WTF? Is the east really this bad? Or are they fo realz?
My step kid just told me this, don’t follow basket ball much so had no idea, good on them.
Saw something similar earlier this week where the New York Islanders have the best record among all the metro NY area pro sports teams.
WTF? Is the east really this bad? Or are they fo realz?
So, a Toronto based team is doing well at the one North American team sport that Canadians don’t care about…yawn
**So, a Toronto based team is doing well at the one North American team sport that Canadians don’t care about…yawn **
There is a shift going on. To see it you need step back and look at a few things.
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My son plays basketball at a high level both in high school and on a club team. When he plays at games/tournaments in the GTA it’s often in jammed packed gyms. The level of talent and athleticism that I see is extraordinary!
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Go to a Leafs game and then to a Raptors game the next night. The crowd is VERY different. Leafs = white and corporate. Raptors = better reflection of the true multicultural cross-section of the GTA
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Hockey is no longer the number one participation sport in Canada, soccer replaced it a few years ago, and basketball is very quickly gaining ground.
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Canada’s world ranking in Basketball for the men is set to take a massive jump up. They have a good shot at qualifying for the Rio Olympic Games tournament. They will be a factor in that tournament and the exposure will be massive.
All of the above is to say, that things are in transition, and basketball right now in Canada is in the ascendancy in a number of key areas. If you go back even 5 years, ago, it was at a WAY lower level in all of those areas.
I know people who have had meetings at a high-level with Hockey Canada. They are actually reasonably concerned right now with the significant drop off in the numbers of kids playing hockey, the expense of the sport, where the better players are coming from ( higher income house-holds only), and who the fan-base is.
Yes, hockey is Canada’s game and will be for many years to come, but basketball has made massive gains. Several strong play-off runs by the Raptors and a strong showing in the Olympic Games by the National Team in Rio, will REALLY lift the level of engagement and interest.
Great kid. Don’t get cocky.
Great kid. Don’t get cocky.
Not cocky, hell I don’t even watch basketball much, if ever. I would describe myself as in disbelief.
Last year I watched 20 seconds of the playoff series. I was online and heard that game 7 was tight and almost over. I turned it on and watched them lose. Good times and pretty much standard fare for a Toronto sports fan.
So, I guess they got the memo then. Did they blow a sizable lead in Game 7, only to lose in OT? If not, then they’ve got work to do.
It’s cool. Mainly I just felt an urge to bust out a Han Solo quote
Wow, I missed that completely.
Canada might not be a basketball nation but locally Toronto is becoming a bit of a hotbed.
The last 2 NBA #1 Draft Picks (Bennett 2013, Wiggins 2014) are both born and raised in Toronto.
Toronto has a decent sized black community which tends to be drawn to basketball as much as to hockey.
And as a historical fact, Basketball was invented by James Naismith, a Canadian (Born in Almonte, Ontario). He was teaching in Massachusetts when he invented the game.
WTF? Is the east really this bad? Or are they fo realz?
So, a Toronto based team is doing well at the one North American team sport that Canadians don’t care about…yawn
They’re for real and they’ve become the only Toronto team I actually follow now. A few guys have stepped up this year, which is what’s pushed them up the rankings a bit.
Is Vince Carter still leading the team? /pink
Last time I watched an NBA game was when Big Country Reeves was all the rage with the Vancouver Grizzlies…
I remember watching the first ever draft for the Griz and the Raps. I celebrated when Vancouver took Big Country because I was worried that the Raps would take him. Then I got mad when they didn’t choose Ed O’Bannon and instead picked Damon Stoudemire.
As it turns out, I would make a horrible NBA General Manager.