"Fake It Til You Make It!"

Blake:"Ya'll want some of this bruh?" Fans: "Most definitely!"

Back in the day the old school players and hustlers would always say, "You gotta fake it til you make it young blood." What they meant by that was look the part until you get to where you're trying to go. Always act like you were who you wanted to be and you'll eventually get there. Once I got to Corporate America I learned from more experienced folks that the easiest way to get promoted to a particular position is to already be doing the  job description. Hence, faking it 'til you make it.

I never dreamed that that concept applied to watching the 2012 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest too. Let's keep it real or all the way 100, which ever comes first bruh! None of the best dunkers in the NBA are even in the contest.  This years participants include the Houston Rockets' Chase Budinger, the Indiana Pacers' Paul George, the Minnesota Timberwolves' Derrick Williams and Utah Jazz' forward Jeremy Evans will replace injured New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert (Left patella tendinitis). Who? C'mon man.

They need to just take the dunk contest out of the weekend's events if that's all they can give us bruh! Who are the best dunkers in the league? When you think about cats getting it in and entertaining you who immediately comes to mind? Guys like Blake Griffin, Dwayne Wade and Lebron James at the minimum. They're the guys that when they get the ball in transition the whole building stands up. Well, Blake makes you stand up if he's in the paint with the rock. I'm quite sure you can ask OKC's Kendrick Perkin's about that. I bet he's still waking up in cold sweats about that joint.

These cats in the league now blow my mind. It was nothing back in the '80's or '90's for the best in the game to compete in the dunk contest for league bragging rights. Guys like Jordan, Dominique and Clyde the Glide would go at it. Now once a cat wins the contest they bail out the following year. That's weak bruh! If you win the joint you're automatically in the following year to defend the title until somebody knocks you off.

I'm tired of watching shows that keep selling me just the opposite of what they're advertising. The dunk contest this year will be like watching Basketball Wives. You're pushing a dunk contest with no dunkers just like they push wives when there aren't any on the show. Now I'm quite sure they know how to dunk but they aren't the best dunkers in the league bruh. Now the basketball chicks obviously don't know how to be wives or they would be at this point. They keep hooking up with guys that play ball but can't seem to keep them. They should call it "Basketball Baby Momma Drama!" or "The Get Money Girls" but not wives because it's insulting to all the real wives out here.

Don't sell me Bologna and tell me it's Filet Mignon. I've been around the block a few times and can tell the difference bruh! Fake it til you make it doesn't apply to the NBA once you're in the league. You're in the freaking league. Don't throw some cats on the floor for the sake of throwing some cats on the floor. That's garbage! I mean, the dunk contest used to be the highlight of the entire All-Star weekend. Now it's become an after thought.

The old school players both from the league and the hood will be highly disappointed this weekend when they show up to see "Joe Blow the Jumper" in the dunk contest. It will feature a series of firsts, including four first-time participants or like they say in the hood "No Names" at least from a dunkers perspective, a new single-round format in which the winner will be chosen solely by fan vote, and the introduction of fan voting via Twitter.

The fans should boycott that joint until they get some real live dunkers on the floor. I'm just sayin' bruh! Don't sell me the hooptie by just polishing it up when I'm really looking for the real deal proven joints that Car and Driver recommends.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport