Chris Bosh Wants To Run This Town?

The Toronto Raptors keep the ball rolling with a home win over the Sixers in which the final score did not tell the story. The Raptors built a 23 point lead at one point only to see the Sixers tie the game at 94 in the 4th. It was a wild night at the ACC included in it the "Return of Reggie" which was one of the best moments in a long time at the ACC. The fans exploded when he went to check into the game and they did not stop for the entire time he was on the floor. Reggie Evans has been a hit in Toronto with out even doing much on the floor itself. But in the 5 minutes he was on the floor you got a taste of why. Reggie gave everything he had in his gas tank. His stat line of 2 points, 3 rebounds and a steal did not really tell the story. It was the hustle, the drawing a charge and the energy he brought to the building and the team. Back in the days of the Dawg Pound and the JYD it was never as jacked up as that. At least it sure didn't seem like it was. There were even chants in the 3rd quarter with the Raptors up big of "WE WANT REGGIE" to which Jay Triano would not cave too.

Speaking of cave the Raptors almost did. Jose Calderon with some Spanish magic nailed a 3 was fouled and had a 4 point play with game tied. The Raptors would roll from there to snap a 5 game win streak for the Sixers and extend a home winning streak to 8 games. There was no question who ran the T-Dot on this night, it was the Toronto Raptors with a 104-93 win over Philly. I live blogged this game for The Score and it was fun to share the experience of this game with a fairly large gathering of Raptors Fans.

However the interesting night was not done. Chris Bosh kind of looked the beast in the face and did not bow down to it. The beast? Hockey and the fact that Toronto is a hockey town. Some will take this one way and some the other. But before we go there here is what he said.

Chris Bosh "For those who keep saying its a hockey town, its getting old"

I couldn't agree more. Chris Bosh some will say this is a sign to worry for 2010. That Bosh is frustrated and wants out. But go look at the comment in context on Raptors.com. Even Hockey pucks may not want to admit this fact but Chris Bosh is the biggest star in Sports in Toronto. He Runs this town in those terms. I think that Chris wants to embrace the challenge of making basketball and the Raptors a viable opposition to the team they share the ACC with and ownership with.

Everyone tries to play mind reader when it comes to 2010 and Bosh. I am no different. However in watching Chris all of these years you come to learn, this is not a guy that thinks inside the box. That is why the idea of turning Toronto into a basketball town and perhaps after the city the nation is next may sound nuts. Hockey as we are all going to learn with the Olympics going on in Vancouver starting tomorrow will always be #1.

However the one thing that bothers me and always has, is that we who love basketball first are suppose to just bow to that and be happy with whatever scrap the media throws our way. That it is some how Anti-Canadian to love a game that was invented by one of our own.

Maybe this was Bosh saying that you know what if you love basketball and the Raptors the time for bowing and kneeling to hockey has come to an end. It will be the Raptors playing games in Late April and beyond at the ACC and not the Leafs.

Some may be fans of both sports and not want to be bothered to have to pick a side in this. I am not saying anyone has too. But when you look at things objectively, basketball and the Raptors do not get the attention that they truly deserve. Sure all of the media outlets are there, but everyone knows if a story breaks in Hockey, the air time they will have in T.V or the space they will have in a newspaper just got smaller.

There is also the issue of broadcasting games. We all remember the Rogers/TSN battle last year that left many of us in the dark for TSN2 broadcasts. Well some folks still to this day across this country are without it. Just the name TSN 2 says 2nd best and alternate programing doesn't it? Raptors do not deserve to be 2nd class citizens and if TSN does not deem them worth to be on the main network than maybe they shouldn't be there for those games. This is not a plug for any other network to get more games specifically. Just that Raptors deserve a network with max reach to have their games on. That network isn't TSN 2.

So if Chris Bosh stays and continues to fight the good fight for the Raptors beyond 2010, perhaps the Raptors will finally get to run this town, and dare I say this country on a few nights. It is hard not to feel a bit bitter about the fact that Hockey on most days is the first, second,third and forth story on most sportscasts across this country. If you think Bosh doesn't understand what that is like you would be wrong. He gets it because he comes from Dallas where as much as Mark Cuban may not want to hear this, The Cowboys can have that influence over Dallas.

So it may not be a declaration of war on Hockey or the Leafs. It is a declaration of we who love basketball are tired of bowing to the sport of Hockey and we are looking for our piece of the action. If the Raptors keep winning there may be no choice but for folks to take notice. Here is to more nights of the Raptors RUNNING THIS TOWN, LED BY CB4!!!

Update 10PM Thursday: My Round 2 battle has started on Whotheman.com in their Pro vs Joes contest and the topic is actually on Chris Bosh come vote and support the Dino Nation Blog>>>Vote Here