關於 brooks if only i could ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Yuna Kim's interview after Sochi Olympic

It was a tough interview. With someone who has been skating for 18 years, and just ended her amateur career, the interview was difficult even before it began. It wasn’t just that the person interviewed was already so well known; It’s also that reporter(interviewer) and Yuna are more than mere interviewer and interviewee.

Before working for , the interviewer worked as Yuna’s manager from late 2008 to right after 2010 olympics. The job was mainly looking after Yuna in her training at Toronto. This interview offers glimpses of Yuna’s own story, as well as one from her former manager’s point of view.

Retired, but still training

Even before Sochi Olympics, the interviewer received many requests directly and indirectly to offer insight to Yuna’s everyday life. She was looking to be the first from Korea and third in history to attain the “Back to Back Champion” title. In fear of affecting such endeavor, the reporter abstained from writing about Yuna till this day. It would be the first comprehensive interview she has given to the press.

We met Yuna at her office in Seoul, and even from the first glance she looked very thin. Leading up to Sochi, she continued to say that constant loss of weight has been a worry for her.

“At Vancouver, I had to plan my diet and such to control weight. But for Sochi, I just kept losing weight. I didn’t even have too much appetite, so eating itself was really done mandatorily. I always thought “I have to eat this to train.” Even one incomplete meal led straight to weight loss. Just to keep stamina up I had to eat out of duty, and it even became stressful once in a while.”

-Now I can really feel that I’m not a “skater”(professional, or amateur really…) anymore.

“Because usually, at this time of the year, I am thinking “Yes! The season’s over!” yet at the same time I am worrying about the following season. But now I don’t have that and I fully realize that I am retired. When I was training for a competition, even if my first training session of the day goes well, I had pressure to do my second session well. But now that I’m out of the competition, I don’t have such pressure any more.”

Braced herself for a lower-than-expected score before Sochi

Even while she talked of her continuing training, she seemed very happy. It was as if she has begun to enjoy the life after retirement. Wouldn’t she have any sentiments left for the Sochi games, would the result still be on her mind, and this was her answer.

“Just before Sochi, I performed many clean programs during practice. I was confident that if I don’t choke, I would be able to pull of a clean program at the competition. All things aside, I skated clean thankfully as I thought, and the results are up to the judges.

I mean, I’ve been to so many competitions, and there have been quite some times when my score wasn’t high as I had expected. Of course I shouldn’t be the one to say that I had expected correctly though. I always enter a competition with the thought that there is always a possibility of a score that I can’t quite understand or accept.

It was the same for the Winter Games this year. So I did a lot of imagining of an unexpected score coming out. So it wasn’t even shocking. I already knew before my turn in free skate that other skaters had received high scores, so I guess that’s why I didn’t look so surprised at the Kiss&Cry.

It’s not as if such reaction was planned. It’s just that up to the Olympics, I wasn’t thinking “I have to win.” I was thinking more along the lines of ending things well, and I just thought that I would feel so free after this competition.”

-You were spotted crying in the mix zone after Kiss&Cry.

“Tears just came out after the first interview in the mix zone. I was about to answer and they just came streaming down. They weren’t tears of anger or resentment; I was about to say that I was happy that things came to a close. All this time, it was so hard with lack of motivation and stuff.

To be truthful, the two seasons leading to the Olympics were the toughest time as a skater. I felt each moment how hard it is to be without a goal. After the conference about coming back to competition, and getting back to training, I just couldn’t get myself motivated. It was demanding both physically and mentally.

-How did you overcome such times?

“Well, it wasn’t a matter of overcoming really. I don’t really think you can. I think you can only rely on time to solve it. It was so tough but it was a fact that I couldn’t quit… I just thought accepting the situation as it is and getting myself together was what I could do. I already said I’d go to Sochi, and you can’t nullify your previous statement just due to lack of motivation. When I really didn’t feel like training, I rested. I know now that training on such days isn’t any better than not. And while resting I could get my thoughts together too. I got myself together by accepting the fact that I’m going through tough time when I was. And all the while I always thought to myself: that I was a person who takes responsibility for the work that I’d been given.”

After the Olympics, there have been statements that Yuna may have won with one more triple jump. It was saying that Yuna’s technical score was lower than Sotnikova’s due to lack of a jump. I asked Yuna what she thought of such speculation. Her answer was very definite.

