Raptors’ ‘Superfan’ will miss first game ever, and watch action from Mississauga home instead
Published December 10, 2021 at 5:15 pm
Toronto Raptors’ “Superfan” and Mississauga resident Nav Bhatia isn’t feeling very super at the moment.
For the first time in 26 years, since the NBA club’s 1995 expansion season, Bhatia won’t be courtside in Toronto to cheer on the home team when the Raptors host the New York Knicks tonight at Scotiabank Arena.
After potentially being exposed to COVID-19 at an event in Toronto last weekend hosted by Raptors’ president Masai Ujiri, Bhatia has been relegated to the sidelines, unable to attend tonight’s contest.
Instead, he’ll be cheering on the team from home, where he plans to watch the game on TV while self-isolating.
Some not-so-quick addition puts the number of consecutive regular-season and playoff home games (not including portions of the last two seasons when the Raps played their “home” games in Tampa) attended by Bhatia somewhere around 1,060 or so.
In a post late this afternoon to Instagram, which he described as “the toughest post I have had to make. Ever,” Bhatia urged the 19,800 fans expected to attend to “cheer as loud as you can for our team! I will be from home yelling and screaming as well.”
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Bhatia, 70, added that he’s not experiencing any symptoms and that: “My heart is breaking right now and all 19,800 of you in the arena are the only ones that can help.”
The Raptors’ “Superfan” said he attended Ujiri’s Giants of Africa Gala, which he described as an incredible event that followed all protocols, “but these things can happen.”
Ujiri and several others at the gala tested positive for COVID-19.
Health officials have asked those who were at the gala to self-isolate, and Bhatia said he’s “abiding by the recommendations.”
Toronto Public Health officials also identified last Sunday’s Raptors home game against the Washington Wizards as an event where the virus may have been circulating. They’ve asked those who attended that game to self-monitor for any symptoms.
(Photo: Nav Bhatia Superfan Page, Facebook)
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