<font face="Comic Sans MS">With a third consecutive losing season in the books, and the Raptors faithful finding themselves on the outside looking yet again as the playoffs heat up, it is far from easy being a Raptors fan these days. Hammered down by back-stabbing management moves, a cap space and finance as flexible as a British nonn and 24/7 eye watch from the local media, whose ultimate pleasure is for this team to burn down in flames or rip each other's head off, the Raptors are at the lowest point of their 10-Year of existence, and proportionally, so are their fans. The team has not been encouraging the last few years, and the fans have grown in frustration from all the drama, the seemingly endless losing trend which included a humiliating defeat to the lowly Atlanta Hawks--who had lost 23 of their 24 games at that span, and their only win came at the Air Canada Centre in front of 18,000 shocked fans--at the end of this season and a GM who kicked off his mission of turning this team into a contender by trading the team's greatest player ever and its corner stone and all he got in return: 2 draft picks, and 3 useless players, one of whom didn't even bother to show up. In addition, he drafted what could argubly go down as the worst top 8 pick centres of all time. Sure, all these transactions have contributed in one way or another to all the criticism and heat the Purple 'n Red received, but if you followed this team long enough and know what's going on, the constant mocking from other teams' fans and complete negligence from the most of the American media was not as painful as the daily shots taken from the local media circles. Since September of 1993 when David Stern and John Bitove announced that the NBA is coming back to Toronto as the Raptors, and those Puck Rats have taken it upon themselves to downplay the Raptors and darken their image as if they were intimidated by an expansion team, as they felt the presence of the Raptors would take away a much needed attention and fan base from their beloved Leafs. Despite the fact that the Maple Leafs have not won a championship themselves since the dark ages, about every local Raptor critique uses the Leafs/Raptors comparison when trying to describe how pathetic and sad the Raptors and their fans are. Two of Toronto's biggest ignorant, hateful, I-don't-know-shlt-about-basketball sportswriters are Dave Feschuk and Mike Ulmer. While the first needs an entire Newspaper section to vent out some of his hate and constant criticism towards Canada's only Basketball franchise, I have not read many of Ulmer's articles to form a legitimate opinion of his intentions, however, a January 8th article that was published two years ago of Ulmer's gave me all the information and the background I needed to know about the guy and the integrity and pride it takes to be a sportswriter these days. Here's an excerpt from the article: <font color="DarkRed"><div align="center"><font size="2">" ...Owning both the Raptors and Maple Leafs is like pouring a glass of Pepto Bismol. The Raptors go down easy. The Leafs ease your pain. Is it just me, or is the Leafs/Raptors union the most one-sided marriage since Jennifer Lopez oh-so-briefly hitched up with Chris the bald dancer? It's Biblical, really. Your Raptors are your prodigal, wandering, wayward schmucks whom Daddy really loves best. Your Maple Leafs, don't you know, are low maintenance and high return. The backbiting and bitching and skewered values that pervade some NBA locker rooms makes Question Period seem like Reach for The Top. Just for a moment, extrapolate the latest Raptors mini-drama to the Leafs. The Leafs offer a three-year-deal to the hockey version of Hakeem Olajuwon, a once-dominant player worn down by the years. Imagine Bob Probert, Kevin Stevens or Rick Tocchet. Bob, Kevin or Rick flops in his first season. But while he was ready for the junkyard two years before, he can now retire for medical reasons with a back gone suddenly bad, a reputation, magically, left intact and $7 million more dollars. I'm beginning to think that when the Grizzlies moved, Vancouver got off easy. Maybe the Raptors can move to Mexico or Puerto Rico or some other foreign land. How about Buffalo? Leave Jerome Williams, Antonio Davis and Alvin Williams. These are men. But pack up the rest of your pouty-gloomy, 3-for-16 shooting, Moby-prancing, sideline-dancing, back-sliding, infighting, T-Mac-in, Clark pot-packin-goomers and get them the hell out. Everybody here is sick of them".</font></div></font> You could easily tell from Day 1 how basketball was a target of the media in this town, but never to the extent that Ulmer reached in his article. Referring to the Raptors-Leafs as the Illness-Medicine, comparing the career of Hall Of Famer Hakeem Olajuwan to the likes of Probert, Stevens and Tocchet who happen to be nothing more than journeymen and will never dream of being considered in the same company in the NHL as Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwan is known around NBA cricles. Furthermore, Ulmer takes his disdain of the Raptors to another level when he suggests the Raptors should relocate to some other city. I don't know what's the reason behind all the hate and negativity this team receives from the media, but it doesn't seem like it's going to stop any time soon. You could turn on all the Sports talk shows in this town that are being hosted by a non-basketball broadcaster, and you will not hear one positive thing about the team. Little things like these lead the die-hard fan to believe there is a conspiracy against the Raptors that many hope will result in orgnization following the footsteps of the Grizzlies. ...</font>
Nice writeup. I agree, I hate the Canadian sports shows/media here. TSN especially just pisses me off. Those guys are the biggest puckheads I have EVER seen. I mean they devoted the ENTIRE DAY to the NHL lockout when the season was cancelled. It truly is sad.
