February 07, 2011

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 21 comments

Favre Forsberg, give it up !

posted by tommybiden at 10:27 AM on February 07, 2011

Yesterday wasn't such a great day to be Vince Lombardi.

posted by yerfatma at 01:26 PM on February 07, 2011

Just wondering what the national/international opinion is of the Chrysler "Imported from Detroit" commercial. Here it is for those who might not have seen it last night...

posted by MeatSaber at 02:14 PM on February 07, 2011

I liked that commercial. There's so much humor in Super Bowl ads I think it makes them less memorable. That one stuck with me.

posted by rcade at 03:00 PM on February 07, 2011

I thought the ad was good. It wouldn't get me to go out and buy a Chrysler, which is normally the job of an advertisement, but it did get my attention and is getting people to at least talk about Chrysler in a positive manner

posted by Demophon at 03:27 PM on February 07, 2011

As I mentioned in the Superbowl thread, I was just excited to see the Fox Theater again. Saw REM there in '85 and New Order in '86. Great shows.

posted by NoMich at 03:43 PM on February 07, 2011

I thought it was the best ad of the night, and it wasn't really advertising the car, but a particular narrative. Compare and contrast with the BMW "we make all our SUVs in South Carolina [because it's mainly Americans who want BMW SUVs]" ad.

posted by etagloh at 04:50 PM on February 07, 2011

Given the other BS ads I've seen that was a good one. But then I always did love Eminem.

posted by Drood at 06:15 PM on February 07, 2011

Maple Leafs' Darryl Boyce on the time his nose fell off

posted by tommybiden at 08:45 PM on February 07, 2011

I thought it was pretty damn impressive that they didn't fall back on some old-school classic rock tune, but actually went with one of the better modern songs to come out of music in the past 15 years.

It definitely broke away from the goofiness of the other commercials.

In fact, it stood out so much that I went to the web to go look up the vehicle the next morning.

posted by grum@work at 09:10 PM on February 07, 2011

I thought it was a good commercial, but it set my bullshit detector off. I thought all the assembly plants were outside the city. It turns out that I was right. The Chrysler 200 is assembled in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It's a suburb that's 90% white, with a median family income of $70,000. I think that undercuts the whole point of the commercial.

All my facts are belong to Wikipedia.

posted by Aardhart at 09:31 PM on February 07, 2011

I wish the car was as good as the commercial.

posted by cjets at 10:30 PM on February 07, 2011

I didn't see it, thanks to CTV deciding I needed to watch those stupid idiot in motorcycle helmets and shoulder pads run past Union Station over and over again.

posted by fabulon7 at 11:06 PM on February 07, 2011

Just wondering what the national/international opinion is of the Chrysler "Imported from Detroit" commercial.

They still make cars in America?

posted by owlhouse at 11:19 PM on February 07, 2011

I thought it was a good commercial, but it set my bullshit detector off. I thought all the assembly plants were outside the city. It turns out that I was right. The Chrysler 200 is assembled in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It's a suburb that's 90% white, with a median family income of $70,000. I think that undercuts the whole point of the commercial.

Chrysler has two assembly plants in the city and several other factories located in Detroit. But to suggest that the livelihood of those who live both in Detroit and its suburbs aren't intertwined is ludicrous. The car is manufactured in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, that is what matters.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 11:43 PM on February 07, 2011

The commercial does not talk about the Detroit Metropolitan Area. It talks about "this city" and "a town that's been to hell and back." Its whole "Imported from Detroit" separates Detroit from everything else. Without the separation, I think the whole point is undercut.

People don't think of Ann Arbor and Farmington Hills as being bombed-out hell-holes. People do think that of Detroit. A large reason that cities have been hit so hard has been white flight to the suburbs. I think it is strange to equate Detroit with a contributor to Detroit's problems (the suburbs).

Chrysler has two assembly plants in the city and several other factories located in Detroit.

They also have plants or factories in Canada, Mexico, elsewhere in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. Most of their stuff is not "imported from Detroit."

But to suggest that the livelihood of those who live both in Detroit and its suburbs aren't intertwined is ludicrous.

I didn't.

The economies of the USA and Canada are intertwined as well, but it would be misleading and inaccurate to say that Vancouver is a nice American city. Maybe that one is, but not the other one. I mean the Canadian one. And I mean American as in 'Merican, not as in "of the Americas."

I've never been there, but Wikipedia does not make it seem like Sterling Heights, Michigan (incorporated as a city in 1968) is a town that's been to hell and back.

The car is manufactured in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, that is what matters.

I think that's nice, but not what the commercial said.

posted by Aardhart at 12:25 AM on February 08, 2011

To me I more got that "Imported from Detroit" was a metaphor for Detroit's attitude etc... That cars built anywhere could be "Imported from Detroit" if you see what I mean.

Regardless, I still love Eminem. I'd rather see him whore for Chrysler than say... Ice tea.

posted by Drood at 01:05 AM on February 08, 2011

I've never been there, but Wikipedia does not make it seem like Sterling Heights, Michigan (incorporated as a city in 1968) is a town that's been to hell and back.

It isn't. I'll drive over there every so often to go to the movies. It is very far from hell and back.

Although I don't believe Detroit is out of hell yet.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:50 AM on February 08, 2011

I think that's nice, but not what the commercial said.

So you'd be cool if the commercial said Detroit Metropolitan Area instead? I think your bullshit detector is set a little too sensitive.

posted by tron7 at 10:52 AM on February 08, 2011

I'm not sure why we're having a discussion of the semantics of where the exact locations of the production facilities are, but "Detroit" is synonymous with "the American auto industry".

posted by bender at 01:12 PM on February 08, 2011

There are two issues at play here. City decay because of abandonment to the suburbs, and the deterioration of Michigan/Detroit/Flint due to the decline of American automotive manufacturing. I am a city boy, but not a Michigander. I am more sensitive to the first issue.

I think it was a good commercial, but misleading. If it also talked about a revival of Flint, it would be swell. But "Imported from Michigan" or "Imported from Sterling Heights" suck as tag lines.

That cars built anywhere could be "Imported from Detroit" if you see what I mean.

I understand the argument that they could be built in Detroit's suburb, but that line could not apply to cars built in Mexico or South Carolina.

posted by Aardhart at 08:31 PM on February 09, 2011

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