I’m not that much different than the rest of the fans.
I turn 30 at the end of the year. I’ve been a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan that’s followed all four major professional teams religiously for my entire life. I’ll always say I hate the question of ranking the four teams in order of which ones I like the most because that would be like ranking the four children I don’t have.
The 2001 Sixers were the first Philly sports team that I truly fell in love with. They won a ton of awards and much like every other six-year-old, I had a blue Allen Iverson jersey. The battles in the playoffs against Indiana, Toronto and Milwaukee were the first playoff sweats I can remember experiencing in my life. I even remember how excited I was waking up after Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the news that they won thinking maybe, just maybe, they could beat the Lakers.
The 2013 offseason was the other time in my life I remember being as invested in the Sixers as I was in 2001. It’s not that I didn’t pay attention in all the other years, but Sam Hinkie’s arrival really felt like a seminal turning point for the franchise. Every season after Iverson left and before Hinkie arrived felt like watching the same movie with a different cast.
Sure, maybe there would be an Andre Iguodala jump shot against the Magic in 2009 to steal a playoff game that got you excited. It was cool to watch Lou Williams hit a jumper on Easter Sunday in 2011 to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Heat. I was one of many fans that was suckered into a season ticket package after the Andrew Bynum trade.
But once the Bynum trade failed, we all knew the writing was on the wall for a tear down and it was one that I embraced. I often turned to Liberty Ballers for more Sixers content at this time. I have lots of sports media experience under my belt and to be clear, I think there some good journalists that cover sports for legacy outlets. But, during the early Process years, I found Liberty Ballers to be a nice diversion from the “Big J” writers that often took themselves too seriously. There was always another column to be written about how Hinkie was disregarding the integrity of the NBA.
Liberty Ballers felt like a community for its staff to interact with fans that were willing to try something different with a team that was in dire need of a shakeup. I don’t profess to be an Xs and Os mastermind or the best capologist out there. I’m just someone that has a lot of opinions and thoughts about the Sixers and views Liberty Ballers as a great place to share those.