I WOULD NOT allow myself to go there.
I refused to let the alarm bells chiming in my head take me back to 15, 16 or 17 years ago.
I don't know a lot of things about Allen Iverson, but, after chronicling the vast majority of his NBA career, I know how much his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame means to him.
Even with a bunch of little devils screaming - "Oh, well, what did you expect?" - I fought them off and decided Iverson deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Whatever misgivings I might have had if this were a young, 20-something Allen Iverson, I was sure the 41-year-old Allen Iverson - the man I saw break down in tears while expressing how it felt when he was told he would be part of the 2016 Hall of Fame Class - would not intentionally have done anything to sully the festivities during this weekend's ceremonies.