ESPN has for over a decade done a great job with their “This is Sportscenter” commercials. Charlie Steiner with Y2K anarchy, “Jimmy Key Sucks”, and Gheorge Muresan dancing are some classics among many.
Today though, I caught a new one which poked fun of the extremely contentious as well as entertaining interview Brian Kenny had with Floyd Mayweather.
Inside jokes are often the best, often offering commentary or poking fun of a niche piece of humor. For boxing fans or just those who are in the know of all things sports, the Mayweather interview implosion was an all time classic. I’ve shown the 13 minute youtube clip to many. Usually someone rolls their eyes at the idea of watching a 13 minute clip. This is definitely worth it to most audiences though. In fact I had a friend request to watch it again after seeing it for the first time. Almost 1/2 an hour devoted to watching the clip below is a pretty strong statement of the entertainment offered up by the irrational exuberance and idiocy of Mayweather’s logic versus a comedic, rational, and inquisitive Kenny.
If you scored the above argument in 12 one minute rounds, you’d probably have this interview scored 120 – 108 for Kenny, which mirrors how dominant Mayweather is in actual boxing fights although this was actually entertaining unlike Mayweather’s fights. Mayweather probably could have used a referee stoppage to bail him out, but regardless the interview spirals into a train wreck in the opening seconds with the mere introduction of Mayweather being too soft of praise and gusto for the cocky fighter.
The commercial is great because Mayweather pokes fun of how much he got owned in that interview. Kenny keeps his same smart aleck demeanor and instead we get Floyd we’ve never seen before : Humbled, quiet, and shy.
Great commercial….but really its only framed in a comedic light unless you’ve seen the famous interview. My guess is that maybe a quarter million more people will see that interview (not because of my blog) because their curiosity about the commercial will lead them to see the original interview.
With no fight announced for Pacquio and Mosley in the rear view mirror for Mayweather, the timing is also great for this ad. Kudos to everyone involved in this one.
