Maki Ohguro -- Anata dake Mitsumeteru（あなただけ見つめてる）

Ordinarily, I have no interest in basketball, but even I couldn't ignore the fact that the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship last night. So, as a Torontonian, I am a happy camper today as are tens of millions of other Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

To give tribute, I wanted to find something appropriate for the occasion so I'm going with one of the theme songs for the manga-turned-anime "Slam Dunk". Again, I've never been taken with Canadian James Naismith's 1891 invention but even I was aware of this famous Japanese pop culture creation due to the fact that I have had students who have been more than happy with both the manga and anime. As for me, the one thing I remember about the show is that one of the players there had that super technique of a thousand-arm block.

It's totally appropriate then that the very first ending theme for "Slam Dunk" was created and performed by 1990s pop/rock singer Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）since I primarily remember her for "Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）, the fiery theme tune she provided for the NHK broadcast of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta that could make the frailest person want to take on a grizzly bear.

Her "Anata dake Mitsumeteru" (I Only Have Eyes for You) has the same sort of fire, and it's how I always feel about an Ohguro song: high and mighty vocals, banging synths and perhaps a hint of Latin in there. The song came out as her 6th single in December 1993 and broke the Oricon Top 10 weeklies by hitting No. 2. Afterwards, it even broke the yearly Top 10 for 1994 by finishing in at No. 8. It even broke the million barrier.

Every player probably started their life in basketball quite humbly but I'm not quite sure if Kawhi Leonard had this sort of start as displayed by the main guy in "Slam Dunk". In any case, the victory parade is on Monday morning, and I've got a feeling that a lot of folks may be coming in late to work or not at all on that day.