Braves
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THE CASE FOR THE RAPTORS
The relationship between Buffalo and Toronto has been bittersweet and complex since the War of 1812 if not before...
...but there is some natural affinity. It's complicated. There are a lot of Canadian Sabres fans that would otherwise be Leafs fans. That can't play well in Toronto. On the other hand, when the Braves were in town, there was a large contingent of fans from the other side of the bridge, and the Braves did play scheduled games in Maple Leaf Gardens for a while. Some would point to that as the beginning of the end of the franchise in Buffalo, and rightly so, no doubt, but that doesn't erase the fact that there were some passionate Braves fans not only between the Peace Bridge and the Gardiner Expressway, but between the Gardiner and the Don Valley.
And ditto the Bills. And now, of course, Bills fans worry about the historical parallels between the Bills playing in Rogers Centre and the Braves at Maple Leaf Gardens.
And the Blue Jays haven't exactly caught on in Buffalo. Sure there are a few Jays fans, but there are more Yankees, Mets, even Pirates and Indians fans in Buffalo than Blue Jays fans. So, is there a case to be made for adopting the Raptors as heirs of the Braves legacy? We say the answer to that specific question is, no!
There has been no attempt to connect the two franchises. It might have been a good marketing move on Toronto's part, for their own fans as well as Buffalo, if there had been, but to our knowledge there hasn't been. We are aware of an attempt to schedule a Raptors versus Clippers exhibition game at HSBC (referenced elsewhere at this site) that apparently never materialized. In our opinion, it makes more sense to stay loyal to the Clippers, or to find the spirit of the Braves living on in our separated at berth (pun intended) siblings the Cleveland Cavaliers.The Cavs have our NBA DNA and they also have our demographic DNA. So if you are looking for some remnant strand of the actual Braves franchise, we would advise to look at either or both of those two teams.
However, there is still a natural affinity, curiously, more than competition, between Toronto and its neighbor to the South. We are the two largest cities closest to each other. We have a history of commercial and social interconnection. There is good reason to support the Raptors for that reason. But the Raptors are not the new Buffalo Braves.
Do the Clippers still deserve our loyalty?
Are the Cavaliers the New Braves?
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