Kansas basketball: One reason Jayhawk fans are glad season over
By Stan Unruh
Over the past five months, Kansas basketball fans have watched a lot of basketball. Despite featuring the Jayhawks, fans are glad one television ad is dead.
How many hours did you spend watching college basketball since last fall? How many games did you watch over the past month? We saw some amazing Kansas basketball games and individual performances. We also watched a lot of television commercials. Big Jay added to his resume with appearances in several regional and national television ads. Most Jayhawk fans are glad one of those ads is probably finished.
The home mortgage commercial featuring Big Jay and nine other university mascots ran thousands of times during the college basketball season. The ad wants viewers to download their phone app. It implies you could get approved for or at least make an offer on a home in just eight minutes. The app even allows you to download your approval letter.
In addition to the Jayhawk, the ad features mascots from Duke, Mizzou Miami, Texas, Michigan State, Colorado, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State and that team Jayhawk fans hated Saturday. I wonder how the ad’s creators selected these schools for college basketball? It would be interesting to know the research used and who just missed the cut.
The opening of the ad features the University of Miami mascot immediately followed by Mizzou’s Tiger Truman flying through the air twirling his tail. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket is shown surfing on fans while coaches and game officials watch from a distance. They probably wonder how Tech got in the ad and missed the Big Dance.
In the next scene, Michigan State’s Sparty plants a school flag in front of a roaring crowd wearing green. Then, Miami’s Sebastian the Ibis gets another appearance doing their U thing. The Texas Longhorn does their Hook ‘Em and North Carolina State’s Mr. Wuf does whatever they do in Raleigh. Unless you watch closely, you never fully see the Wolfpack mascot.
How did Truman get in this ad ahead of Big Jay?
Then the Colorado Buffalo dances in front of a crowd from what appears to be Allen Fieldhouse of the Rockies and Mizzou’s Truman makes a second appearance followed by the Blue Devil who waves a flag but apparently nobody showed up at Cameron Indoor Arena. He is alone.
The ad switches to the mascots in a dunk fest. Sparty, Ralphie from CU and that that nasty Will D. Cat fly through the air to score. The Georgia Tech Yellow jacket swings off a rim and the ad cuts to Will D. Cat again in front a home crowd lacking confidence on a home mortgage.
Will gets to catch a cell phone that is parachuting down from inside a basketball arena and play with the mortgage company’s app. He scrolls through using his mascot fingers to get approved for a monthly payment of $1,721 a month. Must be a nice neighborhood. He just needs $37,205.53 to close the deal, according to the ad.
Jayhawks deserved more screen time
Next: Kansas basketball fans need this new Blue Blood T-shirt
In the ads closing seconds, Big Jay makes an appearance. Jay is prominently featured and puts on a few dance moves in a line of five mascots behind Will D. Cat who has scissors and intends to climb a ladder and cut down a basketball net. Is the ad’s creator getting a bonus for predicting that? It’s just another reason Kansas basketball fans don’t want to see this ad ever again.
Big Jay gets approximately five seconds of screen time at the end of the ad. He is in front of Sparty and aligned with the Blue Devil in front of the line of five mascots to the left of that nasty Wildcat. At least the Jayhawks and a couple of others are worthy of representing college basketball in this ad. Kansas fans are always happy to see Big Jay when he makes national television appearances. Fans are proud of him and this season’s Kansas basketball team that provided so many great moments during this most exciting time of the year.