Here's a picture to start a story...
That's me on the right...A very young me!
To my left are my very good friends Matt and Luis.
We all grew up together in Toronto and in 1995 our lives changed forever...
You see, we were HUGE basketball fans. While the country of Canada is famous for it's obsession with hockey, we loved basketball. Before 1995, we had to cheer for teams outside of our city AND our country.
However the NBA came to Toronto that year and the Raptors were born. The first few seasons the team played in what was then known as the SkyDome - the baseball stadium for the Blue Jays.
Yes, they turned a baseball stadium into a basketball court...
(Seriously...They did....)
But finally the team moved across the street to the Air Canada Centre (Now the Scotiabank Arena)
The three of us used to frequent the games, multiple times a week. They had this really cool 'section' in the arena that was called the 'Sprite Zone' back then were we could get a ticket each to the game for around 10 bucks each...
We loved it.
We were the loudest fans in the section and fell in love with the team for the years to come...
Oh the years to come...
Being a fan of the Toronto Raptors meant for quite sometime, you were the laughing stock of the NBA. The only Canadian team, the players that quit on the city and franchise...The losing seasons.
And boy, was there ever some losing seasons.
Tonight....That changed.
(Source - Toronto Raptors Twitter)
After 24 LONG seasons, my favorite basketball team on planet earth...Won it all!
I get laughed at sometimes for my loyalty to 'my teams'. I'm a Toronto Maple Leafs fan in hockey (that's a story in itself), I'm a Buffalo Bills fan in football (Google what it has happened to that franchise...) but tonight....I did the laughing.
And a whole lot of crying LOL It's amazing what sports can do to you...The emotion. The passion. The heart break. But let this be a lesson to ANY fan of any franchise out there...
Stay the course! Keep cheering! Keep supporting! Because when THIS happens...And you win it all...It makes every single painful heart breaking season worth it.
I know Matt and Luis are celebrating like I am...Even though we have grown up, have families and live thousands of miles a part... It's amazing boys! Absolutely amazing....We won!
Toronto won!
Canada won!
The Raptors are the 2019 NBA champions!
