Here’s Mad Dog Russo ranting about Philadelphia as a sports city:

Putting aside the performative nature of the hot take television show, Mad Dog going back to 1981 to make his point is hilarious. Who is the target demo of this dissertation? People born in 1970 or earlier? You’d have to be in your mid-50s to have lived through that era of Philadelphia sports.

Fact checking this manufactured diatribe, it looks like this particular Game 7 was on April 19th back then. Sixers 99, Bucks 98, so he got the score right. Dr. J was indeed on that Sixers team and yes the Bucks had Marques Johnson, Junior Bridgeman, and Bob Lanier. Who could forget! But Mother’s Day in 1981 took place on May 10th, according to “the Google,” so Mad Dog was a few weeks off. (EDIT – it was Easter Sunday, not Mother’s Day, thank you everyone)

Now, in terms of attendance, Basketball Reference says 6,704 came to Game 7 and Baseball Reference says 30,204 watched that Phils/Cubs game, which the Phillies won 7-3 behind nine strong innings from Nino Espinosa. So Mad Dog undersold the Spectrum game by 1k but was pretty close otherwise.

Whether or not any of this proves his rant, I have no clue. The Sixers were on a run back then where they just could not get over the hump, not until they traded for Moses Malone and stomped everyone in 1983 en route to a title. So maybe there was some Sixers fatigue from the locals during a time when the Phils were also very good and coming off a World Series win. All four teams went to their respective championship games in 1980, but only the Phillies came out on top. Maybe one of our respected elder Crossing Broad readers can take us back to the Zeitgeist of 1981 and explain why Game 7 Sixers/Bucks attendance was down, but 30k came out to see the Phillies. Let’s use facts to defeat Mad Dog.