Around T.O. of late, much has been made about the lack of success we’ve had as a sports city. Outside of the Toronto Argonauts winning the Grey Cup in 1996, 1997 and 2004, and of course the Toronto Rock (lacrosse) title run that exhilarated dozens and dozens of Torontonians, the only Championship teams we’ve been able to celebrate were the 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays. Before that, the 1991 and 1983 Toronto Argos and before that was the infamous 1967 Maple Leafs. However, these old numbers don’t really mean much in today’s terms; it’s not like the Jays were suffering through (another) decade of mediocrity in the 1960’s, and they weren’t expected to compete for the 1970’s or much of the 80’s. As for the Argos, quite frankly, back when there were 2 or 3 sports in this city the Argos meant much more (as an Argos fan it’s tough to admit). The Raptors didn’t even exist until 1995 so it’s hardly their fault. No, the years since 1994 have been much, much worse than any previous lean years here.

In the Summer of 1994, things had never looked better for Toronto Sports as a whole. The Maple Leafs finished their season 2nd in the Western Conference and in their division to the Detroit Red Wings. In the playoffs they made it to the Western Conference Finals, losing to the upstart Canucks in 5 games. However that was the 2nd consecutive conference final for the club and the team seemed to be going somewhere for the first time since the late 1970’s. Coming off back to back World Series Titles, the Blue Jays started off the 94 season .500 (a bit of a World Series hangover) before falling into a slump in June, going from .500 at the start of the month to 12 games under by the end of it. However in July they turned it around and began really heating up. They finished July only 5 games under .500, which is where they sat on August 11th (an important date). And just before the summer, on May 15th of 1994 the new basketball team in the city of Toronto was given its name; the Toronto Raptors. On May 24th, the team colours and our first General Manager (Isiah Thomas, you may have heard of him) were announced. Even in Argo-land things were on the upswing. The ownership group of Wayne Gretzky, Bruce McNall and John Candy had run into serious problems that offseason when John Candy died of a heart attack and McNall went bankrupt (generally two very bad signs for a sports team). Fortunately a new buyer stepped up right away and there wasn’t much of a hiccup for the franchise. The CFL as a league was doing better than ever, too; expanding to Las Vegas, Shreveport, and Baltimore. And around the country, the Canucks had just lost in the cup final while the year before the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. Yes, by August 11th things were looking pretty good in Toronto and across the country.

Then August 11th happened. On August 11th, 1994, the Blue Jays were 3rd in the division, pretty well back of the Yankees but seemingly coming together. The Expos were the best team in Baseball, dominant enough that people across Canada began dreaming of a World Series pitting the Blue Jays against the Expos. That is, until August 11th. That day, an entire generation of sports fans (mine) lost our innocence. Baseball owners, unable to come to terms with players for a collective bargaining agreement locked the players out. The World Series was cancelled. The Blue Jays haven’t been within 5 games of the playoffs since, after winning 5 divisional titles from 1985 to 1993. Of course, we all know what happened to the Expos within 8 years of that. Similarly, things didn’t exactly start exquisitely for the Raptors. Outside of the victory over the 72-win Bulls (the first basketball game I ever attended), the Raptors never really made any noise for a few years, and weren’t able to make the playoffs for the first time until 1999. And in the Raptors’ 15 years of existence, they have only made it out of the first round of the playoffs one single time. The Maple Leafs fell off badly in 1994/1995. They imploded, finishing 5th in their division, barely made the playoffs and were eliminated in the first round by the Chicago Blackhawks. So much for building something. The Argos were uncompetitive for a few years until they built 2 of the greatest teams ever in 1996 and 1997. However, outside those 2 years, the Argo’s haven’t really been truly competitive. Even their Grey Cup in 2005 was somewhat fluky, requiring upsets over heavily favoured Montreal and BC. More miraculous run than league domination. Montreal of course, got its Allouettes back when the CFL team from Baltimore relocated there after the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore, becoming the Ravens. Baltimore was the lone success story from the CFL’s American Expansion on and off the field. They attracted decent crowds and even won the Grey Cup once and losing in it one other time before the move. Shreveport and Las Vegas were unmitigated disasters. Read up on them, their stories are kinda interesting. That is if you’re the sort who’s into CFL history… Hello? Anyone? I know you’re out there, I can hear you breathing. Seriously though, this is some of the worst decision-making in the history of professional sports, and that’s saying something.

