Sportsfeld Storytime

It’s May 2001. The Raptors are still the youngest franchise in the NBA and have yet to earn respect around the league. Their previous season ended with a sweep courtesy of the New York Knicks, and in the offseason they lost budding star Tracy McGrady to the Orlando Magic. But there’s hope in the air. Vince Carter has emerged as a star, and carried the Raptors to a franchise best 47-35 regular seas...

It’s May 2001. The Raptors are still the youngest franchise in the NBA and have yet to earn respect around the league. Their previous season ended with a sweep courtesy of the New York Knicks, and in the offseason they lost budding star Tracy McGrady to the Orlando Magic. But there’s hope in the air. Vince Carter has emerged as a star, and carried the Raptors to a franchise best 47-35 regular seas...

It’s May 2001. The Raptors are still the youngest franchise in the NBA and have yet to earn respect around the league. Their previous season ended with a sweep courtesy of the New York Knicks, and in the offseason they lost budding star Tracy McGrady to the Orlando Magic. But there’s hope in the air. Vince Carter has emerged as a star, and carried the Raptors to a franchise best 47-35 regular seas...

Sportsfeld Storytime is back and locked in on the 2002 NHL Playoffs, this time focusing on the Eastern Conference Finals. After a hard fought 7-game series win against the Ottawa Senators, Leafs Nation was a buzz as they can taste the Stanley Cup Finals. The only thing standing in their way is a group of veterans like Ron Francis, Rod Brind'Amour and Arturs Irbe as well as TSN OverDrive's Jeff O'N...

Sportsfeld Storytime is back and locked in on the 2002 NHL Playoffs, this time focusing on the Eastern Conference Finals. After a hard fought 7-game series win against the Ottawa Senators, Leafs Nation was a buzz as they can taste the Stanley Cup Finals. The only thing standing in their way is a group of veterans like Ron Francis, Rod Brind'Amour and Arturs Irbe as well as TSN OverDrive's Jeff O'N...

Sportsfeld Storytime is back and locked in on the 2002 NHL Playoffs, this time focusing on the Eastern Conference Finals. After a hard fought 7-game series win against the Ottawa Senators, Leafs Nation was a buzz as they can taste the Stanley Cup Finals. The only thing standing in their way is a group of veterans like Ron Francis, Rod Brind'Amour and Arturs Irbe as well as TSN OverDrive's Jeff O'N...

Sportsfeld Storytime is back and locked in on the 2002 NHL Playoffs, this time focusing on the Eastern Conference Finals. After a hard fought 7-game series win against the Ottawa Senators, Leafs Nation was a buzz as they can taste the Stanley Cup Finals. The only thing standing in their way is a group of veterans like Ron Francis, Rod Brind'Amour and Arturs Irbe as well as TSN OverDrive's Jeff O'N...

It's 2002 and there's a thick layer of hope wafting in the air around the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs have finished 2nd in the East, only one point back of the Bruins. Mats Sundin is the highest scoring centre in the league and has led the team to their 4th consecutive playoff appearance. The supporting cast is stronger than ever with Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts and Alexander Mogilny upfront, Toma...

It's 2002 and there's a thick layer of hope wafting in the air around the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs have finished 2nd in the East, only one point back of the Bruins. Mats Sundin is the highest scoring centre in the league and has led the team to their 4th consecutive playoff appearance. The supporting cast is stronger than ever with Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts and Alexander Mogilny upfront, Toma...

It's 2002 and there's a thick layer of hope wafting in the air around the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs have finished 2nd in the East, only one point back of the Bruins. Mats Sundin is the highest scoring centre in the league and has led the team to their 4th consecutive playoff appearance. The supporting cast is stronger than ever with Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts and Alexander Mogilny upfront, Toma...

It's 2002 and there's a thick layer of hope wafting in the air around the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs have finished 2nd in the East, only one point back of the Bruins. Mats Sundin is the highest scoring centre in the league and has led the team to their 4th consecutive playoff appearance. The supporting cast is stronger than ever with Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts and Alexander Mogilny upfront, Toma...

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime, we finish up our look back at the legendary 2015 Toronto Blue Jays and their most legendary moment, The Bat Flip. In Episode 4, we dive into what happened after the bat was flipped, including a brief but wonderful rivalry with the Texas Rangers, a schoolyard brawl, and the Blue Jays ending the Rangers season once again with another legendary moment, the Donaldson...

