being disappointed.
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#6
Baltimore Chop
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 02:43 PM
Was thinking about this earlier today.
I wonder how many interview requests Lefty got today. There was a stretch where he was on the Sports Talk radio show annually to discuss this...and he seemed to get more and more bitter every year discussing it. I think he got tired of feeling the need to constantly defend his assertion that Bias never did drugs until June 18/19, 1986.
Still, wasted potential is always sad to see. Would have loved to have seen Bias vs. Jordan through the '80s and '90s. Would have made the NBA that much more interesting during that timeframe.
I wonder how many interview requests Lefty got today. There was a stretch where he was on the Sports Talk radio show annually to discuss this...and he seemed to get more and more bitter every year discussing it. I think he got tired of feeling the need to constantly defend his assertion that Bias never did drugs until June 18/19, 1986.
Still, wasted potential is always sad to see. Would have loved to have seen Bias vs. Jordan through the '80s and '90s. Would have made the NBA that much more interesting during that timeframe.
Perception is reality.
#7
Nuclear Dish
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Posted 20 June 2012 - 09:41 AM
My dad used to always talk about how for his generation, everyone could tell you exactly where they were when they heard that Kennedy was shot. I never understood what he was talking about until Len Bias died.
This was the first such "Where were you?" moment in my life. Since then there have been a few others (the Challenger disaster, Yitchak Rabin's assassination, and 9/11 stand out). But this was the first one..
I was in Atlantic City at my grandparents' condo. My grandfather went down to get the newspaper from the machine on the street, and when he came back, he looked stunned. These were the grandparents from my mother's side, who were Terps fans. I asked him what was wrong, as I ate my Raisin Bran, and he said, Len Bias was dead.
I said, "C'mon you must be joking. No way. He's going to be playing with Larry Bird."
He threw the Philadelphia Enquirer on the table, and there it was. A big picture of Bias, putting on his Celtics cap with a huge smile on his face.
You have to understand that to me, Bias was someone I hated but admired. My first ever game in Chapel Hill, at the brand new Dean Dome was the game where the Heels were up 9 with 2.5 minutes left, and Bias singlehandedly brought the Terps back, tied it up at the end of regulation, and then stuck the dagger in my heart in OT. It was the first game Carolina ever lost at the Dean Dome, and it ruined what was, for a 13-year old boy, a perfect road trip up until that point. I remember not saying a word the entire night and the entire 6-hour drive home the next morning.
How could someone that remarkable, that strong, that talented be dead?
The other big thing about Lenny Bias was that there wasn't a chance in hell I'd ever touch cocaine once that happened. Nancy Reagan and Just Say No were of no consequence to me. This is Your Brain on Drugs was a great campaign, but wouldn't have stopped me from trying it at some point just for the experience. But Lenny Bias? That was enough to scare me away from the stuff, even one time, forever and ever.
What else can you think of that has that kind of lasting impact on kids?
This was the first such "Where were you?" moment in my life. Since then there have been a few others (the Challenger disaster, Yitchak Rabin's assassination, and 9/11 stand out). But this was the first one..
I was in Atlantic City at my grandparents' condo. My grandfather went down to get the newspaper from the machine on the street, and when he came back, he looked stunned. These were the grandparents from my mother's side, who were Terps fans. I asked him what was wrong, as I ate my Raisin Bran, and he said, Len Bias was dead.
I said, "C'mon you must be joking. No way. He's going to be playing with Larry Bird."
He threw the Philadelphia Enquirer on the table, and there it was. A big picture of Bias, putting on his Celtics cap with a huge smile on his face.
You have to understand that to me, Bias was someone I hated but admired. My first ever game in Chapel Hill, at the brand new Dean Dome was the game where the Heels were up 9 with 2.5 minutes left, and Bias singlehandedly brought the Terps back, tied it up at the end of regulation, and then stuck the dagger in my heart in OT. It was the first game Carolina ever lost at the Dean Dome, and it ruined what was, for a 13-year old boy, a perfect road trip up until that point. I remember not saying a word the entire night and the entire 6-hour drive home the next morning.
How could someone that remarkable, that strong, that talented be dead?
The other big thing about Lenny Bias was that there wasn't a chance in hell I'd ever touch cocaine once that happened. Nancy Reagan and Just Say No were of no consequence to me. This is Your Brain on Drugs was a great campaign, but wouldn't have stopped me from trying it at some point just for the experience. But Lenny Bias? That was enough to scare me away from the stuff, even one time, forever and ever.
What else can you think of that has that kind of lasting impact on kids?
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