Allen Iverson NBA - The Truth

Allen Iverson The Truth
Before I let you know my opinion about this whole "posse" thing, here are some facts: Rahsaan Langford is 24, from New York. Used to attend Norfolk State. Has known Allen Iverson since he was 14. Says he visits a lot. Langford is one of Iverson's friends who frequently wait for the 76ers rookie guard after practice, who sometimes plays halfcourt basketball while Iverson is showering or watching postpractice film. Some days, the group includes Marlon Moore, Eric Jackson, Kevin Spence, Alex Rhoden. Sometimes Iverson's uncle, Greg Iverson. Some days, there are others. Allen considers his friends his family. He says he wants them around to not feel alone.The dictionary defines "posse" as a force of men, taken from the group sometimes put together by a peace officer in pursuit of wrongdoers. But it has also become a term used by the MTV generation, defining a circle of friends. Sometimes, though, there's a negative connotation, including groups who ride the coattails of the rich and famous.
Ok, enough facts. The thing is that Iverson travels, hangs out and lives with his friends. They may not look like fellows from the WB network, but they are Iverson's friends, and why can't he just choose the friends he wants? I do understand why people are a bit scared of Allen Iverson's friends - they see a gang, a bunch of youngsters wearing baggy clothes, hanging out together and they think of it as a posse - a gang. Most people are afraid of the gangs, they are often affiliated with bad things, such as drugs and guns. But, still, if some gangs are like that, that doesn't mean they're all like that. Iverson says that his "posse" (I hate that word!) are friends who have proven to stay with him in good times and bad times. He is young and still wants to hang out with his friends, wants them around. So, I say, let Iverson be himself. If he wants to have his friends around - that should be a'ight. But lately they have started to mess up Iverson's career - which they should not do. But I think Iverson is very loyal to is friends, and it's admirable that a young star has that kinda loyality.

....that he has no respect
Ok, another hyped-up thing. To make a long explaination short, read this quote from Allen Iverson: "If they would ask me if I had respect for the NBA, I would say: 'Definetely'. I mean, how can I not have respect for the NBA? I have dreamed all my life about ending up here, it has always been my dream. How can i not respect the NBA?". A lot of people say that Iverson doesn't respect older players on the league. He has heard the critics from...in my opinion big-headed NBA players like Karl "Fatso" Malone, Charles "Whiner" Barkley and Dennis "Freak" Rodman about his lack of respect for players like them. Ok, here's the fact: Iverson says he has a lot of respect for these players. But if he steps onto the court with tons of respect for his opponents, he has already lost the battle. That's what Iverson says, and he's right. One can not over-respect ones opponents if one want to suceed in the NBA. But, again, Iverson is misunderstood. Critics listen to the players who says Iverson doesn't respect, and all of a sudden, he's the bad guy, the kid with no respect for the players who built the league. Iverson says: "They misunderstand me. I have a lot of respect for the older players. No doubt, they are the ones who paved the way for me. But if I bring that respect to the hardwood, the battle is already lost." Bottom line? Iverson has a lot of respect for the older players, but he doesn't bring that respect to the hardwood. People have misunderstood the whole thing, and think Iverson doesn't have any respect for the older guys. But according to the man who holds "the Answer", Allen Iverson, he has.

....the whole "Jordan-thing"
For you who haven't heard about this, I will explain to you what this is all about: In a game against da Bulls last year, Iverson alledgedly said "Get the hell out of my way" to his Airness. Courtside microphones caught the words, and all of a sudden the whole world knew what Iverson had told MJ. Henry "Que" Gaskins, Director of Martketing for Allen Iverson at Reebok, laughs at the incident: "Anyone who knows Allen knows Jordan is his guy," Gaskins said. "Allen's a heck of an artist, and when the family lived in a project in Virginia he drew a life-size mural of Jordan on the door." I think the whole thing has something to do with the no-respect thing. Players trash talk. Other players have done that too. But when Iverson said something like that, he was haunted by bad publicity. Besides, Iverson did not say "Get the hell out of my way". He said something like that, but he didn't put it that way. That's about it. Players trash talk and get away with it, but when Iverson does it, it makes the headlines.