This week we arrive at the definitive Blue Jays moment of this century Jose Bautista, the talisman for this era of the team caps off the craziest hour of playoff baseball we've ever seen with an emphatic home run in the biggest moment. We revisit the series of events that included a never-before-seen error by Russell Martin, a baby (?) getting hit by beer (?), and Elvis Andrus being cursed beyond...

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime, we continue our look back at, perhaps, the most legendary moment in Blue Jays history, Jose Bautista and his wonderful bat flip. This week we discuss how the actual most legendary moment in Blue Jays history has become overshadowed by Jose's blast. Plus, we relive some Josh Donaldson heroics, and realize that it's always a good time to talk about Jose Bautista pu...

We've finally arrived at the defining moment of the modern Toronto Blue Jays. In 2015 the Jays made a handful of major moves in the offseason to announce that they were serious about contending for a wide-open American League East division. Before Price and Tulo, the Jays made their intentions known by filling two major gaps that the 2014 team needed filled in a major way: catcher and third base....

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime, we wrap up our look back at the 2014 Blue Jays and their epic 19-inning win over the Detroit Tigers. This week we look at what came after those 19 innings and it was... nothing good. As the Blue Jays limped to the finish, another peak Jose Bautista year wasted, the Blue Jays knew something had to change. And something did, all sparked by trading beloved Brett Law...

Our look back at the 2014 Blue Jays, the team that didn't go all in when they could've, hits its pinnacle with the last good moment of the Jays season. A marathon six and a half hour, 19-inning game that ends with a walk off bases loaded single from Jose Bautista. This win, which probably should've kicked off a streak, actually started them down the path of falling out of contention, and is probab...

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime we continue our look back at the 2014 Blue Jays and their momentous 19 inning win over the Tigers in August, as well as their inevitable collapse. In Part 2, we take you to April of 2014, optimism is in the air, the Blue Jays are playing great despite not really having an infield, and then action at the trade deadline, or lack thereof, sends the season off the rai...

The question about which is the most frustrating Blue Jays season we can remember has come up recently, and we've got to give it up for the 2014 Blue Jays team that frustrated all of us and the entire clubhouse by refusing to make a major move at the deadline. To get there, we start by looking at the big transaction that made us believe in the first place, a massive off-season deal with the Miami...

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime, we finish our look back at the 2007 Toronto Raptors and their defeat at the hand of the New Jersey Nets. This week, we dive into the aftermath of Jose Calderon not throwing a bounce pass and jump ahead to the 2008 playoffs, where the Raptors would fall to the Orlando Magic. Plus we discuss the legacy of Chris Bosh, close the book on the Brian Colangelo era, and w...

All the focus in the series was on Vincent Lamar Carter (three names, like a serial killer) but it ended up being Richard Jefferson who put the dagger through the heart of the Toronto Raptors and their fans. An unexpected playoff run with a young team ended with a six game loss to the New Jersey Nets, and the big question is... Did the Raptors learn anything or grow or really build anything out of...

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime we continue our look back at Game 6 of the 2007 NBA Playoff first round matchup between the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets. But first, we take a little detour and reminisce about the legend that is Chuck Swirsky and discuss his impact on Raptors fandom in the dark days of the mid-2000s. Then, we begin our look at Games 1 through 5 of the Raptors' first pl...

A franchise in search of direction after the departure of the only good thing that had ever happened to them, the 2006-07 Toronto Raptors entered the season with a clear leader in Bryan Colangelo, and had the 1st overall pick to boot. A surprise run to a division title and a season to remember, which came to a poetic end at the hands of Vincent Lamar Carter. Relive the beginning of the Bargnani Er...

This week on Sportsfeld Storytime, we finish our look back at Game 1 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Toronto Raptors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. This week, we look at the aftermaths of the Raptors' devastating loss in Game 1 by being absolutely demoralized by LeBron James, given hope by OG Anunoby, and demoralized by LeBron James once again. This was the height of LeBronto,...

JUST TIP IT IN, JONAS! This week on storytime, we relive the unbelievable heartbreaker in Game 1 of the Toronto Raptors second round matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Trying desperately to reverse the "LeBronto" reputation, the Toronto Raptors lead for nearly all of regulation, before missing 11 straight shots down the stretch including 5 attempts in the final seconds to win the game. Inste...