We Talkin 'Bout Practice

This news conference excerpt is from 2002. But it still rings true to me today. So many players feel like they are above the law. Allen felt that way, I wonder how he feels today?

We Talkin 'Bout Practice

Iverson: "Its easy to talk about, its easy to sum it up when you just talk about practice. We sittin' in here, I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talkin' about practice. I mean listen, we talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a, not a, not the game that I go out there and die for, and play every game like its my last. Not the game. We talkin' bout practice, man. I mean how silly is that? We talkin' bout practice. I know I'm supposed to be there, I know I'm supposed to lead by example. I know that, and I'm not shovin' it aside, you know, like it don't mean anything. I know its important, I do. I honestly do. But we talkin' bout practice, man. What are we talkin' bout? Practice? We talkin' bout practice man. We talk... We talkin' bout practice. We talkin' bout practice. We ain't talkin' bout the game, we talkin' bout practice, man. When you come into the arena, and you see me play, you see me play, don't you? You see me give everything I got, right? But we talkin' bout practice right now. We talkin' bout practice. (crowd laughs) Man look, I hear you, its funny to me too. I mean, its strange, its strange to me too. But we talkin' bout practice man. We not even talkin' bout the game, the actual game, when it matters. We talkin' bout practice."

Iverson: "How in the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?

Reporter: "So they can be used to playing with you."

Iverson: "They should be used to playing with me. Those are my teammates. So my game is going to deteriorate because I'm not practicing with my teammates? Is my game is going to get worse? I'm asking you, is my game going to get worse? So what about my game? Is my game going to get better because other players are hurt on my team, I mean, do that hurt me? Do you think that hurts me? I'm being honest, people are hurt on my team but do that hurt me? Does that hurt me when I go out there and play 48 minutes, does that hurt me as a player? Does that hurt me if this person is hurt or that person is hurt? Do it hurt me?

-Allen Iverson

Is their anything else left to say?

John W. Davis

The NCAA Championship Game: My quick observations

by Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.com

I turned on the NCAA championship for a second to see some of the action. Due to the boycott, I don’t watch too much of the March Madness stuff, especially the commercials. But the game, from what I saw, seemed pretty good.
Here is what I noticed during the game:

Over 90% of the points were scored by black players
The black players were the reason that the NCAA surely earned at least $40 million dollars from one game.

Had the black players not shown up, the game would have never taken place.
Both of the coaches, each of whom earn millions from college sports, are white.
When all of these guys end their college careers and attempt to get head coaching jobs at these same universities to whom they’ve given so much, odds say they will be denied the job.

The player of the year award went to a white player at The University of North Carolina who was clearly dominated in the game before the championship. He’s a great player, but won’t be selected first in the NBA draft. Had he been black, he would not have gotten that award. The same thing happened to Shaquille O’neal in 1992 when Christian Laetner of Duke received all the player of the year awards. Everyone knew clearly that the NCAA’s most dominant player that year was O’neal, and their careers in the NBA confirmed that reality.

Most telling is that a coach who wins games and does not graduate players will get a job over a coach who graduates players and does not win games. This is a clear reflection of the hypocrisy apparent at many of these so-called “academic” institutions. Educating athletes is far less important than getting them on the court; this fact is made clear by the incentive structure of coaching compensation schemes.

The NCAA is racist. That’s all there is to it. I would love to see the black players boycott the championship. Their mothers deserve a cut of that money, not just the coaches.

Video: Why the NCAA is Racist and Why Black Athletes Need to Boycott