Stuff I Like
ordinary extraordinary sports fans
May 13th
Creating good espn television commercials is sort of an easy task in the scheme of things <in the world of creating good advertising>. It’s not like having to explain how my detergent is somehow better then another detergent <that is 25cents less and claims to do the same thing>.
Anyway. As long as you stay away from the trite sports analogies there is so much material to work from it is difficult to actually create something really bad.
Therefore the standard of measurement is high. All espn commercials are pretty likeable … it is the laughable/cryable/re-wartchable ads … in combination with its ability to reach beyond the simple sports fan <because a bunch of the ads are almost like inside jokes> that become the ones worth mentioning.
On tv is one of the one worth mentioning.
The Michael Jordan execution. It is not just funny but also relatable. It is brilliant in its simplicity. It is brilliant in the idea. It is brilliant in its everydayness. And it is brilliantly done.
It would have been tempting to overproduce this idea but someone truly understood the strength of the idea was … well … the ordinary. The ordinary guy stuck in every day life … dealing with the extraordinary expectation heights of sports fame.
This is for every person out there who has the same name as a famous person.
ESPN Michael Jordan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxBBN3ZnYeU
One last bonus.
Choosing the best ESPN commercial is like choosing a favorite among your own children. That said. Here is my top 1 called Believe. Beyond the fact they used a really interesting production technique which permitted them to do a shitload of stuff … this execution is brilliant because everyone, ALL sports fans, could relate. In addition the nuances in the execution … the gnome falling over at the end … the grandmother jumping out of the wheelchair … are all priceless. Frickin’ priceless.
Believe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcD9r4RBCoo&feature=related
I wish I could find the only other espn commercial I still talk about even though it appeared sometime in the 90’s. It was a sportscenter NHL ad “ever wonder what goes on in an NHL locker room between periods..?” and the camera shows a team of hockey players making balloon animals … and one player showing the rest and saying “what do you guys think about this one?” Awesome. So absurd it was awesome.
drake take care
Apr 29th
This is about Drake’s new song “Take Care” (actually a remake … of a remake) which seems to be getting a boatload more airplay these days.
It is a great song which gets a boost from collaborating with Rihanna.
Drake (real name Aubrey … his middle name is Drake) is a Canadian hip hop guy. In addition to making his own music, Drake has also written for other artists in the industry such as Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx and more. He has that nice hip hop style that alternates between a kind of beat poet type rap and real singing. Kind of reminds me of Craig David in his younger days. And while I am not a huge Rihanna fan this is maybe the best use of her voice. She doesn’t have to try and carry a song but rather compliments in a soft (but strong if you listen to the words) style. Their voices mesh perfectly.
And while this is actually a remake of a remake (original and remake remix also included here) I like what Drake has done.
Some really nice subtle symbolism. He drops in a “heartbeat bass line” (note: the reason why you get in sync while listening is because it matches your heartbeat). And then he nicely doubles the bass beat to quicken the heart rate …and actually drops it off under Rihanna’s chorus (<kind of implies your heart is dying and she will save it>.
Beautiful simple piano overlay of the bass beat. Song is impeccably put together (even if he actually borrows most of it from the remake).
The song, and video, starts like a run-of-the-mill hip hop/light rap song but at about the minute mark it kicks into a higher gear. Overall the video is a slightly odd black & white performance video with a bull and bull horns flashing onscreen <which someone someday will have to explain to me because I have no clue what it adds>. Here is the song & video:
Take Care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zzP29emgpg&ob=av2e
The video has a serious feel to and has a kind of slow burning sexuality without being overtly sexual (even when it’s not supposed to be). It is one of those very painful love songs imbued with a strong thread of hope. The video is slightly odd in that nothing really happens in it but you still feel like a lot happened.
The Drake version is also a perfect next step from the original, Gil Scott-Heron’s “I’ll Take Care of You”, and then the main source material for Drake’s version … Jamie XX’s remix of Gil Scott-Heron’s song.
Gil Scott Heron original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXPN2dbgu5g&feature=related
Gil Scott Heron’s original with remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaXslpx3MWY
Drake’s version is awesome. Enjoy.
let’s hit the ice
Apr 11th
While most people will believe I have decided to write about ice hockey because the NHL playoffs are kicking off tonight … they would actually be wrong <although I will get to it>.
Turkmenistan has just announced it will create a hockey league.
Ice hockey may seem odd for a desert nation (temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius/120 degrees Fahrenheit) but, hey, America has hockey in glacial Phoenix and Tampa bay … so what the heck.
Yup.
This week Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has ordered the country, and the state departments themselves, to create a hockey league.
The best news? National newspaper ‘Neutral Turkmenistan’ reported that the police are already busy setting up their own team (note: if you are betting I would bet on them … oh … unless the military creates a team).
Alright. The NHL playoffs.
Let’s be clear.
Ice hockey has a challenge.
No one watches it. Ok. Not really ‘no one’ <note: an example of hyperbole to make a point> … but surely not a lot of someones.
Let me move to Exhibit 1.
So.
I admit. Every time I see ice skating listed on TV schedule I wonder who the hell watches.
And who the hell at a network would schedule ice skating opposite a Heat – Bulls game (I say this as a follow up to the ‘who the hell watches ice skating’ earlier comment).
Well.
Interestingly one Sunday happened to be a “skating Sunday” and there was a Heat vs. Bulls game opposite.
Now.
While nothing had the same rating as the NBA game there were a variety of skating options on that day.
Option 1 – NHL all-Star game.