“The results came out and also did many opinions and analysis. But it’s not as if I can go back and do another triple. It’s all done and past. There is nothing I can do. I don’t worry about it any more.”

“one in a hundred years” (phrase like one in a million)

Working as her manager, the reporter had met many sports marketing experts. They all observed that Yuna was someone that may come once every hundred years in Korean sports history. An athlete with top notch caliber with star quality that doesn’t come second to teenage idol stars; such sentiments were shared by foreign marketers as well.

Because of this, many people around Yuna experienced many “firsts.” The marketing scene had to learn how to utilize an active athlete who receives such spotlight in marketing. They all silently agreed that such marketing would have to be done on a level that wouldn’t jeopardize her performance.

Before Vancouver Olympics, the entire commercial crew had to fly all the way over to Toronto for shooting.
It was the same for the press. The Korean press was lost in front of a person who was racking up so much interest from the public, yet had so little time for interviews. As Vancouver Olympics approached, even foreign press had to express their hurry.

Because she had so many interview requests, “Media Week” was held in Toronto. NBC, NYT, NHK, CBC, along with countless Korean media went over to Toronto during the week.

People who made YUNA

How could Yuna become “one in a hundred years” athlete? With the innate talent and perfect body for figure skating set aside, we could think of the environment that was provided to her to focus solely on skating.

As is well known already, her mother Mee Hee Park has had a great part in such environment. Yuna spoke of her mother as such:

“On some occasions I have said that it was tough because of her and such, but now I can understand her. So when I see young skaters arguing with their mothers, I can sort of understand both sides, not just the skaters’.

Mrs. Park’s efforts were greater than is publicized. She was famous even in Toronto for her efforts. The best seat that overlooks the rink was always hers, and the local skaters’ parents even called the seat “Yuna’s camp.”

Coaches can never be overlooked either. Yuna says that she “was able to meet the right coaches at the right time.”

“I have had 8 coaches thus far including Mr. Ryu who suggested competing. After Mr.Ryu, I learned all the triple jumps from Mrs. Shin. Now I ended my career with the two of them by my side. Maybe it was because they had seen me since I was really little, but the whole training process was very comfortable. Peace of mind should I say?

Even if a skater has abundance of talent, without a supervisor it’s hard for her to grow. Because Mr.Ryu and Mrs. Shin could point out my errors, I could rely on them on my way to Sochi. Some people wonder whether I need a coach when I had already won gold at Vancouver, but skating changes everyday with you daily condition, so you need someone to look after you technically and mentally. Now that I ended my career with those coaches from childhood, it really does make me sentimental a bit.”

With a bit of exaggeration, the troubles that arose in Yuna’s career and Yuna’s efforts to overcome them could be compared to “optimistic asphalt covering all the breaks and fissures on the road.” Yuna has said that “Secret” was one of the memorable books that she had read and the book pretty much conveys the same message.

Though many call Yuna “Daeinbae”[Dane-Bæ], there are also anecdotes where people say “I saw Yuna at an autographing event, but she looked disinterested” or “she refused to sign an autograph for me.” The question that the reporter received most frequently was also “How’s Yuna’s character?” I asked her how she felt about such questions and thoughts.

“When I don’t have a certain facial expression, I guess I look sort of disinterested or angry even… Maybe it’s because I don’t have double eyelids, I don’t know. When I don’t really have any expression, I get asked if I’m angry or sullen. But I’m really not….

Yeah I mean I heard so many gossip rumors. Once I heard that a flight attendant saw me fighting and cussing with my mom. It was ridiculous; once I’m on a plane I don’t even talk that much. I just think there are people who do such things on purpose.”

The reporter experienced first handed such rumors going around as if they were true. When Yuna was training in Toronto, rumor spread that she was dating Jang Geun Suk (Korean actor). It simply wasn’t true.

“Lee Sang Hwa (Korean speed skater, whose boyfriend is also a hockey player) didn’t introduce me to my boyfriend”

-There are also some negative comments regarding commercial appearances.
“Yeah I know, but I don’t read them these days. It doesn’t do you any good you know… I don’t really know my net income. I don’t even get allowances. I think I’ll take some more interest from now on. (laugh)”

-It was recently revealed that you were dating, and people wonder what a person like you look for in a man?

“You have to look at everything. As for rumors going around about my boyfriend, though they’re very far from the truth, you just have to accept it. But as for the rumor that Lee Sang Hwa introduced us to each other is false. Marriage? I don’t know, I never thought about whether I want to marry early or not.”

