Funniest Sports Ads

I was sitting around on a Sunday (nothing new here!) reading the posts on Sons of Sam Horn. There was a thread devoted to Greg Maddux's imminent retirement from baseball, and I was prompted to post my memories of Maddux. Here is my post:

"We drove to Montreal in July of '03 to see Vladimir Guerrero. Had great seats in the front row of the RF bleachers. Ron Calloway started in Vladdy's place, thus reinforcing the old adage that you NEVER buy tickets to a Sunday game if you want to see the stars.

Anyway, Maddux went six innings, against Tomo Ohka. He gave up six runs and two homers, the deciding blow coming from...wait for it...Ron Calloway.

I can still say I saw the three best pitchers of their era live, though, in Pedro, Roger and Maddux. As I recall, all three got lit up when I watched them.

Oh, and "Chicks dig the longball."*"

*Here is your video for reference:


Then Rach suggested someone (Translated:"ahem...that means YOU!") do a post on the best sports related commercials of all time. Well, I've taken it upon myself to gather a few that I consider to be very good, but it is by no means an exhaustive list.

Bo Jackson, who made so many of us feel inadequate as athletes:

Gretzky's performance is almost as good as Glavine in the previous clip.

There were a lot of good Michael Jordan ads, but this one stands out for me, probably because it pairs him with Larry Legend:

"Nothin' But Net"

Arguably, this one got it started:

"Tastes great!" "Less filling!"

Now before I'm overrun with "What about Mean Joe Greene? That was the best EVAH!", let me just emphasize that I don't want to pollute this space with glurge. It's cute, but it's not that funny.

How about Sugar Ray Leonard? This guy singlehandedly made boxing relevant in the years when the heavyweights were bashing each others' brains out; he was just a breath of classy air in a brutish sport. I can't find the one he made with his son:

Boy 1: "Hey, is that the champ?"
Sugar Ray's Kid: "Naw, that's just my dad."

Another one I wish I could find is Eddie Murray's spot from the 90's where there's a little jingle to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw" singing about his career accomplishments ("...and a three time winner of a Golden Glove") and at the end, a young fan comments about the laconic Murray: "That's not tired, that's DEE-termination!" Eddie was a man of few words, but one HELL of a hitter.

The last one I wish I could find for you is one where Randy Johnson is playing dodgeball. That's just a flat-out funny concept, and it just might have been the inspiration for the Ben Stiller movie.

If any of you stumbles upon any of these missing gems, please contact me or post them.

Please vote in the poll at the upper right of your browser, and if your answer would be "none of the above", either don't vote, or drop me your favorite in the comments. I might even add your suggestions!

I'll leave you with this, and let you chime in with your own thoughts. I know I'm in the minority, being a Patriots fan who thinks Peyton Manning is pretty awesome, and here is why:

"Cut that meat! Cut that meat!"

Photo Friday Challenge

SJ's Sky Photo entry linked me to another photo challenge: the Photo Friday Challenge. Today's challenge is "food", and a whole bunch of people in this circle would be up for that challenge (Amity? Krazy Karoline?)! This is my entry:

Amity, I'm sorry I got all the garlic in the ground this fall without having you over to see the process. It's really easy, though.

The Beehive Collective

The Beehive Collective: full time volunteers based in Machias, making some incredible sociopolitically inspired tapestries. They restored local grange hall as their home, and have turned it back into a community center. They go on tour with their tapestries, exhibiting them at colleges and being paid in honoraria. They also show their work at high schools, where they get their bigger impact: usually when they exhibit at colleges, the students who show up are "the choir", and don't need to be preached to. To say these folks are liberal is analogous to saying the weather this year has been crappy. The next tapestry they are working on has mountaintop removal as its theme.

The tapestry in front of me stretches diagonally across the room, about thirty feet, and it depicts the political and social conditions in Colombia, as influenced by geopolitical and historical events. Directly in front of me there is an ant colony, where worker ants seem to be reading about organizing labor, watching television, plotting military strategy, and other activities. Different corporate labels (Monsanto, Chiquita, BP, Coca Cola, DynCorp, Ford) find their ways into the tapestry, and not in the most flattering of light.

I've seen these folks exhibiting at Common Ground before, but never really stopped to find out about what their story was.

This could be a really cool way to have students tell human stories in ways that make sense to them. It is interesting to watch these kids opening up a little bit, explaining what they see in the symbolism and imagery of the tapestry. This would be a really cool way to have kids show what they know in an interdisciplinary unit. (Joe, you feelin' me? Amity? Mike?)


Mission statement of the Beehive Collective: "to cross-pollinate the grassroots".

Feeling Good

I'm at the Maine Youth Action Network conference in Bar Harbor today. There are about 350 attendees, including middle school students, high school students, and the adults who love working with them enough to endure ridiculously low salaries to do what they love.