....the way he dresses
Iverson doesn't wear suits. He wears what any other youngster in the nineties would wear. Hip-hop, baggy clothes, jewelry. And so what? What's wrong with that? He refused to conform to the NBA's dressing code of suits and ties. It impresses me to see that he is strong enough to not care about what people say, 'cuz they don't have anything to do with what kind of clothes Allen wants to wear. I think it's cool to see a person who youngsters can identify with. A person who wears the same clothes they do. Can people identify with guys in Armani suits?No. Most people will

....going to jail in 1993
Folks keep bringing up the incident in 1993 that sent Iverson to jail. Everyone has heard of it - the brawl between white and black students in Hampton. My question is: Why? The whole thing happened about 5 years ago. Iverson was even granted clemency. Which means that he wasn't really guilty in the first place. People don't understand this: Iverson was not guilty! He served four months in jail for something he hadn't even done! It's about time people forget about the whole jail thing. Here's what REALLY happened: In a life that hadn't been a "sunshine story", Iverson was left standing in the middle of a brawl between black and white students in a bowling alley. One Valenite's Day, Iverson and some friends - all jocks and black - walked into a Hampton Bowling Alley. Allen was already a locar sports hero, having quarterbacked Bethel High School's football team to the state championship only two months earlier, and in the process of leading the basketball squad to the same trophy. He was probably the best known person in the city that night. Iverson's crowd was loud and had to be asked to quiet down several times, and eventually something of a shouting duel began with another group of youths. The only undisputable fact is that shortly thereafter a huge fight erupted, pitting the local white kids against the blacks. 17-year old Iverson was tried as an adult, convicted of maiming by mob, and sentenced to five years for throwing a chair at a girl. Virginia's first black Governor, Doug Wilder, granted him conditional release after four months behind bars. The trial and the verdict set off an national debate on race politics. Iverson and his supporters maintain his innocence. Allen cannot be seen on an amateur video if the incident, and he claims he left the alley as soon as the trouble began. "For me to be in a bowling alley where everybody in the whole place know who I am and be crackin' people upside the head with chairs and think nothin' gonna happen?" asks Iverson. "That's crazy! And what kind of a man would I be to hit a girl in the head with a damn chair? I wish at least they'd said I hit some damn man." Allen's supporters were enraged that only four people got charged after the fight - all four were blacks They were upset with the media's allegedly blased coverage of the incident. And they claim the whole thing started when one of the white boys called Iverson a nigger. "It's strange enough that police waded through a huge mob of fighting people and came out with only blacks and the one black that everybody knew," said Golden Frinks, crisis co-ordinator for the National Association for Advancement of Coloured People. "People thought they'd get a slap on the wrist and that would be the end of it. Instead, prosecutors used a Civil War-era statute designed to protect blacks from lynching to charge a group of black teens with mob violence. And the judge, who was friends with one of the victims family, first denied them bail and then sentenced them all four to 15 years on prison." "A Fight!" said Newport News minister Marcellus Harris. "They were given long prison sentences because they got in a fight in a bowling alley. On the other hand, numerous witnesses un-aligned with either of the two crowds bowling that night testified Allen threw a chair at the girl. No-one else heard the racial epithet. "During a break in the fight, the girl went up to one of the black guys and said: ' Why do you have to make this racial?'" explained Kristi Alligood, one of the witnesses. "He just pressed two fingers against her face and pushed her away. The young man was Iverson." And a bowling centre employee testified that Iverson used a different chair to hit him over the head as well. The prosecutor, a life-long member of NAACP himself, insists that none of the blacks in the fight wanted to pursue charges, and points out that several black witnesses also identified Iverson as the main culprit. What really happened that night in Hampton will perhaps never be known. Two things matter more: based on his personality and behaviour, everyone agrees that it is at least plausible that Iverson was indeed guilty. "He's one of the most competitive kids I've ever seen," said Bo Williams, who runs a summer camp where Iverson used to play. "He's not one to back down, but that doesn't mean he's violent either, just cocky." And perhaps at least partly because of his attitude, he was sent to jail, an experience that would profoundly affect the way he views the world, and to a large extent the way the world identifies him.

....the drug incident in 1997
Off season 1997. August 3rd 1:27 AM. Iverson is in a car with his closest friends on Interstate 64 near Richmond. They are going too fast and are stopped for speeding. The trooper smells marijuana. He searches the car and finds a .45 calliber pistol on the floorboard. Iverson says it's his gun. Iverson was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of firearms with a controlled substance. Police spokeswoman Mary Evans said the firearms charge would be dropped because it only applies if a pound or more of marijuana is found with the weapon. She said one marijuana cigarette was found under the front seat where Iverson was sitting and another in the back of the car. Iverson was released as his sister posted a $2,000 bond. Ok, those were the facts. Iverson was in a car, with his friends. There were marijuana in that car, Iverson knew that, and should have been smart enough to not go into that car in the first place. Still, it was never proved that he smoked pot, and he probably didn't, being a professional athlete. And he was not the one driving the car that was stopped for speeding. In a way, he wasn't guilty at all. But he was still guilty of poor judgement. Fortunately the NBA didn't suspend him for more than one game. I'm glad this didn't destroy Iverson's career, even if it's probably the most stupid thing he has done in his entire career.