Yeah. Sportsnet and TSN are all bitches, they are all constantly talking about the NHL Lockout situation when the damn friggin Basketball season is on. Even on half-time shows of a basketball game, they start talking about gay NHl stuff. I love the Toronto Raptors but I wouldn't be suprised if they become Vancouver all over again.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting the_rap:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah. Sportsnet and TSN are all bitches, they are all constantly talking about the NHL Lockout situation when the damn friggin Basketball season is on. Even on half-time shows of a basketball game, they start talking about gay NHl stuff. I love the Toronto Raptors but I wouldn't be suprised if they become Vancouver all over again. BTW-Purple Fever, do you happen to be Dre' from Realgm forums cuz I saw the exact same post, just curious.</div> Yea I remember how they had way more coverage EVERYday during the NHL lockout while basketball was on. I think that the MLSE makes too much money to want to get rid of them. They rather that they stink so the Leafs look good by comparison, but they don't want to lose them or else the Leafs failures will be talked about. Also, there are a lot of Raptor fans in Toronto that highly support our Raps. I wish they hired a basketball nut at TSN or RSN so the Raps could receive some positive media, opposed to very little and lots of negative. Or if they hired a Basketball nut at MLSE in the higher levels then they might actually do well. Richard Peddie shouldn't have any invovement with the Raptors. I love watching the Raptors, because we have some passionate players who want to win and I believe Mitchell is a hard-working guy whose only motive is to win as well. I can't wait for this years draft! Nice article Purple Fever!
nice write up. i totally agree with the way that toronto sports fans use the raptors as well as the blue jays to vent on all thier problems. i truly hate all those people because when the leafs start becoming like crap they will all turn to basketball and not understand. I dont see it happening anytime soon but it will happen
Really nice post. I've had the same feeling ever since the Raps franchise got started and its comforting to see there are others who see the blatant biased that goes on in this city. Leafs haven't won the cup in 30+ years, yet the criticism they get is absolutely nothing compared to the raptors. And the coverage of the raptors by Sportsnet, TSN (ESPECIALLY TSN) is horrendous and embarrassing. Its? amazing with so much local and international media hate against the Raptors, that we have been able to survive this long. But a huge positive about this city is that people love ball and you can see that with the fans who continue to pack the ACC in support of the Raps even with loosing seasons. I really believe with some consistent winning seasons TO will be one of the great hotbead cities for the NBA that would rival LA, SAC and Dallas in terms of fan support and passion for the game.
Nice write up Purple Fever. I cannot say it shocks me, but it is a shame this bias exists against the Raptors. There was a debate on JBB why NBA players shun playing Canada, and that the solution would be for the Canadian media, fans, and the franchise to educate players about the benefits of Canada and the city of Toronto. After reading this, how much do you think this plays into NBA players not wanting to play in Canada? I'm sure the current disgruntled players talk about it all the time with other players in the league. Most players in the league have enormous egos, and reading and hearting negative comments on a daily basis is something they all want to avoid. I think it's great to see the fans on JBB resent these comments and support their team. Often times the media hacks focus their articles on negativity and contronversial view points to sell papers. This might be the case here, but it's also obvious this writer is a puck head, and doesn't realize there are plenty of pre-madonnas in the NHL.
