Allen Iverson

ISTANBUL, Turkey - In Turkey, Allen Iverson has brought basketball to the masses. He has been welcomed by millions, embraced by a star-starved Istanbul as the star-crossed superstar that he once was - and hopes to one day become again. Visions of AI billboards (sipping a Turkish soda, perhaps?) dance in one's imagination. He is the fresh prince of this ancient city. This is reality . . . is it not? Not really. That depiction is distorted. On game night inside BJK Akatlar Arena - home court of Iverson's new team, the Besiktas Cola Turka Black Eagles - the image of Iverson hysteria is pure and true, but the arena seats 3,200 in a city of about 13 million.

Of course.

I'VE ALWAYS been a fan of Allen Iverson, unlike the media. We the public seem to hear only the negative stories, but never the small acts of kindness he performs. These stories are just as important to give people more complete pictures of athletes like Mr. Iverson who are continually portrayed as immature hooligans. A few weeks ago in Virginia, a friend of my cousin's was in a horrible car accident. Trying to find her cell phone, she lost control of her car going off an exit ramp and it flipped.

ABOUT BEING picked for the Olympic basketball team, Allen Iverson states, "Anybody in their right mind that's seen me play for seven years, that sees the talent we have out there in this league, knows that if I'm not selected, it wouldn't be fair. " Iverson is already making himself out be a potential victim - again. I've seen him play for seven years. What have I seen? Missed practices. An arrest. A consistent under-40 percent shooter. An assist-to-turnover ratio barely above 1 (for non-basketball fans - that's not good)

The following are excerpts from the hundreds of pages of online discussion about Allen Iverson at philly.com. Participants in the online chat have given permission for their comments to be reprinted here. Sooner or later Allen Iverson has to realize what a wonderful situation he has in being able to do what he loves to do for so-o-o-o much money. Just think how good he could be if he would practice. H. Ron McClellan Middletown, Pa. Wednesday, 2:22 p.m. I understand that Allen Iverson comes from a poverty-stricken background, so do I. But as an adult, I know better than to be carrying a gun looking for my wife.

In July, I spent a couple of weekends with Allen Iverson in his hometown of Hampton, Va., as we discussed a possible book collaboration. What I witnessed was eye-opening: There was the time he hung out for an entire day with some 200 neighborhood kids at an elementary school, playing horseshoes and hoops with them as they swarmed around, calling him "Bubbachuck" - his hometown nickname. Not once did his infectious smile disappear. "I can block your shot!" One 7-year-old chirped to him. "Bring it on, Little Man," Iverson responded, launching a shot straight into the wide-eyed kid's outstretched hand.

Philadelphia police want to charge Allen Iverson - 76ers superstar, corporate pitchman, and cultural icon to the hip-hop generation - with aggravated assault, a felony, and making terroristic threats while armed. Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said last night that investigators would recommend to District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham today that an arrest warrant be issued. The recommended charges stem from a confrontation at the West Philadelphia apartment of Iverson's cousin early last Wednesday when he went in search of his wife, Tawanna.

A LLEN IVERSON is sure glad they have T.G.I. Friday's in Istanbul. The Sixers legend, a former regular at the Friday's on City Avenue, is now playing basketball in Turkey and told Philadelphia magazine's Robert Huber that he goes to Friday's in Istanbul daily. "Man, listen," he says. "I didn't know that the Philly cheesesteak wrap was that good when I was in Philly. I tried them when I got out here and every day since then. Every day since then," Iverson said. Huber asks Iverson, who used to lose big money regularly at Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal and Bally's, if he has a gambling problem.

ALOT MORE IS to be learned from Bill Clinton's antics than are dreamt of in Elmer Smith's column (Aug. 8). I have a big problem getting interested in Clinton's sex life. It's you "moralistic" media who made the Oral Office such a Big Deal. If you all weren't so terrified by your falling circulation and really wanted to help the American public find its proper options during those eight years, would you really have given Monica face time? Or would you have concentrated on the unsexy complicity of Bill with the Big Bucks that kept him in the race with equally amoral GOPsters?

