If you haven't been watching closely, there's a "Tickets" tab at the top of the page next to the "Stats" tab. Here, with help from TiqIQ, Liberty Ballers will provide you with some pretty sweet deals on tickets at Wells Fargo Center and elsewhere if you happen to boast your Sixers fandom in a non-Philadelphian city, as I do.

Here's some good data on the upcoming home stand, Jan 23rd to the 28th, with tickets all below the season home average ticket price:

-Jan 23 vs Washington: $58 average, get in for $8
-Jan 25 vs NJ: $62 average, get in for $7
-Jan 27 vs. Charlotte: $7 average, get in for $13
-Jan 28 vs Detroit: $85 average, get in for $14

These are solid deals if you're looking for a fun night out with the girls or fellow Zumoffs. Since the Sixers haven't been exactly filling the seats, do your part to spend a few bucks and watch one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. We'll miss you on the game thread buuuuuuuuut it's worth it.

[Ed. Note: Bumping this up from a few days ago so it doesn't get lost. We want to know you!]

As the minutes tick down to the season, I just wanted to say hello and welcome to Liberty Ballers. Here at our Sixers corner of the internet, we discuss everything from basketball to naps to wrestling to the merits of Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. It can be a little disorienting if you're new here but I promise the jokes will start to make sense and we're actually a mostly friendly group of people.

We've got a nice set of rules and regulations for you to read here, and a need-to-be-updated list of jokes and references we go to frequently. I'm sure we'll be adding to that this season starting tonight. We as a blog (not a forum!) tend to take a realistic rather than fanboy approach to the team and we appreciate our commenters to do the same. We all root for success but that does not prevent us from being logical. Or, you can feel free to yell at me for not thinking the Sixers are going to win every game ever with Spencer Hawes and Jodie Meeks in the starting lineup.

Please introduce yourself to the noobs so they feel warm and fuzzy and ready to contribute to a 66-game season of fun. Don't be shy, we'll pull out! Honest!

I'm Mike, 22, from Northeast Philly, living/working at a talent agency in Los Angeles with an affinity for a low usage rate and a peanut allergy. Who are you!?

When the Liberty Ballers Festivus was created, it was something that I thought nobody would embrace and would actually drive them away from reading this site anymore. What I didn't think about, however, was that you guys love stupid things as much as I do, allowing the LB Festivus to carry on strong into its third rendition. Hermione's and Harry's, I'm proud to bring to you the 3rd annual Liberty Ballers Festivus (fortherestivus).

Unlike Festivus' (or Festivi?) or years past, today comes at a time when the NBA season hasn't actually started yet. Luckily for us, we won't have to worry about fretting over a Lou iso or 4-point play that lost the Sixers the game the previous night. All of hearts can be fully embraced in the greatest holiday ever created by a man named Frank. The Festivus Pole is standing proud in the middle of my apartment and I've been ribbon dancing around it to the sounds of Color Me Badd all day; Festivus is in full swing.

For those who are with for their celebration of Festivus, here's a little history lesson.

Who's excited for the Airing of Grievances and the Feats of Strength? Well, all one of you, you won't have to wait anymore...

I got a lot of problems with you people! And today, you're gonna hear about 'em!

This year, I can't really say there's one overt grievance I have with the organization as a whole. Since the season hasn't started, there's not something I see on the court that I can complain about ad nauseum. Instead, I'll bring it back to the NBA draft in which the Sixers selected the unathletic, low upside center out of USC, Nikola Vucevic. It's not merely for the fact that they thought he could help or grow into something, but because they were sold on drafting a big man and, to me, were content with the sole fact that he was 7 feet tall. The impression I got was that they ignored his subpar combine numbers because he was the tallest player in the draft, and therefore, the guy they wanted to have and they guy were going to get. Who knows what kind of player Nikola will turn out to be, but it seemed liked a lazy pick and is definitely one that won't help on the road to eventually winning a championship.

Last year, by an overwhelming margin, Jordan was tasked with pinning Dongaila in the Feats of Strength. Like the loser of the FoS the first go-round (Jaime Maggio), Dongaila is no longer a member of the Sixer family, although he'll always be a member of the LB love-circle. So folks, it's up to you; who will Jordan have to pin in the Feats of Strength thereby ending Festivus?

I'll be eating an H&H bagel waiting for your answer in the meantime.

Happy Festivus!

