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Mayor Ford provides Torontonians with yet another sporting sideshow

Neil Acharya

Just like any polarizing figure, he can sure draw a crowd. Just two days after causing a mob scene at Rogers Centrewhere he helped himself to Canadian Rocker Matt Mays' seat while in attendance at an NFL Football game between the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills, Rob Ford did it again at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday evening as the Toronto Maple Leafs took on the San Jose Sharks

Almost immediately after he was first spotted in the first row of Gold Section 118, Twitter lit up.

While he was able to watch the game in relative peace, it was his exit through the bowels of the ACC that created quite the scene.

Initially a handful of people stopped to get their picture taken with him, but slowly the crowd grew.

Eventually, throngs of people, the bulk of whom had seemed to have had put back at least one or two "wobbly pops" clamoured to get their picture taken with the the embattled mayor, many praised him and offered words of encouragement as he walked towards the Bay Street exit.

Ford has made international headlines over the past month since creating a media firestorm after admitting to smoking crack cocaine.

When asked by Eh Game about the Maple Leafs performance and how his in-game experience differed from Sunday's football game, the usually quotable Ford offered little in terms of a response.

"It was a good game," said Ford, who was clad in a blue Maple Leafs jersey with #11 on the back below his last name.

"The Leafs game was amazing, the fact that Rob Ford was right in front of us was a compliment to the game," said two fans from Brampton, Ont. who sat behind Ford and got their picture taken with him after the game.

On the ice, goals by Mason Raymond and Phil Kessel were not enough for the Maple Leafs to get by the red hot San Jose Sharks who improved to 9-1-0 in their last 10 games with a 4-2 victory. Brad Stuart's late second period goal turned out to be the winner. Former Maple Leaf Mike Brown, along with Joe Thornton and Logan Couture also scored for the visitors.