Chris Bosh: The Struggle and Power of Closing a Chapter

With the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony this Saturday, Chris Bosh will finally be closing a chapter of his basketball career he wasn’t expecting to write this early.

Letting go of a part of your life and walking towards the unknown of whatever is next can be terrifying. Whatever is next can be both exciting and nerve-racking. The scariest part of it all is knowing something is ending. For Chris Bosh, it was more frightening and even more unknown than he could have ever imagined.

For many basketball players of Bosh’s caliber, ending their playing careers is almost always on their terms. They realize when the game has passed them by or when their bodies have had enough. But that’s where we come to understand that life is as cruel as it is beautiful. Chris Bosh’s career didn’t end on the floor after his team’s final regular season or playoff game. It didn’t even get a tearful goodbye speech in front of the press. Bosh’s playing career ended inside a doctor’s office without a fan or media member to be found.

This couldn’t be how the career of someone who had become so beloved in South Florida would end. Someone who, by all accounts, was one of the most likable players anyone had the pleasure of interacting with. It didn’t make any sense to basketball fans, people who rooted for him, and to Chis himself. It had felt like a gut punch to the basketball universe that we’d no longer get to witness the joy and unbridled enthusiasm Bosh played with every night. He was only getting started writing in the final quarter of his career, and before anyone knew it, there was no more ink left.

At first, Chris kept trying and trying to come back to the game, thinking he could still get through this. Rumors kept swirling about a possible return to a team here and there. But the risk was way too high for a man who had a growing family that loved him, wanting to see something much more than a career be extended. Bosh had given so much to the game of basketball and, without warning, was taken away in an instant. Snatched away while still being on the verge of even more greatness ahead. More time to build an even more impressive career resume was gone in the blink of an eye.

I could only imagine the frustration felt by Bosh knowing the game was finally getting to where he would have been playing well into his late 30s. He was literally an All-Star the first time he had a sign of anything troubling. Everyone knew Chris still had so much left in the tank, and he knew it too. Why do people think he kept trying to come back and play? He knew he had so much more to give and more to build with the Miami Heat. He saw that All-Star caliber Point Guard in Goran Dragic Miami had just acquired and wanted to play alongside him. The dreams of pick-and-pops that Dragic had so much success with Channing Frye in Phoenix were dancing in everyone’s minds. But that’s all they would be; just dreams. Hopes dashed overnight so casually cruel.

Nothing about the entire end of Chris Bosh’s career felt fair to anyone. But then again, any kind of abrupt ending rarely is. This didn’t make it any less gut-punching for everyone involved. It’s now been 5 years and 7 months since Chris last played in a professional basketball game. He’s seen his old team go through several changes with a variety of different players, some of which Bosh had played with not too long ago. We saw Chris get his jersey lifted on the rafters of what is now known as FTX Arena between that time. He gave a wonderful speech that was appropriately ended with a patented “Bosh Roar.” He knew that the circumstances that led to the end weren’t up to him, but he’s making sure the final few speeches he’s giving about his playing time are memorable.

These moments were the ones Chris Bosh dreamed of happening once he left the game; they were just happening a lot earlier than he had hoped. But Chris was no longer thinking about what could have been. He had moved on to saying goodbye, even if it wasn’t on his terms. But how often do our goodbyes actually come at “the right time?” It’s about what we do in those closing moments that matter. And a guy as smart and thoughtful as Chris Bosh is always going to make sure they matter. Sulking and standing in the corner isn’t going to do anything. Moving forward with a head held high is the only way Chris knows.

When you see him up on that podium accepting his Hall of Fame enshrinement, it’ll be the closing of a chapter but not the end of his story. The man will be producing music, helping kids achieve goals, mastering a new instrument, teaching code, or simply being the best dad he can be. Basketball was a beautiful part of Bosh’s life that I, and so many others, were lucky to witness. I know he’s going to give a speech that is suited for such a great career. The ending may have been unexpected, but he’s making the most of what is now the coronation. The flowers that he deserved to get when he was playing are rightfully being given now. The importance he played in the league’s growth and the Miami Heat franchise is getting the shine it deserved for so long.

So while his career may have ended when a doctor broke the news 5 years ago, he’s just now writing the final pages of his basketball chapter. We’ll see a close to it this Saturday, and we’ll shed a few tears looking back at all of it. We’ll finally get the closure Miami Heat fans, basketball enthusiasts in general, and Chris himself never got to have. Chris said at his Hall of Fame press conference, “even though losing the game was tough, this definitely gives me closure.” That closure will be on Chris Bosh’s words as he rightfully takes his place amongst the greatest to ever play. We can’t always expect the ends to parts of our story, but Chris has shown that the way you tell those endings means more. Never with your head looking down, but with it looking back fondly and looking forward with optimism.

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