There’s One Place Like Home

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When I started lining up friends to come to Tempo games with me, one got back to me early with a very specific request - he wanted to see Kelsey Plum play. Which I very much respected. So as soon as she officially signed with the Sparks, I designated that ticket as his.

Kelsey Plum was injured the day before the Sparks game here. He did not get to see her play.

He saw something else instead.

He saw history.

When I say no one in WNBA history has had a better night than Marina Mabrey had on Thursday, I’m speaking quantitatively.

...Fine, any pedants reading this, yes, there are multiple ways to quantify. But you won’t find one more basic than points, and by that metric, she wins.

In Thursday’s game, she put up FIFTY-THREE POINTS! That ties her with legends of the game Liz Cambage and A’ja Wilson for the most ever in a WNBA game. And if it’s unclear to you just how much scoring that is – bearing in mind that WNBA regulation time is five-sixths that of the NBA’s, forty minutes to forty-eight – behold!

Mind you, it wasn’t JUST Marina’s night, raucous “MVP!” chants notwithstanding. (And to all those people who were upset we didn’t “get” to take Bridget Carleton as our one UFA in the expansion draft, I’ll just say, “Ahem.”) Julie Allemand also found her way into the record books with FOURTEEN assists, tied for the most-ever in league history with ZERO turnovers! Oh, and it also happened to be a double-double with PERFECT shooting!

And hey, let’s also acknowledge it as a team victory. Though Chef Mabrey accounted for a silly percentage of the total, the 125 points put up by the Tempo set a new WNBA record for most points scored in a regulation game. And it was a laugher that we led from start to finish. Well, from eighteen seconds after the start to finish, technically, but still. At one point, the lead was 35, and it finished at 28.

And yes, my friend and I took a brief moment to acknowledge it might not have been such a silly margin if Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink had been playing. But it also had to be acknowledged that established stars Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby and rising star (and someone on my wish list, if you search the back catalogue) Rae Burrell all had solid offensive performances. But not solid enough!

In short, this was the perfect home game.

Which makes it feel all the odder to now switch homes, however briefly. But that’s what we’re doing.

As you read this - I assume everyone reads these immediately when they come out - I’m on my way to Scotiabank Arena. Today’s game against the Phoenix Mercury is our first at Toronto’s OTHER big basketball venue… and I’m ambivalent. In the literal sense, and if you’re unfamiliar with that sense, I invite you to look it up – or, if you have the time, watch Girl, Interrupted, which is what imprinted it on me. But, if you’re in a rush: torn, not indifferent.

I mean, I’m also ambivalent that Alyssa Thomas will be serving her one-game suspension from her Caitlin Clark “incident.” On the one hand, a better chance for victory; on the other, one more superstar we’re not seeing.

As for the Coca-Cola Coliseum versus Scotiabank Arena conundrum, that’s more nuanced. But since I have the time AND a column, I’m going to try to solve it. For all of us, ideally. I’ve come up with ten categories, listed in the order I expect to encounter them today, and I’ll designate a winner for each. Let’s see which venue wins, barring a (gulp) tie!

Getting to the Exhibition grounds hasn’t been quite the nightmare I was anticipating. And I’ll admit it’s even a little fun that I often end up on a GO train, something that I do remarkably seldom for a public-transit-dependent Torontonian. And I rarely get to give kudos to our local transit authorities, but props to them that the jaunt from Union Station to Exhibition costs basically nothing if it’s added on to a TTC trip.

But still, it’s a transfer from Union Station, which is largely the city’s transportation hub… and Scotiabank Arena is right there. There’s no denying that for me, and for most, getting to Scotiabank is easier.

Coca-Cola Coliseum’s was 45 Manitoba Drive, and still technically is that too. Which as an address I have mixed feelings about – Manitoba is my birthplace, so that’s cool, but 45 has been somewhat ruined as a number by HIM. And in case you were wondering, I’m too young-slash-not hip(ster) enough to associate “45” with vinyl… though I’m just the right age to associate it with Brimful of Asha.

But I digress. Especially since another CCC address and the one that appears on its Contact Us page is 19 Nunavut Road. Which is pretty solid and uniquely Canadian. Not that Manitoba isn’t, of course…

As for Scotiabank Arena, it’s at 40 Bay Street. Not only does “Bay Street” earn a yuck from this pinko, that number is Reagan, probably the second-most villainous president of my lifetime.

And incidentally, for those of you who were wondering, 19 is Rutherford B. Hayes, about whom I have mild opinions at best.

Both these names could be worse. I’m looking at you, Crypto.com Arena and Smoothie King Center! Still, they’re both mega-corporate, so this one could be close.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Coca-Cola as a drink, and it also loses some points for being American. SO American! Also, the slogan I most associate with the brand, “Always Coca-Cola”, is a little menacing.

