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We are in the midst, or at the end, of the National Basketball Association’s championship tournament. The Golden State Warriors are the first team to advance to five straight NBA finals since the
If disco won’t motivate more Ricochetti to chip in, maybe my hot takes on politics and sports will drive participation in this month’s theme series: Hot Stuff!” We have a lot of open days as the summer season starts. Please stop by and sign up to share your own angle on the topic, however loosely construed.
Given the general woke bent of the NBA, I’m sure if Toronto wins, someone within the organization or at the league’s headquarters in New York will make a point about how happy they are that the Raptors are going to visit Prime Minister Trudeau following their victory, instead of the awful, awful man down in Washington.
As long as he doesn’t tweet #WetheNorth. Don’t they get geography?
I think he should tweet about imposing basketball tarriffs on Canadians for stealing American NBA jobs. Who let those maple drinkers into our basketball league. If ever there was a sign of American decline it is that the Canadian team could win the NBA championship. Canada! What next they win the World Series too?
San Francisco vs. Canada. What’s that got to do with ‘Merica?
Blue Jays back to back, ’92-’93. That was pre-NAFTA, so it was OK.
Once upon a time I watched, NBA players are great athletes. I sensed the game transitioned to one controlled by the officiating, mainly related to the physical contact but also things like traveling, and haven’t watched for years. Am I wrong?
NBA officials have never called traveling. I’ve heard that complaint since the 70’s. Every sport has its’ share of bad officiating. The game is much less physical today thanks to the reliance on the 3 point shot than it was even 10 years ago.
We still dominate the NHL. Even cities without iced up lakes like Los Angeles win the Stanley Cup.
Last time a team based in Canada won the Cup was ’93. Pretty remarkable, although a substantial number of Canadian players obviously have won it.
As a real-world thing, I like this idea.
In my own little world, however, it drives me a little crazy. I don’t get the Canada/USA “rivalry” in pro sports.
I didn’t get it when they’d talk about it with the Blue Jays when they won a couple World Series’ in the early 90s with a bunch of US and Latin American players.
And I haven’t figured out why it’s a big thing for Canada if the Raptors win the title. Literally (not Joe Biden literally–by the real, honest, actual definition of the word literally) none of the players on the team are from Canada. Nick Nurse, the coach, is not from Canada. Masai Ujiri, the general manager, is not from Canada. I can understand a White House invitation for the National (the nation being referenced is not Canada) Basketball Association champions. I think it’d be silly for Justin Trudeau to celebrate a bunch of non-Canadians who play their home games in Toronto.
But that’s probably just me.
I disagree. It seems everyone is taller and very muscular. It is like that in all sports compared with 20 years ago.
But if you takes this to it’s logical extreme, why is it a big deal to any city/locale? I’ll be very happy if/when the Bruins win the Stanley Cup Wednesday night but they have three players on the whole roster from New England. It’s the nature of fandom in pro sports to attach oneself to the local team–and, in the Raptors case, for a country to do so.
Bigger and stronger but the rules don’t allow for the type of defense you had in the past.
They’re taller on average but I’d say less muscular. 20 years ago every team had a Charles Oakley type galoot who wasn’t all that mobile but could more than hold his own by the basket. The game 20 years ago was darn near a street fight. Bulky muscular players were at a premium. Long thin and fast are what every team is wanting now a days. If a player today can’t guard the perimeter he’s unplayable.
You know, if he sent those tweets it’d only be because Kelly Anne Conway managed to steal his phone.
Fair enough. I have my own sports attachments, and yeah, the Reds aren’t full of guys from the Cincinnati area, but I cheer for them anyway… even though I’m in Ky, being in the Cincinnati area, I still root for them.
I think it’s more of a geography thing. I guess if Canada were the size of Vermont (or Iowa or Colorado, even), it wouldn’t seem so odd to me. Canada, however, is gigantic. I just have a hard time imagining the people of Vancouver or Edmonton or Saskatoon beaming with national pride over the Raptors.
Makes sense. I think it may come down to the fact there’s no other NBA team in the country, so there’s probably not much jealousy. Also, their NHL teams have been complete busts in terms of recent titles, so you have to rally around something.
Yknow, #CliffordBrown, you made think about a favorite headline from either National Review or The Federalist, it declared: ” Happy Canada Day You Bastards”.
(Of course, it was on “Canada Day” and had some solid stats on out of wedlock kids, but Canadians and the Lower 48 all seemed to think the headline was clever.)
At the current exchange rate Golden State gets 1.25 wins in Canada, the Raptors only get 3/4ths of a win on US soil. It’s very complicated.
There isn’t one, or if there is, it’s a one-sided affair. Perhaps Canadians view the USA as their sporting rival, but I suspect very few Americans reciprocate the feeling.
The US and Canadian women in hockey truly dislike one another.
And on the curling sheet? Well, I’ll tell you what those maple syrup beaver bumpers can do with their brooms…
And there’s yer problem right there: most Americans just don’t care about the sports Canadians love.
Yes, and any fan of an internationally or regionally competitive soccer (futball) team knows they are cheering for players recruited or traded from all over the world.
Given how often American has grabbed away Lord Stanley’s cup, I imagine the whole of Canada will smile and cheer for a Canadian team raising the NBA championship trophy north of the border.
There you go bringing in loonies!