I was borin in 1988, so Bias died before I was even born. There's no real way for me to have a connection to Bias or any of those Celtics teams from the 80's (or even the 90's, I became a fan during the '01-02 season) but somehow I still find myself thinking about Len Bias once in a while.
I think about the '87 team that ran out of gas (and healthy players) in the Finals and how much Bias would've helped. The worst is every time I read a "Best Teams Ever" article and it lists the '87 Lakers. The Celtics with Bias most definitely would've beaten them. How does that change the legacy of Bird? Magic? McHale's feet? The Reggie Lewis years?
Bias was the domino that changes the Celtics and the NBA during the 90's. It's so insane to me that he died when he did, the way he did.
Great post, I agree completely. I was born 3 years later than you and became a fan in 04-05 (same age). I, too, think often about Len Bias, and how much more bragging rights we would have had over the Lakers (as in, more so than what we have now).
Bias vs. Jordan would been soooo cool.
If he had lived, the history of the NBA would be worlds different. That's without even taking into consideration chaos theory (and the butterfly effect).