But Scotiabank is, well, a bank. And the slogan I most associate with it is “You’re Richer Than You Think.” Which, as someone who worries about money and hates being talked down to, is a double whammy.

Plus, that building’s supposed to be the Air Canada Centre. It’s not as egregious a name change as the death of “Skydome,” but still…

Also, for the initials I’d be likely to use for these venues, and other things I might use those initials for, there’s a clear winner. Child Care Centre, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cross Country Canada. System Admin, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Substance Abuse, Sexual Assault.

I mean, c’mon!

CCC is small. There’s no denying it. And it’s a smidge disheartening that even with perfect attendance, we’d be at best ‘middle of the WNBA pack’ in that metric. But there are upsides to being small, and not just in a Rudy “it builds character” way.

There are no bad seats. And with a short saunter, you can visit with anyone. Well, not the hoity-toity courtside crowd, but hoi polloi unite! It’s intimate… while also being loud and echoey.

There is an upside to bigger, for sure. For games where the demand is great, it’d be nice to come closer to meeting it – and yes, as of now, the playoffs are a real possibility. But to the degree that smaller can feel a little more indie, that remains my preference.

CCC punches above its weight. And there’s a Poutinerie! Okay, it bothers me some that there’s a purveyor called St. Patties and the name refers to burger patties and NOT Jamaican patties… but still, it’s got charm. And possibly the luck of the Irish!

That said, the food options are straight-up better at Scotiabank. And much as I’d like to blame the food for the fact that Raptors games have so many empty seats when the second halves start because people are gorging, really, that’s on the people.

I’ve talked about this before, but at CCC, meaningful running stats aren’t available on the scoreboard. As in, you can’t see the totals… which became EXTREMELY apparent during Marina’s record game, because we were all having to check our phones and share the tally with our neighbors. It was friendly, sure, but also a bit silly.

Now, to a degree, I’ve enjoyed this, as it leads to a more “holistic” experience. You sense who’s having a great game without basing it on numbers.

But I refer you to Friends, Season 1, Episode 24, “The One Where Rachel Finds Out.” (And to be clear, I had to look that up.) In that episode, Joey has to learn to “be there” for his girlfriend of the week sexually, and as he puts it, “It’s like all of a sudden, I’m blind, but all of my other senses are heightened, you know? It’s like I was able to appreciate it on another level.” But then, when he’s able to perform normally again, and is asked if he’ll keep using his newfound techniques, he replies, “When a blind man gets his sight back, does he walk around like this?”, then stumbles and gropes with his eyes closed.

Which is my roundabout way of saying, yeah, it’s cool having a limited scoreboard… but given the choice, full scoreboard all the way!

AND I’ll also own up to my “good seat” privilege – I’m close enough to generally be able to read the names off jerseys. And yeah, I’m expert enough to recognize most of the big-name players. But for most in attendance, just having the player names and numbers somewhere convenient to read will make a world of difference.

The other sporting tenants of note at CCC are the Marlies and the Sceptres. At Scotiabank, we’ve got the Leafs and the Raptors.

For a basketball connection, point to Scotiabank. For a women’s sports connection, point to CCC. But for the tiebreaker, we go to ‘feel’ – and my heart belongs to the plucky and relatively affordable.

On my CCC visits with friends, I’ve had occasion to sit in the seats near the back. I’ve also had occasion to sit in the nosebleeds at Scotiabank for Raptors games. And only at Scotiabank do my legs hurt.

And to be clear, I’m tall, but I’m not CRAZY tall.

Like I said, I’m writing this just before making my way to Scotiabank, so I’m kind of just assuming the flames will be going at some point… but they’ve got ‘em at Raptors games, so why wouldn’t they have them for the Tempo?! Now, they don’t mean much to me personally, but they are literally fire, in the old-school literal sense of “literal.” So they deserve to be acknowledged.

When the Tempo hit the floor, we’re naturally going to cheer. Wherever we happen to watch them play, we’ll be rooting for them. But if we think of this as a familial relationship, CCC is our childhood home, the one we grew up in. It’s where all our moments have happened. The next place we move into is ideally bigger and more expensive; on paper, an upgrade. But it’s not the place you think of when you think of “home.” I could be proven wrong… but something tells me Scotiabank is going to feel just a bit off. Like the Mona Lisa with a different background.

…

You were probably expecting a tie there, right? But hey, after what we did to the Sparks, winning is STILL in the air. Especially around our REAL home, Coca-Cola Coliseum! Today, we’re having a little excursion… but we’ll see you again soon.