The Case to cheer Chris Bosh

[peteyjones13]

If I was going to the game on Wednesday night, I would cheer Chris Bosh. Here is my case.

He always played hard, and played passion. He was a good guy who worked his ass off as a Rap, and always represented the city well. He did this for seven years.

He did not not try, or not play through injury as BC stated that he did in his last season. He missed 6 or 7 games after the all-star break with a sprained ankle. BC said he didn't play through injury. First of all, I don't know how many of you have sprained an ankle, but it can be very bad. Secondly, it was ridiculous for BC to say that. After breaking his FACE towards the end of the year, he missed games at the end of the year. AFTER BREAKING HIS FACE.

He made some big mistakes this summer...tweeting 'Where should I play', and constantly tweeting his great excitement about each free agent meeting he had throughout the summer was a slap in the face to the city of Toronto.

Still, his seven years of passion more than outweigh the negatives. It bothers me that he will be booed whole-heartedly when he comes back. It really does not represent Toronto well.
Vince didn't try for like 2 and a half years. Chris played hard, and with passion. He deserves to be recognized for the work he put in as a Rap.

I'm confused anyways, are we booing him because of HOW he left, or the fact that he left?

Anyways, cheer Chris Bosh on Wednesday night!

[darth_federer]

The only thing I have to say is this. BC offered him a max deal even after claiming that he allegedly quit. So that to me just looks like BC trying to cover his behind for the horrible job that he did.

Last year was an audition year. Bosh had to prove that he was worthy of a max deal and the Raptors had to put a decent team around him. Our defense was horrible, our coach was incomeptent and our players were bad. Is it really a surprise he left? I mean almost every NBA outlet had reported that Bosh was leaving to Miami. The only way to stave off that pressure was by the team winning games and making the playoffs. They missed the playoffs and he left. It really is that simple. At the trade deadline they were on the heels of Boston for the 4th seed and were on pace for a 50 win season. So of course both sides thought that they could have something special that year and no moves were made.

“I did not know Chris was leaving officially before July 1, but there were obvious telltale signs he was out the door long before,” Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo said in an email. “It still would not have influenced me to trade him earlier, because there was never a viable deal to make.”

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/S ... z1E6SvEdf7

[Harry Palmer]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW0RAiVuBL8[/youtube]

[5DOM]

He was paid $10M+ a year. Do we really have to cheer him just because he always played hard for the team?

[redred9]

I would cheer Bosh.

There are some things I don't like about his last year - I don't think he played as hard as he could possibly could have (goes for the entire team, though. But he was the leader so..), and I don't like how he was unwilling to let us/BC know that he had no intention of coming back. Through the all star break he kept saying that we would be crazy to trade him now.. yeah right.

Having said that, most of my memories of him are fond and he is a very very good basketball player obviously. Who wouldn't want to go win possible championships with a couple of legends in Miami? Especially once he saw he wasn't good enough to carry a team on his shoulders by himself (a large part due to long term health imo).

We dodge a one giant-ass contract and get to rebuild 'the right way' (hopefully). Were people really in love with being perennial 8th seed or so? I'm not sure where the bitterness is coming from here. He was an unrestricted free agent- he could do what he damn well pleased. I just wish he was being honest with all the 'it's good business to work together etc etc'

But i'll feel bad for him if people boo him. This wasn't like the Vince situation where he completely disrespected us.

[sanity]

From last summer:

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/08/hedo-turkoglu-unloads-on-raptors-bryan-colangelo/

“People have to realize something is wrong with that organization and nobody wants to go there any more,” he said in a phone interview from Turkey, where he is captaining the Turkish national team at the World Championships. “It’s not just the players who see this.”

Turkoglu’s remarks were sparked by Colangelo’s recent criticism of former Raptors teammate Chris Bosh. Colangelo accused Bosh of “checking out” last season while the Raptors were battling the Chicago Bulls for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot … “It’s funny that people will talk behind your back,” Turkoglu said of Colangelo.

“If he was feeling this way, why not have the guts to say it during the season? Why not say it to Chris? Now that Chris has left, it’s not nice to say those things. Chris has been a franchise player and he did a lot of good things for the Raptors,” Turkoglu added. “I don’t think Chris is the type of player to quit on his teammates.”

..

Also to note that Colangelo didn't say anything the sort about Turkoglu, and we all know about the amount of effort he gave for us here...

[raptorsriot]

+1.

I think he gave a longer sustained effort towards winning in Toronto than any player of talent we've ever had. It's not his fault that the franchise floundered so badly or that, while good, he's not a generational talent capable of making a team competitive on his own.

