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King does ESPN ad

edited October 2007 in General news
They were probably the least likely people you'd expect to find inside ESPN headquarters Wednesday in Bristol.



Exercise guru Richard Simmons, resplendent in a sequined SportsCenter tank top and thigh-high matching gym shorts, was leading a group of weary sports anchors in an aerobics class while horror author Stephen King was writing slightly scary copy about a game between his beloved Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.



They were part of the newest group of celebrities to film on-air advertising promos for the cable-television sports network.



More than 120 athletes, 10 celebrities, three rock stars, one rock band and a former U.S. senator have done the award-winning ads, which take a good-natured shot at ESPN programs and topics.



Minutes after Simmons exited, crews headed upstairs, where King was waiting. Dressed in black and sporting a Red Sox hat, he showed his sexy side as he got ready for his own close-up.



King's ad featured him as a writer preparing copy for ESPN anchor John Anderson. The spoof, however, was in the way King used his writing genre to explain why the Yankees lost to the Red Sox in the imaginary game.



"I think it was the Red Sox's clutch hitting, not that New York was possessed by demons," Anderson deadpanned as King dramatically took the copy from Anderson, threw it in the garbage and began typing again.



King was clearly looking forward to lightening up a bit in the comical ads, still a bit annoyed by the Red Sox's performance in the American League Championship Series, where they trail the Cleveland Indians 3 games to 1.



"They probably won't win it, but there is always a chance," said King, as he offered his predictions for the 2007 World Series.



"But there is Beckett," he said, referring to ace Josh Beckett, the scheduled starter in tonight's Game 5. "They could still pull it out."



Professional athletes who also did ads at the network this week included Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics, swimmer Michael Phelps, Mets shortstop Jose Reyes and Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

Comments

  • At the edge of his seat during game 1 of the world series;



  • ESPN, Inc., earned 37 Sports Emmy Award nominations, the most of any submitting company for the seventh time in eight years, it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. ESPN networks garnered 27 nominations, ESPN on ABC programming four, and ESPN.com six. The winners will be announced Monday, April 28.



    Highlights of ESPN’s nominations:



    * NASCAR returned to ESPN and ABC in 2007 and resumed its great tradition in the Sports Emmys with three nominations. (ESPN won 17 Sports Emmy Awards for NASCAR in the 1990s.) In addition, ESPN2’s NASCAR Now was nominated in the Studio Show – Daily category.

    * ESPN’s football coverage received eight nominations, five for NFL programming – Monday Night Football in Live Series, Sunday NFL Countdown’s feature “Fear” (with author Stephen King) in the Short Feature and Editing categories and the show’s Tom Jackson (Studio Analyst), and the NFL Films documentary Super Bowl 360 (Edited Special) – plus two for College GameDay (Studio Show – Weekly, Short Feature for “Martel Van Zant”) and one for Arena Football (Live Sound).


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