I am a Toronto Raptors basketball fan and have supported them since their inception. I have watched countless seasons where they struggled, to the penultimate championship game in 2019. Recently Kyle Lowry left for Miami. My son is into basketball and his favourite player is Kyle Lowry. Lowry was always the undersized, underrated player who became a star. The face of the Raptors. Arguably the best player ever in Raptors history and that includes a hefty list of players like Chris Bosh, Vince Carter and Demar DeRozen to name a few. Before Toronto, he was passed up by his former teams in Memphis and Houston. When first arriving to Toronto he was seen by the NBA as a bit player and wasn’t really seen as a difference maker when traded to Toronto. Through the years he developed leadership and always gave his 100% on the court, sacrificing his body to create charging fouls against players much larger and heavier than he is. I feel Kyle Lowry did for a generation of young basketball fans in Canada, what Tiger Woods (forgetting his personal controversies) did for golf at his peak. That is, make people who had no interest in the sport be pulled in. I love playing golf. I always had interest but watching Tiger Woods in Championships at his prime made me go from liking golf to loving it. True the on course achievements by Tiger Woods is much greater which makes the comparison far fetched. But Kyle Lowry has done that with basketball for my son. And Canada, only having a single NBA team made him a national star. “We The North” right? Athletes have an astounding effect on peoples lives. How quickly they can bring joy with a single bucket, a single goal or a single putt. Kyle brought a lot of joy and memories for my son and I as we watched the Raptors during that historic playoff run to become NBA Champions. A quick shout out to Kyle Lowry and a thank you for all the years he was a member of the Toronto Raptors.
