Toronto Raptors Argumentative Essay

The Toronto Raptors have been continuously gaining more and more popularity as a sports team in Canada, especially since they had their best season in franchise history during the 2014-2015 year when they had their first ever 50-win season. The “We The North” campaign, introduced in 2014, took over the city of Toronto and according to an article by the Globe and Mail, it “captured the essence with images of Toronto's authentic basketball culture and the gritty Raptors – the NBA's only team outside the United States, one often disrespected or marginalized” (Brady 2014). I had the opportunity of going to watch the team play against the New York Knicks at the Air Canada Centre on Friday November 17 this season, and it was definitely a surreal

experience to say the least. Seeing Raptors star players Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozen going head to head against the Knicks forward – one of the best in the NBA so far – Kristaps Porzingis had me completely immersed in their every move.

Lowry scored the first basket within the first 10 minutes and then OG Anunoby also made the first 3-pointer which set the tone for the rest of the game. The Raptors continued to excel and dominate the court, moving the ball quickly to create a flow and open up the floor, so the Knicks were having a hard time trying to catch up. A momentous play was made in the second quarter when there was just a minute left to play and Lowry made a swift pass to his teammate DeRozan who finished with a slam-dunk. The second quarter ended with the Raptors leading 54 – 36, ahead by almost 20 points going into the half-time break. The fun carried on into the half-time show with the Dance Pak, the team mascot the Raptor, and the Fan Patrol giving out prizes and energizing the crowd. Then the game continued and the Raptors were ahead in the last two quarters as well, with significant plays by CJ Miles, Fred Vanvleet, Lucas Nugera and Jonas Valanciunas. The team ended with a 107 – 84 victory over the New York Knicks, which would be their third consecutive win so

far. After watching this game, I was able to notice many of its religious dimensions, specifically how the sport of basketball and religion share certain common aspects plus how it functions as religion. This analysis highlights the collective and social elements of religion that were found in this event, focusing on collective effervescence, the Raptors totem and communitas as well as the ethical issues that each may present.
To begin, collective effervescence was an apparent religious aspect of this sports event because there was emotional energy, a sense of unity and group solidarity. The Air Canada Centre was full of hundreds of dedicated, energetic and enthusiastic Raptors fans who all demonstrated an obvious “social electricity” throughout the event. These fans cheered, shouted, jumped and danced whenever our team made a basket and the heightened emotions were especially obvious when Lowry would score a 3-pointer. These feelings were even more grandiose because the Raptors were leading in all four quarters of the game, and the glory of their victory in the end was the cause of many uncivilized and rowdy displays of excitement. Serazio highlights Durkheim’s definition of collective effervescence in his article, which is parallel to what occurred in this game – “Once the individuals are assembled, their proximity generates a kind of electricity that quickly transports them to an extraordinary degree of exaltation . . . There are violent gestures, shouts, even howls, deafening noises of all sorts from all sides that intensify even more the state they express.” (Serazio 2012). So, the presence of hundreds of individuals was a big factor in creating this effervescence within a large group of fans and the unifying of emotions and ideas was very empowering. I personally felt a strong sense of social unity being there, coming from the common purpose and joy, with the people around me. Lastly, the post-game rituals which took place after the Raptors victory including celebration at nearby sports bars, showed the positive impact of this collective effervescence in creating group solidarity. Group ideals were reaffirmed in the continued celebration and there was bonding between strangers over the experience of the sacred through the social force of the group (2SP 2017). Overall, this event highlighted the collective aspects of religion and sport specifically its positive qualities in creating direct, equal connections among people using emotional momentum to enhance group solidarity.
The second collective aspect which was observed during this sports event was the Raptors totem as a civic symbol.

The Raptors logo was worn by nearly every fan in the audience that day as a “totemic badge of unity” that represented the “clan” or social group (Serazio 2012). Fans represent themselves by their totem and try to emulate it in their appearances, wearing lots of red and white clothing or jerseys, holding foam fingers with the team logo and even painting their faces, just like a clan would do. Much like Serazio statement that, “The emblem gives natives identity and unity and marks their distinction from geographically rival outsiders…”, the Raptors emblem provides this affinity between fans and separates them from supporters of other basketball teams. In this way, the totemic principle creates insider-outsider distinctions between the Canadian NBA league and all other outsider leagues. The “We The North” slogan further distinguishes the Northside as the insider and the east, west and south side as the outsiders. The Raptors totem provides many pro-social consequences because it generates a sense of belonging and has the ability to connect all types of people in one group. The impression of perpetual dependence that individuals as well as myself felt towards each other during this game was proof that the “team (god) is us (society)” (Serazio 2012). The Raptors physical totem gave fans a community and a collective experience which demonstrated the concept of sport as

religion, and represented its success in enhancing solidarity which directly relates to my next point.
A third religious aspect of this event which demonstrated its collectiveness and described sport and religion working together, was the “communitas” generated throughout the game. While I was watching the Raptors play in the Air Canada stadium alongside other enthusiastic fans, I could feel myself losing my own identity and my “egoistic boundaries” while I became a part of the community surrounding me (Serazio 2012). Bain-Selbo states that this experience of communitas is common during these events, “…times when social structures drift away and people transcend their ‘selves’ to join with all others…” (Bain-Selbo 2009). This made me realize that we were all here for the same purpose, we wanted to see the Raptors deliver something spectacular, and that created a strong loyalty between us fans. Individuals of all different backgrounds and ages had come together to watch their favourite team play basketball, and the sense of unity was obvious. An example of how I could personally see the communitas during my experience was when the Raptors would score a basket I would use phrases like “We got a three!”, “We’re winning!” or “Our teams in the lead!” in which I was using first person plural pronouns to refer to the team. This showed an intersection of the fans, the team and myself as an inseparable community. At the very end of the game, when the Raptors won after playing an incredible game, fans were high-fiving each other and strangers smiled and laughed together like they were best friends, clearly demonstrating the pro-social consequences of the event. A quote from Woodbine’s article in regard to a different basketball team also applies to the Raptors, that when they played it “was about much more than just the game – it was about community building” (Woodbine 2016). All in all, this event provided a blurring distinction between the self and the other, showing the collective experience of sport and religion in the aspect of communitas.