two percent的八卦，PTT、DCARD、YOUTUBE和Yahoo名人娛樂都在討論

ลองเข้าไปติดตามภาคภาษาอังกฤษได้ที่นี่นะครับ

Thaksin Shinawatra in Private Discussion
World Policy Institute Global Leader Briefing Series Thinking Points
World Policy Institute, 9th March 2016, New York

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Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I must thank you World Policy Institute for providing me an opportunity to share my thought on the challenges that revolve around the economic, regional and global implications of how Thailand will make its way through a period of transition and change.

We all know that no society in the twenty-first century can sustain any form of “progress” in the well-being of its people without at least two basic foundations:
The first one is political stability. The second one is the ability to create economic activities that allow growth and readiness to shift its creativities to sustain wealth.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me tell you the tale of the two cities, which is not written by Charles Dickens. It is the tale of parallel progress of Washington D.C. and Beijing. Each has its own history, pain and loathing. As the years go by, the two cities have been seen as rivals which offers competing models for growth and prosperity.

One is Free Market-Capitalism with the so-called “Open Democracy” as the foundation of its economic model. The other one is State-Led Capitalism with the central control system by one party.

Both of the models have proven to be successful in a very dramatic way from the past to the present. Admitting that the Chinese model was fitting to the change of attitude among the leadership of the country at that time, in parallel with the change of economic model in the West, in which the definition of “free trade” benefits China’s shifting position from a close market to a semi-open market.

But we must admit also that both models are now having to adjust itself to the new reality; the reality of dramatic change in speed and character of technology for industrial production; the change from “a country-based product” to “network of global design, global sourcing,and global production for just one product”. This extraordinary change upends the “normal” internal economic adjustment of the country and made it very difficult to find a simple economic adjustment.

We must recognize that advancement in the wealth management technique and technology also upend the normal linkage between capital and changes in production. However, we probably agree, that one common threat for survival in this present so-called “New Normal” is either you have the ability and willingness to change or you don’t. Thailand, like the other countries, cannot get away from this New Normal in the international context.

Ladies and Gentleman,

There is a tale of a poor English teacher in China who soared to the list of the world’s wealthiest people. He neither built a big factory nor invested in any production facility. But, people paid for his service simply to reach the network of supply and demand on a grand scale. I believe, he must feel thank you to the internet.

Ladies and Gentleman,

Amid the global economic slowdown, the pattern of trade has significantly changed. Due to the development of information technology infrastructure and increasing number of population who is able to access to the internet, e-commerce has become a new engine that sustains growth for both developed and developing economies. According to UNCTAD’s report last year, the value of global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce in 2013 exceeded $15 trillion USD. While global business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce still accounted for an estimated $1.2 trillion USD, this segment has grown at a rapid pace; especially in the Asia and Oceania region where B2C segment is expected to surge from 20 to 37 percent between 2013 to 2018. Due to the incremental growth of cross-border e-commerce trade, international postal deliveries of small packets and parcels have risen by 48 percent between 2011 to 2014 globally.

For both Asia and the West, I believe these numbers provide us with clues for the new growth opportunities where “access to networks” is the key: meaning, the networks of consumers and factors of production across geographical boundaries. Unlike the economy of twentieth century when “access to centers” is the rules of the game, today, businessmen who do not have big factories and are not the owners of multinational corporations, can manage to reach and satisfy the needs of their customers worldwide through networks of production and distribution with an assist of the new communication technology. Today’s economy is increasingly decentralized. Consumption and production are more and more dispersed. We could imagine that an American producers can sell their products online directly to consumers in the western part of China without having to spend business hours in Beijing or Shanghai. Vice versa, a Chinese producer can bypass New York to offer their products to customers in New England and Mid-Atlantic states. The network economy has provided the people, both in small and large businesses, with the ability to produce and access to consumers at lower costs. We, as a global community, must put special emphasis on how each country can invest and share risk with the people to create growth collectively.

Ladies and Gentleman,

Another tale is about the rebirth of a road that nobody cares since the Portuguese discovered a possible sea route from Europe to Asia. The Portuguese did offer an alternative trade route with substantial margins for the goods carried. Although you might lose half of the cargoes on the way, you still did not lose your shirt. Since the demand for spices were overwhelming, the merchant marines heavily charge everybody.

Ladies and Gentleman,

The heavy-load transport through the sea has been with us till now, and the land routes from Asia to Europe have been neglected. If the world’s economy is thriving like the good old days, probably, not so many people would be interested in finding an alternative in life. But, since the situation goes awry, I believe, any country should consider all possibilities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, there are two major initiatives that, I think, have great potential to accelerate growth and leverage “quality of growth” that brought into being by the emergence of network economy. One is the China-led “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) plan to develop transport and logistics connectivity encompassed some 60 countries, which include about 50 percent of the world’s GDP. And, the other is the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) between 12 Pacific Rim countries, which account for more than 40 percent of the world’s GDP. I have not seen these two initiatives as antagonistic, but rather a kind of two parallel processes that, at a certain point, will create mutual economic benefits for Asia and the West.

We must overcome the stereotype that perceive China and the US as merely the two opposing political superpowers. In reality, the economic development during the past decade has shown us how far these two major economies are interdependent. China is the largest foreign holder of US government securities with $1.24 trillion USD worth. With the total trade volume of $521 billion USD in 2014, the US is China’s biggest trade partner. Total US foreign direct investment (FDI) in China stood at $65.77 billion USD at the end of 2014, while the Chinese FDI in the US is estimated to have reach $11.9 billion USD.

Given this interdependence in mind, I believe Southeast Asia- the region that sits in between the two great initiatives of the two major economies- must put special emphasis on how to enhance the mutual economic benefits with its counterparts. For Southeast Asia in the twenty-first century, the geopolitics should be about how to reinforce the networks of wealth creation for the people that stretch across national and regional borders.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me tell you the last tale about a Thai restaurant. No matter how many times the master chef tries to teach his protege, the young man keeps making mistakes in mixing the ingredients. Customers are kept waiting, hungry and mad. Once the customers are served, half of them get diarrhea afterward. The moral of this tale is one must make the written recipe right.

Ladies and gentlemen,

While some people may underline the unique characteristics of Thailand in terms of its history and developmental path, the country itself cannot avoid to come to terms with the global challenges of the twenty-first century. For half a century, the Thai economy has incrementally integrated into global economy. Values of Thailand’s exports per GDP and FDI in the country have shown us clearly how far the growth of Thai economy has been interwoven with the fate of global economy.

Against this context, we shall consider Thailand’s draft constitution with a very simple question: will the latest draft constitution “enable” the country to grow and become stronger in the present world? Or, will the latest draft constitution provide Thailand with a sufficient institutional infrastructure for investment, production, cooperation, and businesses?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Due to the framework set out by the latest draft constitution, it is difficult to foresee a government that is responsive to the people and the challenges of the twenty-first century. According to the new draft, the 200-seat upper house, or Senate, will be appointed by the so-called “experts”. The Senate will also have greater powers to block legislation. Regarding the Constitutional Court, its scope of jurisdiction will be expanded. The Court will have the power to examine cases based on petitions filed directly by individuals, without the requirement that an actual dispute being brought by political organs or other courts.

If we consider the doctrine of separation of powers as the foundation for growth and stability, the critical issue that we shall examine is whether the judicial power will trespass the provinces of legislature/ and executive or not? For a government to be able to manage the economy against the global slowdown, I do hope that there will be no over-enforcement of the judicial power. Experiences of several countries show us that, if unchecked, judicial review can be inappropriately used as “delaying tactic”; thus, in turn, become an impediment to economic policy implementation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I believe that the foundation for the country to create growth and prosperity is to build trust in the global community. The constitution shall protect the rule of law and provide at least a minimum level of freedom of speech that facilitates economic cooperation between the people and the global community. Trade and investment cannot flourish if there is no certain degree of confidence provided by the rule of law. Against the transition and change, Thailand must reevaluate its strength and weakness. The country shall find a sensible way to regain its political stability and economic dynamism. I have only proposed the way of how should we think of the phenomena that is the world today.

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💕「愛台灣，我的選擇」系列第五發：高雄美國學校總校長卜傑明與太太來到台灣的甜蜜故事 💕💕

卜傑明：「多年前我曾經參加過美國和平志工團，過程艱辛但豐富有趣。我和睿宜剛開始交往時，她就有打算在海外定居工作，我百分之百支持她的決定。」

卜睿宜：「我畢業於航太工程學系，也曾經在波音公司實習了一段時間。大學畢業後，我到美國洛克達因公司工作，洛克達因公司是美國國家航空暨太空總署（NASA）的承包商，專門製造太空梭的主要引擎。」

卜傑明：「她可是真正的火箭科學家喔！」

卜睿宜：「我的公司在加州設計、製造引擎零件，再運到密西西比史坦尼斯太空中心進行組裝和測試，但我一直都想當個物理老師。我其實是在出差的時候認識傑明，我的同事當時和傑明的室友訂婚……結果我們現在也結婚了！」

卜傑明：「當我們在尋找海外工作機會時，台灣的機會就來了。當時我飛來台灣面試，我還記得第一次推開這扇門的時候，就有種特別的感覺。我在台灣待了兩天，上飛機的剎那，我就非常堅信這學校和台灣都是對的選擇！我那時跟睿宜說：『妳有想過去台灣嗎？』結果她從沙發上跳起來說：『有！台灣就是我的首選！』

卜睿宜：「我一直都想要學中文，我有很多高中和大學的同學都來自台灣。我喜歡溫暖的天氣，也喜歡旅遊。在這邊我結交了好多新朋友，台灣人非常友善開放！」

卜傑明：「我現在是高雄美國學校的總校長，我們有來自超過30個國家、800位學生。我們的美式教育哲學是強調批判性思考而非背誦，並著重發揮創意、創造新知 — 這不是教學法的一種，而是我們的信念。而且，我們身處高雄，就是屬於高雄的一份子。高雄美國學校的建築概念就是『透明』，就算坐在教室裡，我們的學生也能看到他們所屬的城市以及外面的世界。」

✅卜傑明博士於2017年接任高雄美國學校總校長，卜傑明先後取得美國哥倫比亞大學教育碩士及博士學位，並曾擔任過中學校長、副校長、數學及科學老師，他也曾加入美國和平志工團到萬那杜共和國從事海外服務。卜睿宜女士是火箭科學家。夫婦倆熱愛美食、聚會交流及旅遊。

Why I Chose Taiwan #５ 💞

Ben: I was a Peace Corps volunteer many years ago. It was a wonderful and difficult experience. Early in our relationship, Torey told me she eventually planned to live and work overseas. I was one hundred percent on board with that.

Torey: So academically, my background is in aerospace engineering. I interned with Boeing for a while. Then after college, I went to work for Rocketdyne, which is a subcontractor for NASA, they made the space shuttle main engines.

Ben: She’s an actual rocket scientist!

Torey: My company would design and manufacture the parts for engines in California. And then we would ship them to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, where we would assemble and test engines. But I always wanted to be a physics teacher. When I met Ben, I was actually on a business trip. One of my coworkers was engaged to Ben’s roommate…and now we’re married!

Ben: So we were looking for overseas opportunities, and the opportunity in Taiwan came about. And I came out here to interview in person. And I remember when I walked in the front door of this place for the first time…it just felt different. I was here for two days and by the time, I got the plane to go back home, I was sold on the school. I was sold on Taiwan. I went to Torey and I said, “Torey, did you ever consider Taiwan?” She literally jumped up from couch and said, ”Yes, that’s at the top of my list.”

Torey: I always wanted to learn Mandarin and I have so many friends in high school and college who were from Taiwan. I love the heat. I love the travel. I’ve made so many new friends here. People are so nice and so open.

