Chris Bosh had three nicknames during his playing career for the Raptors and the Heat: CB4, Boshasaurus and the Bostrich. CB4 was based around his initials and his number. The Boshtrich and Boshasaurus were both given to him because of his appearance, his name and the prevalence of memes when he played.
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Why was Chris Bosh called Boshasaurus?
Chris Bosh was selected 4th overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 2003 NBA draft. The Toronto Raptors had come into existence as an NBA expansion team in 1995.
The team’s name was chosen after a naming contest and was influenced, at least in part, by the popularity of the 1993 film Jurassic Park. The word Raptor is a shortened version of the word Velociraptor – a well-known type of dinosaur.
After team legends T-Mac and Vinsanity left for Orlando and New Jersey respectively, Bosh became the leader of the team and the face of the franchise.
While he was often misused defensively in Toronto, and did not reach his full defensive potential until Miami found the best way to use him, he still became an NBA star for the Raptors.
As an NBA star, he began to draw a lot of attention. And one thing the people giving him that attention noticed was his unique appearance. Chris Bosh has a combination of length and interesting facial gestures that drew the attention of meme makers across the internet.
When you combine that with the fact that he was playing for the Raptors and that people love dinosaurs anyway, you got the Boshasaurus.
Why was Chris Bosh called the Bostrich?
Eventually, like Vince and T-Mac before him, Chris Bosh left Toronto to join Lebron and D-Wade in Miami. The Heatles would go on to win 2 NBA titles together.
After joining the Heat, Bosh got even more attention. Though he became more of a defender and did not have to score as much, he became an even bigger star.
The attention that found him in Toronto did not let up. And the memes continued. The Boshtrich started in Toronto and continued in Miami.
The Heat did something fun by putting nicknames on their jerseys at one point instead of using real names. Lebron went by King James while Ray Allen chose J. Shuttlesworth.
A question became, would Chris Bosh embrace the wacky nicknames, have some fun at his expense and go with the Bostrich or Boshasaurus? The answer was no.
Despite being known as a relatively unique type for the NBA – a high school honors student who embraced artwork and loved the Harry Potter series, Bosh never fully embraced the wacky internet nicknames given to him by memes and those who made them.
He had CB put on his jersey. That was his preferred nickname.
Why was Chris Bosh called CB4?
Chris Bosh got his CB4 nickname while playing in Toronto. While Bosh wore number 1 with the Heat, he had been number 4 for the Raptors.
Toronto announcer Chuck Swirsky gave him the nickname based on the obvious combination of his name and his number. It works. It’s fine.
As a fan myself, and a writer on the internet, I much prefer Boshasaurus or the Bostrich but since both of those play a bit on his appearance and make fun of him at least a little, I can understand why he embraced the more traditional CB4.
In the masculine world of elite NBA competition, it is probably not wise to give opponents any opening to make fun of you. So Bosh went by CB4 when given the chance to choose. Imagine if he had embraced the Bostrich? The internet may have broken that night.
Summary: Chris Bosh’s Nickname
Chris Bosh had three main nicknames: Boshasaurus, the Bostrich and CB4. While CB4, based on his initials and number in Toronto, was the name he embraced, the internet had other ideas. Meme makers loved using pictures of Bosh with either ostriches or dinosaurs to give him his more fun nicknames: the Bostrich or Boshasaurus.
I have been a Boston sports fan for more than forty years. I write about games, players and seasons from the past.