Sixers shooting for top of the Philly sports pops
Even a casual study of Philadelphia sports history will reveal that everything is fluid. And that’s why something is about to change, if it hasn’t already.
Philadelphia will not be a pro football town any more. It will be a pro basketball town.
It happens. The Eagles had a long reign, basically from the end of a Phillies division dynasty in 1983 through Super Bowl LII. While a second Phillies flurry from 2007 through 2011, which coincided with the final horrifying hours of the Andy Reid misery, threatened a permanent shift, it was temporary.
This time it’s real. This time, and for a long time, the 76ers will rule. They will dominate sports-radio conversation. They will command the larger headlines. Their drafts will be the most analyzed. Their draft picks will be the most criticized.
With Joel Embiid not just an MVP candidate but a personality qualifying for late-night talkshow time, the Sixers will draw attention all day, every day. With Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler, they should win the Eastern Conference and play for a championship. And that will only boost the ascent to the top of the Philadelphia sports popularity pyramid.
As it happens, it will blend with a generational shift in taste. Already, the under-30 crowd is more obsessed with an NBA offseason than anything else on the sports calendar. Basketball is easier for those raised in the instantgratification era to enjoy, for the games are shorter, the strategy less complicated, the players more easily identified. A football game takes too long to play. There are too many huddles, timeouts, injury stoppages and replays. It’s slower than baseball, and it unfolds in lousier weather.
That doesn’t mean Pennsylvania isn’t a wonderful football state, or that the Linc suddenly will be empty on game day, or that tailgating will no longer have appeal, or that quarterbacks and coaches won’t be heckled. It just means that the cycle has turned.
Philadelphia fans desperately wanted a Super Bowl championship. In so many ways, that has been a sedative. Relatively speaking, they don’t even have the energy they once did to complain about a team with a losing record.
So long live pro basketball … until the cycle spins again. •••
••• Whenever a coach or manager is criticized in Philadelphia, there is a predictable source of ire.
Whether it was Andy Reid or Doug Pederson, Dave Hakstol or Gabe Kapler, Chip Kelly or Pete Mackanin, the wail usually goes like this: Why is he so boring at those press conferences?
Why? Here’s why: It’s what happens when a sinister plan backfires.
Sometime in the last
20 years, the Pattison Avenue Cartel decided that after every game, every night, in every situation, the coach or manager will be shoved in front of a TV camera for a live cross-examination. The idea was to sap the influence of the media by eliminating true conversational access to those able to provide useful information.
Previously, even if on the record, those coaches could be themselves, could say things in semi-confidence, could share news and feelings. And the press would accurately reflect their thoughts. The resulting coverage would be deeper and more likely to properly characterize the situation.
But once every syllable they would utter would be blasted over live TV, the coaches would have only one choice: Don’t. Say. Anything. Headlineworthy.
The result: The organizations have been made not to appear capable only of employing foolish field leaders unable to see or react to what the fans just saw on the field.
The organizations, then, look ridiculous, tens of dozens of times a year. It’s what they deserve. Because it’s what they are.
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John Middleton, who keeps talking big, has said the Phillies will do some spending in the coming weeks and may be, in his words, a little “stupid” about doing so. OK. It’s a figure of speech. And the Phillies’ owner’s message was clear: If he has to overpay for a superstar or two, he’ll do so at whatever risk of criticism or buyers’ remorse.
But it’s not like the Phillies haven’t made stupid (to hijack a phrase) spending decisions in the past. Just last year, they dropped a $60 million deal on Carlos Santana, who would hit a robust
.229. And they spent at least $75 million on Jake Arrieta, who would go
10-11. And what was the big idea, anyway, about throwing $27 million at Scott Kingery after one strong Grapefruit League season?
Technically, it is about time the Phillies behaved like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers or Cubs, what with their large monopoly market, strong local TV deals, interested fans and multi-billionaire ownership. And Middleton is at a point where he can do that.
He has to be smart about it, though. Because that would help, too.
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••• Anthony Caputo Smith
(16-8-0, 11 knockouts) and Prince Badi Ajamu (29-51, 15 KOs) will rumble in a featured bout Dec. 1 at the Hockessin (Del.) PAL. Popular Joey Tiberi Jr. will be among the headline performers. Advance tickets start at $45. Diane Fischer Cristiano (609-868-4243), Nick Tiberi (302-540-7203) and Joey Tiberi (302-3390648) have info.
••• Before burying the Eagles, consider these warnings as the Giants prepare for a Sunday visit to the Linc.
One: No pro football situation is ever as bad as it looks, 48-7 losses in New Orleans included.
Two: Eli Manning plays for New York.
Three: The Eagles, sputtering as they are, are favored for a reason.
Thus, the pick: Eagles
34, Giants 7.
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