Thanks for the article!!
As a C's fan, it is unquestionable that the Celtics-Lakers championship totals would be different today had Bias lived or had the Cavaliers taken him instead of Daugherty at #1.
Some things are very different today than in 1987. No internet, no cell phones. Cable TV was in its early days. Cocaine was very accessible to young people and was utilized massively as a recreational drug for college age and twenty-somethings at that time. It was expensive, but a group of kids could pitch in and everyone would be able to share in a small amount. It was a social thing for us -- using it every once in a while -- buying a little to use sparingly over the course of an hour or so. I was introduced to it in college in 1977-78 and stopped on the day Len Bias died.
On the day he died, I thought about a couple of times that I had used cocaine (again, in small amounts shared with a group of friends). You never really knew what you were getting, finding it at parties or through people you discovered at bars/clubs. Because the white poweder could be easily mixed with other powders, the "cocaine" that I used was probably not much actual cocaine -- always cut with something cheap that mimicked some of cocaine's effects. A couple of times there must have been significant amount of amphetamine/speed mixed in because with the small amounts I used, I remember feeling later on like my heart was going to pound out of my chest. Again, I didn't use a lot because I couldn't afford a lot. If I had used even a little more there is no telling what it would have done to my heart. How incredibly stupid I was.
From 1977 to 1987, I would guess that my friends and I probably pooled some money together for this purpose about 50 times (5 times a year sounds about right). While none of my good friends ever ventured deeper into more regular or more extensive use or habit, I saw a number of acquaintances fall heavily into it. It was a stupid horrible trap -- ridiculously easily accessible and we were too ignorant to understand the dangers of it. It was just for fun and (it seemed to us) "everyone was doing it" (though I know not everyone was).
Anyway, I've always believed that the day Len Bias died was the day that millions of stupid twenty-somethings in America (maybe around the world) like me, stopped. On that day, that era of my life (and many of my friend's lives) ended. I realize that Bias' death didn't mark the end of drug use in America, but I believe that at least for a period of time, his death shocked the world of middle class 'thought-we-were-cool' recreational users into reality. My friends and I never once spoke of pooling in for cocaine again.
So his death undoubtedly caused a Celtics championship drought that otherwise would not have happened -- but I believe his death also saved the lives of many young men and women of that generation. Unfortunately and not surprisingly, his death has proven less impactful to future generations than it should have been. His death was a terribly sad loss of someone who should have had the chance to grow from a fine young man into a wonderful adult.
Topic: Fantastic new article about Len Bias/Celtics (Read 15092 times)