Toronto Basketball Fans

After watching the game last night, I am very disappointed at the basketball fan base in Toronto. Why the hell did half the ACC blow up in cheers when Lin hit the three to ice the game? If I had just turned on the the TV with 27 seconds left, I would have sworn it was a road game.

I understand that Lin is the "in thing" right now, and I'll be honest, that I'm rooting for the guy, too. It is an incredible story, and he seems to be a great guy, but if you come into our house, wearing any other jersey that doesn't say "raptors" on it, you need to get boo'd. There is no air of hostility towards the visiting teams here in Toronto like fans show in other nba cities. Would we here any reaction like we did at the end of the game in favor of the visiting team in OKC? in Chicago? in Boston? Heck I'll even wager that fans in cities where the teams aren't that good this year like Washington or Cleveland or Sacramento wouldn't even have the same reactions.

I'm very embarrassed that this city is not showing the Raptors the support that they deserve. I almost threw up seeing the Knicks celebrate on our center court, on top of our logo, with fans cheering them on. Am I the only one feeling this, or am I just another one of those die hard raptors fans that drank too much of the kool-ade?

No, I completely agree. It was nauseating.

Of the 20,092 spectators who attended the game, probably close to 4,000 attended the games solely because of Linsanity.

Lin scores the winning basket with less than 1 second left on the clock and his fans go wild. Just normal reaction from seeing their hero acting like a hero.

Yes, some "hardcore" fans watching the TV (if not watching an illegal feed on the net) are nauseated by the fact several thousand paying fans are cheering for their hero.

Sometimes I think the term hardcore fan on this board is misused and should be replace with nutcases.

Just to make sure my position towards Lin is clear. I am not a fan and I do not see Lin being more than a spark plug off the bench long term. He turns the ball over way, way too much for my liking.

If this was a common occurrence in Toronto, I would totally agree. But the Lin hysteria is spreading everywhere, not just Toronto. The Knicks' road game in Minnesota wasn't any different. The Minnesota crowd loved it.

Outside of this one game, I think Toronto fans have a lot of respect for the Raptors (the ticket numbers prove it considering how shitty we've been over the past few years).

As for the OKC, Chicago, Boston crowds, it's a lot easier to puff out one's chest and intimidate opposing fans when you actually have a good team to backup your stance. Once the Raptors start winning games again, things will get better in terms of home-court advantage.

I was at a Raptors/Magic playoff game in 2008 at the ACC. Everyone was wearing red, yet there was a young family of Magic fans. A husband, wife, and young daughter, who couldn't have been more than 8 years old, were walking around the concourse dressed in Dwight Howard jerseys. A group of 10 or so Raptors fan surrounded this family and started chanting "you suck". Moments later, the group grew to 50, and all of a sudden, it seemed like the entire arena was trying to intimidate this one family trying to find their gate, screaming "YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK!" over and over again right in their faces. The young girl looked like she was going to cry.

The point of this story? When we have a team to be proud of, Raptor fans definitely do their part.

It's out of control. In my opinion he's going to fall hard at some point. You can't contend with a guy turning it over 20 times over three games. You do that in the playoffs and you might as well not show up for Game 4.

The Raptors crowds are actually a lot better now than ten to twelve years ago. This Lin crap at the end of the game is nothing. At least they're cheering and booing the right things now even if they have their wires are crossed.

Remember MSG chanting "MVP" for Kobe? Remember MSG fans chanting for Lebron two years ago? Heck, I'm old enough to remember going to a game in 2000 or 2001 in Dallas where there were more Vince Carter jerseys than Mavs jerseys.

As for the crowd last night, I'll make a couple points. First, the Lin fans were not Raptors fans cheering for the Knicks, rather they were casual sports fans or, gasp will he say it, members of the Asian community coming to cheer on Lin. This is no different than when Yao Ming would come to town and you'd see dozens and dozens of Chinese spectators in the stands. This happens in every major centre with every nationality. Remember when they lost to Maccabbi and the ACC was rocking? Two, if you don't like it, buy tickets. The only reason those people were there is that Raptor fans aren't filling the arena.

