Monday, June 19, 2006

"THE CRUELEST THING I THINK I'VE EVER HEARD": Twenty years ago today, Maryland basketball star Len Bias died from a cocaine overdose two days after being drafted #2 overall by the Boston Celtics.

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.

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."
Also, see this de-Insidered Bill Simmons essay from a few years ago.

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