Basketball in Canada

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Berklon

It's finally a good time to be a Toronto sports fan with the Raptors, resurging Jays, TFC's decent play and updated stadium and *gasp!* the Leafs stockpiling talented prospects (you know something strange is going on when the Leafs are included in the good news).

That is true and a Grey Cup this year as well.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I think you're living in your own bizarro world/small prairie town (if I recall correctly?) and can't really imagine what it's like to be in a massive, freewheeling sports market of 10 million people.

No, you don't recall correctly. Apparently your memory and the subtle shot that went with it is as good as your basketball knowledge.

[blueandgoldguy]

I'm happy to be wrong regarding my predictions of a Raptors series loss in 4 or 5 games. Despite losing Valuciunas the team battled hard and fought throw some suspect shooting to win the series. Even DeRozan had a few good games towards the end of the series.

The season has to be considered a rousing success at this point regardless of the outcome of the Conference Finals.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by elly63

No, you don't recall correctly. Apparently your memory and the subtle shot that went with it is as good as your basketball knowledge.

Okay, maybe I misinterpreted what you said. Which was something about Bautista stealing the Raptors' thunder, or the media ignoring the Raptors to focus on the sucker punch, the former ridiculous and the latter not happening...or...what was it you actually meant?

You don't seem to grasp things very well. You have strong opinions, but they're often pretty stupid. You're SSP's resident ranting old guy caller on sports radio.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by rousseau

You don't seem to grasp things very well. You have strong opinions, but they're often pretty stupid. You're SSP's resident ranting old guy caller on sports radio.

Three words... pot, kettle, black

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by elly63

The Bizarro world of Toronto sports.

Who would have thought that the MLSE's Raptors would have something in common with the CFL Argos. At the Argos sale news conference, the Mike Babcock announcement was made showing exceedingly bad form on the part of some of their media.

They're at it again, as the greatest moment in Raptor's history has been Wally Pipped by the ridiculous Bautista incident. Unlike most sports cities that support each others franchises Toronto again eats its own.

Should be easy to provide examples of other competing sports franchises working together in other cities.

[Ramako]

Originally Posted by elly63

The Bizarro world of Toronto sports.

Who would have thought that the MLSE's Raptors would have something in common with the CFL Argos. At the Argos sale news conference, the Mike Babcock announcement was made showing exceedingly bad form on the part of some of their media.

They're at it again, as the greatest moment in Raptor's history has been Wally Pipped by the ridiculous Bautista incident. Unlike most sports cities that support each others franchises Toronto again eats its own.

What the hell are you talking about? Since when can you not report on multiple sports events on the same day? Should the media be ignoring the Blue Jays?

This may be shocking to you, but Toronto is large enough to support fanbases for both the Raptors and the Blue Jays.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Should be easy to provide examples of other competing sports franchises working together in other cities.

Pretty well the rest of Canada. This weird dynamic where local fans don't support all of their home teams across the board only seems to exist in Toronto. Teams in the rest of Canada tend to play nicely together even if they are competing for a share of the local sports/entertainment market.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by esquire

Pretty well the rest of Canada. This weird dynamic where local fans don't support all of their home teams across the board only seems to exist in Toronto. Teams in the rest of Canada tend to play nicely together even if they are competing for a share of the local sports/entertainment market.

Get back to us when other Canadian cities have an NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS and CFL team. It's a lot harder to support every team when you have a lot of them. Other than the Argos, all the teams are well supported. So what's the issue?

And if I recall, Montreal lost the Expos... and Vancouver lost the Grizzlies.
And it's not like the Lions or Als are getting great support from their cities, and those cities have less teams to divy up the fans.

This sounds like just another baseless Toronto-bashing post.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by esquire

Pretty well the rest of Canada. This weird dynamic where local fans don't support all of their home teams across the board only seems to exist in Toronto. Teams in the rest of Canada tend to play nicely together even if they are competing for a share of the local sports/entertainment market.

Team support exists across the spectrum here. Its not unusual to see people attend a Jays game, then walk over to a Raptors game and catch the last half of a TFC game. I saw that just 2 weekends ago. You see each teams gear in each team arena/stadium and noone bats an eye. Its hard to follow all 6+ teams in this city so not everyone does it, but it does happen.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Get back to us when other Canadian cities have an NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS and CFL team. It's a lot harder to support every team when you have a lot of them. Other than the Argos, all the teams are well supported. So what's the issue?

And if I recall, Montreal lost the Expos... and Vancouver lost the Grizzlies.
And it's not like the Lions or Als are getting great support from their cities, and those cities have less teams to divy up the fans.

