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From executives to players to fans, no team was more online than the Philadelphia 76ers this decade. It would be impossible to acknowledge every great tweet and tweeter on Sixers Twitter, so that’s not what I’m trying to do here.
Instead, I’m looking to capture the most significant Sixers Twitter moments (not individual people or tweets) of the 2010s. Because of the increasing online-ness as the decade went on, most of these moments come in the latter half of the decade.
The Sixers’ CEO bragging to the editor of Liberty Ballers
On January 30, 2013, Sixers center Spencer Hawes went for 12 points and 11 rebounds on 4-of-13 shooting in an 8-point win over the abysmal Washington Wizards. For some reason, Adam Aron viewed this as a big win over Mike Levin.
This tweet is for @Michael_Levin of Liberty Ballers. I know you are loving Spencer Hawes double double and 3 blocks tonight.
— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) January 31, 2013
Marreese Speights’ one-sided feud with #dougcollins
On February 9, 2014, Marreese Speights scored 32 points, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 53-point win over the tanking Sixers. On the afternoon of the 11th, Speights unleashed this tweet, shouting out his former coach in Philly.
Thanks for all the love #dubnation!!! S/o to #dougcollins
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) February 11, 2014
Of course, the 2013-14 season was the first of the Brett Brown era, and Doug Collins was only in an advisory role with the Sixers. But Speights clearly still had Collins on his mind. The Warriors played a game the night of this tweet, in which Speights scored just 4 points in 13 minutes, and the Warriors lost by 1 point to the Miami Heat.
Between May 21, 2011 (right after Speights’ final season in Philly during which he played just 11.5 minutes per game) and May 10, 2015, Speights tweeted about Doug Collins by name 13 times.
There was this one, laughing at the notion of Collins being intelligent.
Lol RT @SheaButtaCoCo: I like Doug Collins he seems like a really intelligent guy!
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) May 21, 2011
And these three, all within a span of six months, during which Doug Collins was no longer coaching but apparently still giving Speights a good laugh.
Haha Doug Collins.....
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) December 17, 2013
Doug Collins lmao
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) January 30, 2014
Doug Collins lol
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) June 6, 2014
Keith Pompey showing how wet the floor gets
On November 30, 2016, the Sixers had to delay and then eventually postpone their home game against the Sacramento Kings due to condensation on the floor. If you were wondering just how wet the floor was, Keith Pompey had you covered.
Watch this video to see how wet the floor gets. #Sixers #SacramentoKings pic.twitter.com/96qHdS8z8h
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) December 1, 2016
Howard Eskin gaffes
Howard once confused a form of fraud with a diner in Cherry Hill.
I don't trust the process. It's a,Ponzios scheme but u guys were yelling in good fun. https://t.co/fxYYGQCbql
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) January 5, 2017
Howard found out about the Michael Carter-Williams trade four years after it happened.
This can only help #Sixers https://t.co/Gejfq3f7qm
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) February 2, 2019
Anyone who has followed Howard on Twitter knows he has plenty of other funny moments, but none as directly Sixers-related as these.
Joel Embiid being Joel Embiid
Joel Embiid recruiting LeBron James.
@KingJames hey bro hope you're having a good day...... Want to join us in philly?? Peace
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 1, 2014
Joel Embiid hitting on celebrities.
Hey I want you to come slide in my DMs @KimKardashian
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014
Oh I didn't know you were married sorry @KimKardashian just saw it from the fan's tweet... have a nice day
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014
Babe are you single or nah? @rihanna
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) April 1, 2018
Joel Embiid has talked a lot of trash on a lot of players, but arguably no instance was funnier than criticizing Hassan Whiteside’s plus/minus in a preseason game.
And keep caring about stats and not your team success..... your +/- was ass @youngwhiteside #Softy
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017
Joel Embiid made a joke.
They asked joel embiid how's he's feeling, where his game is at (after a 46-15-7-7 stat line) and he said I'm at like 69 percent. It's like NBA Twitter imagined a human. https://t.co/BAHebMLqwh
— Tim Marcin (@TimMarcin) November 16, 2017
Jalen Rose didn’t like the joke, so John Winter suggested Joel Embiid make another joke, this time at Rose’s expense (Rose famously guarded Kobe Bryant during his 81-point game).
Jalen Rose called Joel Embiid's 69 joke "unprofessional" yesterday. If Embiid comes out next game and declares himself at 81%, can we just induct him into the Hall of Fame now?
— johnwintertweet (@johnwintertweet) November 17, 2017
Embiid made the exact joke John suggested he make.
