Chris Bosh reminds the fans that the ACC is an arena, not a funeral parlour.
Chris Bosh wants more noise at the Air Canada Centre and the fans are willing to oblige, once the team gives them a reason. “Being a basketball fan 101” dictates that when the visiting team has to call a timeout to stop a home team run, the place goes crazy and then dies down only to do the same at the conclusion of the timeout.
The Raptors' franchise player created quite the uproar last week when he mentioned the words "funeral" and "Air Canada Centre" in the same sentence following Toronto’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Bosh was upset that the crowd at the Bay Street barn didn’t respond to his arm flapping after the Bucks were forced to call a timeout to stop a Raptors run midway through the second quarter.
Bosh was both right and wrong in his assessment of the situation and in the event any members of Raptor Nation were offended, he later produced one of his home made internet videos to clarify what he meant.
The fan support for the team has been terrific from day one. Since the Raptors moved into the ACC, even in the leanest of times, there have always been butts in the seats. It was interesting to hear Bostjan Nachbar of the New Jersey Nets respond to a question about the crowd saying that Toronto is always one of the toughest places to play because they have such great fans. Nachbar may want to look at one of his teammates, Vince Carter, who always provides a little extra incentive for the crowd. Nachbar may not understand how the situation went down in Toronto as perceived by the fans and exactly why the crowd is so easily infuriated at the sight of Vince Carter.
ACC crowds are great as they always come in numbers but there are times, and trust me I know from visiting every arena on the NBA circuit, that Toronto is not as hostile an atmosphere as it can be to a visiting team. Toronto fans have shown they can be nasty but it often takes the presence of an ex-Raptor or the playoffs to bring that out of them. Great fans, yes, but now is when the Raptor fans need to step it up a notch at times.
Toronto fans always respond to hard work and effort and when it is demonstrated, the players or team gets its due. Although I am generally a “glass half full kind of guy” it shouldn’t take the players cranking it up all the time to have the noise level ramp up at the Air Canada Centre.
In Utah or Golden State, the fans will occasionally initiate the cheering to pick the team up similar to college venues where some schools have adapted a practice of putting its rabid students close to the floor to make it extra tough on visiting teams.
Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan incites the crowd when he gets up to protest a call using all the histrionics he can muster. The fans get into it and then start booing every call against Utah. Next thing you know the Jazz start to get calls.
I can only remember a few occasions in the last two seasons that the fans have responded in this way in Toronto. Raptor fans need to know that they can influence the game by getting loud. If enough people do it, the naysayers who ask their fellow patrons to sit down after responding to a great play by the hometown team will be soon in the minority and won’t get their way.
It’s a two-way street. Fans need to do their part and the players need to give them a reason to cheer.