Ben: I now serve as the superintendent of the Kaohsiung American School. We have 800 students from a total of over 30 countries. There is a certain philosophy to American education that we apply here -- an emphasis on critical thinking over memorization; the importance of creativity and creating new knowledge -- we don’t identify them as part of our pedagogy. They are actually part of our beliefs. At the same time, we are in Kaohsiung. We are part of Kaohsiung. This school is designed to be transparent. Even when you’re sitting in the class, we want our students visually connected to the city they are part of and to the place they are part of and to the outside world.

✅Dr. Ben Ploeger joined the Kaohsiung American School community as Superintendent in 2017. He earned his EdD and MEd from Columbia University. Dr. Ploeger has worked as a head of school, principal, vice principal, math teacher, and a science teacher at the high school and middle school levels. He served in the United States Peace Corps in the island nation of Vanuatu. Mrs. Torey Ploeger is a rocket scientist. They enjoy good food, good company and conversation, and traveling together.

Allen Iverson's eighth career 40-point game had a nice little unexpected bonus -- a victory for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Iverson scored 41 points, upstaging Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, as the 76ers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 105-90, for their fourth win in five games.

In two-plus seasons, Iverson had seven previous games with 40 or more points and the 76ers lost them all. On February 12, the NBA scoring leader had a league season-high 46 points in a 98-94 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

"When I score 40 points, we've lost," Iverson said. "Tonight, we won, and I guess I finally got the monkey off my back. I didn't know what I had until I came out of the game at the end and looked up at the scoreboard. I saw what I had and said, `I hope it doesn't come back to haunt me.'"

Working primarily against Philadelphia native Bryant, Iverson shot 17-of-36 from the field. He scored between nine and 12 points in every period and added a season-high 10 assists and five rebounds.

"I wanted to get off to a good start," Iverson said. "Some earlier shots were going off the rim, then all of a sudden, my shots began to drop. My teammates began to get the ball to me, they did a good job as always of getting me the ball in the right spot, and I was able to make the big shots at the end."

"The little kid was phenomenal," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "I had to take him out at the beginning just to calm him down because he was really wired. Yeah, he took a lot of shots, but for the most part, his selection was good."

With 55 seconds left, he exited to a thunderous ovation and a chant of "Beat LA" from the First Union Center crowd that recalled the rivalry between these teams from a generation ago.

O'Neal and Bryant scored 23 points each for the Lakers, who fell to 1-3 on their six-game road trip. Los Angeles has lost its last three meetings with Philadelphia, with Iverson averaging 34.3 points. The 76ers had not beaten the Lakers three straight times since the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons, when the teams met in consecutive NBA Finals.

"This team has come a long way," Brown said. "I hope we can keep a level head, where they can expect to play well against the good teams, as well as playing well against teams with records worse than theirs."

Lakers forward Dennis Rodman missed his fourth straight game due to an excused absence for personal reasons. With the mercurial Rodman in the lineup, Los Angeles is 9-0. Without him, it is just 8-9.

"We'll welcome him with open arms when he comes back," Lakers coach Kurt Rambis said. "But I have no idea when he's coming back."

"He's obviously a factor," O'Neal said. "He has personal problems, whatever that means, nobody really knows. I don't think about it. I know the organization will do what they have to do."

O'Neal was saddled by foul trouble, eventually fouling out with just four rebounds midway through the final period. He also missed 5-of-12 free throws and committed five turnovers.

Iverson thoroughly outplayed O'Neal and Bryant in the third quarter, when the Sixers took control. After a 3-pointer by Glen Rice -- his first basket of the game -- gave the Lakers a 56-54 lead, Iverson made a jumper and 3-pointer and set up two baskets during a 12-2 burst that gave Philadelphia a 66-58 lead with 5:50 remaining.

Iverson buried a 22-footer to trigger a 6-0 spurt. Tyrone Hill and Aaron Mckie made free throws before Iverson fed Theo Ratliff for a dunk and a 74-62 bulge with 2:02 left in the period.

"For the most part, we did what we wanted to do," Lakers coach Kurt Rambis said. "We forced him (Iverson) to take a lot of outside shots. Unfortunately for us, he made a lot of them."

