The people of Toronto seem to be very reasonable. By all accounts, they seem to bathe regularly, they don’t eat their young, and from the photos I’ve seen, there are many very attractive people who reside there.
So I wonder if they, the good folks of Toronto, have any level of regret for the bout of mental retardation that caused them to name their basketball team after a movie. What if the team came out a few years 
later? Would you have named the team after Toronto’s own Mike Myers? (Maybe the Toronto Dr. Evils? The Toronto Waynes?) It’s been 12 years since the team came into existence… which means the 10, 11 and 12 year olds who thought Jurassic Park was so cool that they just HAD to name their team the Raptors… are now 22, 23 and 24 years old. I’m just curious to hear if any of you look back on the voting for a name and wonder “what the hell were we thinking?” Would you name the team something else now? Or are you satisfied with the fact that the Vince Carter era was your karmic retribution for a very bad decision?
(Update: This link about KG’s possible future in coaching went up on the Globe after I updated this morning. Thanks for keeping up guys. Next time, wait a little longer. The internet is supposed to be FASTER than the morning paper)
Herald: Scal waits for shot | Souza: More on C’s practice, including extra work from Scal | Globe: Fans to see debut of Big 3 Sportscenter ad tonight | Raps Thumbnails | Also today: Storybook beginning for Celtics | Celtics talent runs deep | Celtics helping to drive up ratings
And this is my favorite link that I keep forgetting to post. From the always great “The Onion”… the best fake newspaper around: Kendrick Perkins Under Assumption He’s One of Celtics Big 3:
”Any time you put Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and myself, Kendrick Perkins, on a court together, you’re going to win a bunch of games—but let’s not forget there are two other guys on this team, and their names are Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett,” Perkins told reporters after his seven-point, two-rebound performance Sunday night. “In fact, if Kevin continues to play the way he’s been playing, you may just have to start calling us the ‘Big Four.’”
I still think Raptors is a cool nickname. The Utah Jazz and LA Lakers are worse. Names taken from other cities with no relevance to the new teams. Or the 76ers. The team is named after a date. How lame is that? I’ve never seen a Bull in downtown Chicago.
[...] Big Baby tops Hollinger’s rookie PER ratings Red’s Army Is there regret in Toronto? National Post Raptors Notebook, Bosh, Bargnani won’t play [...]
I’m with you on Utah and LA… although we can’t change the Lakers now. But when I think of Jazz… I think the OPPOSITE of Utah.
Celtics have a good start and think they should be crowned champs, meanwhile the “Dinosaurs” are going to sneak up and…ummm…eat that clover thing and lay a massive dino turd on your Celtic pride this season.
I’m calling victory tonight even with our subs starting.
Half your team is still the sad sack of losers from last year, and yes , I’ll say it, you are one injury or two away from dropping REAL fast, whereas we can still compete missing our top two stars….see ya in the playoffs…..
Back on topic: I don’t mind the Raptors name, just cringe a bit at the cartoon dino logo, which they are getting rid of in favour of a “dino claw” (now being used)… “Mighty Ducks” has got to be considered the all-time worst in sports… And who came first, the White Sox or the Red Sox, and why was there never a third color Sox team after that?
Come on… do you really think you’re going to win without Bosh?
I think the “one injury away” argument is dumb. Almost EVERYONE is one injury away from sucking! Look at your Raps…. You went from “good” to “sorta competitive”. You’re a .500 team without Bosh… that’s it.
What if Dirk Nowitski got hurt? Kobe Bryant? Steve Nash?
Don’t you think San Antonio is going to have a tougher time without Duncan?
Why don’t you come out and say it… you HOPE one of our guys gets hurt. That’s what everyone is saying when they say the C’s are one injury away. You’re just hoping that one of our guys goes down… so you can say “Hah! Told ya!”
Interesting question if Toronto would have picked a different nickname…but I think the bigger question is would this article have even been posted had Danny Ainge been dealing with any other GM in his attempts to get KG??
I think not as it would have been back to the lottery for the C’s…
Hmmm… interesting question.
