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Who knew that the Toronto forward's breakout performance would come not on the court but in a YouTube video? That hilarious turn has helped raise his profile to new heights

Let's talk about The Video. You know the one. That grainy, 77-second window into Chris Bosh's personality that has made the Toronto Raptors' All-Star power forward an overnight Internet sensation, one on par with Andy Milonakis, Numa Numa and Paris Hilton. (O.K., maybe not Paris, but definitely Perez.) Thanks to a $300 Sony Handicam, a Western wardrobe and a little tech savvy, Bosh has emerged from the relative anonymity that comes with playing on the only NBA team north of the border. His now famous YouTube clip -- which features the 6' 10", 230-pound Bosh, clad in a black cowboy hat, a black blazer, a white shirt and a bolo tie that would have made John Wayne proud, channeling his inner used-car salesman in a pronounced Texas drawl while urging fans to punch his name on the All-Star ballot -- has become more popular than an average NHL broadcast. (Through Sunday it had been viewed 440,803 times on YouTube, plus an untold number more on Bosh's website, chris-bosh.com.)

"It has become bigger than I could have imagined," says Bosh. "The Internet is the most powerful tool in the world. It's everywhere."

This wasn't Bosh's first foray into filmmaking. For a high school project Bosh once made a mock commercial for Spoape, a fictional sponge filled with soap. And in his only year at Georgia Tech, he reenacted D'Angelo's music video for Untitled (How Does It Feel) for kicks. In case you forgot, that's the one in which the R&B singer stands in front of the camera singing while, by all appearances, completely naked. "He didn't strip all the way down," Bosh's brother, Joel, says of Chris's version. "Just the shirt. But he was twirling around the living room." (Says Chris, "No, he did not tell you that.")

Spragga wrote:

This wasn't Bosh's first foray into filmmaking. For a high school project Bosh once made a mock commercial for Spoape, a fictional sponge filled with soap. And in his only year at Georgia Tech, he reenacted D'Angelo's music video for Untitled (How Does It Feel) for kicks. In case you forgot, that's the one in which the R&B singer stands in front of the camera singing while, by all appearances, completely naked. "He didn't strip all the way down," Bosh's brother, Joel, says of Chris's version. "Just the shirt. But he was twirling around the living room." (Says Chris, "No, he did not tell you that.")

lmao that would be something I would never want to see like ever.

"It worked," says point guard Jos