Game #9: Raptors beat Heat; TSN2 Protest Kills 59

TORONTO (RT) -- Fifty-nine people were killed during a violent protest that erupted outside the Air Canada Centre on Sunday as thousands of insurgents gathered to show their displeasure with the TSN2 blackout of the Toronto Raptors-Miami Heat game.

Another 218 were injured, 26 of them critically, in the city's bloodiest day since almost 400 people were killed during the SARS outbreak of 2003. Toronto Mayor David Miller was among the 150 people listed missing as a result of the a full day of violence that stretched several city blocks and left the financial district in ruins.

Sunday's Raptors-Heat game was televised on TSN2, a new digital channel that refuses to allow Rogers Cable to carry its broadcasts. Rogers serves more than 2 million homes in Toronto, including the core of the Raptors' fan base.

TSN announced this week that it would not allow Rogers to broadcast TSN2 due to disparaging comments Rogers CEO and founder Ted Rogers made regarding TSN heartthrob and 15-time Figure Skating Broadcaster of the Year award winner Rod Black.

Sunday's game, watched by 17 people on TSN2 instead of the typical 110,000 to 140,000 Raptors broadcasts usually draw on other networks, was just the first the first of 25 games scheduled for the new network, which is available on Bell TV, Star Choice and Cogeco. If Rogers and TSN don't strike a deal, the violence on the streets of Toronto will escalate with each missed Raptors game.

Protesters burned cars, smashed windows, abused elderly people and sacrificed a virgin. Regardless of the mode of protest, most of the approximately 10,000 who gathered felt that Black, not TSN or Rogers, was to blame.

"You see all the people burning Rod Black effigies, wearing the fake mustaches and the sexy rub on tans," a terrorism analyst told Raptorstruth.com. "Rod Black has become the public enemy, the face of what they are standing up to, the focus of the resistance."

Raptorstruth.com boycotted the game, won 107-96 by Toronto. Raptorstruth.com staff, some of them former Guantanamo Bay detainees, burned their press passes and took part in the insurgency in front of the Air Canada Centre. Raptorstruth.com offices have been relocated to a secure bunker to ensure the free-flow of Raptors information during the crisis.

Raptorstruth.com readers who sat out the insurgency/protest found other ways to either watch the game or fill the void created by the blackout. Here's a selection of what they had to say:

"I went to my parents' house in Ajax, they have Cogeco. Sure enough, both my mother and father had already been into the liquor (I got there are 11:30 a.m.). Dad's shoving me because he thinks I want to fight him again and mom looks higher than I've ever seen her. By the time things calmed down and I was allowed back in the house (and out of the snow) it was halftime, but I didn't give a fuck about the game any more. I just wanted to get my jacket, steal some money and go back to Toronto. I'm never going back to my parents' house again."
-Tito, 31, Cabbagetown

"I went to church. It was fucking hilarious."

-Skyler, 24, the Annex

"My neighbour in Parkdale has Expressview on the outside of his basement apartment. I stood outside his window and watched the first quarter. During a commercial break my eyes wandered a bit to the next apartment over. It's a basement apartment too and I could see right into a bedroom and this girl and her boyfriend were taking turns pissing on each other. I squatted and watched that for about 10 minutes then went back to the game. I might go looking in those windows again even when there's not a game on TSN2."

-Horace, 44, Parkdale

"Me and my girlfriend took turns pissing on each other while some guy watched through the window. He didn't stick around for the part where we shit on each other though. Thank goodness. I get so embarrassed doing that part in front of strangers."
-Nick, 31, Parkdale

"I picked up dudes on cragislist."

-Klaus, 56, Downtown

"I kidnapped then butchered my boss' dog."

-Paul, 33, Etobicoke

"I butchered guys I kidnapped from craigslist."
-Chuck, 47, Mississauga

"I went to the AGO, it's free this weekend as part of the grand re-opening after the renovations. Me and my buddy smoked a joint in the 6-kilometre line wrapped around the outside and down past the Gardiner. Some old broad started yapping at us because we were blowing smoke on her kids, other than that the five-hour wait to get in was worth it. It was nice to get out of the house and smoke a joint today, instead of just sitting inside the house and smoking a joint."

-Jimmy, 21, Downtown

"I went to the santa clause parade to pick up chicks, fucking goldmine buddy"

-Billy, 61, Rosedale

"Me and my landlord built a glory hole. It should be up and running tonight."

-Sarah, 18, Downtown

"With no Raps on TV today I put everything I had on the Giants-Ravens game. My buddy told me it was on TV so I thought I would have a few drinks and make my afternoon interesting. The game wasn't on though, it was the Jets-Patriots game. My buddy always fucks shit like that up. He also told me to take Baltimore in the spread and you can probably pretty much see where this is going. I fucking lost and my Intertops account was toast. I'll have to set up a new account with that credit card I stole from work."
-Peter, 33, Port Credit

"I sat on the subway and just rode it from Downsview to Finch over and over."
-Kim, 27, North York

"I put a bunch of used needles on the playground equipment at the school next to my house. That should raise a few pulses in the neighbourhood."
-Rodney, 28, Downtown