It was one of the more gruesome occurrences in Major League Baseball history -- early in the 2001 season, flame-throwing left-hander Randy Johnson's 100+ MPH fastball famously collided with a mourning dove in mid-flight. (You can see the clip here, but ornithologists should click carefully).
Twenty-three years later, DirecTV is, er, feathering its nest, as it were, by mining this famous avian tragedy for a little comedy.
The satellite TV company already has a humorous pigeon-themed TV ad campaign rolling, tied to the sunsetting of satellite distribution. (In the spots, the pigeons lament the loss of the dishes.)
Now, DirecTV has enlisted Johnson, 60, to star in a new, whimsical ad, in which the Hall-of-Fame 6-10 pitcher, known in his playing days as "The Big Unit," turns old, obsolete satellite TV dishes into diorama's of Major League fields ("bird ballparks," as they're known), while donning a mullet wig made of millet. (Yeah, it's out there.)
"Birds deserve better," declares Johnson. Here's the ad:
