Alvin
Jones signed a contract with the 76ers, and he hasn't even been traded yet (Brendan). There's not really any news to speak
of, but we wish him the best. He was an enigma in the ACC, but he
showed flashes periodically, and we hope that he continues to mature and
improve.
In some other Sixers news, Alan Iverson got married, and as you might expect,
his wedding, like his game, was
a mix of the street and the sublime.
According to the Daily News, two guests were having sex in the bridal room
when they were interrupted. Alan and his bride, childhood sweetheart
Tawanna, handed out little cookies with their initials - T&A. Maybe
there were some in the bridal room!
Two guests showed up in shorts, with one wearing a towel to cover his face as
he entered. A parolee?
On the other hand, though, Iverson married his childhood sweetheart when he
could have married someone glamorous and famous, and he and his bride greeted
fans outside and shook hands. He gave one a bottle of champagne. His
mother came out and gave flowers and souvenirs to people. Our suspicion is that
he has touched people in Philly in ways that Dr. J and Charles Barkley never
could have done.
It's touching and a bit sad to watch Iverson grow up so publicly, and while
he obviously retains a strong desire not to get to far away from his roots, he
is, like all of us, being forced to move into a different world as an
adult. He's a phenomenally gifted athlete, and he's struggling to come to
terms with the changes in his life in a very public way. The
disgraceful rap, the street face he projects, it's hard for a lot of people to
figure out what to do with that. But Iverson is slowly, painfully growing,
and has said he has an understanding now of what manhood means. We'll be
interested to see his progress, and hope that the sublime wins out more often
than not. Pretty clearly he has the capacity to shock and dismay, but it's
also possible that many of us underestimated his potential. Not as a ballplayer,
that's clear. But he seems to be reaching for things on a human level, and
he's making a number of transitions simultaneously and publicly.