7 novembre 2011

MAGIC IS STILL THERE, 20 YEARS AFTER H.I.V.

of Harvey Araton
Herald Tribune

So where were you on the night of Nov. 7, 1991? I was in Madison Square Garden, watching Pat Riley bring his New York Knicks and the visiting Orlando Magic together to say a pregame prayer for Magic Johnson on the day Johnson dis-closed that he had tested positive for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. That was 20 years ago Monday, and if your first thought is, 'Oh, my, how time flies," consider the alternative likelihood that Johnson has relished every single day since he looked into television cam-eras broadcasting live around the world and said, "Because of the H.I.V. virus that I have attained, I will have to retire from the Lakers today." Yes, the verb was mangled, but that was part of Johnson's charm, his standing then and now as the most positive force of energy ever to hit professional baskètball.
He was 32 and tried to be upbeat that day, flashing the trademark smile that Johnson's friends and colleagues feared they wouldn't see for long. "Ali of us thought it was a death sen-tence," Riley said. That morning, Riley was in his office at the Knicks' Westchester County, New York, training base when Lon Rosen, Johnson's agent, called with the news. Riley hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, in disbelief.  Only days earlier, he had received a letter from Johnson, whom he had coached to four championships as part of the Los Angeles Lakers, wishing him luck as he embarked on his first season with the Knicks. Riley adored Johnson and usually addressed him by his given name, Earvin. "I just sat there thinking about his life, our 10 years together," Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat, said in a telephone interview. "I felt so sad for him because if you knew him I mean, really knew him like I knew him then you understood that he was only about livinglife." Riley eventually went out to put his players through a shoot-around before preparing them for what was coming later that day. In ali his years around the game, he had never heard such unset- tling locker room silence. "It was like they were ali in a daze,' ' he said. Mark Jackson had grown up idolizing Johnson, imitating his flashy passes in New York City gymnasiums and play-grounds on his way to becoming the point guard for St. John's and the Knicks. He went home after the shoot-around and got into bed for his customary game-day nap, remembering the bal-loons Johnson had sent him when he was in the hospital recovering from knee surgery. He cried himself to sleep. On the telephone from his home in Los Angeles, Mark Jackson recalled that night as "the only time in my life that I was absolutely frozen in a basket-ball game, not really there." As if to prove it, he thought the Knicks had played the Magic-less Lakers. No, he was told. It was the Orlando Magic. "That just tells you where my mind wasat," he said. Riley said his decision to speak to the fans before the game and lead the players in a moment of prayer was spontan-eous because he knew that many at the Garden were unaware of Johnson's an-nouncement, which had been made late in the afternoon out West. "We do not want to eulogize him," Riley said that night. "More than anything now, he needs our love and support." But the story quickly became more complex, more accusatory, through a labyrinth of emotions and opinions re-lated to ienorance about the disease and Johnson's sexual habits, among other things. He was welcomed back to play in the N.B.A. Ali-Star Game that winter and for the U.S. Olympic team the next summer in Barcelona. Based on those experi-ences, Johnson announced a comeback for the 1992-93 season but abandoned it after comments by Karl Malone a player with the Utah Jazz who said he was concerned that Johnson might in-fect other players unearthed some players' fears of competing against him. Johnson, in turn, wanted to become a spokésman for H.I.V. awareness but spoke clumsily, saying he had been as-sured by doctors that ali he had to do to survive was to eat well, exercise and stay positive. Lost in the message was that Johnson had access to the finest doctors and the expensive cocktail of drugs that has extended his life, unlike millions who didn't and stili don't. "Everyone thought what we were sup-posed to see was a dark and gloomy guy, but he was just being who he was,' ' Riley said. "None of us cari know whether he genuinely believed what he was saying or what his thoughts were when his head hit the pillow at night, but that's how Earvin always looked at things. And if a positive attitude led to a better lifestyle, I have to believe that played a role." Riley said he would be in Los Angeles on Monday to attend Johnson's news conference at Staples Center to an-nounce new initiatives by his founda-tion in the fight against H.I.V. Over time, Johnson has fine-tun ed his message and has continued to raise awareness and money while also becoming an entre-preneurial liaison between corporate America and the inner city. More re-cently, he became a grandfather. But his greatest achievement of ali may have been his decision on Nov. 7, 1991, to teli the world v/hat he had and to deal with the fallout while putting a public face on the dise;ise for the past 20 years. And counting Magic Johnson, center, considered one of the best players ever in the N.B.A., stumbled at first as a spokésman for H.I.V. awareness.

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