Yuletide Fandom

[thefourthvine]

So, this was in actual fact supposed to be a private post for future (Yuletide!) reference - yes, I really am the person who makes private posts with Yuletide fandom suggestions throughout the year, and it has always served me in good stead - but since I made it public I think I should leave it public. Bottom line:

Watch this commercial, which features basketball players growing up and then fucking each other. You think I'm kidding? You tell me what comes after the last shot. I seriously can't think of anything that doesn't involve cock no matter how hard I try.

(And then prepare to write it for Yuuuuuuuletide!)

Comments

[isilya]

His name is Ben Watkins! You can see it twice -- once when he's named MVP, at 0.50, up in the background lights, and again at 0.51 when he's being interviewed on "TV" -- turn the quality up to 1080P and watch in full-screen.

[thefourthvine]

OMG YOU'RE BRILLIANT. I would never have caught that - I can easily hear them say "Watkins at the buzzer" in that one place, but I had to know exactly where to look to see the name even on full screen. BEN Watkins. YAY YAY YAY. Thank you!

[isilya]

In fact, I think what you don't have is a first name for Meng Ling -- his jersey at the end of the commercial says 'Meng Ling 32'. Someone who actually speaks Chinese would probably be able to help you out, but in Australia at least, Meng Ling as a family name is either hyphenated into Meng-Ling or smushed into one word like Mengling.

[thefourthvine]

CRAP. Here, Meng is a really common family name, so I just assumed Ling would be his first name.

...But when they announce him at the draft, it's Meng Ling with no other name! And it's not like they only do last names there! Until someone else weighs in, I'm going to go with Meng being his last name and there being another Meng on the Olympics team, so they had to differentiate.

[paxpinnae]

Also, when Yao Ming was playing for the Rockets, they used the Family Name-Given Name order when talking about him. Makes sense that they'd do the same for Meng Ling.

[paxpinnae]

Can this be the "Write up random background details" thread? Because if so:

• Meng Ling watches the 2012 Olympics in Building No. 5 or Building No. 6.


• Watkins' house number growing up is 605.


• Meng Ling's school is Fèndòu Zhōngxué, or Struggle Middle School. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, NIKE. (Also, I see that you used Google Translate, since fèndòu is a verb, not a noun, but we'll let that slide.)


• Watkins' high school team is the Lancaster Tigers, which means I'm totally saying he's from Philadelphia. YOU CAN'T STOP ME.
  
• Watkins picks between Georgetown, Cal, and Michigan.


• Meng Ling and Watkins get drafted in 2029, and they are, in fact, the first and second picks. Also, the crawl tells us that the 76ers acquire the rights to someone named "N. Ferguson" that day, if you're looking for background characters.


• Meng Ling is Rookie of the Year in 2030.


• Watkins is MVP in 2031? I think. Perspective means I can't tell the difference between a 1 and a smushed 0.


• All of that plus the Jumbotron means that the Summer Olympics in the finals scene are Cairo 2032. The score during the game is USA 98 China 97, which strongly suggests it's in the final quarter.

[isilya]

Best thread, best.

Are you able to weigh in on whether we're missing a given name for Meng Ling? His jersey in the Olympics says "Meng Ling 32".

[paxpinnae]

I'm pretty sure his family name is "Meng" and his given name is "Ling." Mèng (Trans: "firstborn") is a reasonably common family name in China, but I've never heard of anyone surnamed "Ling." Also, his UNC jersey just has "Meng" on it.

[thefourthvine]

Holy GOD I love you right now. Just. So much. Feel free to share allllll the background details, for those of us with poor visual comprehension (and those who are too blinded by the slash).