18 years as a skater and now Yuna is 25 (Korean age). Does she have any regrets? No was her immediate and definite answer.

“I mean I experienced everything I could. Results and everything. I sort of got to the bottom of it all to have any regrets. 2 olympics, regrets, sentiments yet unsolved, I don’t have any of that. Ice rink was school for me, and I had good result there. I haven’t lived too long, but it was satisfactory.”

-Many people are interested in your future plans.

“I’ve been thinking, but it’s been hard to decide. What to do, where to work, I just don’t know. It hasn’t been too long since the Olympics ended, and I’ve just been running headlong for 18 years.

I know I’m in the spotlight right now, and the decision is that much harder because of that. I just feel my choices are limited.”

As of right now, I want to help upcoming skaters. Now that they are getting some good results, I want to help them reap better ones. Figure skating is what I like the most and it’s also what I’m best at. It just doesn’t feel right to lay it all aside; I want to help young skaters. Even before this Olympics, I had so much I wanted to tell them. But since I’m not a coach, I just told them don’t be nervous and such as is usual for a senior athlete.”

At Sochi, Park So Youn, Kim Hae Jin, Kim Jin Seo competed alongside Yuna. They are all expected to be the face of Korean figure skating at Pyeonchang games in 2018. Park So Youn finished 9th in the world championship right after Sochi.

-There have been speculations of running for IOC athlete commissioner

After successful bidding for 2018 Olympics, there have been talks about future involvement with Sports diplomacy. But I think I was too young then to think about such things. Now I have all the prerequisites for running, but I don’t know yet. It’s not as if you automatically get the job just because you want it, and because the next Olympic games is summer Olympics, it may be more advantageous for a summer Olympian.

-Looking back who are you grateful to?

All the coaches and so many people who have helped. And also all the fans who cheered me on. There were many fans who would buy tickets to competitions abroad, and that’s really not an easy thing to do. I am most thankful for those fans who were always close by, but always cheering me on from a step away. Many things have happened throughout my career, and I really want to thank those fans who always believed in me and loved me for what I am.”

Yuna Kim truly looked free during the interview. It was an attitude without a single trace of regret, one that can only be taken on by a person who has tried her best through and through.

I sat down in front of her with the title “comprehensive interview” on my hands. But there are many questions I couldn’t quite ask and stories that she could not quite answer.

Though a public figure, there are much personal life and thoughts within Yuna. I couldn’t ask her to recall every single moment of the 18 years of her career and interpret them. She has shown her everything to make the public cry and smile. At 25 years old, we cannot ask her to reveal what would give her the motivation to live the rest of her life.

Translated by JT Brooks via Golden Yuna

Source: http://sports.media.daum.net/sports/general/newsview…

A young, exciting backcourt star rose to the forefront last night at Madison Square Garden. And when Allen Iverson's season-high 35-point performance had finished off the Knicks, New York's three-game winning streak was finished as well.

With Larry Johnson missing two potential game-tying 3-pointers during the final 20 seconds, the Philadelphia 76ers edged the Knicks, 101-97, in a game in which Iverson imposed his will.

Both Charlie Ward and Scott Brooks fouled out trying to contain Iverson -- a job that nobody on the Knicks could handle.

Iverson shot 10 for 19 from the field, and 5 for 9 from 3-point range -- making jumpers, slicing to the basket and keeping constant pressure on a Knick defense that became passive as Iverson became more aggressive. Only his free-throw shooting was off: if he had shot better than 10 of 17 from the line, he might have scored 40 points.

After watching this game, do not be surprised if Chris Childs (non-displaced fractured right fibula) is inclined to rush himself back into the Knicks' lineup. Childs begins full-scale workouts Wednesday, and he could be activated later this week. The Knicks could have used Childs last night, but it might not have mattered who defended the Sixers' talented rookie. Iverson was that good. And playing in New York for the first time as a professional did not unnerve Iverson. It was Iverson who unnerved the Knicks.

Asked if anyone could have covered him, Iverson said: ''I don't think so. When my jumper is on, I can pretty much do whatever I want. But when the jumper is on, it is hard to stop anybody in this league.''