"Coach Brown noticed that we didn't defend the pick-and-roll very well, so he let Allen run the pick-and-roll and they did a very good job of setting screens and getting him open," Bryant said.

O'Neal and Bryant combined for no baskets in the third quarter as the Lakers shot just 17 percent (3-of-18). Iverson scored 11 in the period, which ended with Philadelphia holding a 76-67 lead.

Iverson had a jumper and 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Rice and a dunk by Robert Horry pulled Los Angeles within 83-77 with 9:44 to go. Iverson made a pair of free throws and a technical foul shot on O'Neal. Matt Geiger hit a jumper and two free throws off O'Neal's fifth foul as the Sixers rebuilt the lead to 90-77 with 6:33 left.

Allen Iverson finally shook his shadow and shook up the NBA Finals.

Hounded by unheralded Tyronn Lue, Iverson scored seven of his 48 points in a one-minute span of overtime as the Philadelphia 76ers stunned the Los Angeles Lakers with a 107-101 victory in the opener of the NBA Finals.

Iverson scored 30 points in a scintillating first half, letting everyone know that the 76ers were going to be more than another pushover for the powerful Lakers. His late flurry silenced the Staples Center and unceremoniously ended Los Angeles' run at a perfect postseason.

"Anybody that bet on it, some broke people out there," Iverson said. "I'm glad nobody didn't bet their life on it 'cause they definitely would be dead right now."

Instead, the Sixers -- double-digit underdogs -- are very much alive as they again displayed their heroic heart.

"Our guys just try hard," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "This is kind of unexpected but it's neat."

In between Iverson outbursts, Lue stymied the NBA Most Valuable Player for nearly 20 minutes, using his quickness to prevent Iverson from even getting the ball, let alone shoot it. He had spent the last two practices impersonating Iverson and apparently got pretty good at it.

"I just try to deny him the ball as much as possible, because when he does get the ball, the best penetrator in the game is going to be hard to stop," Lue said. "We were trying to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible."

"He was holding me the whole time," Iverson said.

But the third-year reserve let his guard down for just a second and it cost the Lakers. Iverson's two free throws pulled the Sixers within 99-98 with 1:46 remaining and the Lakers called a timeout.

Lue drove and threw up a wild shot as he fell out of bounds. The Sixers rebounded and Iverson ran out in transition. With Lue nowhere in sight, he drilled a 3-pointer that gave Philadelphia the lead for good at 101-99 with 1:19 left.

"That was really the knife that wounded us," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

Rick Fox spoiled a solid game by throwing away a pass and Iverson made a step-back baseline jumper for a 103-99 lead with 47 seconds to go.

Kobe Bryant, who shot poorly and could not defend Iverson, hit a baseline jumper with 33 seconds to play. But Eric Snow, whose runner late in the fourth quarter saved the Sixers, made a similar shot to seal it with 10 seconds left.

On the eve of his 26th birthday, Iverson made 18-of-41 shots and 9-of-9 free throws, adding six assists and five steals. Playing his first NBA Finals game, his explosion offset 44 points and 20 rebounds by Shaquille O'Neal as he won the duel between the league's last two MVPs.

The Lakers rallied from a 15-point third-quarter deficit only to blow a five-point overtime lead as they lost for the first time since April 1, a span of 20 games. They had come into this series as huge favorites, having romped through the postseason with 11 straight wins by an average of more than 15 points.

"I'm kind of relieved it's over in some ways but but it does put some pressure on us to get a win on our home court," Jackson said. "We've got to go out on Friday night and find a way to get this series tied up."

The Sixers came in with no one expecting them to win a game, let alone the series. But they used their trademark toughness to do in just one game what the weak knees of the Western Conference could not do in 11 -- beat the Lakers.

"They thought we were gonna get swept and that was like a slap in the face to us," Iverson said.

Game Two is Friday at Los Angeles. Philadelphia is trying to knock off the defending champions and win its first title in 18 years.

"Now it's a series," O'Neal said.

However, Philadelphia may have to try a little harder. Guard Aaron McKie, who did a superb job of defending Bryant, suffered a chip fracture of his right ankle but is probable for Friday.

