Maybe I had it all wrong. I neglected to consider one very important factor – the announcer. Stories can be epic or empty depending on how they are told.
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Dear Toronto Raptors,
I will be a fan again as soon as you have a winning record.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Ursabia
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…left on the clock. I just let the opponent score – I’m down by 1. Inbounded, and I’ve got possession. It’s tough, but not impossible. To a pro, 10 seconds is an eternity. All I have to do is take my time, stay focused, and take the easy shot…
Where they lacked in talent, they made up in character. This was always the least I could say about my Raptors, but no longer. Between Antoine Wright’s public criticism of the Raptors’ pre-game attitude to their lack of toughness, as far as character goes, what’s to be proud of? On a team with a losing record, pride should have been the minimum.
I can now finally say that I am no longer a fan of the Raptors. So long as there was effort, there was a reason for me to have hope. Effort means that steps – be they even tiny ones – are being taken, and that time is meaningful. Time would come to show the fruits of their labours. Time. Time is what I don’t want to lose.
It’s the end of an era. Time to move on.
I am a die-hard Raptor fan. I have been since 2002 – the first year that I ever attentively watched NBA Basketball. The only reason that I did when I did was because it was the first year that it didn’t interfere with school. High school and elementary school terms don’t end until June, so I always missed NBA Playoffs. May 2002 marked the end of my first year of University, and I didn’t have any summer courses, so I was free after my last exam. (I still distinctly remember the exams I had to write at the end of that term. One was a philosophy course on Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, and I wrote it in Varsity Stadium. The others were for PHY140Y1Y, MAT157Y1Y and MAT240H1S.)
So that year, I got caught up in the Raptors’ greatest win streak which was led by Antonio Davis, the drive to the playoffs, and the battle against Jerry Stackhouse and the Pistons in the series that changed my life forever. We had lost Carter to a knee injury just prior to the All-Star break. We went into that break well over 500, and came back to lose 12 straight games. It was looking hopeless until Davis, as our Co-Captain, led the team to win 12 of the next 14, putting us in 7th place in the East going into playoffs. We faced Ben & Jerry without Carter, but did a decent job. I still remember the dying seconds of the final game we played. We were down by 3, 10 seconds on the clock, Chris Childs hurriedly dribbles the ball and just as he crosses the timeline, blind to the wide-open better 3-point shooter, Dell Curry, he threw up a wild half-court shot that had no chance of making it so it wasn’t surprising when it didn’t. We lost our possession. The clock ran out. It was over. Raptors lose. Raptors lose. Raptors lose.
There were a lot of reasons why I fell in love with them when I did besides the fact that I had the time to. I loved the roster. The hearts of Antonio Davis, Alvin Williams, Mo Pete (Morris Peterson), and JYD (Jerome Williams) won me over. I’m happy knowing that Alvin and JYD are back and part of the organization.
The subsequent years saw some of the worst NBA play, team losses due to injury, win records, and trades, but there was always effort. Where they lacked in talent, they made up in character. Some say that moral wins don’t count, but I say they do. I need to. I’ve always felt as though Raptors’ ball was an analogy for my life.