The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the
Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association. The team was
established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the
NBA's expansion into Canada. When the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis,
Tennessee in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canadian team in the
NBA. Like most expansion teams, the Raptors struggled in their early
years; but after the acquisition of Vince Carter through a draft day
trade in 1998, the team set league attendance records and made the NBA
Playoffs in 2000, 2001, and 2002. After Carter left, Chris Bosh emerged
as the team leader. With the appointment of Bryan Colangelo as General
Manager and a revamp of the roster for the 2006–07 season, they
qualified for their first playoff berth in five years and captured
their first division title. In the following season, they advanced to
the playoffs again. In a bid to persuade Bosh to stay beyond the final
year of his contract, the team had a roster overhaul in the 2009–10
season. However, the attempt to make the playoffs was unsuccessful and
Bosh signed with the Miami Heat in July 2010, ushering in a new era for
the franchise.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Raptors>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1857:
The Sepoy Mutiny against the company rule by the British East India
Company, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857>
1869:
The golden spike ceremony was held at Promontory Summit, Utah,
celebrating the completion of North America's First Transcontinental
Railroad between the Missouri and Sacramento Rivers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad>
1940:
World War II: A British force of 746 soldiers invaded and captured
Iceland without opposition.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Iceland>
1997:
A 7.3 Mw earthquake struck Iran's Khorasan Province, killing 1,567,
injuring over 2,300, leaving 50,000 homeless, and damaging or
destroying over 15,000 homes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Qayen_earthquake>
2005:
Ethnic Armenian Vladimir Arutyunian attempted to assassinate U.S.
President George W. Bush in Tbilisi, Georgia, using a hand grenade,
which failed to detonate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Arutyunian>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
petrichor (n):
The distinctive smell present after the first rain to follow a warm,
dry period
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/petrichor>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I'm not a hopeless
case
What you don't have you don't need it
What you don't know you can
feel it somehow
--Bono
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bono>