Tag Archive: philadelphia sixers

It All Looks Downhill From Here

April 5, 2011 Randy Neil

Ugh. My first pessimistic 76ers post in 4 months. It’s right before playoff time and things could possibly be in turmoil. Lou Williams, arguably the heart and soul of the Sixers locker room, is out for the foreseeable future with a hamstring injury. After an MRI on Sunday, it was reported that his injury was more serious than initially assessed and no one has given a time frame for his return.

In response to the injury, the 76ers signed this guy, Antonio Daniels. Don’t know who he is? Most people don’t. But he’s been an NBA player on 7 teams for a 13-year career, winning 1 NBA Championship with the San Antonio Spurs. He’s been to the play offs 10 times. That was the good part of the story. The bad part is he played only 4 games the entire 99′ Spurs Championship play off run. Daniels has spent the last 10 years being traded from team to team as a ‘average’ bench player and played last year in the NBA D-League after his contract was bought out by the Timberwolves because he wasn’t getting any minutes.

The Sixers signed Daniels to a 10-day contract to finish out the rest of the season without Lou, with a chance to extend it for the playoffs pending Williams’ injury.

We play the Celtics tonight in Boston and I’m not going to even watch it. I’ll be at a Rick Ross concert because I enjoy paying a rich person to tell me how much better their life is than mine through music. The next day we play a home game against the Knicks.

It’s 3 more games after that and then we hit the playoffs. Most likely, it’s still going to be the Miami Heat, a team we just recently lost a heart-wrenching game to. With Lou Williams I would think our team could have a shot. Without, I don’t have any hope.

It’s been a great year watching the 76ers. This season has been a drastic improvement from last years and I walk away from this certainly feeling more satisfied than I would have guessed. I want to end it now, on a good note, rather than at the hands of Lebron James and the Heatles.

We upset the #1 team in the West. We upset the #1 and #2 team in the East. We finished above .500 with the 6th seed in the East. It’s a year to be proud of. I will be buying a Spencer Hawes jersey. Lol.

Here’s to the year. It’s been a good one. #showyaluv

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After The Thunder, Comes the Tears

March 10, 2011 Randy Neil

Alright, so we didn’t win. We didn’t win. Ahhhhhhhhhhh that’s still taking some time to sink in. Up 5 points with 40 seconds to go, we were hanging with the OKC for the entire game, making shots, playing OK defense, but in the end it wasn’t enough. Kevin Durantula made an amazing 3 (which he got fouled on) to tie the game into overtime, and it was pretty much all downhill from there.

But, I will reflect on some of the good things. I had the most amazing seats I’ve ever had in the history of sports ever. Front row, right behind the Sixers bench, where I was literally feet away from every player I’ve been watching on TV for the past 2 years. We had our own waitress, who brought us things (and women) if we desired them, and access to the Lexus Club. It felt nice to smooze with the elite of Philadelphia. I saw some 80 year old man with two 30 year old ladies on his arm. BALLIN. Rich people don’t get hype like us common folk though, so to say that the crowd around us was bland would be an understatement. It seemed more about the outing than the game, and that ain’t right. Where’s my Miller High Life guy?

There are some things you get with a higher price ticket aren’t necessary supposed to be included. Hearing Doug Collins call out his players, directing them on how to play, was amazing. It was like watching a gladiator in Roman times screaming for the kill. You could watch the players jabber to each other back and forth, truly enjoying the game. One play Collins was so mad about a foul that he grabbed the ball and refused to give it back to the ref. That was directly in front of me, about 5 feet away. Awesome.

Eric Snow, one of Comcast’s TV play by play announcers almost got into a fist fight prior to the game. Here we all were, soaking in the seats we had got, and I look over and some guy calls out Snow for falling asleep on TV a few games ago during a Rockets’ game. Jokingly of course, and the man did fall asleep during a game on live TV, it’s all over Youtube, but Eric Snow did not like this one bit. He stands up, turns around, and starts talking shit to the guy in the crowd, about 2 rows behind us. It went on for like 5 minutes! Security ended up coming over, but apparently the gentlemen were able to squash it. Like really Snow?? You DID fall asleep on TV. It IS funny. Why you getting salty dawg??

Ah well. I wasn’t expecting a win last night, coming off an away game the night before, but I certainly hoped for one. I was impressed with how well the Sixers still managed to hang with the #3 team in the West, almost winning the game if it wasn’t for Durantula’s amazing 3 pointer. The Wells Fargo Center was packed, more than I’ve ever seen it. I got on TV a bunch, and now I have a new Facebook picture. That was well worth the price of admission.

I’ll leave you with two videos. This NBA 2K11 commercial I never saw on TV once, but it’s got Iggy and Russell Westbrook in it, pretty funny.

And, since baseball season is right around the corner, the classic Carlos Ruiz post game interview

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