5 Great (Not Greatest) Nike Commercials

Nike, Nike, Nike... God I hate you. You are everything I want to be.

Anyways, I figured I'd kick off the blog with a collection of my favorite Nike commercials. Be prepared- these spots are gonna blow your mindgrapes.

5. "Let Your Game Speak"

Michael Jordan: Greatest Basketball Player of his time? Or Greatest Basketball Player of All Time? (this of course include Jesus and the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. And let's not forget the 1982 Harlem Globe trotters.) "Let Your Game Speak" takes some of the greatest moments of Jordan's career and simply replaces them with everyday players (kids, high schoolers, etc) in everyday settings (practice, street ball, etc), yet the feeling generated is incredible.

4. "Better Than Me"

Directed by The Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents), the spot follows Lebron James from a kid all the way to adulthood- watching him stomp all sorts of fools along the way. King James' voice over ends with "You don't want to me; You want to be better than me"- just as Lebron is floating through the air with a dunk reminiscent of another player who wore 23.

3. "See Lance Ride"

Subtle and sublime (although I don't really quite grasp the meaning of the word 'sublime') let's just follow Lance Armstrong on a little ride- oh and try not to be overwhelmed with inarticulate emotion.

2. "Leave Nothing"

Oh what's up Michael Mann? Who you got there with you? Shawn Merriman and Steven Jackson? That's cool. Oh, you also got the adrenaline amping score from "Last of The Mohicans"? Nice. What's that? You also just made a delicious tuna casserole and you want me to come over? Michael Mann is there anything you can't do? (outside of making a good John Dillinger film.)

1. "Fate"

David Fincher takes us on an incredible journey, with a little bit of help from "The Ecstasy of Gold", of youth, dreams, hard work, raw talent and ultimately fate. Telling the parallel life stories of Troy Polamalu and LaDainian Tomlinson, "Fate" leaves me stunned every time.

So that's it for now. Good night and good luck...and good night again. Oh and if you feel like checking out my shameless Nike style ripoff commercial...

"Minutes" Wrestling Commercial from Nickolas Duarte on Vimeo.

What up plug?!