The news broke yesterday. After 1o years with the Raptors organization, Chuck Swirsky has decided to leave the Raptors and head to Chicago for personal reasons related to his family. It is shock to me because it was so unexpected. Frankly, I still have a hard time coming to terms with it. Chuck was the face of the Raptors. He lived and breathed Raptors basketball. His blog, which I read daily, is a perfect example of his passion and love for Raptors basketball and Toronto. He will surely be missed even by his haters who disliked the very thing I liked about him: his optimism.

I know the Raptors paid his salary and so in a sense, he may have been required to say nice things about them, but I felt a lot of things he did say were things he truly believed in. He loved Toronto and Canada. At every opportunity, he promoted our city. He was a leading member of the Raptors Foundation that is assisting at-risk children by providing them with support programs and support initiatives. His blog (mentioned earlier) paints him as a carefree, outgoing and ever-happy human being with the bigger perspective in mind. Family is important and I totally respect and even admire his decision to leave Raptors because I know he felt at home in Toronto. My dad and I will certainly miss all his catch phrases. We have enjoyed watching him this past year, and simply get very excited whenever he brings out the “salami and cheese” catch phrase. It’s been fun. He’s certainly a great personality.

So long, Chuck. Like you’d say, “it’s been a pleasure.”

I have taken the liberty of pasting most of the catch phrases Chuck has coined through out his years here (coutesy of galeon110 of realgm) just so we all can reminiscence.

• “Are you kidding me?”
• “Onions Baby, Onions!!!”
• “Sick, wicked, and nasty!”
• “Get out the umbrellas; it’s raining treys!” (when the Raptors make several three-pointers).
• “Nothin’ but nylon!” (when a Raptors player hits a shot ).
• “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, ya gotta love it!”
• “Ka-Bosh!” (exclaimed when All-Star Chris Bosh dunks the ball)
• “Oh my Bosh!” (exclaimed when All-Star Chris Bosh makes a play)
• “Kaboom!”
• “You can ring it up from downtown <insert>, this one goes out to <insert>” (When the first Raptors’ three-pointer is scored.)
• “Oh baby, what a play!”
• “Oh no!” (exclaimed when an opposing player makes a scoring play in the clutch)
• “My goodness, Leo.”
• “Always a pleasure talking Raptors’ ball”
• “Rimming..rimming..no.”
• “(Raptors player) has got the mojo goin’!”
• “ He just gave (Name of player) an NBA facial!”
• “A shameless plug!” (Every time Swirsky mentions MLSE in his daily blog)
• “(Name of player) is showing us a little somethin’ somethin’!”
• “(Name of player) shakes and bakes” (When a player crosses over on another)
• “T-Mac to the rack!!!”
• “Vincent Lamar Carter!”
• “(Name of player) has the feel and the flow here at the ACC” (When someone is playing well) * “That’s an MP3 download!” (When Morris Peterson makes a 3-pointer)
• ” A Three ball from Parkerville!” and “A 3 from 18 parker street” (when Anthony Parker scores a 3-pointer)
• “(Name of a player that got blocked) just ate some Spalding!!!”
• “Bam!” (referring to a big-time shot)
• “(Raptors player) filling it up.”
• “To the rack and a dunk!” (exclaimed when a player drives in and dunks it hard)
• “GET OUT THE SALAMI AND CHEESE MAMA! THIS BALL GAME IS ‘OVER’!”
• “RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN!”