AI; "practice, we talkin about practice!"
- Thread starter PurpleHaze
- Start date
6th
Homer Fan Since 1985
If Iverson chose family over practice on Thanksgiving Day, then I say, "good for him." I figure it is just assinine to schedule a practice on Thanksgiving. Shame on the coach. When a team is at home on a holiday, the coach should let them enjoy the holiday with their family. I think AI has his priorities right.
PurpleHaze
All-Star
None of the other Pistons missed practice. It was a Thanksgiving morning session that was short and had the players out of Auburn Hills Arena by early afternoon. Coach Curry informed his squad after their Wednesday night home court victory over the Knicks that their would be practice next day to prep for Milwaukee coming in to play Friday. The coach indicated that the Pistons had gone a very long time with no practices since just returning from a long rugged west coast road trip that had several of the players questioning chemistry (ie, how AI was fitting in).
Is it REALLY just no problem whatsoever to miss such a practice and claim it's to be with family? Is it ok for a policeman, military soldier, air traffic controller, janitor, state worker (no that's absurd, they NEVER work on THAT DAY!) - all of them to just tell the boss I'm not coming in or simply just not show up like Iverson?
It sort of reminds me of long ago famous comment about the Super Bowl being "the ultimate." And then a star player (Duane Thomas of Dallas) under the bright lights of live TV saying, "if that's so, why do they play it every year." Thanksgiving is special, but after all it comes around same time every year.
Is it REALLY just no problem whatsoever to miss such a practice and claim it's to be with family? Is it ok for a policeman, military soldier, air traffic controller, janitor, state worker (no that's absurd, they NEVER work on THAT DAY!) - all of them to just tell the boss I'm not coming in or simply just not show up like Iverson?
It sort of reminds me of long ago famous comment about the Super Bowl being "the ultimate." And then a star player (Duane Thomas of Dallas) under the bright lights of live TV saying, "if that's so, why do they play it every year." Thanksgiving is special, but after all it comes around same time every year.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Some allowances perhaps to be made this time -- thing to remember here is that of all the Pistons, A.I. is the only one who likely has his family based elsewhere (Denver maybe, or Philly). Everybody else gets to do practice and Thanksgiving because they've been there. A.I. just arrived.
AleksandarN
Starter
I can not believe some people think it is all right to miss practice because of thanks giving. It was an hour long practice in morning an HOUR long. He getting paid what? How many people are hurting right now and he can not show up for an hour of work. Family or not he did not even call. If any one did that at any job we get fired. No respect for the team for players or even the NBA. BTW the practice was at 10:00 AM and was an hour long.
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kings4lyfe32
Bench
This man speaks the truth. I agree 100%
Jerryaki
Starter
agree with 6th; unless they were playing a game, it was jerkish of the coach to schedule a practice on thanksgiving day. as brick said, AI's family is probably not in detroit, so that extra hour in the morning could cost him a lot more family time than the other pistons. if curry just extended practice by an hour on friday, there wouldn't even be a problem.
let's not liken this to an actual public service job (e.g. police, military, etc.). his "job" is to entertain us. he'll pay the fine, not play tomorrow and move on. big deal.
let's not liken this to an actual public service job (e.g. police, military, etc.). his "job" is to entertain us. he'll pay the fine, not play tomorrow and move on. big deal.
Elise10
Starter
[yt=Iverson's press conference]hn7OWqc9mGo[/yt]
That's the problem with saying that you're willing to do anything and everything necessary for Coach Curry...even practice!
This practice was called and players complained but Iverson's the only one who didn't show up:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081127/SPORTS03/81127032/1051/SPORTS03
Yes it was Thanksgiving and Iverson's family aren't with him but you can't tell me that he couldn't give one hour to practice. Takes 2 hours to fly to Philly and 4 for Denver.
That's the problem with saying that you're willing to do anything and everything necessary for Coach Curry...even practice!
This practice was called and players complained but Iverson's the only one who didn't show up:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081127/SPORTS03/81127032/1051/SPORTS03
Yes it was Thanksgiving and Iverson's family aren't with him but you can't tell me that he couldn't give one hour to practice. Takes 2 hours to fly to Philly and 4 for Denver.
Kingzrool
Starter
I had to work Yesterday morning and I showed up. Because I love my family and need to provide for them. I'd rather not get into how much more $$ AI makes then me, but I am sure that he can afford to drop in and visit his family WHENEVER he wants. This is nothing more than a show of disrespect to his team. He signed the contract and did not push for a Thanksgiving clause then. The unprofessionalism is offensive.
