Vote Early, Vote Often, Vote Bosh

In the best campaign commercial since HuckChuckFacts, Chris Bosh has assumed the identity of a Texas used car salesman in order to try to drum up votes to make it to this year's NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.

Bosh has appeared in the All-Star game for the last two years. Last season he was voted into the starting lineup for the first time, but achieving that feat again became nearly impossible when Kevin Garnett was traded to the Eastern Conference and proceeded to light the Boston Celtics on fire. Bosh now finds himself competing for a position with two of the most popular players in the game, Garnett and LeBron James. These two not only lead voting among Eastern Conference forwards, but in the latest voting results, they are the two biggest vote-getters in the NBA.

It would be a display of absolutely shameless homerism to suggest that Bosh deserves to start on the All-Star team ahead of James or Garnett. Bosh has had a bit of a shaky start to the season, but even if he hadn't, he's just not in the same category as these two superstars. However, All-Star voting is not just about who deserves what. If it were, then Steve Nash would not currently be fourth in voting among Western Conference guards. All-Star voting is about marketing as well as playing ability, and you have to admit that Bosh's ad is brilliant marketing. Ain't that right, Bubba?

The Raptors take on the Pistons tonight at the ACC. The game starts at 7 p.m. and the telecast is on Rogers Sportsnet.