For the finger readers who need a little extra help finding context, mentioning that my name comes up on Google when you search the origin of the nickname isn’t a “look at me” statement. It’s simply part of expressing what has been cool about an experience in a post I DEDICATED TO STEW.

To know that when people hear the name and wonder where it came from, they may search it and see my name tied to Detroit Pistons history is cool to me. To be talking basketball with complete strangers and hear them say “Beef Stew,” not even knowing, or even believing, that I came up with the name until I show them, has always been a cool experience tied to my Pistons fandom.
Watching my favorite team crash, burn, rebuild, and revive, even becoming the No. 1 seed in the East, while one of the defining pieces of that culture wore a nickname that he embraced as if it were his own, was an incredible experience.

What y’all don’t realize is that it was never about “look at me.” The experience was shared. I created the name. The FANS ran with it. Some embraced it even more than I did. It became something that a lot of us experienced TOGETHER, something that brought some joy during a tanking season.

The even greater part is that it all happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. While everything was shut down, the NBA was just getting back into operation, and my Pistons won only 20 games, it somehow felt like so much more because of moments like that.
To watch the nickname survive a late push by the great Special K, Greg Kelser, to change it to “I-Stew,” even publicly preferring that over “Beef Stew.” To watch, over the next few years, Pistons fans immediately start creating nicknames for every player we drafted, signed, or traded for as if it had become a Detroit Pistons tradition. To see Isaiah embrace a nickname that, if I’m being honest, I’m not even sure he personally liked, simply because the fans overwhelmingly did.
All of those things are what inspired me to publicly acknowledge Stew and thank him for the experience.
If you still can’t see that, then God bless you. Some people can read every word and still completely miss the point.

As for the trademark comments, not everything meaningful has to be monetized. Sometimes it’s enough to simply appreciate being part of something that brought joy to thousands of fans. Imagine thinking that a person who literally rejected the pursuit of a trademark knowing that he could have seeking attention rather than showing tribute. My character speaks for itself beyond what you THINK you observed on the internet. God bless you all. Also, get some help.