# Question about Allen Iverson
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 19, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669 "2003-04-19T18:40:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/1 "2003-04-19T18:40:57Z")
Why does he wear a _sleeve_ on his right arm? It can’t be a bandage 'cause he’s been wearing it for at least 3 years, and it’s color co-ordinated with the Sixers jerseys. Is it a new form of wristband? It looks too thin to be a brace of any kind.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/2 "2003-04-19T18:52:36Z")
[From this page:](http://www.southsidebadminton.com/BadmintonBC/020506-BadmintonBCUpdate.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> “Why does Allen Iverson from the Sixers sport a band on his right arm?” - The band is a sleeve specially made to protect Iverson from aggravating the chronic bursitis in his elbow.
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### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/3 "2003-04-19T22:03:53Z")
Plus it looks cool…
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/4 "2003-04-19T22:23:30Z")
[ul]😛 [sup] **To cover up some of those toos.** [/sup][/ul]
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### Author:  [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/5 "2003-04-19T22:50:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kniz \*
> \*\*[ul]😛 [sup] **To cover up some of those toos.** [/sup][/ul] \*\*
Nah, that’d be Lebron James.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/6 "2003-04-19T23:40:56Z")
It certainly isn’t to help his diction or annunciation…
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### Author:  [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/7 "2003-04-19T23:49:51Z")
No offense, but I think you mean enunciation. Maybe it’s to help Iverson whine better.
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### Author:  [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/8 "2003-04-20T00:36:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kniz \*
> \*\*[ul]😛 [sup] **To cover up some of those toos.** [/sup][/ul] \*\*
I believe the current _hip & happening_ slang for them is **tats**.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/9 "2003-04-20T00:48:43Z")
Yeah, that’s the word. Thanks.
Or as Iverson would say, “mumblemumblemumble, you know, mumblemumble…”
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/10 "2003-04-20T01:57:59Z")
Iverson has a problem with the bursar (?) sack and some bone chips in that elbow. He had some surgery, but will always fight the problem.
The sleeve is so sort of pressure garment designed to help the condition.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/11 "2003-04-20T20:55:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Payton’s Servant \*
> \*\*I believe the current _hip & happening_ slang for them is **tats**. \*\*
[ul]☹ [sup] **Thanks, I’ll make a note of that.** [/sup][/ul]
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/12 "2003-04-20T21:02:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Payton’s Servant \*
> \*\*I believe the current _hip & happening_ slang for them is **tats**. \*\*
If that’s true, what’s _hip & happening_ slang is behind the times. “Tats” have been around for yonks.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/13 "2003-04-20T23:07:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> “Tats” have been around for yonks
Late '80’s/early '90’s?
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### Author:  [@patternagainstuser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/patternagainstuser)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/14 "2003-04-21T04:07:41Z")
I believe its’ to protect his elbow from further injury, although it’s not a bandage. I think his elbow has been injured several times, so he has a little flexible cast on it to protect it.
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### Author:  [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/15 "2003-04-21T08:00:48Z")
I’ve seen a few players wear those sleeves on one of their legs too, most recently T-mac and Steve Francis.
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Philster \*
> \*\* The sleeve is so sort of pressure garment designed to help the condition. \*\*
I wonder if AI’s arm-sleeve would provide for an effective ‘sling effect’ whilst taking a shot?
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### Author:  [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/16 "2003-04-21T08:08:56Z")
OK, I did a quick Yahoo! on it, and I got this from the Seattle Times, similar to what \*\* Ice Wolf \*\* and \*\* Philster \*\* mentioned earlier:
“Philadelphia guard Allen Iverson wears a compression sleeve that protects his swollen knee and a sleeve on his right elbow, which helps keep his shooting arm warm and loose.”
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-allen-iverson/169669/17 "2003-04-21T13:32:37Z")
Why not decorate the sleeve? All that money spent on tats, and he’s covered it up with a sleeve… plenty of clean space for him to sell advertizing, send shout-outs, or just draw more tattoo’s to see if he likes the design enough to commit to…