Welcome to Electric Current Rundown podcast episode number 80, and I’m your host, Phil Defiance, and I’ll always say I’m here to encourage this part of intriguing knowledge that can spark fires in the minds of those seeking inspiration and truly improving the world.

And what I’m gonna be talking about in this episode includes a local Toronto topic, a brief history of the Toronto Raptors.

And then I’m gonna talk about a topic from my girlfriend about my favorite Disney movies.

So, when it comes to the Toronto Raptors, I mean, yeah, I know, obviously, a lot of people are not in Toronto.

But I mean, I’m in Toronto.

And I got this from a list of different topics I could talk about in my podcast.

And this one was basically saying, do a local type of topic about something that’s like popular or particular to your local area.

And since I’m in Toronto, I was like, hey, what can I do?

And I mean, in regards to something local about Toronto.

And so, I mean, one thing that came to my mind was about basketball and the Toronto Raptors.

And if you’re into basketball, obviously, if you’re in another city, like, or just like in a city that doesn’t have a team, maybe you have your own favorite teams.

Well, I mean, that’s fine.

But like, I mean, isn’t it interesting to hear information about this specific team, that’s the Toronto Raptors from someone that’s been in Toronto most of his life, which obviously is myself.

So because of that, I’m sure like even to people like that, this surely will be interesting.

So, okay.

I mean, it’s actually cool, too.

I mean, I remember, like, I mean, I’ve been alive since 1983.

And I mean, Toronto, my city, hasn’t really had a basketball team until like around the mid 90s, around 96, I think it was.

All of a sudden, we decided to get a basketball team, like, and there was talk about it for like a couple years before that.

Finally, we did it around 96, I think it was though.

Maybe it was 97, though.

It was somewhere around then, but it was around, I mean, okay, yeah.

So that’s what happened.

We ended up doing it.

We got that team and like, I mean, at first we weren’t really too great, but we were still good enough.

And so like, I mean, after a couple years or about a year, maybe two, maybe three, something like that, we ended up getting one of the best players that we’ve ever had, and that was Vince Carter.

And he was really good for our team for a few years.

Like, he was actually one of the best in the whole league, literally.

I mean, it was like an amazing acquisition for our team.

Like people in my city, we were all like, wow, we got Vince Carter over here.

And yeah, I mean, he was really doing some really good dunks.

And like, he was doing pretty good on our team.

But I mean, at the same time, he wasn’t really doing his best.

Like he even ended up saying in an interview at some point, like around the time that he ended up switching teams, he said, I’m not even playing at my full potential for Toronto, which is actually pretty insulting from the guy.

But I mean, he even though he wasn’t playing at his full potential, he still was doing pretty good.

And I’m going to continue on on that in a moment after this quick break.

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And yeah, I mean, it’s actually insulting though, that Vince Carter didn’t actually fully play at his full potential, as he literally had said.

But like still at the same time, I mean, it was really good having a player of that like capability have, I mean, being on our team.

I mean, it was it made for some pretty exciting and entertaining games to watch on the TV, even though he wasn’t doing it at his full potential.

Even still, he was one of the best in the league.

So somebody that at that capacity, even playing not at his full potential was still quite entertaining and quite fun to watch.

And I remember back in those days, I even went to quite a few games, like probably like five or maybe ten games.

And it was actually really fun watching those live as well as on TV.

I mean, me personally, I mean, my two favorite sports are football and basketball.

So I mean, basketball was always fun to watch, especially when Vince Carter was on our team, even though, I mean, when I heard him saying those things about how he wasn’t playing at his full capacity, it really disappointed me.

But at the same time, it was entertaining watching him regardless for the reasons I just mentioned.

And he was on our team for like around like seven to 10 years somewhere in between there, somewhere along those lines.

And yeah, that made for almost about a decade of good basketball to watch for our city.

And then once he ended up leaving the team, and that was around like 2005, maybe 2007.

I mean, the team, even with him, like the team wasn’t really like one of the best in the entire league.

And that’s obviously connected to what he said about how he wasn’t playing at his full capacity.

But still, with him, we were still one of the better teams of the league.

