This past weekend was a sad and nostalgic one for any old school NBA fan. Over the span of four days, not one but two basketball legends announced that they will be stepping away from the hardwood-not just until their minor league baseball careers go down the tubes, but for good.
The first retirement announcement came Thursday from Reggie Miller via his sister Cheryl. Reggie will finish out this season but after that, he will be leaving the Indiana Pacers after 18 hard-fought seasons.
When Reggie first came into the league, no one thought twice about the skinny, big-eared guard from UCLA. Upon first glance, he looks like the kid you would always pick last in gym class; and then you would kick yourself because he is the same kid that could hit any 3-pointer imaginable and at the most crucial times.
At 39 years of age, Miller is still the one you want on your team to take that final shot and to rub it in your opponents' faces. His trash-talking ways paved the way for potty mouths like Gary Payton and Sam Cassell, and whenever he put on an away jersey, boos resonated throughout the stadium.
As a Milwaukee Bucks fan, I despised Reggie Miller. I have been going to Bucks games for as long as I can remember and whenever the Pacers would be in town I would make sure Miller heard my hatred way up in section 434, seat five. That was a big mistake on my part and that of the rest of the fans. Once the boos started, he would put up shots until his point total reached 20-plus on any given night and his Pacers would walk away with yet another victory over my lowly Bucks.
Though I hated watching Miller manhandle the Bucks, he will leave the league as one of the players that I actually still respect because he played the game with no frills and you knew he was giving a complete effort day in and day out. Maybe Payton and Cassell should learn this skill from Miller, too.
After Miller made his announcement, The Mailman decided he was no longer going to deliver. Sunday, Karl Malone officially put his 19-year career, and any hope that short-shorts would make their way back into the NBA, to rest.
There is so much to remember from Malone, and I hope that people do not remember him for his worthless season with the Lakers last year. That team may have had the best names money could buy, but it does not even compare to the endless picks and rolls he made seem so effortless with John Stockton in Utah. There will never be a duo as fundamentally sound as those two and any NBA fan should cherish those memories Malone made in Utah.
While both players will leave the league with endless accomplishments to their name, neither of them achieved the ultimate goal-an NBA championship. Does this really matter though? Scrubs like Isaiah Rider ('01 Lakers), Danny Ferry ('03 Spurs) and Marvin Winkler ('71 Bucks) among others all have rings, and I can assure you that you will forget their names within two minutes of reading this column.
So are you going to remember Miller and Malone for their careers or for the fact that they never won a ring? Whatever way you chose to remember them, just don't forget that they were two rare players that will be forever missed from the NBA.
Betsy is a sophomore majoring in sociology and hopefully journalism at some point. She can be reached for comment at eagolomsk@wisc.edu.
