Dick’s Commercial Does It Again – But Was The Half-Court Shot Legal??

How is Dick’s Sporting Goods outperforming mega-brands like Nike in their inspirational commercials? They’ve done it again with an ad airing during the 2024 summer Olympics. Take a look at these awesome (non-professional people) sports moments caught on camera. But spoiler alert: Can you pick out one that shouldn’t have counted?

I feel a little legalistic pointing out that the basketball buzzer beater should have been waved off by the refs. While it’s an incredible shot, the player had the ball in his hands as the buzzer sounded. The ball went in but the game should’ve went in…. to another overtime! Apparently the buzzer was signifying the end of overtime and the game was tied at 51. But maybe the real clip shows what really happened? Like it was just an editing thing or some kind of delay on TV and the shooter actually got the shot off before time ran out? Well, I found the original clip…

A moment that will live on forever! But still shouldn’t have counted. Here’s another angle.

OK OK, I’ll let it go. The shot went in. The refs threw their hands up for the three-pointer. The crowd went wild. What a moment! But here’s something kind of crazy. The guy who shot the ball, Andrew Landis, said they had to get every single person on the court to approve use of the clip before it could be included in Dick’s commercial.

“They asked if they basically had permission to make a commercial with my shot. We ended up signing an NDA so I couldn’t talk about it. And we had to get every person on the court’s permission.”

Can you imagine trying to track down all the signatures necessary? Crazy. I also discovered the shot was featured in an ESPN top 10 list.

The Music. I’m sure most people know the song featured in the ad but in case it’s new to you, it’s called “Chariots of Fire” and I have a memory of this song etched in my brain forever. I was walking into school as a 3rd grader and I heard another older student playing it on the piano before classes started. Since then, it’s been a favorite so here’s the full song by Vangelis.

“I believe God made me for a purpose – but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” -Eric Liddell, Chariots of Fire

Dick’s knocked it out of the park with this ad (even with their dated logo) and I’m sure it’s making an impression as it airs during the Olympics. Contrast that with this Nike commercial that highlights individualism ruling over a team mentality. Granted, it’s visually stunning and edited very well. But Nike loses this round to Dick’s Sporting Goods.

-Out of the Wilderness

I have a stalker!

I won’t share the person’s name but I got this amazing comment on a blog post of mine recently. It didn’t take much research to narrow down who the author is but I still don’t know if I should be flattered or worried. Take a look…

Why do you stillpost every day?  Obviously no one cares. No one likes or comments. Is this like playing the lottery…if you keep playing MAYBE one day one will hit it big time! And then you’ll be famous!  SMH, keep dreaming. You do know the odds of winning the lottery, right? Although your odds of winning the lottery just might be better than the odds of your chicken legged self finding a wife, I suppose. 
It appears to make you feel better about yourself to constantly criticize the works of others (commercials, music, politicians, democrats). I suppose this makes you feel better about the fact that you yourself could not make it in the media industry?  Maybe if you were as smart as you think you come across on your blog, you’d still have a job in the industry and be getting paid for your opinions. But you don’t. 
Good thing you have your dogs. I’m not sure it’s possible for someone who’s always so bitter and condescending (and still living within eyesight of his parents) to find a woman willing to put up with him.  You’re also definitely not cute enough to be so arrogant either. Dood, Give it up already.

I’m blushing because this person knows me better than I know myself. And the way they weave together a compliment with a bruising uppercut is brilliant. Maybe all the work I’ve done for my blog was meant to bring us together at this historic moment. My first stalker. They say you always remember your first. But it will never be a healthy relationship– I can’t be around someone who’s so negative. If they’d tossed in a few more compliments on their quest to tear me down, I’d consider meeting for coffee. But not now! They’ve totally blown their first impression. But on the other hand, I need someone like this who can hold up a mirror to my life so succinctly. “Obviously no one cares”… but you do, and I dig it.

-Out of the Wilderness

Is Kamala Harris really black?

It’s almost a foregone conclusion that Kamala Harris will earn most of the “black vote” because of her being considered a black woman. It’s a lot like when Barack Obama was running, back in 2008 and 2012. It was settled fact that he was black, even though he’s not. Kamala isn’t black either. Well, I take that back. She’s black when it furthers her political career. In the interview below, she changes how she speaks so she sounds blacker. 🤔

In a cooking segment, Kamala joined actress (and fellow Indian person) Mindy Kaling to prepare a traditional Indian dish. In that video, she speaks about her Indian heritage as if it’s all she ever knew. 

