Sportscenter Ad - what's it about ?

Factual Questions
1

One for the Americans , cos we don’t get it in Oz :

There’s a FoxTel ad for Sportcenter :
Interviewer is talking to a rally driver.
Driver sees his car being driven - by a giant cat (or rabbit).
Driver goes crazy.
Interviewer hands money to the cat and says “You’ve got big ones my friend”.

I find it hilarious , but can anyone tell me if there’s an “in” joke here and if so explain it please ?

Thanks

2

That’s a NASCAR “stock” car in the commercial, doing “donuts” in the parking lot. Bobby Labonte is the driver. I think the “interviewer” is Sportscenter anchor (I think they’re called presenters down in Oz) Rich Eisen.

The animal in the car is a college mascot (not sure what school). Mascots appear frequently in the Sportscenter ads.

Mascot is joyriding the car. Anchor pays off the mascot, implying that the anchor bet the mascot he didn’t have “the balls” to joyride the car.

3

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this ad, but I don’t remember the specifics. Is it perhaps a team mascot?

4

:smack:

Should’ve previewed. . . .

5

It is a mascot, and I’m trying to picture him in my mind.

I don’t think Eisen was “interviewing” the driver; I think they were just chatting, like idle water-cooler talk.

6

Here’s the Sportscenter commercial archive…

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/thisissportscenter/archive#

It’s second from the bottom in the left hand column. I wanted to figure out what school the mascot was from, but my work computer doesn’t have the right version of Windows Media Player to view it and I don’t have the permissions to upgrade.

Oh, another part of the joke is that Labonte would drive his race car to the ESPN studios and leave the car parked in the lot to begin with.

7

I think it’s the Georgetown Hoya (mascot).