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Tmar wrote:

After watching the game last night, I am very disappointed at the basketball fan base in Toronto. Why the hell did half the ACC blow up in cheers when Lin hit the three to ice the game? If I had just turned on the the TV with 27 seconds left, I would have sworn it was a road game.

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You said it: "the BASKETBALL fan base". Largely not the "Raptor fan base".

Several Raptors fans booed Lin. Chances are there were 8,000 "fans" that attended their one and only "Raptor" game of the year. They did not come as Raptor fans, they came as Jeremy Lin fans.

Hence, not sure why we're surprised. They had Jeremy Lin shirts on. Do you think they were going to cheer for the Raptors while wearing Lin shirts? No.

If fans don't like it, grab 10 buddies, buy discounted seats before the folks that only come to Lin, Heat or Laker games and cheer for the Raptors. Otherwise the Lakers/Heat/Lin fans will buy up half the arena and, since they only attend a couple games a year, make way more noise than the Raptors faithful.

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Apollo wrote:

It's out of control. In my opinion he's going to fall hard at some point. You can't contend with a guy turning it over 20 times over three games. You do that in the playoffs and you might as well not show up for Game 4.

The Raptors crowds are actually a lot better now than ten to twelve years ago. This Lin crap at the end of the game is nothing. At least they're cheering and booing the right things now even if they have their wires are crossed.

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They have yet to lose with him starting and they have beaten some good teams in over those 5 games (or is it six?). Without Carmelo. He has to watch his passing, but he has D'Antoni to help him with that. I think people are going to be surprised at how long he continues to put up big numbers.

EDIT: Forgot what the thread was about lol. Do remember when Blake came last year? Fans were blowing up for him too. I think Raptor fans have been great this season, especially considering how many games this team has lost. Attendance has been pretty good. Fans need something to cheer for, and this Lin guy is a great underdog story. I don't think you can fault people for getting caught up in the moment.

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slaw wrote:

Remember MSG chanting "MVP" for Kobe? Remember MSG fans chanting for Lebron two years ago? Heck, I'm old enough to remember going to a game in 2000 or 2001 in Dallas where there were more Vince Carter jerseys than Mavs jerseys.

As for the crowd last night, I'll make a couple points. First, the Lin fans were not Raptors fans cheering for the Knicks, rather they were casual sports fans or, gasp will he say it, members of the Asian community coming to cheer on Lin. This is no different than when Yao Ming would come to town and you'd see dozens and dozens of Chinese spectators in the stands. This happens in every major centre with every nationality. Remember when they lost to Maccabbi and the ACC was rocking? Two, if you don't like it, buy tickets. The only reason those people were there is that Raptor fans aren't filling the arena.

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I completely agree. Most of the cheering fans were likely not Raptors fans, or even basketball fans, per se. They were fans of the latest "Linsation". It's no different than hearing people talking about how much they love Tim Teabow, who wouldn't be able to point out the endzone on a football field!

Plus, I am sure there are many NY fans living in Toronto. It's no different than Blue Jay games (even during their championship seasons where they broke the 4 million fans mark) against nearby teams like the Yankees, Red Sox or Indians, when there are substantial (and very vocal) numbers of supporters for those teams in attendance. Many older fans grew up supporting those teams before Toronto had a franchise or, since they are so close geographically, are able to get almost as much coverage of them as the hometown franchise gets.

Yes it pisses me off and irks me that a display like that in support of the opposing team happens 'in our house', but that's what we get for not selling out every game to hardcore Raptors fans. It doesn't piss me off nearly as much as idiots who continue to boo players like VC and TMAC every time they touch the ball, ten years later, which only serves to motivate them!

I honestly wasn't all that bothered by it, it almost had a March Madness feel to it. We can't control who buys tickets to our games, and they certainly aren't Raptors fans cheering for him. When he was coughing up the ball and missing free throws I heard the loudest cheers I have heard all year. It was an amazing energy, and I think it's cool. If it bothers the Raps that they were celebrating at half court then maybe they should have closed out the game. This is just more motivation to get better.

