I believe most people has his or her nickname. The nickname maybe given according to one’s characteristic, appearance, shape, advantage, social status or interest. One the most priceless and invaluable NBA player Allen Iverson also has a nickname “the Answer”. Most people may feel confused about the reason about this nickname, that is what I want to talk with you guys today.
Rumor 1: Jameel Blackman who called himself as Iverson’s old buck said that “the Answer” was given by him, moreover, he wanted to take 25% of the total gains from what Iverson had benefited from this nickname. Jameel mentioned that they had known each other since 1994. Iverson’ s mum entrusted Iverson to his care, when he began to call Iverson as “the Answer”. In 1996, Iverson left from Georgetown University’s basketball team and was announced to join in Philadelphia 76ers with high honor of the No.1 pick in the 1996 draft of NBA. At that time, those young players would like to give themselves nicknames in order to be well known to their fans as soon as possible. Consequently, Iverson had to follow them to name himself a nickname. From all the candidate nicknames, Iverson finally selected the Answer to be his. Soon after, Iverson made his first tatoo “the Answer” on his arm and this nickname had made him well known to his fans from then on.
Rumor 2: It is said that everyone has known the answer that Philadelphia 76ers will win since Iverson is on the basketball court. That’s why Iverson is called “the Answer”.
Rumor 3: There is also another rumor saying that Philadelphia’s local media doubted about Iverson’s ability since he was born in a poor Black family, he was raised on the tough street of Hampton and he had a lot of youth problems. Most of all, Iverson is only 1.83m tall, what is the target of the media’s criticism. In order to show their doubt about Iverson, they named Iverson “the Question”. However, when Iverson behaved perfectly on the court of Philadelphia, almost all the sports reporters were surprised at his excellent performance, which definitely offered a strong “Answer” to their “Question”. From then on, Iverson was called “the Answer”.
Rumor 4: This nickname was given for his remarkable basketball skills. Iverson always made a crucial and critical hit on the court to end the game.
Rumor 5: “The Answer”is the homophonic of his name Iverson, so he was name “the Answer”. Anyway, Iverson keeps calling himself “the Answer”. Although nobody agreed with him at the beginning. Instead, most people only see some question of Iverson, for instance, he was often late for training, he could not deal with the relationship between his coach and him. Nevertheless Iverson never changed, the people who doubted about him began to change their opinions on Iverson and they have already accepted Iverson’s nickname-The Answer.