Bad sports, good sports: Allen Iverson just isn’t worth it anymore

Posted on November 9th, 2009 by Alan Spoll

For a lot of years, I was a big fan of Allen Iverson. To me, no one in the NBA was more exciting to watch. The Sixers didn’t always win, but Iverson rarely failed to excite. It was always clear, though, that he was a selfish player who cared more for his own statistics than he did about winning. Now, at 34 years old, his skills have eroded, but his attitude has not. That makes for a bad combination.

This off-season, Iverson signed with the Memphis Grizzlies. This was after he spent an awful season with the Detroit Pistons. He was traded to Detroit from Denver during the 2008-2009 season. A few months into his Pistons career, he was asked to come off the bench, which is something he had never previously done. He apparently felt that was beneath him, and he made it known to the coaching staff. In April of 2009, the Pistons announced that Iverson would not play for the remainder of the season. There was some mention of a back injury, but it was clear that they were sending him home. That’s right…they asked him to go away. That doesn’t happen very often in sports, but there is a precedent for it. Both Terrell Owens and Keyshawn Johnson have experienced it. That’s some awesome company to be in, Allen.

This past summer, he signed with Memphis. It sounded like a bad plan from the beginning, as Memphis is one of the worst teams in the league. Even on such a bad team, though, it looks like Iverson’s abilities have limited him to being a bench player. From the first game, Iverson complained about his playing time. This week, he was again sent home. This is rareified air here, folks. Sent home by two different teams. Sure, the official word is that he was given a personal leave of absence. Some kind of family issue. Maybe there is something happening, but it is very clear that this is a marriage that will not last long enough for the ink on the contract to dry.

How does a player become that selfish? Does Iverson really believe that there are no circumstances under which he should start the game on the bench? Is he so delusional that he does not understand that he is no longer the same player he was in 2001, when he led the Sixers to the NBA finals? Athletes are incredibly coddled, of course. From a young age, they are treated like they are untouchable. Playing a sport at the highest level requires an incredible level of confidence. It is not a surprise that there are a lot of headcases out there. When one athlete really stands out as an attitude problem, then, it is deserving of mention.

It makes me sad to see what Iverson has become. Yes, I always knew he was a problem waiting to happen. His skill allowed him to rise above that. Not anymore. Now he is just a problem that the Grizzlies are better off without.

Bad sports, continued:

2) This week, the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to win the World Series. As a lifelong Phillies fan, this was a major disappointment for me. I really believed the Phillies would repeat as champions. I am not going to go down the “Yankees bought the championship” road. They are playing within the rules currently in place in Major League Baseball. And they were the better team. Still, after many years of futility in Philadelphia, back-to-back championships seemed too good to be true. I guess it was.

3) Elizabeth Lambert, a soccer player from the University of New Mexico, was suspended this week after a match with BYU where she committed a number of infractions, most of which were not called. The one that jumped out at me was the incident where she pulled down an opposing player by her ponytail, yanking her to the ground. That’s just wrong.

Good sports:

1) IndyCar driver Danica Patrick is very close to signing with a NASCAR team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. She would run a number of lower level races in an attempt to become accustomed to the larger cars used in the stock car series, with the eventual goal of competing in the Sprint Cup Series against top competition. Women have very little history in NASCAR, so whatever inroads Patrick can make will be a pretty big deal.

2) Following the theme of accomplishments for females, Zenyatta, a 5-year old mare, won the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday. She is the first mare to ever win the Classic, and is unbeaten in 14 career starts, which is truly amazing.

3) Statistics don’t tell the whole story when it comes to sports, but they can tell us a whole lot on occasion. In Sunday’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans, Peyton Manning became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 40,000 yards in any decade. The numbers only tell part of the story, when it comes to Manning. They do tell a pretty good story, though.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02