Embracing the Hate: How the Sixers Became a Lightning Bolt For It and Why We Shouldn’t Care
I’ll never forget when the Warriors started out. Before all the titles, it was just the Splash Bros! They were so much fun. They weren’t championship contenders, but who would win the 3 point contest? Mark Jackson was a good guy, not a great coach. The team as a whole, led by Davidson underdog Steph Curry, was just fun! Fast forward to present day and they aren’t just hated, they are DESPISED. The Warriors “ruined” the NBA. And Lebron James, before he was the only hero take them down, was hated just as much during his time in Miami.
People hate winners. People hate a good come up story. It’s one of the worst traits we have as a society in the social media age today. The Warriors are the example used but far from the only case. We are about a week away from the NFL Draft, the day dreams come true for kids. And you know what trolls on Twitter will do? Pour over tweets from damn near a decade ago to find one in which a draft prospect cussed or said a slur, just to ruin their moment. That’s the age we live in, just flat out hating.
That’s where the Sixers have arrived at. Well, sort of, people hated on our come up before it even happened. The Process lasted 18 years and made a mockery of the league! Unrelated, but hey, where do you think the Lakers and Knicks will pick in the lottery this year? But, back to the come up of the Sixers. Back to back 50 win seasons with big personalities (even adding one of the biggest during this season) and even bigger talent, has landed them in the crossfire of lazy talking heads.
In the past couple days I’ve seen:
-Richard Jefferson call Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons “immature”
-Chris Sheridan say Brett Brown is going to lose his job (super annoying when a fan base keeps saying your coach is coaching for his job)
-Stephen Jackson says the Sixers offense is terrible because Ben Simmons can’t shoot
-The Nets demand an apology for Embiid’s elbow
-Reggie Miller called Joel Embiid fat and out of shape (personal favorite)
The Sixers, once a lovable loser (by mostly us) with nothing but a TTP motto, have turned into a lightning bolt for hate.
It’s tough to adapt to a new culture from purposely losing to people beefing with you all the time because you’re winning. It’s hard to turn the other cheek when you hear your star players getting ripped endlessly on bad Sports shows. But, it’s a reality that’s not going away and we should be excited about that. For us as a fan base, it’s important to learn to brush off the hate. The successes we’ve seen over the last two years that we are hoping to expand upon, are something we’ve been looking forward to for years. These are days we hoped would arrive, but never truly knew if they would. Now that we finally have made NEAR the top of the mountain, don’t let the negative energy around us tear us back down.
I’ll spare you the “no one likes us, we don’t care” banter. I’ll just say this: no one is going to like you when you’re good. That’s the whole point of being good. People aspire to be where you are, and they’ll always hate that you’re there and they aren’t. So, keep hating from the lottery. “I don’t see how can hate from outside of the club. You can’t even get in!”