How did you feel when Len Bias died ?

[DieselCeltic]

I am 24 and obviously wasn't old enough to remember this star player. How good was he ? Some clips I've seen and different interviews from different players said he was just as good as Jordan in the early days is this true ?

He died of cocaine overdose. I bet a lot of people had mixed feelings about this..love and hate type of feelings,...

share your thoughts please..

[BRUNiNHO91]

Yeah I would love to hear something about this too...I was like 5 at the time...I didn't know he even existed til like 2005....xD...I find it hard to believe he would have been as good as Jordan though...very hard...

[hickfromfrenchlick]

I was like 9 and a half and it was very upsetting to me. I don't remember seeing Bias in college, but I have seen clips. Everyone says he was nasty.

I got more and more upset about it as I got older and the years went by, especially when Reggie died. It seemed like we were cursed. Instead of watching the team win the title in 1987, 88, 89, etc, we watched the team fall into mediocrity.

The one thing I really remember about Bias dying is that there were all these idiots out there promoting the idea that Bias died after trying cocaine for the first time. This was basically an urban legend that EVERY kid believed. "Don't do coke, you could die the first time. That's what happened to Len Bias." Turned out Lenny did quite a bit of blow, and also had a heart condition if I recall correctly. But for years I believed this. Probably why I didn't become a cokehead until I was 14.

[LenBiasBaller]

I was 4 years old and I remember grabbing the plastic ball from my playschool rim and "shackin" the rim. My mom was so upset that I ripped my hoop down.

Seriously though everytime I listen to the 911 call from his friend it gives me goose bumps.

"You don't understand this is Len Bias, he can't die"

It set us back 20 years coupled with Reggies death. If Pierce died we would have really been in trouble. Thats why Celtics fans need to be happy with what we got.

[DieselCeltic]

hick who did you hear it from that len did a lot of cocaine ? I honestly dont think thats true. If he did coke before and was a rec. user he wouldnt of been the player that he once was. His talent would give up on him. Based on my reserch he only tried cocaine once and it took away his life. I have alot of experience with yeyo trust me. Abused it for a year with a tolerance through the roof. Luckily i quit that nasty drug bc my healh started to go downhill. You CAN die on your first try trust me. No other drugs arw as hard on heart like cocaine is. I suffered from palpitations too and could of been dead long time ago. Coke can be FATAL esp if you have heart condition. I never heard he had problems with his heart.

[DieselCeltic]

not to mention len probably had a good connect and was gettin high quality stuff highly potent unlike todays garbage we see on the streets.

[Kefa461]

I was at work in my office.....a 76er buddy of my came and told me, I thought he was messing with me at the time. I checked it out on the radio, found it to be true, closed the door, called my wife and cried like a baby. He was gonna be a star it set the team back so many years. We had seen him play 3 times.....he was so gifted. All Lefty had to do was throw the ball out there and let Len go. Oh well. Lessons learned.

[greenbeans]

I was like 9 and a half and it was very upsetting to me. I don't remember seeing Bias in college, but I have seen clips. Everyone says he was nasty.

I got more and more upset about it as I got older and the years went by, especially when Reggie died. It seemed like we were cursed. Instead of watching the team win the title in 1987, 88, 89, etc, we watched the team fall into mediocrity.

The one thing I really remember about Bias dying is that there were all these idiots out there promoting the idea that Bias died after trying cocaine for the first time. This was basically an urban legend that EVERY kid believed. "Don't do coke, you could die the first time. That's what happened to Len Bias." Turned out Lenny did quite a bit of blow, and also had a heart condition if I recall correctly. But for years I believed this. Probably why I didn't become a cokehead until I was 14.

ahahahaha... good stuff

I myself can't comment too much about Len outside of what I've read in the past 5-10 years, I was born in 85. Though I always thought it was a known fact he wasn't new to the white

[hickfromfrenchlick]

hick who did you hear it from that len did a lot of cocaine ? I honestly dont think thats true. If he did coke before and was a rec. user he wouldnt of been the player that he once was. His talent would give up on him. Based on my reserch he only tried cocaine once and it took away his life. I have alot of experience with yeyo trust me. Abused it for a year with a tolerance through the roof. Luckily i quit that nasty drug bc my healh started to go downhill. You CAN die on your first try trust me. No other drugs arw as hard on heart like cocaine is. I suffered from palpitations too and could of been dead long time ago. Coke can be FATAL esp if you have heart condition. I never heard he had problems with his heart.

