Air Canada Centre on Friday, December 18.
Final score: 118-95
Go Raptors!
The photo above is pretty grainy as I shot this in ISO 1250 with my 17-55mm f/2.8 lens (which is pretty much the opposite of a sports lens; it’s a wider-angle/portrait lens, not a long-range lens at all) and cropped out the crowd. But shooting at 1250 allowed me to reach a shutter speed of 1/800 sec and capture lots of airtime under the net.
To the dismay of hockey fans all over Canada, I will admit that I have always preferred basketball to hockey. (As a player, I prefer hockey to basketball.) Watching a basketball game is a much more intimate experience than a hockey game: you are closer to the action, there is occasionally direct interaction between the players and the spectators, there is no dividing plexiglass, and there is far less equipment — players aren’t wearing layers and layers of clothing and helmets and carrying sticks.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because I wrote something similar about my first Raptors game in March 2008 against the Pacers.
If you’re wondering (as we were) why the Raptors are wearing jerseys that say Huskies, this jersey was introduced in December 2009 to commemorate the original team pre-NBA. The Toronto Huskies were a team in the Basketball Association of America (a forerunner of the National Basketball Association) during the 1946–47 season.
Music for today is uncredited, because the performance took place in the space between Union Station and the Air Canada Centre before the basketball game.
They look like they are reenacting a classical painting by Titian or something
Exactly! I’m sure the collisions are painful but they make for interesting photographs.
Simply amazing pics, Gail. I guess I’m late on both counts to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day, but I hope you have had some wonderful days.
And I’m early for this, but Happy New Year!
.-= muckdog’s last blog … Christmas Eve Thoughts and Randomosity =-.