The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Raptors and UFC seeing numbers rise

The Super Bowl pretty much sucked the air out of the competition last weekend, setting viewing records on both sides of the border.

Nothing really surprising in that, considering the hype that led up to the game and the fact the Super Bowl actually lived up to that hype. In some ways, it may even have exceeded it.

In all the pre-game blather, I'm pretty sure nobody predicted an ending like that. But the Super Bowl wasn't the only show in town -- except in Phoenix where it pretty much was (the Phoenix Open doesn't really count.)

If you scan past the Super Bowl's huge numbers, a few surprises emerge.

The first is the Toronto Raptors, who have survived a bit of a dry spell and are creating interest once again -- just in time for a playoff drive.

The Raptors' game against Brooklyn on Friday averaged 442,000 viewers -- the kind of audience the NBA usually draws only in the playoffs. The Raptors game against Washington, despite being on Super Sunday, averaged 226,000 -- another solid number by NBA standards.

The Raptors numbers are a bit all over the map -- dipping as low as 150,000 in recent weeks while also soaring above 400,000 -- but last year 150,000 was considered a good audience.

This year, it's a bad night.

If the Raptors can keep rolling, these numbers will be dwarfed by what happens in the post-season -- especially with the market to themselves in Toronto, assuming the Maple Leafs don't pull off one of the greatest comebacks in history.

The second is the continuing popularity of mixed martial arts. Saturday's UFC preliminaries averaged 255,000 viewers on TSN, an impressive number for a sport that is still striving for mainstream acceptance. And that was for preliminary bouts.

Here are the most-watched English-language sports events from the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

THREE TO WATCH

The take on fakes: If you've recently shelled out $100 or more on an NHL replica jersey or almost that on a MLB-authorized cap, you might want to watch Faking It, a TSN-CTV documentary series. The three-part series focuses on the magnitude of the sports memorabilia counterfeiting business. On second hand, you might not want to watch it and keep wearing that jersey wrapped in the bliss of ignorance. Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, CTV.

No bum Raps: Here's something that Toronto fans don't get to see very often: a showdown of epic proportions involving one of their own teams. The Toronto Raptors are sailing along atop the NBA East's Atlantic Division, though there are still are a few non-believers out there. They'll get a good test on Friday against one of the top teams in the West: the L.A. Clippers. 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One.

The dance before the big dance: It's been said that winning the Brier isn't really the biggest test of men's curling in Canada. The real battle takes place in the provincial championships. The B.C., Manitoba and Ontario playdowns finish this weekend with the winners going on to the big sweepstakes. Coverage starts Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One and continues through Sunday.