Jason Marchand admits he is a sports junkie and when it comes to watching games, he would prefer to be there live as opposed to watching them on his TV screen from his couch.
Marchand and his wife are big baseball fans and they annually go on a baseball stadium tour in the summer months. This week, they were planning to make a stop in San Francisco to catch a Giants and A’s game tonight.
“It started out as a baseball trip that was planned back in January, February,” said Marchand.
But when Marchand, who is the Northern Ontario Hockey Association Executive Director, realized the baseball trip could coincide with game six of the NBA finals, he knew it was an opportunity he could not pass up.
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“The basketball game just kind of really worked out. We were in the area anyways so we figured we would give it a try,” said Marchand.
Marchand then worked on getting tickets, which he admits, were easier to get than in Toronto.
So once the tickets were secured, Marchand was fortunate enough to have his in-laws in tow for the baseball trip and they took care of their daughter while the couple went to watch the NBA finals in hopes of seeing the Raptors win a title.
“It was very loud, probably the loudest sporting event that I have been to, probably right up with the Stanley Cup final game in Washington last year,” said Marchand, who is an avid Washington Capitals fan.
“The fans there were very passionate. For the most part you could tell the people there were longtime fans so that was pretty cool to be a part of.”
Marchand says he has been a fan since day one and gets to about two to four Raptors games every year.
He could not put his finger on one particular event that stood out from his memorable night in Oakland where the Raptors pulled off a 114-110 win over the Golden State Warriors in game six for the first NBA win ever for the Canadian franchise.
“Just the anticipation looking forward to possibly seeing the Raptors win the NBA championship,” said Marchand.
“I remember watching the first game in 1995 against the Nets and I was hooked. Since then I have been a Raptors fan so seeing the end of the game was a bit anticlimactic with the Warriors technical foul but the whole night was incredible and it is something I will never forget.”
Marchand admits he was shocked at how friendly and sportsmanlike the Warriors fans were after the Raptors won.
“Everyone was really nice even post game a bunch of Warriors fans came up and shook my hand and shook other Raptors fans hands,” he said.
“That was unexpected to be honest but the whole experience was pretty cool.”
Marchand has been to some other pretty cool sporting events including watching Jose Bautista’s famous bat flip as the Jays knocked off the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series back in 2015.
But seeing the Raptors hoist the Larry O’Brien championship trophy will be tough to match.
“Hard to place this with those two but I have always dreamed of seeing my favourite team in whatever sport winning a championship live so that alone puts this game and this experience as number one,” he said.
