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The Toronto Raptors are Champions
I’m a big sports fan. Growing up in Toronto helps, particularly during the 1990s. As a child, I loved rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays. And of course, the 1992 and 1993 World Series wins made everyone in Toronto and Canada, fans of one of America’s five major sports.
But in my heart of hearts, I’ve always been a Raptors fan.
It is interesting being a sports fan in the NBA’s only city outside of America. There’s an underlying sentiment of wanting to fit in with America and American sports media. In the 1990s, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were it. No other team received nearly the attention. But the Lakers came close, and so too did the Knicks with their star Patrick Ewing. And Reggie Miller with the Pacers. The Celtics too and of course the Pistons.
But Toronto was not mentioned. If the Raptors made it to the consciousness of American sports journalists, it was as a joke. Winning 20 games out of 82 will do that to you. It didn’t help that our team was named after a blockbuster movie at the time. And that our logo looked at best, cartoon’ish. We weren’t fierce like a Bull, or steeped in history like the Lakers and Celtics. We were the Raptors. A kitchy, cartoon name for a team.
We were the expansion team. The ‘we have to put a team there because there’s actual demand from their residents’. The ‘I guess…
