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# Back to Excited Episode 65: The Champs Are Here
- URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/toronto-raptors-toronto-maple-leafs-nhl-nba/
- Published: 2019-06-16T14:39:47.000Z
- Updated: 2019-06-16T14:39:47.000Z
- Description: We talk about Raptormania and how Toronto has changed as a sports city
- Author: Arvind S
- Tags: Back To Excited, #chorus, #Import 2023-04-05 11:15

Welcome back to another episode of Back to Excited. Today, we do things a little differently and talk about the Raptors and the NBA as a whole, discussing why the latter is more appealing on a national level and what the NHL can do in order to make their game as accessible as possible to new fans.

Specifically, we discuss:

- The Raps winning and their takeover of Toronto \[1:15\]
- Viewership differences between the NBA and NHL, and the systemic differences in the sports that make the former more easily marketed, and how the NHL’s culture may be impeding it \[6:54\]
- The upsides and downsides of the NBAs heavy emphasis on stars/personalities above teams \[20:15\]
- Why NBA teams’ styles are more evident than NHL teams’ and the resonance that provides on a national level \[35:00\]
- The relative contrast in diversity between the NBA and NHL \[51:14\]
- The NHL Draft, and what little insight we have regarding the Leafs ‘type’ of prospect, and the trades we expect them to make (Brown, Zaitsev) \[59:45\]
- Some discussion on the Niskanen/Gudas trade \[1:15:12\]/

As always, you can find us on almost every major podcasting platform (iTunes, Soundcloud, etc.). Let us know what you’d like us to cover in future episodes, and thanks for listening.