Allen Iverson

I wish the media and people that work in media would realize sometimes - and I know it doesn't pay your bills - but sometimes just sit back and think, like, 'Man, what if this was my child? And somebody was doing this to them? And they had to go through it? If somebody bashed them like this?'

You hit road blocks in life, but I'm living proof that you can overcome those road blocks and become what you want to become.

At times, I might have been too young; I might have been too naive at times and didn't understand who I really was to a whole culture.

What makes me feel good is all of the people that rooted for A.I. get a chance to say, 'He did what you never thought he could do. The critics. He did what you never thought he could accomplish.' This is a moment that me and my fans and my family and friends can share together because we always believed in the dream.

Either you give in, or you fight. That's all I know, being where I'm from. You fight for what you want. You go after what you want. The only thing I could do was give up or keep fighting for what I wanted in life.

It was a great experience for me - the ups and downs - because I became a man in Philadelphia.

I think a lot of times, when people who get a chance to meet me and be around me, they understand that I'm not the person that the media make me out to be.

Man, I'm 31 years old and a husband with four kids; I hope I'm no thug. I hear all those negative things and don't hear anything positive. I think that's all those people feel... that way that's all they hear about when you hear Allen Iverson did something negative or something.

I dressed like the guys who I grew up with. I looked like the guys I grew up with.

I had a lot of growing up to do. A lot of times, I learned the hard way.

If I could take back all the mistakes that I made throughout my career, I would have had a perfect career. I would have missed no shots. I would have made no turnovers. I would have went right instead of going left when I was supposed to, every game.

All I ever wanted to do was wear Jordans. I think there was only one or two pair I never had.

I'm just overwhelmed with the fact that I had a signature shoe. It's actually 'my shoe.'

I knew I was gonna be the number one pick, but I didn't know.

I want to thank coach Thompson... for saving my life. For giving me the opportunity.

So many people supported me and believed in me. They made it so easy for me to believe in myself, because I didn't want to let them down.

I've accomplished so many things in basketball. I financially secured my kids' life and their future. I'm just happy. I'm just blessed. So anything that I'm not awarded doesn't matter because I've been rewarded enough in this lifetime.

If that many people recognize how hard I go every night and what I put into my game, to make myself and my team better, it means a lot to mean. I'm fortunate; I'm blessed to be in the situation that I'm in right now.

If you're from Virginia, then you know some white people from Poquoson don't like black people.

LeBron ain't got none of my game, but his heart is all mine.

Coming into the league, if I would've had money, then obviously I would've had more tattoos.

Any one of my shoes that I had, you knew that, night in, night out, I gave my teammates and my fans everything that I had.

He's helped me do so much in my career, helped me be the player that I am. If there's no Larry Brown, then there's no MVP, Allen Iverson.

I just feel this is my planet.

I'm the biggest Westbrook fan, I think, there is. You know what I mean? Because he reminds me so much of myself as far as his heart and laying it on the line night in and night out. Just a guy that's going to bring it every single night.

Being older, I can't imagine a parent not wanting to be in their kid's life. I will just never understand it. To me, it's priceless.

It was a blessing just to play one NBA basketball game.

I gotta win games. Because if we lose games, and I score a lot, they going to say I'm scorin' too much.

I love my fans in Philadelphia, but this is the hardest place in the world to play in. And I think it's the hardest place to play in to be a superstar. Just to be the No. 1 guy. All eyes on you - because everybody wants you to be perfect, but not themselves.

I had a lot of growing up to do. A lot of times I learned the hard way.

Doing this for so long, I realize that the media - you have a boss. And your boss wants you to provide the best material that you can. And he might put pressure on you to do it a way that you feel is unconstitutional. You might not like it. But you still gotta feed your family.

As far as how I expressed 'practice, practice, practice' over and over again, I wouldn't take that back because, obviously, that sound bite is great for the media and for the fans, because they love it.

I have no regrets on anything. People ask me all the time, 'Do I have any regrets?' I don't have any. If I could back and do it all over, would I change anything? No.

We should because when coaches get fired, the players have a lot to do with it.

Just understand that there's going to be some ups, there's going to be some downs.

Everybody talks about that one when they first meet me. 'Man, I still remember the play you shook Jordan.' Everybody gonna always remember it because it was Jordan.

I always wanted to be a Sixer... I always wanted to finish my career as a Sixer.

I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball. And an incident happened in high school, and all that was taken away. No other teams, no other schools were recruiting me anymore.

I'm a Hall of Famer, and I can go outside today and go to a restaurant or wherever, and somebody will come up to me and say, 'Practice? We talkin' 'bout practice?' Man, I am a Hall of Famer, and that's all you can think about?

I wish there was a season where I was playing and didn't have no aches, no pains, no bruises, no nothing.

Obviously, if I could go back and change anything, I would be a perfect man. And I know there's no perfect man.

You think I can be the MVP without practicing?

My dream was bigger than anything else. My fight and me wanting to fulfill what I wanted to be in life. That was enough to keep me strong enough to endure anything.

Personally I just want to win a championship.

I don't have any problems with what these guys wear because they got their own style and their own originality. That's the way it's supposed to be, man.

I don't want to just go to the playoffs, I don't want to go to the playoffs and win the first round, second round, and not win the whole thing because it's bittersweet.

It was just the greatest feeling to see a kid with your shoes on.

