What an NBA championship means to Toronto Raptors fans

Toronto Raptors fans have suffered so much over the franchise’s 24-year history. That’s why a championship means so much to the fans and to the future of basketball in Canada.

Have you ever been part of a small group – a school club, or a quaint little bar where you hang out with a few friends – that eventually grew huge? Suddenly, your intimate space was filled with people, or everyone was talking about what used to be your secret hangout spot. That’s what the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors season was for this writer and long-time Raptors fan.

By June, everyone’s talking about it. The hygienist sees your Kyle Lowry shirt and asks if you think they’ll win tonight. You’re talking to your customers about what went wrong last game. The sushi restaurant is closing early tonight because the owners don’t want to miss tip-off. You see Raptors flags on cars, bumper stickers that say “We The North,” kids wearing jerseys at the mall and crossing the streets.

The Raptors mean more to the city of Toronto, to Ontario, and to all of Canada, than ever before. Not every basketball fan in Canada cheers for the Raptors, but there’s undoubtedly a large contingent of Raptor faithful in every area.

You hear the ones from British Columbia when they play in Portland, the ones from Alberta and Saskatchewan when they play in Denver and Utah. Raptors fans travel well, perhaps better than any NBA fanbase in league history. Look no further than the fans singing ‘O Canada’ in Oakland after Toronto’s Game 4 Finals win.

There’s no need for gatekeeping in fandom. New fans should be welcome. It’s a bandwagon, sure, but that comes with the territory of becoming a great team. This season, the Raptors became a championship contender for the first time in their 24-year history. Many people didn’t realize how great this team was until late May, but when they caught on, the excitement grew exponentially.

There’s value, however, in being a long-time fan. There’s value in having been one of the only kids on the playground who liked basketball better than hockey, essentially a sacrilegious choice in Canada. Basketball has always played second fiddle to hockey, the sport that’s been associated with Canada seemingly forever.

There’s value in having followed the Raptors when a single regular-season win over the Chicago Bulls was the highlight of their first four seasons, when they were the ones on the wrong side of star players’ trade demands, when a 13-game stretch from Andrea Bargnani was a reason for hope and fans fretted over a triple-double by Ben Uzoh costing them draft positioning.

Raptors fans didn’t just have to deal with the basketball-hockey dynamic in Canada and the inevitable inferiority complex that came with it. They also developed an inferiority complex from being the only Canadian team in an American league, once the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis in 2001.

The calls were always against them because the NBA would never want its lone Canadian team to succeed, of course. They would never get the number of national TV games they deserved. And a Christmas Day game? Don’t expect one of those, even if the Raptors are one of the top tier teams in the league.

Raptors fans have been quite paranoid over the years, from officiating conspiracies to everything else that’s created this “us against the world” or, perhaps more appropriately, “Toronto vs. everybody” mentality.

But can you really blame Raptors fans for being paranoid, after Vancouver drafted Steve Francis but he refused to play there? After Alonzo Mourning never reported to Toronto when he was acquired in the Vince Carter trade. After every star to ever play for the Raptors decided to go south of the border in search of success. After Murphy’s law – “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” – seemed to entirely define the franchise’s first 18 years, and to a lesser extent, its last five.

After what happened Thursday night, the inferiority complex is no more. It was shattered, as everything went right, Steph Curry’s potential game-winning shot bounced off the rim, and the Raptors won their first-ever NBA championship. Their fans can celebrate forever, knowing that they got this one. Everything from here going forward is gravy.

This six-year run of Raptors basketball has helped to change the perception of the sport in the Greater Toronto Area and around Canada. This single, magical year of Raptors basketball may turn everything upside down.

The 2019 championship means the world to all Raptors fans. For those who’ve experienced the difficulties and heartbreak of rooting for the Raptors over the past two decades, it feels even sweeter.

The impact of these Raptors on Canadian basketball will become tangible in the coming years. For Raptors fans, this team will live on forever.