Let there be no mistake, I am not a fan of basketball.
In fact, I’ve lost much of my limited interest in professional sports. I
was once a big fan of the Buffalo Sabres, and for about 20 years, beginning with
the inception of the franchise, my family held seasons tickets and attended all
Sabres home games. They broke my heart hundreds of times, but I remained a loyal fan for
a long time. Then, in '94, when I got married and moved to Toronto, I gradually
got sucked into the Toronto Maple Leafs vortex of doom. The Leafs were the nail
in the coffin for me. I have always maintained the opinion that professional
sports are over-rated. While the athletes are often remarkably talented, the obscene
amounts of money involved spoil everything for me. Lately I have lost interest
in most professional sports, developing the same disdain that I have for overpaid
pop musicians, and celebrities in general. I feel, especially here in North
America, much too much emphasis is placed upon the ones who earn the most money.
I concede that they are paid enormous salaries because they attract large
audiences and earn money for their employers, but there is a universe of talent
out there that is eclipsed by the overpaid few. I suppose I’ve always felt that
way, but the older I get and the grumpier I become, the less inclined I am to
get worked up over a team that will inevitably break my heart.
Enter the Toronto Raptors. As I said, I am not a
basketball fan, and never have been, but from the moment I watched Kawhi
Leonard’s remarkable last-second, four-bouncer basket to beat the 76ers, I was
hooked. I’ve watched every Raptors playoff game since that win, and it has been
an exciting ride. Buoyed by the exuberating energy of the Toronto fans, I have
been swept up in the excitement, and will watch their journey until the bitter
or sweet end. I have learned more about the sport in the past three weeks than
I ever knew, and the more I understand the strategies of the game, the more I
appreciate their victories. What particularly impresses me about the team is that
they do not appear to be overtly arrogant or cocky. I remember watching the
Buffalo Bills just before their first (and I think most humiliating) bid for
the Superbowl title, and their arrogance was palpable. To a man, the Raptors
seem composed, focused, and most astonishingly, relatively humble. The message
so clearly received from these underdogs is: we haven’t finished the job; we
will try our hardest, and we will not pop the cork until we win. I love the story,
not only because they are the underdog, but because they have fought so hard to
get where they are, for so long, supported by so many loyal and enthusiastic
Toronto fans. Is it not appropriate that the only Canadian NBA team is a strong
contender to be overall champions, given that James Naismith, a Canadian, invented
the sport? I don’t know what will happen tonight, but regardless of the outcome
of this game, they still have three more chances after that, and they’ve already
done their fans, their city, and their country proud.
Final note. While I lost interest in the Stanley Cup playoffs
after the Leafs were eliminated, I am encouraged to note that the Boston
Bruins, who barely beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, are now headed
back to Boston for Game 7 of the finals. Don Cherry said they’re going to win
the cup, and shouldn’t we believe everything that snappy dresser says? Even
though I am an abused sports fan, and even though I have sworn not to get
sucked into pro sports ever again, I have been intoxicated by the Toronto fandemonium,
and cannot help myself.
But I still hate pro
sports.
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