The Thrashers Do It Again - Another Hilarious Radio Spot

You locals might recall hearing that wonderfully hilarious Thrashers commercial on the radio the past few months: "Become One in Blueland." An everyday Atlantan had just attended his first Thrashers game and became a fanatic. Kovalchuk scores and causes the newborn fan to take his shirt off, sing along to the 'Woo-Hoo' song (Blur's 'Song 2') and declare to his peers in a support group that when he dies he wants to be buried underneath the Thrashers ice. That's his dream. A fellow fanatic proclaims histerically that he wants his ashes to be shot out of the t-shirt gun! And there was much rejoicing.

You all remember this.

Well now the geniuses down at Blueland have unleashed another radio spot sure to shock you in its hilarity as you fall asleep in traffic. A man speaking to similar fanatics tells them about a dream he had. He sees All-Star Ilya Kovalchuk skating so fast down the ice that he tears open a wormhole in the arena. What's inside? A dimension where everything is Ilya Kovalchuk. All the players, the fans, the guy who droves the zamboni. And you know those t-shirt parachute drops they do at Philips? There's little Kovalchuk's manning those chutes. Its glorious.

And absurdly hilarious.

So thank you Atlanta Thrashers creative team. Without you, there'd be nary an interest in the disaster that continues to take the ice and call itself a professional team. Thank you.
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Dirty South Pride

Its been quite a year for Atlanta fans... the Braves' demise, the Falcons' rise and the Hawks' surprise (and at least the Thrashers try). But another year come and gone without bringing home a major championship. Sure it'd be fun to live in Boston with the Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox, but we can't all enjoy that kind of well-rounded success. The rest of us have to find other reasons to have pride in our teams. Things like damn good hot dogs or kiss cams or Marta access. But seriously Atlanta fans, when some joker from Boston or Florida starts giving you the business about how irrelevant our teams are... here's six good reasons to laugh in their face:

• Michael Turner
• Roddy White
• Joe Johnson
• Ilya Kovalchuk
• Chipper Jones
• Brian McCann

These are your Atlanta All-Stars. These six players were named the best of the best this year. No Bostonian can come into the dirty south and claim we have no good players or we have no good teams. With two playoff teams and six all-stars, I'd say we're sitting pretty. There's 30+ teams in these leagues, and only one can win the championship each year. And its been a long time since that team was the Yankees, Cowboys, or Lakers. Sports isn't all about the championships. Sure it'd be nice to have a couple more World Series titles and a Super Bowl win, but its hard not to feel proud about our boys when you go into the stadium and see those banners hanging: division champions, conference champions, league champions... or when you turn on the All-Star game or Pro Bowl and see your boys taking the field alongside the game's best players... or when you read preseason discussions about which of your guys could win the Heisman, league MVP, or Rookie of the Year.

We may have down years, but our teams - our players - are never out of the discussion. Matt Ryan was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year, Michael Turner was the league MVP's runner-up, Jonathan Dwyer ACC Player of the Year, Matt Stafford could be the top pick in the draft, Chipper Jones won the NL batting title... times are good in the Dirty South boys and girls, even if we're not hoisting championship trophies like they are in the northeast, that doesn't mean we aren't proud of our players' accomplishments year in and year out. If you keep putting talent on the field, the titles will come.
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Kovalchuk in Montreal for All Star Game

Tonight Ilya Kovalchuk will represent the Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, appearing in the game for the third time in his career. The Thrashers all-time leader in points was recently named the team's captain, likely putting to bed any fears that the team would not commit to the superstar for the long-term.
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Thrash 'n dash

The Atlanta Thrashers have the best commercials. I have a fairly lengthy daily commute, and I listen to 680AM during my drives. The morning show, The Rude Awakening, is pretty funny most of the time. Just as funny is the newest radio spot for the Thrashers. You've probably heard it. A guy suddenly realizes he's become the biggest Thrasher's fan. He realizes he goes to games and sings along to the "Woo Hoo Song." In conversation, he confesses that when he dies he wants his ashes to be frozen within the rink ice at Philips Arena. He says, "That's my dream," and a very low voice immediately whispers in an awestruck reply, "That's greaaaat." It's funny.

I have an affinity of sorts for the Thrashers and their commercials. I'm not a huge hockey fan, though seeing it live is always exciting. Can you say, "board check?" I have always lived in Atlanta, and I like to support the home team. Wins and losses aside, the commercials have always been good. I was part of my band in years past, as many of you know, and we were asked once to record a radio spot for the Thrashers. It was an easy $250 for about 4 hours of work at a local commercial recording studio. We were asked to record some jazzy type jam, and then I was given a list of words/phrases to sing as voice overs. "Zamboni" and "Cuckoo for Kovalchuk" are the two that come to mind. It was put together with some promotional messaging and sounded pretty funny once it was on the air for the next couple months. As good as their markteting seems, their ownership, however, is ridiculous.

Bad trades, shotty deals and now a lawsuit account for a shaky Thrashers ownership group that doesn't know what its doing. Clearly Arthur Blank's influence isn't catching on. The Atlanta Spirit is a group of investors who apparently only enjoy the idea of owning sports teams. At the moment, they appear to own the Thrashers, along with the Atlanta Hawks NBA team. There is talk that in the aftermath of this recent verdict, they will try to sell the Thrashers. That turn of events could prove to be great, if a new owner is interested in improving what is clearly a popular franchise with some talent under its wings. At the same time, it also means that the team could be relocated to another city, leaving many fans without a focus. Speculation continues to spread.

For many, the Thrashers are a team that was born right before their anchored eyes and pumping fists. It's a rare thing to be a fan of any team from the time of its inception. Even rarer are commercials you actually want to hear and enjoy. I hope for the sake of Thrashers fans and my driving entertainment that the franchise sticks around.
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