This is SportsCenter

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This is SportsCenter is the name of a series of comical television commercials run by ESPN to promote their SportsCenter sports news show. A few are available free on iTunes. The ads are presented in a deadpan mockumentary style, lampooning various aspects of sports, and sports broadcasting.

The commercials debuted in 1994.

Contents

[edit] Guest appearances by sports figures

A notable feature of the commercials is the seeming ubiquity of famous athletes on the ESPN campus. Some are even depicted doing menial, everyday tasks, such as LeBron James fixing a copy machine, LaDainian Tomlinson sorting mail, Tony Romo working as a receptionist, Gilbert Arenas filling in for an absent anchor in his cubicle, Grant Hill as the lobby pianist, Chris Paul carrying dry cleaning, Matt Holliday working as a janitor, and even Albert Pujols mowing the lawn.

Many famous athletes have been featured in the series, including Andre Agassi, Ray Allen, Michael Andretti, Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Lance Armstrong, Rich Beem, Drew Bledsoe, Bill Bradley, Drew Brees, Kobe Bryant, Mark Buehrle, Jennifer Capriati, Brandi Chastain, Chris Chelios, Roger Clemens (who was in 5 of them, the most of any athlete), Sidney Crosby, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Carl Edwards, Roger Federer, Kevin Garnett, Ozzie Guillén, Mia Hamm, Jim Harbaugh, Evander Holyfield, Tim Hudson, LeBron James, Keyshawn Johnson, Roy Jones Jr., Jim Kelly, Alexi Lalas, Bobby Labonte, Lennox Lewis, Mark McGwire, Gheorghe Muresan, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Gaylord Perry, Mary Lou Retton, Ben Roethlisberger, Tony Romo, Pete Sampras, Maria Sharapova, Andriy Shevchenko, Jerry Stackhouse, Kerri Strug, Fernando Vargas, Adam Vinateri, Shaun White, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Tiger Woods, and David Wright. Athletes often have their idiosyncrasies parodied — for example, Strug being carried around ESPN headquarters because of her famous ankle injury.

