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Patrick Beverley Says LeBron Would Enjoy Being on the Sixers More if He Lives in Philly
By Matt Schultz
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Looks like no one told Patrick Beverley that the “LeBron James might live in New York while playing for the Sixers” discourse pretty much ended a couple weeks ago: On Tuesday, the former/very brief Sixer and host of The Pat Bev Show said LeBron should live in Philly if he wants to really enjoy and appreciate the experience of being a Sixer —
“When it comes to Philadelphia, they eat, breathe Sixers and Eagles. They eat breathe. Ah… I’m talking bout, eat breathe. They even eat and breathe the fuckin’ baseball team. So like um, the, the – LeBron. I don’t – This’ll reach you somewhere because I know this gonna hit after I say this: I ain’t telling you what to do. Right? As a man I could never tell another man what to do. But to really enjoy Philadelphia you have to live in Philadelphia. I ain’t gonna front. I know it’s mixed stories and we don’t never know what Bron doing, of course. But my time there, I lived in Old City. You feel me? Like, I lived in Old City. I lived in Philly. The love I got in Philly was some of the best love I ever experienced my entire career in the NBA. The City of Brotherly Love, though. The City of Brotherly Love, for real, so LeBron, I ain’t telling you, you know what I’m saying, but you would appreciate it more living in Philly.”
I’ve already written on this topic a couple times and admittedly had gotten pretty bored with it, but I actually think Pat Bev raises a new/interesting question here: Where should LeBron live if he wants to get the most enjoyment out of his Sixers tenure?
Pat Bev’s argument makes a lot of sense: playing on a Philly team and living in Philly has to rule. The city is filled with the most passionate fans in the country. We love our teams and we love our players, especially when they win. So if you’re an athlete living in Old City like Pat Bev did, it’s gotta be pretty sweet to just walk around every day and have people cheer and clap and say what’s up and tell you you’re the man and that they love you and buy you drinks and all that sort of stuff. That’s sick. That is the Vinnie Chase life (I am rewatching Entourage). And that’s the goal for all of us. Every generation is striving to live more like Vinnie Chase than their parents did.
Also, living in Philly is probably particularly appealing to someone like Pat Bev because most athletes aren’t really that famous. The vast majority of pros – Pat Bev included – are bench guys, or role players, or journeymen, or generally average players only known by diehard fans of that sport. So living and playing in Philly – a city that knows sports better than just about anywhere else – makes these kinds of guys feel like Vinnie Chase when they’re actually Turtle (I am rewatching Entourage).
So far, I agree with Pat Bev: Living in Philly is a great move for just about every Philly athlete.
But I think LeBron may be the exception to the rule…
LeBron is already one of the most famous people not just in sports, but on the planet. Living in Philly would mean way more attention on the street, more fans yelling at him, more crowds circling him for autographs – and he’s already been dealing with all that nonstop for twenty-plus years, and in cities way less concerned with sports than Philly. Would that be enjoyable for him? Especially considering 1) how amped Philadelphians are that he’s coming here and 2) Philly hasn’t had a person that famous living here since Benjamin Franklin.
I feel like the answer is no. I could actually see that being pretty bad. If playing and living in Philly turns regular bench guys like Pat Bev into Vinnie Chase, you gotta figure it’d turn someone as famous as LeBron into the Pope morphed with all four Beatles mixed with the Coca-Cola logo. Living in the city with that level of fame would be nuts and could possibly drive a person insane. I could see somewhere in the suburbs working. Maybe South Jersey. Somewhere with a nice long driveway and tall shrubs. Haddonfield. But if I’m LeBron, living in Old City like Pat Bev sounds like a nightmare.
It’s also worth noting that to someone of LeBron’s stature, living like Vinne Chase would be a step backward. He already showed us he views Vinnie Chase as small time (I am rewatching Entourage):
In conclusion, don’t listen to Pat Bev, LeBron. Just live in NYC. No one will bother you up there. New Yorkers are used to a bunch of celebrities walking around and most of them don’t really care about sports anyway, so you should get plenty of privacy. And we’ll see you at Xfinity Mobile Arena on game days. That’s cool with us. Just because Eric and Sloane didn’t live together for a while didn’t mean they didn’t care about each other (I am rewatching Entouage).
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com