Toronto Basketball Fans

[CalgaryRapsFan]

I have no problem with a lot of Chinese people cheering for a Chinese kid. For any extra sensitive people, yes I realize he's Taiwanese. BUT, the problem to me is not the presence of these fans, it's the general behavior of Raptors fans. Too many people are there without being true fans of the game, or of sports enough in general. You can see it on tv especially in the courtside and platinum seats: people spending the night eating, schmoozing and telling people on bbm and facebook "oh my god! so much fun at the Raptors game!"....It makes sense too when you think of it, because how many real sports fans can afford to fill that lower bowl. Hell it's even pretty bad in hockey games compared to other meccas like MSG for a Rangers' game and the Bell Centre for a Habs game. I don't know what it is with Toronto....

I will also say this though, when the team does win, the crowd gets better and better. I remember seeing a triple OT game in the Carter years against Sacramento (Divac, Webber, Stojakovic) and there were easily as many Serbian fans in the stands as there were Asians at the Lin game. And for the record, these fans are much crazier than the Asians at the Knicks game. BUT, it was when Toronto cared about the Raptors, when we had hopes they would compete and win. The Toronto element fought back with their own noise and it was a great atmosphere....If the team was winning, the crowds would be louder and more supportive, even in the face of someone like Lin coming through with his own crowd.

I used to work for a company that had a platinum lounge at the ACC and would often get last minute tickets. I was probably a little more of a hockey fan back then (2000-2004), but I soon found that the Raptors games were much more fun to attend than hockey. At Leaf games, the lower bowl was full of bay street suits who were there for the schmooze-fest and could care less what was happening on the ice. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, or at least hear the clicking of dozens of blackberry keys within earshot. I think in Toronto, there is such a "status" attached to being in the expensive seats and luxury boxes for Leafs games. Raptors games were much more enjoyable, as it seemed that the corporate tickets were typically given out to employees and their familes for basketball games. Of course, when I got company tickets for the playoffs against the Knicks, those families were suddenly nowhere to be seen, as the corporate suits were slumming it at the Raptors playoff games...

The bottom line is that the only way to avoid this is for "true Raptors fans" to buy more tickets, to prevent non-basketball and non-Raptors fans from being able to get tickets - the same holds true of any team in any sport, if you want to provide an effective 6th man. The only obstacle for Toronto fans, thankfully slightly less for NBA, is the curse of the corporate seats in the lower bowl.

[NoPropsneeded]

ya there are stupid spoiled bitches at my school who would go to raptors games every other year with lower bowl seats. They don't know the first thing about the raptors, or basketball for that matter, whats the point of going when your not even a fan? to show your friends how cool you are? you don't even know the players first name or what position he plays. I just hate those kind of people. Its not about not being able to afford a ticket, i could go if i wanted to but i just don't have the time. But i made a vow to go to a home game when we make the playoffs. Alright i'm done with my rant