America Just Doesn’t Respect The Raptors
No one in Canada will argue that the Raptors played a good game against the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night.
— Faizal Khamisa (@FaizalKhamisa) May 18, 2016
The Raps started off on a strong note, but the Cavs quickly greased the wheels on their way to a 115-84 win over Toronto to continue their unbeaten playoff run.
We all know the Raps didn’t play well in Game 1, but the total lack of respect from the American media regarding Canada’s team is infuriating for Raptors fans.
We did just knock out two of your American franchises on our way to the EFC, thanks, and there is a Canadian doing work for your feel-good-story Cavaliers if you forgot about our guy Tristan Thompson.
Canada has been impacting the game since its inception, and our presence on the big stage is only growing, yet still we see Wade throwing up shots during our National Anthem, and characters like these who didn’t even realize Canadians weren’t all lumberjacks living in igloos, eh.
Recently a poll question on CBSSports.com asked who fans thought would take home the NBA Championship, the Cavs, Warriors, Thunder, or….. Other..
This prompted outrage from Canadians, and despite CBS issuing an apology claiming the poll only had four options and was created before the Raps beat the Heat in Game seven, in the blink of an eye #WeTheOther was trending on Twitter, and Toronto’s Mayor John Tory had chimed in.
As Mayor of "Other" I felt the need to talk to @CBSSports about their poll. #WetheOther pic.twitter.com/CYRqOljXHc
— John Tory (@JohnTory) May 17, 2016
Now the floodgates have opened, with Gilbert Arenas taking to Instagram to declare his dismissal of the Raps and Stephen A. Smith stating that there is no way in hell that the Raptors are beating the Cavs in the ECF.
Arenas, who is known for his chapter book Instagram posts #chalk #full #of #unnecessary #hastags, declared the Cavs are on a bye week, and that he wasn’t interested in watching Cleveland play a team of D-League All-Stars.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFhk8_BPP4x/?taken-by=no.chill.gil
Meanwhile Stephen A. Smith, known for being called a liar by Kevin Durant, has completely dismissed the idea of the Raptors winning this series, claiming there is ‘no way in hell’ the Raps take the series.
Even NBA players have expressed their feelings; here’s Orlando’s Evan Fournier with a gem.
The Raptors have 0 chance to win a single game man. Sorry
— Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) May 18, 2016
Evan is just lucky he won’t have to deal with a squad of angry Canadian fans after opting out of representing France at Olympic qualifiers.
Somebody told me the American media doesn’t care about Canada because we aren’t included in their ratings systems, and I don’t know if thats true, but it really did feel that way when we got stuck with the worst time slots for our first round games against Indiana.
But really it doesn’t matter.
First to 4… #TeamCarroll #staypositive #WeTheNorth
— DeMarre Carroll (@DeMarreCarroll1) May 18, 2016
Because that was just one game, and one game doesn’t make a series. What does matter is that Toronto goes back to work on and off the court. The Raps have to wipe the slate clean and focus on what they did right against the Cavs in the regular season when they took that series 2-1.
The fans meanwhile need to stay excited and send their energy to Cleveland to let our team know we still believe in them. There have been a lot of ups and downs in this post season for Toronto, but just when you thought the Raps couldn’t do it, they found a way, and they moved on. This post season hasn’t been pretty for Toronto, but it has been our most successful one to date, and in case you’ve forgotten…
