Toronto: a successful city in USA’s sport
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With the recent title obtained by the Raptors in the NBA, there are four pennants in three different sports for the mentioned region.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Toronto to celebrate in the historic title of the Raptors in the NBA, the first non-American team to shout champion. The euphoria, more than deserved, did not respond only to the first title of the Canadian city in basketball but the fourth of its history in American professional sport, being champions in three of the five major leagues that are made in this country.
Leer en español: Toronto: una ciudad exitosa en el deporte nacional
With the exception of the National Football League (NFL) in which they have no team, and the NHL (Hockey) in which even the Toronto Maple Leafs have not been able to qualify, the remaining three leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS) and now the National Basketball Association (NBA) already have in their historical records a Canadian champion: all of Toronto. First they were the Blue Jays in baseball (1992 and 1993), then Toronto FC in football (2017) and now the Raptors in basketball (2019).
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The Raptors …
Led by rapper Drake, fans gathered around the Scotia Bank Arena, home of the Raptors, to follow through giant screens the game that was played in Oakland. As soon as the triumph was over, they went to Dundas Square to start the celebration, said Clarín. In turn, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also used Twitter to congratulate the Raptors. "And that's how we do it in the North," exclaimed the president.
Eknuus makes special emphasis on what the achievement meant in sports, noting that the Raptors rewrote the history of a competition that has accumulated 70 years of existence.
It is, without a doubt, an example to follow as an organization, that with only 24 years in the circuit (he entered the 1995/96 season) he already has a title to his credit, something that other franchises with more tradition have not been able to achieve, as the Phoenix Suns (51 seasons), LA Clippers (49), Utah Jazz (45), Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets and Indiana Pacers (43), Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves (30), Charlotte Hornets (29), Memphis Grizzlies (24) and New Orleans Pelicans (17).
That was the result of a new squad that has been showing a postseason talent for years (six consecutive appearances since 2013-14), and that has been armed with players who emigrated from other teams. The arrival of Kawhi Leonard has been key, as well as the technician Nick Nurse, and halfway through the season the Spaniard Marc Gasol, all of them, have formed together with Kyle Lowry, a very respectable team.
Eknuus adds that today Toronto is the owner of the Larry O 'Brien trophy, largely thanks to Leonard. And is that the performance in playoffs of Kawhi, who was already champion in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs, was how the franchise expected it; thus eliminated Philadelphia with a triple on the buzzer. Not only was he the most valuable in the final, but in all the playoffs he scored 722 points, a figure that only Michael Jordan (759 in 1992), Hakeem Olajuwon (725 in 1995) and Allen Iverson (723 in 1995) had achieved in the past. 2001).
Caution for the future
After a title, everything is a celebration, but only for a few days. Looking ahead to the upcoming season, the Raptors must resolve some issues, and ESPN details what they are. With Leonard and the young revelation Pascal Siakam, Toronto has two key pieces to look to the future. It also seems to have a respectable bank composed of Fred Van Vleet, Norman Powell, OG Anunoby and Serge Ibaka.
Seen this way, Toronto has all the tools to try to repeat the scepter in 2020, but it is also true that management will have to think about how to reformulate their roster from the fact that Lowry, Van Vleet, Serge Ibaka and Gasol become in free agents after the next harvest.
Toronto FC
The agency EFE, recalled how The Toronto FC was proclaimed champion of the MLS when winning 2-0 to the Seattle Sounders in 2017, thanks to the goals of Jozy Altidore to pass of the Italian international Sebastián Giovinco, and of the Spanish Víctor Vásquez in the time discount, retaliating well of what happened in 2016 when both played the final and the winner was Seattle in penalties.
That occasion, was the third time in the history of the MLS in which two teams repeated final, after the Dynamo of Houston- New England Revolution in 2006 and 2007 with consecutive wins for the second mentioned. The Texan team repeated in 2011 and 2012, this time, against the Galaxy of Los Angeles, and also succumbed to both opportunities.
That day, and before almost 37 thousand spectators at the BMO Field in Toronto, his football team made history for Canadian football to be the first to achieve it in MLS breaking that same year the record of points in regular phase with 69 units.
The Blue Jays started everything
The Toronto Blue Jays had in 1992 one of the best teams of his short life (they belonged to the MLB since 1977), reflected in turn the 12 Up. Years of planning and investment allowed to make a list of players with which the Canadians made history by becoming the first non-US team to win the World Series, after going 4-2 in the sixth game of the final to the Atlanta Braves.
The bartender Roberto Alomar, and the shortstop Tony Fernandez formed a great defensive duo, and were nourished by the offensive of respectable bats like those of Joe Carter, John Olerud and the legendary Rickey Henderson, as well as pitchers Jack Morris, Pat Hentgen, Dave Steward, Juan Guzmán, and Duane Ward, among others. Toronto not only won the 1992 World Series but repeated immediately in 1993 with the same base against the Philadelphia Phillies.
LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano
Translated from "Toronto: una ciudad exitosa en el deporte estadounidense"
