Those who like it, like it a lot
Cape Breton Highlanders slowly growing base of enthusiastic fans
The Cape Breton Highlanders haven’t played before a sellout crowd yet, but those who do watch professional basketball at Centre 200 obviously like it a lot.
Eleven- year- old Jillian MacDonald may be one of the National Basketball League of Canada team’s biggest fans. This past Halloween, she dressed up as former Highlanders star player Duke Mondy.
The Grade 6 student, who attends T. L. Sullivan Middle School in North Sydney, took in Sunday’s matinee against the defending league champion London Lightning with her parents Mick Macdonald and Kim Gale. They watched the action from lower bowl seats on the players’ side of the court.
“I like everything about it,” she responded when asked what attracted her to the game.
“It’s fun, it’s exciting and I love basketball.”
And donning a Highlanders jersey, she shows her support by applauding every point the Highlanders scored in the back-andforth match that ended with the visitors edging their Cape Breton hosts 104-102.
Down at courtside, Shawn LeClair watches the action from a seat just outside the playing surface. He may not be Jack Nicholson and the Highlanders may not be the Los Angeles Lakers, but Leclair is clearly enjoying the game.
“My son (André) plays hockey just about every Sunday, but his team (Cape Breton Jets) didn’t play today so we were planning to go to the game and sit up there in the stands,” he said, pointing across the court to the lower bowl under the box seats.
“But my friend won these seats at a charity auction and he invited us to the game, so that’s how we got here — the seats are great and it’s a totally different experience than from further up.”
Leclair’s sentiments are echoed by a group of fans sitting diagonally across the court.
Those particular four courtside seats on that side are occupied by local basketball coach and aficionado Jonathan Penny, his wife Darlene, and friends Keven Taylor and Lisa Coombs. As seasonticket holders, the Pennys enjoy the same seats every game.
Taylor said he can’t understand why more people don’t attend Highlander games.
“I can understand why a Sunday afternoon crowd might be a bit smaller because people have lots of things to do on Sunday, but if you’re looking for affordable entertainment with a great atmosphere, then this is it,” he opined.
“Really, if you haven’t been to a Highlanders game yet, you’re out of your mind — it’s a great deal for your entertainment dollar.”
Franchise founder Tyrone Levingston attends every game. During Sunday’s contest, he is in the wings watching from the shadows. The sharply dressed Levingston, a native of Detroit, Mich., may be disappointed in the size of Sunday’s crowd, but remains optimistic with the dream of resurrecting professional basketball in Cape Breton.
“Slowly and surely, we are starting to see basketball become more and more popular in this country and even in the smaller markets like we have in the Maritimes,” said Levingston.
“We’re still a work-in-progress and we’re pushing as much as we can — we’re doing everything we can to keep the fans happy and excited about our game.
“This year we feel we’ve put a product out there on the court that people can be proud of and excited about, so we’re hoping that continues to help grow our fan base.”
Sunday’s game report showed the official attendance as 800. The Highlanders played their home opener on Saturday and while the team did not announce the attendance, people who were at the game said it was much larger crowd than on Sunday. Cape Breton (2-2) won Saturday’s game against the Kitchener-waterloo Titans by a score of 110-108.
The Highlanders next home game is Dec. 4 against the St. John’s Edge. Tip-off is 7 p.m.