When I first read this on Slam Online, my jaw almost hit the floor. It is an ongoing joke between my friends and I that the Toronto Raptors are the one team in the league that seems to celebrate mediocrity. Their is no better example of this than the recent news that the Toronto Raptors in their 15th Anniversary Celebration will honor Vince Carter. Yes, you read that correctly, they will ‘honor’ the man. Hey PR reps, did you bother polling the fans to see if they think Carter should be honored by the franchise? This move could go a long way towards completely alienating the fans from the franchise.
I’m all for burying the hatchet and not holding grudges, but honoring the man that single handedly set your franchise’s progress back about 5 years? Why honor Vince? Because he set some statistical records while playing for your franchise? Nah, couldn’t be, what do personal numbers have to do with the team or celebrating the history of the franchise? And if not that, then because he once helped guide you one shot away from reaching the conference finals? In my books losing in the second round of the playoffs is hardly glamorous or worthy of being ‘honored’.
I realize the Raptors franchise is located in Canada, but does that mean they need to be so damn nice and diplomatic. Forget Vince, forget burying the hatchet. Take your cues from the fans Bryan Colangelo. Boo Vince like the rest of Canada. You may even enjoy it.
Here is what the Orlando Sentinel had to say about Vince and the planned celebration:
Nov. 22 at Air Canada Centre when the player who demanded out of Toronto after six-plus seasons will be … honored by the franchise as part of their 15th anniversary celebration.
The Raptors say they will first ask Carter if he wants to go through with a ceremony, realizing the back-story.
“Everybody wants to know how we can do it, but Vince is part of the history here,” Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo told the Sentinel. “Most of the people that he had problems with here are gone.”
But it’s the fans who have booed Carter each time he has returned since the Raptors dealt him to the New Jersey Nets in 2004.
