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Uram: The story of the allegations against Bryan Colangelo is one for the ages

Dave Uram|

There are moments in sports you don’t forget.

Whether it’s a trick play on 4th down in the Super Bowl, nearly a two day break in between half innings of a clinching World Series game or something not related to the field, court or rink, such as the franchise player ranting about practice at a press conference, those instances stand in time, never go away and are talked about while putting your kids to sleep at night.

Enter Bryan Colangelo and the explosive allegation reported by The Ringer that the Sixers President of Basketball Operations, entering the biggest off-season the franchise is facing since Moses Malone came to Philadelphia in 1982, is linked to burner Twitter accounts that criticized players, coaching, Sam Hinkie and released private medical information.

This is investigative journalism circa the social media age.

Forget court documents, private anonymous interviews in a coffee shop or wire tapping phones.

Instead, Ben Detrick received a tip from an unnamed source through the internet and researched Twitter tendencies and timelines for three to four months. Then, The Ringer writer reached out to the Sixers about two of the five secret accounts, which was followed by the other three going private.

Coincidence or evidence?

Add crazy to craziness, the Twitter account @DidTheSixersWin is bringing Colangelo’s wife into the conversation as someone who may be part of the tweeting “process.”

The best screenwriters in the world can’t come up with mysteries and potential storylines like this, and I’d be shock if the plot ended here.

On the other side, Colangelo insists he’s innocent and the recipient of a really awful misunderstanding.

Tweet time stamping also suggest it would be impossible for him to send out certain burner posts because he was conducting a press conference at the same moment.

However, it doesn’t help his case in the court of public opinion that The Toronto Star, which covers his former employer the Raptors, wrote a piece which partially paints the Sixers current decision maker as insecure.

Toronto sports columnist Bruce Arthur wrote:

The counterpoint was that in Toronto and Phoenix, Colangelo was both someone who evinced outward confidence and who held a deep insecurity. At summer league in Las Vegas, a media member once pointed out to Colangelo that he had a spot of mustard on a golf shirt; Colangelo would half-jokingly bring it up for months. Some staffers said he had a Google alert set for his own name, so anything written would pop up in his inbox. They said Bryan didn’t just read the coverage: he obsessed over the comments, too.

The 76ers are conducting an independent investigation into these “serious” allegations towards Colangelo. Whether he, and I guess his wife at this point, are innocent or not, it would be really difficult to keep him in his current position for the sake of the franchise.

Sarah Todd’s reporting for philly.com says it all.

But then again, this is the Sixers and nothing is done conventionally.

Either way, you can’t deny, whether you’re arguing at the bar stool, the basketball court or ironically enough on social media, that this is a story for the ages. It’s a saga we’ll talk about for generations and one that as recent as late March 2006 when Twitter was founded, wouldn’t be in existence.

 

Dave Uram is a weekly contributor to Philly Influencer. You can follow him on Twitter (@MrUram) and e-mail him at [email protected].

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