RAPTORS: OFF THE WINDOW, COUNT IT

Belated notes on the Raptors' opening night 106-97 win over Philly:

• Pondering the Raptors' record this season is the wrong question to ask. It's sadly typical of Toronto, where the average perspective on sports ends at the tip of one's nose.
  
  This was already hashed out in the summer: The Raptors' window to reach the NBA Finals is longer than almost any other organization (the Chicago Bulls being the most notable) in the Eastern Conference. Whether they go 52-30 (Michael Grange, globesports.com) or 39-43 (Bill Simmons, espn.com) is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of winning a championship.
  
  However, the Toronto media like to put their teams up on a pedestal. It makes them an easier target when they don't live up to these arbitrarily imposed standards. Hatin' is easier than lovin'. Didn't these guys ever watch The Hurricane?
  
  The Jays don't need to make the playoffs to be worth following and the '07-08 Raptors don't need improve on last season's 47 wins or get to the second round of the playoffs. That's not being soft. That's the hard reality that this is not a one-year endeavour.
• Right, they played a game last night: Considering Chris Bosh was limited to 26 minutes, a nine-point win over pesky Philadelphia was satisfactory. They didn't have to empty the tank ahead of a New Jersey/Boston weekend.
• The Bargs Boards 'n' Blocks Watch: Andrea Bargnani had five rebounds and two stuffs in 22 minutes, which was promising enough considering Bosh wasn't on the floor at the same time as him. Seriously though, with that rebounding, the Raptors are like a football team with a run-and-shoot offence: You just hope they'll have the game out of reach by the fourth quarter.
• If you really like your Raptors, check out altraps.com.