William Lou Leaving 'The Raptors Show'

[WaltFrazier]

I’m always bewildered by how diverse our fan base is but shocked by the lack of diversity amongst the media who cover the team. Crazy thing is that when I was kid growing up in the 90s we had that problem and it still persists as a 42 year old man raising my own kids into raptor fandom

I’m not Asian but loved hearing Will and Alex and listening to their relatable stories. It’s going to be tough listening to Blake talk about G League prospects

Yeah Tim Micallef would be the best choice as Reeko posted but him and Blake as two white guys is probably a look that won't fly. Not sure if Savannah Hamilton has the chops yet.

[NinjaBro]

I’m always bewildered by how diverse our fan base is but shocked by the lack of diversity amongst the media who cover the team. Crazy thing is that when I was kid growing up in the 90s we had that problem and it still persists as a 42 year old man raising my own kids into raptor fandom

I’m not Asian but loved hearing Will and Alex and listening to their relatable stories. It’s going to be tough listening to Blake talk about G League prospects

Yeah Tim Micallef would be the best choice as Reeko posted but him and Blake as two white guys is probably a look that won't fly. Not sure if Savannah Hamilton has the chops yet.

Get Mopete and Alex Wong to host together.

We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffen before it's too late! - PhilBlackson

[Mr Funk]

One person we forgot about as a potential replacement would be Vivek Jacob: very knowledgeable and insightful but not boring, can be critical of the Raps, naturally funny and not a try hard, and most importantly he has on-air experience.

[T_saurus]

I liked listening to him, sorry to hear about this.

[Anticon]

I'd be very surprised if the show is back next year.

I'm not a podcast listener but I honestly only tuned in for the episodes where Alex and Will announced they were leaving.

Similar to the NBA shows on ESPN, even if you like the personalities, it isn't really all that interesting to tune into for an hour.

[And1Skip]

The Raptors Show is the least rated weekday radio show on the Fan and is always given the worst time-slot (where the least people actually tune into the radio) so they weren't paying him much anyways. That's not a timeslot that a guy like Tim Micallef or any well known sports personality would take on a regular basis. I'm sure most of the target audience listen to Will Lou by downloading the podcast anyway so that really sucks for Will that he doesnt get any of the monetization for that as his show was owned by Sportsnet.

Look forward to see what he'll be up to when he does his own thing, but to be successful, he needs to grasp a bigger audience. 53K followers on X isn't cutting it. He even needs to go even bigger than No Dunks as I hate to say it as half of them are Canadian, but No Dunks does not have a large enough following to be making money. It never changes, but the only way to make it relatively big in sports media is to go down to the states (which is what No Dunks did) but get to the Ringer level of popularity.

[Reeko]

I enjoy Will, and Alex as a producer who jumps in for small doses. I couldn't stomach them as co-hosts. I don't need them to be super serious or analytical, but Alex was too far on the other end, just terrible and/or sensationalist takes when he's on the mic. I do really enjoy his books tho.

I'll definitely support and tune into their new show to start.

I’m about to finish up pre historic. It has been a great and eye opening read.

[WuTang_OG]

I enjoy Will, and Alex as a producer who jumps in for small doses. I couldn't stomach them as co-hosts. I don't need them to be super serious or analytical, but Alex was too far on the other end, just terrible and/or sensationalist takes when he's on the mic. I do really enjoy his books tho.

I'll definitely support and tune into their new show to start.

I’m about to finish up pre historic. It has been a great and eye opening read.

coles notes?

[mtcan]

I'd be very surprised if the show is back next year.

I'm not a podcast listener but I honestly only tuned in for the episodes where Alex and Will announced they were leaving.

Similar to the NBA shows on ESPN, even if you like the personalities, it isn't really all that interesting to tune into for an hour.

Sadly I don't think the daily episode schedule worked well for Will and Alex. The talk becomes stale and repetitive especially in the days between games.

I can handle 2 or 3 pods a week plus post-game reaction pods.

[Reeko]

I enjoy Will, and Alex as a producer who jumps in for small doses. I couldn't stomach them as co-hosts. I don't need them to be super serious or analytical, but Alex was too far on the other end, just terrible and/or sensationalist takes when he's on the mic. I do really enjoy his books tho.

I'll definitely support and tune into their new show to start.

I’m about to finish up pre historic. It has been a great and eye opening read.

coles notes?