After the Raptors drafted Bosh, management failed to secure another player of significant talent even though we had multiple lottery picks (incl. #1) and a considerable amount of cap space. They couldn't even put together a sensible cast of role players (mostly no center).

I would cheer Bosh. I smh at those who would boo him and then support a scrub like Bargnani. Bosh dived for plenty of loose balls when he played here. Unless management gets their act together, I doubt we'll see a player as good as Bosh play here for that long. I suppose you can all get ready to boo Davis or Derozan right now.

[360windmill]

let's cheer the drag queen that was owned by this journeymen in the playoffs

[ratul]

Honestly, I don't really care about Bosh all that much - he did play hard, he was stupid in his exit, but the fact is we suck, have a bad GM and couldn't make it work. More importantly, Bosh is a better third fiddle than a top-star so we should have realized that - and I guess the Jermaine thing should have worked out, but it didn't.

My big problem is with Colangelo - I don't really think he knows what he is doing - it's basically guess work and we shouldn't have fired Sam. Derozan was a good choice, as was Bargnani, given the circumstances.

I just don't really care about Bosh - I'm more concerned that when I see the nets raptors in a couple weeks, the raptors are going to stink, and I'm hoping we get brandon knight or that Austin Rivers can somehow find a way to come out early.

[redbak]

Agreed. Chris gave it his all and I have no doubt about that. Was Chris good enough to get us past the first round? No. But it goes both ways, Colangelo did a poor job building around him. The talent level was greatly lacking. We all know Chris was never a Lebron/Wade type player to carry a bunch of scrubs, but Chris still did a good job to the best of his abilities. Consider this, the best player Chris had around him was pre-injury T.J Ford where the team actually played very solid ball.

Colangelo was classless when he said Bosh quit, not very professional coming from a mature businessman, and a complete fabrication to deflect blame from the crappy job he did. The media also played a part in the vilification of CB, taking quotes out of context, using sensationalistic headlines. Unfortunately, many people fell for it and it became harder to discuss the CB situation with people who displayed no intellectual consistency. I will cheer for CB for what he did when he's announced. But that's it and I’m going to move on. If I'm going to boo, it's going to be the whole Miami team because it's fun to hate them.

[fredericklove]

Booing is a way of showing how much we missed him.

[PdiC]

I say cheer him tonight for the following reasons:
1. Being the face of the team and the only allstar
2. All the good he did for the city while he was here

After tonight, he's just another opponent. If you want to boo him to get him off his game, go for it.

[Too Late Crew]

I'd cheer him for sure. The memories of him out there busting his tail for 40 MPG even after the Raptors were out of playoff contention under Sam stick out in my mind.

No one is perfect. He did not handel his exit perfectly but he's not paid to do that. He's paid to play basketball and he did that to the best of his ability and even beypond a very high % of the time.

I'd be happy to hear a "Fire BC" chant though

[Strategist1]

I'd cheer him for sure. The memories of him out there busting his tail for 40 MPG even after the Raptors were out of playoff contention under Sam stick out in my mind.

No one is perfect. He did not handel his exit perfectly but he's not paid to do that. He's paid to play basketball and he did that to the best of his ability and even beypond a very high % of the time.

I'd be happy to hear a "Fire BC" chant though

+1

Judging him as a player, Bosh was great for this organization. How he played in his 7 years here far outweighs the negative vibes of his departure. As well, he contributed significantly through local and Canadian charitable works including $1 million off the extension he signed.

Donations of this magnitude are rare which none of our current raptors or management has ever matched.

Yes, the Bosh-MLSE/Raptor relationship ended badly. BUT that was a business relationship. It had nothing do with the fans. Things are said, and people move on just like breaking up with a girlfriend.

He definitely didn't handle his departure well, but BC has handled this just as bad. BC looks like a fool holding grudges.

[Makoto15]

let's cheer the drag queen that was owned by this journeymen in the playoffs

Even though I will always be a CB4 fan and have a tonne of respect for him, I'm glad you posted this. It is forever unforgivable what he didn't do in that NJ series. Other memories I can't let go, VC and Alvin Williams defensive performance in the PHI series. And Jalen Rose's defensive performance in the game of VC's first game back at ACC on NJ. Taking those to the grave.

With WED game, booing Chris makes no sense. The guy only gave his heart and soul everynight for 7 years. Great community guy. Class act that always reprensented the city well. It was such a simple choice. Stay in T.O. and praying that management all of sudden becomes competant and can put pieces around you, or just go to a good team and compete right now in the prime of your career. If you choose to stay in T.O., you'd either be from T.O. or just plain dumb.

