Sprite Football Commercial...circa 1981. Yea, I know that lots of you weren't even born yet...
This was the summer before my senior year of high school. One of the guys on the football teams' mom worked in NYC for an advertising agency, and they were having a tryout for this commercial. So, a bunch of us got to the city and went to the tryout. They had us throw a football back and forth on camera for a minute, and then that was it.
A couple of days later, I got a call telling me that a bunch of guys on the team were going to be extras (players in green) and that I was going to be one of the stars. Cool shit!
So we get to this ball field on the outskirts of NYC and there's a caterer, cameras...all the crap you'd expect for the filming of a commercial. All of the preliminary stuff - the "practice" session was easy....oh, let's back up a minute. Like a week before the shoot, a bunch of us on the team were over at Monclair State College, using their new astro-turf field to run around and catch some passes. I totally blew out my ankle - the thing looked like someone attached a water balloon to my foot! I got a nifty running cast fashioned from some skilled athletic Doc, and was able to run at close to full speed in time for the commercial.
All that sweat in the practice scene....water spritzer. I was totally acting! Downing the Sprite - yea, that's real sprite. We even shot some scenes of me dropping a few passes - yea, I had to "act" like I couldn't catch...but those didn't make the cut.
The "game" sequence was the worst part of the day. Someone said we shot that "diving catch" scene nearly 100 times. The guy just could not put the ball at a diving catch position. I had a bruise on my hip the size of a volleyball. But it was all worth it. A very cool memory.
I did get some royalties and got paid for the day's work. The royalties actually kept me from having to work in my Senior year and I had plenty of dough for dates and such. The last contract I signed was for some air time in Hong Kong, of all places.
Oh, and that's the Bigun long before he was the Bigun. I'm about 205 there, tops. Didn't really start putting on the beef until late sophomore year in College. Good times.
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27 comments:
Next time I see you..I must have an autograph. Good memories there for you I'm sure. Plus you looked like you had some serious wheels in that commercial. Thanks for sharing.
Marc, that is SO cool!!!!
OMG - you are such a stud!!! Are you married?
THat was way cool. I was alive. I was the ripe old age of 12 in 1981. I don't know if my mom would have let me stay up late enough to watch that commercial on prime time though.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm guessing anonymous is Di.
Very cool Bigun.
That has to be a very cool memory. At about the same time I was featured in the media too. Ok, it was the local new paper...and I didn't get anything out of it...and come to think of it now, I was getting creamed by a cornerback and the ball was flying out of my hands...it was a fairly humiliating experience...ok, enough about me...how bout' them socks?
LOL Okay , I'm guessing Anon is Blink! LOL
I knew I needed your autograph!
whew, bigun, i'm all impressed! i, of course, didn't see the commerical because i was barely born then.... ok, dammit, i was 13. shoot was does that make me now????
anyway, back to you...
you are looking pretty impressive in that clip - future ironman in the making, hm???
THIS IS AWESOME!!!! Thanks for sharing ;-)
LOL - pop (or soda for non-midwesterners) in BOTTLES! Now I really feel old.
When you need motivation in a race, does that jingle play in your head?
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaang, you're old! That Sprite was in a GLASS BOTTLE. I was six in 1981...and I don't think I was even allowed to drink soda yet. :)
I guess it still makes you cool, though. Hee hee.
Wicked cool! Thanks for sharing.
You know, since Andra Sue was 6, I'm now not gonna say how old I was in 1981!
That is way too much fun, Bigun!
Filming in HongKong?
Was that for a money shot?
Alright, I turned 1 halfway through 1981. So I am sure that I don't remember the commercial. Don't worry I still think that it is TOTALLY COOL.
I don't care what anybody says - that was very cool!
im getting my autograph next week on a sprite bottle.. ha!
nice hair too!!
rockon`
I didn't know we had a celbrity amongst us humble bloggers. Way cool.
OK, Momo, I'm going to date myself now... I actually remember that commerical. It was used as part of a marketing and communications class I had as a Junior in college.
Stay tuned...
Blink just cranked a round off in your general direction. I demand retaliation, Bigun.
Now when you reach for more, you reach for Metamucil.
The way you hoist that bottle to your lips.... and your swallowing skills... VERY nice!
Hey Dude -
you're a supahstah!
Hey Dude -
you're a supahstah!
Coolness!
Do you know Fido Dido? Can you get his autograph?
My, what a handsome young man! And *ahem* some of us had not only been born - we had graduated from college.
Very cool! I knew I'd seen you somewhere before.
The only thing sexier would have been a mullet.
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