Yes, by 1995 a funk had set in in Toronto, and across Canada. Since that year, 3 Canadian teams have lost Stanley Cup Finals with zero Cup wins, 11 CFL teams have either folded or declared Bankruptcy (I’m counting Ottawa twice here. An astonishing number nonetheless). As the CFL contracted, the NHL moved clubs from Winnipeg and Quebec City, the Expos were ripped out of Montreal and placed in Washington. The Grizzlies failed in Vancouver (and by failed, I mean were basically sabotaged. No chance for success) and moved to Memphis, where good basketball now comes to die. The Raptors and their fans have dealt with playing in a baseball stadium, the rise and fall of Tracy McGrady, the rise and fall of Vince Carter, the Kevin O’Neill year, Vince’s mom, Rob Babcock, and Rafael Arauajo. We’ve had one playoff series victory, in a 5 game series. Yes, it’s been a long cold winter up here since 1994.

So, it’s almost 2010. Where are we? The Blue Jays continue to twist the knife into the hearts of their fans. With the Jays’ only true superstar, Roy Halladay, poised to enter his last season as a Jay. The Maple Leafs are winless over 3 weeks into the season, have 2 hurt goalies, and seem to be going nowhere fast. The rest of the Canadian NHL teams seem OK, but none are cup contenders. The Argos have won 3 home games in 2 seasons. Toronto FC had to beat the worst team in the league on the second last day of the season to make the playoffs, and as I type this are down 5-0 (Note: NY Red Bulls needed 4 goals this game to avoid the record for fewest goals in an MLS season, and putting a seal on their status as Worst MLSE Team Ever. I don’t even want to think about this anymore). Even the fucking Toronto Rock have fallen onto hard times. The only team in this city that truly seems like it’s trying to build something is the Raptors.

Things have changed a lot in Toronto since 1994. Baseball and hockey have somewhat stagnated as far as fan growth is concerned, while basketball and soccer are exploding around the multicultural GTA. The somewhat knowledgeable and extremely vocal fanbase is not sitting passively waiting for a good team either, we’re demanding one. The pressure on the Raptors a few years ago pushed Babcock out the door, and after a brief and fairly successful interim GM (Wayne Embry), the then-reigning Executive of the Year Bryan Colangelo was hired. Colangelo is in his 4th year now. He’s made the playoffs twice and missed once. This is his year to make or break this club, thus his total remodelling of the franchise in the offseason. Colangelo brought in pieces to try and compete today. Not building for 3-4 years down the road. He didn’t tell us we can’t compete in a division with the high-spending Celtics and Knicks. He didn’t blame the salary cap for limiting the quality and amount of players we’re able to bring in. He didn’t blame poor coaching for 2 years of poor showings (well… maybe kinda). He gave us hope. This is all even we hardened sports fans asked for. But now he has to capitalize on this hope, lest the growth of basketball start to stagnate like hockey and baseball.

Toronto as a sports market is interesting. The fans are incredibly passionate, yet for sports other than the Leafs we have a tendency to ignore clubs in their down times. That’s the kind of dangerous game that they play in Seattle that cost them the Sonics and nearly caused the Mariners to go bankrupt. However, it is good for the team because all they need to do is become competitive and they are guaranteed sell outs. It forces the clubs to try and do well. And fortunately for them, thanks to the previous 14 years of sports failure lowering our expectations, we fans have a low definition for success. We aren’t talking about the 1990’s Atlanta Braves here after all. Even a .500 club can ignite this town, and hoops fans across the country.