So is Kamala black? Well, her mom is Indian and her dad is Jamaican. This makes her half black and 100% not African-American (if we’re being technical). Kind of the opposite of Barack Obama, actually. He’s 100% African-American but 50% not black. It always confused me when people said he was our country’s first black president…. because it’s also true to say he was a white president. Who even knows if he was our first biracial president, either? I suspect we’ve had a handful of presidents with mixed ethnicities. 

But to be honest, I’m not surprised liberals are praising Kamala’s blackness. They can claim she’s whatever they need her to be because after all, all you have to do to be whatever you want to be is just say you’re that. Science and biology can go kick rocks.

-Out of the Wilderness

God forbid, correcting them!

There’s a Zoom video going around titled “White Women: Answer the Call 2024” where a bunch of middle-age white women gathered together to womansplain racism to each other. If weird weren’t a chic word right now, I’d call this whole whitewashbash session, weird. It’s weird. And truthfully, it’s one of the beautiful parts of this country. We’re allowed to be weird! I kinda like being weird, if I’m being honest. I’m not sure where the liberal left got the idea that being weird is all of the sudden a bad thing (they’re calling VP nominee JD Vance “weird”… a lot!), especially coming from a party that usually embraces the weirdness of society’s fringe-iest folks. Here’s a small portion of the video, and pay special note to the particular line that I used for the title of my post…

If I’m wrong, please correct me. I’ll just get that out there straight away. I think this woman (and all the others on this Zoom meeting, I assume) is approaching the idea of correction as a weapon people use to belittle others. I’ll admit being called out is humbling. It can be embarrassing. I guess this woman doesn’t want to embarrass people, and God forbid, people of color! She’d be called *dun dun dunnnnnn* a racist.

I’m right. You’re wrong.

In the Bible there’s a book called Proverbs and in it, it’s said, “Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.” So if someone is wrong, it’s actually helpful to correct them. How can they (or I) gain understanding if no one is brave enough to speak up? The white woman leading this portion of the video is ultimately saying that all people of color are right (about everything), which is rather racist if you sort that out for what it really means. It falls right in line with Joe Biden a few years ago saying you’re not black if you don’t vote for him. So people of color all think the same way, got it.

We all know that if there was a Zoom meeting of conservative white women, it would be wildly and robustly mocked by everyone in the media and in Hollywood. They’d be quick to, God forbid, “correct” those white women, wouldn’t they?

-Out of the Wilderness

Spoken Word, Olympic Game. Fail.

I thought I’d be pretty psyched to watch the Olympics but so far, aside from watching some of the women’s and men’s swimming, my heart is iced over with indifference. My casual, uncaring approach might have been spurred on by finding out breakdancing is an Olympic sport now. Ummm, OK? I still turned on the TV to watch the opening ceremony and was immediately reminded why I never watch an entire opening ceremony.

There’s been a lot of pushback on part of the opening ceremony. I’m sure you’ve heard about or seen the recreation of Christ’s “Last Supper.” On the one hand, it could be viewed as a mockery. On the other hand, aren’t we all sinners hoping to be in the presence of Christ? The disciples of Jesus who reclined with Him were broken people with only one hope: Jesus. So looking at the Olympic scene through that lens, I can see it as imperfect humans crying out for something bigger than ourselves, our inferiority intertwined with his superiority.

But it’s hard to justify this recent Olympic promo video. Whether it’s good or bad is pretty easy to determine. It’s bad!

I’ve been more inspired reading the ingredients off the side of a box of cereal. Speaking of breakfast– segue alert– the word milquetoast comes to mind and that’s being kind. From the twisty, curves of the poem which seem to have no adjoining thoughts or rhymes to the wrong words being emphasized, I can’t imagine the folks at Toyota are jumping for joy at hitching their wagons to the widely-rejected spot.

The Olympics exist to bring people together, to inspire higher goals, to wow us with the best of humanity from all over the world. So far, the entire presentation from France isn’t even close to getting a gold medal. In fact, it might be safe to assume that France will never host the Olympics again and the entire country will be dug up and shuttled up to the moon where they can think about the tempest, the storm they’ve created by being so bad at it.

-Out of the Wilderness