As LeBron said, it was sad yet amazing to be at the ACC Friday night listening to twenty thousand fans chant, “Let’s Go Raptors” even as the clock wound down and we had no hope of a comeback. The team and the organization deserved the support.
What an amazing ride twenty games of playoff basketball turned out to be. So, I have twenty things to thank the Raptors for:
1. Thank you MLSE for making me buy Raptors season tickets when I received the opportunity to buy Leafs season tickets several years ago. At the time it felt like price gouging. Now it feels like a bargain.
2. Thank you for not trading Kyle Lowry.
3. Thank you for not firing Dwane Casey.
4. Thank you for creating the best park in Canada, Parc Jurassique.
5. Thank you for the best marketing slogan in sports. I love the mofo North!
6. Thank you for honouring the Canadian inventor of the game with the hottest NBA All-Star weekend ever, despite the bone-chilling cold.
7. Thank you for making Stephen A. Smith apologize to all of Canada.
8. Thank you for fielding a Canadian, Cory Joseph. Life came full-circle for me as I witnessed the magic of his father, David Joseph, who played one stunning season for the University of Guelph when I covered the team for the campus paper.
9. Thank you for making Bismack Biyombo rich. His next team will surely pay a lot more for the free agent after what he did in the playoffs.
10. Thank you Bis for what you did when Jonas went down.
11. Thank you Jonas Valanciunas for showing us what the future holds as your talents mature.
12. Thank you for making me a hero with my son who got to see the Game 7 victory of the Indiana series.
13. Thank you for making rounds I & II more dramatic than they needed to be.
14. The Canadian Water Cooler Association would like to thank you for keeping them relevant when all of our NHL teams could not.
15. Thank you for the free t-shirts. My car will never look cleaner this summer.
16. Thank you for the kick-ass playoff marketing campaign.
17. Thank you for the countless Drake sightings.
18. Thank you for filling the gap when TFC was away, the Argos were in trading, the Leafs are in rebuilding, and the Jays have been taking it on the chin, literally.
19. Thank you for the economic stimulus for the city.
20. Thank you for TWENTY GAMES of PLAYOFF BASKETBALL.