For The First Time Ever: Stephen Jackson Apologized To Reggie Miller For Malice At The Palace, And Things Got Emotional
I'm not even going to make up an excuse like the room is dusty, something is in my eye, or my season allergies are flaring up - Reggie tearing up in this interview got me.
There have been a couple Malice At The Palace documentaries the past few years that have given interesting individual perspectives on the brawl, even delivering us the incredible gift of Stephen Jackson telling the story of Ron Artest getting back to the locker room and asking if they would get in trouble for beating the hell out of a bunch of Piston fans. But, something about this intimate podcast interview from two guys that lived the mayhem hits harder than anything else out there.
Reggie had more to lose than anyone else on that stacked roster, which is why I enjoyed hearing his perspective and reacting to Jackson's apology. As the years go on, I appreciate Reggie Miller more and more. It would be so easy to remain bitter after all this time - feeling like you did your part to remain loyal to a team your entire career, only to have your best opportunity to win a championship ripped away by guys selfishly letting their emotions get the better of them. Reggie understands what being on a team is all about. The guys in your locker room. Yes, winning is awesome, a championship is the goal, but the human experiences you go through together are what make team sports so great. Maybe Malice At The Palace brought that team closer together than a championship ever would? Sucks for fans, and doesn't do us any good, but I'm glad Reggie is able to be at peace with an extremely shitty situation.
I'm still finishing the rest of podcast, but there are some crazy stories so far, one involving the bet w/ Spike Lee that involved visiting Mike Tyson in jail. I'm especially loving hearing what Reggie has to say about trash talk. Reggie bought foreign language dictionaries before the Olympics so he could trash talk opponents, and he loved some good shit talk so much that he even had an AOL e-mail [email protected] where the tt stood for trash talk. You make your screen name / email your favorite thing, having your biggest hobby be trash talk is total dedication. I would love to hear what Reggie thinks about a young kid like Haliburton finding his way into the shit talking arena. Even if Tyrese wasn't a Pacer, I think Reggie would give him the green light to keep talking that shit (Pacers in 4).
It's hard to believe this is the first time Stephen Jackson has apologized to Reggie, not that Jackson started the whole fiasco, and Reggie clearly doesn't blame him for anything, but you'd figure Jackson would have said something after it all went down. As a fan, I'm glad Jackson waited so that the moment could be captured on video for people to witness a real moment between two former teammates. Another great interview is Jackson sitting down with Ron Artest Metta World Peace to rehash the brawl that will live in infamy.
