Retired New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora shares some insight into how the commercial in which he, running back Saquon Barkley, and other NFL stars gathered to promote the league's International Pathway Program came to be.
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00:00 - Osi, when you were shooting the commercial,
00:02 which by the way was just,
00:03 I think one of the best commercials during the Super Bowl.
00:06 I mean, the authenticity and the sincerity,
00:09 and you know, are you real?
00:10 You know, just a little boy poking you saying, are you real?
00:13 I mean, did you have flashbacks when, you know,
00:16 to your youth watching, you know,
00:18 the action on the field, talking to the,
00:20 and even though I know it's scripted
00:22 and everything like that,
00:22 but did that bring back memories for you?
00:25 - Yeah, a hundred percent.
00:26 The story was I had given a speech
00:29 about what they actually shot.
00:31 So the shot was from a speech that I had given essentially,
00:36 and I was talking about the dream.
00:38 I was talking about the American dream and how alive it is.
00:41 And it's living through the sport of American football
00:44 because people are growing up, you know,
00:46 and they're dreaming about, you know, all around the world.
00:49 This was when the IPP was being created.
00:52 They're dreaming about playing in the NFL.
00:54 And now this game has given them an opportunity
00:56 to come to America and do it.
00:57 So they took it from the speech
00:59 and they built the commercial around that.
01:03 So, you know, I heard from Coach Coughlin after he saw it.
01:08 He was like, man, you got some acting ability, O.C.
01:11 And I told him, I was like, listen, I wasn't acting.
01:13 That's why, this is a real, this is a real story, you know?
01:17 And so that's why it came across that way
01:20 is because it really was genuine.
01:22 And it's something that has been open to a lot of people.
01:26 And so we're really excited about it.
01:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]