The best football your city is ever going to have, that's what! :P

I dont know about that, TFC games are a way better atmosphere.

How much have Raptors upstaged Leafs?
Lance Hornby Toronto Sun June 17, 2019

I’ve covered or stood curb side for the scant championship parades in Toronto the past few decades.

Bob O’Billovich clutching the Grey Cup, Joe Carter waving the Canadian flag, TFC player scarves flapping in the December breeze or dodging soccer balls and dancers on the Danforth when Italy won the World Cup or Greece took Euro 2004.

But the excitement of those civic cellys always seemed to come with a rider, from fans and media, ‘just wait until the Leafs win the Stanley Cup’.

Now that the five-day festival of the Raptors’ NBA title is complete — the clinching game viewed by a record 7.7 million in Canada, capped by an estimated two million bringing the city to a halt on Monday — that haughty notion is up for debate.

The youth-imbued crowd, the majority aged 25 and under, or young families in ‘We The North’ apparel with homemade signs, turned the streets red, packed every pub and were hanging from every tree, lamp post or atop idled garbage trucks and TTC vehicles. Across from the Osgoode Hall green, where team buses made their last triumphant turn into Nathan Philips Square, one man clung precariously on the head of a war memorial statue and when the ‘Let’s Go Raptors’ clap/chant began, used his free hand to slap the bronzed angel’s out-stretched bronzed palm to beat time.

Roaring echoes from the square bounced off skyscraper walls. Whiffs of marijuana also rode the slight breeze, along with a roving minstrel playing Drake tunes with speakers strapped to his body. He was among those pressing forward and giving the bagpipers little room to clear space for the team. It was a long way from those black-and-white snaps of genteel Leafs fans staying on the sidewalk to let the convertibles ferry George Armstrong, Dave Keon and Frank Mahovlich up Bay St. with the four Cups in the 1960s.

The extra two hours it took the caravan to snake its way to Mayor John Tory, receive the key to the city and a new ‘Raptors Way’ street sign, gave lots of time for 20-somethings Zaqi Ahmed and Harpreet Johal to argue if the Leafs bust their Cup slump, will it be anti-climactic based on what everyone was witnessing.

“The Raptors are just becoming a global team, the Leafs have been one for longer,” contended Ahmed. “When the Leafs win the Cup — and you can count on that in the next couple of years — millions of people will come here. If the city was unprepared for this, they’ve got a whole other thing coming.

“People will come from literally every inch of the planet. Two million is a lot to take in now, but just wait in a couple of years. All this Raptor hype was gained during the playoffs. When the Leafs make their run, expect double or triple this size.”

Don’t hold your breath chimes in Johal.

“This is the peak for Toronto. Everybody is out today and after this, we know what it’s going to be like. Some people might have horrible experiences and might never want to come back (later, during speeches, four people were injured in a shooting away from the main stage). Now, people will just watch at home. I don’t think the Leafs will be bigger than this.

“This is us, this is our Raptor time. We weren’t even here for the Jays. I was negative two when they won. If the Leafs win, it might be the same, but the Raptors are here to stay.”

There are many Leaf fans across Canada, but just as many haters, while the nation’s only NBA team has pulled on the country’s heart strings in recent weeks.

One of the few wearing a Leafs cap in the quest for a shady parade vantage point Monday was Kyle MacLean. Though he was probably wishing the ‘Freddy, Freddy’ call to some to the main podium was for goaltender Andersen, not point guard VanVleet, he was happy to be part of history.

“I’m thrilled as a Toronto sports fan,” insisted the 45-year-old, part of two generations bereft of a Cup winner. “It would be amazing if (Leafs) won, but that would be taking something away from what the Raptors have done today. The Leafs winning would be huge, but I don’t know about it being bigger.

“This is pretty special. It brings a different group of people together in our city that might not be hockey fans or from Canada. It’s a real sense of unity.”

The Raptors, junior partner in the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment empire since their 1998 merger, are certainly on top today.

And while there’s no inter-lodge rivalry by the abundance of congratulatory tweets from the Leafs, Marlies, Argos, TFC — even a Raptor logo on the rival owned Jays’ exterior message board — you can’t stop wondering if the Leafs missed a big moment here.

As Drew said, every team has its ups and downs.

It's harder to compare attendance and TV ratings for baseball, simply because following a team is a MUCH bigger investment of time and money. 81 home games to attend and 162 games to watch is tough - especially in a time where your entertainment options are so huge. Makes it even tougher to watch when your team has no hopes for the playoffs with 30 games left in the season - that's a lot of games to watch with hopelessness.

20k in attendance leaves a lot of empty seats at the Rogers Centre (for example), but that 20k is still a larger attendance than any other Toronto team gets per game... and the Jays can do that 81 times a year. So it's bringing in a lot of people for a season.

This is why I usually leave baseball out of the attendance/TV discussion - because it's much more demanding of fans and is harder to draw a comparison.

I agree with a lot of that but I've never bought into the "other options" argument. If you're a fan, you're going to attend/watch as much as you are able. You know what you prefer and will choose most of the time.

Wrestling promoters used to say you will always have your hardcore fans but to get sellouts you have to offer something to entice that other person to come out that once or twice a year. They are the ones who make the sellouts and they are the ones influenced by other things happening.

