Allen Iverson (A.I.) Is Coming To Town

Memphis Grizzlies received good news today.  One of the NBA greats is coming to town as a free agent and the newest MG player.  You would think that people would be happy about the new addition to our family, but as usual people have found something to piss and moan about.  Memphians say that he’s on the down side of his career.  I sat there and pondered what that meant.  The Downside of His Career.  As in, he’s actually had a notable career – but wait.  Not just any notable career, Allen Iverson is 10-time all star, four-time NBA scoring champ and the biggest player acquisition in Grizzlies history.  How many of those do we get that want to come to Memphis?  Gasol nearly gnawed his foot off to leave here and get to LA.  His brother is probably headed a similar direction.

I think we should be thanking our lucky stars that he chose us.  Sure it cost us $3.5 million, but well sometimes you have to spend money (invest it) to make money.  I remember going to games at the FedEx Forum last year that were virtually empty, then going to U of M games the next few nights that were jammed packed.  The Grizzlies need a draw.  If Iverson can bring that to Memphis then fire the marketing department and use that money to fund him.  I don’t really care. 

Plus, he said , “I want to win.  A lot people talk about the Grizzlies and people feel like just getting to the playoffs is enough. That’s a successful season. My goals are a lot bigger. … I feel like we can win.”

People of course complained about his high hopes.  Now, for $3.5 million, isn’t he suppose to talk like that, make promises.  For most of us, if offered $350,000, we’d make promises that we would more than likely deliver on.  He said that he could win not end world hunger. Now if he had come in and not smiled and been very rude, then people would have felt like he was unappreciative.  Go figure. In truth, I love him and plan to buy my first pair of season tickets because of him.

I say welcome the man with a little dignity and grace as those 300 fans and local dignitaries did at the FedEx Forum this morning.  We finally have hope…at least for one year (maybe we can encourage him to stay a while:-).

XoXo and all that jazz,

Latrivia S. Nelson