At long last, Toronto has championship hopes — revel in it

About halfway through Maritime indie rocker Joel Plaskett’s set at Massey Hall this past Saturday night, a shout rang out from the upper balcony.

“The Leafs won!”

The crowd went a little nuts. There were high-fives. Hugs. Cheers. The Toronto Maple Leafs, a team led by inexperienced young guns who entered the season with the faintest of playoff hopes, had indeed won, clinching a spot in the post-season for the first time since 2013.

Worth shouting about. Worth interrupting a concert for. A big moment for Toronto sports.

Even better, this big moment for Toronto sports comes on top of a bunch of other big sports moments. Our city’s major sports teams have caught fire at the same time, giving serious championship hopes to a place that was once named one of the most miserable sports cities in North America.

Like the Leafs, the Raptors are also bound for the postseason, playing their brand of gritty, never-say-die basketball that should make even LeBron James sweat.

The Toronto Blue Jays, though rocked by a rough start to the season, are still a stacked team coming off two consecutive playoff seasons. They’ll play their home opener tonight in front of a sold-out crowd.

And over on the football pitch, Toronto FC is looking to repeat last year’s epic run to the championship game – a performance that made even this soccer skeptic stand up and watch.

Add it all up and it’s a hell of a time to be a Toronto sports fan. So enjoy it. Revel in the fact that these teams are finally focused on winning now — a spirit epitomized by Auston Matthews and the precocious Leafs, not content to wait for their moment but instead grabbing it themselves.

Get on the bandwagon and high-five those jumping on after you. Shout out your excitement to a room full of concert-goers.

Whatever you do, just don’t sleep on it. You’re going to want to feel every single moment of this.

This post was originally published at http://www.metronews.ca/views/toronto/torys-toronto-matt-elliott/2017/04/11/matt-elliott-on-toronto-sports-championship-hopes-.html on 2017-04-11T00:00:00.000Z