What Does Being a Raptors Fan Mean? AKA What Are We Doing Wrong?

I wasn't born at this side of the Atlantic. When I first came here, I never had really gotten why Toronto - as a city - has been historically underrated just because it is not inside the US borders. I still can't make sense of it logically. It is just like the Lost finale. You are supposed to except things, because just they are.

This can be argued to death, but I do think there is a prejudice among NBA players as well. They seem to be much happier to stay inside the borders and settle in Milwaukee rather than coming to the stunning and culturally diverse city of Toronto; which makes absolutely no sense to me. Of course it can be argued that one of the reasons might be the franchise itself.

Just like I did not enjoy the Lost series finale, I despise the logic of accepting without questioning. I will not go into the detailed analyzes of the franchise and its dynamics. It should not be the scope of an unpaid hobby writer covering Raptors anyway.

What am I going to say can be considered as a self-criticism and they are concerning us. Calm down, take a deep breath and try to relax. Because what's coming isn't pretty.

We are acting "exactly" like the stereotypical mid-50s guy who has scored a trophy wife.

We buy her expensive gifts and expect her to act "exactly" to our utmost satisfaction. If she doesn't, we immediately bitch about it and threaten to send her off. We think we purchased her affection along with her soul and treat her like a washing machine; not a companion. Now replace the phrase expensive gifts with bloated contracts and read it again.

We constantly pressure her to be worthy of what's she has been paid and forget we are dealing with a person. We shout at her when she unwillingly spills the milk. We do not respect her as a person, but expect her to do everything right. When she has it up here with all the smoldering and checks out mentally, we then tell our golfing bodies how much of a useless broad she turned out to be.

Then she escapes from us. Most of the time, she is much better off. Sometimes she starts doing drugs and looses her way because of the trauma. Nevertheless, we hit a classy club a week later and start talking about our Porsche and big mansion to another unsuspecting soul. Only that this is NBA and everybody gets to see what happened with that other girl. So it is getting harder and harder to find an innocently ignorant or hopeful hot chick to be our next slave.

So maybe it is us who drive players away and loose talents; not the gorgeous city of Toronto. And it might be not just us anymore, but the organizational culture we created in the last 15 years, which became bigger than us. Maybe we are so used to it, we do not notice it anymore.

Maybe we should try to have a more affectionate relationship with our team. Maybe we should try to stand by them when they loose and take the pressure off at times. Maybe we should understand people do not do their best when they think their head will be the next comes the off-season.

I saw the match Burnley got relegated from Premier League this season. The fans were all emotional, but cheering at the end of the match. Because the players, the technical staff, the ownership and the fans were like the pieces of a really big thing. There were no booing or no name calling; but there were lots of tears and clapping right at the end. It saddened me to see how Jose was booed at that game, especially after listening to him after the game.

Because like they shared the success, they shared the failure. They understood they failed as a franchise, not just as a team or a couple of players. They didn't become fans because they were winning, so they didn't abandon when they were loosing. It is this bond which makes franchises great, not the money we spend on jerseys.

Maybe next season, we all would accept our players as our own and try to have a more loving relationship with them. I am not saying we shouldn't exercise tough love from time to time. We are a huge family, it is time we start acting like one.