A lot of stories about athletes who get lost in the spiraling
vortex of drugs are public knowledge. However, former Boston Celtic and Massachusetts
hoop legend Chris Herren’s is quite riveting. The reasons are because he not
only survived and has battled his addictions to be three years sober and also
because he’s not afraid to divulge all the messed up details of his drug abuse
if it means preventing anyone from making the same mistakes.
Everyone from Massachusetts knows Chris’s
story. Herren was the greatest basketball talent from the greater Boston area since
Patrick Ewing laced them up. His accomplishments included a 1994 McDonalds
All-American nod, stops at BC and Fresno State and of course an NBA career that
had a brief stop in Boston. The tragedy was Herren drank a lot in high school,
did a lot of drugs in college, and did a lot more drugs for most of his short
NBA career. The man was in a world of drug abuse. However, the tale does not
end tragically. Chris battled his demons and has been winning the war with
three years of sobriety.
As part of ESPN Films ongoing series,
Chris Herren’s story “Unguarded’ made its debut last night. The movie was
incredible. Chris’s honesty of his painful addiction and the horrific details
of his need to feed his addiction just spellbind you the way a car crash makes
you look at the side of the road. Herren tells his story through a series of
speaking engagements from the past year and it features a number of interviews
from those who stood by him through his ups and downs. A number of those
interviews were from family interviews from a local 1999 documentary on Chris
that was never published. The man gives some scary insight into his addiction
with stories about being high for his best games and of course the infamous threat
to his dealer that if he did not get him drugs before a game that he would not
take the court in Boston.
The bottom line is if you have the
chance to view this movie, watch it. Even if you know Mr. Herren’s tragic tale,
I guarantee you will know more about the story after watching. It is well worth
your time. Remember Go Green or Go Home.
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