Somewhere along the line, Len Bias went from cautionary tale to throwback jersey. I say this because sports nearly lost another dazzling talent to drugs recently. Jeff Allison, the Florida Marlins’ first-round pick last June — and a pitcher who posted an earned-run average of 0.00 as a high school senior — was hospitalized for three days after overdosing on heroin. Whether his career ever gets back on track is anyone’s guess.
If you were living in Washington in 1986, when cocaine claimed Bias’ life, you can’t read a story like this without getting the shivers. Bias hadn’t even played a pro game before he threw it all away, the day after the NBA Draft, in a University of Maryland dorm room. And now we have another hot shot trying to do the same thing. Some athletes just don’t get it, do they?
Allison, a big, strong right-hander with the requisite 90-plus-mile-per-hour fastball, has less of an excuse than most. After all, he grew up in the Boston area, Peabody to be exact, and the Celtics were the poor souls who drafted Bias. June19, 1986 in Beantown is like Black Friday in 1929; the Celts, in many ways, are still trying to recover.
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As is Allison, the 2003 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year. He got off to a terrific start in Class A ball last season, going 5-2 with a 2.75 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 85 innings, but then a drug problem began to surface. He reported late to the Marlins’ training camp this year and left the organization without permission after testing positive for marijuana. A $200,000 fine and a stay in rehab obviously didn’t bring him to his senses; two weeks ago he decided to do some heroin, and he might have died if a friend hadn’t rushed him to the hospital. (Heck, he was lucky to even make it to the hospital. His friend had also taken heroin.)
Just the month before, Allison had done an interview on a New England cable channel and claimed his drug use was a thing of the past. “I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong,” he said. “I’ll leave it at that.” So far, alas, the only person he’s proved wrong is himself. But such is the nature of addiction. (His real weakness, reportedly, is for the powerhouse painkiller OxyContin.)
Is it any wonder why sports leagues hold these orientation sessions for rookies? During them, the rooks are taught life’s most basic lessons — don’t do drugs, don’t gamble on games, stay away from undesirables, watch your money, use a condom, etc., etc. — stuff they should have learned long before. But there are always a few knuckleheads who don’t get the message … or don’t want to get the message. Such as Sean Taylor, the Redskins’ top draft pick, who already has been fined $25,000 by the league for skipping out on this year’s preschool.
It’s the know-it-alls who are always the hardest cases, the guys you have to keep the closest eye on. They’re the ones who are convinced they have Everything Under Control, that their instincts are unfailing, that they’re bulletproof — when, as we all know, no one is.
What’s that famous line of Joe Gibbs’? “You’re only two weeks away from humility”? Well, the same could be said of the players. Catastrophe, it seems, is always just around the corner for them. Sometimes it isn’t even catastrophe of their own making. They might just be riding shotgun in Catastrophe’s car, like Dan Snyder of the Atlanta Thrashers was.
Len Bias’ life was a terrible thing to waste. But if his death is to mean anything, have any positive effect, people have to remember — the senselessness of it, the pain, the destructiveness. Bias’ foolish act not only stopped his heart, it sent a successful college program and a proud NBA franchise into major tailspins (the former sooner, the latter later). And all it took was a little coke.
Maybe the Bias throwback jerseys are the answer. Maybe first-round picks, in every sport, should have to pull on a Bias jersey instead of the jersey of the team that drafts them. And maybe they should be required to know exactly who he was — and why nobody should ever want to “Be Like Len.” Jeff Allison was apparently unaware, and he nearly died because of it. Can we stop here, please, or must the body count continue to rise?
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