Seeing as last year's inaugural prediction contest set the Twitter record for most tweeted about subject per second, narrowly edging out Beyonce's pregnancy, we've decided to bring it back like we just hit two cups in a row (watch your elbows Joe D!).

Last season saw everybody's favorite Hart (other than Bret) Ford come away with the Nastradamus prediction title. Like last year's contest, the winner this year will be rewarded with either official Liberty Ballers swag or a personalized poem from the writers focusing on either your rugged looks or your ability to blindly predict things. If you get a perfect score, you'll get both of those prizes along with a picture of a Liberty Ballers writer of your choice performing his favorite yoga pose (I call reverse warrior!).

You'll have until the minute before the first game starts to get your predictions in. I'll post a reminder the day of just in case you forgot in all the hoopla that is the Holidays and Tim Legler's birthday.

The 10 categories along with the 5 tie-breakers are after the jump. Have at it boyz!

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The SB Nation network struck up a deal with the ticket website TiqIQ at the end of last season to provide users with easy access to sports ticketing at our team-centered blogs. Unfortunately the season ended before we could hype up this pretty awesome tool to purchasing tickets. And now that new CEO Adam Aron has cut ticket prices like he's The Hound, it makes this partnership even AWESOMER.

Here's a quick rundown of the button you can find on the tabs near the top-right of your page.

1. Aggregated Listings: They combine listings from sites like StubHub, eBay, Ticketsnow and TicketNetwork so it's all in one place and you find the best price.

2. TiqZone Categorization: They break each venue up into TiqZones, which are groupings of sections that we’ve determined are similar in value. If you're reading this site, you're probably not sitting courtside. No offense.

3. TiqIQ Statistics: They provide ticket-level buying intelligence through their IQ rating and TiqIQ Statistics. Hence "IQ" in the name.

4. Jrue Holiday: Imagine how good he looks in person!

And with the tickets right here on Liberty Ballers, it'll be even easier to arrange a Liberty Ballers Night Out, which will not actually be sponsored by Marc Zumoff and potentially never happen in this reality. Definitely give it a look, poke around and see what you can find. We'll alert you to any deals we hear about over the course of the season.

On a somewhat related note, where does live basketball stack up against baseball, football, and hockey as a spectacle? How about NBA vs. NCAA in person? It's always been a money and distance issue for me not going to enough games but with the lower prices, it's hard to make that a reason now. You can go to the Sixers game by yourself for as much money as you could go to the movies with a date. Since we're all unlovable hermits here, I think you should go to the Sixers game solo. Meet you there!

There's been huge demand for the Liberty Ballers Fantasy Basketball League to continue for a third year for the upcoming 2011-2012 NBA season. Since we at LB are all about pleasing you guys, the league is BACK!

I was unsuccessful in retaining my crown from the first year as I collapsed in the finals, landing myself in the shameful position of runner-up. I'm ready and will do everything in my power to get back on top (TWSS?). You've all been forewarned.

Just like in years past, our friends and cuddle buddies at Yahoo! and their fancy computer machines will be scoring the league. Since the season is starting a week from today, I've set the draft up for this upcoming Thursday (December 22) at 7:00 PM EST. There's a possibility to push the time back for the west-coasters if we get enough requests to do so. With 20 spots in the league, we obviously will not be able to please everyone but we'll do our best (not).

League ID, password, rules and a couplet after the jumpy.

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Starved for basketball? Ready to settle for college basketball? Well do we have a treat for you.

Thanks to the friendly people at Comcast-Spectacor and the Wells Fargo Center, Liberty Ballers has scored two pairs of tickets to the Villanova Wildcats basketball game on December 13th against the Terriers of Boston University. And we're giving them away to YOU, loyal Liberty Ballers reader and site-clicker, fo' free.

The rivalry between the Wildcats and Terriers runs...well...thin. But it's basketball, it doesn't cost you any money (save for parking/concessions/post-game stripclubbing/what have you) and you get to watch Maalik Wayns, Mouphtaou Yarou, and shiny new non-suspended freshman JayVaughn Pinkston (unrelated to Todd, I've discovered) run circles around the yapping Terriers for an evening in South Philly. The game gets sandwiched in between two Big Five matchups against Temple and St. Joe's, so it could be something of a trap game for Nova but oh man am I coming up with narratives before the season even starts? God this lockout needs to end.

Anyway! One pair of tickets will be given away via contest and the other can be won by following the link after the jump. Come with me for some basketball!

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