The State of Allen Address

I was never thrilled with Allen being traded from Denver to Detroit early in the season. I knew things were not meshing well in Denver and I figured they never would, but, deep down,  I knew Detroit was not the answer for The Answer. Detroit is such an established team. A team, that up until next week, when they inevitably lose to LeBron and his "supporting cast" (his words, not mine), hasn't lost a first round playoff series in seven straight years. A team that had successful chemistry together for years, a team that only years ago were celebrated as the best team in the NBA. Key word: Team. Trading away the unselfish nucleus of that team (Billups) and getting in return a guy who doesn't exactly know what the word team means, can never mesh well. You see, Iverson employs the same logic as LeBron; he has "supporting casts."

And that is not to say that logic hasn't worked out in the past for Iverson and will quite possibly work out this season for LeBron (whose birth certificate I would like to see, I'd like a little proof that he is younger than me). If you look at Allen's career, the year he was most successful (00-01), was the year that the Sixers decided make him the star of the show. Get rid of the Jerry Stackhouse's and the Derrick Coleman's and add in players like Matt Geiger, Aaron McKie, Eric Snow and Raja Bell and all of the sudden, you have a "team." Players like Tashaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton, guys who have more hardware than Iverson, just aren't as likely to be bit players in his million dollar movie. There in lies problem number one.

Problem number two; coaching. Iverson barely listened to Larry Brown, one of the best and most respected NBA coaches around, you think he is going to listen to Michael Curry? Yea, I didn't think he would either. And, what's worse, I don't think Curry had a clue as to what he was going to do with Iverson. He tried to put Rip on the bench, but like I said before, players like Hamilton aren't going to be cast aside without a fight. So Curry went to plan B, bench Iverson. This plan is also known as, end Iverson's career with Detroit.

This is where my disappointment with Iverson sets in for possibly the first time in his career. I know what you are thinking, weren't you disappointed when he threw his wife out of the house naked? Maybe a little bummed when he used the word "practice" 25 times in the span of a minute? Or possibly a little irritated when he put out a rap album. No, I'm sure his wife deserved it, and they shouldn't be talking about practice (that's hearsay), and if Shaq and CWebb can have rap albums, so can Allen. But, where I draw the line is his attitude in the past few weeks. Announcing that he would be sitting out the rest of the season and the playoffs with a back injury. An announcement that coincided with Curry's decision to bring Iverson off the bench.

I understand his frustration. I mean, here is a guy who has averaged 41 minutes a game for his career, 45 in the playoffs. Becoming a bench player is a difficult, but very real adjustment. Let's face it, he isn't 25 anymore and from the way he has played, his body has aged far past his 33 years. His chance to win a championship that he could take full credit for was in 2001 and it didn't happen then, and it sure as hell wont happen now. Here is a man who says that all of the other accolades don't matter, all he is looking for is that ring. But when a team asks him to do his part, to play his role, he decides maybe those personal awards mean a little more than he originally thought. 

I understand that he really does have an injury to his back. But come on, anyone who has watched Iverson in the past decade knows that he would play through anything, no matter the pain, as long as he believed in the outcome. In Detroit, he lost that belief and for the first time he missed a portion of a season with a bruised ego and a strained vagina (he must have gotten that injury from Chris Webber - that guy strained his vag more times than Jenna Jameson). I think it is pretty clear that Iverson will never wear a Piston's jersey again, and that is fine with me. But when the time comes to sign with a team for next season (and I really believe he will) he needs to be realistic and remember that the heyday is over, but his contribution to a championship can still be very real, it just may be as a member of somebody else's "supporting cast."

I definitely keep the faith alive that someday very soon, we will have moments like this again.

I have 13 words for you: Welcome to Studio 82

I know I deserve a slap on the wrist for my lack of blogging in the heat of the Idol season, but I was going through some personal issues; laziness. Now that I got that out of the way, I am ready to blog again. I will tell you though, not too much has changed for me in the world of Idol. I still hate Kara, maybe more actually (see title), Gokey makes my anger levels rise to that of CT from the Real World/Road Rules Challenge (see picture), and Adam is still so much better than anyone else that it hardly seems fair. 

We have said goodbye to some folks since I last blogged, but I have to say that the only one I really disagreed with was Alexis Grace. And not because I thought she could win the whole thing, but because I thought she deserved to tour before Michael Sarver. The rest were just a wash for me. I am proud to say that America is pretty much getting it right every week. But, don't forget, on the off chance America gets it wrong (ie: American finally wakes up and realizes Gokey sucks) we still have the judges save to look forward to. I honestly believe only a few people have a chance of being saved and I don't think those people are Anoop, Matt or Kris. That save is all about Lil, Adam and Gokey, otherwise known as the producers babies. 

But, now we are getting to the tough part of the competition. With only seven contestants remaining, it gets harder each week to weed out the crap (Lil) and keep in the talented and current artists (Anoop). I would say out of the seven left, I am only emotionally invested in three; Anoop, Matt and Adam. 

I have been saying it from the beginning, Lil Rounds is much too overrated and as we are finding out, yes she can sing (kinda), but she completely lacks the ability to infuse anything special into any song she sings. She is no Fantasia ladies and gentleman. In my book, she is out. 

I have had beef with Gokey from the beginning. I give him credit for realizing that showing images of your dead wife on national television will at first get you votes, but later lose you votes. I gotta believe this guy is reading the blogs and noticing the backlash. But now that we are past the mourning period, he has just entered an annoying period. I hate his dancing, I hate his outfits, I hate his smile. Again, like I said, when I see him, I finally understand how CT must feel when he arrives at the RW/RR challenges and feels the need to immediately almost kill someone. But, I am working on managing my anger and accepting that he may be in the finale and that I may develop a drinking problem. 

For me, Kris and Allison are great musicians and they have both had performances that I have loved, but I have no investment in them whatsoever. Which may be even worse than my hate toward Gokey, at least I have emotion towards him. I really enjoy Kris's Jason Mrazy like vibe, but I don't see a star. I see a guy who will have short lived popularity and then his perky wife will get preggers and demand he be home where they will retreat into domestic bliss wearing matching cooking aprons. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but that equation doesn't make an American Idol.

I am not sure where things go wrong for me with Allison. I really do like most of her performances and I think she is great at making a song her own, but something doesn't work. Maybe it's the forty year-old chain smoker that comes out in her. And it's obviously not working for just me considering the time she has spent in the bottom three. I do think/hope she will be the last girl standing, but I don't think she will be standing a lot longer.

With those four out of the picture, let's focus on what I hope will be the final three; Adam, Anoop and Matt. Each three have had one disastrous performance (Ring of Fire, Beat It, that Fray song), but beyond those performances, I think they have all be brilliant otherwise. I worry about the time that Anoop and Matt have spent in the bottom three/two, but I continue to carry faith that America will realize Anoop is much more than 30,000 votes better than Scott McIntyre. 

Right now this competition is Adam's to lose and I really don't believe he will. He has brought such originality and musicality to his performances that even middle America has been able to look past his nail polish and make-up (however, I'm not sure that his dad has) and keep him in this competition.

This coming weeks theme is Idol at the Movies and I think that gives everyone a great chance to do well. It's all been coming down to song selection and with Quentin Tarantino as the mentor it could be a great show or a real disaster. Let's just pray that they don't let him guest judge again. Lord knows we don't need another judge.