Fanboy

The Raptors are making their first ever NBA Finals appearance in franchise history tonight. The series starts tonight in Toronto against the back-to-back defending NBA Champions; the Golden State Warriors. Steph Curry has led the Warriors to the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive year.

For the first time in eight years, LeBron James is not playing the NBA Finals and the world of basketball is doing just fine. But there is another global superstar who is thirsty for the spotlight; Drake. Drake is huge in pop culture and he has won four Grammy awards. In October, Drake broke the Beatles record for the most top 10 singles on the Billboard 100. Personally, I don’t get it. Yes, I do like a few of his songs, but I only know “Chef Curry with the pot”, “I know when that hotline bling” and “Kiki, do you love me”. No disrespect to Drake, but his music sounds more like a podcast than rap music.

Maybe it was Drake’s capri pants at the 2014 ESPY’s that made me cringe. Or maybe it was that air-ball jumper he took in Kentucky’s warm-ups. Double cringe! I just can’t connect Drake to being an athlete, just a wanna-be. But then again, what do I know about rap music and emo rap music? What I do know about Drake is that he is the Toronto Raptors biggest fanboy!

Drake has been known to harass opposing players, having courtside altercations with opposing coaches and players and most recently giving Nick Nurse, the Raptors head coach, a shoulder massage during game four of the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks. How in the heck is Drake allowed to be so involved on the court during the game? Well, when the team names you the Toronto Raptors Global Ambassador (in 2013), you can do whatever want. He is basically the team’s mascot in a hoodie instead of a furry costume.

Toronto loves Drake’s passion for his hometown team, but do NBA fans love Canadian teams? This is the first time there is an international NBA Finals with the United States vs. Canada. If NBA Championship viewers are anything like the MLB World Series viewers then the ratings will drop. (CBS said that whenever the Toronto Blue Jays were playing in 1992 &1993 the ratings were lowest-ratings in the World Series ever.)

Kawhi Leonard may have the coolest name in the NBA, but he is also one of the best players in the league. But for the Raptors to beat the Warriors, they will need Kawhi to pull a LeBron and carry his team to victory. Even with Kevin Durant still recovering from a strained right calf injury and out at least game one, the Warriors are still the team to beat. Golden State has reached the NBA Finals for the past five seasons and have won three championships in that span. Curry & crew are looking for Championship number four.

As big as a fanboy Drake is about the Raptors, I think Drake just loves the attention of being around other superstar athletes. Drake has lyrics showing respect to Curry in several of his songs and as well as KD and the Warriors. I think Drake will be happy no matter who wins as long as he gets a selfie, but if history has any indicator, America is rooting for the Warriors.