Just saw this ad last night for the first time and had to watch it a few times.  I’m not even sure what the hell it’s for!  Something for EA sports games on the Wii called "Family Play".  Is this simply multi-player functionality?

Anyway, confusion of what’s being sold aside, the commercial is stellar.  Kudos on the authenticity of the "NFL Films announcer guy", and for a great acting job by the grandma.  I absolutely hate ads where they try to use cute babies to push product, but for some reason I love it when they use cute ol’ grannies.  I prefer to have logical consistency in most things… haven’t sorted this one out yet.  Any hypotheses are welcome. :)

I always told the ex-gf when going out drinking with the team after my soccer games that it was to ensure my good health and proper hydration, but she never believed me.  Finally, the evidence is in.

So who’s going to get on this first?  You just know that some brewer is going to start selling beer with "added nutrients for maximum hydration!"

Hello, good citizens!  It has been a couple months since my last posting.  I am afraid that, despite my words of caution, I got pretty heavily addicted to Silpada.  Just started out as a little dabbling on the weekends.. you know, a quick rush… a "ladies night out having fun with jewelry".  But then I was doing Silpada on weekdays, missing work.. it was getting bad.  When I missed my brother’s 30th birthday party because "I’m at a Silpada party and just can’t get away", I knew I was in too deep and needed help.

I’m in rehab and doing better.  I’ll admit, there are times when I see some big jangly silver contraption on a 40-something woman’s wrist and think, "god damn it, I need to throw a party!"  But the cravings are fewer and farther between now.

Truth be told, I just caught a bit caught up in work and such.. I hope to start posting a bit more.  And why not start with an ad that I think is pretty damned cool.  The new "Training Day" spot by Nike.

Why is this so cool?  For one, Steve Nash.  To tell the truth, that’s really the reason I’m posting this.  Don’t get me wrong, the ad is pretty good in its own right, but I’ve happened across some Nash articles here and there lately and I gotta say, this guy is The Shit.

In the modern sports world of murdering dogs, beating wives, and sex parties (… well, two out of the three are bad, anyway!), it is so damned refreshing to hear about a guy that has a Zen philosophy about fame, puts team before self, and organizes charity tournaments half way around the world to help children.  Great Nash quote from one of the articles:

He is totally uninterested in being a celebrity, calling it something “to distract the bored from their nothingness.”

Oh, and although he is a pro basketball player, he has a healthy respect for the world’s most Beautiful Game: soccer.  You’ll see that showcased in the ad.

I have some Nikes on order and I’ll admit, it was solely because of the cool iPod plug-in whizzy-bang add-ons, but after finding out they have Nash on board, I’m glad I bought ‘em!

When a friend of mine sent me a link to the Nutty Buddy, I thought he was alerting me to a new candy bar on the market, not a video of a man getting a 100 mph fastball to the groin.

Oh thank heavens.  Someone finally invented a piece of plastic to be worn over the groin so as to protect oneself during sports.  I will grant them this though - they win for most ridiculously-named cup.  And what other cup manufacturer out there also offers up “The Boys” as a socially acceptable way to simulate testicle fondulation in the workplace?

I’ve been a soccer goalkeeper for about 20 years now - I’ve had more kicks to the nuts than your most hardcore tamakeri fetishist.  And somehow my $5 cup has brought me through to reproductive age.  So, I don’t see much reason to spend $57 on one.

I think their better marketing angle is:  “See a hillbilly take a 100mph fastball to the groin for 25 cents”.  Now that will make some money.

Thanks to David G for the find.

(quoted title taken from Sky News article.  Why try to improve upon a title like that?)

German All-Star fussballers Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn have just won a lawsuit against the country’s largest porn retailer Beate Uhse for marketing two of their new vibrators as the “Ollie K” and “Michael B”.  Personally, I can think of nothing better than Die Frauleinen across Germany screaming my name at the heights of pleasure, but I guess if you get as many women as international footballers do, you get blase’ about it!

While - um, “researching”? - this post I stumbled upon a pretty funny, yet insightful article regarding the sports/sex marketing connection.  We must remember that to most of the rest of the world, soccer is about the equivalent of football, baseball, and basketball combined here (London alone has something like 8 pro teams).  And I am sure that such fanaticism leaves many women feeling a bit neglected by their husbands.  So what better way to get your Missus behind the home team, eh?  Now, on match day, both of you can be screaming, “Come on, England!  Come on, Eng-a-lund!! Hit it, ya wanker!  That’s it!”

Granted, no sport over here is as big.  But I still thing there are some missed opportunities here.  The “Bucking Bronco”?  “The Tennesse Titan”?  “The Houston Pocket Rocket”?  I mean christ, you don’t even have to change the damn team name!

And for us guys, I still think condoms with your team’s colors/emblem is a goldmine.