Sean Taylor vs. Len Bias

[Mania]

I was watching "Without Bias" from the ESPN collection 30 for 30 the other day and got to wondering what my Extremeskins family would think regarding the losses of Sean Taylor and Len Bias.  

 

Both were terrible losses of super talented freak athletesl, but which one was the more devistating loss.  I think this is pretty hard to say as they were both devistating blows to lose these players.  

 

I'd like to know what everyone else at ES thinks. 

 

[Riggo-toni]

Being a Skins fan, I'd say personally ST. If I had to look at it objectively, I'd say Len Bias by far. For all the uber love Skins fans give Taylor, it's still up in the air how great he might've turned out. He was not yet elite like Ed Reed, but he might've become such. Put it this way, if Lavar had been killed by a drunk driver after the 2002 season, the B&G fans would swear up and down he would've surpassed Ray Lewis and LT.

Bias was gonna be a key player on a B-ball team that would've won multiple championships. Then again, he was responsible for his own death - ST was an innocent victim.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Being as Len Bias never played a minute professionally and died because of a stupid choice that he made, I'm going with Sean.

Now a Celtic fan would view it differently because if Bias played, Bird would have gotten more rest and had a longer career

[Bishop Hammer]

Sean Taylor. Len Bias was before my time so I can't give an objective view.

[CrypticVillain]

We were just talking about Bias on Facebook last Friday. I was the first to make the comparison to Taylor.

 

I said that I wasn't born when Bias died, but I still felt the pain. First time I heard about him was on one of those CBS Specials they used to air around March Madness time. It was so tragic....

 

However, I was 18 when Sean Taylor died. I would have never thought that I would cry for somebody I didn't know personally. But I did that they he died. And yeah, it most likely had something with him being a Redskin, but you can tell that the dude was turning his life around for the better.

 

It just sucks that both of them died no matter the circumstances. Yeah, the fans lost them too early, but their family and friends that cared more lost someone too.

[Laron Burgundy]

Think of it this way, had Taylor passed away 2 days after being drafted, how many here would still care?  It's always a tragedy when someone so young dies, but Taylor had already established himself as a fan favorite and a legend (people may say he hadn't played long enough for that, but the general consensus in the league was that he was the hardest hitter at his time, so clearly he had a reputation).

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Len who?

Hail.

[Mania]

Len Bias dieing was the reason Lefty was forced to resign from the University of Maryland.  Although Sean Taylor had a bigger impact on me, considering I"m a big Skins fan and not an alumnus of University of Maryland.  That being said, I am a fan of the U of M and most of my family went their and we are all native Washingtonians.   

 

I believe Len Bias had a larger following the Sean Taylor (outside of the DC area) as many people considered ST a thug.   Again this is a tough one to call, even though I had just finished my freshmen year at Hofsta in 1986.  

[End2round2sanders]

Two different situations. ST wasn't the local kid, Bias was. Bias wasn't going to a local team, ST gave us 3 1/2 years.

 

Ben Wilson would be a similar story then Bias, but he wasn't local either and we don't know where he would have ended up.

[Burgold]

Taylor in many ways because one was a drug overdose and the other was a victim of crime.  Self infliction for me garners less sympathy.

[Bang]

Given that after Bias died the city entered one of the worst drug wars it ever had, i'd say not too many people learned anything from Len Bias' death.

And Len Bias' death was clearly something to be learned from.

 

Bias accidentally killed himself, it's not like he was a junkie who continually pushed the limits to escape reality.. but that is the nature of cocaine.. it can certainly kill without warning. Especially if people ignore the warning Bias tragically provided.

 

~Bang

[DMVLeGenD]

Being a Skins fan, I'd say personally ST. If I had to look at it objectively, I'd say Len Bias by far. For all the uber love Skins fans give Taylor, it's still up in the air how great he might've turned out. He was not yet elite like Ed Reed, but he might've become such. Put it this way, if Lavar had been killed by a drunk driver after the 2002 season, the B&G fans would swear up and down he would've surpassed Ray Lewis and LT.

Bias was gonna be a key player on a B-ball team that would've won multiple championships. Then again, he was responsible for his own death - ST was an innocent victim.

 

By your logic then, it's still up in the air how good Len Bias would've been too. Yes he was a star in college, but as we all know, there have been top picks that.bust.

 

For me personally, ST's loss was more devastating because I got to see him play and he was just coming into his prime. I'm a Skins and MD fan, but I wasn't even born when Bias died, and Bias' death was self-enflicted. 

[DC9]

Sean Taylor and it's not even close.  Turned the corner, had a family, and was murdered protecting them.

 

Len Bias died of a self inflicted wound while celebrating.

[sportjunkie07]

as a redskins fan i'd go with taylor; as a sports fan i'd go with Bias. it doesn't take much watching of the tape to understand that Bias could have changed the game along with MJ. while taylor was good and could have been great, he had nowhere near the potential that Bias did.

 

both deaths were tragic.

[TheGreek1973]

Any time a life is lost way too early its a major tragedy. When an athlete dies early in their career the amount of sorrow fans feel does have something to do with how they died and what "potential" of greatness died with them.  In this case you can't compare the two since Taylor died defending his family and Bias died from drugs.  You can't even compare the two on the impact they would have had on their sport had they lived since Bias had not played a game yet in pro basketball compared to Taylor who has already established himself in his young career as one of the top safeties in the league and getting better by the day.

