12 years of Raptors Fandom – An Outlook

 

How do you put into words what it’s been like as a Raptors fan for the past 12 seasons? Cheering for a team can mean a lot of different things and lead to a lot of different emotions. It can be enjoyable, or it can be troubling. It can be uplifting, or it can be demoralizing. It can be inspiring, or it can leave you sitting in self-pity. It can be magical, or it can be down right aggravating and frustrating.

 

So which one of these sums up what it’s been like to be a Raptors fan? Well, probably all of them. After all, it’s the mixture of feelings and emotions that makes it worthwhile. We connect with the players because the sport they play emulates the life we live, and in turn we experience many of the same emotions they do. But the word that sums it up the best for me is simple: fun. It has been fun.

 

There’s no doubt in my mind that following sports, and the Raptors in particular has been a positive experience in my life.

 

To the outside world it may seem as if rooting for a team with a 41% lifetime winning percentage and one appearance in the 2^nd round of the playoffs once in 12 seasons may be a difficult thing. To most fans of any game, of any team, the thought that it’s fun probably isn’t nearly as difficult to comprehend.

 

It’s a little like adding an extra friend into your life. Or in the case of basketball, maybe it’s 15 friends. Maybe those extra friends get into some trouble, ask for money that they don’t repay, and misguide you when you put your faith and trust in them. But hey, if the connection is real and for the most part the friendship is a two-way street, who couldn’t use a few more friends? The connection we share with our sports teams can be very, very real.

 

That being said, not every experience in sports is a good one. If ownership doesn’t care, and management doesn’t care, and the players don’t care… well that’s a pretty one-sided friendship. It sucks a lot of the fun and the realm of experience out of it. That’s why I love the Toronto Raptors. For 12 years, they’ve lost and they’ve lost, with a couple of wins sprinkled in there, but they’ve kept on trying. On the whole, despite a few small exceptions, they’ve been battling towards being a winning franchise. Towards being a great franchise. Not once over the years have I gotten the impression that ownership did not want to win, something which troublingly enough, is actually saying something in this day and age. Just ask a good old Leaf fan about that one. And sure, they probably care because they feel they have to, because they feel if they stop caring we’ll stop showing up. But hey, I’ll let that one slide and pretend I never noticed.

 

It may seem tough to call Vince Carter, the face of the franchise, a “small” exception. But that’s what he was. In the end, there were still 14 guys on those teams busting their tails. Or so I believe. And hey, no matter how good a friendship is, no matter how much there is invested in it, there’s always going to be a blemish. Carter was that blemish, but still we move on.

 

So what does this all mean? It sounds corny and it’s not very damn informative, but I digress. The point of the matter is, that it’s a great privilege to see these players night in and night out. So whether it’s Damon Stoudamire, Doug Christie, Alvin Williams, Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, Charles Oakley, Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams, Vince Carter, Morris Peterson, Rafer Alston, Chris Bosh, or Andrea Bargnani, I will support this franchise. And whether it’s Butch Carter, Kevin O’Neill, Lenny Wilkins,  or Sam Mitchell, I will support this franchise. And whether it’s Isiah Thomas, Rob Babcock, or Cryan Colangelo, I will support this franchise. And whether it’s Swirsky and Armstrong or…. Swirsky and Rautins, I will support this god damned franchise. Because at the end of the day, 99% of the people involved in this organization over the years have done their best, and you’ve got to take the downs with the ups. Thank God right now is an up.

 

All the sentimental crap and repetitiveness for literary’s sake aside, what it comes down to is this: Despite all the losing, the bottom line is that as far back as I can remember, we’ve always had a likeable team. Did we always have the absolute best chemistry in the NBA? Of course not. But for the most part, and even moreso since the trade of Vince Carter, this team has had good character guys who you want to root for. When the lights start flashing, the music starts pumping, and the players are being introduced before a game at the ACC, it always gave me a special feeling because the players seemed excited. Whether they were 30-21, 2-8, or 24-52, they always bumped chests and jumped around like it was the first game of the year. That, my friends, is one of the most refreshing sights in the world.

 

And considering the chemistry of this team probably surpasses every single one we’ve had in the past? Well, I’m pretty freaking excited about this upcoming season.

 

Season preview and player breakdowns coming later this afternoon…