On This Day: The Death of Chris Wallace and the End for D Wade, VCU

It was a dark day.

On March 9th, 1997 Christopher Wallace was shot and killed in a drive-bye shooting.

The loss of Biggie signaled the end of a hip-hop era and the genre was never the same. Gone were the days of lyrics. The days of cheesy, dancing beats and empty rhymes were on the horizon.

Wallace's life was a tragedy. He was a huge, larger-than-life personality spit out by the game he helped create. As far as he and the music he lived had seemed to come was as far both really fell.

The industry pushed negativity on a public that was eating it up. The responsibility of artists to make music they believed in didn't cross their minds when the money was flowing and the party was on.

It's as much a tragedy that the music didn't change after the loss of Wallace and Tupac Shakur as the losses themselves.


Throughout America, the violence persists. But, really, there's nothing we can do.

So we do sports.

They take us away from the drama. Or at least the real drama. Then again, they too, have a stake in drama.

Dwyane Wade got shelved by the Heat today. As courageous and heady a basketball player as there is, Wade fell victim to his own attacking attitude.

He doesn't lose his life.

But still, Wade has the pain and agony of surgery, recovery and rehab before he gets to give it another go next year. Have you ever had surgery? It sucks. Big time.

For his sake, hopefully he'll fall back on his jumper more often, and maybe Miami can fix the mess that is their team.

There is no fix when you don't get in the big dance.

Virginia Commonwealth's shot at an automatic bid ended Sunday. The victim of William & Mary's "Cardiac Kid's" third and final last-second miracle now has to wait to hear from the committee.

I hope they don't get in. Freeze them out like UDUB last year. Who cares about the winner of the CAA? Don't get it twisted, I really don't like Eric Maynor or the rest of the Rams, after they dropped Duke last year.

Not that I like Duke, not one bit do I like Duke, but me and gambling run into each other now and again. Usually, I end up leaving the meeting lighter in the wallet. This time was one of those times.

In summary, today I'm reminded that everyday is a gamble. You could win big, or you could lose big. Some losses are bigger than others. Some wins, meaningless.