1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sixers!

“Clap your hands everybody
For Philadelphia 76ers
Stomp your feet, everybody
For Philadelphia 76ers
Here they come, Philadelphia
On the run, Stand up and cheer. Here they come, team of the year-
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sixers
10, 9, 8, 76ers”

words/music by Randy Childress, Terry Rocap, Joe Sherwood – (1975)

In a previous post, I described my current Top 10 Golden Years “bucket list”. Having knocked out three items last year (driving a Lamborghini on the Pocono Raceway, flying in a hot air balloon, and eating the world’s most expensive cheesesteak), I was ready for my next goal on the list- sitting in the first row courtside for a Philadelphia Sixers home game. Years ago when our children were young, we sat courtside for a Harlem Globetrotters game. It was really cool to see the huge players up that close, hear the conversations between the players during the game, and have the ball bounce over to where you are sitting. I always thought it would be fun to some day see the Sixers up that close.

I started tracking seat availability last year, and quickly realized this goal might not be financially possible. First row seats typically go for $5,000 a piece and up. But then I realized that unsold ticket prices can drop substantially as you get closer to game day, especially within hours of the game. The Sixers have been playing well, and I was free last night, so I watched on Ticketmaster throughout the day. I watched as tickets came off the board, and sometimes came back at a lower price. It was like watching the stock market- when is the right time to buy? Then 3 hours before game time, I dove in and scooped up 2 prime seats on the first row right behind the basket on the Sixers side of the court. They certainly weren’t cheap, but they got within my targeted price range so I jumped on them. The tickets included access to the Shift 4 Club, with a lounge area, private bathrooms, and free unlimited food and drinks with hostess service at our seats throughout the game. I had sushi and popcorn and Eva went with a cheesesteak and salad. Nice!

The Sixers were playing the Washington Wizards. I was happy to see none of the Sixers were out due to injury, so we would get to see Joel Embiid and Paul George along with my favorite Sixers, Tyrese Maxey and rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe. The Sixers jumped out to an early lead, and although the Wizards caught up briefly when the Sixers starters came out for a rest, the Sixers were ahead by 20 points for most of the second half. Our kids were home watching on TV and sending us occasional snapshots of when they saw us on the TV screen. Embiid, George, and Maxey all finished with over 20 points each. It was a dominating win!

A few observations from the close seats:

1. No surprise here, but up close those guys look REALLY tall and some look super young. They make so much money I tend to think of them as full-fledged adults, but many are still just kids in my book.
2. Joel Embiid is a monster and he works up quite a sweat. Sweat was dripping from him like a faucet. The ball boy kept busy mopping up his sweat every time the action moved the other end of the court. As the games went on I could tell he was getting tired as he was moving slower, but he plays a very physical game. As he gets pounded in the lane and frequently ends up on the floor, it is actually not too surprising that he has been injured so much over the course of his career.
3. It is neat to be close enough to hear the conversations between players during the game. After one errant pass, I heard one of the Wizards tell his teammate, “My bad.” But overall there was not as much chatter on the court as I expected.
4. Up close it is easy to see how fast-paced and physical the game is. It was hard to get photos because everyone is moving so fast. The stamina of those guys is quite impressive. I got tired, out of breath, and sore just watching them battle for position and dashing up and down the court. Eva asked me why there weren’t more penalties for some of the aggressive pushing and shoving- it’s all about establishing your position but it gets really rough in the paint with those big guys flexing their muscles.
5. I was surprised to see the players were more friendly than I expected with the referees. A few times during breaks in the action I saw players talking to the refs and laughing it up.
6. It is nice to see females taking a bigger role in professional sports nowadays. While it was unheard of when I was growing up, I barely noticed that one of the referees was female. She called a nice game and seemed to fit in perfectly. It was also nice to see the Sixers play-by-play analyst, Kate Scott, in person. When watching at home, I find that she is very knowledgeable and I enjoy listening to her. I look forward to when Philadelphia gets a WNBA franchise, as I enjoy watching women’s basketball, too.
7. We were close to the Sixers bench, and one thing I saw that I had never noticed before- with each time out, before head coach Nick Nurse would talk to the players, all of the assistant coaches would huddle with him first and they would discuss strategy amongst themselves. It wasn’t until after Nurse got the feedback from his assistants that he would go over and map out the next play(s) for the players.
8. In the first row, you have to stay alert- at one point a woman near us ended up with a player in her lap. We didn’t have any close calls, but at one point Tyrese Maxey ended up tumbling and sliding across the floor in front of us.
9. The old “Kiss-cam” camera panning the audience looking to couples to kiss and showing it on the big screen has now been replaced by the “6-7 cam”, panning the audience as they juggle their hands saying “6-7, 6-7” for the camera. I could do without it- I’m ready to move on from that fad.
10. Having sat in the parking lot for hours waiting to get out after many Eagles and Phillies games, it was certainly nice to get out of the parking lot without any delay. The parking and traffic around the stadium are more geared to a Sixers arena sized crowd than the much larger Eagles or Phillies stadiums. The quick ride home was a nice change from the usual log jam.

It was a great night, and a fun win. The only downside is Eva has now become a big Sixers fan and wants to go to more games (sitting courtside, of course). I’m not sure if that’s in the cards, but time will tell. Life in our Golden Years!

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