Drake Doris Burke

Toronto Raptors’ “global ambassador” Drake was honored (or honoured; he is Canadian, after all) by the team with a “Drake Night” Wednesday, but he did some honoring of his own with his choice of attire. Here’s Drake, at a Raptors’ press conference ahead of their game with the Warriors, wearing a shirt with a picture of ESPN analyst and reporter Doris Burke and “Woman Crush Everyday” on it:

Here’s what he said about why he chose the shirt:

“You know, I’m just a big Doris Burke fan, and I just thought tonight would be the night to let her know how much she’s appreciated over here at OVO. It was either this or a suit, and [Raptors’ GM] Masai [Ujuri] stole my suit, so…”

Drake wore the shirt during the game as well:

Update: And Drake gave an interview about the shirt to ESPN’s Israel Guiterrez on the broadcast:

And part of that interview involved an invitation to Burke to have dinner at his house, which she later tweeted that she accepted:

As Alysha Tsuji notes at For The Win, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Drake showing his appreciation for Burke. Here’s what Burke told Rembert Browne in a June NY Mag piece about Drake making a heart sign at her during Game Six of the Raptors-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals:

Can I tell you something about the last time I was there? I just could not believe this happened. Drake turned around — my seat at game six was right behind him — makes a heart shape [with his hands], and points at me. I’m looking around behind me to see who’s there, turn back to him, and then he points and he does it again. I texted my daughter and said, “You need to know Drake just did this to me.”

So this is a long-running thing for Drake, and it’s cool to see him honoring Burke, a very talented commentator who deals with a lot of crap (as discussed in that Browne interview). Sadly for him, Burke isn’t working this game; ESPN’s coverage will feature Mark Jones, Hubie Brown & Israel Gutierrez. But Drake could always follow this up by dropping a song about Burke…

[For The Win]

 

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

Comments are closed.