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Restaurants across New York City and Long Island are striking the word Philly from their menus to support the Knicks as they face off against the Sixers in the NBA\u2019s Eastern Conference semifinals<\/a>, according to the New York Post<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cPhilly needs to understand, New York is the king\u201a\u201d Louis Cretella, the owner of Dario\u2019s Pizza<\/a> in West Hempstead, told the tabloid. <\/p>\n The restaurant \u2014 which purportedly sells 2,500 cheesesteaks a week \u2014 is rebranding the sandwich as the \u201cPhilly SUCKS\u201d cheesesteak for the duration of the series. For hard copy menus, Cretella reportedly instructed staff to scribble \u201cF\u2014 Philly” in black marker over the item. <\/p>\n This is exactly the sort of over-the-top behavior expected from the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. Y\u2019all want to prove you\u2019re NYC tough so badly that you forget how to act. <\/p>\n Still, the whole gimmick raises a couple of questions: Why are you bragging about selling Philly\u2019s signature sandwich if you hate us so much? And is your ego really that fragile?<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: The Philly cheesesteaks we genuinely want to eat<\/a><\/p>\n Other New York City area restaurants have joined in. At Birdie Bar<\/a> in Northport, it\u2019s now the Big Apple Cheesesteak. At G\u2019s Cheesesteaks<\/a> in Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side, their entire livelihood now revolves around whatever a New York Knicks cheesesteak is. <\/p>\n And at Wogies<\/a> \u2014 a traitorous Philadelphia-themed bar<\/a> with locations in the Financial District and the West Village \u2014 it\u2019s now called the Appendix Burster. It\u2019s an homage to the appendectomy<\/a> that kept Joel Embiid<\/a> out of the first three games<\/a> of the Sixers\u2019 playoff series against the Boston Celtics. <\/p>\n To this, I say: Our culture is not your costume.<\/p>\n I know: New Yorkers are allowed to be petty. The Knicks whooped the Sixers<\/a> 137-98 in Game 1 at Madison Square Garden Monday, and Embiid is out again with more injuries<\/a>. Plus, the Sixers restricted ticket sales to Games 3 and 4 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena to only fans from the Greater Philadelphia area<\/a>, all but shutting out New Yorkers from attending. Players even begged Philadelphians to not resell their tickets<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Sixers release single-game tickets with restrictions for second-round series vs. Knicks<\/a><\/p>\n Perhaps this is all just an eye for an eye. Still, this trend smacks of one thing: fear. <\/p>\n \u201cWe just sat around, and all of a sudden we see the word \u2018Philly\u2019 there, and we\u2019re like, \u2018ugh!\u2019 Teeth are grinding, and we didn\u2019t want anything Philly. That\u2019s weak,\u201d Lure Group CEO Aristotle \u201cTelly\u201d Hatzigeorgiou told the New York Post. At the restaurant group\u2019s lounge Slate<\/a> and bar Clinton Hall,<\/a> \u201cKnicks\u201d has been added to the front of each establishment\u2019s cheesesteak empanadas and sliders, respectively. <\/p>\n Do they hear themselves? <\/p>\n What\u2019s weak is the mere mention of a city making your teeth grind. Might as well just stand on business and pull cheesesteaks from your menu entirely at this point.<\/p>\n After all, it\u2019s not like Philly restaurants are wiping the words \u201cNew York\u201d from our menu \u2014 mostly because we have no need. You don\u2019t see people lining up at Pat\u2019s or Geno\u2019s and demanding a chopped cheese. There\u2019s plenty of hoagies<\/a> and real cheesesteaks<\/a> to go around.<\/p>\n Still, if erasing the word \u201cPhilly\u201d is what it takes for Jalen Brunson to actually play to his potential, go for it. Cope harder. <\/p>\n