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This Week in Social: Mr. Raptor goes to Washington

A fruitful visit to the White House and a train ride down the East coast highlight your weekly look inside the lives of the Toronto Raptors.

By John Gaudes
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Ask any player what their pre-game ritual is and they'll give you a very defined answer. They have a set time to eat pasta, set time to get shots up, and a set time to just relax. Routine is what makes professional athletes professional. It's what separates them from me, throwing darts at a calendar to decide when's the best time to hit the gym.

This week, the Raptors got to break from their routine. After a road game in Brooklyn, they were scheduled to travel to Washington by train, not by plane. Matt Devlin and Jack Armstrong were talkative on this matter, earning this Meme of the Week.

The break in routine gave the Raptors something to post about. After all, trains have LTE and planes do not. With that and a tour of the White House on the itinerary, it was a busy go of it for this columnnist.

Let's start with Jonas Valanciunas, working the Gaussian blur and the uber-European toque in Penn Station - the leader for worst place on Planet Earth.

Boarding the train. Next stop Washington DC :))

A photo posted by Jonas Valanciunas (@jvalanciunas) on

Into the White House now, here's Kyle Lowry posing underneath a portrait of George Washington, an equally gritty and solid performer in my humble opinion.

A photo posted by Kyle Lowry (@kyle_lowry7) on

DeMar DeRozan having a team meeting in the Blue Room, discussing the budgetary requirements necessary to resign him on a max deal.

Blue Room #WhiteHouse

A photo posted by DeMar DeRozan (@demar_derozan) on

The rookies got in on it, but as a hazing deal (and for lack of space), I won't embed them. If you want to see Delon Wright and Norman Powell pose, well, there it is.

We move now to DeMarre Carroll, who's been open all season on social media. I'm betting he'll be a bit quieter as he heads into rehab -- most players are -- but he offered his love to fans before entering temporary silence.

Earlier in the week, he mused on being a Dad...

Then offered a very Dad opinion on Ubers.

We finish off with Patrick Patterson, revealing the secret to Terrence Ross' improved performances in late December and January. Here he is offering a bit of Lance Stephenson inspiration during warmups.

@3tross1 #jokes #pregame

A photo posted by Patrick Patterson (@pdpatt) on

See you next week.

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