Your Thursday Morning Roundup
Tremendous work by reader Adam, whose image gives homage to Malik Rose’s nickname for the Sixers’ bench
Some morning reading for your, um, reading pleasure.
Fans are clamoring to get on the Sixers’ bandwagon… and media folks are scrambling to provide adequate coverage (us included– debuting a new contributor today who weaves Hayden Panettiere into a basketball post). Bill Lyon and John Gonzalez both write about the fact that – oh holy shit – the Sixers have a real rivalry with the New York Knickerbockers.
Gonzo:
The Sixers played an important Atlantic Division game on Wednesday night in New York. That is a strange sentence to type. It’s hard to remember the last time anyone got worked up about the Sixers and Knicks playing each other. When I was a kid – or at least when I was younger – I looked forward to those two teams being on the same court. There was a long and ugly history between the franchises and the cities, and besides there was always a good chance that Charles Barkley or Rick Mahorn might try to clobber Patrick Ewing and his teammates with a folding chair WWE-style.
Lyon:
They fought the good fight in what turned out to be a corking good game, complete with blood on the court, double technicals, some glares and stares, a little bit of posturing and a whole lot of trash talking, some thunder dunking and some rainbow 3’s.
Philly-New York has always been a contentious rivalry and this one did nothing to diminish it.
Sam Donnellon, who gets bonus points for accurately predicting the trade of Mike Richards last spring, spoke with Jeremy Roenick about crazy Bryz and goaltenders in general. Read it.
Jerry Sandusky watched Joe Paterno’s 409th victory from the president’s box at Beaver Stadium. That was just a week before he was arrested for raping little boys. Read it.
A new pastime, tipped off to me by reader (@DHays27), is watching Matt Cord’s incredibly awkward courtside interviews with celebs like… M. Night Shyamalan, who is making a movie with… Will Smith, a minority owner of the Sixers. THIS IS ALL SO META. Watch the videos here. And yes, one of them includes new anthemist Ayla Brown– feel free to watch that one one-handed with or without the volume.
Next year's Winter Classic will most likely be at Michigan Stadium. Read it.
