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It’s
not the Heat, it’s the humidity, or so they say in New York,
now that Miami has wilted and washed out of the playoff race.
No, we’re right back to where we left off last year, with the
Knicks once again battling the Indiana Pacers for the Eastern
Conference Championship. And once again, the most hated man
in Madison Square Gardens returns to
torment Knicks fans. Pacers guard Reggie Miller is back where
he belongs, waging a war of attrition against the mighty, many-headed
Knickerbockers. Not unlike the mythical Hydra, no matter how
many Knicks he knocks off, (and let’s face it, the New York
bench is starting to resemble a M.A.S.H. unit) another one springs
up in his place to continue the fight.
The
New York crowd is single-minded in their contempt. They love
to hate Reggie Miller, and he loves their hate right back at
‘em. He feeds on it, and their passion inspires his legendary
playoff heroics, dashing their dreams, driving daggers into
their ever-loving hearts. But what is it about this man that
attracts so much emotion, so much vitriol, so much good, old-fashioned,
carpet-chewing outrage?
 Perhaps
his natal Mars in Scorpio placed in broad view, exactly on his
Midheaven, for all the world to see? Reggie Miller was born
on August 24, 1965, at 4:39 pm PDT, in Riverside, California.
He is a Virgo (Sun) with Moon in Leo and Capricorn on the Ascendant,
but the most outstanding feature of his birth chart is that
intense Mars, powerful in its own sign of Scorpio, sitting exactly
on the most public, prominent point of his chart. The Midheaven
marks the point of the Sun’s culmination in the sky. It’s where
you would see the Sun at noon, or midday. In a birth chart,
the Midheaven influences a person’s career, status or public
persona. It’s hard to hide anything at the Midheaven, for it
is very much in the public domain.
With
the macho planet Mars so well placed and so visible, Miller
is not only fiercely competitive, but he serves as a sort of
lightning rod for the public’s darker passions. People just
naturally project their own anger, jealousy, intensity—all of
their own Scorpio depths— onto him. And for that, perhaps we
should all be grateful! He’s something of a Scorpio clearinghouse,
and in that sense, could be singularly responsible for decreasing
the rate of violent crime in New York City during the playoffs.
Well, think about it.
Miller
is not the type to begrudge the public their therapy. Reggie
actually relishes his role. In fact, he entitled his autobiography
I Love Being The Enemy. The challenge of all that
negative attention is the secret of his success. Miller is the
first to admit that the extra emotion his presence generates
pushes him past his own limits. He has a very public Leo Moon,
in the Seventh House of relationships, which helps to create
a type of symbiotic feedback loop with the crowd. The more they
oppose him, the better he plays, so he doesn’t hesitate to incite
their ire. It’s fuel for his engine.
Does
this make him a bad person? Of course not. Off the court, he’s
a fairly normal guy—just intensely competitive. He comes from
a successful and highly respected family. His brother Darrell
was a professional baseball player and his sister, Cheryl Miller,
is one of the most famous women in American basketball. She
is currently Head Coach and General Manager of the Phoenix Mercury
in the WNBA and is also well-known as a broadcaster and Olympic
gold medalist. Reggie won his own gold medal representing the
U.S. in 1996. With his natal Moon in Leo in the very public
Seventh House, we could safely assume that their mother was
a positive, outgoing person who took a lot of pride in her family.
Miller
enters the last years of his career still hungering for that
NBA championship. In all likelihood, it’s not going to happen
this year. As long as Shaquille O’Neal is in the league, Miller
may remain the ultimate outsider, the bad guy in the black hat,
the antihero blocking the path of the real champion. It’s a
role he plays to Virgo perfection, and when he finally hangs
up his sneakers at the end of the day, it will be all glory
and no shame. He has played a major role in the development
of the modern game and we should all be grateful for the adventures
we have shared with this man that we so love to hate.
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