TORONTO - Defending Euroleague basketball champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv, defeated the Toronto Raptors yesterday in a dramatic exhibition game at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. In a storybook finish, Maccabi -- Israel’s most famous team in sports -- came from behind to win the game 105-103 with a last second two-pointer.
Hundreds of fans in the crowd were wearing beautiful yellow Maccabi T-shirts designed and made by Roots for the game and sold at the ACC. (Special thanks to David Jackson, Miguel Gomez and Jorey Middlestadt in the Roots Wholesale Department for their great work on this initiative).
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| Roots Co-founder Michael Budman, (far right), and Toronto businessman Gerry Schwartz, (centre), present Maccabi team members and management with custom-designed Roots Maccabi jackets. >> |
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Roots Co-founder Michael Budman, (second from left), with Maccabi star forward Maceo Baston (centre), Michael's wife Diane Bald, (far right), their son Matthew, (2nd from right) and Maceo's wife Yolanda Baston (far left). >> |
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The night before the game, Roots Co-founder Michael Budman presented each of the Maccabi players along with the team’s management and coaching staff a specially designed Roots jacket at an evening in their honour. Custom-made at the Roots leather goods factory in Toronto, the jackets sported the distinctive Maccabi and Roots logos, the Israeli flag and the players’ numbers. The jackets, featuring the Maccabi colours of blue and yellow, were designed as travel jackets and proved a huge success. (Special thanks to Henry Kowalewski and his team at the Roots leather factory for their great work on the jackets).
During their visit to Toronto, the Maccabi players hosted a special dinner to raise funds for their after-school program for underprivileged youth in Israel to which Roots also contributed.
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