Best Commercial Ever?

I gotta hand it to Nike with their new commercial for their line of soccer (excuse me--futbol) merch. The commercial, which debuted I'm assuming during the Euro 2008 Championships this past weekend is in one word, incredible. I'm not a huge soccer fan, although I will watch when the World Cup rolls around and I've also had an opportunity to announce somewhere in the range of 100 soccer games in my life (not sure if I'm bragging or not), but this commercial can't help but get you excited.
Chances are, we won't see a version of this commercial for American Football (I figure it's the only sport that can duplicate what we see--maybe hockey but nobody cares about hockey).
Anyhow, check out the commerical in High Definition here, it's worth the time it takes to load, or you can watch it below You Tube style.

*UPDATE*: The commercial is directed by Guy Ritchie (the guy who brought you "Snatch" and "Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels").

No, no, no, no, no...

I don't know what's worse...the fact that two kids are actually going "monkey see, monkey do" with Shaq's freestyle Kobe Bryant rap from last week--or that more than likely, the parents of these kids thought it would be cute to film it and post it on You Tube...or me for posting it. Excuse me while I bang my head against a wall for twenty minutes or so.

*UPDATE*: After sleeping on it...I've come to the conclusion that the parents are worse (only slightly over me) for filming it.

Bernie Mac Can Go To Hell

Harsh title right? Well, I'm pretty sure I truly feel this way (in baseball terms at least). Mac threw out the first pitch last night at the Cubs-White Sox games at U.S. Cellular Field. Back during the 2003 NLCS (the "Bartman Game" for those of you who won't let it go), Mac sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". However, Mac chose to be creative with the lyrics "root root root for the Cubbies" and went with "root root root for the champions" (as the Cubs were six outs from going to their first World Series since 1945). If you don't know how the game ended...the Cubs would go on to lose and Mac admitted to being a life long White Sox fan and called the Cubs the champions in order to jinx them.

However, I did a little investigative research to see who the real jinx is in this situation. Here's a look at what the Cubs have done since 2003:

2004: 89-73 (3rd place)

2005: 79-83 (4th place)

2006: 66-96 (6th place)

2007: 85-77 (1st place)
Now, a look at what Bernie Mac has done since 2003:

Mr. 3000

Charlies Angles: Full Throttle

Head of State

Guess Who

Yeah, there is a curse going on--then again, Mac just might be suffering from a case of being a terrible actor with one gear (angry black guy). Anyhow, no real point to this post. More of an excuse to post the picture above from last night's game.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Bill Simmons

I was called out by Matt in the comments section yesterday. You can go search for it if you want...it's your call. Regardless, he's right, I've slacked off for too long.
Anyhow, this story has been brewing for some time: Deadspin editor Will Leitch announced earlier this month that he was leaving his job to take a job at New York Magazine. Since Will's in his final days with the website he made famous, there has been a "blogebrity roast" taking place over at Deadspin. Writers who have had some minor affiliation to the site are devoting entries to Will's honor. Among the more surprising writers have been ESPN's own Bill Simmons (or the Sports Guy for those without any game). Now, if you are not familiar with Deadspin, the site has been famous for "humanizing" both athletes and media personalities (mainly those from ESPN).
To say ESPN doesn't appreciate what Deadspin has done to the likes of Chris Berman is an understatement. So it would come as a surprise that Simmons is making an appearance on Deadspin (of course, with the "drama" that appears to be ongoing between Simmons and ESPN, maybe it's not a surprise). Anyhow, as usual, Simmons' has another great read. Be sure to check it out here.

On another Bill Simmons related note, his NBA Draft Diary is up at the dot com.

Final Mock Draft

Sorry, I will go further in depth about tonight's NBA Draft tomorrow. Before it all begins, here is my final Mock Draft for the First Round.
1. Chicago Bulls: Derek Rose, PG, Memphis
2. Miami Heat: Michael Beasley, PF, Kansas State
3. Minnesota Timberwolves: OJ Mayo, SG, USC
5. Memphis Grizzlies: Kevin Love, SF/PF, UCLA
6. New York Knicks: Russell Westbrook, PG, UCLA