- John Bitove Jr beat out Larry T for the franchise.
- They had to sell something like 12,500 season tickets before they could officially have the franchise, which they did. Vancouver on the other hand really struggled to hit that quota.
- The rules for expansion teams really hampered their ability to start off on the right foot, including a lower salary cap than the rest of the teams in the league.
- Players loved the food scene here, even back then.
- The SkyDome was terrible to play in. It was cold, and the size of it threw players off their game, especially shooters.
- The 90s was the golden age of team logos.
- Samuel L Jackson was filming a movie here during our first season and came to a lot of games.
- Isaiah Thomas wanted to tank but our head coach Brendan Malone wanted to win. This caused a lot of friction internally. Malone would play Stoudamire 40 mpg regularly.
- Leo Rautins was nice before the injuries.
- We lost. A lot.

[Ackshun]

I enjoy Will, and Alex as a producer who jumps in for small doses. I couldn't stomach them as co-hosts. I don't need them to be super serious or analytical, but Alex was too far on the other end, just terrible and/or sensationalist takes when he's on the mic. I do really enjoy his books tho.

I'll definitely support and tune into their new show to start.

I’m about to finish up pre historic. It has been a great and eye opening read.

Nice. The hardcover has a beautiful purple Dinostyle jacket. I’ve had this queue on the bookshelf for quite a while but I’ll probably jump in before the season starts. Too many great books out there and not enough time..

[WuTang_OG]

I’m about to finish up pre historic. It has been a great and eye opening read.

coles notes?

- John Bitove Jr beat out Larry T for the franchise.
- They had to sell something like 12,500 season tickets before they could officially have the franchise, which they did. Vancouver on the other hand really struggled to hit that quota.
- The rules for expansion teams really hampered their ability to start off on the right foot, including a lower salary cap than the rest of the teams in the league.
- Players loved the food scene here, even back then.
- The SkyDome was terrible to play in. It was cold, and the size of it threw players off their game, especially shooters.
- The 90s was the golden age of team logos.
- Samuel L Jackson was filming a movie here during our first season and came to a lot of games.
- Isaiah Thomas wanted to tank but our head coach Brendan Malone wanted to win. This caused a lot of friction internally. Malone would play Stoudamire 40 mpg regularly.
- Leo Rautins was nice before the injuries.
- We lost. A lot.

thanks for that

Leo was actually regarded as the next Larry Bird at one point funny enough. I remember playing against his son andy at stmikes. he was nice too

[Reeko]

coles notes?

- John Bitove Jr beat out Larry T for the franchise.
- They had to sell something like 12,500 season tickets before they could officially have the franchise, which they did. Vancouver on the other hand really struggled to hit that quota.
- The rules for expansion teams really hampered their ability to start off on the right foot, including a lower salary cap than the rest of the teams in the league.
- Players loved the food scene here, even back then.
- The SkyDome was terrible to play in. It was cold, and the size of it threw players off their game, especially shooters.
- The 90s was the golden age of team logos.
- Samuel L Jackson was filming a movie here during our first season and came to a lot of games.
- Isaiah Thomas wanted to tank but our head coach Brendan Malone wanted to win. This caused a lot of friction internally. Malone would play Stoudamire 40 mpg regularly.
- Leo Rautins was nice before the injuries.
- We lost. A lot.

thanks for that

Leo was actually regarded as the next Larry Bird at one point funny enough. I remember playing against his son andy at stmikes. he was nice too

Just to add a couple of things:
- We set up the 72-10 Bulls to lose that night. A party was organized the previous evening and apparently the Bulls players stayed there until 8am. They were all hungover during the game.
- Alvin Robertson scored the franchise's first points. He had been accused of assaulting a female the night before the opener.
- Acie Earl set it up so that the Wu Tang Clan could perform in Scarborough.

[720]

I’m always bewildered by how diverse our fan base is but shocked by the lack of diversity amongst the media who cover the team. Crazy thing is that when I was kid growing up in the 90s we had that problem and it still persists as a 42 year old man raising my own kids into raptor fandom

I’m not Asian but loved hearing Will and Alex and listening to their relatable stories. It’s going to be tough listening to Blake talk about G League prospects

Yeah Tim Micallef would be the best choice as Reeko posted but him and Blake as two white guys is probably a look that won't fly. Not sure if Savannah Hamilton has the chops yet.

Blake would definitely get it if he wants it. But I don’t know if he does.

[WaltFrazier]

I’m always bewildered by how diverse our fan base is but shocked by the lack of diversity amongst the media who cover the team. Crazy thing is that when I was kid growing up in the 90s we had that problem and it still persists as a 42 year old man raising my own kids into raptor fandom

I’m not Asian but loved hearing Will and Alex and listening to their relatable stories. It’s going to be tough listening to Blake talk about G League prospects

Yeah Tim Micallef would be the best choice as Reeko posted but him and Blake as two white guys is probably a look that won't fly. Not sure if Savannah Hamilton has the chops yet.

