I remember the day sharply because it was also the day I graduated from middle school, and I heard the news on the radio while my father was driving us to the Moshulu for a celebratory lunch. Nothing scared away our generation from drugs quite like this death.
The Washington Post has much to say. Here's Wilbon:
It's an overwhelming American Tragedy for those of us of a certain age.Also, see this de-Insidered Bill Simmons essay from a few years ago.
On the occasion of what would have been Bias's 40th birthday, 2 1/2 years ago, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, who played with Bias on summer barnstorming tours and against him while at Duke, said: "For people of my parents' generation, they mark time by when President Kennedy was assassinated. For me, and I think for many people who are about this age, I mark time by the death of Len Bias."
That's why Mourning knew exactly what he was doing -- washing a car at a summer job with a dealership -- when the news came over the radio. Bird, eager to see his new teammate, put it better than anybody when he called it "the cruelest thing I've ever heard."
