Entering my 2nd year as a Raptors Season Seat Holder, I've attended quite a few SSH-only events and yesterday's Town Hall meeting with Masai Ujiri and Tim Leiweke held at the Adidas Practice Court was by far my favourite.
You can say or think what you want, but MLSE sure knows how to make the fans feel involved and appreciated. As always, we're treated to excellent food (those Real Sports' Southern BBQ sliders!) and upscale drink choices. Two elements of your your typical SSH event as I've been critical of in the past, were nowhere to be seen this time around!
First, nothing felt rushed. There was an ample amount of time to dine, followed by photo/autograph sessions with four Raptors' players in attendance (Rudy Gay, Terrance Ross, Jonas Valanciunas and Quincy Acy) who stayed as long as it was needed without getting yanked out of the party and leaving some disappointed fans behind. Second, the aforementioned presence of Rudy. It's great to see the teams' star player not getting shielded from fan fan interaction anymore.
The 2nd hour of the event consisted of a Q&A session with MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke and Raptors new GM & President of Basketball Operations, Masai Ujiri. Details of what was said should probably remain in that gym but let me just tell you the tone of the conversation was rather light-hearted and might or might have not included not so subtle jabs at former Raptors (one in particular #caughboshcaugh) and not exactly ringing endorsements for current ones (#caughbargnanicaugh). Also, it seems like the phrase "Sleeping Giant" is the new "Pound the "Rock" as far as frequency of mentions per conversation/interview is concerned, followed closely by "outworking everyone", "not going to be easy" and "patience".
Here are a few photos from the event. More after the jump.
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| Tim Leiweke, CEO, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment |
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| Masai Ujiri, Raptors' GM and President of Basketball Operations |
