Team bonding over NBA Finals
By SEAN ROONEY on June 4, 2019.
srooney@medicinehatnews.com
When the public address announcer told fans at the Medicine Hat Mavericks’ home opener last Thursday that the Toronto Raptors had won the first game of the NBA Finals, a few Mavs players were jubilant.
Not just because they’re Canadian, either. There was $5 at stake.
“We’ve got Cali boys here, Canadians trying to see the Raptors win and guys that don’t want to see the Warriors win,” said Flynn Ridley, a pitcher from Burnaby, B.C. “I was yelling at John (Velasco) in left field, give me my money!”
Ridley and Colton Grant are among the Raptors fans on the team, while Velasco is among those cheering for the Golden State Warriors.
In the first week for the mostly new teammates, little side bets can go a long way towards building team chemistry.
“It’s been so fun, I’ve never had so many people hate on the Warriors. I go to school in the bay, I’m from the bay, so everyone’s a fan, everyone roots for them (back home),” said Velasco, who grew up cheering for the Oakland-based team near his home of Pittsburg, Calif. “It’s great team bonding, great camaraderie and what-not.”
And, of course, Velasco’s Warriors won Game 2 Sunday. He smartly took double-or-nothing bets. Game 3 is Wednesday and while the Mavs will be on the field in Edmonton, you can bet there will be some trash talking afterwards that has nothing to do with the outcome of their game.
“It takes your mind off of baseball, for sure,” said Ridley. “With big road trips like this, making bets on the Canada versus USA kind of thing is a nice way to get it off our minds.”
Coach Tom Vessella said last week he was glad for the early-season road trip – the team’s longest of the season. The Mavericks will play six games in seven nights, returning home next Tuesday.
By then, the hope is they’ll be even closer than they were already – and players were already pretty happy with how that bonding has been going.
“We’ve just been hanging out after games, (Sunday) night we had a lot of the guys watching the game,” said Ridley. “It’s been helping a lot, everybody’s been meshing well together.”
“Everyone came from different areas, different states, different countries,” added Velasco. “So for us to jel so fast, so quickly, it’s pretty cool.”
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