And you are definitely right about the perception of empty seats. The Argos outdrew TFC for the first ten years of their existence except one year that was close. I'm going by memory here so I might not have the exact details correct.

Anyway the Argos were in the cavernous Rogers Centre and TFC was saying they were selling out at an 18k BMO. So, the perception became reality of the Argos playing to empty seats, that's a difficult stigma to erase but history and the St Louis Blues shows us that things can change. Anyone recall why they have that big arena in Saskatoon? :)

So is this how it works? Life just goes back to normal after a championship? Some nice memories, a notch in the record books, but now we're supposed to go back to the day-to-day without the anticipation of an upcoming game?

We're not used to how this goes around here. What's it like when you're in Boston and you come to expect hardware at the end of a season every year? Does it get boring after a while?

One of the sports writers said that the absolute rarity of the experience for Toronto makes it all the sweeter. I'm inclined to agree.

Actually, this off-season is proving to be one of the most scintillating in recent memory, what with the big trades and the uncertainty about where Kawhi will end up. If Kawhi stays with the Raptors I think a Raptors-Lakers final next year could be highly likely.

^In pro sports overall it is rare. Boston is the only city that has had that kind of success recently, But the Red Socks went how long between baseball championships?

1918 - 2004?

The New England Patriots played 30 years and another 11 as the Boston Patriots before winning a Super Bowl with some guy named Tom Brady.

The Boston Bruins went 38 years without a Stanley Cup victory and only have one since 1972.

Things ebb and flow, there are some markets that will always be able to attract better free agents and will always be slightly more competitive, but for most cities in the 30+ team leagues, the odds of winning a championship in that league over an average fans lifetime is maybe 1/30 for 3%, 2/60, or 3/90. I'll say even if you add them together it's about 9%. So add that across four leagues and most fans won't see a championship in their lifetime. Enjoy the show Toronto. Bask in the knowledge that you experienced a championship for one of your teams which is rare enough and know that it isn't odd if they never win again in your lifetime, but enjoy the memory and enjoy the game because it is just a game.

Hats off to Toronto for the win and a reasonably sedate and orderly, if traffic-causing celebration.

Yeah, I'm fully prepared to accept that this is probably it for me in my lifetime. Not to sound too macabre about it or anything. I'm not much of a baseball fan, so I sorta got caught up in the excitement of the Jays' playoff runs in 1992 and 93, but it didn't really hit me in the emotional solar plexus like this one has.

I'll probably watch some of the Leafs games if they make the finals, but I think I'd only feel a sense of nostalgia about being a hockey player when I was a kid if they actually won the Cup. I haven't followed hockey since 1980.

This perfectly depicts the bandwagoness of "fans" during this run. Okay they didn't show all the people who would have called out his prank or gave him props for pulling off the look (they showed a few), but the fact that more than two people genuinely believed the King of Toronto right now would be under 6 feet tall and walking among the crowd in full game gear while the parade is going on is embarrassing.

You will notice that everyone has Raps gear on, which is mighty impressive given that they would have blown serious money, even for just a t-shirt, despite having no knowledge of the team.

Yes, it's a SMH moment, but I'm still glad that totally oblivious and even dumb people were all on-board during this run. Made being in the city and at work more fun.


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wtf?

Embarrassing to whom? The city? The fanbase? Don't kid yourself. Every championship professional sports team has a bandwagon.

Pretending otherwise would be pretty silly.

The Raptors have a really, really solid fanbase. There's not many issues with it when the team is struggling. To see it swell so much during a championship run is heartening.

Embarrassing for the people involved for sure. At least, I would have been embarrassed.

Exactly. The people involved.

I expect some sort of naivety for the "new" fans, but to be taken that hard by Fake Kawhi is pretty bad.

He looks more like Wiggins than Kawhi. Also how would you expect him to be by himself in Downtown when the parade was just about to start across town?

Kawhi Leonard Could Get A Free Penthouse If He Stays In Toronto

That's actually a pretty big reason to stay.


source: https://torontostoreys.com/2019/05/k...se-in-toronto/
Leonard will get his pick of penthouse condos at the Four Seasons, St. Regis, Ritz Carlton and Shangri-La Residences. “What better way to show our commitment to Kawhi Leonard than to ensure he can stay at one of the most coveted Hotel Residences in Toronto during his time with the Raptors?” he told Toronto Storeys.

https://torontostoreys.com/wp-conten...-1-770x433.png
https://torontostoreys.com/2019/05/k...se-in-toronto/

My first job out of school was at 407 as in the toll road. I used to look up TO athletes on the system and if they had used the road in their personal vehicle then I had their address. Looked up guys like Vince, mogilny and abunch others I can’t even remember now.

It was interesting to see how some guys had condos/penthouses by the ACC like Vince, some had houses in bridlepath, some were closer to their ethnic groups like mogilny in Thornhill.

I also got mortgage applications in cottage country at bank jobs for Steve downie and Ed belfour.

Both Raonic and Auger-Aliassime are getting Let's Go Raptors chants at Queen's Club in London when they win their matches this week.

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Love the coat lining