Joel Embiid really said “I’m at 81 percent, shoutout Jalen Rose.” pic.twitter.com/6d6Wh9fDRL
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 23, 2017
#RaiseTheCat
A beautiful movement started by Dennis Grove. Should be brought back in my opinion.
The @Sixers WIN! #RaiseTheCat pic.twitter.com/ZYW3D0O6PK
— Dennis (@GipperGrove) January 14, 2017
Parents getting angry
KJ McDaniels’ mom really didn't want her son on the Sixers. This didn't happen on Twitter, but the fact that it was live tweeted makes it a Sixers Twitter Moment.
A 76ers family member across from me. She keeps booing the 76ers and yelling "pass the ball to my son" sparkly boots. pic.twitter.com/2iIJugaY5V
— jordan eichenblatt (@JEichenblatt) December 22, 2014
It's KJ McDaniels mom. Her trying to coach the team from 11 rows up is better than the actual game. @Michael_Levin
— jordan eichenblatt (@JEichenblatt) December 22, 2014
Situation all cleared up. She is now booing the guy shooting a half court shot for a $50 gift card.
— jordan eichenblatt (@JEichenblatt) December 22, 2014
shirt says KJ in bedazzled letters. She's now being escorted somewhere. 3 rows from bench. Yelling "play better." pic.twitter.com/8alU7WqBAg
— jordan eichenblatt (@JEichenblatt) December 22, 2014
Michael Carter Williams with a huge fast break dunk and she is BOOING AND YELLING PASS THE BALL
— jordan eichenblatt (@JEichenblatt) December 22, 2014
Vucevic at free throw line. She is yelling HURRY UP. 2 sixers fans near her cheering her on.
— jordan eichenblatt (@JEichenblatt) December 22, 2014
Then there was the time Kendall Marshall’s dad took to Twitter to blame his son losing minutes to Nik Stauskas on racism. The tweets were deleted, but this photo comes from Reddit user sfan76 on r/Sixers.
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Around the same exact time as the Marshall tweets, this happened:
I'm behind Sixers bench, Okafor's Dad behind me - he's nonstop HARASSING Brett Brown. End of half Jah finally told Dad to cut it out.
— Michael H. Weber (@thisisweber) January 3, 2016
I asked Jah's Dad to take a photo with me. He said, "Only if you cover Hinkie's face on your shirt." pic.twitter.com/rbJsrcAO7a
— Michael H. Weber (@thisisweber) January 3, 2016
That wasn’t the only incident involving Jah’s dad — he also threatened Liberty Ballers writer Shamus Clancy. The tweet was deleted, but the screenshot lives on.
— Jason Lipshutz (@jasonlipshutz) November 7, 2018
Please note: I am aware #FreeJah was a significant thing that happened, but I refuse to include it in this piece.
There was also the time Mike Muscala’s dad was shown to have made some racist tweets, including one about Jimmy Butler. The Sixers went on to trade for Butler later that year.
Verdict seems to be: Bob Muscala has an account (one not hidden much, either) under the alias "MuskieBobber," whose locations match places Mike has been and features lots of pictures from the China tour. Has also said some pretty gross and/or coded stuff: pic.twitter.com/l9pn6B3qg9
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) October 13, 2018
And most recently, Trey Burke’s dad got in on the action:
Trey Burke’s dad wants him out of Philly and Kyle O’Quinn liked it pic.twitter.com/qbo8c36gBB
— kev (@kevtaddei) December 16, 2019
#RTArmageddon
Retweet Armageddon, started by the The Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast, was a cool idea in a vacuum. People had said a lot of ignorant things about the Sixers, and bringing them up once it was clear we were right was really enjoyable.
Unfortunately, Retweet Armageddon launched after the Sixers acquired the pick they used on Markelle Fultz, which isn’t such a great memory (we were still right, though).
Kyle Scott of Crossing Broad put together a good list of tweets that were commonly retweeted during this time. Here’s a fun one not included in Kyle’s piece:
#RTArmaggedon Dario is NEVER coming over https://t.co/YYNm18IouZ
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 19, 2017
RTRS has had plenty of other good bits on Twitter. A favorite of mine was “Who is Paul Millsap?” after Millsap got an All-Star nod over Joel Embiid in Embiid’s rookie year.
Weird Markelle Fultz things
Markelle got off to a rough start on draft night.
"Excited to head to (City) and join the (team name)."—Markelle Fultz pic.twitter.com/eUzTf7fs46
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) June 23, 2017
These pyjamas were fire.
‼️MAKE SURE YOU READ ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Z1aoc0naVF
— Markelle Fultz (@MarkelleF) December 21, 2017
While he was out with a mysterious injury, he put some cryptic messages on social media.
