Wednesday, May 1st, 2019

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Written while listening to Wu Tang's Triumph

 Let's remember some great old commercials 

Sports generally deal in the business of packaged nostalgia. The teams or players you fell in love with early on are the ones you’ll swear were the best; the mirage that the past was better keeps old eras and players relevant through conversation and argument.  This happening can be applied to many things. But not to old NBA commercials. Because NBA commercials nowadays kind of suck.You think Oscar from The Office and Chris Paul have ever shared a word outside of filming? You think Giannis’ heart is in this Hulu has live sports nonsense? The well-constructed commercials of The Golden Age, which I am proclaiming to be from 2007 to 2013, have been fazed out by -- what? -- Hank’s midlife crisis, on acid, AKA Claws? During The Golden Age, the commercials were rich. Substantive. Dramatic. Clever. Spine-tingling. And super not corny. (How dare you?). Let me prove my point, through YouTube links. 

The commercial: An endearing ode to KG's trade to Boston When: Summer, 2007Why it works: It’s a great representation of a unifying sports moment, mixed with an appropriate song: Badfinger’s I remember. If you were in Massachusetts when Kevin Garnett waved his no-trade clause, then you know: This really is how it was. Plus, one scene has a Fathead. Remember those? 

The commercial: The NBA’s Where amazing happens campaignWhen: Fall, 2007Why it works: The music choice is an emotional piano song (which also had a cameo in The Simpsons), and is set to great recent NBA moments: Kobe’s 81 points. Ben Wallace’s fro. Golden State’s We Believe team. It’s so 2007. Here’s a compilation of every Where Amazing Happens commercial. 

The commercial: A promo for the 2009 NBA Playoffs When: Spring, 2009Why it works: With the same piano music, it’s a well-written and well-edited script read by the players who mattered most in 2009. It ends with a splitscreen of Kobe and KG and a dramatic pause (and possibly some tears). Here’s a similar one with Larry Bird and Magic.

The commercial: 

When:

Summer, 2009 

Why it works:

This was one of the best in a long line of specific commercials, putting past and present NBA stars in funny predicaments while riding in a cross-country RV. In this iteration, Magic Johnson and James Worthy reveal to Lamar Odom, who is eating chips and clutching his new Larry O’Brien trophy, that the top of the trophy has a guacamole holder and the bottom has a nacho cheese tray.

. 

The commercial: 

When:

Winter, 2012

Why it works:

It is nostalgia come to life. The commercial photoshops old stars playing with new stars in a non-corny way, while

Live forever

 by The Neighbors plays. 

The commercial: 

When: Spring, 2012 Why it works: In 2012, the Celtics were a fringe contender with a bunch of old Hall of Famers, plus peak Rajon Rondo. No one expected them to do much, but they almost rag-tagged their way to the NBA Finals, making this commercial oddly prophetic. Here are the other nine commercials done in this format. 

The commercial: 

When:

Winter, 2013

Why it works: It’s completely abstract and likens Kobe to, among other things, a lion and a philosopher. It’s aged beautifully or horribly, depending on who you ask, but at least it doesn’t involve Hulu having live sports. 

Obviously,

The Golden Age

has many more. Send some back if you want.

-- SE

Quick Hits  

• In case you didn't see the clip of James Harden getting poked in the eye yet. 

• This is the first time both the Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche have made the second round of the playoffs in the same year. 

• Charles Barkely on the Celtics' attempt to build a defensive wall on Giannis: "Building a wall is always a bad idea, America!"

• The biggest problem for the Celtics, after being blown out by Milwaukee last night, is Jayson Tatum: He's averaging 4.5 points per game for the series. 

• Enes Kanter has love for Portland. 

• One of the funny things about the playoffs, where new media members join in on covering a team, is how often questions are repeated. Nikola Jokic has had enough. 

• A good look at what Giannis did differently last night. 

 Concrete Reads 

• The quest for perfection is ruining sports [New York Magazine]

• Chris Paul knows you don’t like him, and he doesn’t care [The Ringer]

• The winding, improbable journey of Celtics voice Mike Gorman [The Boston Globe]

• How Damian Lillard turned ‘bad’ shots into good ones [The WaPo]

  Podcast Pick

• Kirk Goldsberry, who is the creator of those spray charts you might have seen, joins The Lowe Post [ESPN]