American writer’s Raptors-vaccination tweet gets backlash it deserves

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Unlike Chris Rock, an American sports writer merely got virtually slapped for a recent bad tweet.

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Sam Amico, a writer at Hoopswire.com, responded to a story by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps about how Canada’s vaccination rules might impact the NBA playoffs with a clueless take.

Bontemps mentioned it is unclear what the vaccination status is of some members of the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers — two teams that could meet the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs. Unvaccinated players cannot suit up in Toronto for games.

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Amico’s solution was to say the Raptors should just be banned from the playoffs outright by the NBA or forced to return to the United States (the team had to play last season in Tampa Bay).

“Easy fix: Toronto ineligible for playoffs or has to play home playoff games in US. Don’t punish US teams because of another country’s rules,” Amico’s since-deleted tweet read.

Fans were not amused and let Amico know how they felt.

Journalists were kinder and mentioned the Raptors had to be vaccinated as well to play in the U.S.

Many were just baffled that the tweet even saw the light of day.