One of My Favorite Sports Interviews

Sometimes I like to sit back and reflect on my favorite press conferences and interviews of all time. Some people get so full of themselves or are so caught up in the moment that they lose it. They say things that makes the casual observer says, "Woah this guy/girl has lost all touch with reality and what is expected of them" and we love it. The following is an excerpt from a press conference with NBA star Allen Iverson from 2006.


Reporter: "So you and coach Brown got caught up on Saturday about practice?"

Iverson: "If I can't practice, I can't practice. It is as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about practice. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game last it's my last but we're talking about practice man. How silly is that?
Now I know that I'm supposed to lead by example and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. (laughter from the media crowd) We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got, but we're talking about practice right now. (more laughter)

Reporter: "But it's an issue that your coach continues to raise?"

Iverson: "Hey I hear you, it's funny to me to, hey it's strange to me too but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we're talking about practice."

Reporter: "Is it possible that if you practiced, not you but you would make your teammates better?"

Iverson: "How in the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?


So there it is. Either by sheer hubris or by getting caught up in the moment, Allen Iverson makes no bones about the fact that he is too awesome to worry about things like practice and things he gets paid to do. The best part is that then you get geniuses like DJ Steve Porter who mix it with other interviews like Jim Mora's famous playoff speech and drunken Joe Namath to make a sick beat like this one.