For all their differences, what is the point of connection between Iverson and Brown?
Gary Smith did that piece in Sports Illustrated that focused on their both being fatherless, and there’s probably something to that. The other thing is that they’re very similar tempermentally in that they’re both like tortured geniuses at what they do. They’re both quick to wound and slow to forgive. They nurture and harbor every slight, both real and imagined. And they use it for fuel. If you trace every time they’re up against it, they use it. They both sort of orchestrate these blow-ups because they always end with a win, and with them hugging on the court. It’s a psychological pattern. It’s how they play out they’re issues. Iverson says in the book that he wears one of his tattoos because he represents his boys back home (they call themselves “Cru Thik”). What does “representing” mean to him? It sounds like such a cliché, but you see it in hip-hop all the time. It’s about not forgetting where you come from, which is a veiled criticism of the Civil Rights generation, of those who s
