Today I’m going to talk about the one and only Allen Iverson or AI as the media/public call him.  For this article, I will try and limit the use of foul language, but it wouldn’t be authentic Tirone without a few bombs sprinkled in.

I wanted to write this piece because so many people talk about that one athlete that defines a generation to them.  In basketball that usually goes in this order, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, to Michael Jordan and now Lebron James.

For some of us Iverson was the definition of our generation.  I first learned about him by watching Georgetown Hoya basketball.  I was/am a fan of Big East basketball, and I heard so much about this guy.

This is about the time I heard about what happened with him down in the Hampton Roads area.  It’s not my place to judge or try to figure out what happened, because we all have been in situations we wish we weren’t at various times in our lives.

I watched as he tortured teams and players in the Big East, and there were some great teams and players in the Big East at the time, Ray Allen and Kerry Kittles come to mind instantly.

I could never forget that classic conference title game between Georgetown and UConn (University of Connecticut), where Allen hit the game winning shot, it was truly the definition of an instant classic.

Iverson also had the infamous duel as a sophomore with a precocious freshman named Stephon Marbury that he won. These were the moments along with many others that put him in the forefront of many minds around the country, as far as achievements on the court.

Those moments also led him to leave after his sophomore year at Georgetown, for the NBA Draft.  Where was selected number 1 overall, by the Philadelphia 76ers, in perhaps one of the greatest drafts ever, this draft included the aforementioned Allen, Kittles and Marbury.

Also in that draft were other impact players such as, Marcus Camby and two other players who are sure to be Hall of Famers in Steve Nash and a high school phenomenon named Kobe Bryant.

That moment in the draft was one of the only times we would see Iverson wear a suit in his entire NBA career.  He even picked up his damn Rookie of the Year award in a t-shirt, jeans, doo-rag and a fitted hat.

This was our first introduction into the NBA’s Hip Hop era.  This intrigued a good amount of youth at the time, since we were always told to be a success you had to dress, look, talk and think a certain way, and here was a guy in our age range being successful and still being true to himself.

For a time this was an extremely lucrative era for the NBA, Iverson signed with Reebok and totally changed the fortunes of that company.  Where most players were signing with Nike, Iverson did what he always seemed to do, which is go against the what seemed to be the cool choice.

His signing led to the development of his first shoe the Question, (Which is still my favorite shoe of all time to when playing basketball), which also spawned the merging of Rappers being in shoe commercials.  When I saw Jadakiss in the commercial with Iverson, it just felt right.

It seemed as if those of us that weren’t following every movement that Michael Jordan was doing, finally had some one we could look to for admiration.  It only heightened for us when Iverson gave MJ the infamous double crossover then jumper.

You could feel the seismic shift in the balance of power.  That one move spawned an entire movement into what would be called the street ball game.  And 1 took off after that, and the entertainment value rocketed all thanks to Iverson.

There was a time where you could legitimately say that Iverson was the best player in the world for a couple years, which at 6 feet 165 pounds in a game of giants you would never think possible.

Think about that for a moment there are elementary school children now that are bigger than him, and he was doing things that only the truly special talents could do.  For a few years his style carried the league and brought fans who were tiring of the Bash and Gash style of the Knicks and Heat, or those that were ready to move on from the All Jordan all the time era.

This guy was quite possibly the most entertaining and determined athlete he left it all on the floor each night.  Who can forget him dragging a (very weak in analysts view) 76ers team to the NBA Finals and winning a game against the vaunted Lakers with a prime Shaquille O’Neal and a burgeoning Kobe Bryant.

Other than Mutombo, can you name anyone else off that team without looking it up.  That should show you the talent of Iverson.

Yet over time, just like with anything that involves money, a section of the elite feel that they can’t relate to a product or don’t feel their voice is loud enough.  They start to put their sizable wealth to work.

In comes a dress code, and a limits on trash talking, (which I don’t mind much honestly), and a host of other things to clean up the game.  Those of us who were fans at the time knew where this was aimed at, squarely at one mans influence upon a younger group of fans.

Looking back now I understand that those with the larger wallets and pockets  that buy season tickets and merchandise dictate how a business runs, at the time I just saw willful intent to stifle expression.

Iverson made the league money in a period where they weren’t exactly sure who was taking the mantle after Jordan, but once the corporate types decided enough is enough, his impact became less and less.

Gone where the classic blacktop commercials and the grit and tough hard playing themes.  In their place were the smiles and cleaner images of  Lebron, Wade and at the time Carmelo.  The league as it always does moved on.

Yet the man the moves were initiated for, the move was not as smooth and seemless. After the luster from the finals run wore off and Coach Larry Brown had moved on, the 76ers traded AI to the Denver Nuggets where he teamed with a young Carmelo Anthony to make a short playoff run.

After averaging 26ppg that season, he was on the move again this time to Detroit, in Detroit his ppg plummeted and there was talk that he didn’t want to be a bench player, when you’ve been recognized as the best in the game, and are confident in your abilities you never want to come off the bench.

This would again lead to him moving on, this time to the Grizzlies, which didn’t last long either.  Then came a reunion with the 76ers and the city it all began in, but the time had passed for the legend.

The final move was to Turkey, which like the rest of the moves only last so long.  It wasn’t a fitting in for such a generational Icon, but he went out the way he came in, doing things his way.

After all the cheers and adulation die down, and I look back on the man, who was an inspiration to many, and admired by yours truly.  I’ll look back fondly, seeing a player who physically shouldn’t have been able to do the things he should, played with his heart and all out hustle, left it all on the floor.

To me he was a true voice and face of a generation.  It may not have been a generation embraced by casuals or elites, but it was a generation of individuals trying to carve out their own niche in this world, and Iverson was our beacon in the dark.

Allen Iverson…….. Pioneer, Legend, Hall of Famer…….

Also once in a Generation!!!

That’s my Word!!

TIRONE JEFFERSON “Sports from the Street”