MLB Giants P Brian Wilson will star in a new Taco Bell commercial debuting during TBS' coverage of Tigers-Yankees ALDS Game Five tonight. The ad is called "Closer 2.0" and follows the QSR's ad during the '10 MLB postseason that featured Yankees P Mariano Rivera and manager Joe Girardi. The spot will air on TBS, TNT and Fox throughout the playoffs, as well as on ESPN. Taco Bell has been the official QSR of MLB since '04. Wilson also appears in a
new online video promoting 2K Sports' recently released video game, "NBA 2K12." The spot, which continues with 2K's "Greatest Debate" theme, depicts Wilson dressed in Larry Bird gear, arguing that the '85-86 Celtics were the greatest NBA team of all time (
THE DAILY).
COMMERCIAL APPEAL: SI.com's Joe Posnanski reviewed the ads currently running during the MLB playoffs and wrote the Audi commercial starring former NBA coach Phil Jackson is the best of the postseason and "might be the best sports-commercial performance since the heyday of Peyton Manning." The Capital One ad featuring NBC's Jimmy Fallon is "probably the second-worst commercial on the playoffs right now," as it is "annoying and contemptible on about 548 different levels." He named the worst ad an AT&T spot in which a wife tells her husband she should have married someone else when he makes a "huge financial commitment without checking with her first." Posnanski: "I have never seen two less likable people in one commercial. The man looks like the sort of guy who would break your lawn mower and keep promising to pay you for the repairs. The woman makes Nurse Ratched look like Florence Nightengale" (SI.com, 10/5).
YOU FEELING LUCKY? The Dolphins and the Florida Lottery are giving fans "a chance to cash in on a new game." The Dolphins Fin-tastic Fantasy 5 Football drawings will start Oct. 12 and run through Dec. 6 with fans who buy a regular Fantasy 5 lottery ticket receiving a "voucher with a serial number that can be entered on the Florida Lottery's website for a chance to win Dolphins experiential prizes, including season tickets and a 2012 Ford Fiesta" (SUN-SENTINEL.com, 10/4).
TAKING THEIR 'CUSE: Maverik Lacrosse has signed MLL Rochester Rattlers MF Jovan Miller to an endorsement deal. Miller, who was a two-time national champion at Syracuse Univ., will be featured in Maverik print, online and grassroots campaigns throughout the upcoming MLL season (Maverik).
