what do athletes do的八卦，Yahoo名人娛樂都在討論

Masih tak boleh move on dari kemenangan Ridzuan dan Ziyad awal pagi tadi. Tergerak hati nak ceritakan peristiwa tiga tahun lepas. Saya baru dua bulan sahaja dilantik jadi Menteri Sukan. Tiba-tiba terima berita dari Lyon, France seorang atlet negara bernama Ziyad Zolkefli telah menang di kejohanan olahraga dunia. Dunia beb!

Lepas saya terima berita tersebut saya tanya pegawai semada kementerian menyediakan insentif untuk kemenangan tersebut. Saya diberi jawapan memang ada. "Tapi YB jumlah yang diberi kurang sebab ini sukan para." Saya tanya kurang berapa. "Atlet para ni dapat 30% dari nilai ganjaran atlet biasa/normal."

Beberapa hari kemudian ada mesyuarat Lembaga Majlis Sukan Negara. Saya selaku Menteri dan juga Pengerusi MSN sendiri bangkitkan isu ganjaran untuk atlet para. Saya kata tidak adil mereka terima insentif kurang dari atlet biasa. Saya cadangkan kita tukar polisi ini. Bagi sama rata. Macam-macam hujah diberi untuk menidakkan cadangan saya. "Paralimpik ini baharu." "Acara mereka tak ramai penyertaan." "Paralimpik ini terlalu banyak kategori acara, mudah untuk menang." Nampak gaya lembaga cenderung untuk menolak cadangan saya.

Saya teringat balik pada Ziyad dan pengorbanannya. Takkan saya mengalah sedangkan beliau mengatasi segala kekurangan untuk menjadi juara dunia? Bilik mesyuarat senyap, menunggu Menteri baharu, muda dan mentah menyerah kalah di tangan para otai pentadbir sukan. Saya pinjamkan semangat Ziyad dan saya tanya satu soalan sahaja. Saya masih ingat, saya tanya dalam Bahasa Inggeris. "Do any of you around this table know what it takes to become a world champion with a disability? What it takes to overcome your disability and succeed?" Tiada seorang pun dapat menjawab. Saya sambung, "Baiklah, daripada sekarang atlet Malaysia semua, tak kira biasa ke, para ke, diberi ganjaran yang sama."

Terima kasih Ziyad kerana memberi saya semangat untuk mengubah layanan terhadap atlet para tiga tahun lepas. Hari ini Malaysia is one of the only countries in the world yang memberi insentif sama kepada atlet biasa dan atlet 'luarbiasa'.

Our para athletes' achievements and sacrifices must be honoured the same as other athletes. Not 30% of 'normal' athletes. I would not know how to feel 30% proud of them. I only feel 100% proud of our para heroes. They have shown us that yes, they are not ordinary. They are extraordinary. LUAR BIASA!

2 million followers milestone

Back then, people used to say that I couldn’t go any further in fitness (modelling and competition) because I don't have that broad-shoulder-narrow-waist structure like most successful fitness models/bodybuilders… and some said this to me “Boy… We are Asian, and Asian look weird with muscles so u better stay with that K-pop look”… LoL! Well, F*** what they said! Since then I trained pretty hard and keeping it consistent, training and working about 5-6 times a week, pushing my limits to see how far I can go. The outcome? I’m definitely not the biggest and leanest compare to many athletes (well, ppl judge ppl) but 1 thing for sure is my life transformed!

About being a fitness coach & fitness personality, those days’ people said that my English sux (actually every language) and I'm not entertaining and creative enough to produce any successful online video (who doesn’t like to be entertained?)… Plus, I’m not good in speaking in front of the camera; it took me about an average of 10-20 takes just to make 1 successful video, yes that’s right, freaking 10-20 re-takes!… and not to mention the editing part. But I still keep doing it…

Today, I have 2,000.000+ followers on FB and other 290,000 followers from my Youtube & Instagram (big big thanks)… I’m not trying to prove anything but what I’m trying to say in this post is that no matter how bad/untalented you are, so long that you are willing to do what it takes to get result, walk the talk ultimately pursuing your passion, eventually you will draw the “right audience” which means the right people that appreciate your work, meanwhile of course you will also get people that dislike you, judge you, and criticize you and your work… Well, you can’t please the whole world so don’t take them personally… but see what you can improve from there.

