The “This Is SportsCenter” advertisements are probably the best things that ESPN has ever done.
That’s not to discredit the rest of the work that the “worldwide leader in sports” has put out there, but when you do something as good as these commercials, everything else takes a backseat.
Usually, the premise of the beloved series of ads is putting professional athletes into a workplace setting and making sports jokes and puns.
For example, one commercial from back in the day had a devil mascot riding the elevator, and when one someone asked if they were “going up,” they shook their head no.
Whoever is behind these have always dished out comedic gold, and though they appeared to go away from them for a while, it seems like ESPN is getting back to embracing “This Is SportsCenter.”
In the latest one, which is just in time for the 2023-2024 NHL season (it’s almost like they planned it), they called on a couple of defending Stanley Cup champions for a gag revolving around the championship trophy in a dishwasher.
Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault are in their full Las Vegas Golden Knights gear as they open up the dishwasher in the break room to reveal the Stanley Cup inside.
Sportscenter anchor Steve Levy walks by and admires the trophy (which can’t be dishwasher safe) as the two hockey players pull the dishwasher rack all the way out.
In a perfectly calculated pun, Marchessault asks his teammate:
“Think we should run it again?”
Eichel looks down at the Stanley Cup, then back at his teammate and responds:
“Yeah I think so.”
The Golden Knights then work on pushing the Stanley Cup back into the dishwasher and filling the soap dispenser so that they can “run it back,” which they also hope to do with the 2023-2024 Stanley Cup.
Take a look:
Simply the best…
These commercials have a nostalgic draw to them, and definitely take me back to my childhood. It’s good to see that ESPN is still rolling them out, and it never hurts to go back and watch the greatest hits:
