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Looks Aren't Everything
Compared with the rest of today's superstars, he's small -- mostly heart and scabs -- but as tough as a '48 pickup. In his prime he was a wind-up toy who never stopped moving without the ball, busting through picks and elbows and knees as though he was trying to break the world record for bruises. He'd go 48 minutes most every game, usually nursing more injuries than an ER episode. He was a Nintendo-type scorer with a gorgeous jumper who considered being knocked to the floor part of his follow-through. You're thinking Jerry West, right? Wrong. This guy was electric. He could carry an offense, a team, a city by himself. One night he would torch an opponent for 50 points and the next decide to beat the opposition with assists. He was unpredictable, unguardable and unforgettable. He had moves that could make your pupils dilate. He was the idol of millions around the world, one of the three greatest players of his day. You're thinking Michael Jordan, right? Wrong. This guy seemed to be appreciated only by the fans who saw him night after night. He was shy with the press, yet honest as a Sunday confessional. He dressed the same every day and was mocked for it. He was the same man whether in front of the camera or in the line at the deli. He stayed true to his high school friends. He was a family man whose first move after he left the locker room was to sweep up his two small kids. He never let the fame or the money or the trophies change him. You're thinking John Stockton, right? Wrong. This guy had the 100,000-watt smile of a lotto winner. He had the joy of the game in his blood, and he knew how to spread it. He would hug his coach only slightly less than he hugged his mom, which was constantly. He had the courage to dive into the crowd at least once a game, and the sense of humor to hug the fan who caught him. He had the game to win the shiniest awards, yet the humility to share credit with everybody else in the room. You're thinking Magic Johnson, right? Wrong. Now open your eyes and look at him. He's Allen Iverson. That changes everything, doesn't it? Now you see the cornrows and the tattoos and the pierce-holes dripping gold, and they bug you, right? You think thug and rapper and criminal. SI put the NBA's soon-to-be MVP on the cover of its April 23 issue, posed as himself, nearly naked, hip-hop to his heart, and suddenly you're mad. West and Jordan and Stockton and Magic, they're welcome on your coffee table, but not this guy. We're up to our clavicles in hate mail. "Christ!" wrote a subscriber in Tucson. "Don't you have enough tattooed, body-pierced, earring- [and] necklace-wearing, corn-rowed freaks on the inside [of the magazine] that you have to put them on the cover?" "The cover with Allen Iverson made me sick to my stomach," read one e-mail. "I feel the magazine has sent a poor message to young readers." From Richardson, Texas: "Those preening idiots barely belong to the human race." Montgomery, Ala.: "Iverson is just another reason why our country is in such bad shape." Adams, N.Y.: "His angry young oppressed black-man image is b-------. ... I am white and not prejudiced, but I do not feel sorry for Allen Iverson." Another e-mail: "[The] stare, tattoos and pants to the waist showing his jockstrap sum up the reason I have not watched an NBA game in years." San Diego: "The picture of Allen Iverson is revolting." Lindon, Utah: "I object to this grotesque and irreverent picture." Hundreds of people were obsessed by what's on the outside of the man, not the inside. Not a word about will and loyalty and effort. Not a word of praise for a young superstar who has stuck with one team, one woman his whole career. You see him, but you don't see him. And he lives with this crap every freaking day. I'm canceling their subscriptions. Issue date: May 28, 2001 Have something to say about Rick Reilly's musings? Click here to submit a comment -- and be sure to check out Reilly's Mailbag. Don't miss The Life of Reilly (Total/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, $22.95) -- a best-of compilation of Rick Reilly's columns and features, with a foreword written by Charles Barkley, available now at the CNN/Sports Illustrated Stuff Store and bookstores everywhere.
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