duncan228
09-02-2009, 11:22 AM
A.I. Still Searching for Team, Searching Soul (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-aistillsearchingfort&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews
FKB0Z1-TTto
No one know's what's happening with Allen Iverson. Do we take him seriously anymore? Is he being unfairly left out in the cold? Just cut down by circumstance? And what to make of offers from bottom-feeding teams like Memphis and Charlotte, who may be the teams he stands to benefit (and benefit from) least of all?
To paraphrase Tracy Jordan, The Answer has become the NBA's great, perilous question. Let's forget about all the former strife over whether or not he's good for the league, or can even play the game. Iverson may very well be the Wilt of his day, a gigantic talent who will be both softened and judged more harshly by history. And regardless of what you think of his game, there's no questioning that, in the broader sense of branding, style and marketing, he's the most important NBA player since Jordan. Maybe even the most important post-Jordan athlete in any sport (I know, Tiger, Favre 4ever, some NASCAR guy I've never heard of).
But now he waits. And whether we pretend to care or not, we all wait. What's amazing is that, while Iverson's legacy more or less hangs in the balance, the man's opening up like never before. It's like he's realized something has changed, even if he got left out. He made his point, perhaps too strong, but Iverson's influence echoes throughout the league—throughout all of sports, actually. So when former teammate E. Snow sits down with him to ostensibly discuss his next move, AI gets all far-off and cosmic on us, maybe even a little morbid.
The misspeak "team on the uprise" was a nice reminder of how things used to be. But regardless of what he does on the court, today's AI is older and wiser. He realizes he's not perfect, and that maybe he can't do it all himself—even if he knows no other ways. He wishes, genuinely, ruefully, that he'd been a better person, a better student. This is KG on the Wolves intense, where you get the feeling he might have secretly poisoned himself before the interview and is making his last testament unto man. Of course, it all comes back to Obama and a smile.
I'm not going to defend Iverson as a player. I also have no idea if it even matters if he plays ever again. If his farewell tour consists of nothing but this kind of tormented but enlightened whistle stop, I think it'll still go down in the annals of basketball as some kind of major statement—if not exactly a success.
SportingNews
FKB0Z1-TTto
No one know's what's happening with Allen Iverson. Do we take him seriously anymore? Is he being unfairly left out in the cold? Just cut down by circumstance? And what to make of offers from bottom-feeding teams like Memphis and Charlotte, who may be the teams he stands to benefit (and benefit from) least of all?
To paraphrase Tracy Jordan, The Answer has become the NBA's great, perilous question. Let's forget about all the former strife over whether or not he's good for the league, or can even play the game. Iverson may very well be the Wilt of his day, a gigantic talent who will be both softened and judged more harshly by history. And regardless of what you think of his game, there's no questioning that, in the broader sense of branding, style and marketing, he's the most important NBA player since Jordan. Maybe even the most important post-Jordan athlete in any sport (I know, Tiger, Favre 4ever, some NASCAR guy I've never heard of).
But now he waits. And whether we pretend to care or not, we all wait. What's amazing is that, while Iverson's legacy more or less hangs in the balance, the man's opening up like never before. It's like he's realized something has changed, even if he got left out. He made his point, perhaps too strong, but Iverson's influence echoes throughout the league—throughout all of sports, actually. So when former teammate E. Snow sits down with him to ostensibly discuss his next move, AI gets all far-off and cosmic on us, maybe even a little morbid.
The misspeak "team on the uprise" was a nice reminder of how things used to be. But regardless of what he does on the court, today's AI is older and wiser. He realizes he's not perfect, and that maybe he can't do it all himself—even if he knows no other ways. He wishes, genuinely, ruefully, that he'd been a better person, a better student. This is KG on the Wolves intense, where you get the feeling he might have secretly poisoned himself before the interview and is making his last testament unto man. Of course, it all comes back to Obama and a smile.
I'm not going to defend Iverson as a player. I also have no idea if it even matters if he plays ever again. If his farewell tour consists of nothing but this kind of tormented but enlightened whistle stop, I think it'll still go down in the annals of basketball as some kind of major statement—if not exactly a success.