Have I mentioned that we’re on a pace to win 72 games… and you guys still have a movie for a mascot?
Jurassic Park? I thought the team was named for the animal most resembling Chris Bosh.
That was a pretty good one, stoeten. Thanks for making me laugh at work. Yes, the injury argument is the same for every team and isn’t a valid point to make. A quick roster scribble leads me to believe that we only have 6 people from last year’s team, and 3 of them are in the starting 5. Looks like your “sack of losers” comment is also in error. I think it would’ve been better if they went all-out with Velociraptors, like the Supersonics or Knickerbockers.
Jeff, I could be wrong, but I think that back in the day there was also a team called the Grey Stockings.
How easily you Celtics fans forget how dismal your team use to be last year and how many times the Celts were pounded into the ground. You would think such severe beatings would teach you some sort of humility or modesty. Guess not.
OneandDone…. last year was last year. That team is almost entirely gone. Why should I care about that team?
Jon… I LOVE the Velociraptors. That would have been great.
Why is it pronounced ‘sel-tics’? That’s pretty dumb if you ask me.
worst… insult… ever
yeah i’m pretty sure the timberwolves have more of our ‘sad sack of losers from last year’ than we do at this point. i guess raptors fans want to focus on last year because thats when they won their FIRST division title EVER. ouch.
i agree that the injury argument is dumb. wait, why is there a ‘b’ in dumb if we don’t pronounce it?
i think the words you were looking for were “most canadian insult ever”
ps. speaking of last year’s celtics losers: telfair is averaging 10 pts and almost 5 assists. yes yes.
Another Tim, I love your posts. Absolutely love them…. post more. Not only was that hilarious, you also have been following my boy Bassy, who played 40 minutes the other night. And how bout that game he had 20 points and 8 assists.
By the way Raptors fans C’s are up 22 at the half.
Who let all these Canadians cross the border? They must be logging on in the States because I’m pretty sure Canada doesn’t have web access yet. In fact, they just got cable TV two years ago.
Toronto’s Jamrio Moon will be the rookie of the year in the NBA when everything is done. He can defend, block shots, dunk like a monster, rebound and bring all kinds of atheticism to the team. He is one great asset ot the Raptors. Exactly who do the Celtics have for a future? Rajon Rondo? Give me a break… Boston is just one KG injury away from has-beens.
Ok Toronto Dude… I’m going to give you a second to assess that statement.
Are you really going to come onto an opposition website and say that a 27 year-old… who played for a couple of dozen different minor league teams… and is only now FINALLY breaking through in the NBA….. has more potential than a 21 year old kid in his second year? Are you really trying to pass that off as an argument?
Look… Moon looks like a nice player. But his NBA career is going to be OVER in about 4 or 5 years anyway. Rondo is just getting started. And by the way…. he had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists against the Bulls. Last year his shooting % was horrible… this year he leads all guards and is 13th overall.
If you’re going to come here and argue.. at least make it a good argument
I’m a huge Toronto basketball fan and I can’t stand their name. They slowly seem to be getting rid of the dinosaur logo, but they still need to get the nickname off of their jerseys, team gear, etc. The claw symbol is cool and I think they’re starting to realize this. The jerseys need to say ‘Toronto’ and not the nickname (which I refuse to even type because it’s so ridiculous.)
As far as the Celts go – I was so bitter about everything they got that I completely lost sight of the fact that I would take any one of those guys (Pierce, Allen, Garnett) in a heartbeat. I’ve loved their games forever and I lost sight of this when Boston got sh*t lucky and ended up with all three. So, I’ve decided to stop being bitter and admit that they are a really good team. From now on, I’ll only hate them because they are division rivals.
One other thing – how funny is it that Toronto and the Celts are about to be in the same position as far as coaches are concerned? Think about it – Rivers is probably on his way to coach of the year honors mainly because his team got completely rebuilt. I would argue that he would have been fired by now without the roster changes and the resulting performance improvement. Now, he’ll be locked in long term even though many would argue that he’s, well, not a very good coach. This is exactly the same a Sam Mitchell (in my opinion, of course).
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