NBA Owners Do the Darnedest Things
If you went to Sixers Fan Appreciation Night this past week, you would have been treated to a starting line-up consisting of Stephen Hunter, Samuel Dalembert, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Ollie, and Willie Green. If you showed up wanting to Allen Iverson (in his last game as Sixer most likely) or Chris Webber (who wants to see C-Webb?), you must have been pretty disappointed. There are a thousand reasons to be upset with the management of the Sixers. In the case of Samuel Dalembert, there are 62 MILLION reasons to be disappointed with the franchise. This takes things to new heights.
This shafting in Philly is a stark contrast to what happened last night in Dallas at the Mavericks Fan Appreciation Night. Mavs owner Mark Cuban gave everyone who attended the game a voucher for A FREE FLIGHT from American Airlines. Yowsers. As someone who’s been to a lot of sporting events lately, I’ve unfortunately become desensitized to the reality of $6 beers, $5 pretzels, and every other overpriced item that’s sold in stadiums throughout the land.
I salute Cuban for getting it. It’s good to see an owner who smart enough to realize that the best way to keep fans coming is to put out a great product and, on occasion, sweeten the pot for fans who do show up.
posted by Iconoclast @ 12:15 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
The Iverson-Webber thing is a total debacle. Here's the skinny (and I'm not talking about Nicole Ritchie):
Tuesday was Fan Appreciation Day for the Sixers. Due to nagging injuries neither player was supposed to play, although both were on the active roster. Apparently, Coach Maurice "Curly" Cheeks was unaware that they would not be playing. He found out about an hour or so before the game. Both players didn't show up until gametime.
Besides fan appreciation day, the game was significant because there is a very good chance that this was to be AI's last game at home as a Sixer. Because of this, an extra 5K people showed up. They were treated to a NBADL roster. Throw in the whole appreciation thing and you have a disaster (esp in Philly were if you don't bow down at the altar of fandom, they'll kill you).
I don't really think that Iverson AND Webber not showing up on-time is a coincidence. I think both guys are tired of the sixer situation and this was their way of saying "trade me before we're forced to shoot Kyle Korver in the face."
I love your passion Icono, your truely embracing the philadelphia mentality and mindset. That said Phily fans getting shafted happens on a nightly occurance, a la every time the phillies trot out Jeff Geary (or whatever his first name is), out of the bullpen.
Honestly, I am far more upset by the contract that was given to Korver than the one to Dalembert, even if you look at shitty centers accross the league he is only moderately paid. Korver however was a virtual c-smack accross the face of any intelligent life.
Oh yeah BTW Billy King, (the guy who signed both of the above mentioned sup par players), is now entrusted to rebuild the franchise.
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