The crowd started building outside Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Friday even before the scrimmage, several rows deep, as fans chanted and cheered in greeting the Toronto Raptors as they alighted from the team bus in the parking lot.
The unifying nature of national teams is obvious and was evident through hockey in 1972 and 2010 and will be in soccer next month in Qatar. But to accomplish that at the club level is truly extraordinary. The national followings that the Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays have, as the lone respective Canadian teams in the NBA and MLB, was evidenced by Friday’s turnout for the Raptors and by fans across the country avidly following the Jays’ playoff chase.
There was nothing low key about Friday night as the sold-out crowd, which included Super Fan Nav Bhatia, was enthusiastic and loud. Among the many signs was one reading: “Scottie 4 MVP.” Who knows? The 2021-22 NBA rookie-of-the-year Scottie Barnes might just get there. After all, whoever thought a skinny kid named Steve Nash would dribble from Victoria to earn two NBA MVP awards?
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse took the microphone to thank Victoria for supporting the Raptors and Canadian national team, the latter of which he is also head coach, and which has also played to sold-out crowds at the Memorial Centre on the road to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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