Phila Unite

In case you missed it - impossible - the 2018 NBA Playoff started. And in case you also missed - almost as much impossible - the Philadelphia 76ers started with a bang, smashing the Miami Heat in Game 1 played at The Center. What you may have missed, but it’s not likely, is the mega-logo that has been placed in the middle of the hardwood, that is part of the Sixers’ playoff campaign: #PhilaUnite. For the championship run, Philly management bothered an important part of the history of the city and entire America, digging out the iconography and the words straight from the XVIII century.

Other than the omnipresent Liberty Bell, that called all the Philadelphia citizens to listen the Declaration of Independence, in the logo there’s also the “Segmented Snake”, a symbol used by no less a person than Benjamin Franklin in 1754, when he published his “Join, or Die” political manifesto on the Pennsylvania Gazette to unite the colonies. The snake has then become a legendary symbol, that now returns to guide the 76ers in the playoff run. The image has also been cleverly hidden underneath a flap in the shorts of the team’s City Edition uniform.

The “Phila Unite” motto is also a reference to Franklin figure, that changed his initial claim to “Unite, or Die”, that now becomes “Phila Unite” on the uniforms and the parquet of The Center. A final gem: the “Philadelphia” writing in cursive is also a reference to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, to make history the Sixers appealed the history itself. We just have to wait and see if it will be enough to make the Liberty Bell sing for joy in the first weeks of June.