Author Kent Babb wrote a book about Allen Iverson titled, ‘Not a Game’ in which he attempts to tell the story of the basketball star that the world doesn’t know. Despite Allen Iverson’s documentary premiering on Showtime a few weeks ago, there’s still parts of A.I.’s life we’re pretty clueless on.
One of the most memorable moments of Iverson’s career would be the infamous “Practice” rant. It was explained in the Iverson documentary that the classic soundbite was part of a bigger rant. Allen wasn’t downplaying the importance of practice, but saying that in the grand scheme of things, the media shouldn’t be spending as much time as they were speaking on his absence. He also said that the press conference was just days after losing a very good friend and he was still grieving. Babb, on the other hand adds a new layer to this historic moment, saying that Iverson may have been drunk during the rant.
“[Coach Larry] Brown and Iverson argued b4 “Practice” rant, and AI disappeared for a few hours. Brown believes he went to a bar, returned very drunk,” tweeted Babb. He then tweets, “GM Billy King, who had the idea for a news conference, thought about jumping in and ending it but how to explain w/out saying he was intoxicated.” In the book Babb says, “Some were entertained and others watched the train wreck unfold, knowing from experience that Iverson was drunk.”
Was Allen really drunk? Stephen A. Smith says those claims are a flat out lie. He says that he spoke to Iverson about the book, which dropped June 2nd, and the accusations that Iverson was intoxicated couldn’t be further from the truth. “I challenge any journalist in America to tell you that they know [Allen] better than I do,” says Smith, “This is a flat out lie. Allen Iverson was not drunk the day he had that press conference about practice.”
Stephen A. Smith also says that he won’t say that some of the things aren’t public knowledge, and are untrue, but if he finds out that anyone in Allen’s inner circle is talking to media, he will address them. I gotta say, you need more people in your life like Stephen A.
Watch the clip below.
For the record, Allen Iverson didn’t come off as drunk to me. Pissed, but not drunk.
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