Coors is Nader
I find fascinating the slowly brewing advertising war between Budweiser and Miller. Not being a drinker myself, I have no real brand preference, though some bias is present with Busch being a hometown kid and former owner of the St. Louis National Base Ball Club, Inc. Plus, if nothing else, their spots are better.
Certainly you've seen Miller's "President of Beers" television commercial where former Mr. Show writer/performer Bob Odenkirk campaigns for the beer by "debating" Bud's representative: a clydesdale. This came on the heels of Miller lowering the national discourse on carbohydrates and proper nutrition to an ever lower, previously unthinkable level by declaring their light beer to be, gasp, low in carbs. Bud countered with adverts to the effect of, "duh, all light beer is," prompting giggles from Miller as they had managed to publicly attract the attention of their chief rival who owned a much larger market share.
Now Budweiser's really striking back. It warmed my heart to hear two new Louie and Frankie commercials on Cardinals radio broadcasts this weekend (five in a row over Houston, bitches!) for the first time in several years. The spots, based around two lizards in the swamp where we met the Bud! Wei! Ser! frogs a few Super Bowls past, feature wound-up Louie and laid-back Frankie (along with the FERRET~!) discussing current events. In the first spot, Louie discusses a rumor he heard that "a rival beer whose name rhymes with ‘Niller'" would be changing their slogan to "The Queen of Carbs" since that's all they can ever talk about anymore. The second commercial defines surreal by featuring the two lizards talking about the "Miller For President" spot, referring to Odenkirk as "an out of work stand-up comedian," wondering why anyone would want to be president when they're already king, and finally concluding that the clydesdale, by saying nothing, came away from the debate looking better than Odenkirk. It's all delightfully snarktastic, and I simply cannot wait for Miller's return volley.
Watching the end of Rookie of the Year on ABC Family, I count no less than three balks in the final inning of Henry's game against the Mets. Twice he's on the rubber without the ball, and during the final pitch of the game his underhanded throw, from neither the stretch nor the windup position, makes the rule book and Dave Phillips cry. The rules never apply in movie baseball.