Wednesday, April 11

All Rosey In The Raptors Front

The Toronto Raptors are indeed a surprise to many Canadians. By making the playoffs and winning the 1st ever division title for the franchise , the Raptors were way ahead of the timetable set by new GM Bryan Colangelo. Its parent company, Maple Leafs Sports And Entertainment (MLSE) reeling from the failure of its more popular sports team , the Maple Leafs hockey club , to make the playoff this season is inundated with pleas to adopt the Raptors formula in changing the luck of the club. ' Why don't they hire a 1st notch GM like Colangelo to straighten the mess ' suggested more than one hockey commentator. There is even a talk that for this coming NHL draft (the Leafs are picking number 13) , BC should be involved. A basketball and hockey Guru ? Might as well elect Colangelo as the new Mayor of Toronto !
I'll tell you what. the notion that the Raptors are supplanting the Leafs in TO at least is heresy to a lot of die hard hockey fans . One puckhead said the NHL playoffs (involving other teams) , curling, figure skating, Blu Jays baseball will come ahead of Raptors playoff games in terms of watching priorities of Canadians. We'll see. Some 2.8 millions Canadians watched the elimination game between the Leafs and the Canadiens last Saturday night. Presently , the Raps are viewed by between 150 to 500 thousands Canadians in the regular season.
Not everybody is fully happy with the miracle progress accomplished so far by the Raps. Its coach , Sam Mitchell , is still in some sort of a limbo. ' We are still waiting for Brian to make the decision on that.' answered Richard Peddie , MLSE President and CEO , when interviewed yesterday by Bobcat .Mitchell , the favorite of many NBA observers to be the league's Coach Of The Year, is still rumored for replacement by BC 's handpicked coach next season. ' The success of the Raptors is not because of Sam but the system that BC installed when he took over from Rob Babcock'. wrote on Raptors fan .

6 Comments:

Blogger RaptorsTalk.com said...

There is no way the Raptors supplant the Leafs unless they turn into a perennial powerhouse.

I think BC is poised to be both the Leafs and Raptors GM. He knows enought to surround himself with the right talent (players and management)...why the hell not right? They can't get any worse than what they already are.

11:55 AM  
Blogger john said...

Bad idea.Making BC a dual GM is not acceptable unless he knows something about hockey.The day he accepts the 2 responsibilities is the end of the Raptors.

3:07 PM  
Blogger Ty said...

I think TV ratings for the Raptors games can surpass that of the ratings in the Vince Carter time.This team holds a lot of promise.They have no competition unlike the 2002 Raptors team.In that year,the Leafs were in the playoffs.

4:55 PM  
Blogger RaptorsTalk.com said...

i agree ty. that team had more competition, and was a veteran-classic eastern conference type team. this one is much more exciting, and a young one that people can get excited for the future for. i dont think the raptors will ever supplant the leafs in tv ratings. hockey is encoding at the gene level here.

7:15 PM  
Blogger arsenalist said...

Careful man, we thought the Raps would supplant the leafs after the Philly series and that was premature thinking.

No matter what you think of Sam, you have to give him credit for bringing the best out of certain players. Granted, he's not the best X's and O's coach but he has motivated this team to perform at a high level. That Minny game was classic.

11:05 PM  
Blogger coach said...

The is 'lil chance that hockey will be relegated to no.2 sports in Canada.Even Radio man Jones is mum abt. that 'dream' possibility now.
As Sam said , hockey is encoded in the genes of Canadians.But we'll see. One caller even said that cricket will be more popular than hockey in the future. Must be from India or Pakistan !
The TV ratings would not be necessarily higher this time because the team then was more appealing with VC.Remember , VC then was the most popular athlete in Canada bar none .

8:40 AM  

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