Philadelphia 76ers Encourage Fans to Bring Out ‘Underdog’ Masks

Two years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles created a postseason trend, which helped them rally their way through the playoffs and win Super Bowl LII. As the number one seed in their conference, the Eagles were listed as underdogs by Vegas since they were without their star quarterback, due to a torn ACL. Despite having a higher rank, the Eagles were still predicted to lose their first playoff matchup against the sixth-seeded Atlanta Falcons.

The Eagles ended up coming out on top, and two of their players decided to throw on a randomly surprising mask of a dog. Initially, nobody really knew what was going on. Why was Lane Johnson and Chris Long rocking a dog mask? As it turns out, they were just embracing the roles of being an underdog. Naturally, Philly fans took the idea and ran with it. Those who were attending the game at the Linc the following weekend were rushing onto Amazon to get a mask of their own. And within hours, they were all sold out.

In 2018, the Eagles decided to retire the underdog campaign, but it may not be gone from the city for forever. As a matter of fact, the Philadelphia 76ers might be getting in on the underdog action as well. Before Game 3 against the Toronto Raptors, the Sixers opened up as favorites at home, according to Vegas. But by the time Thursday rolled around, the line switched. Instead, the Sixers were one-point underdogs. Fast forward a few hours later, and Philadelphia dominated Toronto from the beginning to the end.

Now, the city of Philadelphia is looking for a way to embrace the underdog role for the rest of their playoff run, similar to how the Eagles did it. So a Sixers fan decided to tweet at the Sixers' main Twitter account to ask for permission to wear his dog mask from the Eagles 2017 playoff run to the Wells Fargo Center this week. Not only did the Sixers' approve the idea, but they actually decided to encourage it.

Here we go again - potentially another underdog run for a Philly team. As the Sixers are currently leading the series against Toronto, they can make it extremely difficult for the Raptors to come back in the series as Philly could sweep them at home taking a 3-1 lead before heading back up North. Right now, the Sixers seem to have plenty of energy and motivation, but maybe the underdog factor will play more of a significant role.

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