Basketball in Canada

[WhipperSnapper]

Some things about this generation perplexes me. That's dedication to stand in the street for a team from a rival city even as a fan of basketball (lol) or a fan of the Raptors. Find a pub.

You're in Montreal! There are many ways to party or celebrate hard if it's not about the Raptors.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by logan5

All's we need now is a big crowd in Vancouver to complete the riot hat trick.

I do t think Raptor Fever has hit Vancouver the way it has in other places though.

WE THE WEST.

We the North. In many ways we are a league of our own ... far from the eastside ... miles from the westside ... no where near the southside

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Some things about this generation perplexes me. That's dedication to stand in the street for a team from a rival city even as a fan of basketball (lol) or a fan of the Raptors. Find a pub.

You're in Montreal! There are many ways to party or celebrate hard if it's not about the Raptors.

Montrealers are notorious party crowd whores.

Even the organizers of Jurassic on Peel acknowledged that most people in the crowd are iffy when it comes to details about the Raptors and even the rules of the game.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Montrealers are notorious party crowd whores.

Even the organizers of Jurassic on Peel acknowledged that most people in the crowd are iffy when it comes to details about the Raptors and even the rules of the game.

Sounds like me.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Montrealers are notorious party crowd whores.

Even the organizers of Jurassic on Peel acknowledged that most people in the crowd are iffy when it comes to details about the Raptors and even the rules of the game.

I don't see that in the photo (mind you it's one photo early in the evening) or looking down onto Maple Leaf Square the other day. I see more a 3 hour line to ride the newest and greatest thing at Canada's Wonderland.

Getting booted out of the Brunswick House in Toronto three times was a party!

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Wow! This is shocking to me but awesome! Maybe Montreal getting a team is in the future?

If I'm not mistaken, Montreal is the largest city without an NBA team.

Now it's certainly lower on the list of potential future relocations or expansion franchises than somewhere like Seattle, but there's certainly a case to be made there (ideally, the next expansion would be to both Seattle and Montreal - 1 in the east and 1 in the west).

[TorontoDrew]

I didn't know but they are already trying to get a team.


Montreal must prove to NBA it has value as an expansion city
https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...xpansion-city/

[Acajack]

I am slowly coming around to the idea that the NBA in Montreal might not be as big of a pipe dream as I'd previously believed.

There are lots of factors that work in favour of it: the arena is already there and its owners will be very happy to add more event dates to the calendar, RDS or TVA Sports (whichever gets the contract) will be happy to have another TV sports property, sponsors will likely want to appeal to a younger audience...

I still would see this team as being vulnerable attendance-wise after the initial honeymoon period if it doesn't win fairly consistently. Every team in Montreal is vulnerable to this except for the Habs.

It's not a very team-loyal city.

Basketball is growing of course in Montreal and Quebec but the sport's roots are still very shallow here.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I don't see that in the photo (mind you it's one photo early in the evening) or looking down onto Maple Leaf Square the other day. I see more a 3 hour line to ride the newest and greatest thing at Canada's Wonderland.

Maybe I am not reading you properly but the relevance of the comparison between Peel and Maple Leaf Square escapes me...

As far as I can see there is not a single person wearing Raptors gear in the picture from Montreal, whereas pictures from the square in Toronto show hundreds (maybe thousands) of people wearing Raptors gear, waving signs, etc.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Maybe I am not reading you properly but the relevance of the comparison between Peel and Maple Leaf Square escapes me...

As far as I can see there is not a single person wearing Raptors gear in the picture from Montreal, whereas pictures from the square in Toronto show hundreds (maybe thousands) of people wearing Raptors gear, waving signs, etc.

Good observation, though the guy in the front left looks to have an old-school purple Raptors top, and the guy about 3 rows back has a red t-shirt that could be Raptors gear (yeah, I know... it's a stretch).

My thought was that the Raptors mania is just catching on in Montreal, and if it continues, next year you might see Raptors gear. Although... then there is always the Montreal/Toronto thing...

[le calmar]

Is the Montreal vs. Toronto rivalry still a thing though? Maybe it is just me, but besides the NHL I feel like it is fading. I don’t know, I feel like there is not much of a “eeeew” factor regarding Toronto-related stuff anymore, at least when it comes to most people under 50. It could be a different thing with boomers though.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am slowly coming around to the idea that the NBA in Montreal might not be as big of a pipe dream as I'd previously believed.

There are lots of factors that work in favour of it: the arena is already there and its owners will be very happy to add more event dates to the calendar, RDS or TVA Sports (whichever gets the contract) will be happy to have another TV sports property, sponsors will likely want to appeal to a younger audience...

I still would see this team as being vulnerable attendance-wise after the initial honeymoon period if it doesn't win fairly consistently. Every team in Montreal is vulnerable to this except for the Habs.

It's not a very team-loyal city.

Basketball is growing of course in Montreal and Quebec but the sport's roots are still very shallow here.

There's no way an NBA team would work in Montreal. If NBA players didn't like Vancouver for not being American enough, then they would like Montreal even less, obviously. The only way it would work is to avoid American players and try to build around international players, but there just isn't enough quality international players to build a successful team. Image, lifestyle, and recognition are everything to these guys. If they don't have that, they simply give up and you are stuck with a perennial loser.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by logan5

There's no way an NBA team would work in Montreal. If NBA players didn't like Vancouver for not being American enough, then they would like Montreal even less, obviously. The only way it would work is to avoid Americans, but there just isn't enough quality international players to build a successful team. Image, lifestyle, and recognition are everything to these guys. If they don't have that, they simply give up.