The plot thickens... pic.twitter.com/q1fdUicZFv
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 29, 2018
Fultz returned to play in the 2018-19 season after a summer of training with Drew Hanlen. After continued terrible form, Hanlen revealed on Twitter that Fultz was still not healthy.
Here is the Drew Hanlen tweet that @975Mornings just referenced in their last segment pic.twitter.com/omf4giXDkG
— 975TheFanatic (@975TheFanatic) November 5, 2018
Burnergate
The Sixers’ story of the decade easily came from Ben Detrick of The Ringer.
Five twitter accounts: @phila1234567, @AlVic40117560, @Honesta34197118, @Enoughunkownso1, and @s_bonhams. Operated maybe by Bryan Colangelo? Maybe by his wife, Barbara Bottini? Maybe by his dad, Jerry Colangelo? Maybe all three?
Many tweets from these accounts can be found in Detrick’s article, and some more can be found in David Early’s one year anniversary piece from Liberty Ballers. There are too many good ones to include in this article, but re-reading these pieces is necessary to fully appreciate the best Sixers Twitter Moments of the Decade.
The most famous tweet from the burners was when @Enoughunkownso1 defended Bryan Colangelo’s clearly-too-big collar, tweeting “That’s a normal collar. Move on, find a new slant.” I would embed that tweet, but I can’t because it’s private.
Another great one is included below, in which a burner discloses private medical information.
ask Jah If he passed other team physical? He will not say not to lose other chance. But I bet the farm it's what's happened.
— Eric jr (@AlVic40117560) February 15, 2017
Sixers Twitter solving Burnergate
After the Detrick piece came out, Liberty Ballers writer Adam Aaronson was able to tie three of the accounts to the same phone number.
Sorry, Bryan. Got you.
— adam aaronson (@SixersAdam) May 30, 2018
Went to “reset password” and tried three of his burners. Every single one has a phone number ending in 91. This is clearly not a coincidence.
*note*: I cropped out Colangelo’s email addresses from the picture pic.twitter.com/qKS7KpIJNo
The 91 phone number was eventually traced back to Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini. This theory was initiated by David “Legs” Leggieri, and the evidence can be seen below.
— Did the Sixers WWWWin? (@DidTheSixersWin) May 31, 2018
Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini has a phone number ending in 91, almost certainly linking her to 3 of the burner accounts.
WOW. pic.twitter.com/PQpe5GccEh
Reaction to the burners
— swaggy dean blandino (@SwaggyMitch) May 30, 2018
Joel told me that @samhinkie IS BETTER AND SMARTER THAN YOU @AlVic40117560 #BurnerAccount
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018
Change your profile picture to Detrick and then tweet at him thanking him for the most insane story of the year
— Spike Eskin (@SpikeEskin) May 30, 2018
“It’s a normal collar” pic.twitter.com/xtNPu79q3F
— Titus Anjawnicus (@jimadair3) May 30, 2018
Season opener 2019
— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) October 23, 2019
— Tobias Harris (@tobias31) October 23, 2019
— Josuélito (@J_Rich1) October 23, 2019
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 23, 2019
— Mike Scott (@mikescott) October 23, 2019
Other Favorites
I couldn’t help but throw in a few of my favorite tweets this decade, but this list is by no means exhaustive.
Andrew Bynum: "In hindsight you shouldn't go bowling, but it's not more than anything I've done in my rehab." Story: http://t.co/whIBxjVV
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) November 18, 2012
Team WHOP T shirts coming soon @KhalifW05 @TWroten_LOE @Vander13lue
— Michael Carter-Willi (@mcarterwilliams) October 7, 2013
Joel Embid a great pick for Sixers but we will regret passing on Doug McDermott for years to come.
— Ed Rendell (@GovEdRendell) June 27, 2014
Watching the homie Dario in Spain #Alwaysmad #Philly pic.twitter.com/bGG6LviSgv
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) September 3, 2014
My daily routine:
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) September 29, 2015
1. Wake up
2. Defend one of the Sixers' rotational players
3. Brush my teeth
imagine enjoying a sport in philadelphia
— Michael Levin (@Michael_Levin) November 26, 2015
I still remember the teacher wheeling the tv into the classroom https://t.co/5NGKCBBc18
— max (@MaxOnTwitter) March 2, 2016
Jim Lynam saying "totally unacceptable" > pic.twitter.com/A5ZkpI9u0r
— Enrico (@The700Level) January 24, 2017
Al Horford thinking about how he's a pawn for Big Dairy + simultaneously helping cause climate change and childhood obesity. pic.twitter.com/xH9qu79OKt
— maurice (@tallmaurice) March 20, 2019