If you boo Chris, it pretty much makes the VC and Tracy booing meaningless. We boo them for a reason. If you just boo everyone who played here and signed elsewhere, it takes away from what VC did and why we boo him.

[MrBojangelz71]

From last summer:

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/08/hedo-turkoglu-unloads-on-raptors-bryan-colangelo/

“People have to realize something is wrong with that organization and nobody wants to go there any more,” he said in a phone interview from Turkey, where he is captaining the Turkish national team at the World Championships. “It’s not just the players who see this.”

Turkoglu’s remarks were sparked by Colangelo’s recent criticism of former Raptors teammate Chris Bosh. Colangelo accused Bosh of “checking out” last season while the Raptors were battling the Chicago Bulls for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot … “It’s funny that people will talk behind your back,” Turkoglu said of Colangelo.

“If he was feeling this way, why not have the guts to say it during the season? Why not say it to Chris? Now that Chris has left, it’s not nice to say those things. Chris has been a franchise player and he did a lot of good things for the Raptors,” Turkoglu added. “I don’t think Chris is the type of player to quit on his teammates.”

..

Also to note that Colangelo didn't say anything the sort about Turkoglu, and we all know about the amount of effort he gave for us here...

Hedo was a consummate lazy azz that consistently blamed his poor play on anything and everything unrelated to him. As with everything, Hedo used a situation to deflect any responsibility off himself and onto the organization.

The CB situation was perfect timing for Hedo to tell the world that he was misused, mistreated and mislead once again. Moron was incapable of holding himself accountable for anything and whatever boos CB receives tonight, Hedo should get 10 fold.

[AstonMartin]

Fans going to tonights game should be requried to wear a muzzle, Bosh wouldn't know what to think.

[team edward]

I once had a girlfriend for 7 years. We had our ups and downs, but she was generally a really great girlfriend. Cooked, cleaned, good in the sack, generally low maintenance, pretty good looking if a little skinny. I thought things were going really well and was about to ask her to marry me. But then she left me for another man. See, the problem was that I'm just a blue collar worker. I make good money and own a nice house in a good neighbourhood. But she watched too many hollywood movies and longed for the spotlight, so she ran off with a hotshot investment banker from Miami with slicked hair and pinstripe suits. Even though she was an educated and self-supporting woman, she would rather be a house wife of Miami and carry a tiny dog in a purse around South Beach. I understand that's what some people in this world want, but I thought she was different. To quote Alanis Morissette, it was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced.

I'm still heartbroken, even though I'm in a pretty good place now and in hindsight i'm not sure if we would have gone the distance anyway. I went out for a drink with her the other day when she was in town. I was nice and polite, even though I wanted to express all my hurt and anger in public. I wanted to boo her to her face, but that's not socially acceptable. But I can boo Bosh, and boo him I will.

[Tim Osman]

I once had a girlfriend for 7 years. We had our ups and downs, but she was generally a really great girlfriend. Cooked, cleaned, good in the sack, generally low maintenance, pretty good looking if a little skinny. I thought things were going really well and was about to ask her to marry me. But then she left me for another man. See, the problem was that I'm just a blue collar worker. I make good money and own a nice house in a good neighbourhood. But she watched too many hollywood movies and longed for the spotlight, so she ran off with a hotshot investment banker from Miami with slicked hair and pinstripe suits. Even though she was an educated and self-supporting woman, she would rather be a house wife of Miami and carry a tiny dog in a purse around South Beach. I understand that's what some people in this world want, but I thought she was different. To quote Alanis Morissette, it was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced.

I'm still heartbroken, even though I'm in a pretty good place now and in hindsight i'm not sure if we would have gone the distance anyway. I went out for a drink with her the other day when she was in town. I was nice and polite, even though I wanted to express all my hurt and anger in public. I wanted to boo her to her face, but that's not socially acceptable. But I can boo Bosh, and boo him I will.

cool story bro

[BorisDK1]

I think we should be booing players currently on the team who actually deserve it, not Bosh who did not only what was in his best interests, but the team's long-term. I'd love to hear the Raptors' faithful boo Bargnani every time he gives up an offensive rebound or gives up a score in the post or is lazy in transition. I'd love to hear Raptors fans boo any wing player who gets beat to an offensive rebound in rotation, or boo Calderon for allowing a blow-by in the middle of the floor. These are the people who deserve to be booed, but I guess that takes more thought than just booing a guy because at one point he used to play here and did what he was within his rights to do.