Chris Bosh has had his fair share of detractors since he joined the Miami Heat last summer.
Kevin Durant referred to him as a "fake tough guy." Shaquille O'Neal downplayed his worth by referring to the Heat as possessing "The Big 2." Even satirical news outlet The Onion has taken shots at Bosh's futility and irrelevance with the Heat by publishing headlines such as, "Chris Bosh Left In Hot Car For Hours By Teammates."
On Wednesday morning, Bosh went on ESPN's "First Take" to confront one of his biggest detractors, ESPN analyst Skip Bayless.
(Click HERE for a video compilation of Bayless criticizing Bosh)
To his credit, Bosh was reserved and diplomatic during the showdown. The six-time All-Star never spoke out of turn and only chimed in when Bayless yielded the floor, which wasn't often.
Bosh's problem with Bayless stems from the mocking nickname the antagonistic host had developed for him: Bosh Spice.
"I don't have a problem with you at all. We're both professionals, we both do our jobs," Bosh said. "My whole problem is the misuse of the name... My family, we take a lot of pride in our name. We're very prideful of the Bosh name. I don't like it being made fun of and I don't think they appreciate it either... The Bosh name, that's all we have."
Appearing uncharacteristically reserved at first, Bayless defended his use of the nickname, but he grew more strident as he kept talking.
"I respect the Bosh name, but I have no regrets with referring to you occasionally, especially early and at midseason, as 'Bosh Spice,'" Bayless said. "I thought your performance with the Miami Heat warranted an occasional use of that nickname. You chose to join LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami for $110 million. And you chose to enter the harshest, toughest, roughest spotlight in all of sports."
Bosh respectfully listened to Bayless' numerous critiques before delivering the most constructive response possible, "I would like to thank you because you've given me a lot of motivation."
The Miami big man isn't the first athlete to confront a talking head on his home court. In 1994, NFL quarterback Jim Everett went on the ESPN program Talk2 to speak with Jim Rome after the television host continually called Everett "Chris" in reference to female tennis star Chris Evert. Eventually this sent Everett over the edge and led to him famously attacking Rome on camera.
Bosh was far more civil during his conversation with Bayless, but we're willing to bet that there's a large contingent of sports fans -- and pro athletes -- who wouldn't have minded if Miami's third wheel decided to pull a Jim Everett on the controversial host.
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