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What's the best Tiger Woods commercial out there?

by Ted Bauer

BEST TIGER WOODS COMMERCIAL? ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO ARGUE WITH NIKE'S "NEVER" SPOT

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The Masters starts tomorrow (here's the official ESPN The Magazine preview). One of the truest things our dad ever said: "Tournament is great and all, but how much will I care if Tiger Woods isn't within five strokes on Sunday?" It's fun when an underdog wins, but part of watching golf right now is watching for Tiger. Because we aren't golf experts, we decided to approach The Masters from a different angle: since Woods, like Peyton Manning, endorses virtually every product under the sun—we thought we'd rank the best Tiger Woods commercials of all-time. Now, sadly, we're not advertising experts either. We do, however, watch a lot of TV (inside info: there's some high-level stuff on ABC Family) and we know what we like. Tiger's been in some classic ads; here now is one attempt at ordering 'em.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (10)	"NEVER" (NIKE)	Here it is. Try to watch it and not cry. It's literally almost impossible. "I said 'Tiger, I promise you, you'll never meet a person as mentally tough as you in your entire life. And he hasn't. And he never will.'" Amazing. Sidebar question to debate with your friends: is this the best NIKE ad ever? Other candidates are here, here and here.
	2 (35)	"CADDYSHACK" (AMERICAN EXPRESS)	Here it is. There are some other iconic Woods ads that should be higher than this, probably, but we slot this at No. 2 because when you think of Tiger Woods, what do you think? Super determined guy who doesn't play fun with the media all the time, right? You ever think you'd see him do an ad where he channeled Bill Murray? Prolly not. Sidebar question for you and your friends: do you think Woods and Murray have ever met, and if so, what are among the discussion topics?
	3 (62)	"SWING PORTRAIT" (NIKE)	Here ya go. NIKE literally cannot miss with making ads. At the 32-second mark of this thing, when the music changes, the ad just owns you. Sidebar: how many takes you think it took NIKE and Woods to get this ad down?
	4 (9)	"CLUB TRICKS" (NIKE)	Here you go. Music selection is pretty amazing here. Simple sidebar: is it real?
	5 (42)	"I AM TIGER WOODS" (NIKE)	This was his first NIKE commercial. It has a very Jordan-ad-esque feel to it, no? Sidebar off that: would you put Tiger and MJ in the same "icon" class right now, or does the former need more time? (Or, did the latter's stint in Washington doom him?)

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	82 (139)	"HELLO WORLD" (NIKE)	This ad is amazing because it basically sums up every column written about Tiger between the early 1990s and the early part of this decade with a sweeping score underneath it. Sidebar: if you could pick any Hollywood director (Michael Mann and David Fincher, among others, have done spots for NIKE) to helm their next Tiger ad, who you got and why?
	103 (1,870)	"TIGER WOODS RETURNS" (NIKE)	This ad is so funny because, yes, sunshine and lollipops. (If you don't get what that means, click the hyperlink.) Sidebar: in NBA/MLB/NHL/NFL, is there one guy that if the league lost him, they'd be kinda doomed? (Remember in your answer: Tom Brady did miss all of last year.)

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		THE WII AD (This is pretty underrated for Tiger spots.)
		TIGER TALKING BUICK (It's classy and all, but you had to wonder how long it'd last.)

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