Basketball in Canada

[logan5]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

It might be because this is the basketball thread and people are trying to enjoy and celebrate a champion. This other crap could be talked about elsewhere and has been spurred on by seasoned Toronto haters (dislikers).

Stuff like this doesn't help matters...

Originally Posted by theman23

There were more people a this parade than there are in the cities of Montreal or Vancouver. The turnout at least doubled the population of 9/13 Canadian provinces/territories.

[Pinus]

Basketball.............. Meh.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Andy6

I think by the time these hypothetical Leafs made it through four heroic playoff rounds, the publicity would be overwhelming and you’d end up with a lot of the same people at their parade, even if they weren’t lifelong hockey fans.

Good point. Young people easily get caught up in the hype. And going by TV ratings, the leafs, and hockey in general is still much more popular and much more ingrained in the city of Toronto than basketball is. Game 6 of the NBA finals drew an average TV audience of 7.7 million viewers. Good numbers but that's still 1 million viewers behind the 2011 SCF game 7, with 1 Canadian team that wasn't even from Toronto. Imagine Toronto in the SCF, then imagine the celebration if they won.

[megadude]

I'm okay with the bandwagoners. The more support during the run the merrier. Lots of women in my office had Raptors t-shirts on. Some are clearly new, some they bought when they went to a Raptors game once, some they borrowed from their son. There's the odd one who actually has at least followed the team casually. There's also a dude here who admits he doesn't follow sports but just went along with his friends to spend hours at the bar and borrowed his cousin's DeRozan jersey.

But I do wanna punch people in the face who say I've loved the Raptors my whole life!!! but can't even name five Raptors in history let alone the starting five.

There's a video of some dude in corn rows wearing a Kawhi jersey was walking down the street and people stopped him for autographs despite being 7 inches shorter. Selfies were fine because it would be jokes to take a pic with him, but people were actually getting autographs from him.

That was as lame as when Irish supporters descended upon some Japanese city during the 2002 WC and locals were asking for their autographs.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yeah, what is it about sports teams that make some grown men acted like jilted teenage girls if you criticize them?

Are shootings normal in US cities during an NBA championship parade? Honestly don’t know...

Doesn't happen every time but violence (incl. shootings and stabbings) is quite common at sports-related celebrations in the U.S.

Not sure about nighttime celebrations right after the final buzzer vs. daytime parades though.

I did do a bit of a search and the New England Patriots victory parade in Boston drew 1.5 million people. There were a few scuffles broken up by police but no shootings and no stabbings as far as I can tell. A dozen people were arrested mostly for drinking (underage or in public).

[SignalHillHiker]

Formerly local reporter tweeted about the crowds on arches and buses and trucks saying "The biggest surprise in all of this is how good Torontonians are at climbing."

And an American reporter tweeted: "If you didn't know Canada legalized marijuana, you're learning something in this crowd."

Laughed at both haha.

[suburbanite]

There were shootings in both Oakland and Cleveland during recent years celebrations.

[SignalHillHiker]

Asif Hossain's whole thread about drivers expecting to get through downtown TO yesterday is also hilarious.

"Which suburban AM talk radio host failed these people?"

https://mobile.twitter.com/asifintor...30305658822656

"May they be stuck in traffic every time they come into Toronto all by themselves in their car!"

[wave46]

Ah, SSP, never change.

In a thread about basketball and the Raptors, we have:

- Unrelated politics about Trudeau and Doug Ford
- A pissing match about cities' populations
- An existential look into 'what is Canadian sport and how does that culturally reflect on us'

And finally....

The sport in question and the championship team involved.

Congrats Raptors. Awesome parade!

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

What's the story behind the plant anyway? I haven't been able to find a good connection. Is it like... a fake housewarming gift to convince him to stay? Or just a meme?

It was cute, though. Millions of people connected by cheering during an NBA championship parade in Toronto of all places because a player held up a fucking cactus. It's like sidewalk raccoon.

The birth of Plant Guy:

• Video Link

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by megadude

I'm okay with the bandwagoners. The more support during the run the merrier. Lots of women in my office had Raptors t-shirts on. Some are clearly new, some they bought when they went to a Raptors game once, some they borrowed from their son. There's the odd one who actually has at least followed the team casually. There's also a dude here who admits he doesn't follow sports but just went along with his friends to spend hours at the bar and borrowed his cousin's DeRozan jersey.

But I do wanna punch people in the face who say I've loved the Raptors my whole life!!! but can't even name five Raptors in history let alone the starting five.

There's a video of some dude in corn rows wearing a Kawhi jersey was walking down the street and people stopped him for autographs despite being 7 inches shorter. Selfies were fine because it would be jokes to take a pic with him, but people were actually getting autographs from him.

That was as lame as when Irish supporters descended upon some Japanese city during the 2002 WC and locals were asking for their autographs.

