Raptors end Toronto — and Canadian — sports curse
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Forget the Drake curse, which is officially over now that the Toronto Raptors toppled the Golden State Warriors to win the team’s first NBA title.
How about the Toronto sports curse? Or even the Canadian Stanley Cup curse?
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Until the Raps capped an incredible playoff run, no Canadian NHL, MLB or NBA team had won a sports title since 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Blue Jays took home top NHL and MLB honours, respectively.
For the Raptors, the team had only advanced once to the NBA Eastern Conference championships (in 2016) and before the 2013-14 season had only been to the playoffs five times since joining the league in 1995.
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The Leafs, who many thought would have a deep playoff run this year thanks to the addition of centre John Tavares, once again bowed out early following a first-round loss to the Boston Bruins. And the Buds haven’t lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup since 1967 — long before many of their fans were born.
But to be a Raptors fan, one has had to endure not only heartbreak, but franchise irrelevance.
The first game I attended was in the franchise’s inaugural season at the cavernous Rogers Centre (then named SkyDome). The frenzied atmosphere that typifies games these days was a distant dream then. Sitting courtside — the one and only time I had that privilege — I still remember the most animated I got was when hall of famer Grant Hill almost stepped on my foot.
Forgettable years followed. Going to a Raptors game was something you did when there was nothing else to do.
But with the arrival of Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, suddenly it was cool to cheer for the Raptors.
In 2001, I remember attending my first NBA playoff game. There I was, squished into a standing-room section. At the end of that exhilarating Game 3 win over a Philadelphia 76ers team led by point guard Allen Iverson, the sold-out crowd had their sights set on a bigger stage and the 2000 title-winning Lakers, with chants of “We want Kobe!” (referring to Los Angeles great Bryant) spilling out onto the streets.
Sure, Carter’s would-be-series-winning Game 7 miss in that 76ers tilt disappointed, but hopes were high going into the 2001-02 season. Still, that was the closest Raps fans got to playoff greatness for many years. Things started to sour and after a less-than-amicable departure by superstar Carter in 2004, the franchise became a joke.
Buoyed by all-star Chris Bosh and later DeMar DeRozan in the mid-to-late aughts, the Raps managed to maintain audience interest. But it wasn’t until an improbable march toward the post-season in 2014, led by all-star Kyle Lowry, that the team was no longer a niche franchise liked by a handful.
Add superstar Drake, who became the team’s global ambassador in 2013, to the mix and the Raps were now in demand, loved by fans from coast to coast.
Tickets, once easy to come by, were suddenly harder — and more expensive — to secure.
Finally, Toronto sports fans — and season-ticket holders — had a team we could genuinely get behind.
Sure, in 2015 and 2016, the long-suffering Blue Jays revived a long-dormant fan base, but Raps fans, who never quite felt like they fit in, were no longer on the outside looking in.
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A lot of armchair sportscasters said we had no chance against the Warriors. Funny — they said the same thing about the Bucks.
But for the fans that have been cheering the Raptors since the beginning, there was a belief that this time would be different. Kawhi Leonard’s miracle shot to cap Game 7 against the 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals was perhaps the first proof of that.
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Thursday’s win finally puts Toronto — and Canada — back on the sporting map.
So who knows, maybe the Canadian sports curse is broken. But in the meantime, the Toronto Raptors are world champions.
That has a nice ring to it.
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