Like, we still were pretty decent.

Like, we weren’t one of the worst teams.

And then after he left the team, the Raptors were still at that same capacity, even without him.

We were one of the best teams.

I mean, generally one of the better teams in the league.

Obviously not the best of the best, but still a better team than one of the, like, lower rated teams.

And that continued from, like, Vince Carter’s early days all the way till the end of his time at the team, all the way to years after that time.

I mean, it continued.

The team was just generally a better team compared to, like, the lower quality teams.

And that continued for quite some time.

And it continues till this day.

And then eventually by the year 2019, we had quite a few, like, pretty good players.

I mean, I personally am a people person.

And some people person are, I mean, people, people are different.

Like some people, people, they’re very good with names.

And other people, people are not.

Because I mean, I’m one of those, I know too many people.

I got a lot of friends, I met a lot of people in my life.

And because of that, I’m not the best with names.

Although I have improved over the years.

But I’ll tell you this much.

I don’t remember the particular teammates.

I mean, that’s just how it is.

But we did have a few pretty good players around the time of 2019.

And you can look into that, especially if you’re from Toronto or if you’re from another city, why not?

I mean, since I’m talking about it, you must be like curious about this kind of thing.

So why not take a look into it?

We did have some pretty good players at that time around 2019.

But okay, so I’m going to finish off on that topic and switch topics as I finish off this episode.

But first, I’m going to go on this quick break.

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So either way, though.

Yeah, by 2019, the Raptors had a pretty good roster, pretty good players.

I mean, but then again, I mean, think about what I just said earlier, too.

I mean, we’ve been pretty decent for years.

So obviously, throughout our whole history, we’ve always had pretty decent players.

And 2019 was no difference.

We had some pretty good players.

And then by the time we got to the playoffs, we really accelerated.

We got even better.

And then suddenly, like, there was talk about how we might even end up winning the championship.

But then people were saying like, Oh, are we really going to win the championship?

Well, I mean, there was people saying like, I don’t know, we might not be able to do it up against that team that we were playing against.

I think it was, well, I think it was from California.

I forget that, too, because I got too many things in my life.

But, I mean, you can look into that, too.

But either way, I mean, people were saying, maybe we won’t be able to win it.

So because of that, our executive team, the people in charge of trading ended up saying, hey, maybe we should add someone or a couple people to make the team even better, especially for the playoffs.

I mean, because that’s that type of thing does happen in sports, like at the end of the season during playoffs.

Like suddenly, like the trading staff feel like, hey, we can upgrade our roster just at least for this championship.

And that’s exactly what happened.

We ended up especially recruiting Kawhi Leonard, one of the best players in the league at, I mean, in recent history, especially in 2019.

And that’s what we did.

We got Kawhi in and boom.

Suddenly, we upgraded our team.

We were a pretty good team already.

But once we added Kawhi Leonard to the roster, boom.

We were like one of the, I mean, we really upgraded ourselves.

Like it was amazing.

And so that led to a few playoff games with him on our roster and boom.

We went from win to win to win and maybe a loss here or there, but mainly wins and boom.

We ended up winning the whole championship with Kawhi on our roster.

And then after that, we ended up having like, I mean, there was talk in the city about how like we’re trying to keep Kawhi.

We want him to stay on a damn team.

We want him here.

But and even Kawhi was saying that he was considering it maybe.

But I mean, I guess there’s factors like, I mean, we got kind of a cold winter.

But then again, there are some US cities that have cold winters just like Toronto, right?

Right.

But OK, I mean, I guess that wasn’t the only factor.

Plus, I mean, Kawhi was coming from California.

California doesn’t really get cold winters like Toronto does or some US cities that get similar winters.

Although, I mean, obviously in the mountain areas of California, you do get pretty cold winters, too.

I mean, some some snow.

I mean, when you’re in the mountains, obviously, I guess maybe not as cold as Toronto, but still colder than other parts of California.

But obviously, the cold air factor was a factor involved with Kawhi’s decision.

But I mean, yeah, there was a chance that he would have stayed on, but he ended up getting traded off to another team.