There is at least a shred of truth to this, but do you really think that the NBA did not work in Vancouver because American players didn't find the city felt enough like home? I mean, without saying that they're exactly like the U.S., how does Vancouver feel significantly *less* like the U.S. than Toronto does? On that metric at least it seems to me that they're about the same.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by le calmar

Is the Montreal vs. Toronto rivalry still a thing though? Maybe it is just me, but besides the NHL I feel like it is fading. I don’t know, I feel like there is not much of a “eeeew” factor regarding Toronto-related stuff anymore, at least when it comes to most people under 50. It could be a different thing with boomers though.

I think the rivalry is still a thing in sports (especially Habs-Leafs), but you're right in terms of city vs. city, not so much. Perhaps still a little bit for Anglo-Montrealers, though.

But overall Montreal does it own thing and Toronto does it own thing.

I would add though that pretty much no one in Montreal (unless they are transplanted Torontonian longing for home, I guess) looks up to Toronto as "their" big city.

Whereas in a place like Vancouver (smaller than Montreal I realize) you do get a certain vibe, albeit reluctantly, that Toronto is THE big city of the country you're in.

You don't really get that at all in Montreal vis-à-vis Toronto.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is at least a shred of truth to this, but do you really think that the NBA did not work in Vancouver because American players didn't find the city felt enough like home? I mean, without saying that they're exactly like the U.S., how does Vancouver feel significantly *less* like the U.S. than Toronto does? On that metric at least it seems to me that they're about the same.

Well, there's the fact there's virtually no black people in Vancouver. But even taking race out of the equation there's decidedly a lack of an "urban hip hop" vibe in this city...even less so now than in the 90s when we had the Grizzlies.

Even the whitest city in the NBA, Salt Lake City, has a 2% population of African Americans vs 1% African Canadian in Vancouver (9% in the 6ix).

[bomberguy]

Originally Posted by Courtside

Took some time today to look for pics of the Game 5 crowds, and they do not disappoint. Regina opened their football stadium and had about 15k show up, with Montreal also looking good at around 7500 downtown. Cities I posted on Pg1 had more good turnouts for G5 and depending on rain, many bigger turnouts.

This is really an unprecedented thing that's going on, and no other NBA market can even try to do something like this across so many other cities.There are stories of outdoor Finals viewing parties (not Raptor specific though) in other countries around the world, like Japan, China, Brazil, etc...all openly referencing Toronto's "Jurassic Park" as the inspiration.

So yeah, we've had a few small issues with a knife robbery in Mississauga and a couple being assaulted downtown, but we're talking about cumulative crowds (Games 1 thru 5) well into the hundreds of thousands people having gathered, all coming together to support OUR Raptors. I can only imagine how much merch is being sold across the country...

Onto the pictures (in no particular order):

KINGSTON:




TIMMINS:




WOODBINE BEACHES:




MISSISSAUGA:




ROCKFORD, IL:



https://www.wifr.com/content/news/Fa...511102491.html


ALMONTE, ON (Home of James Naismith):




SASKATOON:




REGINA:




WINDSOR:




ABBOTTSFORD:




GUELPH:




BARRIE:




LONDON:




RED DEER:




MONTREAL:




ORANGEVILLE:




WATERLOO:




HAMILTON:




HALIFAX:

A post from a raptors forum.

I love it!!

Winnipeg will have it's own jurassic park at the bell mts centre... finally. (why are we always so late?)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Well, there's the fact there's virtually no black people in Vancouver. But even taking race out of the equation there's decidedly a lack of an "urban hip hop" vibe in this city...even less so now than in the 90s when we had the Grizzlies.

Even the whitest city in the NBA, Salt Lake City, has a 2% population of African Americans vs 1% African Canadian in Vancouver (9% in the 6ix).

Well, Montreal actually has more of that than Vancouver, even though a lot of it probably isn't quite what NBA guys from U.S. cities are used to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pit2aFhyA7w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDr3qCcXKXk

[CivicBlues]

Hey BomberGuy you forgot:

VANCOUVER:


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-you-1.5153467

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is at least a shred of truth to this, but do you really think that the NBA did not work in Vancouver because American players didn't find the city felt enough like home? I mean, without saying that they're exactly like the U.S., how does Vancouver feel significantly *less* like the U.S. than Toronto does? On that metric at least it seems to me that they're about the same.

Almost every player complained to one degree or another about being in Vancouver. Most notably Steve Francis, who refused to come to Vancouver at all, and Mike Bibby, who made it clear he didn't want to play here. Tony Massenburg complained that you couldn't get Captain Crunch in Vancouver. It was an endless turnstile of players coming and going.

Here's a quote from former Grizzly Michael Dickerson. This says it all...

“Vancouver has always been my love,” Dickerson told The Province in 2010. “I have always loved it here. I never wanted to leave here. I was probably the only one on the Grizzlies that never wanted to leave.”

Didn't Vince Carter complain about Toronto not having very good cable TV? If players are concerned about breakfast cereal and other trivial things, they sure as hell aren't going to like a place where most people speak French. Don't get me wrong, I love Montreal, but I don't think NBA players would.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Well, Montreal actually has more of that than Vancouver, even though a lot of it probably isn't quite what NBA guys from U.S. cities are used to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pit2aFhyA7w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDr3qCcXKXk

Montreal also has a heavy Latin American contingent as well which is considered "cool" in the eyes of the NBA and associated fans.

Asian heavy Vancouver? Not so much unfortunately. Perhaps we can import a dozen Yao Mings for the team to stand a chance?