The Tragedy of Allen Iverson

[CrimsonFan]

How the mighty have fallen.

Now, it's gone. So are his wife and family and, apparently, much of his money. He's no longer a star, not even at the Atlanta watering holes he frequents. We only hear about him when the cops are impounding his Lamborghini or creditors are beating down his door. After being so much, good and bad, to so many, Allen Iverson is a 36-year-old retiree. He is a nobody.

Does he have any fight left in him? We will find out soon. He may be finished as a basketball player, but he can't be finished as a man, if he ever was one. He's done too much, been too far and proven himself to be too strong. Right?

He seems totally unprepared for his greatest challenge: life. Iverson was tossed out of high school. He dropped out of college. Not even the gods of irony are funny enough to make A.I. a coach. He's demonstrated no interest in any activity meant to be performed 40 hours per week. In the most significant ways, he is alone. And there's no reason to think any of this will get any better.

The Tragedy Of Allen Iverson - SBNation.com

 

[Rusty Kuntz]

And he brought most, if not all, upon himself. That was a good read, though.

Many of these athletes don't think long term and they end up broke, which is fucking ridiculous when they make millions upon millions of dollars a year. The first thing I'd do if I were an athlete is get a financial advisor.

 

[CrimsonFan]

And he brought most, if not all, upon himself. That was a good read, though.

Many of these athletes don't think long term and they end up broke, which is fucking ridiculous when they make millions upon millions of dollars a year. The first thing I'd do if I were an athlete is get a financial advisor.

But a lot of those financial advisers are looking out for themselves and looking to steal money
IE: Terrell Owens

 

[Rusty Kuntz]

But a lot of those financial advisers are looking out for themselves and looking to steal money
IE: Terrell Owens

Sure, some are shady... that's why you RESEARCH.

Terrell Owens having kids by 3-4 different baby mommas and the child support payments that come along with this was/is his problem.

 

[CrimsonFan]

Sure, some are shady... that's why you RESEARCH.

Terrell Owens having kids by 3-4 different baby mommas and the child support payments that come along with this was/is his problem.

Oh true.. I don't even feel bad for owens.
He can have a tv show.. He's big enough that he can still do things with his career. He's just being a lazy arse.

As for iverson he can do something too.

 

[wildturkey]

Tragic yet predictable.

 

[Rusty Kuntz]

Oh true.. I don't even feel bad for owens.
He can have a tv show.. He's big enough that he can still do things with his career. He's just being a lazy arse.

As for iverson he can do something too.

A little of this, plus he's one of those dudes that don't know when to hang it up... gracefully transition into a tv position or something.

 

[Jack_John_Mark]

Isn't it amazing how someone can work for $8 an hour here in normal America and they aren't "broke"......

But this guy who was on TV and raking in millions is broke

 

[CrimsonFan]

Isn't it amazing how someone can work for $8 an hour here in normal America and they aren't "broke"......

But this guy who was on TV and raking in millions is broke

I'd like to see how much he has in the bank
It's said that he made 164 million bucks playing ball in his career
That's not even with the endorsements and his shoes

 

[LeaderOCola]

Terrell Owens having kids by 3-4 different baby mommas and the child support payments that come along with this was/is his problem.

no it isn't, in his case.

 

[TexasMan]

But a lot of those financial advisers are looking out for themselves and looking to steal money
IE: Terrell Owens

You couldn't have made a better comparison.

Fuck the both of them.

 

[LeaderOCola]

as for AI, anyone could have seen this coming 10+ years ago

 

[Jack_John_Mark]

Seriously.......leave our country if you managed to blow 164 million dollars in 10 years.........you don't deserve to live here

 

[ForkEmBucky]

I've never really believed that athletes should be allowed to accrue that much money for what they do, but at least nature weeds out the morons for us before they can do anything crazy with the power they don't even know they have.

 

[HammerDown]

Not surprised at all.

 

[moxie]

Not surprised at all.

I finally got around to watching his 30 for 30 last night. Not sure what to think of it. Shitty things happened to him, but he also screwed shit up for himself. Interesting story.

 

[HammerDown]

I finally got around to watching his 30 for 30 last night. Not sure what to think of it. Shitty things happened to him, but he also screwed shit up for himself. Interesting story.

Will anyone be surprised when he ends up dead?

 

[chappee11]

I finally got around to watching his 30 for 30 last night. Not sure what to think of it. Shitty things happened to him, but he also screwed shit up for himself. Interesting story.

I try not to feel sorry for multi-zillionaires with all the talent in the world who make "bad choices" in life.

 

[gordontrue]

Will anyone be surprised when he ends up dead?

We all do

 

[trojanfan12]

Both sad and as others have pointed out, sadly predictable. Too bad. He sure was fun to watch though. I wish leagues and teams did more to help these guys as far as getting them hooked up with reputable financial advisers, etc. Maybe they do. In the end, though, a financial adviser can only advise. These are still grown men and can do what they want with their money.

It seems that the biggest drain or downfall for them is all of the people they try to take with them when they make it. They're made to feel that they "owe" all of those people something.

My wife used to watch Keeping up with the Kardashians when Lamar Odom was married to Khloe. She showed me part of an episode where Khloe was going over Lamar's finances and it was amazing to me the number of people whose rents he was paying, car payments he was making, or just money he was giving them for their bills, startup business, etc.

He's only 36. That's old in the NBA, but I wonder if he could go overseas and make some money playing. I know Kobe (also 36) has talked about playing in Italy when his NBA career is over. I know there have been several older NBA players who have played overseas for a few years when their NBA career is over.