Spare a moment for the citizens of Toronto. Construction is closing lanes on the Gardiner Expressway, the main artery into the city's downtown core, for the next two years, which will trap motorists in their cars, looking out their driver-side windows like the forlorn animals in late-night pet adoption commercials.
Traffic is snarled across the city. Transit would usually be the superior option, except the TTC is only a few billion short of funds needed for critical repairs and upgrades. Finding a solution has been top of mind in the run-up to this fall's mayoral elections, and that can be proven in peak hours on the subway, where riders are crammed so tightly they can usually hear each other's internal monologues.
And it has been a long winter, one often filled by Internet links to video clips of Rob Ford being roasted on late-night talk shows in the United States. There was also an ice storm, a rare moment when the mayor was ( reportedly) away from the public eye.
The Toronto Maple Leafs stood near the top of the NHL standings in November, but then cratered in March. They lost eight straight games - remarkably, all regulation losses - and fell right out of the playoffs and into a more familiar mode of transport: Golf carts.
And now, finally, mercifully, a diversion has emerged.
The Toronto Raptors are an unlikely source. The team missed the playoffs for five years in a row, and had been expected to follow suit this season. In December, it was reported the team was set to trade pending free agent Kyle Lowry to the New York Knicks for a package that included a first-round draft pick.
The Knicks nixed the deal, the Raptors made the playoffs. And over the course of the last two weeks, the city's oft-maligned basketball team has emerged as a shared fixation; with the devout gathering in the hundreds to watch on a big screen outside Air Canada Centre, and with many more watching at home, chatting about it on social media.
Toronto battled back to tie its first-round series with the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night, a difficult, dramatic 87-79 win with easy touch points for the uninitiated. There was Lowry, the nearly departed, limping on a bad knee, leading a young team through hostile territory.
There was DeMar DeRozan, the first-round draft pick from 2009, evolving into the kind of star his selection suggested. He led all scorers with 24 points on Sunday, saving the team's season by tying the series, with Game 5 set for Wednesday in Toronto.
Amir Johnson, the 6-foot-9 giant, plays with everything Don Cherry wants in a hockey player, only without a stick and skates. Like Lowry, he was clearly playing hurt Sunday, limping off the floor only to reappear later. (Johnson has also ventured out into the city, braving the traffic, telling the CBC: 'Down in Mississauga, all the way to Scarborough, Brampton - I've been everywhere. I've been all around.')
The Raptors have tried to capitalize on that notion, launching a commercial and a new tag line as the playoffs opened. The commercial suggested the team represented all of Canada, with the Internet-friendly tag 'We The North' attached to the end.
On Sunday, and into Monday morning, that slogan - along with variations of it - stood among the most popular topics on the social media website Twitter. It scarcely mattered the origins of that tag were as organic as the name of the team itself, christened after a movie about dinosaurs. (Tim Leiweke, who just marked his first year as lead executive with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment was also rooted in Hollywood before moving north.)
In the end, none of that should matter to Toronto. With the Leafs long gone and with the Blue Jays threatening another season of mediocrity or worse, the Raptors are providing a needed rallying cry, while also providing Drake needed space to clear his pants of lint.
#WeTheNorth is trending #1. Best Fans Ever! @ Raptors #RTZ http://t.co/0uMUhKVS2T- Twitter Canada (@TwitterCanada) April 28, 2014
Looking forward to Game 5 in Toronto! @ Raptors #WeTheNorth #TOgether- John Tory (@johntoryTO) April 28, 2014
DeMar DeRozen for mayor! Thank you @ Raptors. City is buzzing. #wethenorth- Olivia Chow (@oliviachow) April 28, 2014
Chow, or whichever member of her staff was handling the Twitter account, misspelled DeRozan's surname. But again, that doesn't matter. For the first time in a long time in Toronto, it truly is the thought that counts.
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/04/28/toronto-raptors-emerge-as-an-unlikely-diversion-from-citys-woes/
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