For those who were there at McDonough Gymnasium on August 4, 1994, few will forget the arrival of a 6-0 freshman guard who needed no introduction. The rumors of Allen Iverson's arrival to the Kenner Summer League were true, and by game's end, Iverson had scored 40 points. By the Sunday afternoon final, before an overflow crowd inside the gym and a crowd of those outside who could not get in, Iverson finished a combined 99 point effort in three days against some of the best collegiate talent in the city. This, of course, from a player that had not played organized basketball in over a year.

The Allen Iverson years had begun.

A brief profile can't do justice to tell the story of one of the greatest pure athletes ever to attend Georgetown, a man without peer in his talent over two years at the collegiate level. Just a year before his Kenner debut, few would have imagined Allen Iverson ever playing college basketball.

Iverson was not only a 31 point a game guard for Bethel HS, but a football player of tremendous skill. As a quarterback and defensive back his sophomore season, he produced nearly 1,600 yards offense and 13 INT's. By his junior year, he accounted for 2,204 yards, 21 touchdowns by rush or interception, and 14 touchdown passes. In a region which has produced NFL quarterbacks such as Michael Vick and Aaron Brooks, there are those who will still say "Bubbachuck" Iverson was better than both of them. Schools such as Arkansas, Kentucky, Duke, and three dozen other top programs across two sports were vying for perhaps the greatest two-sport star the Tidewater had ever produced.

When he led Bethel to the state title, someone asked what it was like to win the title. "I'm going to get one in basketball now," which he did. In late February, 1993, en route to the state title he had promised, Iverson was one of a large group of Bethel teammates at a Hampton bowling alley when a fight broke out between students from rival schools trading racial insults. Three people were hurt in the aftermath. Despite conflicting testimony from eyewitnesses and no clear evidence linking him to the crime, Iverson was one of four black students arrested.

Racial tensions were heightened when the prosecutors passed on a misdemeanor assault charge and charged Iverson with three counts of felony "maiming by mob", which carried a 20 year prison sentence. Despite video evidence which did not place Iverson in the crowd at the time of the fight, he was convicted in a racially charged case.

The 20 year sentence was later reduced to five, and Iverson was granted clemency by Gov. Douglas Wilder three months later, sending Iverson to a detention program at an alternative high school. (The original charges were thrown out by the Virginia court of appeals in 1995.)

In the spring of 1994, with Iverson still in detention, his mother approached John Thompson with a plea to help her son get to college and start a new chapter of his life. Though Thompson had passed on a number of troubled players in the past, he offered Iverson a scholarship in April of that season, contingent upon his completion of high school and his legal release, which was granted 48 hours before his Kenner debut.

By his debut in a Georgetown uniform in November 1994, Iverson had been the subject of intense national media attention. In the Hoyas' annual exhibition with Fort Hood, Iverson scored 36 points, five assists, and three steals in 23 minutes. Local columnists were in awe.

"Hang his number up in the rafters," wrote Tom Knott of the Washington Times. "He's better than most of the point guards in the NBA right now."

"I saw Lew Alcindor, Austin Carr, Moses Malone, Alonzo Mourning, Albert King, Ralph Sampson and Patrick Ewing play in high school," said the Post's Thomas Boswell. "Now, I have two memories on my first impression top shelf. The man who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Allen Iverson."

Iverson opened the 1994-95 season in Memphis, TN in a 97-79 loss to defending NCAA champion Arkansas, scoring 19 points. Six days later, he scored 31 in a nationally televised game with DePaul, followed by 30 four days later against Providence, leading the team in scoring 22 times that season. His only game under double figures for the season (and his career) was a game where he played only ten minutes in a loss at Villanova, a game Georgetown coach John Thompson threatened to forfeit when a group of Villanova students paraded through the Spectrum in black and white-striped prison garb, with a sign comparing Iverson to O.J. Simpson.

"You accept certain ribbing, but there is a line," Thompson said after the game. "I can condone any Christian university sitting and watching that happen...If that happens [again], I going to walk. It that simple." Such fan behavior was not seen thereafter.

Later in the season, with President Bill Clinton in attendance, Iverson scored 26 as the Hoyas routed Villanova, 77-52. He followed it up with 21 to beat Syracuse, 28 versus St. John's, 31 in a Big East tournament opener with Miami (a game that saw Iverson outscore the entire Hurricane team at the end of the first half), and 27 versus Connecticut in the semis. In the NCAA regional, he scored 24 in the loss, but held Jeff McInnis to 1 for 8 shooting. By season's end, Allen Iverson had been named Big East Player of the Week nine times, Rookie of the Year, a second team all-conference selection, and honorable mention All-America recipient. Having led the Hoyas in points and steals en route to the school's first NCAA regional appearance since 1989, Iverson was already a star. By 1996, he would become nothing less than a sensation.

