We all know what the arrival of the holiday season means, right?  (DRAMATIC PAUSE FOR EFFECT) The end of the Cross Country season of course! And although we’re excited for the upcoming season of goodwill and cheer, we can’t help but reminisce about the past few months of fun had on the Nike East Running Mobile Tour Programs.

This Saturday will mark the 7th running of Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, an event where the nations top high school runners compete to prove they’re the best.  They’ve been preparing for this day all season long, and most of them have been doing so with the Mobile Crew by their side.

The Nike Spike Bus and Nike East Running Van have been there every step of the way…  Training with the fastest runners, cheering with the masses at races, and spreading knowledge about running and Nike to all.  They’ve spent time in the freezing temperatures of Vermont and Florida sunshine, with countless weeks on the road, and thousands of miles on their vehicles…  Tens of thousands of laces and hundreds of Gait Analysis tests later, it all comes down to one thing… Running.

The Nike East Running Mobile Tour has reached new heights this season and passed by countless milestones.  The season may be over by the memories will live on. Keep up with us daily on RunnerSpace, tweet @nikespikebus and Like us on the ‘Book.

Vans is the man when it comes to brand. To promote their new Yo Gabba Gabba shoe collection, Vans has partnered with the hip kids’ show to produce a series of videos exploring the totally logical link between action sports and giant-sized bright-red alien animals with one eye.

The videos showcase the Gabba Land characters’ mad motocross, skateboard, surf and BMX skills as they bring it alongside pro athletes like Alex Knost and Alistair Whitton. Music by everyone from Devo to the Dragons. First up is Muno exploring LA on a skateboard, in homage to the iconic Bones Brigade Video Show. Want more? Get it here on the Vans microsite.

Staying true to their Dude- (not entirely Bro-) Centric sports sponsorship, Red Bull NZ created a pretty sick mini Velodrome complete with helmet-cams.

Fortune also favors the bold.  As the ancient Latin proverb goes, the  Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, favors those who consummately undertake course of action and risks.  We like risks at MKTG INC. We also really like Guinness.

Guinness, robust with roasted flavors of chocolate and coffee,  has been audacious enough to infiltrate sports bar environments of late, challenging consumers to go Head-to-Head in pouring the Perfect Pint.  Boom! Karate chop! Take that Bud and Miller!

And to the victor go the spoils. Guinness invited only the best and boldest to their Grand Finale event to tenaciously pour for a trip to Las Vegas in celebration of Super Bowl XLV. While there was one ultimate Perfect Pint Winner in the NE Region, it is rumored there will be another Guinness Head-to-Head competition between Jerome Bettis and the individual with the most outrageously, bold moment.  Want in? Keep a lookout for MKTG INC in a sports bar near you.

In fact, it’s 5pm on Friday – we’re going to practice.

The much-anticipated NBA season opened last night with the Celtics, the Heat and LeBron James eating a pink-frosted donut. Nike’s new LeBron James: Rise commercial shows a LeBron no one expects to see: introspective, self-deprecating, a soulful slam poet wearing a fedora. From the sound of it a lot of people don’t want to see this new LeBron, or any other LeBron for that matter, but it’s not like Nike doesn’t know that: LeBron repeatedly asks us “What should I do?” and then he says, “Maybe I should just disappear.” I myself loved it: it’s funny, it’s smart, it’s very well written, and it’s got a Don Johnson cameo. I ask for nothing more.

via highsnobiety

Pretty cool skateboard video that shows little to no branding for Coca-Cola Burn energy drink. The riders were actually set on fire in this video.  No stuntmen were used.  Filming was done in Mexico.

Photo credit to heymeca

Here in New York, we recently saw a bunch of pianos set up around the city for people to play.  Now, the group that organized London’s pianos last year (we’re round two) is putting up ping pong tables all around the British capital.  Called “Ping!“, the project is the kickoff to the countdown to the London Olympics.  100 tables are set up in parks, museums, and even St. Pancras and Heathrow.

Via BBC, Event Magazine, Londonist

Now that the US has been knocked out of the World Cup and my summer’s ruined, it seems fitting to look back at how it all began for our boys in South Africa.  Lego put together this great, and eerily accurate, video of England goalkeeper, Robert Green’s blunder in the opening match, which helped us eventually win the group.

Funny thing about the Lego representation is that the movement is about as fluid as Green’s was throughout the match. Enjoy the rest of the tournament, and recall the joy our boys brought us for the two weeks that seemed to go by too fast.  Check it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXo2nm2ODF0

This year’s World Cup exposed me to a concept that has filled me with confusion and jealousy: recruited fans. I have aleady heard of two instances where fans were actually recruited to attend matches – the cases of North Korea and the Netherlands (according to Foreign Policy Magazine and BBC News respectively).

For the North Koreans, many of their fans at their first match against Brazil were not North Korean at all. They were Chinese. A thousand comedians and other pop stars hailing from North Korea’s only ally were hand-plucked to blow vuvuzelas for Best Korea, few of whom (ok, none of whom) are capable of obtaining visas.

The Dutch group consisted of thirty-six beautiful women recruited by a Dutch brewery to cheer as a group and attract camera attention to their attire – orange dresses that were part of a give-away marketing program for the beer. This act has been labeled a “Marketing Ambush” by FIFA, who is taking legal action against the brewery. Suurre they will.

Unfortunately, I am neither a Chinese pop star (yet!), nor a beautiful Dutch girl, so I stood little chance of being recruited by either group. But hey, a guy can dream.

With the World Cup under way…interesting article in the NY Times about different national approaches to growing soccer talent. Seems we’re doing it wrong. It’s a long article, so if you can’t manage the reading, I broke it down.

3 million kids play soccer here—we play way too many games at the expense of training and teaching skills. We produce incredibly fit players with little imagination. The Dutch have an amazing system for churning out high level players. The Dutch are mirthless automatons. And college soccer is a complete waste of critical development time (I can attest to that).