This sounds like just another baseless Toronto-bashing post.

Is pointing out the truth "Toronto-bashing"? You guys have some weird tribal antagonisms between different fanbases... that's a statement of fact.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by esquire

Is pointing out the truth "Toronto-bashing"? You guys have some weird tribal antagonisms between different fanbases... that's a statement of fact.

Im aware of the TFC-Argos antagonism due to potential turf issues, but other than that im unaware of any other antagonism. Oh yes, some Argos fans hate the Jays also due to Rogers' ownership. Thus all the antagonism is associated with one team.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

Team support exists across the spectrum here. Its not unusual to see people attend a Jays game, then walk over to a Raptors game and catch the last half of a TFC game. I saw that just 2 weekends ago. You see each teams gear in each team arena/stadium and noone bats an eye. Its hard to follow all 6+ teams in this city so not everyone does it, but it does happen.

I'm sure most people probably do fall into this category. Obviously not everyone can follow each team religiously, the same way that many people in Winnipeg might only closely follow one or two of the 4 pro teams here. But what I'm saying is that the weird subculture of some fans rooting against home teams in other leagues only seems to exist in Toronto.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by esquire

Is pointing out the truth "Toronto-bashing"? You guys have some weird tribal antagonisms between different fanbases... that's a statement of fact.

As already pointed out - there's an issue between a portion of the Argos and TFC fans. Other than this small portion of 2 fanbases, are there any other "facts" you'd like to point out? Or are you using this very small single example and applying it to all teams/fans in Toronto?

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'm sure most people probably do fall into this category. Obviously not everyone can follow each team religiously, the same way that many people in Winnipeg might only closely follow one or two of the 4 pro teams here. But what I'm saying is that the weird subculture of some fans rooting against home teams in other leagues only seems to exist in Toronto.

No one does that in Toronto. On this forum people only do it to antagonize certain posters re: the CFL. Otherwise if people don't actually support a franchise, they ignore it. Don't confuse the internet for real life and form opinions accordingly. But I do wonder why you even care what Toronto fans do? Aren't you in Winnepeg?

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by esquire

But what I'm saying is that the weird subculture of some fans rooting against home teams in other leagues only seems to exist in Toronto.

That happens in every market. I know someone in Ottawa who's a Ducks fan and hates the Senators. I know a few Bruins fans in Montreal who hate the Habs. It's nothing new and it's not isolated to Toronto. Maybe it's just more noticeable in Toronto because it's the most populated area in Canada?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Berklon

That happens in every market. I know someone in Ottawa who's a Ducks fan and hates the Senators. I know a few Bruins fans in Montreal who hate the Habs. It's nothing new and it's not isolated to Toronto. Maybe it's just more noticeable in Toronto because it's the most populated area in Canada?

It's common among fans within the same league, e.g. Mets fans hating the Yanks, that sort of thing. It's weird when it crosses league lines though.

It would be the weirdest thing ever if, for instance, fans of the Calgary Roughnecks of the NLL started hating on the Hitmen of the WHL or something else like that.

[Acajack]

I do think there is something unique in the GTA where you have certain sports fans who would not normally cheer for any teams other than Toronto clubs but who want to see the Argos (and, consequently, the CFL) fail.

The reason being that the Argos are seen as a barrier to having all of the "big five" major American sports present in Toronto: NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL and MLS.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I do think there is something unique in the GTA where you have certain sports fans who would not normally cheer for any teams other than Toronto clubs but who want to see the Argos (and, consequently, the CFL) fail.

The reason being that the Argos are seen as a barrier to having all of the "big five" major American sports present in Toronto: NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL and MLS.

It's kind of funny, it used to be the NFL fans who ragged on the Argos because they were scapegoated as the reason that Toronto didn't have a NFL team. I think we can all see now that the Argos have nothing to do with that, and if anything the lacklustre support for Toronto's existing football team is probably hindering their pursuit of a NFL franchise which seems farther away now than at any point during the last 20-odd years.

Lately it has been TFC fans upset over having to share their stadium with a football team.

For what it's worth I can sympathize a bit with TFC fans because there's no question they've had to compromise a bit, and there is a certain loss in prestige with no longer being the sole pro tenant in the home venue. But that's a chance they took in playing at a venue that the club didn't own... there was always a possibility that another team (chiefly the Argos) could set up shop in there.

But I digress. Back to the conference finals.

[Berklon]

Just realized that this is a Basketball thread. Oops.

Go Raptors Go!