This is the darkest day in NBA history. Someone with a greater sense of history can dispute that, someone who has followed the league longer than I have. But if I’m wrong about that, I would be surprised.
There is the cliche of remembering exactly where you were when you heard a certain piece of news. I remember where I was on 9/11, on any number of days of mass shootings, and on days less important than those. I will certainly remember where I was when I heard today’s news, which I do not want to actually type.
I left the TV on after Maryland-Indiana and golf was now on. Tiger swings. Faldo says something to the effect of, ‘Tiger moving past this tragic news.’ I do a double-take, because I wasn’t quite sure I heard Faldo correctly. Rewind. Play again. Same story. Check ESPN.com, thinking that something must have happened to one of golf’s legends. ESPN’s red Breaking News button loads before the headline or the picture do, and in that moment I have a feeling. The news loads. You know by now what it said.
There is very little to add because I have not been watching the coverage. Beyond not wanting to believe that this story is true, I don’t want to see the grief on the familiar faces I let into my home every day. I remember when Tim Russert died and seeing Chuck Todd’s tear-stained face on the TV. It made the story real, which of course it was.
I don’t want hear the Jeremy Schaap-voice over memorializing someone who last played just four years ago, yet remained as regular a presence in our sporting lives as anyone. I don’t want to know what this week — Super Bowl week — will be like. A pall has been cast over the rest of the NBA season, over all of sports for the immediate future. If we tune to sports for an escape, from this there will be no escaping. It is a generational, historic loss, not just for who we lost (and not just him), but for the circumstances of how this happened.
For as long as the NBA exists, they will talk about today. For as long as we — Laker fans, NBA fans, sports fans, anyone who was familiar with this story — are alive, we will talk about today. I am not quick to maudlin overstatements. I don’t think this is one.
One of the reasons we live vicariously through celebrities, and athletes in general, is that they seem to live charmed lives. There is the jealousy that results from that, but there is also the sense that they are for the most part immune from the horrific random tragedies that befall the rest of us. This is a ridiculous thought to have, of course, except for the fact that days like today are exceedingly rare. I cannot think of the last time an athlete — or any celebrity — of this magnitude was struck down so randomly and suddenly. Babe Ruth died after a long battle with cancer. We knew he was going to pass, and as painful as that was, it was not the cold-clock to the face that today’s news was.
When it comes down to it, I still don’t really believe this happened. I think we’ve all had dreams where a loved one or noted figure passes, and you wake up from it, thankfully. This has all the makings of a nightmare.
For the NBA, it is a profound loss beyond any suffered in the history of the league, and this league has suffered its share of losses. Losing Drazen Petrovic and Reggie Lewis in the same offseason, losing Pete Maravich at 40 to a heart attack. Coming on the heels of David Stern’s death, this is a cold wake up call to the generation that came of age watching the NBA in the early 2000s. Life is short and brutal and can end for any reason, no matter who you are.
That’s it for now.
