Sunday, August 31, 2008

Mandatory Manning #6 - #3

The Colts open the season a week from today against the Bears. Peyton's progress is going well, although the bad news is Jeff Saturday's injury situation which will keep him out at least 6 weeks. The quarterback-center exchange is key, especially for Manning's style of no huddle offense. Here's #6-#3 of the product-placement peppered Peyton.

#6 Master Card: Priceless Pep Talk - There were about 4 of these commercials, this one is the best of all of them. The lines written for Peyton were clever, he's done so many commercials by now that he's not afraid to portray himself a little arrogant, but his execution could do a little more work. Maybe he'll get an acting coach after his football career is over. Just don't make the football version of 'Space Jam' if you decide to go to another sport. I'm thinking the Oreo-licking thing's not going to be that successful.




#5 United Way: 'Clay' - Like the Direct TV commercial from #13 on the list, this United Way commercial showed signs of Manning loosening up in front of the public and showing a more humorous side of himself.




#4 ESPN SportsCenter - Peyton and Eli acting like children. The memorable part of this commercial is Archie turning around and giving that paternal stare. It's commercials like this, along with #18, where I always find it funny that the athletes have to wear some sort of shirt or jersey as to inform the audience what team they play for. I'm sure these guys wear their team's colors 24/7. This is another commercial where we get to see Cooper.




#3 Master Card: 'Fan' Commercial 1 - The commercial that catapulted Peyton into endorsement stardom. Just remember #18, if you throw an interception, they're not yelling "Boo", they're yelling "Moovers." We'll see if Indy's willing to 'support their team' this season if injuries plague the Colts' season.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Mandatory Manning: #10 - #7

Here's the next batch of commercial spots. Colts play their first game at Lucas Oil tonight in a preseason game with the Buffalo Bills.

#10 Master Card - 'Opponents' -
This commercial is genious as Peyton cozies up to NFC defensive super stars Michael Strahan and Brian Urlacher. At the time the commercial was made, neither Strahan or Urlacher knew they would play in a Super Bowl with a Manning. Strahan got the better end of the deal.




#9 Sprint: Manning's Mind - If Manning had nightmares from too many concussions (which won't happen with his O-Line) and watching The Shining this may be what he dreams of. I like the fact that other players are featured in the commercial. Jason Taylor is charging down the hall, while Marvin Harrison is seen 'swimming with the fishes.' The voice of the Colts Bob Lamey is also featured in the commercial. The token horror child also whisper's 'Clark', Indy's tight end/slot receiver.




#8 Oreos DSRL - By this time the whole Manning family, minus Cooper, have become total endorsement pawns as this commercial shows how far they are willing to stoop. I wonder how much the clan's getting paid by Nabisco acting absolutely foolish, hopefully not in sandwich cookies.




#7 Master Card: 'Fan' Commercial 3 - This last of the Fan commercials is pushes Peyton's fanaticism, especially when he gets the apron. I'm sure those in food service wished they felt that appreciated.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Cooking with the Colts....some other NFL players, & Faith Hill

I guess Mr. Sanders and Freeney have a lot of free time to make commercials since they've been on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.

Monday, August 18, 2008

#18 vs #18 in Lucas Oil Regular Season Opener

Although I am excited to see the season opener at Lucas Oil when the Colts take on the Bears, I was hoping to see Rex Grossman taken down at quarterback. I've always been quietly watching for his slightly better backup Kyle Orton, since I saw him play in 4 seasons at Purdue as the Boilermaker's QB. He was an early Heisman candidate during the 2004 season before injuries plagued him into obscurity. Orton was drafted in the 4th round by the Bears during the '05 draft and has played backup to Grossman since. He recently got a one year contract extension and coach Lovie Smith announced today that he has won the starting position of the Monsters of the Midway. We'll see Peyton take on Kyle, not a repeat of Super Bowl XLI, which was probably what the league was trying to go for. Maybe adding 10 to the quaterback (Grossman's #8), will add a bit to the Bears offense.....probably not much. I do wish Kyle the best for the rest of the season, after the Colts are done with them.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Mandatory Manning: #14 - #11

There's plenty of Peyton out there, a multitude of Manning commercials, and here's the next batch of the top 18 for #18. I'll have more the next 2 Sundays, a few honorable mentions that didn't make the cut on during the NFL season opener and the top 2 commercials before the Colts open the season at Lucas against the Bears on September 7th.





