Thought others might find this interesting that have not read it.
GREAT ARTICLE!!!!
Once again, Iverson will get away with it
--------------------
Jim Spencer
July 19 2002
Say what you will about Allen Iverson. He's one in a million. Almost no one else could get away with behaving the way he does and still succeed as wildly as he has. Those of us who watched him grow up in Newport News and Hampton know that he sidesteps trouble as deftly as he moves around opponents on the basketball court.
Iverson's talent for dodging the consequences of his actions far exceeds the magic of his legendary crossover dribble. So believe this: The Philadelphia 76er superstar will survive charges that he broke into a cousin's apartment, looking for a wife he'd just thrown out of his mansion. He will prevail as surely as he prevailed after hitting one person and clubbing another with a chair in a Hampton bowling-alley brawl roughly a decade ago.
The Philadelphia newspapers and the national media have revised the history of what happened in the bowling alley. They always say an appeals court overturned Iverson's maiming-by-mob conviction. They never say why: State Supreme Court justices found plenty of evidence that Iverson assaulted people as an individual. But the justices agreed with Iverson's lawyers, who argued that the group of folks who joined him in the bowling-alley rampage never met the legal definition of a mob.
We will doubtless hear the same sort of explanation from Iverson's lawyers if this latest misunderstanding makes it to court. A mob lawyer in Philly has pronounced the prosecution's case a loser to the city's media. An attorney for gangsters is the kind of expert witness that Iverson now requires and deserves. And, you know, the mob lawyer is probably right.
Police have yet to find the gun that Iverson supposedly
carried in his waistband when he entered his cousin's apart-ment in the middle of the night without permission. Without it, the weapons charges against him are weak, just like any case in which the criminal successfully ditches the gun.
Legally, Iverson's wife, Tawanna, can't be compelled to testify against him and probably won't, except perhaps to say that nothing happened.
Iverson's cousin, Shaun Bowman, might or might not have anything to say about Iverson's purported violence. But even if Bowman testifies, Iverson's threats - made from afar - will never rise to the legal definition of a felony.
Sound familiar?
The star witness against Iverson will be Bowman's roommate, Charles Jones. Jones is the guy who claims to have seen the gun in Iverson's possession and heard Iverson make statements about what he would do if he couldn't find his wife. Jones is the guy who called 911. Jones is the guy who was asleep when Iverson and Iverson's uncle supposedly burst into his apartment unannounced. Anyone who watched Jones being interviewed on television after this incident realizes what he'll look like when the best defense lawyer that a $20 million-a-year basketball star can afford finishes working him over. He'll look like a fresh pile of ground round.
Iverson felt comfortable enough with this situation to stage an all-night party at his mansion Saturday, knowing that he had agreed to surrender to police on multiple felony charges two days later. That's not guts. It's not even arrogance. It is pure contempt - contempt for which Iverson will never be punished.
Sixer fans should feel free to cheer. Their hero will live to fight another day, whether it's in a one-on-one battle with New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd or in an argument with his wife.
Bubba Chuck, as we folks back in the sticks of Southeastern Virginia like to call Iverson, will get away with this.
He'll get away with it as he got away with hitting people in a bowling alley when he was a 17-year-old high school basketball star.
He'll get away with it as he got away with carrying a gun as soon as the court overturned his felony conviction.
He'll get away with it as he got away with hanging around the convicted cocaine dealer he called a "stepfather" while an All-American at Georgetown University.
He'll get away with it as he got away with lending his car to friends who got arrested for selling drugs out of the automobile, after he went to the NBA.
He'll get away with it as he got away with renting a room in a Newport News motel where remnants of marijuana languished amid the debris of trashed furniture as his star ascended in the pros.
He'll get away with it as he got away with carrying a .45 and a little dope in his speeding Mercedes about the time he became pro basketball's Rookie of the Year.
He'll get away with it as he got away with cutting a violent, sexist, homophobic rap record on the way to being the league's Most Valuable Player.
He'll get away with it because his amazing basketball skills have made him one in a million.
He's a highly trained professional. If the remaining 999,999 of us did what he does, we'd be behind bars or hanging on the street corner with no money and no prospects.
So please, kids, don't try this at home.
Copyright (c) 2002, Daily Press
PEACE, HAIL
Here's to ya Allen:thefinger :moon:
GREAT ARTICLE!!!!
