Vive Le Football Libre!

After being sponsored by Adidas for as long as I can remember, the French national soccer team has switched to Nike as supplier for their gear. Nike launched the new kit with this video:

Wow.

Seriously, I mean WOW!! I saw this a few days ago and haven't been able to stop watching it. This video makes the the French team look so bad ass it's ridiculous. You've got people getting pushed in the mud, insane tricks, ridiculous slide tackles, and did that guy really breathe in the shape of a bird??? Vive le France!!

This commercial is so cool, that it even made the song from the De Beers Diamonds commercials (circa 1993) cool again. Sorry Blood Diamond.

After annoying my girlfriend and anyone else who would listen, I finally found someone who was as equally impressed as me. My co worker Scott, who broke the news of Optimus Prime being in the parking lot, and I figured out that the poem in the voice over included fencing terms. Yeah, I know, how could it ever get any cooler? (ok ok, I won't use the word cool anymore)

The voice over poem is from the 'Duel' scene in the play Cyrano de Bergerac and is narrated by French hip-hop artist Oxmo Puccino. Translation below:

Elegant like Celadon (1),
Agile like Scaramouche (2),
I'm warning you, dear Myrmidon (3),
That at the end of the envoi, I touch.

Tac! I parry the tip of which
you were hoping to make me gift,
I open the line, I block it...
Hold on tight to your spit, Laridon (4),
At the end of the envoi, I touch.

Envoi
Prince, ask God for Forgiveness.
I quarter, I skirmish,
I cut, I feint...
Hey! there, then!
At the end of the envoi, I touch.

1. Hero from "L'Astrée", a French pastoral novel.
2. Character from comedia dell'arte.
3. Son of Zeus.
4. Dog from a LaFontaine tale that never gets out of the kitchen.

Its a rough translation I got off another site. I think the "I touch" is supposed to me "I strike".

btw, the new kit will be worn on February 9 against Brazil.