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No N.F.L. player can equal Peyton Manning's ubiquity as an advertising star, his wit, or his effortlessness at projecting himself as a regular guy in nearly all of his commercials.
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Other players could say, "Cut that meat" (for MasterCard), but Manning's line-reading is exquisite, as is his nonverbal comedy, like the behind-the-back kick he delivers to his brother Eli on a family tour of ESPN for its "This Is SportsCenter" campaign.

While it is tempting to crown Manning the greatest N.F.L. commercial star (not just for the Super Bowl but for ads that appear at any time of year), consider an icon of another era: Joe Namath. His 1973 Noxzema ad with Farrah Fawcett, three years before "Charlie's Angels" made her a star, was a suggestive and natural play on his playboy persona, as she seductively spread shaving cream over his face. "Hoo!" Namath cooed.

He toyed further with his image (as Manning might not) by slipping on panty hose.

"If Beauty Mist can make my legs look this good," the reclining Namath said after the camera's slow pan from his legs to his face, "imagine what they can do for yours."

No less humorous than Manning's oeuvre were the Lite Beer ads from Miller. They paired sports personalities (Billy Martin vs. George Steinbrenner) or created big outings invariably overseen by Rodney Dangerfield, a sports figure from "Caddyshack."

The campaign essentially launched John Madden's manic, arm-flailing, break-through-the-paper-screen character (with an early one showing Madden with nearly a Buster Brown haircut). Consider now the Dick Butkus-Bubba Smith pairing, a duo known for their body-jangling ferocity as players. Or the ad when they return from playing polo and ponder playing the other type of polo ("I sure hope those horses can swim," Smith said, deadpan.) In another, Smith went solo, pleasantly lauding the beer's "easy-opening can," whose top he easily rips off with his bare hands.

The multiple-sport athleticism of Bo Jackson was brilliantly exploited with Nike's "You Don't Know Diddley" (a gathering that included Wayne Gretzky, Kirk Gibson, Michael Jordan, John McEnroe and the rock 'n' roll Bo, Diddley), and in another, when more than a dozen versions of Bo, each in the regalia of different sports, crowded the screen.

Football Bo to Baseball Bo: "Ever been to L.A.?"

The best commercials starring athletes contain a few basic elements, said Bob Dorfman, executive vice president of the Baker Street Partners advertising agency.

"Obviously, you need an athlete to deliver a line well, play off their stereotypes and strengths and have the ability to make fun of themselves," he said.

The most celebrated ad with an N.F.L. player -- and one of the most admired commercials ever made -- was not funny at all. Instead, it was a 30-second stadium drama that occurred after a game when a kid offered a limping, grumpy Joe Greene, then one of the leading defensive ends in the National Football League, his Coca-Cola.

While often thought of as a Super Bowl commercial, it was first shown during the baseball playoffs in October 1979, ran through the N.F.L. season and was subsequently broadcast during Super Bowl XIV. The frenzy over Super Bowl commercials -- and the notion that some people watched the game for the spectacularly produced ads, many of which made their debut during the game -- was still a few years in the future.

On Sunday, a new version of "Mean Joe" will be seen in the third quarter of the Super Bowl. This time, another Pittsburgh Steeler, Troy Polamalu, the long-haired strong safety, stands in for Greene, limps into the tunnel to the Heinz Field locker room, and turns down a kid's offer of a Coke Zero. Then the old premise turns to parody.

"We would never remake 'Mean Joe,' " said Katie Bayne, the chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola North America. "There are similarities in the opening 12 seconds, but then it's truly a Coke Zero commercial."

The ad was shot in November, so it's a happy coincidence that a Steeler, Polamalu, will also be playing in the Super Bowl, as it was when Greene starred in the original and Pittsburgh beat the Rams in Pasadena.

In a video on Coke Zero's Web site, Polamalu said: "He's always Mean Joe Greene. Our acting skills will be up against each other." In Greene's video, also on the site, he said Polamalu faced more of an acting challenge.

"I was being mean, which wasn't hard to do," he said. "He had the tougher task."

And Coke will face the task, or risk, of having fans compare a classic to a parody.

Take your pick among some of the best ads with N.F.L. personalities: Reebok's with the faux linebacker, Terry Tate, the brutal enforcer of office rules; Nike's innovative Michael Vick Experience or its artistic "Fate" commercial with Polamalu and LaDainian Tomlinson; O. J. Simpson's racing and hurdling through airports for Hertz (far more memorable than when he was stationary); the Manning brothers vs. the Williams sisters for Double Stuf Oreos; or the Jim Mora ("Playoffs!") and Dennis Green's quotations-out-of-context news conferences ("They are who we thought they were!") for Coors Light.

Or maybe Namath's tame but homey pitch for "My Old Pal Ovaltine." source>>>