On The Anniversary Of Allen Iverson’s Epic ‘Practice’ Rant, Twitter Remembers The Rarely Told, Complicated Backstory
Pound for pound, Allen Iverson might be the greatest player in NBA history. Despite his ability to be a dominant force, one of Iverson’s most memorable moments has nothing to do with being on the court.
Ask a casual basketball fan what they remember about Iverson and many will point to his “practice” rant from May 7, 2002. It came four days after Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the playoffs.
On the rant’s 19th anniversary, Twitter remembered the lesser-known backstory. Iverson saying “practice” 22 times was infamously mocked, but the Sixers’ superstar opened up during that press conference, detailing an emotional struggle in his life. Just two days before the rant, a murder trial began for the person accused of killing Iverson’s best friend.
“I’m upset for one reason. I lost, I Iost my best friend. I lost him, and I lost this year. Everything is just going downhill for me, as far as just that,” Iverson said.
“My best friend is dead,” he continued. “Dead. And we lost. And this is what I have to go through for the rest of the summer until the season is all over again.”
19 years later, this part of the “practice” rant is usually forgotten. But for nearly 30 minutes, Iverson spoke with raw emotion that few professional athletes care to express in the spotlight. Friday, many on Twitter chose to remember the rant for its backstory, rather than its funny “practice” one-liners.
Allen Iverson opened up about traumatic loss, deep pain, real life.
He literally asked us to empathize with him as a human being going through it.
Sickening that the “practice” rant was stripped of this context and memed.pic.twitter.com/paSb9Vzoxw
— Tom Petrini (@RealTomPetrini) May 7, 2021
Iverson: I’m actually grieving for my best friend who just died
Room full of sportswriters: lol he said “practice” a bunch of times
— Brian Gaar (@briangaar) May 7, 2021
Between this stuff, and all the grief the NBA put Iverson through for shit like how he dressed or his tattoos, it’s no wonder that people overlook him in conversations about great players. He deserves so much more credit than he gets.
— Kris Wernowsky (@kriswernowsky) May 7, 2021
19 YEARS AGO TODAY
Here’s what you never see from Allen Iverson’s infamous “practice” rant.“My best friend is dead & we lost. And this is what I have to go through for the rest of the summer until the season is all over again. This is what I got to go through.” pic.twitter.com/AT9cqcl8tC
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) May 7, 2021
I never wanna force people to relive trauma, but I’ve always been bothered for years how Iverson’s “practice” press conference was reduced to a sound bite. There was real pain and grief behind it all. pic.twitter.com/6CYkrhDbCS
— Justin Tinsley (@JustinTinsley) May 7, 2021
Watch above via, ESPN
