Call it a needed distraction. Or catharsis. Or defiance. Or simple recovery.Maybe it was parts of all those things. Whatever it was, on Wednesday night, just two days after the largest public mass murder in Toronto memory, while the city was still in shock and mourning, we hosted a massive street party. An all-out celebration of civic boosterism, centred around the city’s sports teams.It was Game 7 for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their playoff series against the Bruins. Game 5 for the Toronto Raptors in their series against the Washington Wizards. The final leg of the Champions League final for the Toronto FC. Fans of all three teams were welcomed into the road at Maple Leaf Square on Bremner Blvd. near York St. outside the Air Canada Centre to watch the games on three outdoor screens in a triple-header tailgate party. In recent years it has become one of the city’s most fun public-space sports traditions, gathering here to celebrate and urge on our teams. On Wednesday, maybe fittingly enough, that celebration became more elaborate — and with more at stake for more teams — than ever before.If that wasn’t quite enough, the whole party was just one kilometre down the road from Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays were host to the Boston Red Sox — close enough that the fans could hear each other’s cheers, and spill into each other for high-fives and hugs and shared tears and hollering after the games were over.“Living well is the best revenge,” the old proverb compiled by George Herbert says, and that may never be more true than in the wake of an attack that appears calculated to inspire fear. Out in the streets on Wednesday, Torontonians were living well.That’s true even though the results out in the rain were a mixture of joy and heartbreak for fans — the Leafs eliminated in a hard-fought, back-and-forth game, the Raptors emerging triumphant. Hope together, celebrate together, grieve together. In the ...
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