It’s like the Sharknado of sports in #Toronto today!!#Leafs #Raptors #TFC #Marlies #Jays #the6ix pic.twitter.com/0I7z7OqQg2
— Geoff Conant (@geoffconant) April 25, 2018
Having 4 major Toronto sports teams play on the same day would be a most trivial moment: the moment rarely happens and most people don't care about it. The sports angle was a bit heightened with key playoff implications in the NHL and NBA and a championship in April for soccer that would have to be explained by a squad of soccer lovers for the average person to understand.
A stats geek would love the fact that in the previous 5 moments, there wasn't a time where all 4 won or all 4 lost. The average (2 wins, 2 losses) has been done 3 of the 5 times with a time each for all but one win and all but one loss.
Toronto is a city of frustrating sports experiences. The Maple Leafs are the only Original 6 team that hasn't even made it to the Stanley Cup in the modern era, stretching back to 1967. The Winnipeg Jets are the only current Canadian team that has never been to the Stanley Cup.
The Raptors are in a stretch of good teams but has never made the NBA final.
The Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series in the early 1990s but the modern group hasn't made it to the World Series.
Toronto FC are the defending MLS champions. Toronto Argonauts are the defending Grey Cup champs. The Toronto Marlies reached the AHL finals in 2012 and are currently in the playoffs. To most Toronto sports fans, the Maple Leafs and Raptors count in that order.
On Wednesday night, the major teams went 1-3, 1-4 if you count the Marlies. Both the Blue Jays and Maple Leafs lost to Boston teams. The Reds lost the CONCACAF Champions League final on penalty kicks. The Raptors came from behind to win Game 5 in the NBA playoffs. No offence to the Raptors, but many Toronto sports fans would have wanted the Leafs to win if only a single Toronto team could win.
To a lot of Canadians, Toronto is a source of scorn in ways that most countries have a love/hate relationship with the largest city in their country. The sports angle helps that image. The Vancouver Grizzlies and Montréal Expos were grand exceptions for major North American sports leagues: for a number of reasons, Toronto is the only Canadian city that could approach this level.
If you are a MLB fan and want to root for a Canadian team, you have one choice. The same goes for the NBA. You have 3 choices in MLS and surprisingly only 7 choices in the NHL.
"We need to continue to reflect on the changing situations in which we're in and do everything we can to keep Canadians safe. But we cannot, as Canadians, choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business." — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after Monday's attack in Toronto.
#TorontoStrong focuses on the tragic event in Willowdale with 10 dead and 14 injured after a van drove onto the sidewalk off Yonge Street. Sports can be an escape, especially in tough times.
2018 Stanley Cup notebook: Toronto Maple Leafs come up short in Game 7
We saw the dynamic on Monday night as people were headed to the Air Canada Centre and Maple Leaf Square for Game 6 of the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff series. Some of them hadn't heard about what happened to their neighbours a few kilometres north of them. Others knew but felt compelled to stay strong and not live in fear. Those in the Air Canada Centre, outside in Maple Leaf Square, and those watching on CBC did participate in a moment of silence for those dead and injured in the attack.
This is not one of those stories about sports overcoming personal tragedy. If all 5 Toronto teams had won Wednesday night, there wouldn't have been a single change in what happened in Willowdale.
Canada rose to the occasion in the tragedy of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. Canada will rise to the occasion in Toronto like the country did after the Ottawa and Quebec shootings in 2015. When the momentum has subsided, Canada will go back to making fun of Toronto once again.
If you have been to Toronto and have only seen downtown, take some time to come back and explore some really cool neighbourhoods. Kensington Market, Leslieville, the Danforth. High Park, Bloor West, Chinatown, the Distillery District, Cabbagetown, the Annex: these may be some of the more obvious spots.
Horrific News back home in #Toronto.
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) April 23, 2018
Having lived in that part of North York for 16 years - my heart goes out to all our Neighbors,Patrons,Community Members and First Responders. Can’t believe this happened on Yonge St, the longest Street in the World.
Prayers Up 🙏🏿😢
Willowdale might not been high on that list. One bright spot in this tragedy is listening to people tell us how great their neighbourhood is, even with the decimation from the attack on Monday. Kevin Weekes, former Hockey night in Canada analyst, shared with the U.S. audience on the NHL Network the virtues of that neighbourhood having lived there for 16 years before recently moving to the United States. His words were very moving about the connections he had with that area.
You might still make fun of Toronto even if you see a few of these neighbourhoods, but you will find that you have more in common with the people in Toronto than you might have realised.
Twitter capture: @geoffconant; @kevinweekes
Photo credit: Google Maps
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