And ever since then, Toronto Raptors, this team has been continuing its history of being one of the decent teams of the league, like better than some of the lower quality teams.

And so, I mean, the story continues with that element.

And maybe in like a few years, I mean, 2029 will be the 10 year anniversary of our last championship, one and only really.

Maybe by 2029, we’re going to have another victory.

Who knows?

Or maybe in the next couple of years, or maybe in 10 years or 15, you never know.

But I bet you one day we’ll get another one.

But okay, so that’s the history of the Toronto Raptors, given to you from someone that’s been in Toronto for most of his life.

That’s me.

But okay, so now I’m going to finish off on the episode, Switching Topics.

And this time, I’m going to talk about a topic from my girlfriend about my favorite Disney movies.

And I got a few of them, and I’m going to continue on on this topic on my next episode too.

So I’m just going to hit a couple right here.

One of them, though, is the, I mean, something that goes like pretty far back to the 1950s or 60s, and it was like a short film, not one of their longer ones.

And I showed it to my girlfriend, like last year.

Because like both of us, we kind of like US history and North American history.

And when I showed it to her, she was like, wow, that’s a really cool movie.

Like, I mean, it’s a short movie, but really cool.

It’s like about American history.

It’s like, it’s about like the, like it’s promoting capitalism and like the industrial like situations, like chopping down trees and stuff.

It’s like a historic story.

Like, I mean, kind of like a historic legend.

And so like, I mean, Disney made a really cool little short movie about it.

And I mean, if you’ve never seen it, maybe you should check it out, especially if you’re into that kind of thing.

And the movie that I’m referencing is about Paul Bunyan as they sang it.

And I love that song, too, the way that they sang it.

Paul Bunyan, yes, that’s such a cool movie.

And if you, I’m telling you, if you never saw it, you should watch that because it’s probably little known these days.

And actually, it’s thanks to a teacher from the 80s when I was a child that played it in a projector.

I mean, it’s funny because nowadays, I mean, kids don’t have any idea what a projector is.

But in the 80s, I mean, they were playing some movies in projectors.

And yeah, that was one of them.

Yes.

I mean, that’s so old school, too, right?

And same with the movie itself in a way.

But I mean, there’s other movies that are pretty old school, too, from Disney and people still like those, too.

But I mean, when it comes to the projector, that’s pretty interesting, too.

But either way, I mean, that thing was really cool, though.

Like it was like Mickey says, like, like seeing it in person, like, wow, that was a memory I’ll never forget either.

But either way, I mean, seeing that movie, that was so cool.

And I’ll never forget that.

And that’s why I showed it to my girlfriend last year, too.

Like, I mean, and she loved it, too.

And I knew she would.

And if you’ve never seen it, then I have a feeling if you like that kind of thing, that kind of history, that kind of storyline, that kind of thing, and legends like US history legends, you definitely should watch that, because I guarantee you, like, give it very high odds that you’ll appreciate that you saw that, and that I showed you that right there.

Yes, Paul Bunyan.

But okay, so another one, though, is like the original Snow White, the cartoon.

Yes, that was one of my favorite movies as well.

And I actually, I saw that on the projector as well in the 80s or early 90s.

It was probably the late 80s.

And I mean, that cartoon was beautiful, like the way that they animated it.

And that’s another thing about Disney movies, even though the company Disney has a lot of, like, negative things about it, too.

But like when it comes to their, like, classic drawn type of animated movies, like that was one of the things that really separated them from their competition.

Like, that’s what makes people really like their style.

Like, I mean, the way that they animated it is really high quality.

I mean, even before computers, like, they, the way that they drew those things, like, it just, like, looked beautiful.

But like, I mean, Disney’s Snow White, in particular, was one of the best movies they ever made.

And, well, either way, so, like, I mean, I’m at the end of this episode right here.

I’ll continue on on the topic of Disney movies, as well as Snow White, in particular, as well, in the next episode, and that’s the end of this episode of The Electric Current Rundown with me, your host, Phil Defiance.

And I’ll always say that I’m here to encourage the spread of intriguing knowledge that can spark fires in the minds of those seeking inspiration and truly improving the world.

And till next time, have a good one.