Matt Dionne | Sports and Health Editor
Featured image courtesy of BlogTO
It’s been a historic run for the Toronto Raptors in the 2015-2016 season. They finished with the most wins in franchise history, with over 50 games under their belts,finally making it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
This marks the third straight season the Raptors have made the playoffs, and each year fans have congregated outside the Air Canada Centre to watch the games on the big screen.
In 2014, the Raptors made it to the playoffs for the first time since the 2007-2008 season. It was a surprise for many of the fans, as people were expecting them to tank with the hopes of getting a lottery pick. They even traded away the franchise’s best player Rudy Gay.
However, the players that the Raptors got in return for Gay ended up becoming a core group of guys that led Toronto to a new franchise record in wins in each of the past three seasons.
After a six-year playoff drought, fans were excited, gathering in what is now affectionately known as Jurassic Park to watch the games.
When people first started going to Jurassic Park, it was just a screen, a camera and occasionally a DJ. Nowadays, police close off the street and fans would cram into the fenced-off area to cheer on their home team.
Occasionally, there would be people outside handing out T-shirts for the early birds. In the 2014-2015 season, the team made it to the playoffs again and looked even stronger than the previous year’s team. Jurassic Park became a more popular place to watch the games.
People would hand out T-shirts every game, along with white rally towels to wave when the camera was pointing at them.\
This year, Jurassic Park is almost like an outdoor sports bar. There are food and drink tents, games, prizes and even a faux-locker room where fans can take pictures in their favourite players’ stalls.
Each year the upgrades have gotten more extravagant and the atmosphere is incredible. As someone who has attended games both inside the ACC and outside in Jurassic Park, I can honestly say I prefer the atmosphere outside.
The people seem to be more passionate and there’s more comradery because everyone is free to walk around instead of being confined to an assigned seat.
The Raptors are playing Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and if you’re a fan of basketball, you should definitely make it a point to watch a game in Jurassic Park.
