For one night, it was there—all of it—emanating from tribute and hype videos, radiating from the grins and tears of the players, and encapsulated by the boisterous vitality of a fan base hungry to represent it.
The past, present, and future of the Toronto Raptors was on full display in their season opener, a night that began with a ring ceremony and concluded with an overtime thriller. But it wasn’t so simple as handing out hardware and playing a basketball game—no, from the first moment the lights went out and the crowd began to rumble in anticipation, every second was a marker, a palpable, real-time indicator of what was, what is, and what will be.