Subject:
An ESPN promotional video in which Hall of Fame football journalist John Clayton reveals that he’s got a life as a headbanging Slayer fan outside of sports.
Lifespan:
31 seconds: 13 straightlaced seconds, 18 SLAYERRRRR seconds.
The body:
The promo starts off with ESPN anchor Neil Everett stating that John Clayton is the consummate pro. It cuts to Clayton wrapping up a conversation with another anchor about NFL defenses. Cut to what is supposed to be a behind-the-scenes of Clayton as he sports the top half of a sports coat, dress shirt and tie, and dons blue jeans. He rips off the suit setup to reveal the band name “SLAYER” boldly emblazoned on his t-shirt in red. He’s in his bedroom, the walls covered in metal posters, including one of the cover of Reign in Blood. Everett again praises Clayton; back to Clayton’s bedroom, and he does a spinning leap onto his bed. Generic metal music plays as Clayton gets ready to eat Chinese food out of a carton with chopsticks, and yells, “Hey Mom! I’m done with my segment!” The ESPN logo appears at the bottom of the screen, above it “This is SportsCenter.”
Dissection:
Plainly put: AWESOME!!! ESPN has been running these humorous commercials for years, involving mascots, coaches and players (memorably, Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo as a receptionist). Taking the nerdy Clayton and transforming him into a headbanger ready to mosh away to Slayer is a stroke of twisted genius. Credit Clayton for playing along and lampooning his image. The man is an award winning journalist who’s in the NFL Hall of Fame. I would take a perverse joy in it if I found out Clayton actually loves Slayer. Including the cover for DE Hell of Fame inductee Reign in Blood shows an impeccable attention to detail, and completes the ad’s brilliance.
Postmortem:
Cause of death- Dude, you can’t kill Slayer. And so you can’t kill Clayton for his whimsical play on his image.
Interment instructions- Follow your viewing of the body by watching Kerry King’s reaction in the second clip. A truly evil writer and shredder on his axe will laugh along with you at the ad.
View the body
I wonder how many outwardly serious looking “business people” types actually wear Slayer shirts under their suits and ties ;)
I know I do whenever possible!
SLAYER and football, what could be better!!!
Answer: Absolutely nothing! SLAYERRRRRRR!!!!