Blake would definitely get it if he wants it. But I don’t know if he does.

He's doing a lot of Blue Jays stuff too right? I feel like basketball is his favorite but he may see the Rogers flagship Jays as a better career path.

Also Blake is not the most exciting or dynamic on air personality.

[joseph227]

I actually enjoyed Will more before sportsnet. He had more personality and made some more "edgy"jokes. Once he went to sportsnet of course he became more stale and pr friendly.

Blake becoming the cohost further destroyed the show and brought the energy down to zero. He reads basketball reference and cleaning the class which makes him more knowledgeable than other hosts but he's just so damn boring. Same as when he does baseball. Fangraphs and statcast is great but all his opinions are based on that and he doesn't add a unique spin to anything.

[HumbleRen]

The Raptors Show is the least rated weekday radio show on the Fan and is always given the worst time-slot (where the least people actually tune into the radio) so they weren't paying him much anyways. That's not a timeslot that a guy like Tim Micallef or any well known sports personality would take on a regular basis. I'm sure most of the target audience listen to Will Lou by downloading the podcast anyway so that really sucks for Will that he doesnt get any of the monetization for that as his show was owned by Sportsnet.

Look forward to see what he'll be up to when he does his own thing, but to be successful, he needs to grasp a bigger audience. 53K followers on X isn't cutting it. He even needs to go even bigger than No Dunks as I hate to say it as half of them are Canadian, but No Dunks does not have a large enough following to be making money. It never changes, but the only way to make it relatively big in sports media is to go down to the states (which is what No Dunks did) but get to the Ringer level of popularity.

I mean how much bigger can get they get ? They’re either #1 or #2 on the podcast charts for Basketball in Canada at any given time.

They’re not going to get more radio play or tv audiences because the demographic for the average listener is significantly younger for any Leafs/Jays related shows so yeah, I think it’s the absolute right move to go independent for them.

[ForeverTFC]

Yeah Tim Micallef would be the best choice as Reeko posted but him and Blake as two white guys is probably a look that won't fly. Not sure if Savannah Hamilton has the chops yet.

Blake would definitely get it if he wants it. But I don’t know if he does.

He's doing a lot of Blue Jays stuff too right? I feel like basketball is his favorite but he may see the Rogers flagship Jays as a better career path.

Also Blake is not the most exciting or dynamic on air personality.

He’ll likely prioritize the Jays. If you’re going to work at Rogers, better to be aligned to Ted Rogers’ play thing.

I like Blake a lot but he’s also very clearly a company man. Can’t blame him when Rogers runs a government sanctioned duopoly that owns the content, the coverage of the content, the distribution of the content and the pipes.

[CantStopTheRock]

I actually enjoyed Will more before sportsnet. He had more personality and made some more "edgy"jokes. Once he went to sportsnet of course he became more stale and pr friendly.

Blake becoming the cohost further destroyed the show and brought the energy down to zero. He reads basketball reference and cleaning the class which makes him more knowledgeable than other hosts but he's just so damn boring. Same as when he does baseball. Fangraphs and statcast is great but all his opinions are based on that and he doesn't add a unique spin to anything.

I don't even know if it's more knowledgeable, he just loves stats and just regurgitates them. It's nothing new for people into that stuff and just boring for people that are not into it.

They would be better served getting someone that has a more player or coach perspective that can break down what people are seeing and actually interpret things for the more casual listener.

He also brings little energy and does not have a good voice at all for it. I prefer reading his articles

[TimeForChange]

I actually enjoyed Will more before sportsnet. He had more personality and made some more "edgy"jokes. Once he went to sportsnet of course he became more stale and pr friendly.

Blake becoming the cohost further destroyed the show and brought the energy down to zero. He reads basketball reference and cleaning the class which makes him more knowledgeable than other hosts but he's just so damn boring. Same as when he does baseball. Fangraphs and statcast is great but all his opinions are based on that and he doesn't add a unique spin to anything.

I don't even know if it's more knowledgeable, he just loves stats and just regurgitates them. It's nothing new for people into that stuff and just boring for people that are not into it.

They would be better served getting someone that has a more player or coach perspective that can break down what people are seeing and actually interpret things for the more casual listener.

He also brings little energy and does not have a good voice at all for it. I prefer reading his articles

yeah blake should not be an on-air personality. he needs to stick to written content.