ESPN360.com “College”

I’m actually in the market for a blanket with sleeves that I can wear while reading (Snuggies are Blankets With Sleeves to Keep You Snuggie!) and a Sham-wow rag that I can use to clean my Bonneville numerous times and then throw right in the washer. So I was a bit disappointed that although infomercial king Billy Mays appears in this campaign from Arnold, he’s actually selling ESPN360.com. But on the plus side, whatever Billy sells, he enunciates wildly in exactly the same pitch, while wearing his signature shoe-leather black beard and trademark blue work shirt and khakis. That goes for the “amazing!” product  attributes of  this ESPN 360 web site, which allows you to “watch your favorite  teams and sports online, anywhere, anytime!” Three TV spots, parodies of infomercial parodies– are pretty funny. They’re not ESPN Sports Center-level funny–but good for a chuckle here and there. In one spot, the always ultra-enthusiastic one explains that it’s so easy to use, “even my family loves it,” as his blonde wife and daughter are shown, both sporting his same outfit and the Mays family beard. (His dog is shown on a rotating table, with the laptop strapped to his back, which made me laugh.) The funniest line, however, comes at the end of the college spot (college kids watching on laptops are one of their main demographics.) One young man, by no means a Doogie Howser type, sits at his desk, as he turns to the camera and says, “I’m not that strong a reader.” But I am. So take your sports on the fly, anywhere. I’m still waiting for my Snuggie.