The Leader of the Pack

With a 22 point performance against the San Antonio Spurs last night, Chris Bosh became the Toronto Raptors all time leading scorer with 9,428 points.

To adapt a quote from Coach Ara Parseghian in Rudy: “You just summed up your entire sorry franchise here, in one instant!”

It is common knowledge that Chris Bosh is not a fan favourite here at Talkin’ with Tewks; in fact, I’m quite certain that Bosh is a charter member of the 'People I Hate in Sports' club. For the record, I do think that Bosh is a good basketball player. He is a perfectly serviceable big man, who can give you 20 and 10 a night.

However, he is not a franchise player, nor should he be counted to lead a team. Bosh is much too soft and complacent to be a truly dominating force in the NBA. He’s also not nearly as good at the game as he thinks he is. This can be blamed partly on the Toronto sports media, who have built Bosh up to the point where Raptor fans (and Bosh) think he’s one of the top 5 players in the league.

Not a chance.

Therein lays the problem with the Toronto Raptors organization. It is a franchise that breeds mediocrity and lauds average efforts and results. After Bosh made the basket to take the franchise lead over Vince Carter, the crowd went absolutely bonkers.

Not only that, announcers Matt Devlin and Leo Rautins all but requested the game to be postponed, so a ticker tape parade could be thrown in Bosh’s honour.

Really? You’re deifying a guy who has never led the team to a playoff series win. What’s more, it’s pathetic that the franchise record for points isn’t even in five digits. Kobe Bryant scores 10,000 points in a little over four seasons. The Raptors have been around since 1995. You do the math.

However, I am glad that Bosh is erasing Vince Carter from the top of the franchise’s record books. At least Bosh puts forth an honest effort (see? I’m doing the same thing as Raptor fans; making excuses for a middling talent. The idea that a professional athlete has to be complimented for trying hard sickens me).

Carter would stop working once he started sweating. It made him feel ‘icky’. Vince Carter will always be the genital wart on the foreskin of Raptors team history. Sure, it can lie dormant and you might forget about it from time to time, but it will always be there.

A closer look at the Raptors record book shows the following name as the fourth all time leading scorer in team history: Doug Christie. DOUG CHRISTIE!!

This is a guy who isn’t even allowed to use the bathroom without his wife’s permission, and only three players in FRANCHISE HISTORY have scored more points than he did. That is the definition of depressing. Did Doug Christie even play with the Raptors after Y2K?

Raptor fans have to stop being willing to accept such a mediocre product. MLSE has no incentive to make the team better if you keep showing up and spending all your money (I could basically write the exact same column about the Leafs over the past fifteen years).

What a horrible time to be a Toronto sports fan.