RICHMOND, Va. — Eight months ago, Montae Nicholson found himself in a verbal altercation that turned into a fight in the parking lot of a restaurant in Ashburn. He was caught on camera knocking out a man. Police arrested and charged Nicholson with assault and battery and being drunk in public, while the woman with him, Sydney Maggiore, was charged with malicious wounding and assault and battery.
His team, which had already brought in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to take Nicholson’s starting job midway through last season, for reasons that were never fully explained, decided Nicholson would be shut down for the final two games, and then the waiting game commenced. Waiting to see what would happen legally; waiting to see how his employers would respond; waiting to see if he would receive a second chance to play. And in the process of all this waiting, Nicholson explained that he realized two important things.
“It can be taken away in an instant,” he said…
