I know, I know… you’re probably thinking “Nope, there’s no way the Toronto Raptors will ever top the Toronto Maple Leafs in the city.” To a certain degree, you’re right. Toronto is and will always be a Leaf town, everyone knows that.
It is an interesting hypothetical to chew on, however. The Leafs are heading towards a postseason where they’ll have a legitimate shot at a championship, and one can’t help but wonder if any celebration could ever top the absolute catharsis that swept the city when the Raptors had their title run.
The simple argument against this case is that Leaf fans have suffered for generations, long before the Raptors even existed. The Leafs have been mired in mediocrity for decades, while the rest of the Original Six have been frequent presences in the postseason.
Those 54 years of heartbreak would come out in a way that makes 2019 look minuscule, right. Well, some Canadians might believe that that a Stanley Cup carries more weight than the Larry O’Brien trophy, but that 2019 title, the first in the history of the Raptors, has plenty of importance behind it.
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The Toronto Raptors’ title was unifying for Canada
As someone who was on the streets on the night the Raptors won, as well as during the now-infamous parade, I can honestly say it’s hard to imagine anything crazier than that week just in terms of sheer numbers alone. There were literally millions of people filling the downtown area up in a way that was hard to even fathom while it was happening.
But it wasn’t just people from Toronto, it was people from all over. Halifax, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal, Saskatoon, you name it. All across the country, there was a celebration that rivaled the golden goal in 2010 and Joe Carter’s walk-off in ’93.
Are there Leaf fans all across the country who would come in waves the same way? Absolutely, but there was something special about that 2019 title that felt like it was Canada’s as a whole, with Toronto being the epicenter of it all.
That’s national connectivity that could never be reproduced by a Leaf cup title. Toronto delivered something to the whole country, and what the pride of doing meant for the city is hard to quantify.
The second reason is no fault of the Maple Leafs, but it is a fact and it has to be mentioned…COVID.
Part of what made 2019 so special was the lead-up. For weeks everyone in the city was filling up bars and celebrating after wins, culminating in a huge celebration when they had even MADE IT to the finals, let alone winning. That crescendo of emotion won’t be duplicated if the Leafs win it all this year because it just won’t be allowed to, and that’s unfortunate.
Without fans being able to galvanize inside and outside of Scotiabank, or during a hypothetical parade, it obviously won’t come close to the massive celebration that occurred when the Toronto Raptors won their title.
COVID aside though, I think the other reason why a 2021 Leafs title wouldn’t mean as much to the city as 2019, is because it’s so close to 2019.
The Toronto Raptors broke a title drought
The Leafs’ title drought being broken would no doubt be special to many, but when the Raptors won the city’s first championship in 26 years, it felt like it lifted the baggage of all three major teams. For a sports town that had been a punchline for decades, to finally win one felt like a curse had been lifted.
Many young Toronto fans had never witnessed a championship before, and being that first one is what made the Raptors title so special for even casual sports fans. If the Leafs were to win just two years removed from that, the impact on the entire city might not be the same, even considering how long the Leafs have had to wait individually.
Yes, there are more die-hard Leaf fans than Raptor fans in Toronto. That isn’t being disputed here. Fans are very well aware of how desperate the Leafs are for a title, and what chaos would ensue if they won the Stanley Cup this year even with COVID restrictions in place. It’s just hard to imagine anything topping how the city of Toronto felt during the summer of 2019.
But hey, it’s fun to debate, here’s hoping we’ll get to find out for real.