I want to hate on bandwagoners until I remember that the reason I became a Raptors fan was because I was a child and their logo was a dinosaur.

All fans have to start somewhere. It's stupid to pretend that you are and have always been a massive fan when you're not; just admit you have gotten caught up in the hype and it made you a fan. I don't see why there's a stigma against that. Honestly, it would be problematic if there weren't bandwagoners during this run.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

I want to hate on bandwagoners until I remember that the reason I became a Raptors fan was because I was a child and their logo was a dinosaur.

All fans have to start somewhere. It's stupid to pretend that you are and have always been a massive fan when you're not; just admit you have gotten caught up in the hype and it made you a fan. I don't see why there's a stigma against that. Honestly, it would be problematic if there weren't bandwagoners during this run.

Exactly.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Asif Hossain's whole thread about drivers expecting to get through downtown TO yesterday is also hilarious.

"Which suburban AM talk radio host failed these people?"

https://mobile.twitter.com/asifintor...30305658822656

"May they be stuck in traffic every time they come into Toronto all by themselves in their car!"

This is funny. I also ask the same question on a regular weekday. How did you think this was gonna go? But on parade day, you do truly have to live in a bubble to be a GTA resident and not know there would be a massive parade to shut things down. And you know what, ignorance is a bliss and I sometimes wish I wasn't so aware of things myself. But on this occasion, you want to be aware or use google maps.

Five years ago I was driving from Madison, WI to Lansing, MI and I had regular GPS and I got caught in a shit storm of traffic heading into Chicago on a Saturday at 5pm. When I got to the toll guy, he said this is every weekend.

Of course, now I have a smartphone that is capable of US data package for cheap and I can use google maps and it would have made me take a detour. I lost at least 30-45 minutes.

[WhipperSnapper]

On the other hand, the city can't shut down just because their basketball team won a championship. Not everyone is given a choice. The parade was contained to a large area but not the entirety of downtown. The drivers that pulled over on the Gardiner to view the parade were beyond ignorant should be prosecuted to the fullest. How many hours and millions lost did their selfish act cause?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

A Leafs parade would be overwhelmingly older and whiter. This Raptors crowd today was a million percent under 30 and as multicultural as one could get. I have a feeling a Leafs parade would be smaller simply due to the demographics.

You are probably right. But hey, when a league holds its best customers in such disregard, I guess it shouldn't be surprised once the supply of customers starts drying up.

[WhipperSnapper]

I doubt the demographics would be much different for a Leaf's parade on a Monday morning in Toronto. People that can go will go just to say that they were there. Whether they are fans or not is irrelevant. The majority of Toronto isn't white

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

You are probably right. But hey, when a league holds its best customers in such disregard, I guess it shouldn't be surprised once the supply of customers starts drying up.

What is this based upon? The Leafs have had every chance to be successful like any other team in the league. They just had horrid ownership for 40+ years.

[megadude]

I didn't go to the Jays parades when I was a youngster. But I heard that it ran down Lakeshore and rally took place inside the Dome.

Wonder if that's something they'll look into for next time. Will only be like 70,000+ in the seats and floor but at least they control the security for the large gathering place. And people can partake in the parade along the route.

Of course, there would be tonnes of scammers when it comes to the tickets.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by megadude

I didn't go to the Jays parades when I was a youngster. But I heard that it ran down Lakeshore and rally took place inside the Dome.

Wonder if that's something they'll look into for next time. Will only be like 70,000+ in the seats and floor but at least they control the security for the large gathering place. And people can partake in the parade along the route.

Of course, there would be tonnes of scammers when it comes to the tickets.

I always think the visuals of a parade taking over city streets are more impressive than the visuals of the celebration filling a sports stadium which can be filled by other sports teams in the market. It seems less impressive than seeing the Square or Lakeshore packed to the brim. You could still get that same vibe, of course, but seeing that square packed for six hours was pretty impressive.

[megadude]

I agree that people who pulled over on the highway or climbed construction sites or buildings and what not shouldn't just go scot free. I don't think you can arrest them on the spot during such a moment for fear of mob mentality backlash, as was the thinking after games when people were jumping on cop cars. But they did release their pictures for two different incidents of that happening and a few of those guys turned themselves in.

I would be fine with cops going up to anyone climbing stuff and causing destruction and warning them to stop immediately or picture will be released and your name made public after the fact. All while wearing body cams.

If they don't climb down or immediately stop what they're doing then it's fair game no matter how drunk you are. It's a good way for the general population to get the message eventually. Well that and officials straight up warning people on TV and print days in advance not to do it and then at the rally, every half hour or so blast it out on loud speaker, in the most polite way possible, that if you do stupid shit like that there will be consequences afterwards.

After the two most famous examples of the one guy bashing a store window and the other trying to turn a cop car into a molotov cocktail, I wonder if Vancouver people would do the same next time. Of course, there will be some because people are stupid but maybe not as many.