Hours before Wednesday's game, fans and players alike were caught up in whether the "little guy" was in the house. "Is AI here?" Elton Brand asked a reporter two hours before the game. Fans were standing from the time they entered the Wells Fargo Center to try for a glimpse of Allen Iverson after word leaked that the former Sixers superstar would be in attendance. And the place exploded when Iverson came out of the tunnel close to the Sixers bench and, wearing a Lou Williams jersey and a Sixers warm-up jacket, handed the game ball to referee Joey Crawford.

THESE WERE the type of moments that made Allen Iverson a legend in Philadelphia - season on the line, odds all against you, desperate situation. I guess it was only fitting that Wednesday was the night that Sixers management persuaded Iverson to come home. If ever the Sixers needed the kind of inspiration that Iverson provided for a decade in South Philadelphia, it was Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, trailing the Boston Celtics, 3-2. I'm not really the metaphysical type.

It used to be that the sight of former Sixers superstar Allen Iverson running up and down the pine, hitting his jump shot, would scare many an NBA opponent. Nowadays, the dude is just plain scary, according to legal documents filed in Atlanta by A.I.'s once better half, Tawanna Iverson, 36. The Answer is so frightening, she claims in the filing, that the former Tawanna Turner wants a restraining order issued against him because he's harassing her and her family, according to a TMZ.com report.

IN THE MOMENT, Doug Collins could not stop smiling. For the second straight season, Collins had coached an achingly young team without a star into the playoffs, with two regular-season games to spare. In retrospect, perhaps in a week or 2, that joy will have worn off. The Sixers will have been dispatched from the playoffs for a second straight season, probably without much of a problem. Chicago and Miami are that much better. Then, Collins will reflect on what really happened this season . . . or, more to the point, what did not happen.

Andre Iguodala has already made a lot of money playing basketball in the NBA. By my calculations, he has bagged about $30 million, not counting the $13.5 million the Sixers are paying him this year and the $14.3 million and $17.5 million he will get in the next two years of his contract. But the one payment he has never received, apparently, is a reality check. In Sports Illustrated last week came a lament from Iguodala hinting at his lack of appreciation from Philadelphia fans.

It is part of Philadelphia sports lore, the time Andy Reid told Allen Iverson he didn't think the temperamental 76ers star could play for him. Iverson countered that, having played football in high school, he knew the NFL was different from the NBA, and he'd be different, too. Football coaches aren't just talkin' 'bout practice; it's the cornerstone of everything they do. A decade later, Reid is living out a high-stakes version of that...

The Iverson divorce - a strange, postmodern form of emotional musical chairs - has taken another strange zig. TMZ says Allen Iverson wants to stop - abort, annul, abrogate - divorce proceedings, sputtering on since March 2010, when estranged wife Tawanna first filed papers. In court documents cited by TMZ, the former Sixers megastar requests the court to chuck Tawanna's divorce petition because he and Tawanna revived their union between November 2011 and February 2012, proving that their marriage is not "irretrievably broken," as Tawanna claimed in 2010.

ADAM EATON was sitting in the clubhouse when he received six checks worth at least $20,000 each. If the 23-year-old D-backs' outfielder thought it was too good to be true, well . . . it was. The checks, from the players union's licensing program were for the other Adam Eaton. The 34-year-old who last played in 2009. The one who played two of his 10 major league seasons with the Phillies. According to the Arizona Republic, Diamondbacks infielder Cody Ransom broke the news to the younger Eaton.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Former NBA star Allen Iverson is joining a regional basketball league in the Dominican Republic for a month. Team president Milton Nunez said Thursday that the 36-year-old guard would play for Pueblo Nuevo. He declined to say how much Iverson will be paid. Iverson is to arrive Sunday and play for his second-place team that same day against GUG in Santiago province, Nunez said. "He and his agent have told us that he has been training a lot and that even if he hasn't been playing anywhere, he has what we need to help Pueblo Nuevo," Nunez said.

The Daily News would like to wish former Flyer Simon Gagne a happy birthday today. He turns 8. Actually, Gagne is 32, but because he was born on a leap day, he hasn't had a chance to celebrate too many birthdays on his actual birth date. With that absurdity in mind, here are a few other things that have occurred in the sporting world on Feb. 29 throughout the years. 2008 * Asante Samuel was designated the starting left cornerback by Eagles coach Andy Reid, signaling Lito Sheppard's exit from the team.