Like the times when he gets a stunning they don’t even think you’re listening until pass from Dwyane Wade in the lane and you say something and your dad looks at rises up with a whiplash dunk in the fourth you and says ‘What do you know about game of the finals and the quiet man balls Coltrane? Where’d you get that from?’ and his fists and screams into the crowd with a you say come on dad, you been playin’ that every day for years.” “take that!” fire in his eyes? Bosh says after he married last year – “Yeah, I guess. Times like that.” So maybe that’s the yin and yang of in a subdued, quiet-man kind of ceremony Chris Bosh. The mad dunker who scored – his wife, Adrienne, turned him on to rock 24 on the night the Heat was crowned NBA Champions and the cerebral thinker who graduated with honors from his high school and despite leaving Georgia Tech for the NBA after his first year still became a member of the National Society of Black Engineers. The ball player who during the playoffs greeted a new son, Jackson Anthony Bosh, was sidelined for three weeks with an abdominal injury and still kept focus to come back and help his team win the ultimate prize in basketball. An ESPN story once called him “a complex man with impeccable taste in clothes, art, food and books,” and he laughs. “That’s a new one on me,” he says. “I’ve been described as lots of things by ESPN but I never heard that one.” So shall we start with the books? Chris Bosh still remembers the first novel he ever read and started a lifelong love of books. It was A Wrinkle in Time a science fiction fantasy novel by Madeleine L’Engle. “I was probably around 10 and it made such an impression on me I still remember it today.” He says he reads mostly in the evenings ‘n’ roll and he’ll listen, but he always comes and admits he often falls asleep with a book back to the tunes from back in the day. “I in his hands. He remembers books being in just get a kick out of it.” As for the food thing, that kind of the Bosh household in Texas when he was growing up, either coming as gifts or from perplexes him. If he was going out to his parents or from school. The benefit of his dinner tonight Bosh says he’d probably passion is why he often speaks to children find a place that serves an Indian butter through his philanthropic programs – his non- chicken, a dish made with dressed chicken profit organization Team Tomorrow Inc. is marinated with a yogurt and spices like “dedicated to supporting community-based garam masala, ginger and garlic paste. But organizations that promote the upliftment of remember, Bosh does make around $17 children, families and the community” - about million a year so, yes, he has a personal chef who cooks up meals consisting of the importance and enjoyment of reading. And by the way, his preferences are all very little fried food, a lot of vegetables and over the map and he recently said “I’m kind enough calories to keep him at a playing of in between books right now so if you weight of 235. And unlike other “impeccable” food have any recommendations?” Speaking of recommendations, what connoisseurs, “I do indulge in junk food once in a while.” Ice cream is an admitted about that impeccable taste in music. “I don’t know where they got that from,” favorite as well as chocolate. The clothes are a custom thing. When Bosh says, still smiling over the ESPN quote. “When it comes to music, I’m old-school jazz you have as distinctive a body as many professional athletes, you aren’t picking off and blues and that I got from my father.” He remembers going to “Jazz under the the rack. “I consider myself a situational dresser,” Stars” in a park in Dallas with his family and growing up listening to an old blues radio Bosh says. His wardrobe is extensive but he likes to “keep my options open.” Still, station there called “The Oasis.” “I think you pick up on the musical the change from Toronto, where he played taste from your parents and, you know, his first seven years in the NBA, and the
sub-tropical climate of Miami made a big difference. “I like bright colors and styles with more flair and Miami really allows that. You can be a lot looser down here.” He says being around fashionconscious teammates like James and Wade makes it even more interesting. “Yeah, one of those guys will come in
“I like bright colors and styles with more flair and Miami really allows that. You can be a lot looser down here.” wearing a new sweater and you’re like, whoa that’s nice, man. Where’d you get that?” In the world of art and architecture, Bosh might also use that line “I like to keep my options open.” He says his father did a lot of drawing and his mother is involved in computer design and he takes a bit of both from them. The study of engineering may have moved him to be so appreciative of the ancient ruins of Delos and as for the trip to The Louvre? An opportunity to see the best of the best, and he admits he did not know that the Mona Lisa was painted on a poplar panel. Of all the words used to describe him in the ESPN quote, impeccable might be a bit hyperbolic – still, Bosh comes off as multidimensional in ways that have nothing to do with jump shots, rebounds and assists. “When you talk to LeBron or Dwyane, you feel like you’re talking to a basketball player,” Miami Herald sports columnist Greg Cote once said. “When you talk to Chris Bosh you get the feeling you’re talking to a pretty interesting guy who just happens to play basketball.” But make no mistake about it. Bosh is a ball player. Despite his many interests, inquisitive mind, love of design and
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