Fans Cheer For Pizza Despite Team’s Losing Effort

A crowd of 16,429 roared like maniacs as the Toronto Raptors were inching closer to earning them free pizza. The only thing that didn’t feel right was that the Raptors were seconds away from losing.

Whenever the Raptors score 100 points or more in a home game, those in attendance can redeem their tickets at Pizza Pizza and get a free slice of cheese, or pepperoni pizza.

Strange that with 39 seconds left, in a game where the home team is losing 115-98, the crowd is in a frenzy. But free food will fire up any crowd. “Pizza! Pizza!” was what the crowd chanted in unison as their team was about to be taken down by the Orlando Magic.

The Raptors promotion team has a pretty strange standard for giveaways. The Los Angeles Lakers have a similar promotion where those in attendance can get two free tacos from Jack in the Box when the Lakers score 100 or more points, the only catch is that the Lakers have to win the game.

The redemption period for the pizza begins the day after the qualifying game and ends at the end of the business day, so Raptor fans have to scurry to their local Pizza Pizza right away.

With Raptor victories being hard to come by this season, you can’t really blame the fans for enjoying the little things.

The Toronto crowd does have a reputation for awkward cheering moments, as earlier this year they erupted when Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks buried the Raptors for a last-second game-winning three-point shot.

Apparently, this isn’t the first time they crowd has done this. Below is a video of the fans cheering a loss against the San Antonio Spurs in 2011. Maybe it’s tradition for them to cheer a loss.