Fanshots

Okay, so Chris Bosh is coming back to Toronto tonight for the first time since he made the decision to go and play with D-Wade and subsequently LeBron James in Miami during the offseason.
There are a lot of people out there talking about how much they are going to boo Bosh. How loud it will be. How much venom will be spewed. There are people comparing this to Vince. And that’s just ridiculous.

Let’s be serious for a second. As an adult and a sports fan (which you assumedly are) you understand that pro-sports are a business. You also understand the situations that arise when a star athlete is in the walk year of his contract. The decision by head office has to be made as to whether or not the team has a chance to resign the player or whether they are better served to make a trade and move on during the season. Brian Colangelo made the decision to hold onto Bosh last season and try to resign his all-star forward as a free agent. It didn’t happen and there are a lot of people, myself included, who will tell you that it was never going to happen in reality.

Chris Bosh has always felt like a big fish in a small pond. He’s also seen the rest of his draft class have a lot more success than he has. The odds were astronomically in favor of his departure. I don’t fault him for leaving. I don’t fault him for the way that the Raptors missed out on potential compensation for his services. I don’t Chris Bosh for not being a part of the 2010-2011 Toronto Raptors.

Now, if you choose to hold a grudge that Bosh didn’t play when most of the world felt he would have been able last spring – I can’t stop you. I was upset at the time and looking back it still stings a little. But in all honesty the Raptors weren’t going to make it out of the 1st round and would have probably only lasted 4 games anyway. Chris Bosh wasn’t going to win that team a playoff round. It wasn’t going to happen. He isn’t that player. Which is why Miami was a smart move for him.

So, keep this in mind if you are at the game tonight at the Air Canada Centre – Chris Bosh didn’t handcuff or screw the Raptors organization of the fans in any way similar to Vincent Lamar Carter. He put in 7 years, was an all-star, broke team records and was a solid citizen. It was just time to move on. And as fans that’s exactly what we need to do as well.

With that said, if Bosh gets hot and goes off for 40 and 20 tonight I’m going to be pissed and I’ll be booing as loudly as I can. Then again, I’d do the same thing to Josh Smith or Amare Stoudemire.

Enjoy the game!