webjim25

Thats fine and cool. What kind of commerical would you make, if given the chance?

So, the “Oakland A’s epic fail commercial” thread got me thinking about baseball commercials. Now days, we have the ESPN Albert Pujols “machine” commercial, every Baseball Tonight analyst has his own commercial, (I like the Peter Gammons one) and most MLB team have their own creative commercials. So if you could commercialize your favorite player (or any player for that matter) what would it look like? I thought of one a few years ago when Jim Edmonds was with the Cardinals. It went like this: The commercial would start off with a wide angle view of the outfield at Busch Stadium. You’d then see Edmonds on a black horse galloping from right-center field going towards left. All this is in Simi slow motion. Edmonds is now looking up towards the sky. You see a close up view of the steed’s face. Its nostrils flare as it snorts and grunts while digging for more speed. You’d then see Edmonds adjust his gloved right hand. Still on his horse, Edmonds is galloping wildly toward left while fixing a bead on something in the sky. Suddenly, the horse under Edmonds disappears as he extends his entire body and catches a fly ball that just comes into camera view. (I loved hearing Jo Buck announce emphatically "Edmonds….on his horse!!....")Still in slow motion, he slides across the turf and holds his gloved right hand off of the ground until he comes to a dirt scattering halt. He gets of the ground and flicks the ball out of the glove hand into his left hand and slowly jogs toward the dugout. Your screen fades to black. The words MLB is written in big, bold white letters. That would be for baseball, like advertising the season is about to start. Another one involving my favorite team would go like this: Keep in mind with this idea you need to think about how with today's technology they have the ability to splice video from different periods and make things appear very fluid. THE VIDEO: Using real game footage, the commercial opens up with Musial at the plate and he takes a pitch deep in the gap. As Musial rounds first base he "morphs" into Lou Brock who is hustling to get to 2nd base. As Brock touches 2nd base he turns into Ozzie Smith who is busting his hump to get to 3rd base and as he turns the corner to go home Ozzie turns into Pujols who, as he approaches home, slides and barely beats the throw to be safe. THE AUDIO (and I think this is the key): Jack Buck calls this make-believe inside-the-park HR call the entire way, from beginning to end. And after Pujols is called safe, they add in Jack's famous line, "I don’t believe what I just saw!" The commercial ends with the "Play Like a Cardinal" slogan. So how would you commercialize your player?

Dude. Here is the exact John Krunk quote from BBTN last night during highlights of Dexter Fowler stealing 75 bases in that game Krunk- "Pitching, defense and overall team speed has been tremendously undervalued in baseball. But in these tough economical times, teams are now starting to exploit it." That was said after the game, way after your post. :-k

I know they both have hit 50, which is why I used them for the example. My point is that I see neither of them hitting 60 and likely not even hitting 50 again; and you seem to agree.

Are we entering an age of more focus on defense, and less on power hitting? I think we are. Here are my 2 reasons: 1. The steroid era is over. Or so they tell us. But I can't think of anyone in baseball that could hit 60 homeruns. Maybe Howard, maybe Fielder, but most likely neither of them top 50...ever. Bonds, Sosa, and Big Mac are all gone. It also just feels like, though I haven't looked up the numbers on this, that there were fewer 25-30 HR guys last season than in, say, 2001. 2. Defense is cheaper, and with the economy as it it, that matters. Moneyball made a huge impact on how rosters are made. GMs are out looking for value where other teams missed it. Look, for instance, at the Rays recently. Their bullpen is a reclamation project. Their first baseman was someone that the Tigers gave up on. One of their starters can't dent bread with his fastball. Another was given up on by another organization probably because he threw too many fastballs. On a smaller level, you can even watch Madden position his players in pretty bizarre defensive shapes for each and every batter. It's almost as if they have no "regular" position. 2.5. Last season's league average ERA was down. One year does not constitute a trend, and it had been as low as it was last season in some other seasons in the last 15 years, but I still think it might be something. We'll have to wait another two or three years to find out. Anyway, what are your thoughts?

