Remembering a year of engaging Toronto athletics,
As part of our look back at 2015, we look at our favourite sports moments from the year:
IMPROBABLE RECOVERY
Neisy Dajomes Barrera had just cleanand-jerked 121 kilos to remain in medal contention during the women’s 69-kilo weightlifting competition at the Pan Am Games. Then the 17-year-old Ecuadorian collapsed on stage. Quickly, games volunteers formed a human wall to shield her from spectators’ eyes as she convulsed. Coaches laid her on her back and raised her legs, coaxing blood downhill and back into her brain. Nobody panicked. Turns out head rushes like those aren’t unusual in weightlifting. When Dajomes Barrera awoke, coaches hustled her backstage. Minutes later she emerged and hoisted 123 kilos. Then she made 125 kilos look easy. It wasn’t. I later spotted Dajomes Barrera in the mixed zone, tearful and breathing heavily. “I ... I didn’t feel very good,” she told me. As we chatted Colombia’s Leidy Solis Arboleda remained onstage, but she only received the second-warmest ovation that night. The biggest went to the teenager who kept pressing and earned silver instead of settling for bronze. Colombia won the event but Ecuador won the night.
— Morgan Campbell
LAST WALTZ
Nobody died, but it still felt like a funeral. On a rainy night in April, the Belleville Bulls, a longtime member of the Ontario Hockey League, played the final home game in team history. The team was relocating to Hamilton, and by losing the playoff game that night, the Bulls had pulled up the final meaningful stake from Belleville. “It’s a loss,” said Kim Grimes, a professor at nearby Loyalist College, wiping away tears. “It’s like losing a person, in a way.”
After the game, Bulls defenceman Adam Bignell skated out and placed his jersey right at centre ice. It was powerfully symbolic. “You’ll have people who have been here for the 34 years who have lost their spouse, so this is where they come to hang out,” Grimes said. “This is where they come to meet friends. This is where they come to feel a part of something.”
— Sean Fitz-Gerald
WALK ON
I like race walking, quite a lot. And like race walkers themselves I sometimes find myself defending the sport — How is that even a sport? Why don’t they just run? — but for once this year, I got to do the chortling. At a post-Pan Am party with my sports colleagues, I pulled up the world championships live feed from Beijing where Canadian Ben Thorne was on his way to a bronze medal. And, before long, a big group gathered around the laptop screen watching and checking social media for updates on Thorne’s progress and the disqualification of others. Elite race walkers have to push themselves to the edge of their physical abilities and stay just within the rules requiring a straight knee and one foot on the ground. It makes for a unique and technically difficult sport and when people stop making fun of it long enough to watch it, they can see that.
— Kerry Gillespie
STUNNING COMEBACK
Marcus Stroman said he would be back just days after what was believed to be season-ending ACL surgery in spring training. But it was still remarkable when he made good on that promise, returning to the Blue Jays in September, just in time for a spirited home-stretch. In a second half in which everything seemed to go right for the Jays, Stroman’s feelgood story was the cherry on top, offering the team a late-season adrenalin injection. But he didn’t just make it back, he returned in midseason form, posting a 5-0 record and 2.72 ERA in seven starts, including three in the post-season. That the effervescent right-hander not only rehabbed in record time but simultaneously completed his degree at Duke University lifted the narrative to Hollywood heights.
— Brendan Kennedy
HISTORIC DAY
It was a fateful day for two of Toron- to’s sports franchises, as Toronto FC secured the franchise’s first playoff berth and the Blue Jays won the ALDS over the Rangers. Maybe I was in the minority as someone who paid attention to both wins that night. But walking in the streets after both games were finished, I came across fans of both stripes. They were both equally joyful. It’s a magical thing, when sport unites large groups of people like that. I think Oct. 14 was the best example of it in Toronto this year.
— Laura Armstrong
INNING TO REMEMBER
Jose Bautista’s heroics wouldn’t have been as memorable without the chaos that set the stage for him. Tied 2-2 in the elimination Game 5 of the ALDS, Russell Martin’s throw from behind the plate went off of Shin-Soo Choo’s bat, up the third-base line and into the strangest series of turns you might ever see in sports. The Rangers’ go-ahead run scored, was debated, allowed and rock-headed fans made it rain beers from the 500 section at Rogers Centre. Facing elimination in The Most Toronto Way Ever, the Jays benefitted from three (three!) Rangers errors to re-tie the score. Bautista then crushed a threerun homer and ignited a near brawl with a bat flip that will live in gifinfamy forever, prolonging the Jays’ season and probably sparing the city a riot. It went from that ugly to glorious that quickly.
— Chris O’Leary
PAN AM MAGIC
We’d already witnessed the fabulous opening ceremonies and I was stunned at the fireworks display off the CN Tower (something I’d never seen. It was beautiful). But on this Pan Am-related event, I walked with my daughter to Nathan Phillips Square to take in Trombone Shorty and try to get a picture of that TORONTO sign, another legacy of the Games that we thought we didn’t want. It was a spectacular evening. The music was great. The square was filled with people having a great time, taking weird selfies, eating from food trucks. It felt like a real civic moment. Then, when the music stopped, the fireworks started. Behind City Hall. Again, another great location for a fireworks show. One I’d never seen. It was beautiful.
— Kevin McGran
HIGH HOPES
The first day of training camp with the Argos is a time of warm, spring air and fresh optimism. Most interesting are the new prospects and their backgrounds. Each player coming to camp has an interesting story to tell about how he got here. I remember a big deal this year when the Argos brought in former Alabama quarterback Blake Sims. There was a big media fuss over him. He came with great credentials, but he had problems holding onto the ball, and the Argos finally released him. It’s a tough business and it’s interesting to see that players with great pedigrees in college football down south struggle to make it up here.
— Curtis Rush
BASEBALL’S RESURGENCE
The “moment” stretched from July to October but it was a wonderful to see a downtrodden Blue Jays franchise electrify so many loyal fans. It didn’t last long enough with the loss to Kansas City in the ALCS and then the sudden and emotional departure of general manager Alex Anthopoulos but the way the Blue Jays brought fans together from coast-to-coast was memorable. Strangers spoke to each other about every game and every player and it showed how galvanizing sports can be for a society. It was a nice break from the realities of life.
— Doug Smith
HAT TRICK
Edwin Encarnacion’s three homers on Aug. 29 were exceptional on their own, but there was something more there than just stats. Encarnacion is an eminently likeable athlete, and his “Edwing” home run trot is pure fun and enthusiasm, never showboating. But at that point of the season, with the Jays already on a roll to the postseason, that was the one moment that made fans believe anything was possible.
— Mark Zwolinski