smh212
Awesomeitus Degenerate
I'm in my mid 30's. I watched Allen Iverson play football. I watched Allen Iverson win a football and basketball title in High School. I watched them haul Iverson to jail for something he didn't do. I watched him be pardoned. I watched coach Thompson save his life, and then save it again. I watched the Sixers draft him. I drove from Penn State to Philadelphia just to watch him play, when their were 11,000 people in the stands. I watched him cross over Mike, and then cross him over again.
I watched him drop 40 Cleveland in Cleveland, and was threatened by countless fans during the game because of Allen Iverson. I watched him start to become "me, myself, and Iverson". I convinced a comedy club a Penn State that since they had the NBA ticket, they should show Sixers games. I went there for 6 months till they would not let me come anymore, so I bought a satellite dish.
Then I watch him get arrested, and get arrested again. I watched the Sixers hire Larry Brown, and wondered how he would ever get Iverson to play "The right way." I watched as Larry realized this was impossible. I watched hope grow during the '98 season. I watched Larry draft Larry Hughes, and not Paul Pierce and I watched "the flight brothers". But then, ONLY AS LARRY BROWN can, he started building. First came Theo and Blue. Then came George, T-Bag, and Eric Snow. Then came a 28-22 season. I missed my graduation because they scheduled it the same time Allen was playing. I started driving from Penn State 3 times a week to watch him play. I went to Cleveland, Indiana, NY, NJ, Boston (fuck y'all). I watched what Larry built. He built a team around Allen Iverson. I watched the 1999-2000 season and thought, "oh my god" it's happening. I spurned internships, because my father in law had seats 2 rows from the court and I wanted to watch. I watch a 5'11 player play every single basketball game as if the next day he would never be able to play again. It didn't matter who we played, what the score was, it just mattered that he was on the court. In 2001 in I watched Allen refute Indiana in Rd1. Drop 50 on Toronto 2 times in one series, in Rd2. Let me repeat that: TWO TIME IN ONE SERIES, a series in which he was "hurt". That series went 7. I watch the next series against Milwaukee's "Big 3" go 7 a series in which, Bloody from an elbow to the mouth, Allen Iverson and Eric Snow, who played on a broken ankle swallow hard and finished off the Bucks. I watched the Sixers play Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers. There was no way the Sixers could beat them, and there wasn't. I watched Allen will the Sixers in game 1, but the Lakers were too much.
From there I watched the inevitable. There was no way to repeat that season. It was one that comes around every 50 years or so. I watch Croce leave. I watched LB leave, and George, and, Tyrone, and Deke. I watch the organization try and surround Iverson with that "second option", but that was never possible, because Iverson just wasn't that kind of player. He was flawed, but aren't all great men?
Then on Dec 20, 2006 I stopped watching. I wouldn't watch Iverson in another uniform. I listened from a distance as he moved to Detroit, where they asked him to come off the bench. I knew that wouldn't work. He was called selfish, he was called a distraction. He may have been those things, but one of his mercurial talent, only knows one way of doing things, because it beats through his heart and courses through his veins. Right or wrong, you can't change that.There have been numerous off the court issues since, hell there always were, but for me those things didn't matter, because as a basketball fan, as a kid born and raised in Philadelphia, I care that you do what your were hired to do. Allen Iverson was hired to play basketball for the Philadelphia 76ers, not raise my children or be subject of judgement for what he did when not on the court. That's how I look at it. He raised this city, this city that has basketball running through it's veins and took us somewhere we hadn't been in a long time. I was 6 when the Sixers when the NBA title. To me, and my generation of friends, you wanna talk about Allen Iverson, it's gonna be what he did on the court. The other stuff is not my business.
When they raise his number into the rafters today, I'm going to cry, and I'm going to cry hard, because to me, while it's a celebration, it's also a burial. I will never get to see Allen Iverson play again, and while that has been the reality for some time now, this just solidifies it.I will leave you with one story, and then I don't think I will be able to talk about Allen for a long time:
My mother was from Germany. When I turned 20, she asked me what I wanted for my birthday. She was living in Virgina at the time, and was not a basketball fan to say the least. When she asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her that the Sixers would be playing the Hornets on the actual day of my birthday, and I wanted to take her to the game, because before she dies I wanted her to see Allen Iverson play basketball. We went to Charlotte and I spent a great day with my mom. We watched the Sixers lose 83-80 to Charlotte. After the game, my mother in her half English/ Half German thanked me. I said, "what for"? She said for taking her to see the single greatest athlete of her life. To paraphrase my mom, "He's so little, how he does he dart in and out of those big guys? All they do is hit him, and all he does is get up and do it again". Six months later when as she lay in a hospice Germany, with cancer having taken over her body, I said mom your going to die aren't you? (she would never tell me how bad things were), and she said, "Stephan would Allen Iverson die"?Tonight I'm going to say goodbye to Allen Iverson as a Sixer, but hopefully not as a man.
