MUST BE DREAMING: TEMPLE IS 9-2?
The Sixers are trying to change. You have to give them that much.
Yesterday at the Comcast Center, the Sixers held their "brand relaunch." That's marketing jargon that means the team is mercifully scrapping the black uniforms and hideous late-90s logo in favor of returning to the classic, clean, red-white-and-blue retro versions from back in the day.
All three Eds were on hand for the ceremony - Snider, Stefanski, and Jordan. Sonny Hill was there. So was World B. Free. You couldn't miss him. He was decked out in a Technicolor zoot suit. And, of course, Jason Smith was in attendance. They bring that guy everywhere these days. He hasn't seen much game action, but I'm pretty sure he leads the league in photo ops.
The Sixers representatives - Snider, Stefanski, Jordan, all of them - were wearing red roses in their lapels. It made them look as if they had just come from a casting call for The Bachelorette.
Even still, it was a nice production on the whole. A good crowd and a fair number of media members turned out. Things were going pretty smoothly.
Then Stefanski stepped to the microphone to say a few quick words: "Welcome, everyone, fans and the press, to what we think is a great place, this most spectacular -" That's when he was drowned out by some rather loud feedback for what felt like a rather long time. If you're wondering, the next word in his speech was "building." The Sixers and Stefanski think the Comcast Center is a spectacular building.
There was some powerful symbolism in that scene. The Sixers were there to hit the metaphorical reset button on a franchise that desperately needs a fresh start, and the thing momentarily malfunctioned on them. Figures.
So, yeah, the Sixers are still the Sixers. They still have some kinks to work out, and they still have some fans to woo - relaunch or no relaunch.
During a video montage that featured Dr. J, Charles Barkley, Wilt Chamberlain, and others doing spectacular things in their old-school threads, I overheard someone talking to his buddy.
"Those were the days," the guy said. "They had players then."
He had a point. The new/old uniforms will certainly look better. But clothes don't make the man.
For a while, I stubbornly tried to ignore Kendra Wilkinson, the eponymous star of E!'s new program, Kendra. I wish I hadn't. Her show is pretty great.
Kendra features a reality television formula that was long ago tested and perfected: Hot girl puts herself in silly situations, struggles to understand how the real world works, says ridiculous things, and invites the viewers to laugh or cringe at her expense. There's nothing new there. In fact, Kendra played that very same role on her last reality show, The Girls Next Door.
The difference with Kendra, the thing that makes it so entertaining, is the addition of Hank Baskett - a man who realizes that his empress isn't wearing any clothes (sometimes literally, more often figuratively) and has no problem pointing that out.
He's the straight man in his fiancee's bawdy vaudevillian stand-up routine. And like all good straight men, his droll rejoinders are all about timing.
When Kendra asks what "adept" means or drags Baskett to the UFO museum in Roswell, N.M., Baskett is perfectly willing to stand back and shoot her crazy looks or quietly shake his head. At times during the show, it appears Baskett is just another accessory - a flesh-and-blood handbag that goes well with Kendra's current mood. Not so. He's simply waiting for the right moment to say something. He picks his spots.
During one episode, Kendra installs a stripper pole in their living room and immediately turns giddy. Baskett is less enthused.
"That's going to take some getting used to," Baskett deadpanned in a mini-monologue for the viewers' benefit. "Whenever she tried to explain it to me, she said, 'All the women are doing it.' No, all the women are not doing it. I'm going to have to start calling my guy friends: 'Hey, does your wife have a stripper pole in the living room?' "
And so it goes. While Kendra is often oblivious to the absurdity unfolding around her, Baskett - like those of us at home - is fully aware of it. In another episode, they visit "Bedrock" - a little plot of land made to look like the town where the Flintstones lived. Upon arriving, Kendra wastes no time and starts pretending to make out with the Fred statue.
Kendra: "I'm cheating on you with Fred, baby."
Baskett: "That's cold-blooded. I'm about to whip Fred's prehistoric ass."
If you haven't heard, Kendra and Baskett will be married soon. I hope those two crazy kids are together forever - or at least through Season 2.
International futbol, anyone? The United States faces Spain in FIFA Confederations Cup action today. The Spaniards won't roll over the way the Egyptians did, but I'm still looking forward to the match. (ESPN, 2:25 p.m.) . . . Pizza Hut announced that some of its franchises will start going by "The Hut." I don't like it, but as long as the stuffed crust pizza remains unchanged, I'll live with it. . . . I don't understand why ESPN picked Troy Polamalu and not Brian Dawkins as a safety for its "all-decade team." Dawkins could wind up in Canton, but he can't get any love from Bristol, Conn.? . . . Rest in peace, Ed McMahon.
Contact columnist John Gonzalez at 215-854-2813 or gonzalez@phillynews.com.
