By Wayne Tsai In the NBA finals in 2001, a remarkable game took place in the City of Angels. The Philadelphia Sixers were facing one of the most formidable armies and two of the most talented warriors in NBA history: Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers had reached the finals without losing a single game throughout the playoffs and they were expected to sweep the finals with ease. But in the opening game a short 6'0" and skinny 165 pound player scored 55 points and carried his team to a shocking overtime victory. The man who defeated this Goliath was not David but “The Answer” – Allen Iverson Who is Allen Iverson? Google his name and you’ll get more than two million results within half a second. There’s always news about him, magazine covers of him, commercials featuring him. And you can easily find t-shirts, shorts, shoes, caps, and almost any product you can think of that shows his name or his icon. He has won four scoring titles and set and reset many records, voted the NBA’s MVP and received piles of awards. And perhaps more than any other basketball idol his background has shaped his attitude and the way he plays.
In Hampton, Virginia, in 1975, Iverson was born into circumstances few would envy, a house built on the top of the city’s sewage system and full of stench, an unmarried mother aged 15 and a father who didn’t take any part in his upbringing. His mother had to take a multitude of part-time jobs and was often unemployed; there were times that Allen didn’t even know where his next meal was coming from. His high school basketball coach said of him, “here was a kid who couldn’t take a bath because he had no running water. It had been turned off since they couldn’t pay the bill.” At 17 he was a high school sports star who quarterbacked the football team to a state championship and was also the key player of the basketball team. But then Iverson was sentenced to 15 years in prison because of his involvement in a violent conflict between black and white teenagers in a Hampton bowling alley. He was arrested with three other African-American youths, and before being granted pardon he spent four months behind bars. “I had to use the whole jail situation as something positive,” Iverson said. “Going to jail, if someone sees something weak in you they’ll exploit it. I never showed any weakness. I just kept going strong until I came out.” His conviction for the crime was overturned due to insufficient evidence, but this unique experience has labeled him the most notorious “bad boy” in sports. He was a number one draft pick in 1996, and after his first season he was named Rookie of the Year. In addition to his incredible performance on the basketball court, he also began to grab the world’s attention with infamous statements to the media such as “I’m not going to respect anybody on the basketball court,” and “I’m the best player in the world.” Consequently he has a very controversial image, and people either love him or hate him. But Iverson also speaks by his games. He throws his entire body into every play; he challenges the giants and is sometimes knocked down by them. He has earned his nickname, The Answer, since he has become the answer to victory, with his bruised elbows and damaged knees. “I play every game like it’s my last.” As every NBA fan knows, Allen Iverson is used to pain. It’s hard to find a professional athlete who absorbs the physical punishment Allen Iverson absorbs each night, a sports star who has grown out of sewage and the frequent absence of a proper meal, a basketball idol who has the experience of waking up in a prison cell even before he became an adult. Behind Iverson’s fame and stardom lie adversities, all sorts of difficulties that are supposed to beat a man down. But he simply refuses to surrender. If you ask how, just look at the tattoo on his left shoulder: “Only The Strong Survive.” That’s Allen Iverson’s answer. a
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May 2024
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