[transplant99]

Was it five years ago, or six? Raptors announcer Matt Devlin doesn’t remember—that’s how naturally his signature three-point call developed. It started with a Kyle Lowry three, he thinks, from Mississauga!, or something like that. “It’s nothing that original,” Devlin says. Broadcasters have been yelling from downtown since the 1960s, at least, adding local markers for effect.

The Raptors, though, are different, positioned as a country’s team rather than a city’s, and so the call became its own thing too. Suddenly Devlin was shouting out Yellowknife, 5,000 kilometers away in Canada’s Northwest Territories, and Edmonton, and Halifax.

And yet, the Raptors’ run isn’t all Devlin will cherish from this spring. Because while the city’s basketball culture has been properly introduced to the states, its voice has become properly Canadian.

Last year, the Devlins began applying for Canadian citizenship. They already felt at home in the country, staying during the offseason. During his first year on the job, Devlin would spend flights to and from games quizzing then-producer Paul Graham about his new audience and his new home. A decade on, Devlin’s son Ian was drafted into the Ontario Hockey League (how about a shoutout for Barrie then, eh). What’s more Canadian than that?

https://www.si.com/tech-media/2019/0..._medium=social