| Mr Webber- 5/2/2005 Congratulations Mr. Webber. The Sixers may be down 3-1 to the Pistons, but they are not losers. You see this is Allen Iverson’s team, not yours, Mr. Webber. You were never meant to have a team of your own. It wasn’t that you weren’t good enough. You were always good enough, Mr. Webber. That was your curse. You just could never be the man. Too unselfish and too into the style. Not soft exactly, but without that special something that would make you a winner even in a loss. Mr. Webber, seeing you play makes me sad. I remember when you had power. I remember when you had lift. I remember when that cocky grin of yours wasn’t covering up endless stumbles at the finish line. I remember when you were a player who could save a franchise. You had the looks, the talent and the charisma to be America’s hero. You were always doomed by your strengths. In your heart you were never a star. Maybe you pretended to be, but somehow you never believed it, or at least never lived up to it. I didn’t witness your original fall, Mr. Webber. I can still remember my father waking me up and telling me the most amazing story. Michigan had fallen to North Carolina when a boy named Chris called timeout with no timeouts. The doubt could have been there before that fateful play, but one thing is for sure, doubt never left you again. Now I see a shell of what you were. You were once a physical specimen for the inside- out game. Yet as everyone seems to be getting bigger, stronger, I see you shrinking. You were once a force and your downfall is not simply your knee. There was once a player inside you who would rise up and bang away at the ball. Floating for jumpers and wheeling hook shots have taken over your game. Where there was once balance there is only a player who simply can take it no longer. A franchise savior you were never meant to be, Mr. Webber. You cursed Sacramento just as you cursed yourself. There was all the talent to be a winner but promises were always left broken. Even as Peja took over your team, it was still you. You were that piece that made them good enough to be great, but doomed them to never be good enough. After years of being number one you have been demoted to number two. Allen Iverson, the very opposite of you, Mr. Webber, will save you from being forever a loser. Philly expected you to push it over the top. That could be something you can do with little Iverson leading you. All his fight and heart could overcome your history and doubt. Next year, once you learn to be who you really are, a player whose heart always yearned for a role not a team, maybe you will finally be enough. This may not be the year you become a winner. Yes, time is running out, but at least this year you won’ t be a loser, Mr. Webber. For the first time you won’t be a loser. Allen Iverson has never won, but he is no loser. His effort has never been questioned. Listen to his words and you hear a player for the ages. You hear Michael Jordan, respect for the game, fight and heart. Watch him play and you see the smallest man on the court play the biggest, with emotion. Mr. Webber, I know you try, and I know you want, but you’ll never have that same drive. It isn’t even your fault. You are lucky, though. This time when you go down, you’ll go down swinging. It will be a new experience for you, Mr. Webber. No longer will you be part of a disappointment. Even when the Sixers go down it will be with an honorable fight, with nothing left over to fight with. Should they come back, Iverson will be a hero and you, Mr. Webber, will see what you could have been, and will become something you always should have been, a talented piece of a team that won. |
The Gospel of Luke
| The Staff |
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