It took over a month before Glen Rice, Jr. realized his wrongdoings from the last time he was here in the Philippines, as he has finally apologized to the TNT Katropa for his unprofessional conduct in the 2017 Governor’s Cup semis against Ginebra.
Obtained by Tiebreaker Times from SMART Sports, the letter dated October 27 was addressed to team governor Patrick Gregorio, team manager Virgil Villavicencio, head coach Nash Racela, and head deputy Josh Reyes.
This repentance stems from the 26-year-old’s costly outburst during Game Four of their semis clash versus the eventual champions last October 8, where he lost his cool after being hounded defensively by Ginebra rookie Kevin Ferrer.
But more than the fracas that led to his ejection, Rice, Jr. did worse moments after, exchanging a few words with Gregorio. He also taunted the Ginebra crowd with indecent gestures on his way out of the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The former NBA cager was slapped with a flagrant foul for throwing the ball at Ferrer and with a technical foul for displaying a dirty finger and disrespectfully addressing league and team officials in that game, which they lost, 115-105.
Furthermore, he was also slapped with hefty fines — PHP 26,000 by the league, and $10,000 by the Katropa.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for my reaction and explain to you all that my passion for the game of basketball take my emotions to another level that sometimes come out wrong,” wrote Rice, Jr., who went home to the US two days after the incident without talking to anybody from the Katropa.
“But regardless of the game or the wrongful ejection, I was wrong and my actions was wrong.”
The American reinforcement most likely wrote the letter to gain clearance from TNTÂ so he can play in another league. The second-generation cager is currently suiting up for Hapoel Holon in the Israeli Premier League.
