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The Toronto Raptors release a striking new 'We the North' clip in anticipation of a playoff run (Video)

The Toronto Raptors release a striking new 'We the North' clip in anticipation of a playoff run (Video)

Even as an outsider, even if you’ve just looked on from afar as an unholy confluence of unknowing sportswriter disses, unfortunate injury timing, and downright terrible executive work from a series of general managers takes the Toronto Raptors and their followers down a peg, you kind of know what it’s like to live life as a Raptor fan. It started with an embarrassing logo in 1995, the first realization that Isiah Thomas might not be cut out for such things, sportswriters just assuming that Vince Carter would not want anything to do with the fantastic city as a would-be free agent, Rafael Araujo, the post-Chris Bosh decline, on and on …

You feel for them, which is why you feel great when the team makes it back to the playoffs, when it wins its division in spite of a year that was supposed to drive team deep into the NBA lottery, and when you warm to the fact that this young and learning Raptors team could down a batch of NBA luminaries over the next few weeks, it could move on to attempt to shake the Miami Heat in the next round, and it might serve as a destination spot under new GM Masai Ujiri.

This is why this recently-released Raptors video was such fun to watch:

From there, you should be convinced to read James Herbert’s fantastic take on a team gone right, in a city that’s always deserved so much more from its professional basketball club.