Don't nobody wanna talk about or hear about somebody donating money to a charity. You wanna hear about what Bin Laden is doing and what you think is on his mind.

I wasn't a point guard. I was a killer.

People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.

I'm a father; I'm a friend. I think I've got the biggest heart in the world. A lot of times, that's not a good thing. It's a gift and a curse.

I couldn't have accomplished the things in my career if I didn't practice, and the worst part about that whole thing is when a kid comes up to me and says 'Allen, I don't like practice, either.' I've got to straighten that kid right then.

I can't take it back. I can't take anything back. So I don't regret it.

Me and my family are straight. I am blessed. I am alive, man, and I am healthy, and that is the only thing that matters. Me and my family, everybody else, it really doesn't matter because why do you care about somebody talking negative about you if they don't know you?

When you win, everything is everything. But when you lose, it's all about Allen Iverson and Larry Brown. When we win, I know that I get the praise and Larry Brown gets the praise, but when we lose, it's on me and Larry Brown. That's something that I have to learn to accept and deal with.

If I don't believe it, then they don't need me on the court. I've just got to believe that in my heart.

I got a lot of love for NBC, Tom Brokaw. He did a lot for me, and I appreciate him, and I owe a lot to him for that.

If I'm not getting older and more mature at 31, then something's wrong.

My friend... used to tease me about a tattoo I had right here, but it was so big, and what he was teasing me about - he said it looked like a flying monkey. It's supposed to have been a grim reaper holding a ball. But it did look like a monkey.

Larry Brown molded me into an MVP and a Hall of Fame player.

There's nothing that sells good about Allen Iverson if it's something positive about Allen Iverson.

I surround myself with people who make me laugh.

You don't want to hear about how much money I donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or to AIDS awareness or to give out scholarships. You don't want to hear about that.

That's where I'll get the love in my heart: from, the fact that little young guys can look at the obstacles that I had to go through to become a Hall of Famer and know it's not so bad when it comes to them trying to accomplish the same goal.

I may not know everything about physical talent or anything like that, but I have a sharp mind when it comes to that look: being able to look into somebody's eyes to tell if they are going to be in the foxhole with you tonight, or if they are not.

I owe all of this to the guys I've played with and all the coaches that have helped me get to where I'm at right now. I'm honored to be here.

I felt like I was better at football than I am in basketball.

Guys is supposed to be able to be original and dress like how they want to dress. The NBA can't dress no grown man.

I don't care. I feel like if we don't make a trade, we have to get it done with what we've got.

I went from the projects to a real house. It was a big difference.

If we lose games, and I don't score a lot, they gonna say I'm not scoring enough.

I am sick of defending myself, and I am not going to keep on doing it.

Being an All-Star is everything.

I wasn't a fan of the Sixers. My dad was a big Mo Cheeks fan, and he wanted me to be drafted by the Sixers. My thing was, if that could make my dad happy, then that would make me happy, you know what I mean?

That's the only thing that got me here is my teammates. My teammates and my coach. That's the only reason I'm here.

My mom always told me that I could be anything I wanted to be. And I truly, actually believed it. And I fought.

A negative Allen Iverson story is the greatest Allen Iverson story, for some reason.

I failed, got back up. I failed, got back up.

I believe that whatever we have, regardless of a trade being done or not, I feel we have a shot. I've just got to believe that we're going to be all right. I've got to just play basketball.

Just because you put a guy in a tuxedo doesn't make him a good guy.

Detroit was a bad situation for me.

You look at guys on the court, man. You got this guy with this brand of shoe, and this guy with this brand - they're just wearing the shoe. But it's a whole different feeling when you got a shoe on, and it's yours.

Tattoos, cornrows, headbands, hip-hop. I never meant to start any trends. I got my butt kicked, but if that meant that the guys who came after me could be themselves, then it was worth it.

You gotta do what you gotta do. And I had to figure that out, and I used to - I couldn't stand the media, but I realized they have a job. They gotta do what they have to do.

God gave me all this; why waste the talent that he gave me? Why not go full throttle with it all and try to become in the class with the greatest players that ever played the game? That's just a great feeling.

I just want kids all over the world to know you have to practice to be any good in this game; it's too hard.

Everybody is their own person.

I gave everything I had to basketball. The passion is still there, but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.

You can hide from the devil, but he'll always find you.

This is like a tribute to them, the people who helped me to get here. The thing that makes me feel good about the whole thing is, the fans voted me here.

I didn't do this by myself, man. It was so many people, so many fans that came in there and cheered for me, night in and night out.

All my tattoos are tattoos that I wanted to get, but I couldn't afford.

Man, people have been waiting for me to fall off my whole career. From the first time I stepped on the court. It probably made people sick to their stomachs watching my whole career, watching the things that I've done in my career.

I don't watch college basketball.

When you lose, there is a whole bunch of room for negativity and I don't feed into this stuff and I do not do any talking. I don't run my mouth.

Sometimes it used to hurt so bad when people used to say stuff about me. It still does. But I'm at a level now that I'm like, 'I ain't surprised that they said this or that about me.'

I wasn't afraid to be who I am. I didn't think anything was wrong with it.

I'm not going to be the same as I was when I've made so many bad mistakes.

When you are not practicing, someone else is getting better.

I wanted my fans and my family and my friends to be proud of me.