Allen Iverson’s practice rant wasn’t funny 17 years ago today | John Smallwood

At the time, I didn’t know whether to stand up or sink into the chair I was sitting in.

For close to 15 minutes, Allen Iverson had been ranting and, along the way, he was taking names — especially of those in the assembled media.

“See my man right there?” Iverson said, pointing down at me from his podium. “I love him to death. … When he says something, “[effed]-up stuff about me, I still love him because he’s just doing his job.”

And thus, I became a sidebar in possibly the most infamous rant in the history of sports.

Iverson’s “practice” press conference became a cultural sensation.

Most anniversaries of events are celebrated in multiples of fives, like the fifth, 10th or 15th.

Today, May 7, we celebrate the 17th anniversary of the practice rant, just as it has been celebrated yearly by someone since Iverson went off in front of the media and a live television audience in 2002.

Some say “The Answer” uttered the word “practice” 14 times. Others will say it was 22. I don’t recall the exact number, but I’d say it was somewhere in between.

Regardless, it became an albatross around Iverson’s neck as big as the gold and diamond necklaces he wears.

It’s become a running joke, and looking back, I understand how and why that happened.

Still, honestly, it wasn’t that funny in real time.

I guess it’s because I had spent so much time around Iverson, but at the time, I just remember it as Iverson being at his most emotional — which is something to say.

There was pain in Iverson’s voice, a desperate need to have someone understand what he was saying, where he was coming from.

The Sixers had been eliminated from the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, and coach Larry Brown had capped a year of turmoil with Iverson by saying that he had missed a lot of practices.

Iverson took it personally and left few things unsaid about the possibility of his being traded.

He didn’t practice that speech. It came from a place much deeper: his heart.