Both Iverson and O'Neal abused a series of defenders. Iverson sent starter Derek Fisher to a permanent seat on the bench and also had his way with Bryant before Lue came on.

"You can't take anything away from Tyronn Lue," Iverson admitted. "A lot of guys go out against a player that's named MVP of the regular season and won't give it his all, act like he's scared. But he gave his team a great lift."

O'Neal met some resistance from Mutombo but manhandled Matt Geiger and Todd MacCulloch at the end of the third quarter. He made 17-of-28 shots but just 10-of-22 from the line.

Most of O'Neal's offense came against single coverage from Dikembe Mutombo, who sat down with foul trouble for most of the third quarter but still contributed 13 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks.

His presence allowed Philadelphia to swarm to Bryant, who had an awful game with just 15 points, on 7-of-22 shooting, and six turnovers.

"They got into Kobe's body, and bodied him on the dribble, stripped the ball when he picked it up," Jackson said. "He really didn't clear himself for shots very easily tonight."

Snow scored 13 points and injury-hampered Matt Geiger provided an unexpected 10 for the Sixers, who shot 48 percent (40-of-83) and missed just two of 25 free throws, which came at the worst possible time.

O'Neal's dunk off a feed from Bryant with 1:57 left in the fourth quarter gave the Lakers a 94-92 lead, their first since midway through the second period.

Snow answered with his first running jumper and the Sixers had a chance to take the lead when Mutombo rebounded a miss by Snow and was fouled with 34 seconds to go. But he missed both after Philadelphia had hit its first 19 from the line.

Bryant and Snow missed, sending it to overtime, where it looked like the Lakers were ready to win. O'Neal threw in a hook, Bryant spun for a layup and O'Neal split a pair from the line for a 99-94 lead.

The Sixers looked dead when Raja Bell found himself trapped in the lane with the shot clock running down. But he pivoted and threw in a scoop shot with his left hand with 2:19 remaining, sparking the comeback.

Fox scored 19 points for the Lakers, who were playing for the first time in 10 days and shot 44 percent (40-of-90).

At the start, it looked like another Lakers landslide. A 16-0 burst capped by Bryant's first basket gave Los Angeles an 18-5 lead with 5 1/2 minutes to go -- and perhaps allowed complacency to set in.

"We watched games that they played when they jumped out on guys and guys just packed it in and stopped playing," Iverson said. "But we've been like that before. We've been in games where we started off slow and ended up winning."

Iverson scored 10 points in the rest of the period, then opened the second quarter with a jumper over Bryant for a 24-23 lead.

The Lakers still held a 38-36 lead midway through the second quarter when Jackson was hit with a technical foul for arguing a non-call against Mutombo.

Iverson made the foul shot, Geiger hit two jumpers to give the Sixers the lead at 41-40 and Iverson took over from there as he scored Philadelphia's last 15 points of the half, mostly off his trademark crossover dribble.

His 3-pointer gave the Sixers a 56-48 advantage before O'Neal hammered home a miss by Bryant in the final second.

At intermission, Iverson had 30 points on 11-of-24 shooting, lighting up Bryant, who was 2-of-10 for four points with five turnovers.

"Allen really stepped it up," Brown said. "His first half was about as good as it gets."

It continued in the third quarter, as Iverson fed Jumaine Jones for an alley-oop slam, sank a jumper and dropped a layup over O'Neal for a 64-54 lead. He took a steal in for a layup and hit a fading corner shot before Eric Snow's three-point play gave the Sixers their largest lead at 73-58 with 5:23 left.

But with Mutombo on the bench, Philadelphia could not fight off O'Neal, who overpowered Geiger and MacCulloch and muscled Los Angeles back into it. He scored 14 points in the final 5:10 of the period, and with Lue shadowing Iverson, the Lakers pulled within 79-77 entering the final period.

Philadelphia led by as many as seven points early in the fourth quarter, when Mutombo picked up his fifth foul and again sat down before returning less than a minute later as Geiger fouled out.

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.