Basketball Bad Boy

2 Pages 617 Words

“Who is This Bad Boy?”



In the November 6, 2000 issue of Newsweek magazine, Allison Samuels and Mark Starr wrote an article “Basketball Bad Boy,” which put NBA superstar Allen Iverson under the microscope. They believe Iverson has always been under a critical eye, but “his incendiary new rap album has folks watching his every move and word.” I agree Allen Iverson is an attention getter and his off court antics and new rap album may have him getting negative attention.
This was an article about the life of Allen Iverson and how most people can love him for his on court ability but hate him for what he does off the court. And according to the authors “basketball can’t afford to alienate its largely white, middle-aged ticket buyers is a slumping post-Jordan era.” People want teams to be represented by men that can be a talent on the court and also a good role model off the court. Many can say that he’s a talent on the court, but not many can say he’s a good influence on people.
Samuels and Starr’s first point was describing Iverson’s looks and actions. They described how the basketball player and rapper dressed and how he spoke. The article talked about now he wore oversized jeans and a do-rag. Which would instantly put the word thug in to the minds of Newsweek’s readers. As Iverson sat down to do the interview, his friends weren’t able to get quiet and the magazine described how he quieted them by using an array of curse words. Before the reader is even into the article, Samuels and Starr depict a foul-mouth thug that curses out his friends to make them “shut up” in front of others. The authors’ purpose is to paint a picture. A picture that shows, what makes up Allen Iverson? Although that authors list many fine and good things about the basketball star, they also tell many times when Iverson has not been so good. I believe the authors are trying to say he may be good on the c...