Land of the Leaf

Dave Feschuk has some interesting bits from Chris Bosh over at the Toronto Star today.  No, it has nothing to do with deadbeat dads or illegitimate children.

No surprise here as Bosh hints at his plans for 2010 when his contract expires.

“(When) I signed a three-year (extension in 2006)… I had a goal in mind, and that was to put myself in the best position (in 2010) … I’m thinking I just want to stick to my goal, stick to what I was doing…  That’s a part of the plan … I just want to address things (after) next season. There’s a reason why I did things the way I did them back then.”

Bryan Colangelo I assume is busy shopping Bosh to the highest bidder.  At least he fucking better be.

Chris Bosh said he had a big announcement to make.  I’m reluctantly assuming that this was the big announcement:  “Chris Bosh signs with Warner Music Canada”.

From Inside Hoops:

Chris Bosh, NBA All-Star and six-year veteran of the Toronto Raptors, has entered into an agreement with Warner Music Canada to produce a unique DVD and CD to be released in the fall of 2009. Chris Bosh is also thrilled to announce that he has become the first athlete in the world to launch his own application for iPhone and iPod touch on the Apple App Store.

The material on the as-yet-untitled DVD will be based on the original comedic characters Bosh has developed over the past two years in a series of hilarious video clips posted on the internet. The DVD program will also include a tour of Chris’ life in Dallas (giving fans an insider look at the path that brought him to NBA stardom).

Seeing that he signed with Warner Music Canada, does that mean he has plans to sign long-term in Toronto?

Chris Bosh recorded his eighth straight double-double.  Shawn Marion was flying high and finished with 18 points, Quincy Douby poured in 9 points in under nine minutes of action, and the Raptors led the Hawks by as much as 9 points.  The ghost of Sam Mitchell took over as coach halfway through the second quarter and pulled Joey Graham, Patrick O’Bryant, and Jason Kapono off the bench to begin losing.

Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and the rest of the Hawks proved to be out of Toronto’s league in the second half and buried the Raptors late with solid defense and sharp shooting.  Final score: 118-110.  The Raptors have five games remaining this season, and three losses will give them their first 50-loss season since 2005.  Go Jays.

Four wins in a row!  The Raptors are rolling, too bad it wasn’t December when the games mattered.  Although they started playing some serious Sam Mitchell ball in the 4th quarter and allowed Chicago to get back in it (way back in it), Sunday’s 134-129 OT win was one of the best performances by the Raptors this season.  At least when looking at individual contributions from their stars.  Bosh and Bargnani both gave should-be Raptor John Salmons a lot of trouble in the post, and on the boards.  Jose Calderon showed a renewed sense of finding his open teammates, and even Shawn Marion managed to put up 16 points.

It’s not like the Raptors are giving their fans much of reason to care anymore, but we can all admit that a strong finish to the season would help their chances of retaining, re-signing, and attracting any free agents that aren’t plucked from Europe or the NBDL.  Bryan Colangelo intimated to Elliotte Friedman that he was happy with Jay Triano’s work as head coach, and that he’s prepared to handle the Bosh situation this off-season. Triano will most likely be back for next season.  I can’t think of anything that would deter Colangelo from sticking with him, unless Mike D’Antoni somehow falls out of favour in New York.  Stranger things have happened in Knicks land.

You can get full post-game analysis and more on Colangelo from Arsenalist at Raptors Republic.  I’m happy Chris Bosh showed some emotion… on the court.

Chris Bosh faced the media in Toronto yesterday amid allegations that he was a “deadbeat dad”.  He handled the throng of reporters well, I mean it was awkward as hell (you could hear nothing but basketballs bouncing in the background), but he was in decent spirits and it was his birthday.

“All I can say is I’m willing to take care of my responsibilities like I’ve been doing in the past and in the future and have respect for everyone,” Bosh told reporters Tuesday. “I love my daughter, I love myself and I respect her mother.”

