If you don't give my futbol back...

Still my favorite (World Cup) commercial of all time:



"Jose! A casa." Love it! (Beckenbauer notwithstanding. Ha ha ha. Oh.)

Strictly Commercial

"Beckenbauer???? Hahahahaha!?" "Quatro quatro dos." A little nostalgia from the last World Cup. Cool song, too.

Just so you know: the reason soccer will never be HUGH in this country (even though more kids play it than any other sport) is that there are no commercial breaks for forty-five minutes (plus) at a time. Full Stop!

Think how many chances during sixty minutes of pro American football (games usually last about three hours), or forty-eight minutes of pro basketball (about two and a half), or nine innings of baseball (forever) there are to jam the imago of some commodity into your nodding cranium. Some sports even have what they call "TV time outs" [sic]. Those opportunities are simply not there in soccer matches. The big boys thrive on hammering home the message over and over and over again until you, their target audience, identify with their product.

The ad above is a wonderful piece of story telling. It works in so many ways. It's insidious and brilliant.

Enjoy Sunday's match! The World will be watching. I've got Spain, but I hope the Dutch make a good game of it.