We really shouldnt get our knicks all in a knot. Their fans now have a reason to travel with the team and TO is not that far away from NYC. Others have mentioned reasons to probably make nearly half the ACC biased in favor of Lin. Consider cheers for the opposition a problem if this happens more frequently.

ps...If Melo was on the floor I wonder if Lin would have cleared everyone out and taken that last shot. That would be juicy.

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hateslosing wrote:

They have yet to lose with him starting and they have beaten some good teams in over those 5 games (or is it six?). Without Carmelo. He has to watch his passing, but he has D'Antoni to help him with that. I think people are going to be surprised at how long he continues to put up big numbers.

EDIT: Forgot what the thread was about lol. Do remember when Blake came last year? Fans were blowing up for him too. I think Raptor fans have been great this season, especially considering how many games this team has lost. Attendance has been pretty good. Fans need something to cheer for, and this Lin guy is a great underdog story. I don't think you can fault people for getting caught up in the moment.

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If he keeps posting 7 TO's per game he's going to get the hook. Somebody mark my words.

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slaw wrote:

Remember MSG chanting "MVP" for Kobe? Remember MSG fans chanting for Lebron two years ago? Heck, I'm old enough to remember going to a game in 2000 or 2001 in Dallas where there were more Vince Carter jerseys than Mavs jerseys.

As for the crowd last night, I'll make a couple points. First, the Lin fans were not Raptors fans cheering for the Knicks, rather they were casual sports fans or, gasp will he say it, members of the Asian community coming to cheer on Lin. This is no different than when Yao Ming would come to town and you'd see dozens and dozens of Chinese spectators in the stands. This happens in every major centre with every nationality. Remember when they lost to Maccabbi and the ACC was rocking? Two, if you don't like it, buy tickets. The only reason those people were there is that Raptor fans aren't filling the arena.

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Great post.

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Apollo wrote:

If he keeps posting 7 TO's per game he's going to get the hook. Somebody mark my words.

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Not if they keep winning.

I'd give this one an exception. I mean Toronto has a pretty big Asian-based community, so I'd figure that it was natural for most fans in the ACC, who were asians, to want Lin to do well and help win the game. So for this reason, I'd pardon it, but if it was like the Celtics or Lakers, I would feel disgusted as a Raptors fan.

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mattscottnelson wrote:

Not if they keep winning.

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You can't win in the playoffs like that Mattscottnelson.

He's played well, but I'm kinda sick of all the press he's getting.. Honestly. People saying he's a superstar and all this shit, gimme a break. He's played like a handful of games.. Now you get people coming out like "Yeah, I knew this guy would be the next superstar." Oh, that's why he went undrafted, is it? I can't wait for him to start struggling tbh, then we'll see who really stands by this kid's side.

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Apollo wrote:

You can't win in the playoffs like that Mattscottnelson.

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Very true, but considering he's only played 44 career games so far, there's plenty of room for him to improve on his decision-making as he gets more comfortable, and develops more chemistry with his teammates.

Jeremy Lin is good but he's way over hyped. In the playoffs he's going to get destroyed in so many different ways its not even funny. He turns the ball over like crazy and he has no athleticism, its going to be really hard for him to maintain 10 and 5 throughout a full season let alone what he's averaging these past few games. And his A/T Ratio is going to be total shit, half the time he just hands it to the guy. I'm not hating its just the truth

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Nilanka wrote:

Very true, but considering he's only played 44 career games so far, there's plenty of room for him to improve on his decision-making as he gets more comfortable, and develops more chemistry with his teammates.

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Or he could just as easily start riding the pine if the some of those 5-7 TO's per game start finding their way into the last couple of minutes and suddenly he's trading clutch shooting for crushing decision making. Remember, Baron Davis returns right after the All-star game. Some time after that point he's going to need to look over his shoulder.