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