A terrific essay about a legendary night and how things have changed.
Twenty-five years ago was another world. The game was over and I was by myself—my parents and brother presumably asleep—alone in the late night with the incredible fact that had just come into being. Len Bias beat Carolina. There was no one to shout it to, nothing to do with the joy but wrap it up and hold it, reverberating, inside the ribcage. Len Bias beat Carolina. It was true, and if you were lucky enough to know it, you would know it forever.
I remember this game clearly. Rather, I remember watching the highlights over-and-over late that night and early the next morning.
But I remember this feeling well, too. A lot of my sports memories involve sitting in a room, alone, listening to a radio, free to make the scene look however I wanted it to.