The Starting 5 with REGGIE!! REGGIE!!!

Prior to the Raptors game vs his former team Reggie Evans talked with the Dino Nation Blog about his return, Twitter and more. Reggie has always been fun to talk with and has been a hit with the fans. He was part of an All Access Event at Centre Sports with Raptors fans along with Jose Calderon this past Saturday. Reggie has been good to Toronto fans and they have been good to him. Although Reggie said nothing was worth going through his injury. I asked him if the great reaction from fans upon his return helped make it worth all his hard work to get back.

Reggie Evans " It felt good. It kind of mad me think that they must have felt my pain and struggle that I went through all of that. It felt pretty good."

and is everything good as far has coming back.

Reggie Evans " I can't complain everything is good. I don't have anything to complain about"

Now you can get out there and have an impact and bring your toughness and aggressive play to the floor that must feel good.

Reggie Evans " It is good to have an opportunity instead of just cheering my team on for the full 48 minutes. Now I can get out there and participate and help them out from a physical standpoint on the court. That definitely feels good."

There was that poll in Sports illustrated that ranks you number 1 as on of the meanest guys in the NBA do you take pride in something like that?

Reggie Evans " I just take it for whatever it is. It is cool that I got respect in this league. So it is cool I don't look at in a bad way at all"

Reggie often is giving tickets away on Twitter to his fans/followers on Twitter. I asked him about twitter and his involvement on it.

Reggie Evans " I never did something like it before. A friend of mine David asked me to to do twiiter. I was like alright cool let's make it happen. So he kind of broke it down for me. I was never into the internet stuff like that. So I did it and made it happen and stuff."

But giving tickets away was that something you did with other teams.

Reggie Evans " Never I never did that. I have only done that with Twitter."

Reggie often hops on Twitter and will ask fans some trivia question and first one to get it right wins tickets to a game courtesy of Reggie. Another thing just recently is Reggie tweeted if he reaches 10,000 followers he says he will shave off his beard. Was he serious?

Reggie Evans " Yeah once I get the 10,000 followers. Seems like no one wants to cut my beard off though because my followers slowed down. So it seems like people don't want me to do it."

Did you run this by family or friends or anything?

Reggie Evans " Nah nobody I just came up with it. I just said I get 10,000 followers I would do it. I am just doing it to have fun with the fans. I just came up with it. Really it is just about having some fun with the fans. "

Now I love my readers here at the DNB. I honestly do. But there is no way the Dino Blogger is putting his facial hair on the line for anyone. But the team is starting to get ready for the playoff push so how is Reggie feeling about his game heading into the stretch run?

Reggie Evans " Basically just getting back to my top notch shape like was in the pre-season before I got hurt..I want to be in top notch shape for the playoffs. "

Was it a mixed blessing with his injury that he will have more gas in his tank for the post season?

Reggie Evans- "No, you always wish you can be here to go through the ups and downs with your team.I could say yeah, but I can get rest during the off-season. I played 7 years of the full seasons and stuff like that. I am use to it"

As for March Madness Reggie is always a big supporter of Iowa as I found out during football season in the NCAA. He says if Iowa can't win then he hopes a Big Ten team can win it all. But Reggie will be busy doing what he can to get Raptors back on track. He is really one of the nicest guys off the floor. I can relate in some small way. I played football back in high school and I once got in a fight during a game. People were shocked that I was involved in something like that. Some people just have a different personality when they step on to the field or court. Raptor fans love both personalities of Reggie Evans. The guy on the floor that kicks butt and gives everything in his gas tank. If they have the chance to meet him or interact with him they love the nice caring giving person that legitimately cares about his fans. The Future of Reggie's Beard? He is 4,577 followers shy of being beardless. You can follow Reggie on Twitter @ReggieEvans30 and you may even end up being one of the lucky folks that gets tickets courtesy of Reggie.

You can expect plenty more Reggie Reggie chants at the ACC. I want to thank Reggie for taking the time to talk with me. Reggie Evans is a DNB favourite and like he likes to say on Twitter...BET THAT.