#14 X-Box - NFL Fever 2003 - This was in the days when EA didn't have the exclusive rights to NFL video games. Fever was Microsoft's NFL game and their cover boy every year for their short lived series was Peyton. The graphics were better than Madden at the time, but player models looked like they were pumped up with more 'roids than every slugger on the Mitchell Report combined. The mechanics of the game weren't realistic at all receivers never seemed to be able to catch and run routes at the same time, resulting in almost no YAC. Anyways, Peyton acting silly again.




#13 DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket - If I can recall, this is the first commercial I remember Peyton coming a little out of his shell early in his career and have a little less serious commercial. He's also able to poke a little fun at his "student/historian of the game" image.




#12 Master Card: 'Fan' Commercial 2 - These Master Card endorsements solidified Manning's humorous side (or his willingness to do anything for the almighty dollar) in commercials - Because there are some things money can't buy, and Peyton Manning endorsing whatever it is you're trying to sell isn't one of them.




#11 DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket - Unfortunately, as of this posting, I cannot find this commercial anywhere. I always thought this commercial was genious. Like the current ad campaign, where movie icons like Doc Brown, Ripley, or T-1000 would come out of character to advertise Direct TV, Manning came out from behind center to advertise NFL Sunday Ticket just before he's about to throw the memorable single season TD record to Brandon Stokely during the 2005 season.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

AK! My 'Northern Exposure': Farewell Alaska

Today, I get back on the M/V Columbia and make my way back down to Washington. It's been a great time being in Alaska and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. Here's a few pics I've taken in Ketchikan, it's been pretty rainy here:


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Mandatory Manning: #18 - #15

It's almost 3 weeks before the '08-'09 NFL Season starts opening Thursday, September 4th with the 'Skins at the Giants. Colts will open the season on Sunday Night Football on the 7th against their defeated Super Bowl XLI opponent Bears in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. I can't wait to see what happens this year. Brady and the Pats have been defeated by a Manning the last 2 years, although it's a slim chance the Giants will return to the promised land we'll wait and see if the Manning Bowl will ever occur - Peyton's not getting any younger. Peyton's still rehabbing that knee after having the infected bursa sac removed and should be ready for the season opener. I'm really hoping he'll surpass Favre's consecutive game record - whenever #4 wants to retire! Anyways, in anticipation of the new season, I'm going to be posting the top 18 Peyton commercials leading up to the season opener. Peyton's been the poster boy for the NFL and has definitely been the most advertised athlete as of late. He's also got the skills, records, and a title to warrant having his face on everything. So here goes with #18 - #15:

#18 - Manning Family Reading PSA - Public service announcement features the 3 Manning quarterbacks as well as the rarely shown older brother Cooper with an actual utterance, who never made it to the pros but was a big impact on Peyton's life and the reason for the #18 Colts jersey - if you remember Peyton was #16 when playing with the Vols.




#17 - NFLSHOP.COM: Mannings Make Breakfast - The Manning QB's use teamwork to achieve everyday tasks. How would a huddle of 3 quarterbacks really work?




#16 - Gatorade 'Big Heads' Commercial - Sports stars Kevin Garnett, Dwayne Wade, Jennie Finch, and Derek Jeter join Peyton in a commercial placing their heads on kids bodies, transforming them into live bobblehead dolls. The funny part about this commercial is that Peyton already has a huge head, this commercial doesn't add to that at all!




#15 - Gatorade Fierce: 'Gladiator' - Older commercial for Peyton, before he was really portrayed as humorous. Definitely high in production value, taking on lions and bears. The only beef I have with the commercial is the use of all the fake Colts players. Fortunately, as the Colts have become more iconic as a team lately, other players have been featured in more recent commercials.

