Notice the extra "O" . . . something these Steelers can always use, right?
Four former soup pitchmen are vying today for a chance to take their team to Super Bowl Polamalu (43, get it?): Ben Roethlisberger, Todd Heap of Baltimore, Kurt Warner of Arizona and Donovan (plus Mama) McNabb of Philadelphia. If you notice, each member of that group has been, shall we say, a little snakebit after they promoted the product. DIdn't Roethlisberger miss a soup-company photo shoot because of his motorcycle accident? (Ben did other spots, some of which you can find here.)
Well, it seems these soupmakers have an entire Web site devoted to what they call the Campbell's Chunky Soup Curse, where they offer proof that -- quoting them here -- "every NFL player who endorses Campbell's Chunky Soup will suffer a rash of career- or even life-threatening injuries, failure on the field, humiliation and, ultimately, defeat." Not to sound harsh.
Granted, each Warner, Roethlisberger and McNabb reached a Super Bowl while pimping the canned goodies, but. . .: Warner lost there in his last year as a pitchman, got benched four times thereafter, got hurt and was exiled to Arizona (which now doesn't seem so bad); Roethlisberger had that accident, an appendectomy, a spinal concussion and back-to-back years where he never reached the playoffs' second round; and McNabb puked in the huddle in a failed final SB drive.
One more important boiling issue: Dave Nicodemus, through his site 5goldenrings.net, is trying to convince Steelers fans to click and vote for the team in what amounts to a Campbell's competition for the homeless. See, he explained, the Steelers and Bills are in a playoff competition that Buffalo was leading by an almost 2-to-1 margin. The winning team earns 18,000 free cans of the company's soup as a charitable trophy to a local food bank, which truly gives life-important meaning to a competition, huh?
Ben and mom Brenda in Oct. 2006 shoot
Posted
Jan 18 2009, 01:56 PM
by
Chuck Finder