It Was 20 Years Ago Today... ...cocaine took Len Bias away.

And enough of the lame Sgt. Pepper's...

Here's a video - well done I might add - that I found on YouTube.

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I actually grew up a Laker fan, but living in Celtics country, I remember how tragic this was.

I remember what a big deal it was for a team like the Celtics to have such a high draft pick...damn. Just thinking about that stuff - and I was 11 years old at the time, how are 11 year olds supposed to understand cocaine, overdoses, dying, all that shit?

This blog has written about a few too many young basketball players who have died way before their time. I recognize that young men (and women) who go pro in something other than sports die tragically everyday. But I take the ballers to heart. It's what I do for a living.

And everytime I read of something like that - or of the Oklahoma State tragedy on Jan. 28, 2001 - I think of my situation, my job, my career, and how I would crumble if I ever had to experience that first-hand.

Anytime my cellphone rings at an ungodly hour, thoughts of the worst-case scenario come to full fruition. A Len Bias situation would certainly be one of those.

Sure, Bias died of something he did to himself...cocaine is not an amazing drug, as the late Rick James would have you believe on his Chappelle's Show bit...but to imagine a young man with the world in his grasp dying as Len Bias did...it does not make sense.

Just as Hank Gathers...Reggie Lewis...George Jefferson...Richard Jones...all dying too young of enlarged hearts...

This blog entry doesn't flow that well. I can tell.

It doesn't have a cogent point, followed by facts backing it up. It doesn't make sense.

Well, what do you expect? Neither does the topic.

One.

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For another (and much more cogent) view on the anniversary of the death of Len Bias, click on the following line for Chad Finn's Touching All the Bases  ¶ 9:16 PM