June 11th is coming, people! Fifteen more days ’til the 2010 World Cup commencement in South Africa! (A quick note to Americans: I suggest you start picking a country to side with now. You know and I know that on June 12, England’s less-than-spectacular team will flatten Team America faster than any of us can say “soccer.” It’s OK, though–you all have basketball, and almost every Olympic gold medal ever is on your soil. You can’t be good at everything.)

For most people in the world, this month-long pageant doesn’t need much hyping or glossy commercials to get people to watch. People everywhere–and I’m talking places where there is no electricity (up Nigeria!)–will watch it by hook or by crook. But companies like Nike can’t resist the insane marketing opportunity. And so we have the “Write the Future” commercial. I’m one of those people who are terrified of commercials–I know you’re trying to pry your way into my mind, Nike, and I don’t like it!–but this ad actually gets me pumped. It’s fast-paced, clever, and true to the universal passion shared by football fans everywhere.

Bio: Adaeze Elechi is Guernica’s blog editor. Read her last recommendation of the This American Life episode “Take a Negro Home” “here”:https://guernicamag.com/blog/1769/rec_room_adaeze_elechi_take_a/.