Fallout of the Conference Finals Losses Part 1: Puppetry Fail

Well, well, well. What is Nike going to do with all of these damn puppet commercials? I mean, they can't seriously keep running these things because they'll get raked across the coals as people wonder just how much money they're losing. People will laugh at the failed conspiracy theory as they decide that the real NBA conspiracy all along has been to get an all Disney Company match-up with ABC televising the Orlando Magic (home of Disney World) and the Los Angeles Lakers (home of Disney Land). People will think that maybe Kenan Thompson was a mistake as someone to play LeBron's voice when they clearly should have had Kel because he was the REAL STAR of Goodburger. Personally, I think it was a fantastic marketing campaign. People complained about the lack of professionalism with the puppetry (apparently there are more state of the art types of puppets that can be used). People complained that Nike was hedging their bets and pushing all of their chips in by pre-selecting two stars that weren't guaranteed to make it to the final showdown. People that it was aggrandizing two already large enough egos and catering to the primary stars of the league instead of trying to pump up the rest of other players in the playoffs like Carmelo Anthony or DJ Mbenga. Well, I think that's ridiculous. This was an extremely popular marketing campaign that showed innovation (it was different than the Li'l Penny commercials so you people have to get over that) and humor. It was an adaptation of two NBA superstars that love themselves far too much and take themselves far too seriously. It was a risk that was worth taking because Nike had to have a good feeling that at least one of the puppets NBA stars was going to advance for a shot at the title, which all but eliminated the possibility of another Dan versus Dave Reebok debacle. And most importantly, it got people talking as much about the Nike commercials as it did about the actual play on the basketball court. But since we have to hope that they someone came to an agreement with Adidas to make a cross-promotional ad campaign with Kobe and Dwight Howard staying at the same hostel or something, let's relive what was with the Kobe-LeBron Muppetry Commercials:Commercial 1: Chalk My favorite part of this commercial was the obvious Scarface correlation and the fact that it lead me to various Shawn Kemp Surprise Birthday Party jokes. Commercial 2: Three Championship Rings I think the random eating of cookies in LeBron's face was pretty hilarious. Sometimes it's the little things that do it for me. Commercial 3: Unstoppable I could be wrong on this but it seemed like they stole this similar set-up from 8MM. I guess, anytime that Nike can confuse me enough to make me think their commercial was patterned after a Nic Cage movie about snuff films, the corporation has won it's marketing battle. Commercial 4: Mrs. Lewis I think the completely terrible quality of a basketball hoop set-up in this spot is pretty damn funny. Not to mention the fact that LeBron would be thinking triple-double in a game of one on one. What's the third category? References to oneself in the third person?Commercial 5: Car Jump I'm still trying to figure out what this word actually means but this commercial seems very "meta" of Nike because they just spoofed their own commercial. That qualifies as meta, right? After I figure out the meaning to this word, I'm going to work on figuring out what the hell a "hater" is. Commercial 6: Babysitting I actually think that this is the most hilarious commercial of them all. I love the fact that this kind is a suffocating whirlwind of questions and statements that completely flummoxes the Kobe and LeBron puppets. I'm pretty sure that's the voice of Bobb'e J. Thompson (the kid from Role Models), which makes me wonder if he shops at the same apostrophe placement store as Amar'e Stoudemire. The inhaler at the end absolutely sells everything in this ad campaign. So if this is the end of the commercials, I'm actually quite fine with it. And if they have more that they were expecting to air during a Cavs-Lakers Finals, I'd actually still like to see them. I'm sure they've already bought the ad space and maybe we'll be lucky enough to have a commercial here or there in which LeBron is at home and Kobe's rubbing it in his face that the Lakers are in the Finals and the Cavs aren't.