ESPNNBA

The Problem With Calling Chris Bosh “Bosh Spice”

by Dan Fogarty | 1:39 pm, June 14th, 2011

Like many people, professional blusterer Skip Bayless is a fan of ripping on the Miami Heat‘s awkward third wheel, Chris Bosh. Bosh is an easy target, because he does things like tap microphones in a weird way, he says funny things during interviews, and he is a fan of his teammates’ scarves.

We do not expect behavior like this from our professional athletes. We expect them to be socially graceful cool guys, which is not what Chris Bosh is. He is, at times, gawky in his dealings with teammates and the media, sometimes with admittedly hilarious results.

There’s a certain uncomfortable undertone to the way Bayless goes about making fun of Bosh, though. Maybe it was after the whole crying in the locker room thing, or maybe it was even before then, but some time over the course of Bosh’s up-and-down first season with the Heat, Bayless took to calling him “Bosh Spice” on ESPN. And then he did it again. And again. Until every time he talked about Chris Bosh, he called him “Bosh Spice.”

(Literally, every time. He would mention Bosh, pause, flash the camera an incredibly dickish smirk, and say “Or, as I like to call him… Bosh. Spice.”).

The inference here, of course, is that Bosh is soft. Or that he’s somehow not quite a man. Which would mean that he’s a woman, as Jalen Rose pointed out today.

These aren’t the first rumblings about Chris Bosh’s non-manhood. An announcer once referred to him as “RuPaul.” A Chicago radio station recently made a parody music video about his sexuality (and in the NBA, and sports in general, when you call someone gay, you are calling them a sissy).

This is not what Skip Bayless did, per se. He did not call Chris Bosh a transsexual. He didn’t say he was gay, at least outright. But he called him “Bosh Spice,” which is a veiled way of saying something much uglier.

Email: Dan@sportsgrid.com

Djkolbe

I hate Bayless and Rose is in the right here. Bayless is trying to take away Bosh’s masculinity with that name and it is uncalled for.

I would like to point out that Shaq used to call Eric Dampier “Erica Dampier”. That was funny though because it was one player talking trash to another. With Bayless it’s an annoying angry white dude trying to mock or humiliate someone.
http://twitter.com/SittonRead Charles Sitton

Djkolbe I have to agree with you. Skip Bayless is always over the top when bashing players that he doesn’t like. Sometimes on 1st and 10 they will be talking about tennis or golf and he’ll find a way to squeeze in a remark about Terrell Owens ( T.O. = Team Obliterator). What He said about Chris Bosh is over the line. Mocking a person’s manhood is going to far. Bayless needs to make a public apology for his comments.
http://twitter.com/SittonRead Charles Sitton

Djkolbe I have to agree with you. Skip Bayless is always over the top when bashing players that he doesn’t like. Sometimes on 1st and 10 they will be talking about tennis or golf and he’ll find a way to squeeze in a remark about Terrell Owens ( T.O. = Team Obliterator). What He said about Chris Bosh is over the line. Mocking a person’s manhood is going to far. Bayless needs to make a public apology for his comments.
BoshBitch

Bayless called him “Bosh Spice” and Shaq once refereed to Chris Bosh as “Rue Paul” the drag queen. There must be a “thing” about Bosh and him being a female/cross dresser.
Skip Tactless

Bayless will be the next “Imus” to fall. Unfortunately espn pays him to be ridiculous, and probably gives him bonuses for taking things even further, encouraging him to get a reaction & more viewers. It’s all about the hype, what’s he gonna say next, kind of stuff. I appreciate Jalen Rose’s stand. He admitted to laughing at the comment, didn’t make any excuses, and when Bayless siad he wasn’t going to Rose get away with calling him out, made an even bigger fool of himself.
I believe I saw PSA’s during the playoffs that went after people in sports environments from calling or describing someone GAY. I can see that term being hateful & definitely a put down. Unfortunately when you talk about sports such as basketball, there is the element of trash talking, which is pretty much saying anything to get a response out of another player. Taunting & celebrating goes into the same level of unsportsmanlike behavior that Bayless got caught in. He didn’t call a women’s basketball team a bunch of nappy hoes, but it’s getting close & someone should reprimand him for it & espn for allowing it.
BTW, Bayless is a homosexual, not that there’s anything wrong with that.. I’m just saying.
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Anonymous

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ben w

wrong. he’s actually engaged to a woman. been married before. so sick of people trashing bayless without any facts.
Skip T.

it’s called sarcasm, and was written in jest… I was being ironical… and ripping on Bayless, who rips on just about everyone. Fact is Bayless is noisy and annoying. I can’t imagine anyone who’s sick of Bayless-trashing?! Odd.
Errr

Look Im not a gay rights advocate & I really think the NBA needs to re-evaluate it’s policy when guys get fined 25K for saying the F word, but can say B!tch azz N!gga 23 times without penalty. Something just seems…off. You need to either punish everything, or accept that in the heat of the game bad words are going to be said.

HOWEVER, I’ve long decided that Bayless gets to go WAY too far for an analyst and no one ever checks him. I have no issue with him calling TO “Team obliterator”, because its within the context of sports. But Bosh Spice is highly, HIGHLY insulting for a tv analyst. It reminds me of a time when OchoCinco (another athlete I can’t stand) came on to ‘debate him’, and Bayless ended up getting cornered in some argument and mentioned the fact that Chad had a lot of children in a derisive way. Honestly, at that point I wouldn’t have been upset if Ocho had stood up and smacked him across his supercilious face.

The man goes beyond ridiculous, and its strange how ESPN had analysts wagging their finger at Noah and Kobe for their words, yet allowed this man to say anything that comes into his head. And btw-for all the attacks on his manhood, Bosh has a beautiful fiance and is the ONLY Miami guy that stood up LIKE A MAN in that post game press conference and gave the Mavs their just due, while admitting the Heat fell short. No histrionics, no defense mechanisms, no ‘we did it because we know how you guys in the media act’ sort of cover ups. I respect him for that.