WINNIPEG — Winnipegers are 50/50 when it comes to jumping on the Toronto Raptors bandwagon.
As the Raptors take it one step closer to the finals with their game seven win against the Miami Heat, the pride is beginning to spread nationally. Has it made its way to Winnipeg?
Local sports fans take to twitter.
While crowds are going wild on social media, the feeling isn’t entirely the same on the streets of Winnipeg. One middle school student said she heard the score update in the hallways at school. But she doesn’t think basketball has anything on hockey.
Richard Gooch coached Winnipeg’s only NBA player, Todd MacCulloch. He said a recent youth movement has boosted the popularity of basketball in this province. “What happened over the last five or six years is a number of kids are going down and playing US college ball. Youngsters are going to the NBA and setting a mark.”
Executive Director of Basketball Manitoba, Adam Wedlake, said, “The fact that there’s no NHL teams in the playoffs and one lone team in the final four of the NBA playoffs is the perfect storm for that maybe shifting awareness.”
It isn’t a full on packed bandwagon for Winnipeg when it comes to the Toronto Raptors, but there is a little more cheering for basketball than usual.
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