It’s Dice-K day in Boston as everyone is gearing up to watch Matsuzaka’s first start. Part of us wants to see him do well, but part of us always wants to witness the meltdown on Boston sports radio if he throws a clunker. Pressure? Just a little. And that’s the theme of this Nike commercial that’s only being aired in Japan.
It’s pure genius by the way. Nike and MLB are creating a huge legion of fans in Japan who will love the Sox and, almost as importantly, hate the Yankees. The ad takes a bit of artistic license. The opponent today won’t be the Yankees, but the lowly Royals. You see MLB working?
2 replies on “Matsuzaka marketing mania starts today with new Nike commercial”
amazing that ANY foreigner lives up to the hype — Forget the sporting aspect of it. Just plain moving to another country where you don’t speak the language and don’t know anyone is hard enough. Pile on the insane international media attention (US media attention is bad enough, now double it at least) and you get guys who are under more pressure, imho, than guys like LeBron.
I’m rooting for Matsuzaka, and props to Ichiro and Yao for living up to the hype.
i don’t know about Yao — maybe because stupid Bill Simmons wrote an article about how the Ming Dynasty would be here within a few years but it seems disappointing that he doesn’t have a title yet.
Ichiro definitely kicks ass. He has it a little easier than Dice-K cause he was in the Pacific Northwest.