_You will believe a rabbit can fly._
From 1998 to 2011, Hip-Hop, an aerial slam-dunking rabbit mascot, patrolled the court at the Sixers’ arena. No matter what bank held the naming rights of the joint at the time, Hip-Hop was king, entertaining a generation of Philadelphians from the early Allen Iverson into the franchise’s pre-Process malaise.
The promise of Phil E. Moose, a moose-themed Sixers mascot, never formally materialized after Hip-Hop was cast aside, perhaps on some perilous journey of self-discovery. Eventually, the Sixers revealed Franklin the Dog as the team’s new official mascot in 2015. At the end of the day, mascots are simply to hype up kids at sporting events, but in a city that has the greatest mascot of all time in the Phanatic and would one day be the birthplace of Gritty, we could probably do a little bit better than something as nondescript as a blue dog, right?
Anyway, Franklin’s been out there tossing errant half-court shots as the mascot for a decade now, but over the course of this early season, Hip-Hop has been revived as the Sixers also brought back their beloved black jerseys as a part of the team’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Eastern Conference Champions team. It’s been glorious. Fans, both online and in the arena, have been amped to see him, perhaps for the 5oth time for older fans or the first for younger ones.
Great stuff. He’ll be back throughout this season, too.
Hip-Hop shouldn’t go away after all of this. He should remain a part-time mascot alongside Franklin’s everyday whacky responsibilities. If anything, the Sixers should bring back _another_ mascot too to add to the mix. I’m talking about Big Shot.
What is Big Shot? I don’t freaking know, but what I _do_ know is that he’s the only Sixers mascot to be a part of a championship team, the legendary 1983 squad. Big Shot went away in 1996 and, now, nearly three decades later, it is time to bring things full circle.
Big Shot is the missing link in the DNA from the Phillie Phanatic taking the sports mascot world by storm in the late 1970s to Gritty doing the same for the Flyers in 2018. Big Shot is a weird, amorphous creature and Philly to the core. In today’s irony-poised landscape, I have no doubt that Big Shot would be a social media sensation in addition to captivating fans in South Philadelphia.
Sixers, please. Do not wait any longer for Big Shot’s return. Let’s ride this nostalgia tour for all its worth.
Or maybe Big Shot can at least be an all-Philly mascot. Phillies games? Big Shot is riding ATVs with the Phanatic. Eagles parades? Big Shot is out there on parade floats. Flyers games? Big Shot is brawling with Gritty as _Tom and Jerry_\-like rivals.
The Sixers aren’t going to win the championship this year, but they are a whole lot of fun to watch on TV and in person. Why not get a little weird with it while we’re at it?
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