The cable guy
"Look I'm on a cable TV show"
Chris Bosh’s latest jab at the city of Toronto, or Canada in general, seems to indicate that the man who needs to be more famous than he really is has some lingering issues about what’s been said about him since he departed for Miami. Now cable TV has become newsworthy.
Seems his condo in Toronto was a BellExpressVu building, meaning he had no NBA League Pass. Given his income level, if it was such a problem, it begs the question of why he just didn’t move to a different condo. But this isn’t a real complaint, it’s just something else Bosh felt he needed to talk about. In this lightning-fast media era, famous people need a stream of talking points to help keep them relevant.
Now I certainly am not going to defend Bosh, but I’ve discussed this issue before. While he didn’t say it exactly, what I suspect he had an issue with was that there was no ESPN. One of the biggest complaints Americans of any profession have about living in Canada is not having ESPN. Does it make them babies if they whine about it and move back because of it? Yes, of course. Canadians give up all sorts of Canadiana when they move south by the thousands per year. Less hockey, no Tim Hortons in all but a few states, no health care unless your company pays for it.
However in this case we’re talking about professional athletes, men who have been coddled and treated like royalty since high school. No ESPN? That’s not good. I can even somewhat appreciate where they come from — a black guy from Dallas doesn’t necessarily want to sit through 15 minutes of NHL highlights on TSN or Sportsnet before he gets anything related to the NBA, NFL or whatever.
But given that this is an age where you can get highlights of anything on your iPhone in a matter of seconds, Bosh’s whining, and previous knock about a lack of U.S. TV coverage of the Raptors shows his media sensibility is shockingly dated for a man who desperately needs to be a media star. And his ego will never embrace the fact that his game and physical dimensions as a power forward isn’t always a marketable top-5 star commodity. But at the same time, that’s why you’re a third fiddle now Chris. The league, NBC and ESPN desperately tried to make Vince Carter that guy when he played in Toronto, but Vince just wasn’t interested in playing basketball.
Having said that, ESPN should be in Canada. It’s 2010. But it’s unlikely TSN, partially-owned by the Bristol mothership, will never let that happen because of CRTC rules and programming allotment. The Score still picks up content that some, but not many of us in this country like watching — such as NCAA basketball and football — but one wonders what the story will be as TSN2 continues to pick what’s becoming a sports TV carcass. If only TSN2 could run “Sportscenter” over “Sportscentre” once a day.
But make no mistake, the ESPN thing is a big issue with pro athletes in Toronto, and it’s always going to be there, however trivial Canadians find it.
If there was a moral victory for the Raps Saturday in Miami, it was Bosh racking up the five fouls and only playing 22 minutes. Friday’s stunning win in Orlando has to help build some confidence. Triano calling out some of his players earlier in the day may have helped. On a day when Triano alluded to Toronto players as selfish, the Raps spread the ball around and pulled out the win on a Sonny Weems three.
