in a torrential downpour, i slipped and fell on the cp-metro station platform...

...which has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I really couldn't think of a title.

So in case you live in a hermit shell, you should know today is the 20th anniversary of Len Bias' death. Who is Len Bias you non-CPers might ask? (and if you're a CPer and you find yourself asking this question I'd be kind of surprised). He was ACC player of the year in 1985 and 1986.He was the number one draft pick for the Boston Celtics (when the Celtics were good I might add) in 1986. Two days later Bias died from cardiac arrest after a cocaine overdose.

The reason I decided to talk about this guy is not just to ask the same question everyone else from this area asks which is "what if" but rather to make some of my peers put this year's basketball season, nay it's program, in perspective. I won't lie, I was really frustrated like everyone else was this past season with the senior class and their committment to the team, not to mention their academics (cough McCray cough).

I'll admit to being frustrated, but I will never jump on that oh-so-popular fairweather fan bandwagon, which is I've seen grow exponentially since I've attending Maryland. And I think what did it in for me was the actual suggestion to fire Coach Gary Williams. The only logical response to that in my head was "Um, what the fuck?" because surely the people who suggested that do not realize Williams is the one who pulled the basketball program out of the fire in the first place. And if you want to know what started that fire, you should probably look at the last sentence of the first paragraph in this post.

After Bias died, not only did the basketball program suffer, EVERY athletic program suffered. Former coach, Lefty Driesell left. The football coach left. His death made the NCAA intensely scrutinize the behavior of every team at our school. We couldn't play in the ACC or NCAA tourneys, and our games were certainly not aired on television. Three years later Williams comes along, because he sees his alma mater suffering and he wants to make a difference in the program. I don't even have to tell you how many successes he's had since he began coaching, if you go to CP you're reminded of it all the time. Your favorite local programming has probably even been pre-empted because of a Maryland game.

I just wish some of my peers would understand just how good we have it. With as big as a basketball fanatic as most of you know me to be, I cannot imagine being a student here 20 years earlier and waking up to hear about how the guy who was supposed (not supposed, GOING) to be a rival to Michael Jordan had a seizure in Washington Hall and died from a drug overdose. That would just about kill me, as I'm certain it killed hopes of then-students who are reliving the memories now. Yet to go to a university where we had 3 national champions in the same school year, yet still hear people complain about five guys, who had a slim chance of making it very far in the NBA drafts to begin with, really pisses me off.

So yeah, like I said, I'm frustrated with the basketball team like everyone else, but considering what happened with Bias, it could have been much MUCH worse. And before all the "fairweathers" start wishing they had Duke's record, maybe you should read up on the new recruits we're going to have, perhaps about our new point guard if you're not already aware.

Besides, if you've been watching the news this past month you probably don't want to be like Duke anways, haha.

My older brother, Jason, should thoroughly enjoy this post.