As I’ve said over the past few days, I am really happy that Allen Iverson is once again a member of the Sixers. I grew up a fan of The Answer, and he remains my favorite active basketball player (Sir Charles will always top my list). I freely admit that I was misty eyed during Monday’s night announcement of the starting lineups and overwhelmed with emotion.

That being said, I take issue with Iverson showing up late on his first night back in town. He hadn’t even played a game and already he was breaking the rules. Iverson arrived at the Wachovia Center around five minutes to six last night, little more than an hour before tip off.

The cause? “Traffic,” said Iverson, having to answer questions once again about a subject that caused so many problems with coach Larry Brown during his first go around with the Sixers.

So what was new coach Eddie Jordan’s reaction to his new star’s tardiness? “No. It didn’t mean anything to me,” said Jordan. “We don’t run through plays for five guys who are going out there to shoot shots (before the game).”

During his introductory press conference last Thursday, Iverson openly talked about the mistakes he made in the past, about how he is only human and will undoubtedly make more mistakes. Certainly nobody would disagree with the notion that Allen Iverson would stumble along with the way, but I doubt many would have guessed it would have come this early, or been the infraction he was most famous for during his first ten years here.

I love the guy, but I find this unacceptable. We’re not talking about practice, we talkin about a game.

I guess some things never change.