I have wanted to see the Toronto Raptors play for a long time. Okay, maybe just since last season. I like Jonas Valanciunas, okay? As a player only, just so we're clear. I thought about buying tickets for this game when I found out it wasn't part of my half-season package, but in the end I didn't end up pulling the metaphorical trigger. No reason, the tickets weren't expensive but I wanted to sell off the ones I had before I bought more. Props to my boss for giving away the tickets and my co-worker for sharing the extra ticket with me! Patrick Patterson came off the court first, and althoguh I recognized who he was, I had nothing more for him other than a logo photo. He was polite and signed for everyone waiting. Delon Wright commented on my logo photo; he said that he liked it. Dude, I totally agree! They don't make them like they used to! The current Raptors logo is three claw slashes across a ball, and doesn't look intimidating at all. Speaking of Raptors, the announcer at the 'Peake kept over-emphasizing the second syllable of "Raptors." As in, "Rap-torrs." Uhh...why? I recognized Cory Joseph from his Spurs days and he was way nicer than I thought he would be. He posed for pictures with everyone who asked and signed two items for a few people as well. It makes me wish I had printed an individual photo for him. With Norman Powell, I pulled a n00b move and didn't bother with player flashcards for this game. One, this ticket was offered to me sort of last minute (and I don't use local photo shops to print my photos) so I did not have any photos prepared other than a team logo one and ones for Jonas Valanciunas and DeMar DeRozan. If you go by the base definition of rack, I almost did it because I went home with only one photo that wasn't signed. Anyone I didn't have a photo for went on the logo photo. Somewhere in the middle of it all, maybe here at this point between Powell and Valanciunas, Fred Van Vleet walked by. If you're asking who? Then you're just like most of us who were standing there waiting. He signed for a few people bold enough to ask him because they recognized him when he came ONTO the court, but skipped most of us when he was done practicing. I kind of got the vibe that he was a little offended there at the end. Sorry that we didn't all jump at the opportunity to get your autograph? Some of us just don't have items for you to sign. Sorry? Maybe I was the only one who got excited when Jonas Valanciunas came by. Excited on the inside only, just so we're clear. I wanted to ask him for a selfie and I was determined to do it as the Asian couple next to me asked all the other players that came by before Jonas, but when they didn't ask him, I lost my courage when he came by. Well hey, everyone gets star-struck sometimes, right? And even though this is the Rap-torrs' only trip to town this season, I'll be ready for him next time, darnit! I was actually pretty surprised that I hadn't printed out an individual shot for Kyle Lowry. I thought maybe I had alphabetized my stack wrong, but after several combthroughs coming up empty, I resigned myself to a silver Lowry on the logo. No shame in that -- the final result actually turned out pretty nice. DeMar DeRozan was the last guy off the court, and I was afraid he'd pull a Novak and just run off based on lack of time. But to my surprise, he signed for just about everyone. The end product was a little sloppy (I think it's just "DD"), but no complaints here. When you get the league's leader in scoring, you don't complain about what you get. Thanks DeMar! In all of the 4-5 major professional sports leagues (aside from hockey), there are very few Canadian teams. I've never heard a real Canadian anthem before. Being a die-hard hockey fan, yes, I know some of the words (English) but no, I've never actually heard it sung in person. Live. So naturally, I recorded it. You'll have to excuse the disrespectful schmucks in the background who would NOT SHUT UP during the national anthem. OK, I get you're not Canadian, but SHOW SOME RESPECT, MAN! DeRozan 1/1 Joseph 1/1 Lowry 1/1 Patterson 1/1 Powell 1/1 Valanciunas 1/1 Van Vleet 0/1 Wright 1/1 All in all, this was not a bad outing. I got more than my average number of autographs (based on last season's totals), and I got the players I wanted. I didn't get a selfie with Valanciunas, but I'll probably try next season. We didn't win the game, but this was a team that did pretty well last season and almost beat out the eventual Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully we'll get off the schneid soon; losing so many games in a row kind of sucks. The next game I'll be attending is against the Orlando Magic on Sunday. Hopefully my boy Vooch will be in the starting lineup. I printed out the selfie I got with him last season and I hope he'll sign it! Until next time, J.R.
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