7. Los Angeles Clippers: Eric Gordon, SG, Indiana

8. Milwaukee Bucks: Joe Alexander, SF, West Virginia

9. Charlotte Bobcats: Jarryd Bayless, PG, Arizona
10. New Jersey Nets: Danilo Gallinari, SF, Italy
11. Indiana Pacers: Anthony Randolph, PF, LSU
12. Sacramento Kings: D.J. Augustin, PG, Texas
13. Portland Trailblazer: Brandon Rush, SG/SF, Kansas
14. Golden State Warriors: Robin Lopez, C/PF, Stanford C
15. Phoenix Suns: Alexis Ajinca, C, France
16. Philadelphia 76ers: Darrell Arthur, PF, Kansas
17. Toronto Raptors (Indiana Pacers): Donte Green, SF, Syracuse
18. Washington Wizards: Marreese Speights, PF/C, Florida
19. Cleveland Cavaliers: Kosta Koufos, C, Ohio State
20. Denver Nuggets (Charlotte Bobcats): Roy Hibbert, C, Georgetown
21. New Jersey Nets: Mario Chalmers, PG, Kansas
22. Orlando Magic: Courtney Lee, SG/SF, Western Kentucky
23. Utah Jazz: JaVale McGee, C, Nevada
24. Seattle Supersonics: J.J. Hickson, SF, NC State
25. Houston Rockets: Bill Walker, SG, Kansas State
26. San Antonio Spurs: Nicolas Batum, SF, France
27. New Orleans Hornets (Portland Trailblazers): Ante Tomic, C, Croatia
28. Memphis Grizzlies: Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG, Memphis
29. Detroit Pistons: DeAndre Jordan, C, Texas A&M
30. Boston Celtics: DJ White, PF, Indiana

Bulldogs To Win National Championship

Tonight we have the final game of the College World Series. If you haven't paid attention, it's a best-of-three format. The Georgia Bulldogs and Fresno State Bulldogs will square off one final time after Fresno State came back from 5-0 to beat Georgia 19-10.
To understand the Cinderella-type run that Fresno State is on you'd have to understand that they entered the WAC Tournament only six game above .500. Essentially, they needed to win the entire tournament to get to the field of 64...which they did. They were awarded the 4th seed out of four teams in the Long Beach Regional...they won the regional.
I'll put this in college basketball perspective, what they are on the verge of doing is the equivilant of if the University of Minnesota had won the Big Ten Tournament just to get into the tournament, and then proceeding to win all their games leading up to the National Championship game (of course, the WAC tournament, Regional Tournament, and College World Series are double elimination--so it's not EXACTLY the same, but you get the idea).
The game is on ESPN tonight 7pm EST.

Who Says Soccer Sucks?

By all accounts...this guy is a total douche. But in fairness to our French friend in the video, it's pretty much the coolest thing I've seen today (right behind the Cubs walkoff win against the Sox).
Even if you don't like soccer, watch the video for the AC/DC music atleast...I know it's a stretch but hey, every click counts right?

FOOT 2008 (REMI GAILLARD)
by nqtv

Currently Popular Late Night TV Before It Was Popular

Caught this gem on You Tube earlier today. Figured you deserved it for the lack of updates you've put up with with me. So here, from 1994, it's from the Jon Stewart show on MTV (long before The Daily Show) with his guest Conan O'Brien.

Music News That Only I Might Care About

I gotta promote this for a moment. I've made no secret of the fact that The Hold Steady is the preferred band of "The Reach Blog". Usually, we have their music playing in our offices while posting stories that change your life.
Well, big news on the "Stay Positive" front. The new Hold Steady album is available on iTunes a month early. I downloaded my copy yesterday and listened to it three times. There will be a review soon--but wanted to give everyone a heads up. So check it out! And if iTunes isn't your thing, their entire album is streaming on MySpace.

Hold Steady's MySpace

Party All The Time

Ok. The Emails need to stop. Life gets busy and since this blog isn't my full time job--sometimes (as much as I hate to admit it) has to take a back seat. It's been eight days since the last post and I'll try not to let it get that out of control again.
So how about a music video? It's been a while right? What music video could I possibly make it up to you with? I thought and thought and came to the conclusion that Eddie Murphy needs to make an appearance in this blog (and it's not going to be for any of his movies). So for today's Music Video Of The Day, ladies and gentlemen, I give you "Party All The Time"...enjoy...

The Kobe-Jordan Comparisons Officially End Now

I wasn't too into the "Kobe Is Just As Good As Jordan If Not Better" talk that was making it's way around the sports world leading into the NBA Finals. We saw what the Celtics did to Kobe. Does that ever happen to Jordan? Defenses never cut Jordan out--they just made him work harder for his 45 points. Check out this clip below from the 1990 NBA Playoffs. The Pistons were one of the top defensive teams (not to mention physical) of their era. The more I watch this, the more I'm convinced that Jordan could've averaged over 40 a game with today's rules.

KGspeak

In case you didn't notice, the Boston Celtics won their 17th World Championship last night. If you've read this blog before, you know my opinion on Kevin Garnett. However, I need to slightly change my stance. KG always seemed wound up too tight. He always seemed as if he was on the verge of killing someone if they made a sudden movement. Living in Minnesota for his entire career (until his trade last summer), I was able to witness his intensity first hand.
So KG wins his first championship last night and gets interviewed by Michelle Tafoya moments after the clock reads zero...to say he gave one of the all time great postgame interviews (if not THE best) would be an understatement. I'm serious here. Where do I start? What's the best part? Was it the long silence that ABC had to go to when Garnett strung together some groupe of cuss words. Was it when he looked Michelle Tafoya in the eyes and said, "You look good tonight girl"? My god. My girlfriend, who was dealing with a fever, claimed that Garnett was, "more delirious" than her. Anyhow, I had to post video of the interview. Enjoy it while you can because it's just a matter of time before ABC takes it down.

