Damn you, Toronto Raptors!!!
The Thirsty Beagle grew up a huge fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Blue Jays. I still keenly remember my mother kicking me out of the house because of how angry I was when the Leafs lost a shot to play in the Stanley Cup finals when they were beat out by Wayne Gretzky and the L.A. Kings in the 93 conference finals. (Full disclosure: Like all Canadians, I love Wayne Gretzky. It’s a requirement to live in Canada, actually. So it still kind of stings to think about Wayne Gretzky potting the winning goal in game 6 of that series after cutting Doug Gilmour’s forehead with an inadvertent high stick. Anyone else, that’s four minutes in the box and the Leafs are probably on to the Cup finals. But what ref is going to make that call on Wayne Freaking Gretzky? And no, I’m not still holding on to this too tightly, all right?!) On the flip side, I clearly remember running through the streets of Toronto high-fiving complete strangers after the Jays won the World Series in 92. Then, in 1995, along came a new diversion on the Toronto sporting landscape: The Raptors. In those first few lean years — and I mean lean in terms of amount of wins — I started to gravitate to the Raptors. The early Raps were a scrappy, hardworking bunch that no one expected to win. So it wasn’t really that hard to take when they didn’t. Then came the Vince Carter draft and his breakout rookie season. The Raps were on the map. They made the playoffs, then the next year won a playoff series. Things were looking up. And I was hooked. When I moved down to these parts for school, there wasn’t a whole lot of coverage to be had on the NHL. So following the Raptors more closely became a pretty easy solution to fill my Toronto sports fix. Fast forward to 2006-07 season. The Thirsty Beagle has DirecTV and decides to pony up $180 and sign up for NBA League Pass. The Raps come out of nowhere to finish 12 games above .500 and win the Atlantic Division. They lose in the first round of the playoffs but seem to establish themselves as a sure playoff team. So The Thirsty Beagle re-ups on the NBA League Pass. What happens? Of course the next season the Raps falter, finish the season at 41-41 and get clobbered in the first round by Dwight Howard and the Magic. Immediately I decide I’m done with League Pass. I’m solid on this decision. I can find a million things to do with $180. Besides, I don’t need the aggravation of paying to watch a Raptors team that will consistently get manhandled in the post every year. Then at the 2008 draft, the Raps swing a trade to land Jermaine O’Neal. Yes, he was old and oft-injured and likely just a shell of his former all-star self. But he was just what the Raptors needed: A big guy to clog the lane, block shots and defend the other team’s post. That’s all he had to do. I’m intrigued, and decide to pony up the $180 again to get the League Pass. Big mistake. O’Neal is hurt, the team struggles mightily and they finish way off the pace in the playoff race. I started a tradition of watching only the first half of games. Once the Raps were down by 20 at the break, I didn’t see much point torturing myself with the second half. Before the season finished, O’Neal was traded. After the season, star forward Chris Bosh announced he’ll let his contract expire instead of signing an extension to stay in Toronto and The Thirsty Beagle is 100 percent sure he will not renew the League Pass. Then Friday happened. In a relatively stunning move, the Raps lure unrestricted free agent Hedo Turkoglu away from an apparently agreed-upon deal with the Trail Blazers and agree to a five-year pact with the former Orlando star. I read about a starting five of Calderon, Hedo, Bosh, Bargnani and potentially rookie guard Demar DeRozan at the two, and I’m intrigued. That actually sounds like a pretty damn good lineup. Maybe the Raptors will be back in the playoffs next year. Maybe they can contend for the Atlantic. Maybe I’ll have to pony up the $180 for League Pass again. Damn you, Raptors! You’ve lured me back in again.
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