I read an account of what he did after the Celts drafted him. He did A LOT of cocaine that night. I don't have proof that he did it before, but you don't never do coke and then decide to buy a bunch of grams and snort em all up your nose like a pro.

I guess he didn't have a heart condition. But I would venture to guess that most people who have a fatal OD the first time they try coke either do a MASSIVE amount of it or have a latent heart problem.

Twelve hours later, Bias decided to celebrate his newfound fame and fortune with cocaine. Around 2 a.m., Bias and three others began their party in their dormitory in College Park, Md.

Reports later would suggest that Bias tried coke for the first time that night. Those reports proved inaccurate: Bias had done it many times.

This particular time, around 3:15 a.m., one of those in the room wondered if Bias had had enough. "I'm all right," he said. "I'm strong. I'm a horse."

About three hours later, Bias' body began to shake, as if he was having a seizure. Toxicologists who examined him later would explain that one gram of cocaine was considered a "recreational" amount. Bias, they estimated, had snorted five.

When attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, one of the men in the room, Brian Tribble, called 911 and begged for paramedics to come to Washington Hall. The paramedics arrived and asked if Bias had taken drugs. "Beer," they were told.

Can't verify this story, but here's the link. http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/dail ... 1sp091.htm

SI says he did it a half-dozen times before:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ ... /index.htm

Also this:

Medical tests indicate University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias apparently had used cocaine before the morning he took the drug and died, it was reported yesterday.

Tests conducted on Bias's heart muscles found microscopic damage to several muscle fibers, usually symptomatic of cocaine-induced muscle disease, Dr. John Smialek, Maryland's chief medical examiner, was quoted as saying in the Washington Times yesterday.

"He had some very subtle changes in the heart muscle," Smialek said. "Several researchers have identified this type of change in people who have abused cocaine."



http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3774016.html

[lojowo]

On how good Lenny Bias was, Coach K quote always stuck with me:

"This is my 24th year at Duke," says coach Mike Krzyzewski, "and in that time there have been two opposing players who have really stood out: Michael Jordan and Len Bias. Len was an amazing athlete with great competitiveness. My feeling is that he would have been one of the top players in the NBA. He created things. People associate the term `playmaking' with point guards. But I consider a playmaker as someone who can do things others can't, the way Jordan did. Bias was like that. He could invent ways to score, and there was nothing you could do about it. No matter how you defended him, he could make a play."


If Lenny could have stayed clean, the Celtics would have had a star to carry the 86 Champions into the 90's.

Parish, Mchale and Bird wouldnt have had to play those extended minutes and may have extended there careers.

Boston would have had a Superstar to draw free agents to sign here like Kevin garnett did last year.

It would have shorten the Celtics down years, thats for sure.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

I was too young at the time (9 years old) to realize the impact it had. All I could remember was my dad watching the news and shaking his head in disbelief. My godfather, who is more of a diehard Cs fan than my dad is, still insists to this day that the Cs would have beat the Lakers in '87 and '88, and would have probably had a decent shot at the title in '89 since Bird probably wouldn't have been out for most of the year. I found that hard to believe. Sure, my godfather knew a lot about ball, and was pretty damn good himself, but come on - a 3peat?

I remember reading Larry Bird's first autobiography, Drive, and raising my eyebrows when he said Bias had the athleticism of Jordan and toughness of Barkley. I found that too, was hard to believe, even when it was coming from one of the greatest Celts of all time. Michael Jordan mixed with Barkley sounds impossible. I finally saw clips of him just a few years ago on the net. And then I saw the Maryland vs. UNC game on Youtube. At that point, I finally became convinced that my godfather and Larry Bird were both probably right.

