Free food trumps winning??
I have been attending Raptor games for 10 years and as far back as I can remember, they have had a variation of the free slice of pizza promo. It usually goes, if the team scores 100 points or more you get a free slice of pizza the next day. During the Kevin O’Neil days there was no chance in hell the team was going to score 100 so they had this box where at the start of the game they would pull out a number like 88. Now realistically fans pay $50 on average for a ticket and that slice of pizza costs $2. It baffles me to think that the $50 is rendered worthless to some on nights when they can’t redeem the free food. There are nights when the Raptors have won but scored 99 points and you can hear the boos in the building. Last night the team had a chance to win down 3 but most people were leaving, the few left in the building were more than happy to cheer for a buzzer beating 3 that gave them a LOSS and a free slice of pizza!
Raptor fans took solace last night that they got the free slice of pizza if not the win. I want to try to find out how many people actually redeem this stuff?? I give my ticket (if the 100 point mark was reached) to the homeless man on the sidewalk so he can grab a slice the next day but now there is a limit on how many slices you can redeem. So now, said homeless man has to barter the tickets for something else he needs. How do I know this? Well one of them decided to go on a 15 minute tirade with me the last time I offered up my ticket. I know I never make it out to redeem the slice but I also know that I will not be offering my ticket up anymore either.
Apparently this is happening all over the league with Chalupa’s and Taco’s. Last night Laker fan’s booed the Hornets for playing hard to the end because they wanted their free tacos. (Hornets Hype) It baffles me that the marketing gurus behind these things haven’t figured out that they need to switch it. Make the promotion “Hold the opponent to under 100 points and get a free ______.” This way the fans are in it til the end chanting defense and that’s what the team really needs.
The Night in Numbers:
Boston Celtics 108 – Charlotte Bobcats 90
27 points a season high from Ray Allen after he clearly struggled v/s Miami with his mind more focused on his sons health.
4 game win streak comes to an end for Charlotte as the Celtics hold them to 40% from the field and 2-11 from long distance.
Washington Wizards 106 – Toronto Raptors 102
1-6 from the FT line. The Raptors resorted to playing Hack-a-Haywood trying to find ways to stop the guy who had stopped Bosh all night long.
17 turnovers on the same night they had 50 rebounds (season high). The Raptors have yet to play a complete game on both ends and we are 1/4 done with the season.
Phoenix Suns 99 – New York Knicks 126
8 Assists for Steve Nash in the game… Larry Hughes had that in the 1st quarter!
1 st game this season that the suns were held to under 100 pts. The Knicks are known to give up 110 ppg on average
Golden State Warriors 107 – Denver Nuggets 135
62 points in the paint for the Nuggets as they got a much needed 28 point blowout to get the team back on track after the loss to the Wolves.
30 minutes for Monta Ellis a night after he goes off for a career high? GSW threw in the towel early and even though they had a short bench they finally rested the kid.
Miami Heat 107 – Portland Trailblazers 100
27 points for Michael Beasley. For a guy who had a rough off-season he has sure silenced the doubters.
20 Rebounds for Greg Oden (career high) in 30 minutes but 4-13 from the floor is straight ugly from your big man.
New Orleans Hornets 99 – Los Angeles Lakers 110
29 min = The average floor time the Lakers starters saw last night thanks to a 2nd quarter where the Hornets were held to 15 points and never really recovered
19 % from 3 point range for the Hornets who played again without Peja and CP3
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