Moving on from the darker side of sport with our recent doping reviews, we now have the more enjoyable task of picking some of the great sporting videos of the year.
The winner – Danny Macaskill again
The competition was stiff, but the winner was clear-cut. It is the follow up video by Danny Macaskill, a street trials rider from Scotland. Just over a year ago, we posted his first video (which would have won the award in 2009), which has been viewed by over 22 million people on Youtube. For comparison (and enjoyment), we’ve reposted that video beneath this year’s winner, which is a breath-taking video, not only for the bicycle skills, but the “choreography”, the music and the scenery. I suspect that even if you aren’t a bicycle enthusiast, you’ll appreciate this incredible sequence. It has been described as parcours on a bicycle. Enjoy!
And here was the original, in the streets of Edinburgh, and to the song “Ready for the funeral” by Band of Horses.
The honorable mentions
The following videos also deserve a mention for their entertainment value:
All Blacks “pick me” campaign
Based on the very clever and very successful “Pick Me” campaign from the NFL, New Zealand rugby produced this clip of some of their stars.
The Brumbies response
Perhaps even more entertaining was the response by an Australian Super 15 team, the Brumbies. This time, without the trick camera work and clever editing:
World Cup 2010
And finally, it would be an oversight to forget about the biggest sports event of the year, especially since it took place right here in South Africa. And one advertisement that stood out was Nike’s Write the Future campaign. It’s impressive only for the variety of stars it uses (even the Queen and Homer Simpson make an appearance), the editing, the story line and the vast array of different scenes.
Unfortunately, it proved to be something of a “curse” for the players it featured – Ronaldinho didn’t even make to the World Cup after losing out on selection for Brazil, and those who did fell one by one, leaving Nike with no “marquee” players by the latter stages of the competition. They did get a team into the final, and they produced a pretty impressive ad…
Ross