The leaser of a talented team that featured four future NBA stars, Allen Iverson dominated the 1995-96 season as no Hoya has done before or since. Adept at the crossover dribble that became his NBA trademark, lightning quick to the basket, and able to score on opponents at will, Iverson was largely unstoppable. Even more impressive was an effort to improve his shooting touch, for despite averaging 20.4 points as a freshman in 1994-95 (2nd all time for a Georgetown rookie), Iverson only shot 39 percent from the field, 23 percent from three, and 19 percent from three in Big East play. For his sophomore season, his field shooting increased to 48 percent, his three point mark to 36 percent. The results were striking.

In the pre-season NIT versus Temple, Iverson shot 50 percent for 24 points and a career high 10 rebounds. After a 23 point effort against Georgia Tech, he scored a career high 40 against Arizona, one of two 40+ point games that season. In Big East play, Iverson could ring up points with ease, such as the game where he scored 21 points in only 20 minutes against Rutgers.

In the final three months of the season, Iverson led the team in 21 of the team's 25 games: 40 against Seton Hall, 39 against St. John's, 34 against Providence. He scored 30 in a wild win over Memphis, and followed it up two nights later with 26 in an upset of #3 Connecticut. For the game, Iverson totalled 26 points, 8 steals, and 6 assists, including a soaring dunk past Ray Allen and the Huskies. It was the highest ranked team any Georgetown team had defeated since 1988. His best performance of the season might have been a 37 point, 8 rebound, and three steal effort against #6 ranked Villanova, playing only 27 minutes. The 106-68 win represents the sixth largest margin of victory and the largest margin ever by a Georgetown team against a top 10 opponent.

Iverson was capable of an off game; unfortunately, two came at particularly inopportune times for the Hoyas' hopes for a national title. Entering the 1996 Big East Final with a #1 seed on the line, Iverson shot 4 for 15 and the Hoyas lost by one, 76-75. As a result of the loss, Georgetown was seeded #2 behind top ranked UMass, and in the regional final between the two teams Iverson struggled with a 6 for 21 effort in the loss. For the season, though, his statistics were astonishing: his 926 points broke the then-record by 124 points. He set new single season marks in field goals, field goal attempts, three pointers, three point attempts, steals, minutes, and scoring average (25.0), the latter of which ranked 7th in the nation that season. The Big East's defensive player of the year, he was named a consensus All-American amidst numerous other awards.

If he could somehow have stayed four years, Iverson undoubtedly would have shredded the Georgetown record books. But whatever hopes existed for Iverson to resist the lure of the NBA were short lived, particularly with the news that one of his sisters had fallen ill. Seeing the opportunity to take care of his family's medical needs, Iverson announced for the NBA draft soon after the end of his sophomore season, becoming the first Georgetown player in the Thompson era to do so. The compact that had bound so many great Hoya players to a four year commitment--from Ewing to Williams, Mourning to Mutombo--had now been broken.

The first pick in the 1996 NBA draft, Iverson signed a $3.9 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers and a ten year, $50 million deal with Reebok. His effort on the court is well known and respected, but for all the media portrayals of Iverson as the anti-hero, an icon of a "Hip Hop Nation" that ran counter to the NBA's carefully constructed marketing image, or as a symbol of all that is allegedly wrong in professional basketball, he remains remarkably well-grounded.

Married for six years and the father of two, Iverson is fiercely loyal to his teammates and to his childhood friends. He considered it an honor to play for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004 when other NBA stars passed on the offer, and maintains a number of charity events to benefit his local community. In comparison to his NBA career, his years at Georgetown were largely free of the intense media and personal scrutiny, providing at least two years where he could grow as a person as well as a basketball player.

His arrival and exit at Georgetown is still a source of debate in some circles, but his performance on the court is not. Allen Iverson found a home, even briefly, at the Hilltop, and remains one of its brightest stars. "In my heart, I know I'm a basketball player," Iverson said following his 2006 NBA trade, "being that I know I can play with the best of them."

From that first Kenner League game on 1994, no one has doubted it since.

