<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">WINNIPEG?Off to spread the good spin of the renaissance in Raptorland, Rob Babock, the general manager of Canada's only NBA club, hopped into a cab for an appearance on the local affiliate of City TV. The cab driver, whose grasp of the English language would not be called into question until it was too late, heard the destination as CTV. So by the time the mix-up became obvious, the cross-town gap could not be bridged and regular programming carried on without hoop talk. Perhaps Babcock would have had better luck with the taxi-folk in Seoul, South Korea, where the Raptors' pre-season home-and-home with the Portland Trail Blazers, which began here with last night's 105-98 Toronto loss and continues tomorrow night in Portland, was originally supposed to be held. Blame the nasty economics of pro sports for nixing the Pacific-rim swing. Pre-season overseas travel was cancelled last year, when there remained plenty of uncertainty surrounding the NBA's chances of securing a new collective bargaining agreement without a lockout. Labour strife averted, the game found a home at the MTS Centre, the one-year-old home of the AHL's Manitoba Moose. But the Raptors, while they attracted about 10,900 fans to the 15,000-seat arena, didn't receive A-list treatment. The only visitor to town making front-page news in the two local dailies was Brad Pitt, the Hollywood heartthrob who earned raves as a great guy in one report because, as a breathless member of a throng of stalkers told a reporter, he rolled down his window to eye level and said, "Hi guys." Pitt was here filming a portion of his latest film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, on the streets of the antique Exchange District, which was covered in dirt and teeming with horses for the occasion. And the movie set wasn't the only throwback. At the MTS Centre last night there were floor-mounted shot clocks circa the 1967 Pan Am Games, seriously, and there was a floor that some locals claimed was of the same vintage. The many dead spots, Boston Garden-esque, attested to the claim. The last time the Raptors were in Winnipeg, 10 years ago for the inaugural Naismith Cup against the Vancouver Grizzlies, the University of Michigan's Fab Five was represented, not by Jalen Rose ? who is, judging from the crowd reaction, Western Canada's favourite Raptor ? but by Jimmy King, an end-of-the-bench guard. The Grizzlies, true to the form that would see them exist as an NBA laughingstock before a move to Memphis, shot 27 per cent from the field. But let's face it: Last night's crowd was nice, but the Raptors haven't made many inroads in their quest to capture this country's coast-to-coast affections. They actually drew more fans in 1995 ? 11,203, than they did last night. National TV ratings were lower last season than they were in the pre-Vince Carter era. There might come a day when they're a truly national entity, but for now it's a niche audience. This town, meanwhile, still talks giddily of getting back in the big-league sports business. Its beloved Jets, now the Phoenix Gretzkys, left town nearly a decade ago and Sam Katz, the city's mayor, said last night that he believes the NHL will return. In hockey's salary-capped era it doesn't seem so far-fetched.</div> Source
i wish i could be brad pitt for a day; all i need is one day and the rest of my days would be spent with a smile on my face in reflection.
The papers may not have given the raps much ink (they rarely do for anybody except the home teams), but the game was definetly the talk of the town for the days leading up to it. It was an exciting game and it should do wonders for bball in winnipeg. Graham almost threw one down hard on pryzbilla, and I'd rather see that than some pretty-boy actor any day.
Sure it didn't sell out, but those of us that were there were pumped, and I'm sure everyone enjoyed this rare experience, even though the Raps lost. The Raptor was hilarious, and the two teams combined for some pretty nice dunks and blocks. One thing though, the shot clocks were on the floor, and the floor had the Iowa Hawkeye logo (they tried to black it out) instead of the Raptors. The only reason why Brad Pitt got more ink than the game is because our papers are just plain stupid and are pretty much anti-ball.
are the raps popular in the rest of canada? i used to live in montreal and i barely heard much about the raps there.
Don't know about all of the provinces, but in terms of major cities, I'm pretty sure that Montreal gets basic headline coverage of the Raps, because there's a small basketball population out there. Vancouver basically pretends that basketball doesn't even exist. I know that the Raps have been trying to market themselves as Canada's team, but it hasn't worked so far.
The raps are most Canadian basketball fans favourite team, but there arent to many bball fans here compared to the states.
