Wednesday, July 10, 2019

The Kawhi Goodbye

I know I kind of already did this yesterday, but I figured the Kawhi Goodbye needed a post of its own.

Not long ago, I had a numerologist give me a quick rundown of my "numbers".  A lot of what she said didn't resonate with me, but one thing did.  She told me that when I love something, I REALLY love it.  I love it so much I want the whole world to love it with me.  I want everyone to experience the love that I have, I want to share it with everyone who is important to me, I want them to be obsessed with me.

And so that is how it has been the past 6 weeks.  My family and friends have been hearing an awful lot about a guy named Kawhi Leonard.

My interest was piqued when I heard about "the shot", my excitement level rose when they won the Eastern Conference, and I was all in for the finals.  My ride as a Toronto Raptors fan wasn't very long, but it was all because of Kawhi.

My obsession hit swiftly and it very quickly overtook my life.  This aloof basketball star, an enigma to many, was instantly intriguing to me.  At first, it was just his presence on the court that captured me.  I liked the way he moved.  And I liked the way he looked.  I was attracted.  (That's usually how my celeb obsessions begin.)  Then it was all of the amusing background stories - watching him leave a teammate hanging when he put his fist out to bump, hearing about "Board Man Gets Paid" and "apple time, apple time", and, of course, the laugh.

It was easy to fall in love with Fun Guy during an historic championship run for not only Toronto but our entire country.  He got me staying up to all hours to watch basketball, something I would have sworn I'd never do.  He got me caring for a team from TO, also a bit of a feat.  He got me cheering for a basketball player like I have done with no other than the likes of a hockey player named Wade Redden.

Seriously.  The Kawhi love was real.  Very real.

And then they won.  It was legendary, it was epic, and I was so swept up in Raptors fever.  I stayed up that night til 1 AM watching the post-game celebrations.  A few days later, I set my PVR to capture a whole day of the televised parade.   I ordered T-shirts online, and I was already daydreaming about following the team closely next season as they would surely be running it back and gunning for a repeat.

What I didn't really understand or realize, as such a newbie basketball fan, was that Kawhi had been traded to Toronto a year ago and was expected to opt out of the last year of his contract (as he was totally entitled to do), making him a free agent.  A very coveted free agent.  While the Raptors had the power to offer him the most money, it seemed widely known that Kawhi really wanted to play closer to home, in LA, probably for the Clippers or Lakers.  Free agency opened on June 30th, and pretty much from that moment, if not sooner, #KawhiWatch began.

That's when things got really crazy for me.  Every day, I was on Twitter as much as possible, following basketball "insiders" (who, by the way, know nothing, apparently), tracking Kawhi's every move as the internet provided it, and trying desperately to get the inside scoop on what the man was going to do.  Every time I saw a "He Stay" assurance, my hopes soared.  When they speculated the MLSE plane that was headed to San Diego last Friday was empty, going to pick up his family, with a Raptors press conference scheduled that afternoon, I thought we had it in the bag.  I was convinced Kawhi was going to sign for at least one more year, with most of the Raps lineup in place for one more season, and the tantalizing prospect of running it back.

I mean, he accepted Plant Guy's Kawahctus.  When fans chanted "one more year" at the parade, he held up his index finger and smiled.  Then he laughed when Kyle Lowry swung it around to a "five more years" chant.  He showed up in the Barabados wearing a Jays jersey.   I really believed him.  He never said a word, but I truly believed these were all signs that The Champ was going to remain on his throne as King of the North.

I truly believed Kawhi was going to stay.

That said, I've been a hockey fan long enough to know that professional sports is a business.  There is no loyalty.  The fans mean nothing.  Money talks, and when a player is in a position to dictate his own future, he will take it. That's exactly what Kawhi did.

For him, it actually wasn't about the money, at least not completely.  If it was, he'd still be a Raptor.  For him, it was about getting back home.  He did what he came here to do, and he was finished.  Off to the Clippers.  The news broke in the middle of the night, and I woke to it feeling stunned and saddened early Saturday morning.

And just like that, my brief whirlwind obsession with Kawhi Leonard came to a screeching halt.  All of the things about him, all of the stories about him, all of the reasons he gave me to love him, were suddenly tarnished.  We didn't get to celebrate for long enough.  The party came crashing to an unfortunate end.  And it all seemed so terribly unfair.

I keep hearing that I'm supposed to be thankful to the man.   That I'm to let him go without bitterness, because he gave us something amazing.  He gave us a championship.  Still, I can't help but be salty.  I can't help the bitter taste in my mouth.  I really wanted Kawhi to want to stay here; I really wanted him to embrace the role of our hero and saviour.  I really wanted the chance to go for it again next year.

Oddly, the only thing that really brought me comfort was something someone wrote on Twitter to this effect:  "He's like The Littlest Hobo.  He came, he made some friends, he solved our problems.  And now he's gone to make some new friends and help them."  I don't know why, but I kind of clung to that thought all day Saturday.

Goodbye, Champ.   I wish you wanted to stay.  But thank you for everything you did in your short time here, and the even shorter time I was paying attention.  I wish I'd had more time.  Thank you for teaching me to love a sport I never thought I'd care about.

Thank you for the most unexpected fun I ever had.

I hope we can show you next year that we can do it without you.

#WeTheNorth  #WeTheChamps

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