PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Ben Lipman isn’t much into sports parades. His daughter, Paulina, enjoys celebrating in large crowds with her fellow fans even though parties like that happen infrequently with Philly teams. Despite that difference, they both want the same thing: for Philadelphia sports to win, win, win, win, and win some more.
Ben's fandom includes sneaking into Franklin Field for the 1960 NFL Championship Game, being a beer vendor at Connie Mack Stadium, and one time in the 60s, standing up for Phillies legend Dick Allen by refusing to sell beer to an opposing fan who was being racist toward Allen.
And a little more than three decades later, Ben shared his fandom with then-3-year-old Paulina, who noticed the Lakers on television and told her father she likes “the purple team.”
If not for his guidance, Paulina might not be a fan of all of the Philly teams. In fact, she might have liked one of its historical rivals.
Ben tried to explain that they dislike the Lakers and root for the Sixers. However, Paulina wasn’t having it and insisted she wanted to be a fan of “the purple team.”
So, Ben came up with a plan. This was the Allen Iverson era so, pointing to a picture of him in the newspaper, he told her Iverson wore no. 3 because she was three years old.
After that, the rest was history and Paulina became a Sixers fan. She even made quite the impression on Iverson as a kid when she lost a tooth sitting courtside at a Sixers game and got Iverson’s attention by showing him, which they say he smiled at.
Now in her 20s, purple might still be Paulina’s favorite color, but her favorite NBA team is certainly not the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s the Philadelphia 76ers.
“It's just a great culture and I'm really happy to be from a city where fans are so passionate and it's really an exciting thing to be a part of,” Paulina said.