Break out your copy of Pokémon Silver, grab that DVD of The Matrix from your parents’ basement and get ready for a dancing, slam-dunkin’ rabbit because the early 2000s are back in Philadelphia. The Sixers had previously announced that they were bringing back their classic Allen Iverson-era black uniforms in honor of the 25th anniversary of the franchise’s 2001 Eastern Conference Finals champion team. On Monday evening, news broke that this season would see the return of beloved mascot Hip-Hop for select
games this year in conjunction with this overall throwback play.
Is it too little too late for this nostalgia bait when people are more out on the Sixers than have been in over a decade?
If this was five years ago, for the 20th anniversary of the 2001 squad and the organization did this major throwback initiative rather than the “New Philadelphia” catastrophe, it would’ve been the coolest thing ever. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons would’ve been the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference while sporting the sleekest look in the league. Maybe those black uniforms could’ve even helped them overcome their historic collapses in the second round against the Hawks (okay, well, maybe not…). Still. The timing was perfect.
Now? Eh. It feels like an attempt to capitalize on nostalgia when fan interest is at its nadir. The Sixers were once the most important entity in my life. I didn’t attend a game from the stands last season for the first time in 20-plus years. Sad stuff. It’s great for younger fans who never got to experience a whacky mascot or those uniforms that Iverson made iconic, but I’m sitting here wondering, is this less about doing something cool for the sake of it being cool and more so just trying to extra some quick bucks from my wallet?
I mean, it’ll probably work, at least on me. I was born in the mid-1990s. I still listen to The Strokes and 50 Cent and wear a black Dikembe Mutombo jersey every summer down the shore. My fellow millennials and I have just aged into the consumer class. It’s akin to the way we go to the grocery store now and hear a Ja Rule hit or a song by The Killers and think, “Oh, wow! They started playing good music in here!” No, you idiot. They always play music a generation-or-so behind in these public spaces because they want to attract schmucks like us who have cash to spend.
As James Earl Jones’ Terence Mann so eloquently stated in Field of Dreams, “For it is money they have and peace that they lack.”
Whatever.
I have greatly soured on having to watch the same ol’, same ol’ when it comes to the team’s stars, but, like a fool who just wants to feel the freedom of my youth once more, even if it’s just for a fleeting moment, I will probably lose my mind seeing VJ Edgecombe throw down a wild dunk in these bad boys while Hip-Hop goes berserk. Congrats, Sixers. You’ve won against this badly beaten down fan.
