Before We Close the
Raptors Chapter, One More Thing
It may seem a bit like looking a gift horse in the mouth
analyzing Toronto’s basketball win but here goes.
During the entire spectacle, I was away from our beloved
Guelph, staying with family in Alberta. Unfortunately, I missed the group
experience of watching games downtown in the Royal City. I did, however, sit
among some cowpokes in Alberta as they cheered.
Calgarians who eagerly disrespect Toronto at the drop of
ten-gallon-hat, found themselves whooping it up at local cowboy bars like they were
watching chuckwagon races at the stampede. There was little discussion of pipeline
bids or easterners getting their grubby hands on the Heritage Fund. They wanted
Toronto to win.
They were not the only ones. From coast to coast, Canadian
blood pressure rose and fell every time a ball fell through a hoop.
Digging deeper, Canadians everywhere felt it was not just
Toronto’s win, but their own. “We the
North” banners hugged stadiums and bare-chested men, written in felt marker. I
get it, despite the fact that most of us have not touched a basketball or
watched a game since grade nine. Canadians felt they personally won this game.
One accepts the premise, but it’s an odd thing for folks to believe this is “their
win” when frankly; we had nothing to do with it. We pile on when the news is
good. The sweet scent of victory rubs off on us all.
Some proudly announced that Canadians invented Basketball; it’s
our game! This despite the fact that
only, one Canadian played, St Lucian born and Quebec raised, Chris Bouche. Let’s
face it, we may have started the game, but Americans ran with the ball and made
it what it is today.
Is that not the real win? This little country won against a
giant at their own game. Dare I compare winning over Russia in hockey back in
1972?
The David and Goliath scenario is what really made this
exciting. Perhaps people all over the world were cheering less for the team,
fine as they are, and more for the little country that could. With all of the
imperfections in this maple syrup drinking nation, it is a place that
attempts
to maintain a civil society. It aims to be a globally welcoming place for
everyone and a land where we value dialogue and peace.
This may not have been an overtly political game, but with
due respect to my good American friends, the politics made it sweeter for the
snowshoe crowd. Maybe the timing was good. Shortly before Canada Day or
Dominion Day, whichever you choose to call it, it’s a symbolic reminder that
the small guy can win – at least some of the time.
Happy Canada Day.
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