OT: Where where you when Magic announced he caught teh AIDS?

[EL PRESIDENTE]

20 years.

I was in high school, I think freshman year. listened shocked in my friends car who was driving me home...it started off as one of my other friends came up and said "MICHAEL JACKSON CAUGHT HEPTATITIS", apparently lost in translation.

[video=youtube;iSfy4AhDDnw]

 

[maxiep]

I was at work. I didn't believe the guy who told me (I thought he was joking), so I said, "That spells trouble for my Blazers; Magic's been fucking them up the ass for years."

 

[BrianFromWA]

Sophomore year. I didn't see the conference (wrestling practice), but I saw clips that night on the news.

Probably b/c of that, I remember MJ's first retirement much more clearly. Even though I recognize the reduced significance

 

[Pinwheel1]

I was at a trade show for work. Needless to say that was the only topic of conversation for the whole time.

 

[THE HCP]

I was 19 and washing cars on the lot at Wallace Buick on NE 35th and Sandy! Me and all the brothers that worked with me ran into the break room and watch the news conference..... totally shocked!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I was in high school (junior year I think) and found out right before basketball practice. A guy on my team was a huge Laker fan and he was actually crying.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I was at work. Heard it live on the radio. I will never forget that



I was going to go with a joke that I was in front of Magic on all fours when I heard the announcement, but decided not to

 

[santeesioux]

You're all so old

I was only 2.

 

[PapaG]

Frat house. Then some Orlando Magic highlights came on an hour or so later, and one of the dudes in the house who didn't really follow the NBA said "look, they're even wearing his name on their uniforms!"

Um, no.

 

[KingSpeed]

He didn't nor has he ever had AIDS. He was HIV positive. Big difference. I was a freshman at Michigan. I remember the media practically writing his obituary the next day.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

note the use of the phrase "TEH".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teh

Originating from the common typo, it has become conventionalized in a variety of contexts. It is often used ironically,[4] and can be used to mock someone's lack of "techie" knowledge or skills, as an insult, or to reinforce a group's elitism;[2] cf. eye dialect. It is frequently used to denote mock ignorance of over-used and over-determined concepts (e.g., "long live teh Patriarchy").[5]

 

[THE HCP]

You may laugh, but when I first started on here, I kept seeing you guys type it...... I had to look it up!

 

[Mediocre Man]

He didn't nor has he ever had AIDS. He was HIV positive. Big difference. I was a freshman at Michigan. I remember the media practically writing his obituary the next day.

This is correct.

 

[Harry's Raincoat]

I was shocked and saddened. Didn't know enough about the difference between AIDS and HIV, so thought that he might die from this. But, glad from a competitive standpoint that if he retired, he wouldn't be throwing no-look passes down court against the Blazers any more!!!! And he ends up stealing Clyde's MVP at the All-Star game in 1992.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I was getting ready for basketball practice (2nd grade) -- I thought he had two toes in the grave and was at deaths door.

 

[MickZagger]

I was 5. I don't remember.

 

[Spud147]

He didn't nor has he ever had AIDS. He was HIV positive. Big difference. I was a freshman at Michigan. I remember the media practically writing his obituary the next day.

That's exactly how it felt to me. I was at work and remember hearing and just getting a sick feeling in my stomach. People did see it as a death sentence back then.

It was right at the end of the LA/Magic & Boston/Bird rivalry era and I remember thinking that basketball would never be the same again.

 

[Ed O]

I was in my dorm as a Freshman at Northwestern. I remember having a conversation with a couple of other guys about it--it was hard to believe at the time.

Ed O.

 

[julius]

I was in my dorm as a Freshman at Northwestern. I remember having a conversation with a couple of other guys about it--it was hard to believe at the time.

Ed O.

Holy shit, Ed O is almost 40?!?

 

[THE HCP]

^Looks 45!

 

[THE HCP]

Besides 40 is the new 37!

 

[porkchopexpress]

I was kicking it at Alameda.

 

[THE HCP]

^Word!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MARIS61]

Beats me.

 

[jlprk]

I didn't understand English much, but Mom said, "You'll have to change your own diapers from now on. I found out your daddy gave me more than the clap."

 

[Kaydow]

I was in my car on Tualatin-Sherwood Road when I heard it on the radio. My first thought was how long does he has to have to live? Who could have imagined he'd be alive & healthy in 2011? You could make an argument that his example changed the complexion of how Americans look at the disease. Before Magic, it was a death sentence. There was no cure, and there were no case studies of people who lived long & healthy lives with HIV. Even people with big money (Rock Hudson) couldn't buy treatment to prolong their lives. HIV/AIDS is less scary now in the eyes of most people. People see a happy & healthy Magic, and they assume that there are drugs out there that can help you live a semi-normal life with HIV.




.

 

[Denny Crane]

Magic was likely in great physical condition compared to most and Rock Hudson. He may have had a lot more money than Hudson, too.

 

[BrianFromWA]

So what's Magic's recipe for living so long and not contracting AIDS? Was it that he was in great shape? Caught early? Aggressive retroviral medicinal/drug treatment?

I mean, prevalence on the African continent is 10x rest of world, and people are dying in droves. Is it just a matter of getting some drugs together to help people out, or is Magic just a freak of nature with being able to live with it for 20 years?

 

[Denny Crane]

So what's Magic's recipe for living so long and not contracting AIDS? Was it that he was in great shape? Caught early? Aggressive retroviral medicinal/drug treatment?

I mean, prevalence on the African continent is 10x rest of world, and people are dying in droves. Is it just a matter of getting some drugs together to help people out, or is Magic just a freak of nature with being able to live with it for 20 years?

I think the drugs they have now can control HIV and there may be remission or cure once in a while.

I bet magic got early access to the drugs with the best hope. Due to his health, and ability to pay. The drugs were really expensive at one point, but I think they're like $1 a day these days.

They're just dirt poor in Africa.

 

[Further]

I don't actually remember exactly where I was, but I do remember talking that night with my father. I was in high school, and he is a scientist.

We had a long discussion about what was actually known and what was unknown, and what the myths were regarding HIV and AIDS. The next day at school, I remember trying to fill in everyone else on the truth, without having a solid enough scientific background to really explain everything. I still thought he would likely be dead within a few years, but I understood disease transmission and how the disease progressed. I think it's interesting, everyone seems to say that we did not know how it was spread or how it progressed back then, but people knew, it was just not part of everyday knowledge.