On Fan Attendance, Doc Rivers Wonders if the Sixers Were "Counting Like the Republicans"
If you had to guess, what percentage of the Sixers’ fan base would identify as Democrats?
50%?
75%?
99.99%?
It’s a probably a relatively high number, and Doc Rivers’ post-game political quip played well as a result.
An exchange:
Jeff Skversky: “I know you’re hoping this is the first of many playoff wins, but your first in Philadelphia. You had extra fans there. How sweet was this for you to grind this out and get a win with the support there? It sounded deafening at times.”
Doc Rivers: “It did. I can’t believe that was 10,000 or 11,000. There’s no way. I think we’re counting like the Republicans, you know? it felt like 30,000 people in the stands. They were amazing. Let’s keep it going. It’s so nice to have that at home. We got down early in the second quarter and beginning of third and they never wavered. That gives a team energy. I don’t think people understand how important that is.”
A dig at the Republicans! Is that fair or unfair? We’ll take your phone calls after the break.
But on a more serious note, yes, the crowd sounded damn good for the arena not being full. And this is with people wearing masks (mostly) and having their voices muffled while telling the refs they suck. I spotted one guy who just had a beer in his hand the entire time, which was his excuse for keeping his mask down. Apparently you don’t have to keep your mask on if you’re eating or drinking, so some people just hung on to a beverage for four quarters, which was crafty on their part.
ESPN reported the attendance as 11,160, confirmed by the Sixers, which is just about half of the arena.
Not sure if you could see this on television, but the upper deck was organized in a way where people were clustered around the midcourt line, while the ends of the arena were empty:
Yes, this would seem to run counter to social distancing principles, but you can sense that we’re pretty much done with COVID, or at least everybody is ready for that to be the case. When the mask mandate is lifted and the arena is filled up, you’re gonna have quite the atmosphere, with people letting a full year of frustration out, like a champagne supernova in the sky.