Iverson just can't walk away

Turkish prisons aren't what they used to be. In Midnight Express, it took Billy Hayes - the protagonist sentenced to three decades of hard time for drug smuggling - five long years to find an opening and eventually break out of jail. Even then, in the movie version, his freedom came at the expense of his sanity and a guard's life.

Allen Iverson managed to escape from Turkey in just a few months - and he didn't even have Randy Quaid to help him. Impressive.

Last week, Iverson decided to return to the United States to have surgery to remove a lesion from his right leg. When the news was announced, there was speculation in Turkey that Iverson might retire. (In the off-season, when his NBA options were exhausted, Iverson signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Turkish team Besiktas.)

Iverson's agent, Gary Moore, told the Associated Press that isn't true. More said the first step is to find out whether the lesion is benign. If it is, Moore said, Iverson could be back on a Turkish court - which, as Hayes would attest, is better than being in a Turkish court - in four to six weeks.

Iverson echoed the same sentiment in a multi-tweet Twitter explanation that I've collated for your benefit: "I have never said anything about retirement nor have I said goodbye to the game of basketball. I love this game! That is why I went all the way to Turkey to continue playing and once I get past this, my plan is to continue playing at the highest level possible."

The message likely confused high-ranking members of the Besiktas front office, who no doubt sat around world-famous Akatlar Arena and wondered aloud about Iverson's intentions: Does he plan on playing in Turkey, or does he plan on playing at the highest level?

This lesion issue is tricky, scary business, but it's good to know Iverson wants to keep playing basketball. Retirement is for lesser men.

For the last few years, while his farewell tour was winding its way from Detroit to Memphis and back to Philly, there were fans and reporters alike who openly hoped Iverson would end his career before he hurt his legacy. You hear the legacy argument a lot when someone advocates that Iverson hang up his custom-made Reeboks. It's a stance that's absurd and insulting - particularly to those of us who don't mind if the carnival stays in town a little while longer. That's usually when things get weird.

If athletes always knew when to walk away, we would have been deprived of some bizarre but entertaining moments over the years. It's an alternate history almost too grim to contemplate.

If Jerry Rice had called it quits, we never would have gotten to see him rock cornrows in a desperate attempt to fit in with his new, younger Oakland Raiders teammates. If Jamie Moyer had called it quits, we would have missed out on that impromptu news conference he held in the stands at Wrigley Field two years ago after he was pulled from the rotation and wanted to complain about it. If Michael Jordan had called it quits (for good - the first time), we wouldn't have been treated to the bloated version of MJ, who looked like he had a gout attack before every game in Washington. And if Brett Favre had called it quits after his time in Green Bay, we'd have no idea what he really does with his cell phone. That's no way to live.

Then there are the boxers. All of them.

So it goes with Iverson. If he had listened to the detractors and gone off to do something that doesn't require practice, he never would have been involved in that heartwarming return to Philly. Nor would he have taken that leave of absence to be with his family - which was actually code for "throw a party in Charlotte with Jermaine Dupri and hope the media don't find out." Then poor Jermaine Dupri would have had to sit there all alone wondering why the club was empty. No one wanted that - least of all Jermaine Dupri.

And so Iverson will push on, because that's what athletes do when they want or need another paycheck and they haven't figured out that it's hard to drive the lane when you're driving one of those supermarket scooters with the basket hanging from the handlebars. (For some reason, the refs call traveling on that every time.) Don't listen to the people who want him to retire. Keeping him on the court is good news for us. And, if he goes back to Turkey, that's good news for the good citizens there, too.

"He's enjoying the beauty of the country, the beauty of the people," Moore told the AP. "No one has any expectations of him."

Except for the people running his favorite TGI Friday's in Turkey. They hope he'll be back real soon.

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