We the North

This was history. Almost 60 Jurassic parks where people were gathering together to watch the Toronto Raptors play in the NBA playoffs and finals.
We watched the Raptors in Italy in our own Jurassic Villa at 2:30am local time in 2OT beat the Bucks in Game 3 at home.  No wonder I got lost the next day riding around Chianti.

The Bucks looked really good.  It seemed like they were the team to beat.  That 2OT victory was a lot of effort to win.  I wasn't sure if they would have the energy to win the next game, but the Bucks were playing to win in too and were tired too.  And the Raptors took Game 4.  They seemed to be able to make the adjustments and then won the next 2 games to finish off the Bucks at home!  They had won the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time and punched their ticket to the Finals against GSW.

Someone asked me if I thought the Raptors would win against Golden State.  I said for sure they will win!  I knew they had a great chance to win.  5 straight finals meant a lot of wear and tear on the GSW.  And they were beat up.  KD was out.  The GSW bench is not as deep as the Raptors. This was the Raptors year.  I was very confident that if they made it to the finals, the Larry OB trophy was theirs to lose.  It was clearly a window of opportunity. Many US analysts were picking GSW despite all the above.  Except for Charles Barkley (he loves Toronto!) and Jalen Rose (a former Raptor!) and the white dude on Jump! He was saying the exact same things I was saying. They just had to play the way they can.

And they did.  If they had won Game 2 at home.  They would have swept.  But that's a big IF.  I am 100% sure GSW would have responded in one of the games for sure.  The Raptors had a chance to win at home in Game 5, being up 3 games to 1.  But they messed up the last play of the game.  No time out.  Still.  They only needed 1 more game.  Being up 3 games to 1, is a huge advantage.

What would have happened if the Raptors did win in the 6IX? It would have been massive!  I still remember the 1992-93 Blue Jays World Series win.  Wall to wall people walking up Yonge St from the Skydome.
I was in that mosh pit, with my friends!  We were all hanging onto each other so we wouldn't get separated.  Hearing from some friends that did make it to the parade.  I heard it was a bit scary.  So maybe it was a good thing they didn't win at home considering the parade crowd.
Still it would have been nice for Kieran to see what winning brings to a city.  It unites people.  And it was nice for Drake to do his Canadian thing and tell people to give someone they don't know a hug on this celebration day.  That was a nice touch.  And a way to give the world a bit more Canada.

Although GSW wasn't making it easy.  They are a great team.   And Even with their injuries they are a tough team to beat. Playoffs are a different league altogether.  Everything goes up another level, players play faster, harder, inspired, and they play injured, all for the sake of winning a championship. Why?

Because you never know when you will get another chance. And the Toronto Raptors still had 2 more chances to close it out, in Game 6 - they did it!  It was a weird and anticlimactic finish, but they did it.

I have never seen this many people in TO come out to celebrate anything.  This was massive.
The first time the NBA championship was won by a team outside of the USA.  I wanted to go to be in this crowd.  Just like I was when the Blue Jays won in 1992 and 93.  This was a lot bigger!  I could not believe it.  Incredible.  This was history.