For what it's worth, I believe Ollie is one of the pitchers who's been blaming his early-season struggles on pitching in the WBC. He pitched for Team Mexico, but I don't have the numbers on IP for him. There's been some speculation in New York that a lot of the problems are just mechanics. Paul Lo Duca was on a sports show out here, speaking from experience as he caught Perez when he was still in New York. Lo Duca proposed that Perez's herky-jerky delivery is basically a recipe for disaster when it comes to control because he'll struggle with release points and arm slots, and when he starts thinking about that stuff too much on the mound he tends to lose his precision. The New York media is actually floating the idea out there that the Mets should yank him from the starting rotation and put him in the bullpen, but that'd probably go even worse. He'd be almost Turnbow-like in that role...they're probably better off seeing if they can send him down to AAA for awhile to work out his mechanics, even if he signed a $30 million deal.

Id say there's a big difference in their production levels.

4.1IP today Vs the Nats. 7ER 3K's and 3BB's for a 9.31ERA. 12 Million smackers a year. I remember how Rick Ankiel sort of....lost his pitching skills and never got it back. The same has seem to have happened to Ollie, even though he's not throwing pitches to the back stop. He's 100% healthy, what is the problem and is there any chance of Ollie turning this around?

Whiteflag- When i started this thread, Id never heard of 5 Guys or In&Out. I checked online to see if either of them were in my area. There is no In&Out, but there is a 5 Guys tucked away in a little outlet mall out in town. I go there and tell the chick behind the counter to give me the best tasting burger they have. This was yesterdy around 2pm. I didnt look at a menu, a price list...nothing. She tried asking me what I liked on my burger, I said I had no preferences, I just wanted to see what the fuss was about so make me something that sells well, you know, something that people often ask for. She gives me a bacon double cheese burger and some fries. First of all, its huge and thick as i dont know what. The damn thing was incredible. You have to ignore the enormous amount of greese that comes with this burger, but if you do that, I think you'll find that its the best tasting cheese burger you've had. Ive been eating SteakNShake burgers for 10 years and can tell you that 5 Guys is better. I cant really describe what makes them taste so good. After you have one, you see if you can explain it.

I've never laughed so hard on a message board in my life. My God this was funny. I had a few colorful movie references that I thought "this thread was like," but since those zingers were dropped a couple pages back, I'll keep em in the bag for next time.

Never heard of it. Is it a big a chain? Because Im in the Navy, lived for years in 4 different states and have never heard a word about it. Same goes for In and Outs. :?

Yea you're right. Should have made them all different burgers from Wendy's menu. That would have been better. My bad.

Without taking into accoount burgers from sit down restaraunts are the ones that your buddy grills, which "classic" burger do you like best?

bound to happen sooner or later.

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick. No not mad but Ludwick was a second round pick with a lot of promise. I do not believe Hoffpauir was drafted in the first 10 rounds. All this points out is he was highly rearded and not some undrafted player...Barden was highly touted before he had the hernia issues as well. The Cards have been good about looking at players that others have neglegted to care about. Ludwick had a great year in the minors before the Cards got him. But come on. Nothing in this description suggests that Ludwick would become the hitter he's become. It could have been projected that he'd hit like 08 Ankiel or maybe a little better than that, but the level he's on right now comes completely out of nowhere.

Another Cards fan here. We are not irked by Fontenot and Theriot. But I doubt any Cubs fan is seriously irked by our no-named infielders.

Umm yea. I should at least have put the team in the right conference, [expletive]. Sell. I just dont think they have the talent to contend all year, despite what they've done so far. Buy or Sell the NL Central once again sending two teams to the playoffs.

Id like to do something like they do on Around the Horn. I'll post a question in "buy or sale" format and someone will come along, buy or sale it, and post one of their own. I'll start it off. Buy or sale the Braves contending down the stretch for the AL East? Remember, after you buy or sale it, (backing up your choice) post one of your own.