Most Hilariously Cringe-Worthy Sports Ads of the Year (So Far)

There’s a reason most people don’t consider ads a viable form of entertainment. When selling a product or service is the entire purpose of something’s existence, it’s inherently lame. Not that an ad can’t be entertaining, but even the most hyped multimillion dollar Super Bowl spot is hardly worth your attention on Monday.

And though some ads are clever, or otherwise interesting, more often than not, an ad can do a lot of things right and still suck. So, the odds are against the medium—far more commercials are unwatchably bad than compelling enough to care.

The bottom of the barrel is deep, but one special category of ad can be so awful that it becomes entertaining to the visual masochists among us. The sports ad brings together a myriad of elements—poor production, sports celebrities with no acting ability, non sequitur—that alone, or in some combination thereof, are simply cringe-worthy.

These are the most cringe-worthy sports ads of 2015.

Justin Tucker: Royal Farms

Kickers don’t usually get much love in the endorsement game (or anywhere else, for that matter), but Baltimore’s Justin Tucker is the exception to that rule. He’s starred in two local commercials in the last few months alone. 

While Tucker’s spot spoofing Matthew McConaughey for Carbiz was actually quite solid, this operatic lip-syncing ad for Royal Farms coffee is far less inspired. 

Fantasy6: "Trainer"

At this point we’re all too familiar with the advertising onslaught continuously hurled at us from FanDuel and DraftKings, but early in the season another daily fantasy site called Fantasy6 tried to bust onto the scene with a controversial, yet stupid Deflategate-themed commercial. 

Though it aired on 20 national networks at some point, Fantasy6 got more attention for where the ad didn’t air. NFL Network rejected the commercial due to the “sensitive nature of the content.” The spot is just lazy, with a premise that probably wouldn’t have been funny eight months earlier. 

Kirk Cousins: Mercantile Bank of Michigan

Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins isn’t known as a particularly charismatic guy, or even an especially gifted quarterback. But apparently he left enough of an impression while playing at Michigan State that he’s still a sought after pitchman years later. 

Soon after being named the starter for the 2015 NFL season, beating out former No. 2 pick Robert Griffin III, Mercantile Bank of Michigan aired a commercial starring the former Spartan. Cringe-worthy by his very existence, mercifully Cousins doesn’t utter a word in the spot. 

Cowboy: Medical Direct

A professional cowboy serves as an unlikely spokesman for nearly painless catheters in this commercial for Medical Direct Club. Having been “cowboyin’ for 25 years,” this guy is all too familiar with pain. 

Seriously, he’s suffered 14 broken bones, two concussions and a punctured lung over the years. According to this ad, that makes the catheter cowboy uniquely qualified to assess catheter-related pain. 

Cleveland Cavaliers: In-House Playoff Promo

Although this promotional video was only supposed to air inside Quicken Loans Arena during Cleveland's playoff series against the Chicago Bulls in May, its surprisingly tone-deaf premise helped it reach a much larger audience than the Cavaliers had initially intended. What was supposed to be a parody of Dirty Dancing ultimately ended with a “a male Cavaliers fan picking up a woman and throwing her to the ground when he realizes she’s a Bulls fan.” 

Considering the considerable coverage incidents of domestic violence in sports, particularly the NFL, had received over the previous year, it was certainly hard to understand the line of thinking behind the video.

Obviously it was never the intent to draw any sort of parallel to domestic violence, let alone joke about it, which is exactly what the team explained in its official apology statement. It’s still hard to believe this idea was ever cleared to begin with.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Sixpad Body Revolution

Considering his net worth is an estimated $310 million, Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo could theoretically afford to be selective about the projects to which he attaches his name. In reality, however, he isn’t particularly choosey, as evidenced by his decision to shill for Sixpad, a dubious Japanese exercise product. 

In the commercial, Ronaldo appears as some sort of superhuman fitness cyborg. Donning nothing but his boxers and an unsettling grin, Ronaldo stands largely motionless while electrodes make his muscles pulsate. 

Brett Hull: McBride and Son Home

This Deflategate-themed commercial for St. Louis-based company McBride and Son Homes features NHL Hall of Famer Brett Hull, who played for the Blues and is now executive vice president of the team, Vladimir Tarasenko, who currently plays for the Blues, and local analyst Kelly Chase. 

While you have to give them credit for timeliness (this actually first aired in late January, just two weeks after the incident first made headlines), both the premise and overall execution feel incredibly lazy. 

Viagra

There’s no reason this commercial should qualify as something sports-related, but unfortunately, Viagra thought it was necessary to drag football into their awkward ED discussion.

Bet you never thought we’d long for the days of an elderly couple holding hands in side-by-side bathtubs on a hilltop or some dude throwing a football through a tire. 

Timofey Mozgov: Sky Zone

The endorsement-earning potential of Russian-born Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov has not been negatively impacted in Cleveland by his comically oversized (and a bit awkward) frame or somewhat limited English. 

Mozgov hasn’t even been in town for a year, yet he already has two fantastically awkward local commercials to his name, one of which is this one he recently did for Sky Zone, an indoor trampoline park—something every city should have. 

Timofey Mozgov: Brew Garden

While the Sky Zone ad was more than a little awkward, it has absolutely nothing on the spot Mozgov did for the Brew Garden restaurant back in March. His painfully labored delivery of the script is only accentuated as his eyes continually dart off-camera to read the lines. 

Adding to the overall effect is the decision, whether it was creative or personal, to have Mozgov wear his Cavaliers jersey backward. They could have just used an on-screen graphic to display his name, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as memorable.