My Top 5 All-Time Favorite Toronto Sports Athletes

 Yeah this is personal opinion, so what? I wanted to write a bit about 5 athletes who have provoked joy in my life. Sports have been my favorite escape since I was a child. The players that made me want to spend hours in front of the TV or shell out hundreds to see them play live deserve a little love on this humble blog. Today I present to you readers my top 5 favorite Toronto sports athletes. I feel as though there might be some recency bias as well as bias towards the only team I ever saw win a championship but screw it, it's MY favorite athlete's not everyone else'. If you have a problem with this list, please leave a comment I would love to engage. 

5. Matts Sundin

As you continue reading this blog you'll come to realize that I am an extremely casual hockey fan. After years of disappointment and heartbreak, I've turned into a full time Raptors fan while dabbling in hockey when the playoffs roll around. Never the less, it wouldn't be fair to leave Sundin off the list. Growing up a white kid in Toronto, my dad watched every Leafs game. I don't even have any analysis on Matts as a player I just know that I loved him when I was a kid. He was the captain and our best player. I still have a vivid memory of me discussing Sundin with my swimming teacher when I was just in grade 1. While I have the least amount of memory of Matts Sundin, he was the first athlete I grew to love and I think that deserves a spot on this list!

4. Jose Bautista

You may be thinking that this is rather low on the list. Especially when I wrote an entire Ode To Jose Bautista just last week. Jose was awesome and was going to make the list no matter what, I just have a soft spot for the next 3 and a tough choice had to be made. Arguably the best Blue Jay of my lifetime, Jose had a knack for performing in the clutch. The Jays were simply more exciting once he became good. I wrote last week about how his 54 Home Run season got me to fall in love with baseball. I highly doubt you will see many top Toronto sports athletes without Jose on their list. 

3. Marc Gasol

This one is the first maybe "unique" pick on this list. Marc only played a season and a half with the Raptors, with the one full season being the 2020 COVID year. His impact on Spanish or Memphis sports is probably felt far larger than in Toronto, but my goodness was he ever fun with the Raptors. The Raptors do not win the championship without Marc Gasol. I knew little of his game before he arrived in the city but I instantly fell in love with it once he hit the court. Marc's passing and vision on offense opened up a lot for the Raptors that season. The player he replaced, Jonas Valanciunas, was more of a play finisher and masher near the rim. Marc would play out of the elbows making passes to cutters and scoring on his own only as a last resort. With all the scoring the Raptors had in 2019, this was the exact type of player they needed. His offense isn't what we're here for though and you all know that. Marc was an absolute beast on defense. In the 7 game series against the 76ers in 2019, Marc made rising star Joel Embiid uncomfortable all series long. He followed it up the next season holding Embiid to what is now his only 0 point game. Through it all Marc was a basketball genius and constant professional, and now an NBA champ.

2. Edwin Encarnacion 

My favorite Blue Jay of all time and it isn't really close. Edwin started off his Jays tenure at 3rd base. A position he frankly sucked at. He was nicknamed E5, the symbol scorekeepers use to signify an error on the 3rd baseman. His struggles in the field followed him to the plate where he showed to be a slightly above average hitter. The Jays realized this was not a recipe for a productive player and had him move to first base. This is where his career really took off. Edwin was notorious for having insane months of May. I remember he would go through stretches where it felt like he would hit a home run every game. I will never forget the game in 2015 when he hit 3 home runs in a game and had the fans rain hats down on the field. He collected them in a garbage bag and stated that he wanted to give them all back (so cute!) Of course his crowning moment came in the 1 game wild card playoff against the Baltimore Orioles when he hit a walkoff homerun in extra innings. I was in first year university at the time and I remember screaming so loud with my friends that nearby studiers had to come tell us to quiet down. Eddy will always be my favorite Jay I think he'll be hard to top.

1. Kyle Lowry

This one's obvious from my longest article on here, I love Kyle Lowry. I won't drag this out since I already wrote so much about him but I will say, Kyle is a champion in this city and I would highly doubt there is a list out there that doesn't have him on the mount Rushmore of Toronto athletes. When his #7 jersey is retired, I hope to be at the game screaming louder than anyone LOWRY LOWRY LOWRY.