For those who were there at McDonough Gymnasium on August 4, 1994, few will forget the arrival of a 6-0 freshman guard who needed no introduction. The rumors of Allen Iverson's arrival to the Kenner Summer League were true, and by game's end, Iverson had scored 40 points. By the Sunday afternoon final, before an overflow crowd inside the gym and a crowd of those outside who could not get in, Iverson finished a combined 99 point effort in three days against some of the best collegiate talent in the city. This, of course, from a player that had not played organized basketball in over a year.

The Allen Iverson years had begun.

A brief profile can't do justice to tell the story of one of the greatest pure athletes ever to attend Georgetown, a man without peer in his talent over two years at the collegiate level. Just a year before his Kenner debut, few would have imagined Allen Iverson ever playing college basketball.

Iverson was not only a 31 point a game guard for Bethel HS, but a football player of tremendous skill. As a quarterback and defensive back his sophomore season, he produced nearly 1,600 yards offense and 13 INT's. By his junior year, he accounted for 2,204 yards, 21 touchdowns by rush or interception, and 14 touchdown passes. In a region which has produced NFL quarterbacks such as Michael Vick and Aaron Brooks, there are those who will still say "Bubbachuck" Iverson was better than both of them. Schools such as Arkansas, Kentucky, Duke, and three dozen other top programs across two sports were vying for perhaps the greatest two-sport star the Tidewater had ever produced.

When he led Bethel to the state title, someone asked what it was like to win the title. "I'm going to get one in basketball now," which he did. In late February, 1993, en route to the state title he had promised, Iverson was one of a large group of Bethel teammates at a Hampton bowling alley when a fight broke out between students from rival schools trading racial insults. Three people were hurt in the aftermath. Despite conflicting testimony from eyewitnesses and no clear evidence linking him to the crime, Iverson was one of four black students arrested.

Racial tensions were heightened when the prosecutors passed on a misdemeanor assault charge and charged Iverson with three counts of felony "maiming by mob", which carried a 20 year prison sentence. Despite video evidence which did not place Iverson in the crowd at the time of the fight, he was convicted in a racially charged case.

The 20 year sentence was later reduced to five, and Iverson was granted clemency by Gov. Douglas Wilder three months later, sending Iverson to a detention program at an alternative high school. (The original charges were thrown out by the Virginia court of appeals in 1995.)

In the spring of 1994, with Iverson still in detention, his mother approached John Thompson with a plea to help her son get to college and start a new chapter of his life. Though Thompson had passed on a number of troubled players in the past, he offered Iverson a scholarship in April of that season, contingent upon his completion of high school and his legal release, which was granted 48 hours before his Kenner debut.

By his debut in a Georgetown uniform in November 1994, Iverson had been the subject of intense national media attention. In the Hoyas' annual exhibition with Fort Hood, Iverson scored 36 points, five assists, and three steals in 23 minutes. Local columnists were in awe.

"Hang his number up in the rafters," wrote Tom Knott of the Washington Times. "He's better than most of the point guards in the NBA right now."

"I saw Lew Alcindor, Austin Carr, Moses Malone, Alonzo Mourning, Albert King, Ralph Sampson and Patrick Ewing play in high school," said the Post's Thomas Boswell. "Now, I have two memories on my first impression top shelf. The man who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Allen Iverson."

Iverson opened the 1994-95 season in Memphis, TN in a 97-79 loss to defending NCAA champion Arkansas, scoring 19 points. Six days later, he scored 31 in a nationally televised game with DePaul, followed by 30 four days later against Providence, leading the team in scoring 22 times that season. His only game under double figures for the season (and his career) was a game where he played only ten minutes in a loss at Villanova, a game Georgetown coach John Thompson threatened to forfeit when a group of Villanova students paraded through the Spectrum in black and white-striped prison garb, with a sign comparing Iverson to O.J. Simpson.

"You accept certain ribbing, but there is a line," Thompson said after the game. "I can condone any Christian university sitting and watching that happen...If that happens [again], I going to walk. It that simple." Such fan behavior was not seen thereafter.

Later in the season, with President Bill Clinton in attendance, Iverson scored 26 as the Hoyas routed Villanova, 77-52. He followed it up with 21 to beat Syracuse, 28 versus St. John's, 31 in a Big East tournament opener with Miami (a game that saw Iverson outscore the entire Hurricane team at the end of the first half), and 27 versus Connecticut in the semis. In the NCAA regional, he scored 24 in the loss, but held Jeff McInnis to 1 for 8 shooting. By season's end, Allen Iverson had been named Big East Player of the Week nine times, Rookie of the Year, a second team all-conference selection, and honorable mention All-America recipient. Having led the Hoyas in points and steals en route to the school's first NCAA regional appearance since 1989, Iverson was already a star. By 1996, he would become nothing less than a sensation.