Jerryaki
Starter
sports fans are so uber critical of everything. i am not in the least offended by his actions, seeing as how they don't concern me and also don't even concern the team i care about. 
he'll pay the fine and get suspended by his team or whatever; he acted and will pay the consequences. end of story, can we save the moral outrage for something that's actually of significance?
he'll pay the fine and get suspended by his team or whatever; he acted and will pay the consequences. end of story, can we save the moral outrage for something that's actually of significance?
kings4lyfe32
Bench
How so? when I was in highschool and 3 seasons we were still in the playoffs we had football practice on Thanksgiving morning. And then the one year we werent we had basketball practice on Thanksgiving morning. Everyone showed up. AI just used this as an excuse and deserves to be punished for it
PurpleHaze
All-Star
This was my thought when I first heard the story. I heard on the radio this morning that holiday practices are a joke and its usually just to make sure everyone isn't going crazy the night before and still taking things seriously. To that I say its even stupider to schedule practices on a holiday. I know Thanksgiving means different things to different people. For those of us that aren't religious its often the biggest family holiday of the year and some people do have morning Thanksgiving traditions they wouldn't want to miss.
Jerryaki
Starter
that's all well and good for you, but understand that about 95% of the rest of the country was off doing whatever they pleased. people take sports way too seriously sometimes, i feel.
AI skipped practice for whatever, and now he will be punished; i don't see him trying to weasel out of the consequences. let's raise en effigy when the guy starts missing practices on a regular basis.
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Variant
Starter
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3731784
Money quote in my mind. Even if he did skip to spend time with his family on Thanksgiving all he should have at least let the Pistons know ahead of time!
Money quote in my mind. Even if he did skip to spend time with his family on Thanksgiving all he should have at least let the Pistons know ahead of time!
Aenadin
Starter
i dont know how thanks giving works but family is above most of the things well except God of course... but an HOUR practice is really not so much to ask...
again if you want your team mates to respect you... if you want to be welcomed you have to at least make that little sacrifice.. i mean a doctor cant just go and say to a patient "i wont be doing my rounds because its thanks giving"... again basketball and medicine are completely different fields so for me its up in the air... what he did if it is for family i give him credit... but in a professional point of view i think hes at the wrong end
again if you want your team mates to respect you... if you want to be welcomed you have to at least make that little sacrifice.. i mean a doctor cant just go and say to a patient "i wont be doing my rounds because its thanks giving"... again basketball and medicine are completely different fields so for me its up in the air... what he did if it is for family i give him credit... but in a professional point of view i think hes at the wrong end
kennadog
Dog On It!
It's a lot less than 95%. A lot of people have to work on Thanksgiving and a lot of other holidays, including Christmas. A whole lot.
Kingzrool
Starter
And we get paid a whole lot less than 21 Million per year.
Somebody put it like this:
That about sums it up for me.
Rookie
Starter
Just because people work on the holidays doesn't mean that you should if you don't have to. People that can afford to should take the day off to spend time with family and if you choose not to than that is your decision.
But don't use that to justify why one shouldn't take the day off because others have to work too and for far much less than others. That is just silly.
I agreed with most people that he should call but other than that I can't find fault in him. Respect for the team? Dedication to the team?
Respect and dedication for family first IMO.
Trust me I don't like AI either but if his reason for skipping practice is to be with family on a holiday that usually brings family together than its all good with me.
But don't use that to justify why one shouldn't take the day off because others have to work too and for far much less than others. That is just silly.
I agreed with most people that he should call but other than that I can't find fault in him. Respect for the team? Dedication to the team?
Respect and dedication for family first IMO.
Trust me I don't like AI either but if his reason for skipping practice is to be with family on a holiday that usually brings family together than its all good with me.
kennadog
Dog On It!
I wasn't using the fact that some people have to work as justification for anything. I was just pointing out that it's very doubtful that 95% of people had the day off to do whatever they wanted.
I certainly think family is the most important thing. On the other hand, if you want to work in a business that requires you to work on holidays (like pro sports) you have to accept what comes with the job.
I've certainly scheduled family celebrations on days other than the exact date of a holiday, for any number of reasons. The exact day isn't what matters either. It's being together with family in celebration of the reason for the holiday.
If the only issue was AI didn't tell anyone, that's pretty disrespectful to the coach and his teammates. Maybe if he'd asked he would have gotten on okay to be excused.
Rookie
Starter
I don't use the other hand if it is going to mess with what's important to me, my familia. In my eyes the type of work you do is not an excused unless without you someone is going to die! ex. Police, doctors..etc.
Easy for you to schedule..that is a blessing
D I'm not even religious). The majority have to wait for national holiday where the majority of family can actually get a day off from work.Like I stated..this is definitely his fault. No argrument from me.
Kingzrool
Starter
Just because people work on the holidays doesn't mean that you should if you don't have to. People that can afford to should take the day off to spend time with family and if you choose not to than that is your decision.
But don't use that to justify why one shouldn't take the day off because others have to work too and for far much less than others. That is just silly.
I agreed with most people that he should call but other than that I can't find fault in him. Respect for the team? Dedication to the team?
Respect and dedication for family first IMO.
Trust me I don't like AI either but if his reason for skipping practice is to be with family on a holiday that usually brings family together than its all good with me.
This is just bull. He is paid 21 million/year and you do not think that should affect his decision to no call/no show or not. Those of us that are not as fortunate have to show our dedication to our family through our dedication to work, you know mouths to feed and all. This is not about whether family is important or not, he can afford to get his family together any time he wants! It is clearly the actions of an unappreciative, spoiled rotten, disrespectful multi-millionaire. To see hard working citizens defend this poppycock is disturbing to me. The guy KNEW that he was not going to be there and did not feel the need to extend the respect of a phone call or email to his new coach and team. Don't any of you manage other people in your workplace? How can you say that this would not be considered disrespectful to any employer?
See there, now you got me all riled up. Now I am going to have to take a PTO day tomorrow.
Dime Dropper
All-Star
You're right. He should have called. As far as I'm concerned, that's about the only disrespectful thing he's done. I'm no AI lover, but sheesh, give the guy a break. So what if he earns 21 million dollars a year? He is gifted at the game of basketball, and ridiculous as it is, that's what superstars are being paid nowadays. Hardly AIs fault, is it? I mean, he wasn't the one who offered him that silly amount of cash to play a game. Salary should be irrelevant in something like this.
Oh, please! Like his family don't have lives of their own! I'm sure it's not as simple as "Let's all get together, it's simple since I'm a multi-millionaire". Just like you, I'm sure the vast majority of his family have jobs, and with him travelling around the country most of the year, it's not as easy as you'd like to think to spend some quality time with his family. I'd like to see how you think he can get his family together "any time he wants" simply because he's rich.
Wow, talk about being over-dramatic. I'm sorry, but this is way overboard. The guy wants to spend some time with his family on Thanks Giving after moving to a whole new city, and because he misses a practice he's an "unappreciative, spoiled rotten, disrespectful multi-millionaire." Wow. It seems that there's alot of envy towards athletes these days just because of the amount of money they're making (yes, it is crazy). Some people will do anything to denote them as filth, when in reality these people have feelings just like everybody else.
You're right about that. He should have called. But perhaps it wasn't that simple. And lets not try to be pretend being a pro-athlete is a normal job, it's not. There are many, many differences (salaries being just one).
It's not like I'm saying AI was right. But Lord, his morals were right. How can anyone liken him to trash when he wanted to be with his family? Really boggles me. I genuinely feel bewildered as to how anyone can hate him so much for something so fickle.
PurpleHaze
All-Star
I noticed AI appeared to be remorseful in his comments following his unexcused absence. He ended it with, "it won't happen again." Everyone knows Iverson's lackadaisical attitude about "practice" to begin with and all about me superstar arrogance. I think there's MORE to it than just wanting to be with family on Thanksgiving. He knew a major reason Coach Curry called the 60 minute practice was because of "chemistry" issues some Detroit players had brought up coming off their long west coast road trip. Maybe it was AI's way of protesting what he saw as a slight directed at him and trying to avoid the issue.
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Kingzrool
Starter
I do not waste my time hating. But I refuse to make excuses for the rich and spoiled. The DUDE made 21 Million this year. If 21 Million is not enough to get your family together whenever you want, I do not know what is. Do you realize what can be done with 21 million dollars? The guy has ZERO excuses.
Go ahead and defend him all you want, I am sure he appreciates it.
Go ahead and defend him all you want, I am sure he appreciates it.
