COVID-19 Missing The Fans

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This 2020 basketball season is depressing because of the virus called COVID-19.

Toronto Raptors players won’t play at home, where they belong because of the 14 day quarantine requirement, if you re-enter Canada.

 Fans will miss going to the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, lining up for soda and hot dogs and watching the Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Chris Boucher, Terence Davis Jr., O.G. Anunoby and Matt Thomas magic unfold.

Those are on court fans, with season tickets or tickets they got as birthday or happy anniversary gifts. The other fans are long distance, courtesy of television, cable and cellphones. They have the most fun because they watch the antics of the on court fans.

The 2019 NBA Finals are part of basketball history now because Toronto Raptors won the championship, carrying the Larry O’Brien trophy over  the border as hand luggage for the first time.

2019 is also memorable because of the fan-dom, also called We The North. I love the rain but there’s no way I’ll camp in the rain to watch Raptors make history. Fans did exactly that.

This COVID-19 situation will deprive us of all the fun, which is watching the watchers. What is the point of watching Sportsnet or ESPN, if there are no fans waving banners inside and outside sports stadiums?

Those crazy Raptors fans also put Toronto geography on the map. They camped in Jurassic Park waiting for the 2019 finals. People who don’t live in Canada were confused. 

Isn’t Jurassic Park a Hollywood movie or something? Not anymore. It’s a square next to the Scotiabank Arena, main address of the Toronto Raptors.

Fans were not only in Jurassic Park in 2019. They were all over because Toronto Raptors are regarded as Canada’s basketball team. This COVID-19 is going to suck out some of the fans’ enthusiasm for the game, leaving us dry as a bone, unable to support Raptors full throttle.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

 

 

 

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