Leaving Early: A Comeback Story

It’s the 4^th quarter and the game coming down to the wire. You are at home just wishing that you were at that game live, just to feel the energy and excitement of the crowd at the end of the game. And the sad truth is that many of those at the game live are heading for the exits, relegating themselves to finding out the winner on the radio, for fear of being stuck in traffic a half-hour longer.

This past Monday, the Toronto Raptors played host to the Memphis Grizzlies. Granted, neither one of these teams is a big attendance draw, but professional basketball still gets its fair amount of fans. The Raptors are down by as much as 12 points with less than 9 minutes to go. Cue the comeback. A strong 16-3 run puts them ahead by a single point with just under 4 minutes left. And at that point it seemed the best for many fans to head to the exits. Why? Why would anyone pay $50 or more to come to a basketball game, a game where all the excitement lies in the final minutes of the 4^th quarter, only to leave once the game is approaching its peak? This seems to be a common practice for Toronto sports fans.

Toronto is a city cursed with bad sports teams. The city has not had a Championship since baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series back in 1993. The Toronto Maple Leafs have not been a Stanley Cup contender since 1993. The Toronto Raptors haven’t made the playoffs in years. Toronto FC has never made the playoffs since its inception. Even the Buffalo Bills of the NFL, a team with the right to play 1 game every year for their Toronto based fans, haven’t made the playoffs since the turn of the century. Nonetheless, the NFL in Toronto is a big deal for most football fans and the game typically gets a good turnout of fans (though never a sellout). In December 2009, the Buffalo Bills hosted the New York Jets in Toronto and despite the game being far from a blowout, that couldn’t keep the fans from leaving early. In fact, after a Jets field goal to start the 4^th quarter, many fans started to head for the exits despite the Jets having a lead of only 9 points, hardly insurmountable for a football game. For many fans, just being there was enough, but knowing who won was of little importance. There’s nothing more discouraging for an actual sports fan who must sit at home because ticket prices are too expensive than to see people leaving the stadium of an exciting game early due to traffic congestion.

True, the Bills did lose that game by 6 points, less than a touchdown. And yes, the Raptors did lose on Monday night after a final second basket by the Grizzlies and those early leaving fans surely beat the traffic home. But every once in a while, fans can take pleasure in the big late comeback after all the traffic fearing fans have left thinking that the game is long over. On August 12, 2010, the Toronto Blue Jays were down 5-2 going into the bottom of the 9^th and facing Boston Red Sox star closer Jonathon Paplebon, a pitcher who had earned a save in all of his 24 games against the Jays. The chance of a Jays victory was so little that many had headed for the exit long before the Jays even came up for their final at bat. Those fans who did stay were treated to a 4-run inning capped with a walk off sacrifice fly for the Jays’ biggest 9^th inning comeback of the year to win 6-5. Many fans that day did not witness the pure excitement of the Jays’ biggest win of the season. Hopefully they were well on the highway at that point, listening in on the radio, and wondering “why, oh, why did I ever leave that game?”

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