Option 2 – US Figure skating championships.
Option 3 <one network showing a wry sense of humor> … the movie Blades of Glory airing opposite the Figure Skating Championships.
Here is the nutty thing (the actual Exhibit 1 portion).
Option 1. NHL all star game gets a 1 household TV viewer rating.
Option 3. Blades of Glory gets a 1.7 household TV viewer rating.
Option 2. Figure Skating Championships gets a whopping 2.2 household TV viewer rating (2.7 in the second hour).
Yeah.
Not only did figure skating give the NHL an uppercut KO shot but frickin’ Blades of Glory gave it a good ole fashion whuppin’.
<note: once I found this out I immediately sent a sarcastic email to a buddy of mine who lives in Maine and is a die hard NHL fan only to get a ‘kiss my ass’ email in return>.
Ok.
Let me move on to Exhibit 2.
Because it isn’t like we haven’t had the opportunity to watch the NHL.
The NHL and NBC recently signed a 10-year television agreement which meant that aside from pre- and post-game shows, between NBC and Versus/NBC Sports Network, over 100 regular season games were shown. And beginning with these playoffs, every single matchup will be broadcast on the NBC family of networks and NHL Network. There’s not much more an ice hockey fan could ask for.
So, what’s my point in Exhibit 2?
See Exhibit 1.
Ok.
Because I am a solution sort of guy I thought maybe I could identify the issue.
Thanks to one of the best blogs in the entire universe, if not galaxy, http://50topmodels.wordpress.com/
<a blog that explores the great world of visualized thinking> I discovered a visualization for the issue that ice hockey has in the world of ‘capturing our attention.’
As they say: Due to a complex formula not all sports that are fun to play are equally fun to watch. Even the most hard-core free diver would never indulge in a, say, four hour live broadcast of his sport. Meanwhile, it can highly rewarding to watch The Strongest Man in The World Competition, even if the idea of carrying a truck tire is not very appealing. Interestingly enough is soccer, arguably the most popular sport of the world, fun to play, but boring to watch.
We racked our brains to come up with something that is, somewhat, easy to master and fun to watch: sex and dodge ball. Sometimes dancing and boxing, too.
(it is their image above)
Look.
I like ice hockey. For god’s sake I learned to skate on ice hockey skates (which, by the way, meant that any time someone wanted me to skate on figure skates I would end up catching that idiotic perforated edge on figure skates on the ice and do an immediate face plant). And I enjoyed ice hockey enough to play club hockey until someone who really didn’t know how to skate thought throwing his stick along the ice to stop you from getting too far ahead was the best way of stopping you.
Ice hockey is so cool <pun intended> that it doesn’t have a beginning date and it wasn’t even called ‘ice hockey’ when it began.
Ice Hockey was not invented nor did it start on a certain day of a particular year. It originated circa 1800 with students at Canada’s first college, King’s College, when they adapted the exciting field game called ‘Hurley’ to the ice of their favorite skating pond. The Blue Devils (that is their current mascot … no clue what it was then) created Ice Hurley which gradually developed into Ice Hockey.
<note: I am pleased someone was smart enough to change its name>
Anyway.
I will give you three reasons why you should watch the NHL playoffs:
1. No one is safe in the first round.
Since the NHL went to the 1-8 conference format a No. 8 seed had upset a No. 1 nine times. That’s nine times out 36 series. That’s a decent amount of upsets for what should be an “easier” matchup for the top seeds.
This year? The 1 seed Rangers face an 8 seed Ottawa team but they went 1-3 against Ottawa in the regular season.
2. Pennsylvanians outside of Happy Valley hate each other when it comes to ice hockey (and politics … but that is a different post).
The Penguins play the Flyers in round 1. And no one needs to be reminded of the hate between these two teams that’s existed for decades. Just in recent history, this will be the third meeting in the last six postseasons between the two. On paper, this matchup is expected to be highly physical and close. Not on paper but on the ice they will probably kill each other.
3. You can practice phonetics.
Nowhere will you find more names with a mixture of little used letters. Ovechkin. Yevgeni. Artyom Voronin. Rafalski. Konasew. Wisniewski. Czerkowski. Pekka Rinne. Pavel Datsyuk.
(I am fairly sure I didn’t make any of those up)
Ok.
Some real stuff about the Stanley Cup playoffs.
<insert blank space here>
Well.
If I knew about the NHL more than the fact Bobby Orr used to play and was on the front cover of Sports Illustrated <that’s how I know> when I was a kid and when I read SI from front to back religiously (no matter what was on the cover) I probably could have written something in that blank space.
But I don’t.
So I included this link in case you want to really know about the ice hockey playoffs. http://rkullman.blogspot.com/2012/04/stanley-cup-and-cheesecake-2012.html
Also.
Just in case you need some name to throw around the water cooler at work.
Players to watch: http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/lists/nhl-players-to-watch-in-playoffs-040512#photo-title=Brian+Campbell%252C+Florida+Panthers&photo=30869714
Oh.
As a bonus.
Some hockey smiles (kind of makes you wonder what mothers think when they send their kids out onto the rink): http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/backyard/a_look_at_hockey_smiles/10525517?refmod=backyard
There you go.
Let’s hit the ice because I seriously doubt more than a dozen people (outside of Canada and some foreign country where a player is from … Iceland, Lapland, North Pole, Finland, etc.) will actually watch.
Plus. Ice hockey may be the most literal definition of enlightened conflict.


















