The Call

No, not The Backstreet Boys' 2001 hit song.

No, not Babe Ruth's called shot in the 1932 World Series.

Not even Ed Stefanski's call to agent Leon Rose asking if a certain free agent was interested in a place called home.

This call, my friends, was a call made by yours truly on Saturday, November 28th at 12:09 P.M. The recipient of the call? Well, technically an automated system. But the eventual recipient was Brian, a ticket salesman working for the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers... remember them? They run up and down a court with a basketball and actually play right here in Philadelphia! Whats that? They don't sound familiar? I don't blame you, I don't see how anybody could pay much attention these days. Ranking second-to-last in attendance for the 2009-2010 season is the result of a pretty thrill-less team.

Here's an actual transcript of my little chit-chat with Brian.

Brian: This is the 76ers box office, my name is Brian how may I help you?

Zach: Hey Brian, how's it going? (I'm genuine, what can I say?)

Brian: Uh (obviously not expecting my bona fide sincerity), good. Yourself?

Zach: Can't complain. I'm actually calling for one reason. I want to buy tickets to a Sixers game, but only if you guys sign Allen Iverson.

Brian: Oh, well do you want to buy some tickets now in case they sign him?

Zach: No, I have no interest in the Sixers right now. I can guarantee you though, that if the Sixers re-sign Iverson, I will buy tickets. If you happen to talk to the front office tell them that. I'm dead serious.

Brian: Ok, can I write down your name and number?

Zach: Zach Leon, 215 603 8925. Hope to hear from you soon.

Let's flash forward to today, Wednesday, December 2nd at 3:30 PM.

(I'm sitting in an appointment with my advisor)

Zach: Can't I petition to have that class count for International Studies? (Sudden jolt as I feel a vibration in my pocket.) Sorry, can I take this?

Phone: Jack?

Zach: Do you mean Zach? This is Zach.

Phone: Yeah, sorry. Zach. This is Brian.

Zach: ...Brian...

Brian: Brian from the Sixers. You said that you'd buy tickets if we signed AI.

Zach: Oh yeah, I'm in a meeting. I promise I'll call you back.

Brian: I look forward to hearing from you.

So is that all it takes? A little determination from a fan to call the team instead of the sports radio airwaves? Hardly. I know that my plea for the return of Allen Iverson had at least a stake in his homecoming. I, along with the rest of Philadelphia, am bored of watching a bunch of second-tier draft picks run around the floor, dunk miss wide open three's, and allow anyone who knows how to dribble a basketball blow by them on the way to the cup. Turns out that a little effort by the fan base can really go a long way.

The 76ers are a team in desperation. Without a single player averaging over 20 points per game since Iverson's departure, this team hasn't had a single player with the ability to take over a game. And after watching years and years of basketball, that is huge. The absence of a go-to-guy has resulted in just 13 playoff wins since that memorable championship run in '01. Now that statistic wasn't meant to depress you, after all there are teams with much worse stretches than that over the past 8 years. Add Allen Iverson to a playoff team that is on the bubble of a series win and the Sixers are back. Back in the news, back in the game, back in contention. The fact that we had 13 playoff wins in that time without a single All-Star? That is unbelievable! How can we expect to win a playoff series when Andre Iguodala is your franchise player? I mean, he's been a Sixer for 5-plus years and I still rely on the Google Search bar at the top righthand corner of my web browser to spell his name! Things aren't allowed to go well when your star player has an un-spellable name 5 years after he was drafted. There's got to be a formula for that somewhere...

Think about this for a minute, the last time Allen Iverson was given free rein to do whatever he wanted when he was on the floor was a little over a year ago when he played every. single. game. All 82. That season Iverson averaged 26 points, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 3 rebounds a game. Vintage AI. After that season he ventured to Motown where he started a game, sat on the bench the next, back and forth until a "back injury" forced him to sit out the rest of the season. I don't think there is anyone out there who believes that Allen would quit a season if he was starting and getting his shots. Iverson was unhappy, didn't get what he wanted on the court and thus pouted and let what I am sure was a real injury become more than it really was.

The argument against bringing back Iverson is that it will hinder the development of our younger players. Well, this just in people: we are in "Win Now Mode." That's why Iggy and Elton Brand are making 13 and 14 million dollars this year respectively. Either that or our front office is even more inept than it was during the Billy King era. I tend to believe that fielding back-to-back playoff teams that took each series to 6 games (one against the eventual Eastern Conference Champs) points towards something positive.

A 5-13 record to start off the 2009-2010 campaign is not the something positive I, or anybody else, had in mind. Is the development of our younger players really supposed to override making the playoffs? Could we really be doing any worse at this juncture in the season? 2 of our 5 wins are against the winless Nets (who as of Wednesday, December 2nd stand at 0-18, the worst start to a season in NBA history). They didn't even start their All-Star point guard, Devin Harris, in either of those games. And, oh yeah, the Sixers topped off those wins by a combined 6 points! I'll let that sink in...

So I ask you: is taking shots away from Willie Green, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young and "Slammy" Dalembert really a bad thing? Shouldn't we be rejoicing? For God's sake - Allen Iverson is back! He has arguably a better supporting cast than any one of his first 10-plus seasons in Philadelphia. His legs, back, body (and mouth) are completely fresh. This man is not even 6 feet tall, only 165 pounds and is 34 years old. His knees aren't causing him problems like many aging 6 foot 6 stars. Iverson's most recent complete season produced the numbers that Philadelphia is accustomed to seeing out of "The Little Guy" as Larry Brown affectionately called him. The man who goes out on the court for "the game I die for" has returned. And with his reemergence maybe we will be treated to what few have witnessed so far. Check out this article on the real AI, something that has stuck with me since it's publication nearly 6 years ago.

He's back folks. Get ready for some jersey-logo thrusting. Some ear-cupping to the crowd. Some drives to the hoop that will resemble David versus Goliath. Some practice (key word there - some practice).

My goal with my conversation with Brian? To bring back The Answer. And guess what? It worked.