8:00 PM Late games recap: Saints stay perfect by beating Panthers 30-20; Vince Young stays perfect as starter as Titans top 49ers 34-27; Chargers hand Giants their 4th loss in a row in a 21-20 comeback win; and the Lions turn a 17-0 1st quarter lead into a 32-20 loss to the Seahawks.
7:42 PM And it wouldn't be an NFL weekend without Chad Ochocinco trying to liven things up on the field: this time the Bengals receiver tries to bribe an official with a whole dollar! Will this stunt cost Chad more than a dollar in fines from Roger Goodell?
7:20 PM How did Joey Porter back up all the jawing he did this week about the Patriots? By finishing Sunday's game with no tackles, no sacks, no passes defensed, no forced fumbles or recoveries, and no comments to reporters afterwards.
While Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns have a lot of free time right now to go and make ’70s cop-show video spoofs, the Cleveland Cavaliers are in the playoffs and making a run at an NBA title. Of course, after seeing the way they’ve manhandled the Detroit Pistons in the first two games, it’s pretty obvious they don’t need to waste too much time practicing right now. Which means they have a lot more time to shoot comical commercial spoofs.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the Heineken commercial where a group of men jump around and scream upon discovering their friend’s new walk-in fridge that’s fully stocked with beer. Well, the Cavs have seen it too, and they decided to have some fun with it for their new playoff commercial.
From the RED SOX MONSTER emerges an Avis car commercial rife with stereotypes about people from N’Yawk and Bahst’n. That’s actually how the cities are spelled, by the way. The apostrophes represent either pizza or lobster, depending on your point of view.
The HR representative introducing the new guy, I read in the commercial’s director notes, is actually a Blue Jays fan. You can tell by the lack of accent, character, and John McDonald-like gritty v-neck sweater. Read more…
The WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that Hyundai is thinking about pulling it’s ads from the Super Bowl.
The South Korean auto maker is fearful their spots might rub some prospective buyers the wrong way. Not because of any racy content or wardrobe malfunctions, but because of concerns about a stagnating economy.
Hyundai believes that “taking out high-priced ads in this environment might rub some consumers the wrong way.”
Well, it didn’t bother Allstate when they sponsored the BCS Championship game in Louisiana - where many hurricane insurance claims are still unpaid.
If Hyundai decides to pull out but Fox can’t find any new ad buyers, the spots will have to air. However, as the WSJ points out, “Given the high demand for ad time, Fox would likely be able to sell the slots at an even higher price.”
And we have a good idea what viewers are hoping to see instead.
Despite another dreadful season, the Knicks want to prove they still have plenty of diehard support, by showing 30-second TV spots featuring fans talking about their devotion to the team.
Apparently the Knicks couldn’t find enough devotees, so they ended up using actors.
The NEW YORK POST reports that the team sought the services an agency called Impossible Casting to dig up faces for their ads. Agency owner Craig Lechner said that MSG gave him “explicit orders to seek actors, as long as they weren’t SAG members or recognizable character players.”
One of the knock-off Knicks fans described his experience.
PATS-GIANTS TV COMMERCIAL SPOTS GOING FOR $200,000: As the 2007 Patriots pursue perfection, ad sellers for New England broadcasts are pursuing higher profits:
MEDIAWEEK reports that TV commercial spots for the Dec. 29 Pats-Giants game are going for $200,000 per 30-second space - more than double the normal asking price.However, the Pats’ possible clinching of a 16-0 season will be airing on the NFL Network - a channel many households don’t receive.
So, is it really such a shrewd investment by companies like IBM, Miller, Universal, and others to shell out such dough for ads no one will see?
COMMERCIALS DELETE DOLPHINS TD FROM L.A. VIEWERS: The Dolphins won’t be joining the 1976 Buccaneers in the record books, as Miami won for the first time this season, thanks to a 64-yard touchdown in OT.
Too bad TV viewers in L.A. didn’t get to see it.As we watched on a SoCal set on Sunday, the Jaguars had just smacked the Steelers, when CBS switched over to the Miami-Baltimore matchup. Within a few plays, the Ravens were already in field goal range.
As Matt Stover lined up to kick the Fins to another loss, play-by-play man Kevin Harlan mentioned on-air that the Baltimore booter had never missed in overtime.
As you would expect, Stover’s shot sailed to the left. After the miss, CBS’ coverage went back to their New York studios, then quickly on to a commercial break.When we were returned to the action, there wasn’t any action left. Instead, the first thing we saw was a graphic reading “Miami 22, Batlimore 16, Final-OT”, followed by slo-mo replays of Cleo Lemon’s TD pass to Greg Camarillo.
(What CBS viewers in L.A. missed)
We didn’t even get to witness the Dolphins’ game-winning, misery-ending play live. Amusingly, it’s not even the first time the network missed a final game-clinching play in order to collect ad revenue.In 1986, CBS was broadcasting Notre Dame rallying from a 37-20 deficit to USC. When it came time for John Carney to attempt the winning field goal, the Eye was shut on the Coliseum, as they took a commercial break instead. Like Dolphins viewers in L.A., fans didn’t see the final kick live.
Even though NBC has the ‘Heidi game‘ to their discredit, at least the Peacock only made such a programming mistake once.• Back to the Bucs, it turned out to be a historic day for Tampa Bay, after all. During Tampa’s 37-3 declawing of the Petrino-less Falcons, Micheal Spurlock ran back a kickoff for a TD - for the first time in the franchise’s 31-year history.
And it only took 1,865 tries by 141 different players to finally make it to the end zone.
Although there’s no question about the great runback, there seems to be debate about the correct spelling of Spurlock’s first name.
On the Buccaneers’ official website, #17 is listed on the roster as “Micheal” Spurlock:
But when a click on the name takes visitors to the player’s personal page, he’s now known as “Michael” Spurlock:
We’ll take the roster’s word for it, since the personal page’s designer seems to also have trouble spelling “Mississippi”.
If you can’t watch, the ad consists of Beard in a robe talking to a sleazy Chatsworth Hollywood director-type who is coaxing her to open her robe and “shock the world“.(Nudie model) Beard: “I don’t know.”
(Meatball) Director: “You’re a Go Daddy Girl now, right? It’s national TV. You showing them off is gonna be huge.”
(Nudie model) Beard: “All right.”
Beard then stands up and opens her robe - flashing her medals. No, really, she does.
The ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports that “network censors limited [the ad] to running only during [ESPN’s] game broadcasts or on ABC-TV after 9pm.”