Monday, August 11, 2008

AK! My 'Northern Exposure': If They Mated

Before leaving Juneau, I picked up some Alaskan souvenirs: A couple of Alaskan Amber t-shirts, Alaskan-grown cedar grilling planks, and some Alaskan-made jerky. If you take a look at the pics, the jerky's made with reindeer, caribou, and venison meat.........some also with beef, pork, pig hearts and cow hearts - sounds delicious. The jerky's jerky, nothing in the way of any exotic tastes or textures, a bit tough though. The Alaska Jack's Red Pepper Hunter Stick combines the essence of the pig, cow, and reindeer for ultimate in protein sustenance.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Resurrection of Roundball Rock

Today, the Team USA basketball team opened up the Olympic Games in Beijing by taking on the Chinese National Team, which included NBA notables Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and Wang Zhizhi. After a close first half, USA broke away and won convincingly, 101-70. What I want to note about this game, which was part of NBC's immense Olympic coverage was their use of "Roundball Rock" during the game. This was the theme song for the NBA on NBC, composed by John Tesh. Once ABC took over national coverage of the NBA, the song went away. I guess NBC brought it back with their coverage of basketball. Listening to that song brings me back to the memories of the NBA when it was at its highest during the heydays of Jordan and the Bulls dynasties, Mailman and Stockton, Ewing and Starks, Miller and Smits, and the voice of Marv Albert...."Yes."









I'm sure you've heard this song before, if not let me introduce you to 'Roundball Rock'







Here's an ESPN.com article on Tesh and his infamous song

Here's an old intro from NBA on NBC:



......and here's Mr. Tesh's response to all the fans of the song:

AK! My 'Northern Exposure': The Fog

I just arrived into Ketchikan after about a day and a half aboard the M/V Taku. A bit of a smaller and much less modern boat than the M/V Columbia, but I had a much more spacious room than before. Before taking off on Friday, I had a brief walk through downtown Juneau. It's not a very big downtown, quite a modest capital city and capitol building for the largest state (in land area) in the United States. So much of the city is filled with touristy shops. Every other store seemed to sell ulu knives. There are a few smokeries, one being Taku Smokeries. You can go into the store and see the process of preparing smoked salmon. I didn't get to go on the Mount Roberts Tramway, which gives you an aerial view of the city, but I'm not sure if I would have seen anything due to weather.


See my path from Juneau to Ketchikan aboard the Taku via Google Maps

Here are some pics of my last day in a foggy Juneau:




All the fog along the water remembers me of the movie The Fog, the scenery is actually Northern California in the film, but gave me the same aura. Classic John Carpenter cheesiness:

Thursday, August 7, 2008

AK! My 'Northern Exposure': Juneau, Like the City in Alaska

I've had some time to check out Juneau a bit. I haven't been around Alaska much, but I guess I was thinking the city was going to be a bit larger. Yesterday, I had a look at the magnificent Mendenhall Glacier in the Tongass National Forest. The place was full of tourists, but I was able to walk around some of the trails and take some great pics!


View Larger Map

AK! My 'Northern Exposure' : Set an Open Course

Last Friday, I set out on the M/V Columbia towards Juneau, AK for work. The ship is part of the Alaska Marine Highway System, a ferry service traveling along the west coast of Alaska, Canada, and goes as far south as Bellingham, Washington. The system has been named an All-American Road by the Federal Highway Administration. Due to the lack of road access in many places of Alaska, the AMHS may be the only way of transportation besides air. I left from the terminal in Bellingham and it took me about 57 hours total to get up to Alaska's capital. There were stops along the way, including Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg, AK. As you can see pics of the ship, it's a step up from a regular commuter ferry, definitely not cruise ship class though. I stayed in a cabin (really small, but I had it to myself), but you have the option of either sleeping inside the boat in many of the recliners or outside of the boat. The back of the boat has 2 decks where passengers can pitch their tents during their stay on the boat. There also is a solarium area, where people can sleep in their sleeping bags on beach chairs under a canopy. The sites on the way are nice, and the boat was quiet enough in the car deck that I was able to perform some hearing tests for the engine crew.

Click here to see the route I took via Google Maps