Perhaps fifteen years ago, I saw an ad on ESPN–I think it might have been for ESPN, but Googling has found some people saying it was for Nike or Budweiser–that showed Barry Sanders running, but with these words onscreen interspersed:
For his stunning athleticism…
And breathtaking speed…
We congratulate Greg Jones [or some other name]
For tackling Barry Sanders.
I thought it was a hilarious ad, but I can’t actually find the video. Anybody know what ad this was or where I can find it?
I remember that one. I was puzzled at first because I thought, “Hey, he didn’t set a record or win league MVP or anything”.
It was a Nike commercial (the “Just Do It” era). I remember the line “for achieving what no one thought possible” or whatever. The linebacker who made the tackle was indeed Greg Jones; he was a Redskin at the time. Forgettable career, six seasons total.
Good luck. Not too long ago I looked for the one with Hakeem Olajuwon at the Olympics as a member of the '96 USA men’s basketball team (the last really dominant one) where he ended up treating all the other teams to lunch (“We said we were gonna eat these guys for lunch, no treat.”) I actually started a thread on that. No such luck finding it; the only commercial with Olajuwon I found was the one he made with Shaquille O’Neal. Specific commercials, unless they become infamous for some reason, are some of the hardest videos to find.
Reported.
Hey there DKW … While searching (alas, futilely) for that Barry Sanders ad, I DID come across the 1996 Dream team Hakeem ad you mentioned … In case you still haven’t found it, here it is … enJOY!
Scaughdt
I have a bunch of them buried on copies of old football games I taped. If I come across it at some point I’ll post it. But yeah, that was a cool commercial.
I know this is quite old but I’ve been looking for this forever and just found your post. Now as I remember it, it was actually a Budweiser, or possibly another drink under their brand, as part of the WE SALUTE YOU campaign they had back then. I could be wrong but it had some bad Bon Jovi cover band singing “you’re a real American hee-ero” during the slow motion play of him catching Barry.
I’ll be amazed if you are still active and find my reply but let’s get this done. I must see it, driving me nuts like forgetting the word you were gonna say and no other word will do, ya know?
Thanks!
Alas, I found it, and you were correct, it was Nike. I remember something different, likely mixing it up with a WE SALUTE YOU bud commercial
Here it is x.com
That’s a legit link. It’s not pron. I know the X.com thing is sketchy so search google for ‘Greg (jones was it? Can’t remember now had to read it from first post) catching Barry sanders’ and X.com with full video is first on there. Good day!
Two funny commercials!
The campaign was “Real Men of Genius”. The singer was David Bickler, the original lead singer of the band Survivor. (I.e. the guy who sang “Eye of the Tiger” and was fired when he went in for nodule surgery on his vocal cords and was replaced by Jimi Jamison in 1984). Bickler would spend most of the rest of his career doing various voice-over work. The announcer voice-over was Chicago voice actor Pete Stacker who has done voice-overs in commercials, movie trailers, and video games.