Flyers hilariously troll the Sixers over uniform kerfuffle

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It's been a weird week in the world of Philly sports.

The Sixers released their brand new City edition uniforms on Wednesday, to a mixed reaction from fans that seemed to skew negative, at least online. It's a busy and unorthodox design, and it isn't the direct 2001 Iverson-era throwback that many Sixers fans wanted. (I don't care for it.)

Then, on Thursday, Sixers president Chris Heck went on the record with UniWatch.com to explain how exactly the team arrived at the uniforms, to try and provide some clarity. Instead, he put his foot directly in his mouth with some particularly strange quotes about what to call the city of Philadelphia.

Here are Heck's weird quotes, per UniWatch, while talking about the perception of Boathouse Row as somewhat elitist in comparison with Philadelphia's everyman and everywoman reputation:

"The whole blue collar thing is meant to be positive — I hear it all the time too. We actually don't use the term 'Philly,' because we think it's lazy and undersells the city, and sometimes I think 'blue collar' does the same thing. We refer to it as 'New Philadelphia.' Blue collar's important for the city, but it's not the only component. New Philadelphia is about the arts, it’s about culture, it's about education, it's about diversity. We like that narrative more than the blue collar hockey thing. Which isn't a slight on it, but we think we're more than blue collar."

Look, I think I know what Heck was going for here, but... nah, man. Philly isn't something other people call Philadelphia, it's what Philadelphians call Philadelphia. It's Philly. We're from Philly; your friend lives in South Philly; the most iconic play in the city's sports history was called Philly Philly. Don't go there.

And please, please, please do not try to make 'New Philadelphia' anything at all. Ever. 

No.

To his credit, Heck walked the comments back in an apology Thursday afternoon:

https://twitter.com/chrisheck76/status/1327004232428507136

But he didn't avoid the crosshairs of the Flyers, who play in the same building as the Sixers and who absolutely embrace the city's blue collar ethos.

Just an absolute gem of a troll from the Flyguys:

Ha.

Fans were pleased: 

This isn't the first time the Flyers have used the internet to tease their fellow Philly sports teams: they subtly roasted the Eagles after the Birds lost to the lowly Dolphins during the 2019 season. There's a whole lot of spice going on in the Flyers' social media room.

All in all, none of this really matters. It's just another normal (read: ridiculous) day in - get the name right - Philly.

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