http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bias

Interesting piece. Anyone have any thoughts to share?

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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

Good article so far. I got to here:

Ultimately, only seven of the 18 players chosen in the first round of the 1986 NBA draft had earned their degrees. That draft would be remembered not just for the death of Len Bias but for its sheer multitude of colossal busts and burnouts, young men who entered the world entirely unprepared for what was coming, for the ever-increasing demands of celebrity.

...and I had to say this sounds like this year's draft class to me. I remember the day Len died and the aftermath thereof - I was living in Boston. It was pretty unreal.

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"You're only clever at showing your ignorance." - said immediately after telling a bold-faced lie.
pathologicalesis - 5.28.08

"actually, yes, if what you meant (by asking a rhetroical question to which the obvious answer is 'no') was that no one has actually suggested that"
Nipsey reveals the Holy Grail - 3.10.08

I don't know, these guys who are coming up now have a lot of people around them keeping them on the (somewhat) straight and narrow. Sure, Mayo might he gotten paid by an agent, but I've never really heard any allegations of drug use with regard to the current crop of young talent. I think the 1980's with all of its excesses were really different. How many potential Len Bias' were there waiting to happen? That's the same era that produced guys like Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. Remember Dwayne McClain from Villanova. I think Pete Rose played around with the stuff too. Who tests positive for cocaine these days?

Keep reading though. There's more good stuff.



Keep reading ...

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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

Why would you say that?

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Death to the PLCB
http://noplcb.blogspot.com/

There's no shortage of allegations floating around out there from people who have associated with him. He certainly used amphetamines an coke isn't that far a step beyond.

That's not the point of this thread though. Did you read the article?

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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

"Or perhaps -- as Len Bias' former college basketball coach, a crusty old Southerner named Charles G. "Lefty" Driesell, told me -- Len Bias changed absolutely nothing at all. Perhaps it was just a "bad accident." Perhaps the meaning of the demise of Leonard Kevin Bias is this: "Some guy was doing cocaine, and he died.""

Id have to agree with him. Douchy Jesse Jackson said he changed so much, but all he did was go through a typical sad tragedy. A life wasted.

Maybe. I dunno -- I think it had an impact on the culture. Cocaine use probably isn't as rampant. I think the tie in with mandatory minimums presents an "interesting" perspective. too

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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

This reminds me of River Phoenix. Another sad tragedy from a kid with great potential. But its not like actors dont use coke or heroin anymore. Maybe they just realize theyre not immortal and can OD.

Bias died of a cocaine OD. That's known fact.

I have not read anything about Rose using cocaine.

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Death to the PLCB
http://noplcb.blogspot.com/

Well then it must not have happened.

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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur