by hanway ----------------------------------------------------------------- ["We talkin' 'bout Practice"] "We talkin' 'bout practice. We're not even talkin' 'bout the actual game, when it matters. We talkin' 'bout practice." "How the hell am I supposed to make my teammates better about practicing? They're supposed to used to play with me anyway. That was my teammates. So, so my game's goin' to deteriorate if I don't practice with those guys?" ----------------------------------------------------------------- SAS: When you were saying that, you know everybody was in summertime. Ya'll just lost playoffs or what have you. What was going through your mind right when you were saying all that stuff for the world to see because you know everybody in the world's listening? AI: It was about, honestly--being in Philadelphia, I go through it, man. I really, really go through it. SAS: Go through what? Go through what exactly? AI: Hell. When everybody saw Allen Iverson, it's hands-on Allen Iverson. That's all the time, not just when he's playing basketball; when I am feeding my daughter, signing, or when I am with my wife, anything. I go through it. It's tough; it's hard. And I fight for that place to represent that place the way I am doing it right now. I fight to represent Philadelphia. I'm not from Philadelphia. I'm from Newport News, Virginia. I fight for Philadelphia. That's how I became a household name to people. And then, when I gotta hear trade rumors or stuff like that about getting me outta there every single after every season, you know i gotta hear talks about this, that, and third, I didn't like where it was coming from, the people it was coming from, I didn't like some of the things that were getting out, that people were finding out, that was in house, in family. You know, family conversations. And I was upset. I just came from a meeting with those people, with Billy and Coach. It was a bad time. SAS: It was immediately following the meeting with Billy King and Larry Brown? AI: Immediately. It was bad advice given to me, and it was a stupid decision that I made by getting out there. All I wanted to do was to tell my fans that I wasn't going anywhere. Coz I just had that meeting. But the meeting was called, and everything was based on the practice situation, that I don't practice. Like I said before, there's no way that I'd accomplish the things I'd accomplished in my life, if I don't practice. If any kid out there thinks that I don't practice, then that's crazy. And I'm not looking at it like a kid, but maturer. I don't make all the right decisions. I don't do everything the right way. I don't know how to play basketball the right way like Larry Brown said. Not every game. Sometimes, I'd go explore my game. I'm gonna do something, try something. I don't know what playing the right way is. I don't know what he means literally, playing the game the right way, playing it unselfishly. He's the greatest coach to ever coach this game, to me, in my heart. He's the greatest. I mean, the way he gets everything out of his players. He's the best coach I've ever been around. SAS: It's interesting that you bring up Larry Brown because would you like to hear what he had to say about you? AI: Absolutely. SAS: Play the tape. --------------------------------------------------------------- [tape] LB on AI LB: When he goes out to play, he gives everything he can to possibly win. He might sometimes be misguided, but he competes every single night. He'll never let his teammates down in terms of giving effort and trying to win. And I love him for that. I wish that he realize when kids watch that, they're not seeing the real side of him. You know, he could have the greatest effect on kids, of any atheletes I've ever been associated with. --------------------------------------------------------------- SAS: I see tears welling in your eyes, my man. Why? AI: Nah, I just got a lot of respect for him. I love him. He taught me a lot. I learned a lot. I learned that you ain't always right, and just because somebody disciplines you, that doesn't mean they don't love you. They're trying to get you get right. They're trying to get you to the point you are right now. [sobbing] SAS: Were there times in your career that, regardless of your respect for him...did you ever feel...it almost came across as if sometimes you felt victimized by him, in the process of him trying to teach you. He'd always said that you felt victimized by him, and he didn't look at himself as a coach to you, but also like a father figure to you. What's your response to that? AI: I didn't know. I didn't know nothing, man. I am blessed with what God gave me. He gave me a talent. When I came into this league, with the talent He gave me, people wanted me to be 35 years old right then. Like "this guy with all these talent, this guy with all these effects on all the people in the world, we want him to be this way." Well I didn't want to be that. SAS: What did you want to be? AI: Me. SAS: And who is you? AI: A human, man. SAS: Who are you? AI: Somebody that bleeds; somebody that cries, that makes mistakes. I'm real, just like everybody else. A human, man. I'm not perfect. I'm not even 50% perfect. I'm human. I made mistakes along the way. I've been to jail three times, and, not saying I did what they said I did, but, in those situations, it called for me to go to jail. In those situations, from my actions on my part, I deserved to be exactly where I was at, everytime I went. And I accept that. SAS: But you even say that with the bowling alley brawl that took place in high school when you were incarcerated for four months? AI: I was there, I was there. SAS: But you were declared clemency by the governor on his last day in office. If that was not an exoneration, what else is it? I mean, he basically said you didn't deserve to be there by granting you clemency. You still feel like you deserve to be there? AI: Man, I went through what I went throuhg because God said, "Go through it." That's why I went through it. And I overcame it. I overcame all of it. And that's my whole thing. I'm doing a charity thing in Maryland, a celebrity football game. SAS: Yeah, you got celebrity football game. You got celebrity softball game, where, by the way, I embarrassed myself a few years ago, but we won't tell the audience about that. You know what I'm saying? And you are a lot of things back in your home, Newport News. AI: Absolutely. I think the one I'm doing is my greatest project. SAS: Why is that? AI: Because...I'm having a celebrity flag football game. I'm having all my celebrity friends over. I'll quarterback the game. And I'm getting police officers from DC area, Newport News, Hampton, Virginia, and Philadelphia, and we'll play against them. Basically it's like the inmates against the officers, but we're gonna be the officers. But we're gonna be the officers, and they're gonna be the inmates. But it's gonna be called "the good vs. good". SAS: Yeah, but what is the reason for that? AI: The reason is, to donate money for guys that don't have money to take care of their legal fees, for canteen, in jail. Because everybody that goes into jail is not a bad guy. People make mistakes. We ain't put it all together yet. We trying to make sure that we look out for them, like sending 500 pairs of sneakers to them, to give to those guys that're going through a hard time. But at the same time, looking out for those officers and donate money to those people because they got the hardest job in the world. You get killed just for being in uniform. Don't have nothing to do with the guy that ran out of the bank with all the money. He can just see you, and you can get killed like that. So I know how real it is. Anything happened with me, yeah, with my house, I'm gonna call the police. I know how hard their job can be. I know why they had to act in a certain way. I deal with it. I've been around it. It's my environment. So I want to give to the inmates and the officers. And try to make it big. Try to fill up the stadium, like what we did in the baseball event, but it's for a good cause. SAS: Still think he's a little kid, ladies and gentlemen? Allen Iverson in the house. --

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