I was watching a few minutes of the Olympics Saturday when this Nike video
aired. Nike has put out some great ads over the years, but something about this one really appealed to me.  It stayed with me long after watching it.  I then looked it up online and posted it to PC and CR in the sports forums.  I thought it might make for an interesting blog to break down the specific elements that captured my interest.

The first image is of the graphite constructed spring legs of an amputee as they prepare for a sprint.  The music is spare yet sprightly.  It immediately displays a progressive stop action advancing scenes of the runner sprinting down the track.  It is amazing and inspirational to see what technology has created for amputees to compete at a high level.

The second image series captures a soccer player doing some fancy dribbling.

The lyrics of the song now kick in - "It's not how you start, it's how you finish"

The third image series is Deron Williams dribbling and dunking emphatically.   He is a success story of hard work in the NBA.

The fourth image series is Maria Sharapova taking a forehand and overhead slam.  For us guys, the brilliant touch is the super sexy side cutout from her shirt tease.

This transitions quickly to the fifth image series of an Asian woman aggressively doing martial arts maneuvers with a spear.

More lyrics - "But it's not where you're from, but where you're at."

The sixth series is slightly extended of a Tony Hawk type character on a bicycle, capturing the twirling, acrobatic moves along his course. 

Transitioned excellently into an anonymous bull rider getting spun and thrown.

The pace of the music, lyrics and images increases now as we see a quick series of falls and spills by athletes...

"Everybody gets knocked down, everybody gets knocked down"

- A female gymnast falls off awkwardly off a balance beam
- A female diver catapulting awkwardly into a pool
- Another gymnast falling on her tumbling routine
- A hockey players falling to the ice
- Rampage Jackson, very entertaining MMA fighter, being thrown to the canvas, hesitating and hurting....

"How quick are you gonna get up? How quick are you gonna get up?"

Rampage gets up angry and lunges hard at his opponent with a crushing blow.

Transition to Ladainian Tomlinson juking down the football field.

"Everybody gets knocked down, Everybody gets knocked down"

And finally to Lance Armstrong in his 'Livestrong' shirt powering up the road on his bike.

"How quick are you gonna get up? Just how are you gonna get up?"

Just Do It and finally the Nike logo.

The music is catchy, energizing and snappy. The lyrics are simple, motivational, and inspirational  The transitions are brilliant. The images race across the scene, capturing the variety of sport; sweaty and sexy, slow motion and super speed,  scintillating, sweaty and strong.

A great minute spent celebrating sport.