  • At the ESPN offices, Stuart Scott bumps into Tiger Woods and asks about lunch, Scott replies for Tiger to meet him in the lobby at 12:30. Tiger walks away then followed by the huge crowd which usually follows him at any golf tournament he plays at.
  • The power goes out late at night at the ESPN studios; Dan Patrick goes backstage to find the cause of the power outage: apparently Lance Armstrong has taken a break from riding his bicycle (connected to a generator).
  • In a 1996 commercial, an ESPN producer discusses a fictional trade between SportsCenter and the TV series Melrose Place, wherein Andrew Shue and Charley Steiner switch jobs; the ad features Shue at the SportsCenter desk discussing a working interview with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue then cuts to the Melrose Place set where Steiner is cleaning the pool and enthusiastically asks one of the female cast members if she wants to rub suntan lotion on his back
  • In a 1999 commercial aired in the midst of the Y2K fears, when the studio's electricity goes out (due to Y2K tests), amidst the ensuing mayhem—which includes Mark McGwire smashing a computer with his bat—Charley Steiner walks away, wearing face paint and a necktie as a headband, holding a lantern and screaming, “Follow me! Follow me to freedom!!”
  • In SportsCenter studios, Rich Eisen talks with Bobby Labonte about his hair, when he sees someone doing donuts in his #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac. Labonte screams at him, then the driver, who's actually a mascot of some sort, gets paid the damages under his nose.
  • The hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi was featured in an ad where he finishes his lunch in the ESPN cafeteria in the 30-second span of the commercial.
  • In 2006, a commercial aired which showed Danica Patrick's race car being towed from a parking spot, presumably outside SportsCenter studios, which was reserved for "D. Patrick." Shortly after, Danica runs outside after her car, only to run into Dan Patrick, one of SportsCenter's premier anchors. Some humorous debate over whose parking spot it really was follows.
  • A 2006 ad features the Manning family taking a tour of the SportsCenter studio. John Anderson conducts the tour while Eli and Peyton Manning engage in horseplay. When Archie turns to look, the brothers stop and proceed to silently blame each other for the antics.
  • A 2007 ad featuring Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz is introduced to members of anchor John Buccigross's family. He greets each one by spitting into each of his batting gloves, slapping them together and shaking their hand, similar to his typical batting ritual.
  • Another 2007 ad featuring David Ortiz shows David, anchor Stan Verrett and Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees sitting at a conference table. The three are talking about hats, and David asks to see the Yankees' hat to bend the brim (to break it in). As he puts it on his head, Wally the Green Monster (The Red Sox' Mascot) walks by, sees Ortiz in the Yankees hat, drops the video tapes he's carrying and is mortified - refusing to have anything to do with Ortiz.
  • A 2007 ad featuring Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James arriving at ESPN offices and sits in his cubicle in a standard office chair. He realizes something is wrong so he goes to his neighbor Scott Van Pelt cubicle and Van Pelt is sitting in a throne, (which he took from "King James" cubicle.) Getting Lebron to ask, "Scott, did you possibly switch chairs with me?" Scott in the commercial said no, but after James' performance in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Van Pelt during the Sportscenter he was on said, "LeBron, I really did take your chair."
  • A 2007 ad features WWE superstar John Cena and anchor Jay Harris having a conversation on why SportsCenter never airs pro wrestling highlights. Towards the end of the commercial, Harris believes that pro wrestling is not a real sport but Cena disagrees.
  • A 2007 ad has LaDainian Tomlinson sorting mail in the mailroom in his jersey and his helmet. Steve Levy then comes to get his mail, and proceeds to tell LT that the mail isn't his (LT wears a black visor, which in this case is supposed to be detrimental to his vision).
  • A 2007 ad has Richard Simmons hired as SportsCenter's "conditioning coach".
  • A 2008 ad has ESPN employees being locked out of the studio as Dirk Nowitzki can't seem to get the door open.
  • A 2008 ad features Brian Kenny poking fun at NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth in the cafeteria simply because stock car racing has its roots in the southern United States (Kenseth is from Wisconsin).
  • A 2008 ad has author Stephen King helping out with John Anderson's script.
  • A 2008 ad features Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday cleaning the men's room, whistling a tune along the way while John Anderson tries to enter the restroom. Holliday emerges out of the men's room and then proceeding to do the ladies' room.

[edit] Sports practices

Many commercials in the series have derived their humor from parodying conventional professional sports practices, by applying them to working for SportsCenter:

  • One ad has former anchor Rich Eisen being "sent down to the minors" (in his case, working for a high-school TV service, where two students asked him to buy them some beer, a request he declined to honor).
  • The network drafting a can't-miss anchor prospect out of high school, only to see him flame out on the job ("Jimmy Key, what is he 45? I could hit him!") and ESPN discovering that "he just wasn't ready", à la how baseball teams often rush their highly-touted prospects to the majors. Also it may reference the fiasco with former San Diego Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf.
  • John Buccigross wearing the "anchor-cam", a parody of MLB catchers wearing "catcher-cam" during ESPN and FOX's MLB telecasts.
  • One rather infamous spot is the making of the SportsCenter swimsuit calendar, featuring Bill Pidto, Stuart Scott and Linda Cohn in various states of revealing swimwear.
  • A parody of post-game interviewing finds a dejected Kenny Mayne and an upbeat Dan Patrick asked about their performances in that evening's broadcast in "locker room" interviews.
  • Another recent ad has the show going into a rain delay (it was a small pipe leaking above the desk), forcing anchors John Anderson and Steve Levy to wait it out in a dugout as a grounds crew covers the desk with a tarp.
  • The carpet in the ESPN headquarters is replaced with grass to prevent injuries, a parody of the controversy over injuries sustained by football players competing on AstroTurf (in the ad, ESPN workers are shown tripping on the carpet). The anchors have to yell over the sound of the lawn mower cutting the grass in the studio.
  • In a 1997 ad, Dan Patrick and Kenny Mayne are shown signing off a typical SportsCenter broadcast, and are then given sombreros, and they begin broadcasting the Spanish version of SportsCenter (with a mariachi version of the show's theme). While Bob Ley explains that they redo the show for overseas markets ("Same highlights, same anchors, different dialects"), they are also shown giving Russian and German versions a try, replete with national costumes, and the SportsCenter theme redone for those cultures.
  • A 2006 features brothers Peyton and Eli Manning teasing each other while their family is in a tour of the ESPN studio.
  • A 2006 ad shows Scott Van Pelt and Stuart Scott jumping and stretching before a show, similar to what NBA players do before games. The ad ends with both men easily taking off their "warm-up suits" revealing their show suits underneath.
  • In one ad Stuart Scott discusses "Rain Delays" and says that every so often there is one. Then they cut to a show where a leak from a pipe above the stage causes a grounds crew to come out and lay a tarp on the set. The anchors and grounds crew members are seen calling loved ones and chewing gum similarly to baseball players and fans. Scott says "You just hope it lets up."
  • A 2007 ad has Steve Levy getting suspended by Vince Doria because he said the F-word during a SportsCenter taping (this spot was never aired on the ESPN family of networks because it was deemed too inappropriate for television).[citation needed]
  • A 2007 ad features how a SportsCenter video game is made (this ad is a take on the sports video game craze).
  • A 2008 ad features a coin toss between anchors Jay Harris and Brian Kenny to determine who will start the show.
  • A 2008 ad features how Sportscenter viewers can decides which highlights to air via text messaging. They can choose one of the three options: have John Anderson read the highlights, have Jay Harris read the high lights or have a roller-skating parrot dunk a basketball. In the end, they chose the latter.
  • A 2008 ad has anchors Steve Levy and John Anderson answering phone calls from viewers in a parody of sports call-in shows (including ESPNRadio).

[edit] Sports mascots

Sports mascots and cheerleaders are usually present in most ads, often seen casually milling around in the background, but occasionally they take on an active role:

  • In a 2003 ad, when the show ends, everyone rushes out of the studio, creating a massive traffic jam. It then shows Mr. Met and Lady Met driving home on the freeway (with the Met children in the back), with Lady Met subtitled as saying they were glad to get out early. The New York Mets theme song, "Meet the Mets", is on their car radio. (A shorter version with just the Mets family has Lady Met accusing Mr. Met of making eyes at one of the female ESPN sportscasters.)
  • Wake Forest University's mascot, The Demon Deacon, appears in a commercial featuring David Wright of the New York Mets, wherein Wright, John Anderson, and Neil Everett lampoon the baseball practice of covering the mouth with the glove while speaking on the field so that the opposing team cannot read the speaker's lips — they discuss where they are to meet for a party later that evening while covering their mouths, Wright with his glove, the anchors with folders.
  • The Stanford Tree stares at anchor John Anderson after he throws a crumpled up piece of paper in the garbage can. Anderson is guilted into taking the paper out of the garbage and puts it into the recycling bin.
  • In a 2002 ad, anchors Scott Van Pelt and Rich Eisen are saying some nonsensical words; as it turns out, it's none other than Boston Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster controlling the teleprompter until he is stopped by a producer. It's also the only Sportscenter commercial where the closing graphic "This is SportsCenter" doesn't appear at the end of the commercial. Instead it's replaced by "This is Spillifattr", a take on the spot.
  • The Blue Blob a mascot of Xavier University is shown eating Jim Kelly's NFL Hall of Fame jacket after beating him in rock paper scissors. Kelly then asks for best 2 out of 3, the Blue Blob declines.

[edit] External links