Shortly after the keynote (not really very effectively done, but the guy has an impressive record of anti-tobacco activism at the tender age of 19) I ran into a former student who is now a senior at our local high school. She endured three years of me as her science teacher, and one as her language arts teacher, and was a member of my favorite class ever. To this day, every time I see her she exclaims that I was her "favorite teacher ever". That's not a brag, and I certainly don't claim to have done anything to have earned that particular accolade, but I use it to set the scene.

So after hugs and some small talk, I asked her what is happening for her next year. I was flabbergasted to hear she is hoping to enter Pre-Med at UVM next fall. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't flabbergasted because she has dreams of Pre-Med. And it doesn't shock me in the least that she is considering a very good school. No, it was the fact that this is one of the most intelligent kids I've ever taught, who--though she coasted through my sixth, seventh and eighth grade science classes--I never pegged for being a particularly science-oriented person. She always had a book, and usually it was pretty challenging reading. Check that: she always had a book going, and usually she had it going simultaneously with my lessons. But she was a very capable multi-tasker, and even when I tried to trip her up, she knew right where we were, even in the middle of Return of the King. This is one sharp kid. Anyway, I view it as vindication of my teaching methods that she told me when they did Punnett Squares in honors biology, she had no problem while most of the others in the class simply didn't get it.

It excites me that at least one of my students is going into a scientific field, and I think I had some small part in helping develop her passion for science. That feels damn good.

It's Not Really a Celebration

I saw pieces of this video on the NBC Nightly News tonight, and felt I needed a place I could get back to it and watch it when I wanted to. Earlier tonight, Cheerchick said "I don't think we should celebrate Veterans Day." I asked her why, and she said "Because we shouldn't have the war in the first place." Though I couldn't agree with her more on that point, I asked whether she thought it was important to remember all those people who have died in wars. She said yes, it is important to remember them. I then explained that we don't really "celebrate", but we remember the sacrifices made by people who have served our country in the military.

There will be some deep and amazing discussions in the not too distant future as my kids attempt to figure out when--or if--war is ever justified. Unfortunately, I think war is part of our DNA, but the idealist in me says if we didn't have willing warriors, we couldn't have war. And then, of course, there are the battles that have to be joined, even when we're reluctant, because evil must be met head-on. I only hope that we are entering a phase of foreign policy where we will only enter righteous battles. I am tired of any blood--American or otherwise--being spilled needlessly.

At any rate, this video grabbed me. Black and white. No sound. And it is real.

Change Has Come.

Wow. 11pm, and NBC has declared Barack Hussein Obama the 44th President of the United States of America. I am in tears.

Grant Park East

The entire family is in the living room, watching the returns come in. 270 is the magic number, and if you trust MSNBC, there are fewer than 100 to go (currently Barack 175/McCain 70). I'm hoping to get the kids off to bed by ten. That would be a landslide, in my book.

On the Dole

Elizabeth Dole, who ran a MORE shameful campaign than Soo-Sin, appears to have been defeated in North Carolina. Kind of makes me wish Collins had called Allen "godless", or something equally meaningless. It might have turned the tide.

Soo-sin Wins.

NBC projecting Soo-Sin Collins as the winner over Tom Allen. Her campaign was shameful, but effective.

Meanwhile, Virginia numbers don't look all that good for Barack UNLESS...you realize that the precincts reporting are the rural precincts, and Northern Virginia hasn't reported yet. As someone on fivethirtyeight pointed out, the "fake" Virginia takes longer. I still have hope...and that's what this is all about.

Virginia is for (Barack) Lovers

It looks like the night could be very short if Virginia goes Obama's way. I've become a serious junkie at this site and they are also reporting some encouraging happenings in Indiana, where they say he is "substantially outperforming" John Kerry's 2004 performance in that state.

Dare we hope?

A Change is Gonna Come

It is 6:46 pm Eastern Standard Time, and the results should start rolling in soon. My stomach is fluttery. I'm unbelievably nervous about this election, though everything I'm seeing is treating an Obama victory as a foregone conclusion. I can't let myself believe it, and I'm simply in awe of what might happen tonight. Below is a video of Sam Cooke performing "A Change is Gonna Come". The story goes that Cooke wrote it in reply to Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" in 1964 because he was so amazed that a white man could write such a powerful song about race relations.

I can't believe this hasn't registered with me before now that this has been such a staple in the Obama appearances, but it is perfect. Of course soul greats Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding recorded their versions of this song, and it has been a touchstone for the civil rights movement. But it has also been an iconic song for all Americans--and others--seeking true freedom: some of my favorites on my iPod have also recorded their own takes on this song, including Billy Bragg, Cold War Kids, and Arcade Fire, a Montreal band that is so fervent in their support of Obama that they recorded their own version. I'm going to be blogging this election night live, so feel free to keep checking in if you're so inclined. Meantime, here's Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come".