Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 11, 1991

Maybe this is God’s way of saying, I have called upon your brightest star because you haven’t been paying enough attention. . . .

Len Bias couldn’t contribute to the fight against drug abuse because he died from a cocaine overdose in 1986. . . .

Bill Shoemaker has chosen not to speak out against the evils of drunk driving because he claims he was not under the influence of alcohol the night he was paralyzed in an auto accident although the evidence differs. . . .

But Magic Johnson is in a position to hand out assists in the battle against AIDS that, in number and importance, will dwarf the 9,921 he recorded during his 12-year NBA career. . . .

Long before he tested positive for the HIV, Magic said, “No matter what goes wrong, I try to turn that into something good.” . . .

Much has gone wrong. He succumbed to the temptations that accompany stardom. He contracted the virus that causes AIDS because he did not practice safe sex. . . .

However, he turned it into something good with the first words he spoke at the news conference Thursday at the Forum. He acknowledged that he has the AIDS virus, something few public figures have had the courage to do. . . .

Not unlike hundreds of other occasions, I drove to Inglewood thinking about Magic. This time, though, I dreaded what I was going to experience. But, in a way, it was no different than before. He lit up the building with his smile, optimism and enthusiasm. . . .

The next night, he began the full-court press against AIDS in his inimitable style. “Please put your thinking caps on and put your cap on down there,” he told millions of viewers of the “Arsenio Hall Show” while gesturing below his belt. . . .

When I arrived at the office Sunday morning, there was a message on my voice mail machine from George Foreman. . . .

“If you have the chance, please give Magic my love,” Foreman said from his home in Marshall, Tex. . . . “We’re still on the same team. I’m still pulling for him. . . .”

Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Magic Johnson probably are the four most mythical sports figures in the history of the country. . . .

The news of Magic’s illness and retirement was bannered on front pages throughout the world. It even affected the stock market. . . .

This has been the golden age of sports in Los Angeles, where we have been privileged to watch Magic, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Wayne Gretzky, O.J. Simpson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Walton perform for home teams. . . .

But the last couple of years have not been so kind. First, the death of Hank Gathers. Then the paralysis of Shoemaker. Now this. . . .

It is human nature to wonder about the significance of some of Magic’s prior injuries or illnesses. . . .

In the July 13 edition of The Times, there was the following item in the sports newswire: “Magic Johnson, suffering heat exhaustion after three days of filming a basketball show in Hawaii, canceled a Friday appearance at former teammate Michael Cooper’s basketball camp in Albuquerque, N.M., Johnson’s agent, Lon Rosen, said. He was tired from being in the sun for three days. He was exhausted.”. . . .

Among other things that made Magic’s career special is that he was a star from the moment he first came to our attention. . . .

The TV ratings the day he became a household name--the day his Michigan State team beat Indiana State and Larry Bird for the 1979 championship at Salt Lake City--remain the highest for any NCAA basketball tournament game ever played. . . .

Much has been made by the press of the difficulty it has dealing with athletes. However, NBA players are among the most cooperative. Magic was a perennial member of the all-interview team selected by basketball writers. . . .

Magic never uses a pecking order. He treats you the same, whether you are the lead columnist for the newspaper with the largest circulation in the nation or a stringer for a rural weekly. . . .

Now many of these same writers are being asked to analyze the future of the Lakers without Magic Johnson. . . .

“What we all have to understand is that this is an unbelievable emotional shock to the team,” General Manager Jerry West said. . . .

“The term superstar is used loosely. There are only a few. And Magic is a lot different from most superstars. He showed so much enthusiasm. He was a vocal leader. He was the complete package as a player. . . .”

He remains the complete package as a human being.