Chris Bosh Was Way Off Base For Calling Out Raptor Fans
By Walter DubowecHere's what Chris Bosh should have said during halftime of the Raptors/Bucks game....
".... man, we've playing some awful ball lately ...... we're just not giving the fans anything to cheer about..... I'm going to the locker room to call out my teammates because the paying fans deserve better from us ...".
Instead, of the taking the high road and respecting the paying customers whose hard-earned dollars contibute to his $15 million pay check, Bosh decided to call out loyal Raptor fans and in doing so - took the low road.
It makes no sense. Can you imagine if my Raptors account rep called me out for not being supportive of the team? MLSE would fire Ryan in a heartbeat. What if I went to my Ford dealer and my sales guy called me out? Graham would be gone, too.
So why is it OK for Chris Bosh to diss the fans who are in essence - his customers???
I don't understand why Chris chose this game to insult the loyal Toronto fans. Its not like the fans were booing. Not at all. They were just a little quiet doing a very boring first half versus an inferior Bucks team.
Has Chris forgotten that despite the Raptors mediocre record, the team is still averaging 19,500 fans? Would he rather be playing in half-empty buildings in Milwaukee, Altanta, Indianapolis, Memphis, Seattle or New Jersey, to name a few??
Just so we're clear, Bosh made a few comments on this issue with the first occuring during a half-time interview in the Bucks game. Bosh said, "its like a funeral in here".
Duh? The Raptors were struggling against the Bucks and Charlie V was torching the Raptors with 27 points. Top that off with the fact that Toronto was coming off a terrible home loss to the pathetic Charlotte Bobcats and its no surprise that Raptor fans were quiet.
Memo to Chris: Don't bite the hand that feeds you!
Second Memo to Chris: Going into last night's game, the Raptors had lost 15 of 21 games - including home losses to weak sister teams that were boring as hell to watch in person. I know. I was there paying over $300 each night to watch your team play some very bad basketball.
In fact, today Bryan Colangelo described the 2007-08 version of the Raptors as "disappointing".
So why should Raptor fans cheer for a disappointing product when we're paying big bucks? Does anyone think its fun to watch the Raptors lose at home to an under-manned and under-talented Charlotte Bobcats team like we suffered through last Friday? In a word, it was a pathetic performance by a Raptor team that showed no urgency.
Would you be cheering if you attended a disappointing play in Toronto's Theatre District? So why should fans blindly cheer for a mediocre basketball team?
For the record, of the last 7 wins, only one was against a +.500 team. That was a Friday night home win versus a Rip-less Piston team. By the way, the ACC crowd was extremely loud that night!
A different perspective
Lets look at this from a different perspective. What if you went to a concert at the ACC and the entertainer on stage was not giving you your money's worth? Would you start clapping and cheering? Hell no. You'd sit on your hands until the on-stage performer gave you a reason to get off your feet and dance!
Basketball players are no different. Last season and during the Vince Carter era, the ACC was rocking. This year - not so much. Why? Because the Raptors have been a 'disappointment' (your GM's words, not mine).
Bosh told reporters that arenas in Dallas, Utah, Detroit and Cleveland are very loud and tough places to play. Guess what? They all have very good, entertaining basketball teams.
Now, lets look at formerly imposing buildings like Arco or Indy or even Minnesota. They used to be rocking, too. Yet when their NBA teams began to play poorly, the fans' enthusiasm declines accordingly.
Do you see a pattern here? Good teams have loud fans and bad teams have quiet fans. Kinda simple, ain't it?
I've been to a lot of games this year where we, the fans, have made noise, only to have the Raptors make a bunch of crowd-deflating miscues. We try to get you guys pumped, yet on most nights - the Raps aren't up to the level they need to be. That's not the fans' fault.
In fact, in a recent mid-week televison broadcast - it was either Chuck Swirsky or Jack Armstrong who noted that the ACC was trying hard to get into the game, but the Raptors were not giving them anything to cheer about.
MLSE and Raptors players must share the blame
There are lots of complaints from players and broadcasters that the lower bowl is too quiet. They moan that there are no real fans sitting in the Platinums. To a degree, that may be true.
However, MLSE and the players have brought a lot of this upon themselves.
However, MLSE and the players have brought a lot of this upon themselves.
How so? Simple.
In order to pay for a $55 million payroll and to ensure a healthy MLSE profit - Platinum seats will sell for $480/pair, next season. Average fans can't afford that.
Who can afford lower bowl seats? Only big corporations can drop that kind of money for a couple of hours of basketball.
So, of course you get a lower bowl full of older corporate types. What does MLSE expect? When companies give tickets to their clients, they do it to cement a business relationship. They don't randomly give lower bowl tix to rabid fans or kids in Raptors jerseys. No, they give them to older business people who control their company's purse strings.
Don't blame the fans for this. Hardcore, noisy fans would love to sit lower bowl and cheer like crazy, but they have no access to seats. Blame MLSE and the players who get paid millions of dollars.
Consider how insane this is!
I just got my bill for the playoffs (which I need to pay in advance) and its $8,108 for two seats through to the NBA Finals. Are you kidding me??? For playoffs??? I can buy a nice little car for that money. Again, that's not my full season ticket bill. That's what four rounds of play-off tickets will cost me - over $8,000.
I just got my bill for the playoffs (which I need to pay in advance) and its $8,108 for two seats through to the NBA Finals. Are you kidding me??? For playoffs??? I can buy a nice little car for that money. Again, that's not my full season ticket bill. That's what four rounds of play-off tickets will cost me - over $8,000.
Chris Bosh is feeling the heat
It appears Chris Bosh is feeling the heat and its now mea culpa time. In response to what has been a largely negative backlash from fans who dig into their own pockets to buy Raptor tickets, Chris has taped this video to clarify his comments.
Well said Walter...well said.
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I don't think chris was trying to be mean or call out anybody, I just think that he was trying to get the crowd into it. Yeah sometimes they loose, but that doesn't mean you get all quiet, your supposed to get loud and encourage them even more. When they are down and people are quiet, they need that motivation to get them going. I think that he was trying to get the fans into the mood for the playoffs. Even when they are not doig thier best, we should continue to cheer for them, try to hype them up so that they feel like the fans are actually paying attention. I think that the video and him calling out the fans, made people realize, it's going in the crunch time (it's the playoffs) and we need to come hard and correct....make Orlando wish that they were playing some other team, make it hard for them to play in the ACC....I know it got me more motivated that I was before....I already cheer no matter what, win or loose i'm still cheering....Now i'm just gonna be more hyped up when Orlando comes into town so we can show them, that Toronto players (as well as the fans) Don't give up without a fight.
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i think we showed the world how loud we can be yesterday vs the magic, i don't think bosh meant what he said in a bad way, just wanted to get us amped up. And it worked
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