In AIDS-weary world, Magic's exit is relief to many FINAL Edition

• Published in: Evening sun (Hanover, York County, Pa.)
• Main Author: Price, S L
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore, Md Baltimore Sun 03.11.1992
• Subjects: MIAMI

Earvin "Magic" Johnson retired again yesterday, his news coming sudden to a world gone weary with AIDS. Everybody knows somebody, or knows someone who knows somebody else. The revelations keep coming, but the compassion is more remembered than felt now. It is exhausting to feel bad all the time. "I've come to realize that it simply isn't possible to return to playing in the NBA and still continue to be involved in all the things I want to do," Johnson's statement read. "Although my family has given me their support to return to the Lakers, I feel that it is more important to spend my time with them, as well as continuing with HIV and AIDS education projects than in the competitive and time-consuming world of the NBA." Since then, that precise longing has thrown the league into a welter of confusion. At a recent meeting, two of the NBA's owners stood up and spoke adamantly against his playing again. Others argued for Johnson, but the division ran deep. League officials also discussed the dangers of allowing such a precedent, and wondered whether a fringe player with AIDS would or should be accorded the same royal treatment.