The leaser of a talented team that featured four future NBA stars, Allen Iverson dominated the 1995-96 season as no Hoya has done before or since. Adept at the crossover dribble that became his NBA trademark, lightning quick to the basket, and able to score on opponents at will, Iverson was largely unstoppable. Even more impressive was an effort to improve his shooting touch, for despite averaging 20.4 points as a freshman in 1994-95 (2nd all time for a Georgetown rookie), Iverson only shot 39 percent from the field, 23 percent from three, and 19 percent from three in Big East play. For his sophomore season, his field shooting increased to 48 percent, his three point mark to 36 percent. The results were striking.

In the pre-season NIT versus Temple, Iverson shot 50 percent for 24 points and a career high 10 rebounds. After a 23 point effort against Georgia Tech, he scored a career high 40 against Arizona, one of two 40+ point games that season. In Big East play, Iverson could ring up points with ease, such as the game where he scored 21 points in only 20 minutes against Rutgers.

In the final three months of the season, Iverson led the team in 21 of the team's 25 games: 40 against Seton Hall, 39 against St. John's, 34 against Providence. He scored 30 in a wild win over Memphis, and followed it up two nights later with 26 in an upset of #3 Connecticut. For the game, Iverson totalled 26 points, 8 steals, and 6 assists, including a soaring dunk past Ray Allen and the Huskies. It was the highest ranked team any Georgetown team had defeated since 1988. His best performance of the season might have been a 37 point, 8 rebound, and three steal effort against #6 ranked Villanova, playing only 27 minutes. The 106-68 win represents the sixth largest margin of victory and the largest margin ever by a Georgetown team against a top 10 opponent.

Iverson was capable of an off game; unfortunately, two came at particularly inopportune times for the Hoyas' hopes for a national title. Entering the 1996 Big East Final with a #1 seed on the line, Iverson shot 4 for 15 and the Hoyas lost by one, 76-75. As a result of the loss, Georgetown was seeded #2 behind top ranked UMass, and in the regional final between the two teams Iverson struggled with a 6 for 21 effort in the loss. For the season, though, his statistics were astonishing: his 926 points broke the then-record by 124 points. He set new single season marks in field goals, field goal attempts, three pointers, three point attempts, steals, minutes, and scoring average (25.0), the latter of which ranked 7th in the nation that season. The Big East's defensive player of the year, he was named a consensus All-American amidst numerous other awards.

If he could somehow have stayed four years, Iverson undoubtedly would have shredded the Georgetown record books. But whatever hopes existed for Iverson to resist the lure of the NBA were short lived, particularly with the news that one of his sisters had fallen ill. Seeing the opportunity to take care of his family's medical needs, Iverson announced for the NBA draft soon after the end of his sophomore season, becoming the first Georgetown player in the Thompson era to do so. The compact that had bound so many great Hoya players to a four year commitment--from Ewing to Williams, Mourning to Mutombo--had now been broken.

The first pick in the 1996 NBA draft, Iverson signed a $3.9 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers and a ten year, $50 million deal with Reebok. His effort on the court is well known and respected, but for all the media portrayals of Iverson as the anti-hero, an icon of a "Hip Hop Nation" that ran counter to the NBA's carefully constructed marketing image, or as a symbol of all that is allegedly wrong in professional basketball, he remains remarkably well-grounded.

Married for six years and the father of two, Iverson is fiercely loyal to his teammates and to his childhood friends. He considered it an honor to play for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004 when other NBA stars passed on the offer, and maintains a number of charity events to benefit his local community. In comparison to his NBA career, his years at Georgetown were largely free of the intense media and personal scrutiny, providing at least two years where he could grow as a person as well as a basketball player.

His arrival and exit at Georgetown is still a source of debate in some circles, but his performance on the court is not. Allen Iverson found a home, even briefly, at the Hilltop, and remains one of its brightest stars. "In my heart, I know I'm a basketball player," Iverson said following his 2006 NBA trade, "being that I know I can play with the best of them."

From that first Kenner League game on 1994, no one has doubted it since.