Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau
Toronto started the fans-crowding-outside-the-arena thing, and numerous other teams have caught on. They did it in Milwaukee. Actually, not sure about Philadelphia, but I'm fairly certain they didn't in Orlando. It seems like such an obvious thing to do. It's not surprising that other cities have caught on.
There's something palpably momentous going on in Toronto right now. How much of it is due to the novelty of a non-Lebron team finally making it to the finals, and how much of it is due to the absolutely novelty of a place like Toronto making it? I normally don't pay attention to all the media hoopla, but this year I am, so I don't really trust my own impressions. Does anybody else think there's something extra special going on with this year's finals?
The NBA media circus descending on the city seems to be having extra fun with the Canadian component of it. Things like Jimmy Kimmel's sidekick challenging Norman Powell to take a shot of maple syrup, jokes about Canadian fans being polite as the players come and go from the hotel, etc.
I guess I'm feeling flush with excitement at my team finally making it to the dance and all of the concomitant attention that that entails. Maybe everyone in Cleveland was saying the same thing last year.
|
It's almost (though not quite) being treated like a national team participating in the FIFA World Cup.
When the Blue Jays first won the World Series in 1992, I happened to be with a bunch of Aussies and they told me the atmosphere felt like when their country won the America's Cup in yachting/sailing a few years earlier.
The Jays' win was a bit different in terms of "Canada winning" vs. "Australia winning" the America's Cup, and even more different than a national team playing at the FIFA World Cup, but regardless it's treated in much the same way by the populace.
As I mentioned in my other post it's fairly uncommon to have a club team be elevated to quasi-national team status (especially with no "nationals" on the roster), but I wonder if say a club from a smaller country like Serbia or Belgium did well in the UEFA Champions League if the entire country would rally around them? Bigger countries like England, Italy, Germany and Spain are probably blasé about such things on a national(istic) level - two English clubs are playing for the Champions League title in a few days.
Of course, if Red Star Beograd or Standard Liège made it through to the Champions League final, they'd still have a bunch of nationals on their squad - as European clubs generally have half or more of their players from the country they're based in. Unless I am mistaken.