This will all likely sit somewhere simmering for a good while, and the truth will play out in court.  I’ll say this though regarding newspaper headlines:  If Chris Bosh were a Toronto Maple Leaf, that “deadbeat dad” would likely be an estranged father.  Read what you will into that.

In a stunning display of journalism, Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star has increased traffic to the paper’s website and probably set newsstands ablaze with his latest display of typed-diarrhea entitled:  “Raptor Bosh a deadbeat dad, lawsuit says”.  According to a lawsuit filed by Bosh’s former girlfriend Allison Mathis, she and Bosh planned on having a child and that Bosh had paid for fertility drugs, then he dumped after the Olympics leaving her pregnant and “destitute”, and there is a bunch of other shit that has yet to be proved in court.

He then goes on to answer the riddle on everyone’s mind, what happened to the Toronto Raptors’ season with pure investigative journalism:

“The case, perhaps, is the missing piece in explaining a sometimes puzzling decline in the on-court performance of Bosh and the Raptors. Bosh, an iconic figure in Toronto and beyond known both for his athletic prowess and his gift for starring in viral Internet videos, was proclaiming himself a candidate for league MVP in the midst of a stellar November. But (Allison) Mathis filed suit on Nov. 26, 2008, and, not long after, Bosh and the Raptors fell into an abyss.”

Oh, by the way, today is Chris Bosh’s birthday!  Happy 25th Chris from the loving and painfully fledgling Toronto media.

Well at least the green jersey thing is over.  I remember the glory years when we could always say, “hey, at least we’re not as bad as Charlotte”.  I miss those days.  Yes, they were dressed like the Boston Celtics again, but Pops Mensah-Bonsu looked more like Pops Mensah-Bonsu than Kevin Garnett last night.

Suddenly the Bobcats are being mentioned in the same breath as ‘playoffs’, while the Raptors are only being mentioned in the same breath as Washington and Sacramento.  Nobody loses harder than the Raptors, nobody.

It wasn’t as though they didn’t put up a fight.  That makes 7 straight losses for the lost cause struggling Raptors.  Despite a very strong effort from Bosh and Calderon, the Raptors took a tough 99-95 loss in OT to the Pistons.  Just call it another loss, definitely don’t call it frustrating if you’re talking to Chris Bosh.  After being asked if last night’s loss was particularly frustrating, Bosh replied in a huff:

“Stop using that word ‘frustrating’… Jesus Christ, where do you all get that word, use another word, you all got a thesaurus around?  I’m not upset. You compete, you play the game, you play to win, if you come up short then that’s what it is. Nobody’s frustrated around here. When you lose a game, of course you want to win, but it is what it is.”

Pops Mensah-Bonsu continued with his hard working ways, and chose his words much more carefully after the game as opposed to his work-ethic tirade from Wednesday’s loss:

“It’s tough to have some players going hard, some not. I’m not trying to pinpoint it on anybody, but that’s the reality. I’m watching tonight and it looked like the Sixers didn’t want to play. They’re not 20 points better than us, but it’s tough to win games when you don’t have a lot of energy and effort.”

He’s got a point, and one look at the guy’s game and you can understand his frustration, he’s rarely outworked.  The Raps host the Indiana Pacers tommorrow at 12:30 at the ACC, something has got to give.

Well, not ‘make it rain!’ in the Pac-Man Jones way.  But seriously, Chris Bosh is set to be a guest weatherman on CTV’s Toronto affiliate on Thursday.  Bosh will be laying down the details on local weather at 6pm.

After the Toronto Raptors fell apart in Friday night’s contest against the Phoenix Suns (the one where Shaq threw down 45 points for the first time since 2003), Raps’ forward and all-star Chris Bosh said that O’Neal had benefited from the officials ignoring his three-second lane violations.

Shaq had some choice, but highly entertaining words for Bosh:

“I heard what Chris Bosh said, and that’s strong words coming from the RuPaul of big men… I’m going to do the same thing (in their next meeting) I did before - make him quit. Make ‘em quit and complain. It’s what I do.”

Bosh recently expressed in the media his frustration with the team’s play this season.  As if it’s not frustrating for us too Chris.