by Declan Riley
Now, finally with the red smoke finally settling, all of Canada is thinking about what is next for the Toronto Raptors?
Canada hasn’t seen a team with a championship in the Big Four leagues in the last 25 years. We’ve had playoff runs, and we’ve had championship losses but we haven’t had a championship win.
What the Raptors did was quite impressive. I mean in the realm of the sporting world, it is less impressive, they were one of the best teams in the league and had one of the best players in the league. What was impressive, was the way that they united a nation.
Right now Canada’s political environment is a little dicey, nothing horrendous, but definitely a little tense. With the federal election on the horizon, and everyone looking at our neighbours to our south, it is important to have topics and events that the majority of our country can come together and support as one.
The Raptors championship brought people together that would never regularly talk. The only other event that I could compare this amount of unity and patriotism to would be watching the Olympics, an event that Canada always shows so strongly at.
With the Raptors parade today, I want everyone to watch and look for how Canadian it is. Watch for diversity, multiculturalism. Watch for the pure joy that a simple Canadian game invented all those years ago, has brought to a nation.
Everyone in the 21st century needs a win from time to time, so why not celebrate the win that the Raptors have just given Canada.