Hey Ladies

We haven't done a Music Video Of The Day in about a week and a half (which I know goes against the name of the bit, but as mentioned in the original post, it might be every other day, it might be monthly--when we get to it...we get to it).
So maybe it's because I feel bad for not giving you a music video recently. Maybe it's because we haven't featured a hip hop video in quite some time. It also might be because I have a soft spot in my heart for innovative, acid inspired, disco fever, video clips featuring three Jewish rappers. Whatever the reason might be, I give you The Beastie Boys' "Hey Ladies".
One more thing, I mentioned this song was innovative (as was the entire 1989 album "Paul's Botique". Well, the reason was sampling. Until this time artists rarely sampled other people's music. For example, on this song alone you will find samples from the following:
"Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet
"Party Time" by Kurtis Blow
"Holy Ghost" by the Bar-Kays
"Shake Your Pants" by Cameo
"Pumpin' it Up" by P-Funk All Stars
"Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang
"Machine Gun" by The Commodores
"Jazzy Sensation" by Afrika Bambaataa
"Change Le Beat/B-Side" by Fab 5 Freddy
"Come Let Me Love You" by Jeanette "Lady" Day
"Dance Floor", & "So Ruff, So Tuff" by Zapp & Roger
"Ain't It Funky Now" & "Funky President" by James Brown
"Hey DJ" by Malcolm McLaren & the World Famous Supreme Team
"High Powered Rap" by Disco Dave & the Force of the Five MC's (Crash
Enjoy...

First Post Since...Wow, Has It Really Been That Long?!

Please forgive the tardiness of this post. We recently hired an intern over here at "The Reach Blog"...well, needless to say, the intern robbed us blind (apparently he wasn't a journalism student--just a random street thug). We finally retrieved our computers back after a week. Everything is ok (except our keyboards smell like urine now--but that may or may not be because of the theif). Anyhow, back to the blog.
Take a look at the picture to the left. It's hard to believe that it was just over 3 years ago. It's also upsetting when your team's #1 pick goes to a guy who screws up his career so badly that his tenure with your team doesn't even span ONE Olympic game.
I think the headline is the best part. "I'm Not Ricky". This is very true. Ricky had the weed, Cedric had the booze. It would be one backfield you'd want to hang out with but never trust to actually run the ball for your team (especially if the QB gets spooked easier than Rick Moranis getting chased by Gozer in Ghostbusters--ahem, Grossman!).
The Cedric Benson era is over in Chicago and Bears fans should be happy. If nothing else, waving Benson allows them to free up space to resign Urlacher, Tommie Harris, or possibly Devin Hester (all three of whom are looking for new contracts).
True story: I watched the 2005 NFL Draft in Chicago with a buddy of mine when we were in town for a Bulls playoff game. Upon the selection, I asked him the time table until the Tribune or Sun Time's headline read "CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER". I really don't remember how long I said. I can only assume I predicted it was before the start of the 2008 season.
The Bears waived Cedric Benson...good riddance.

Professional Donkey Basketball

This is real hard hitting journalism right here. Enjoy your day people...I'm off to the 9-5.

2-Year-Old Donkey Called Up To Pro Donkey Basketball League

Random Story Of The Day

Seriously, this is the oddest story I think I could find today. Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert is suing a New York based design studio for scamming him. Dalembert claims he invested over $1 million to a company to license products for the new "Speed Racer" movie. Apparently, the company doesn't have the rights to make these products so Dalembert is suing for $50,000 (why not the whole million?). Check out the legal documents here.

TMZ

Gunnin For That #1 Spot

A new movie is coming out to select cities and if the trailer is any indication, it looks like it will be a great movie. The movie, "Gunnin For That #1 Spot" is a documentary filmed last summer at Rucker Park in New York City. The film follows a bunch of the nation's top prep basketball players as the play at the famed streetball court.
The movie is directed by Adam Yauch, who most of you probably know as MCA from the Beastie Boys. It's Yauch's second feature length film (two years ago he gave 50 concertgoers hand held cameras and they documented a Madison Square Garden concert for a film titled "Awesome! I Fucking Shot That").
Among the players to look for: Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Kevin Love (UCLA), Kyle Singler (Duke), Jerryd Bayless (Arizona), and Tyreke Evens (Memphis--next year).

Ugliest Uniforms In Professional Sports

Maxim online has a great list of the top 11 ugliest uniforms in professional sports history. The good news, I finally found someone who agrees with me when I think that the Minnesota Vikings unis are ugly as sin. Men shouldn't wear purple--I'll give Ray Lewis a pass though.

Top 11 Ugliest Uniforms