3/24/09
by: Scott
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One of the best books I've ever read is "A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Reexamined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations" by Cintra Wilson. The book is about how fucked up celebrity culture is and how fame destroys the soul of almost everyone who seeks it. It's one of the few books I've ever read that I would consider life-changing — because it made me realize that being famous is not something that any well-adjusted individual should want to be.
I don't know for a fact if Chris Bosh aspires to fame the same way we would like to think he aspires to win an NBA championship. I do know that he is involved in a lot of off-court activities that do nothing to make him a better ballplayer but do appear to be about "building the Chris Bosh brand". This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Why shouldn't he try to maximize his marketability if it earns him more endorsement money and allows him to do cool shit like be a correspondent on The Tonight Show?
It's quite something to see all the ways Bosh has developed his online presence. You can see him on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, AOL, Twitter, and, of course, on his own website. To an extent, you can argue that this is simply an effective way for Bosh to "connect" with his fans, but the communication appears to only go one way these days. From what I can tell, he hasn't posted any answers to fan questions on his "Ask Chris" message board since January 29th (this is the latest post I could find).
Whatever you think about all of Bosh's extra-curricular activities, there's no denying that they've made him more famous than he would be if he just stuck to playing basketball. Unfortunately, fame is a double-edged sword and Bosh understands that more than ever now that his ex-girlfriend's child support lawsuit against him is front page news in Toronto.
How many of us would care if, say, Nathan Jawai was named in a similar suit? Chris Bosh is a big-time celebrity in this town, so he gets to be a guest weatherman on the local news for fun and now he has to deal with his dirty laundry being aired in public.
I'm not going to comment on the lawsuit itself because, as much fun as it can be to take sides on something like this, none of us know the real story just yet. Maybe it's his kid, maybe it isn't, maybe he left his babymama high and dry, maybe he's been supporting her more than adequately and she just wants to squeeze Bosh for every cent she can. One thing I do know is that this story does not paint Chris Bosh in a flattering light, and this is not the time for him to withdraw and suddenly be "private".
Bosh has spent years carefully cultivating an image of himself as a goofy nice guy, but this story portrays him as a heartless, deadbeat father. Quite simply, if this portrayal is not true, Bosh needs to "own the story" and either agree to an interview, write a blog, or make a video giving us the real truth. Otherwise, he'll leave most of us with little choice but to assume the worst.
It may not seem fair to him that he has to defend himself from these charges in the court of public opinion as well as a court of law — but that's how the fame game works. Here's Cintra Wilson talking about the public's right to judge famous people:
The slandering of iconage is a sport — not an act of aggression or bitterness, but an exercise. Why should these people not get taunted and roasted? We treat our celebrities, regardless of artistic merit, like an untouchable royal family, which causes most of us to act like dribbling serfs despite the value of our individual lives.
In other words: don't get up on that pedestal if you don't want any rocks thrown at you. In a much, much, much smaller sense, this blog is a pedestal of my own, and I understand that people are going to criticize me for what I say on here. Mind you, most of you couldn't care less about what goes on in my private life, but if I was a big shot columnist at ESPN.com, it would be a different story. That's part of the deal — whether Chris Berman, Stuart Scott and Bill Simmons like it or not.
So what's it gonna be, Chris? Are you going to own this story or are you going to let this story own you? There was a massive swelling in your bank account, a massive swelling in your ex-girlfriend's belly and it would appear that there has been a massive swelling in your head, as well. Your most recent Tweet says, "CB4 Iphone App coming soon..." You may find this hard to understand, but things like that actually kind of piss some of your fans off (myself included) during a season like this. It makes it seem like you're more interested in building your brand than being the leader of a successful NBA team. But then, we have to wonder: Do you actually care what your fans think of you? I guess we'll find out. 
Update: Bosh speaks. "All I can say is I'm going to take care of my responsibilities. I ask everybody to respect my wish to keep everything private. I love my daughter, I love myself (and) I respect her mother."
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