It's odd, though -- they still don't really say what happened that night that got him in so much trouble, only denying the details: she wasn't naked, he didn't have a gun, etc. And since the charges were dropped, you could argue that it really is none of our business what actually happened. But, then, why have the interview at all?
Look: I love A.I. as a basketball player. As a person, I think he's grown up under some harsh circumstances, with people watching him and preying upon him from an early age. He's made some mistakes. He's grown. Is he entitled to the benefit of the doubt? Probably not. But on the court, as in that interview, he puts a lot of himself out there on the line. There's a fearlessness and an unguardedness to his game that seems parallel to his real life. There's no one more compelling out there.
From Iverson's much-remembered post-season press conference-slash-soliloquy last year, two quotes that didn't get nearly as much attention:
Reporter: "Supposed you shot 44 percent..."
Iverson: "I don't know about that. That is in God's hands. I do not know if that will help me or not. That's God. God does that, It ain't up to you to say if Allen Iverson does this then he'll do that. That's up to God. It ain't up to anyone in here. That is up to God. He handles that.
Reporter: "You have control over your body?"
Iverson: "God has more control over it than I do. You know that. God has more control over your body. I do not care about how much you eat, how many weights you lift or how good you eat, if God says you're gone, you're gone.
* * *
Iverson: "But believe me, it is just not about Allen Iverson. I am going to go to war for Philadelphia. Every time that ball goes up, I will go to war and fight. I am going to do some [expletive] that's wrong and I will do some things right. I can't do everything right all the time. Michael Jordan is the great player in the world. He did not do everything right all of the time but he tried and gave it his effort. That's all you can ask for."
No comments:
Post a Comment