A BRUSH WITH FAME, TOO CLOSE TO THE FLAME

You may not remember where you were twenty years ago today, but I do: I was at the University of Maryland. I was there, as were a lot of teenagers, as part of the 1986 National History Day competition.

The Iowa contigent rolled into town that morning, after a lengthy bus ride and a few stop-offs at suitably historic sites. We immediately knew Something Was Up by the great number of TV live trucks milling about campus. We were pretty sure they weren’t there to cover National History Day.

Soon the bus driver told us what the fuss was all about. Len Bias, the brilliant Terrapin net-finder, was dead of a cocaine overdose. He’d just been drafted by . . . aw, crikey, you know the story. What none of us history geeksbuffs could figure out was why everybody kept calling Bias’ death a tragedy.

Mind you, it was tragic that such a promising player was gone so soon. Nobody would dispute that then or now. What puzzled us was how a cocaine overdose could in any way be thought of as unfortunate. It was the Just Say No 80s. The message was out. People could and occasionally did overdose on drugs. Many, like Bias, ignored the risks and used drugs anyway. How could you feel sorry for them? How could you lament the loss of somebody who had everything to live for and everything to be happy about but then decided, “Hey, this could be better!” It may sound heartless to hear we thought that way, but fourteen-year-old intellectuals are not exactly known for their compassion.

The odds are overwhelming that more than a few of us supposedly smart persons on that bus ultimately ignored the lesson we learned from Len Bias and a cemetary of other heroes. Not me, personally, but I’m as sure that some of my busmates went on to use drugs later as I am that probably one or two of them already had back in ‘86.

Even now in my mid-30s I still remember that day. I still remember seeing my first media circus up close. And I still have a hard time feeling sorry for Len Bias. For his family and friends, sure. For Terrapin and Celtic fans, maybe a little. But for him personally? It’s like the old parable about the woman who rescues the snake that sweet-talks her with promises of kindness. When the snake eventually bites her and she protests, the snake replies, “You knew what I was when you picked me up.”