Aging Gracefully- Ur Doing It Wrong, AI

After watching this amazing dunkfest, I realized just how much explosiveness Allen Iverson's lost in the past few years. He's clearly a player in rapid decline and everyone in the league knows it. Everyone except him.

It's sad, especially considering what might have happened if AI was willing to stay in Philly and accept his new role as a mentor and role player. Check out this tearjerker clip of Reggie Miller's last game in Indy and tell me you can't picture AI going out like this with the Sixers- with class, dignity, admiration, the Philly fans all chanting his name, begging for him to come back for one more year.

That's the way it was supposed to be for Iverson.

Instead he's burned bridges and alienated fans in three cities and counting, all because he's not willing to accept the inevitable- that stars fade. It's not quite a debacle of Ali/Holmes proportions but it's getting there.

AI should dig through his crates of old records and have another listen to the timeless classic, The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. I think he might glean some wisdom from these powerful words:

You got to know when to hold �em
Know when to fold �em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

And for all you Jim Henson fans, here's a bizarre rendition of the song where a Muppet drinks and smokes himself to death. No, I'm not kidding.

Pictured: Twisted Piston