Once again, Iverson will get away with it
--------------------
Jim Spencer
July 19 2002
Say what you will about Allen Iverson. He's one in a million. Almost no one else could get away with behaving the way he does and still succeed as wildly as he has. Those of us who watched him grow up in Newport News and Hampton know that he sidesteps trouble as deftly as he moves around opponents on the basketball court.
Iverson's talent for dodging the consequences of his actions far exceeds the magic of his legendary crossover dribble. So believe this: The Philadelphia 76er superstar will survive charges that he broke into a cousin's apartment, looking for a wife he'd just thrown out of his mansion. He will prevail as surely as he prevailed after hitting one person and clubbing another with a chair in a Hampton bowling-alley brawl roughly a decade ago.
The Philadelphia newspapers and the national media have revised the history of what happened in the bowling alley. They always say an appeals court overturned Iverson's maiming-by-mob conviction. They never say why: State Supreme Court justices found plenty of evidence that Iverson assaulted people as an individual. But the justices agreed with Iverson's lawyers, who argued that the group of folks who joined him in the bowling-alley rampage never met the legal definition of a mob.
We will doubtless hear the same sort of explanation from Iverson's lawyers if this latest misunderstanding makes it to court. A mob lawyer in Philly has pronounced the prosecution's case a loser to the city's media. An attorney for gangsters is the kind of expert witness that Iverson now requires and deserves. And, you know, the mob lawyer is probably right.
Police have yet to find the gun that Iverson supposedly
carried in his waistband when he entered his cousin's apart-ment in the middle of the night without permission. Without it, the weapons charges against him are weak, just like any case in which the criminal successfully ditches the gun.
Legally, Iverson's wife, Tawanna, can't be compelled to testify against him and probably won't, except perhaps to say that nothing happened.
Iverson's cousin, Shaun Bowman, might or might not have anything to say about Iverson's purported violence. But even if Bowman testifies, Iverson's threats - made from afar - will never rise to the legal definition of a felony.
Sound familiar?
The star witness against Iverson will be Bowman's roommate, Charles Jones. Jones is the guy who claims to have seen the gun in Iverson's possession and heard Iverson make statements about what he would do if he couldn't find his wife. Jones is the guy who called 911. Jones is the guy who was asleep when Iverson and Iverson's uncle supposedly burst into his apartment unannounced. Anyone who watched Jones being interviewed on television after this incident realizes what he'll look like when the best defense lawyer that a $20 million-a-year basketball star can afford finishes working him over. He'll look like a fresh pile of ground round.
Iverson felt comfortable enough with this situation to stage an all-night party at his mansion Saturday, knowing that he had agreed to surrender to police on multiple felony charges two days later. That's not guts. It's not even arrogance. It is pure contempt - contempt for which Iverson will never be punished.
Sixer fans should feel free to cheer. Their hero will live to fight another day, whether it's in a one-on-one battle with New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd or in an argument with his wife.
Bubba Chuck, as we folks back in the sticks of Southeastern Virginia like to call Iverson, will get away with this.
He'll get away with it as he got away with hitting people in a bowling alley when he was a 17-year-old high school basketball star.
He'll get away with it as he got away with carrying a gun as soon as the court overturned his felony conviction.
He'll get away with it as he got away with hanging around the convicted cocaine dealer he called a "stepfather" while an All-American at Georgetown University.
He'll get away with it as he got away with lending his car to friends who got arrested for selling drugs out of the automobile, after he went to the NBA.
He'll get away with it as he got away with renting a room in a Newport News motel where remnants of marijuana languished amid the debris of trashed furniture as his star ascended in the pros.
He'll get away with it as he got away with carrying a .45 and a little dope in his speeding Mercedes about the time he became pro basketball's Rookie of the Year.
He'll get away with it as he got away with cutting a violent, sexist, homophobic rap record on the way to being the league's Most Valuable Player.
He'll get away with it because his amazing basketball skills have made him one in a million.
He's a highly trained professional. If the remaining 999,999 of us did what he does, we'd be behind bars or hanging on the street corner with no money and no prospects.
So please, kids, don't try this at home.
Copyright (c) 2002, Daily Press
PEACE, HAIL
Here's to ya Allen:thefinger :moon:
