A Toronto Raptors fan biked across the city in cold, rainy, miserable weather, hoping for free tickets to Wednesday's home opener — all because a social media punch line flew over his head.

In a parody of the team's social media campaign giving away tickets at landmark locations with photographic clues, Twitter user PascalMv posted a picture of the notoriously chaotic Queen and Spadina McDonald's location, captioned "1st lucky fan to arrive here wins 2 tickets to the home opener!"

For most, it was a pretty obvious dig at the infamous landmark McD's, but, unfortunately, someone took the joke at face value, and immediately set out on a mission to be the first lucky fan to arrive at Queen and Spadina's glowing golden arches for free tickets that did not, in fact, actually exist.

https://t.co/o3cvi8wows pic.twitter.com/b99MpS3bMo

— Josh💥 (@PascalMv) October 17, 2022

The joke seemed to be landing well, until Raptors fan Dion Ferguson took it literally and biked in frigid, rainy weather from the eastern reaches of The Beaches neighbourhood to score the nonexistent tickets.

Ferguson tells blogTO that he rode his bike from Victoria Park and Queen on a 40-minute journey west to the McDonald's, only to be crushed with disappointment upon realizing that it was all just a joke from a parody account, engineered to harvest Twitter likes.

PascalMv, or Josh, who prefers not to be identified by his full name, tells blogTO that the situation "really was weird lol. I thought it was pretty obvious that it was a joke."

He explains that "I have no affiliation with the Raptors organization and I only have a following on Twitter for making jokes. I do feel bad for the guy, but you need to check your sources before you believe everything you see on the internet."

Despite most recognizing the obvious joke, it didn't take too long for opinions to turn, and even through the lolz, many felt for Ferguson and his cold, damp plight.

This is so funny and so sad. He really stood out in the rain for tickets

— spencer🦕 (@Spenred) October 17, 2022

Ferguson got the last laugh, though, as he ended up with tickets to multiple games through a combination of good luck and the generosity of others.

After witnessing the whole situation unfold on social media, neurologist Phavalan Rajendram contacted Ferguson with a generous offer to send him to the upcoming Halloween home game versus the Atlanta Hawks.

Had to repost cuz I didn’t want me email hacked

Honestly, I want to thank @nerdybraindoc he’s a real one ☝🏻 just sent me tickets for @Raptors Halloween game pic.twitter.com/uHoIQkkqxv

— Dion Ferguson (@dion416ix) October 17, 2022

And his day got even better when, a few hours later, Ferguson won an Instagram contest and indeed landed tickets to the Wednesday home opener at Scotiabank Arena.

Thanks to buzzedbudsco im going to Home Opener!! pic.twitter.com/NZcftt7O9W

— Dion Ferguson (@dion416ix) October 18, 2022

Ferguson tells blogTO, "I ended up winning home opener tickets from a contest on Instagram and someone was nice enough to give me those Halloween game tickets cuz they felt bad I got punked and rode in the rain in my raptors jersey just to find out the tickets were a joke."

Ferguson expressed anger towards PascalMv in the early hours of the debacle, though it looks like the two have made peace.

I accept your apology, I’m a nice guy from Toronto beaches area and a major die hard raptors fan. https://t.co/KK0gmSPjZK

— Dion Ferguson (@dion416ix) October 17, 2022

As for the upcoming Raptors games, Ferguson has already selected his attire, complete with a Canadian flag cape and a homemade 2019 Toronto Raptors Larry O'Brien trophy.