I went to go see the Toronto Raptors play the San Antonio Spurs last Wednesday, at the Air Canada Centre (just fyi, this is basketball). They lost, of course, because not only are the Raptors really bad, but the Spurs are also really good...never has there been more of an example of two teams heading in opposite directions. To be fair, though, the three core players of the Spurs are all over 30, while the Raptors have a young nucleus of players, who are all developing right now. I can hope that in a few years time, the Raptors will be good enough to at least MAKE the playoffs, since that's quite unlikely right now.
There was a moment during the game, though, when the Raptors took the lead, and the ACC was as loud as I've ever heard it. Tony Parker, a Spurs player, gets blocked while attempting to score, and the rejection turned into an alley-oop pass for a ferocious dunk on the other end by Toronto. Another block on the Spurs side, and THAT turned into a breakaway three pointer made by Toronto, and suddenly the entire building was energized more than it had been the entire game. They were winning, against the best team in the NBA!? What was happening? Needless to say, the elation didn't last, as the Raptors collapsed in the fourth quarter as they always do, and they lost the game 111-100. Ah well, fans still got their free pizza!
I decided to make this post about Toronto sports teams, or at least the three that I'm interested in: the Raptors (NBA), the Maple Leafs (NHL) and the Argonauts (CFL). If it had an NFL team, I'd talk about that too, but Buffalo is juuuuuust too far out of reach =P
Anyway, sports. We already know about the Raptors, and how Chris Bosh, their star player, took his talents to South Beach, and is currently helping Dwyane Wade and LeBron James win an NBA title. The Miami Heat are doing pretty well for him, and as much as I would have loved for him to remain here in Toronto, I guess I'm happy to see him do well. Still, I wonder how it'll be this COMING Wednesday, when the Heat play in Toronto for the first time since Bosh left...
The Leafs are crap. Let's face it, they are. I will allow that they're not as bad as they were last year, because they're really not; they're oodles better than last year. They're actually only something like 8 or 9 pts out of a playoff spot right now, and while they'll probably still miss the playoffs, there's room for hope. Vesa Toskala is gone, thank god, but the goalies are still getting beat on a regular basis. Jonas Gusstavson is on injured reserve, having undergone minor heart ablative surgery, and so the netminding duties have been left to Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and rookie James Reimer (he has the best nickname ever - Optimus Reime). Tonight they lost 3-0 to Montreal, probably my most hated team in NHL (second hated overall behind the New York Jets in the NFL), which is awful. The Leafs have a lot of potential, and honestly, they squander it so many nights. We have Tomas Kaberle, who is constantly the talk of trade rumours, but other than him, we have no good defensemen. On offense, Kessel has been crapping the bed lately with his lack of anything + his general inconsistency, but he IS pretty young. I hope he stays for a while, even IF his price was two first round picks that might turn into some crazy good players in the future for Boston...a team in our own division. But, enough about the Leafs. If they win the Cup in my lifetime, that'll be good enough for me; when Team Canada won the Gold medal in Men's Hockey last year, that was perhaps one of the most memorable moments of my entire life. I can't wait for something like that to happen again.
The Argos are actually not that bad. In 2009, they were beyond awful, winning 3 games to 15 losses, and 2008 had been not much better, with 4 wins and 14 losses. In 2010, amazingly, they won 9 times and lost 9 times...a pretty nice jump, considering it was more games than they had won in the past two years combined. They even made the playoffs, and made it all the way to the East final, where they lost to the eventual Gray Cup champion, the Montreal Alouettes. It's funny, I don't dislike the Alouettes as much as I dislike other Montreal teams; it's weird. Anyway, there's a lot of potential there, though I dunno how much I like Cleo Lemon as the franchise QB for the Argos. I actually went to go see a game this past summer, which was fantastic, as the Argos not only won, they won in incredible comeback form. Down 20-17 with 2 and a half minutes to play in the game, the BC Lions QB decided to throw the ball, and not only was it intercepted by Byron Parker, the defensive back managed to return it for a touchdown to take the lead, 24-20, RIGHT under where my cousin and I were sitting. Needless to say, we all went nuts, everyone in the entire SkyDome (excuse ME, the Rogers Centre, lul) screaming their heads off, and the Argos eventually won the game by the same score. It's great when your team wins like that, as everyone gets swept up in the emotion, fan or not. It was even better when Parker took the rest of the defensive players, lined them up in the end zone like pins, and pretended to throw a 'strike', as they all fell backwards...the Lions must have hated that. Well, sucks to be them!
Despite all that stuff, most Toronto teams really aren't that great overall. Maybe it's the pressure of playing in a huge market? Toronto IS the largest market in the country, and one of the largest markets in all of North America, to boot...especially in hockey. Heck, the Hockey Hall of Fame is IN Toronto, so it's kind of ridiculous to play here. Ah well...if one of these franchises wins a championship during my lifetime, it'll be worth it =P
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