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NBA Fan Voice Day - As a Raptors' Fan, How Upset Are You About a Potentially Lost Season?

By Adam Francis


This is part of NBA Fan Voice day. Please take part by tweeting, liking, or blogging (by Posting a FanPost) about #NBAFanVoice - a day when the fan's voice will be heard by everyone.

Everyone's up in arms over the potential loss of an NBA Season. But how about Toronto Raptors' fans specifically?

On Saturday night I attended a game at the Air Canada Center.

Nope, not a Raptors' game, but one featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs, and my favourite hockey team, the Calgary Flames. Growing up, I was a huge Calgary fan but as I reached junior high and my interest shifted from hockey to basketball, my Flames' allegiance started to wane.

Not that I started to root for another NHL team, but I just didn't follow Calgary that closely anymore. Basketball was the be-all end-all, and while I still kept tabs on the Flames, it just wasn't the same.

But Saturday night I wondered if this was all about to change. Would the current NBA lock-out situation force me to rekindle my interest in the Flames, and the NHL?

It was strange being at the Air Canada Center for something other than NBA basketball. Even in prior seasons when I had taken in the odd Leafs game, there was a certain "oh, I'm just passing through" feeling that accompanied my visits; I was merely a visitor to "Leaf-land," with Raptorville being the true reason for visits to the ACC.

Faced with the reality that we may not have an NBA season though, the thought dawned on me Saturday night that the Leafs-Flames match I was about to take in, might be my only visit to the Center this season, something unheard of since moving to Toronto ten years ago.

It also made me wonder how upset Raptors' Nation was about such a possibility.

I mean, here at the HQ we've outlined the reasons strategically the loss of a full season hurts the Toronto Raptors.

And we've debated many of the issues arising from potentially a lost season.

But how do Raps fans really feel about the possibility of the NBA not starting again until essentially a year from now?

That's what we want to know on this NBA Fan Voice Day.

As Jeff Clark of Celticsblog put it:

"we've been hearing about the two sides of the NBA lockout for months now. We are up to our ears in posturing and rhetoric. The players have their platforms and the owners have Stern as their mouthpiece. What seems to be missing is the fans' voice."

So with that in mind, we're urging you, the readers, to give us your take on the lock-out from a Raptors' fan's perspective.

Are you angry with the league? Sad that the state of talks has gotten to this point? Going to watch a ton more college basketball and get into other sports? Happy not to have to suffer through potentially another season of sub 30 win Raptors' basketball?

Let us know by commenting below, tweeting, posting in the Fanshots, whatever fits best. We'll keep the thread going today and be forwarding reader and blogger takes on things from a fan's perspective, sharing them around the SB Nation basketball network.

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