[DieselCeltic]

there is no way he snorted 5 grams hick...impossible...he would of been instantly dead....i assume he snorted the drug...your nose cannot absorb 5 grams its impossible..

[DieselCeltic]

there is no way he snorted 5 grams hick...impossible...he would of been instantly dead....i assume he snorted the drug...your nose cannot absorb 5 grams its impossible..

[Magilla_Gorilla]

there is no way he snorted 5 grams hick...impossible...he would of been instantly dead....i assume he snorted the drug...your nose cannot absorb 5 grams its impossible..

Its clear you don't know what you are talking about.

[DieselCeltic]

there is no way he snorted 5 grams hick...impossible...he would of been instantly dead....i assume he snorted the drug...your nose cannot absorb 5 grams its impossible..

Its clear you don't know what you are talking about.

excuse me ?

[Havlicek17]

Forget about where I was when I heard the news for a few seconds. Let me first tell you a few stories about Len Bias.

First, I had moved to Atlanta in 1986. During that year, all I could get on the TV around here was ACC games. It was Len Bias' last year in school and Maryland had a pretty lousy team, except for Bias. He was unbelievable. Every bit as good as Jordan in college, and he was bigger and taller than Jordan. I watched the famous game where he single handedly beat UNC. The guy absolutely dominated and I couldn't help but come up out of my seat on at least a dozen plays. To this day, he was one of the best college players I have ever seen.

In the previous offseason after coming off a championship, Red traded Gerald Henderson (who helped us win the championship with consistency and a few key plays in the finals) to someone I don't remember and acquired their first round pick. That pick ended up in the lottery and Red went to the drawing on TV. It gets down to Boston and Cleveland. As soon as they say Cleveland gets the number 1 pick and Boston the 2nd, Red turns to the Cleveland GM and says: "If you don't take Brad Daugherty, I will".

Well, if you knew Red (and all the GM's did cause he fleeced them regularly), you knew something was up. Was he serious? Is Daugherty to best one? Well, they interviewed Red all over after that and he kept putting Daugherty out there. He was a 7 footer from UNC and every bit of a future All Star Center.

We'll when the draft happened. Cleveland picked Daugherty and we picked Bias. After the draft, we found out that Red who lives in DC, has known the Bias family since Len was a little kid. Red wanted Bias all along, and he misguided everyone towards the big man. (Who was Jordan drafted after?) And he rubbed it in, Bias was who he wanted all along and he was by far the best player in college hoops. Hell, even Bird was saying that he couldn't wait to play with him (same positon as Bird) and hoped that Bias would give him a chance to rest. He thought Bias would be as good if not better than himself. He actually said that.

Then, days later, days later, the guy is dead. I was sitting in a customer lobby and I overheard two guys talking about the news. Len Bias is dead. I couldn't believe it. I had to check to make sure they weren't joking. Man it was awful, still one of the sadest stories in all of sports.

[kenneth9265]

Len Bias would of been the boston's Lebron James....

[canman1971]

there is no way he snorted 5 grams hick...impossible...he would of been instantly dead....i assume he snorted the drug...your nose cannot absorb 5 grams its impossible..

He is dead....

To answer the question, I was on the basketball court near my house. My buddy pulled up in his car and told me. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I lost a family member. Still do.

[GreenGrizz]

I am hearing-impaired. I saw a picture of Len Bias with years saying 1964-1986 under it on tv. I didn't understand what a tv reporter said until I noticed a long white bag with zips on the gurney wheeled out of the hospital. I just knew it and got stunned. I had to wait until the morning for the store to open and saw every newspaper saying "Bias Dies" everywhere that confirmed it. My boss had a sit-down talk trying to calm me down and decided to let me go home for the day. He knew I am a huge fan of the Celtics.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

Hav17 - that was a heckuva read. Thanks.