How The 2012 “Beat L.A.” Chant Started

There was 2:44 left in the 4th quarter, my friends and I sat angry, not at the Sixers, but at the fans. We sat in section 216-A in our $10 seats annoyed that so many Lakers fans (not from LA) were cheering on the Lakers in our house.

It was the first Sixers Lakers game in the history of our fandom, and with 2:44 left in the game, we couldn’t believe we were at a Sixers Lakers game and haven’t heard a BEAT LA chant. We decided to do somthing about, as the game came out of a TV time-out we asked for the help of Sixers fans seated behind us,waited for the 76ers theme song to die down and all at once yelled  “BEAT LA..BEAT LA..BEAT LA..”

It instantly caught on, and at that point in time all of us had a bucket list moment in the life of any die hard Sixers fan, we now could check off “start a BEAT LA chant at a Sixers Lakers game”. No sooner did we start the chant, Lou Williams drills a shot from the top of the arch, and the superstitious fans that we are decided to keep yelling it for the remainder of the game. Even after the the stadium wide chant died down, we kept yelling BEAT LA in the same chant style cadence, straight through the time-outs. As we yelled it during the time-outs, it definitely annoyed the Laker fans around us, and that is exactly why we did it.

If they want to wear obnoxiously colored yellow jersey’s and cheer for the Lakers, we will go obnoxious Philadelphia style, over the top, extremely excessive, and extremely annoying. As our chant caught on again with 10.1 seconds left and Lou Williams at the foul line it rang around the stadium even louder. Faker, I mean Lakers fans left with their heads down as we were high fiving our new random chant starting friends the row behind us giving each other credit for the Sixers late game surge past the Lakers. As much as we want to believe we played a big role in the 76ers win, the reality of the situation was this: the credit goes to the 76ers new ownership.

Had they not lowered upper level seating to $10, and created a fan friendly atmosphere, all four of us may not have been there last night. It is a lot easier starting a chant with four friends and a few randoms behind you, than it is with you and just one buddy and a ton of empty seats, or Lakers fans which is the equivalent to an empty seat. The people behind us, were in the same boat as my friends and I, tickets were cheap they never attended a 76ers Lakers game and they figured this was the game to do it.

I fully understand people that read this story are going to be skeptical, and think “sure ya started the chant buddy surrre” and that is all well and good, the point here isn’t who started the chant, the point is the 76ers franchise finally has ownership group who cares about the “chant starters” of the world. The new ownership reached out and made it possible for people like us, to come watch the Sixers and have a moment we’ll never forget. It may sound stupid to most, but 15 years from now when we watch a Sixers Lakers game in our basement’s hiding from our future wives/kids we will all remember the time we went to the Sixers Lakers game back in 2012 and started a stadium wide chant that the coach, and players commented on after the game.

I was only nine years old when the 76ers moved into the then CoreStates Center, but I recall people saying how the “new” building lost a lot of rowdy type fans, it was too corporate, well if that was true Josh Harris and Adam Aaron reversed that trend they brought us rowdy people back into the stadium, and on behalf of my friends the four randoms behind us and all other Sixers fans who could only get to one game a year prior to this season, we thank you Mr.Harris/Aaron.

Harris and Aaron’s goal of drawing fans back worked, they have started a chain reaction. Our awesome experience last night caused us to text all of our friends and post Facebook statuses how awesome the game was and how we started the BEAT LA chant. I doubt most will believe any of us that we started the chant, but the excitement in our voices, and our post shows, it will cause other fans to feel like they are missing out and before the Philadelphia sports world knows it the Wells Fargo will be sold out every night regardless who the 76ers play.