I can't stand UCLA but I will always have great respect for John Wooden.

Damn, those are some blurry basketball players.

AA, did you even watch the spot? It was almost exclusively not UCLA highlights.

Gatorade really wants to be up there with the best marketed brands. This latest campaign has been amazing.

If anyone listens to what the poem says/means and cares about it they would realize somebody (at that advertising firm) gets what some of us think athletes should be about. As much as I really like (but disagree with) Charles Barkley, athletes are role models even if they don't want to be.
This commercial speaks to us sentimentalist who wish, if not for a time where athlete's were better, at least one when we knew less about their personal lives so we could imagine greatness and not end up disappointed. Wooden's smile at the end makes the whole thing special to this sentimentalist. It is a nice piece even if it won't make me buy any more Gatorade than I otherwise would have.

Check out this video of Coach John Wooden discussing the ideals of sports and what defines a real winner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvX0fkEp0cs