 

Personally every single time I watch our redskins Taylor comes to my mind of what would could have been.  Especially last year, with our safety play sucking so bad how much better would we be if Taylor, barring injuries, would still be playing?  

[DC9]

as a redskins fan i'd go with taylor; as a sports fan i'd go with Bias. it doesn't take much watching of the tape to understand that Bias could have changed the game along with MJ. while taylor was good and could have been great, he had nowhere near the potential that Bias did.

 

both deaths were tragic.

 

So Bias' death was more tragic because he could've been like MJ?

 

I'm confused at how anyone would say Bias was more tragic who didn't KNOW him given the two situations...

 

Bias chose to snort cocaine and drink to celebrate his being drafted.  No one held a gun to him and shot him.  There's no evidence that says it was his first time using cocaine but there is also no evidence that it wasn't... we don't know there.

 

But how is that more tragic than a guy defending his family from a group of punk robbers with guns and then get shot and killed over it?  None of which he chose to do (other than protect his fiance and his daughter)....

 

This might be one of the biggest no brainers of all time.  Either that or I'm just old fashioned I guess.

[sempre_victrix]

Being both a Terps' fan and a Redskins' fan, I felt both deaths deeply.  I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard about both passing away.  I watched both play many games, especially Bias, as I was a UMCP student while he was at College Park

 

Bias had a lot of promise.  He had gone from being a raw athlete to a spectacular player.  But, after the fact as we learn abot the events of his death, I have trouble believing that he would achieved superstar status in the NBA.  Who knows how long he was using cocaine?  With all due respect to him, he continued to run with the wrong crowd.  A pile of money and people kissing his ass 24/7 would have probably made those demons even worse.  Sad to say, but Bias did it to himself.

 

Taylor seemed to finally have shed most of his demons.  Had he only moved out of that area and cut ties with his old people, he would be alive today.  His death was not of his own doing.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

I would like to nominate this as the most depressing thread since Beck vs. Grossman.

 

With that said, I'm gonna go with Bias.  He was supposed to carry the torch from the Bird, McHale, Parish era.  Instead, the Celtics went into the garbage where they would stay until they landed KG.  It was a back breaker for the franchise.

[Mania]

DC9 and sempre, there is evidence that Bias didn't have any trace of "old cocaine" in his system, and since it takes a long time to leave the system than that is pretty good evidence that it was his first time.

Thanks for giving me your opinions. I agree that as a redskins fan the ST murder was more tragic, but as a sports fan the Len bias death was more tragic.

[Dark Acre]

Bias can only be compared to the great players in sport (any sport) based on potential, and as we all know, that's fraught with "ooops".  Taylor *can* be compared to the Greats because he actually played and not only displayed potential, but for a few short years, he was the Sandy Koufax of the NFL.  Sandy Koufax you say?  Yes, for four years, until traumatic injuries wrecked his arm, he was simply the most dominant pitcher ever.  He utterly shut teams down and this was long before expansion when rosters were diluted.  Look Koufax up, Wiki if you will.  When you read what he accomplished, you're reading what Taylor was doing and would have continued to do.  RIP Sean.

[MumboSauce]

Taylor was murdered, Bias did it to himself. Both tragic lives lost and potiential never fully realized.  Things like this I have a hard time comparing and constrasting. Both just terrible.

 

I thought later the fact also came out that not as previously thought, it wasn't the first time Bias used cocaine, He for some duration used recreationally and just got a bad batch or his heart couldn't handle it. Still very tragic and a sad period. I was pretty young though considering I'll be 36 this year and I only know about it from accounts told, programs, videos of his play, etc. and I'm a big Terps fan. His mother actually came to my middle school and talked about drugs and the tradgedy of losing two sons. I think the other died in a fire, not sure.

[GO HAMSKINS]

Sean Taylor Could've surpassed Ed Reed and a lot more if he continued to play ..I love Frosty,but he never played..Listen to Cooley and Reeds comments

 

 

 

[GO HAMSKINS]

[TD_washingtonredskins]

This is unique because both impacted the DC area. Bias was a local hero and many in this area would have continued following him during his career with the Celtics. On the other hand, there is really no way to compare his professional career to Taylor's. You can assume that he would have been very good, but we'll (unfortunately) never know. 

 

This area loved Taylor because he helped the local professional team. This area loved Bias because he represented us. I don't really know how to reconcile those two feelings, but I imagine the latter would feel slightly more tragic to people who were adults for both. I was a child when Len Bias died, so in my black-and-white world a man made a bad decision and died. I was a father when Sean Taylor died, so in my more mature outlook, a father was taken from his daughter and a son was taken from his parents. 

 

I don't know how you compare scenarios like this to be honest. I'd love to hear from some, uh, more mature members who were older than both when they died. 

[Rufus T Firefly]

As a fan of both the Celtics and Redskins, this isn't the happiest subject.

 

Taylor was obviously the bigger tragedy, because his death wasn't self-inflicted. But the question was which had a bigger impact, and I assume that means sports impact. To me, there is little question the Celtics would have grabbed at least another title or two with Bias, which would have made them the consensus team of that era and would get Larry Bird a lot more consideration for greatest player of all-time. IMO.