Chris Herren: 'Unguarded' Tells a Story of What Could Have Been
The idea that a high-profile athlete could struggle with addiction is one that sports fans are quite used to at this point. Unfortunately, it is actually rather common to hear of a great athletic career ruined by addiction.
As such, Chris Herren's story really isn't all that unusual when you look at it from a big-picture perspective. He was a great young basketball player whose career fell off the rails thanks to serious drug abuse. Not exactly fodder for an ESPN documentary.
The particulars of Herren's story are what sets it apart, hence the reason why ESPN did choose to set about making a documentary about him. That documentary, titled Unguarded is airing right now. As is the case with all of ESPN's films, it's pretty good.
There are times when "Unguarded" almost feels like a real-life, basketball version of The Fighter. There are the obvious Massachusetts parallels, and a heavy focus is placed on Herren's family and the culture of the town where Herren grew up, Fall River.
The other intriguing part of the film is, by Herren's own words, the Friday Night Lights aspect of Herren's high school career. He talked about how high school basketball in Fall River was huge, and the film went to great lengths to make it clear that a big young star like Herren had to deal with a lot of pressure because of that.
Herren said he started drinking his freshman year of high school, which supposedly was nothing out of the ordinary in that day and age in Fall River. In his freshman year at Boston College, he started using cocaine, and things more or less spiraled out of control from there.
Herren's path took him to Fresno State, and eventually to the NBA in 1999, when he was drafted in the second round by the Denver Nuggets. He then went to the Boston Celtics and was out of the NBA by 2001. All the while, his addiction followed him.
Herren suffered several overdoses, and would not achieve sobriety until 2008.
All of this and more is detailed in Unguarded, and the message is quite clear: Herren's addiction robbed him of not only a great career, but a normal, healthy life. He suffered, and his family suffered with him.
In watching the film, I couldn't help but feeling like Herren's story was planned from the start. He was born with great basketball talent, and he grew up in a time and a place that was conducive in its own oddly destructive way. In many ways, Herren played the hand he was dealt. Accordingly, he fell into a downward spiral.
The obvious bright side is that Herren's story could have ended much more tragically. Instead, Herren lived to tell his story, and telling his story is what he lives to do. It's remarkable how candid he is with the details in his speeches, and you can tell that he has every ear in the room when he speaks.
His is definitely a story worth listening to. It's part tragedy, part cautionary tale and a true one-of-a-kind.
Hopefully, it will remain that way.