Good bye Allen, and thank you.
I watched him drop 40 Cleveland in Cleveland, and was threatened by countless fans during the game because of Allen Iverson. I watched him start to become "me, myself, and Iverson". I convinced a comedy club a Penn State that since they had the NBA ticket, they should show Sixers games. I went there for 6 months till they would not let me come anymore, so I bought a satellite dish.
Then I watch him get arrested, and get arrested again. I watched the Sixers hire Larry Brown, and wondered how he would ever get Iverson to play "The right way." I watched as Larry realized this was impossible. I watched hope grow during the '98 season. I watched Larry draft Larry Hughes, and not Paul Pierce and I watched "the flight brothers". But then, ONLY AS LARRY BROWN can, he started building. First came Theo and Blue. Then came George, T-Bag, and Eric Snow. Then came a 28-22 season. I missed my graduation because they scheduled it the same time Allen was playing. I started driving from Penn State 3 times a week to watch him play. I went to Cleveland, Indiana, NY, NJ, Boston (fuck y'all). I watched what Larry built. He built a team around Allen Iverson. I watched the 1999-2000 season and thought, "oh my god" it's happening. I spurned internships, because my father in law had seats 2 rows from the court and I wanted to watch. I watch a 5'11 player play every single basketball game as if the next day he would never be able to play again. It didn't matter who we played, what the score was, it just mattered that he was on the court. In 2001 in I watched Allen refute Indiana in Rd1. Drop 50 on Toronto 2 times in one series, in Rd2. Let me repeat that: TWO TIME IN ONE SERIES, a series in which he was "hurt". That series went 7. I watch the next series against Milwaukee's "Big 3" go 7 a series in which, Bloody from an elbow to the mouth, Allen Iverson and Eric Snow, who played on a broken ankle swallow hard and finished off the Bucks. I watched the Sixers play Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers. There was no way the Sixers could beat them, and there wasn't. I watched Allen will the Sixers in game 1, but the Lakers were too much.
From there I watched the inevitable. There was no way to repeat that season. It was one that comes around every 50 years or so. I watch Croce leave. I watched LB leave, and George, and, Tyrone, and Deke. I watch the organization try and surround Iverson with that "second option", but that was never possible, because Iverson just wasn't that kind of player. He was flawed, but aren't all great men?
Then on Dec 20, 2006 I stopped watching. I wouldn't watch Iverson in another uniform. I listened from a distance as he moved to Detroit, where they asked him to come off the bench. I knew that wouldn't work. He was called selfish, he was called a distraction. He may have been those things, but one of his mercurial talent, only knows one way of doing things, because it beats through his heart and courses through his veins. Right or wrong, you can't change that.There have been numerous off the court issues since, hell there always were, but for me those things didn't matter, because as a basketball fan, as a kid born and raised in Philadelphia, I care that you do what your were hired to do. Allen Iverson was hired to play basketball for the Philadelphia 76ers, not raise my children or be subject of judgement for what he did when not on the court. That's how I look at it. He raised this city, this city that has basketball running through it's veins and took us somewhere we hadn't been in a long time. I was 6 when the Sixers when the NBA title. To me, and my generation of friends, you wanna talk about Allen Iverson, it's gonna be what he did on the court. The other stuff is not my business.
When they raise his number into the rafters today, I'm going to cry, and I'm going to cry hard, because to me, while it's a celebration, it's also a burial. I will never get to see Allen Iverson play again, and while that has been the reality for some time now, this just solidifies it.I will leave you with one story, and then I don't think I will be able to talk about Allen for a long time:
My mother was from Germany. When I turned 20, she asked me what I wanted for my birthday. She was living in Virgina at the time, and was not a basketball fan to say the least. When she asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her that the Sixers would be playing the Hornets on the actual day of my birthday, and I wanted to take her to the game, because before she dies I wanted her to see Allen Iverson play basketball. We went to Charlotte and I spent a great day with my mom. We watched the Sixers lose 83-80 to Charlotte. After the game, my mother in her half English/ Half German thanked me. I said, "what for"? She said for taking her to see the single greatest athlete of her life. To paraphrase my mom, "He's so little, how he does he dart in and out of those big guys? All they do is hit him, and all he does is get up and do it again". Six months later when as she lay in a hospice Germany, with cancer having taken over her body, I said mom your going to die aren't you? (she would never tell me how bad things were), and she said, "Stephan would Allen Iverson die"?Tonight I'm going to say goodbye to Allen Iverson as a Sixer, but hopefully not as a man.
Good bye Allen, and thank you.