Bill Simmons has a theory that the collective karma of one sports city can be changed by one team. His example was the 2002 Patriots’ improbable Super Bowl win. The city of Boston’s karma change allowed the Red Sox to turn into a mini-dynasty (that seems to be on its last legs, thank god), the Patriots to turn into a full-fledged dynasty and even contributed to the rejuvenation of the Celtics and Bruins. While I don’t buy his theory that new karma allowed these teams to win, I do agree in that I think teams can feed off other clubs in the same city in two ways. First, increased fan expectations and the pressure of staying relevant within your market force the organization to get competitive fast – imagine what the Celtics’ front office was thinking when all of the sudden they were the 3rd team in Boston? Second, there is a spin-off of confidence. I’m a big believer that confidence is the biggest and most important intangible in sports. When players expect to win, they play better. When players expect to lose they will. Just like all people, when you expect failure, failure has a way of finding you. Plus, just as fans get swept up in excitement when a local team does well, so do all other sports fans within the same city (How can you not? Following a winning team is… well to be honest I’ve forgotten what it’s like. That may be the saddest thing in this whole story. But I remember enough to know that it’s glorious). Professional athletes are people too. And we know they’re sports people. Besides, after everything is said and done, everyone likes a winner.

Right now, in Toronto, we have no winners. As someone who is almost equally obsessed with our 5 major teams (for any Yanks reading this that’s the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, Argos, and Toronto FC), it pains me to say this; but we aren’t winners. We have a collective loser’s mentality. We expect to lose, we fear the inevitable losses coming around the bend just out of sight, we expect our big stars to cut town and run, we assume that people don’t want to play here for stupid fucking reasons. We’re a bunch of whiny losers. But all that we need to change our loser’s mentality is just one single fucking winner. Just one. The only team that even has a hope in hell of doing that in this city is the Raptors. The Raptors have the talent, they have the General Manager, they have the coach, they have the fans. They even have the opportunity (the wide openness of the Eastern Conference playoff picture). If the Raptors can win but a single round in the post season, it could alter the destinies of untold amounts of franchises around it. We need it as a city. As a country.

Since 2004, only 1 Toronto team has won a round in the playoffs. And they won one single, solitary playoff round. That’s right, one. And it was the Argos over Winnipeg in 2005 (which barely counts since it was the first round of CFL playoffs. Considering 6 teams make the post season in a 9 team league, that’s not too impressive). It’s 2009. We NEED this Raptors season to be a success. We NEED them to not only make the playoffs, but look like they aren’t just going to roll over and die once they get there. And more than that, we NEED to continue to build on the air of hope and optimism that the Raptors have right now. Because it won’t last forever, nothing ever does. The Blue Jays are finding out what long runs of mediocrity can do to a once vibrant and passionate fan base. I don’t ever want to see the Raptors honeymoon ending. I hope the Raptors players and more importantly Colangelo and Jay Triano understand the significance of this season; by 2010/2011 they could be faced with a re-armed Leafs team, the continued growth of TFC, and the possibility of a Raptors team searching for a new GM, a new franchise player, and a new identity. Rebuilding again. Right now, it’s all in the Raptors’ hands. All they have to do is win. Just win baby. Just win. Win and Bosh stays (probably). Win and Colangelo and Triano stay. Win and the Raptors’ place in the fickle Toronto market is secure, no matter what the other Toronto teams do. Win and continue to grow both the game of basketball and the Raptors brand across the country, and even around the world. Win because the Raptors really don’t have any other options. It’s either continue building for a future title run, or blow it all up and start over at square one, again. And stab us Toronto fans in the back again. The only good thing I can think of in that scenario is once you’ve already been stabbed 40 times, what’s the 41st one going to do? After all, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Eh tu brutus?