The Last Shot - The Sad Story of Earl Badu (Longform article)

[phillycavsfan]

If you got the time today, I'd highly recommend reading this article on the life of Earl Badu. He was a beloved Maryland walk-on on the Terp team that won the NC in 2002. 10 years later he committed suicide by jumping off a bridge.

The video is of Badu scoring one of the last baskets at Cole Field House. Place goes wild when Earl scored.

[ame=http://youtu.be/bBKNItjMeJg?t=6m10s]Last Game at Cole Field House - Earl Badu Enters the Game - YouTube[/ame]

The last shot: Earl Badu hit one of the most famous shots in Maryland basketball history. Ten years later, he jumped off a bridge. - SBNation.com

 

[madness]

Erykah's brother?

 

[phillycavsfan]

Erykah's brother?

Nah.

 

[mastermind]

i gotta peep this

Earl was a fan favorite. I remember people saying he was going to law school after undergrad. Really tragic.

 

[mastermind]

“He was just crazy,” she says. “He must’ve been on drugs.”

He wasn’t. The state medical examiner’s autopsy report showed no trace of drugs or alcohol in his system.

Stout can’t believe this fact. Since that day, she’s believed he was high. She crystallized him that way, the same way a judge might do if he only knew Badu as the defendant with the cell phone, the same way an AAU coach might do if he only knew Badu as the little guy with the big heart, the same way you did that night he was in Cole Field House.

Your perceptions, you realize, say more about you than him. Badu spent his life filling roles in other people’s lives—little guy, smart guy, big-hearted guy, tough guy—and in the process he lost enough of himself that he wound up standing here, staring at the one ending that was completely within his control.

brilliant writing

 

[dennis roadman]

he was juan dixon's best friend and that was basically the reason he was on the team if i recall

i remember that shot he made. capped off an incredible unforgettable season, and he's just as well known among terps fans as lonny baxter or byron mouton imo, despite doing next to nothing on the floor. i also remember some freshman, can't remember who it was, came on and scored the last basket unnecessarily

 

[#1 pick]

Wow,

 

[mastermind]

he was juan dixon's best friend and that was basically the reason he was on the team if i recall

i remember that shot he made. capped off an incredible unforgettable season, and he's just as well known among terps fans as lonny baxter or byron mouton imo, despite doing next to nothing on the floor. i also remember some freshman, can't remember who it was, came on and scored the last basket unnecessarily

Andre Collins


watching that video almost made me well up. What an incredible team that was.

And then the story about Earl's life unraveling.