To succeed you don’t have to be the same like every other successful people, well apart from their hard work and discipline attitude. Just be the freaking best version of yourself. Keep on working!

2 million thanks! Jordan Yeoh

"Ideal body" หรือบอดี้ในอุดมคติสำหรับคุณ คือแบบไหนครับ? ผมเชื่อว่าเราแต่ละคนมี ideal body ที่แตกต่างกัน ถ้าเป็นเมื่อก่อนที่ผมจริงจังกับการฟิตหุ่นกว่านี้ และอาจเรียกได้ว่า "เป๊ะ" กว่าตอนนี้ ผมคงจะวิจารณ์ตัวผมตอนนี้ว่า แบบนี้ยังไม่ได้นะ กล้ามแต่ละส่วนต้องชัดกว่านี้ body fat percentage ต้องต่ำลงกว่านี้ให้เท่าพวกนักกีฬาระดับ elite ซิกแพคก็ต้องแน่นกว่านี้ให้เห็นเส้นตัดขอบทุกเส้น ถึงจะพอใจกับหุ่นตัวเองได้ เมื่อก่อนผมสร้างเงื่อนไขไว้กับตัวเองเยอะมาก

แต่เอาจริงๆ บอดี้เลเวลนั้น มันเป็น ideal body แบบที่ทำให้ sustainable ตลอดได้ยาก มีหลายคนที่เค้าทำได้นะ ไม่ใช่เป็นไปไม่ได้ แต่ทุกอย่างในชีวิตต้องมี sacrifices แลกมาบ้าง แล้วแต่ธรรมชาติและข้อจำกัดที่แตกต่างกันของแต่ละคน สำหรับตัวผมเอง ถ้าจะคงสภาพหุ่นให้ฟิตและชัดมากขนาดนั้นได้ตลอด ผมคงต้องแบ่งเวลากลับไปทุ่มเทให้กับการออกกำลังกายเยอะกว่านี้ หรือไม่ก็อาจต้องเริ่มพิจารณาเรื่องการคุมอาหารด้วย (ซึ่งอย่างหลังนี่ขอบายได้เลย ข้ารักการกิน ข้าอยากจะมีความสุขกับการกินได้ตลอด ไม่ว่าจะเป็นไอติมชาเขียว ชีสเค้ก ซูชิ สเต๊กเนื้อนุ่มๆ เบอร์เกอร์ชิ้นหนาๆ อย่ามาห้ามกันเลย เนี่ยพูดแล้วก็หิว!! 555)

ยิ่งโตขึ้น เหมือนสิ่งต่างๆ ในชีวิตมันค่อยๆ เขย่าเราให้เข้าหาจุดที่พอดีกับตัวเราเองมากขึ้นๆ ความหมายของ "ideal body" สำหรับเรามันก็ค่อยๆ เปลี่ยนไป ได้เรียนรู้แล้วว่ามีเรื่องอื่นที่สำคัญสำหรับเรา มากกว่าการต้องปั้นหุ่นให้ดู "เป๊ะ" ทุกส่วนตลอดเวลา เดี๋ยวนี้กลายเป็นรู้สึกว่า กล้ามไม่ต้องคมชัดทุกมัดทุกเส้นหรอก หรือบางช่วงอาจจะชัดมากชัดน้อยต่างกันก็ไม่เป็นไร ขอใช้ชีวิตให้มีความสุขในหลายๆ ด้านแบบนี้ดีกว่า มีบอดี้ที่ไม่ต้องเป๊ะในสายตาทุกคน แต่เป๊ะกับ lifestyle ที่เราอยากมี

