Day 72

Tonight I write for a memory. Tonight I write for the basketball jersey that hangs in my closet. This one is for you Len.

I am sad as the night creeps into our world. I could go on about the phone call I didn't take today, but that's just not important. I may or may not have talked about this before, but I come to you with my own viewpoint about a man who was named Len Bias. I was only 7 years old when he died from cocaine intoxication. I don't remember that time at all. I can only look back on the past through television and what was written about the man I never knew. I must present some details of the tragedy for those who do not know.

Len Bias was a basketball player. He was a star collegiate athlete for the University of Maryland men's basketball team. In 1986, he was drafted by the recently crowned NBA champion Boston Celtics with the number 2 pick of the NBA draft. A couple nights after the draft, Len Bias partied the night up with his college friends in a dorm room at the University of Maryland. They had cocaine in the room and Len partook in the drugs. Hours later he was shaking and then laying still on his bedroom floor and pronounced dead at a nearby hospital in the early morning. The ripple effect of this death has been felt throughout many organizations. I mourn his death as a fan of basketball and the Boston Celtics. It may sound cold-hearted, but I didn't know the man and therefore feel no grief for the loss of the human being that was Len Bias. However high-profile he may have been in this regard he was like any other person that died in 1986. I simply don't care. I can't grieve over what I never felt for. I am still saddened by the loss because of what he could have been. He, in some ways, is what I wished I was in my life. Here is where I change it up.

This has been called a tragedy in many circles. Len Bias has been railed on for his poor choice that night, but I propose that he did what every single person has done in their life. No qualification of that statement is necessary. He did what we all have done in our lives. He took a risk. He tried to alter his state. I bet any person reading this commentary can point to the one night they did something they had never done before. The time they risked life itself just cause they could. In the case of Len Bias, he paid what many would consider to be the ultimate price for taking such a chance. His risk was rewarded with death. I may have gotten in a car while drunk and risked my car, life and the lives of others. Did I find death at the end? No. I get to sit here writing away about an event that happened 21 years ago. Does that seem fair to you? Don't I deserve some kind of punishment for my risky choice? NO. Cause you will do the same thing tomorrow. We can try to be subjective about finding a way to qualify what we do as people, but we all lead similar lives in many facets. I bet you that the night after this upcoming NBA Draft in the year 2007 a very low percentage of the potential draftees can tell you anything about Len Bias or his story. I bet one of the guys drafted does exactly what Len Bias did 21 years ago. I bet no one will find out they did it cause they will live through the night and we will all be none the wiser of the situation.

Right or Wrong? Good or Bad? I guess I live in a lot of grey area nowadays. I can find a way to say I admire Len Bias. He didn't know when his clock was going to hit all zero's. He just did what he did and lived as he saw fit. Is his a blueprint to follow? Maybe not for everyone. I just pose to you the reader that don't we all in our own way take our lives in our own hands and roll the dice down the craps table and hope we don't come up snake eyes? No doubt, Len's choice was a poor decision percentage wise. Not much good comes from cocaine to the nose folks. But, aren't we all just like him in some way? I use to just hear his story and get mad at how stupid I thought he was for throwing his life away. My perspective isn't as judgmental now. I just wish he wasn't a jersey hanging in my closet. I wish I got to see him play. From all I have seen and heard Len Bias would have been to Reebok what Michale Jordan was to Nike. By the way, Len Bias was a better player in college than Jordan. Hope I didn't do ya dirty this time Len. Just telling a story. Rabble Rock!