บอดี้นี้คือบอดี้แบบอยากกินไอติมเมื่อไรก็กินได้ อยากเอนจอยของอร่อยๆ กับเพื่อนหรือครอบครัวเมื่อไรก็ทำได้ บอดี้แบบออกกำลังกายไม่ต้องเอาเป็นเอาตาย ไม่ต้องเล่นหนักทุกวัน วันไหนได้แค่ครึ่ง ชม ก็โอเค เน้นทำให้ได้ต่อเนื่อง แค่ให้เรามีสุขภาพที่ดีอยู่เสมอก็พอ บอดี้แบบถ้าต้องถอดเสื้อเมื่อไรก็อาจจะพอแค่ยั่วเบาๆ ขำๆ ได้บ้าง ไม่ต้องร้อนแรงขนาดคนต้องแห่มาชื่นชมหรือมากระทืบไลค์ให้ 555 บอดี้แบบที่เราสามารถแบ่งพลังและเวลาไปโฟกัสกับสิ่งสำคัญอื่นๆ และมีความสุขกับกิจกรรมอื่นๆ ในชีวิตได้ด้วย

บันทึกกับตัวเองไว้ ณ วันนี้ว่า ในวัย 38 กว่าๆ ที่เข้าใจชีวิตตัวเองประมาณนี้ บอดี้แบบนี้แหละคือ "ideal body" แบบที่เราแฮปปี้ 🙂

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What's your definition of an "ideal body"? I think everyone has a different idea about what their "ideal body" should look like. I used to train much harder and had a so-called "fitter" body. My younger self would probably criticize my current body harshly, pointing out that the muscles should be more defined, the fat percentage should be as low as that of elite athletes, and the abs should be more cut to the point where you could see all the lines very clearly. Only then would I be able to feel satisfied with myself. So many conditions!

But honestly, it's really hard to maintain that kind of super cut "ideal body" all the time. The level of sustainability probably differs from person to person, depending on the lifestyle. Yes, there are people who could maintain it, but there are also sacrifices you'd need to make. Either you gotta put so much effort into your workouts continuously or start controlling your diet strictly (The latter of which I refuse to do since I love eating so much and would rather continue to enjoy all the matcha ice-cream, cheesecake, sushi, steak, and burgers for the rest of my life, so don't anyone try to tell me what not to eat! lol).

The older you get, the more life seems to sway you towards the kind of lifestyle that fits more with your priorities, also changing your perception of what an "ideal body" is. I've learned that, for me, there're more important things in life than sculpting and maintaining a so-called "perfect" body all the time. Now I don't feel the need to always have super defined muscles like I used to. They can be more or less defined from time to time, and it's ok, because I'd rather have a body like this and still be able to enjoy the various wonderful pleasures in life that I'm currently enjoying. I don't need my body to be "perfect" in the eyes of others--I just need it to be perfect for the kind of lifestyle that I want.

This is the "I can eat ice cream whenever I want" kind of body, the "I can go out and enjoy great meals with friends and family whenever I feel like it" kind of body. The kind of body that isn't trained super hard everyday but exercised regularly enough to feel healthy. The kind of body that could maybe just excite a few eyes when shirtless but needs not be so hot to the point where anyone should come rushing to praise me lol. The kind of body that allows me to also focus my time and energy on my other interests in life and experience the joy of doing many other things that I love.

As a note to myself at the age of 38, with my current level of understanding of my own life, this is the kind of "ideal body" that I'm happy with. :)

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.

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." Allen Iverson Kobe Bryant Tracy Mcgrady Vince Carter Dwyane Wade Shaq Jermaine O'Neal Gilbert Arenas Tim Duncan Kevin Garnett Yao Ming Chris Bosh Steve Nash Lebron James Carmelo Anthony Chris Webber Dennis Rodman Steve Francis Stephon Marbury Shawn Marion Amare Stoudemire Michael Jordan Scottie Pippen Charles Barkley Larry Bird Magic Johnson Karl Malone John Stockton Boston Celtics New Jersey Nets New York Knicks Philadelphia 76ers Toronto Raptors Chicago Bulls Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Milwaukee Bucks Atlanta Hawks Charlotte Bobcats Miami Heat Orlando Magic Washington Wizards Dallas Mavericks Houston Rockets Memphis Grizzlies NO/Okla. City Hornets San Antonio Spurs Denver Nuggets Minnesota Timberwolves Portland Trail Blazers Seattle SuperSonics Utah Jazz Golden State Warriors Los Angeles Clippers Los Angeles Lakers Phoenix Suns Sacramento Kings