Remembering Nike’s classic ‘The Michael Vick Experience’ commercial you wanted to be real

Never had there been a commercial that made viewers wish everything in it was real, while also capturing a real-life setting with an accuracy you could never envision. At least not until The Michael Vick Experience in 2004, which was the greatest NFL ad Nike ever produced.

Nike’s commercial centered around a fictional roller coaster ride that captured Vick’s style of play with a veracity.

The commercial opens up with a huge line gathered outside of a setup resembling the Georgia Dome (R.I.P). Because just like wanting to watch him on the football field, you just had to live The Michael Vick Experience.

Riders are equipped with a pair of fresh Nike Zoom Vick 2s (you gotta have some serious juice to have signature sneakers as an NFL player) and a Falcons helmet. Then, the ride begins.

Holograms of Vick pop up as the rider is slowly transported to the playing field. Vick’s voice is played with tips that overlap each other into a bunch of gibberish — that’s how quick his mind moves on the field.

The rider stops. It’s dark and quiet, until the stadium lights come on. The crowd is booming. Instead of a single team on the other side of the offensive line, the games best defensive players are waiting to get after the rider — Brian Urlacher, Derrick Brooks, and Michael Strahan.

It doesn’t matter though, because he’s in Vick’s shoes. It’s 2004, and nobody’s stopping Michael Vick.

Those open field plays are no problem, all it takes is a little shake and bake.

It also wouldn’t be a Vick run if you (or any Falcons fan watching) weren’t concerned that he was going to get rocked at any moment. The rider avoids a couple of punishing hits thanks to some massive blocks.

Dramatic finishes to get into the end zone were always fun by Vick too — so of course The Michael Vick Experience had one. Though Vick never quite flipped like that.

At the end of the ride, Vick’s hologram pops back up impressed with the play and says, “That’s not in the playbook, but it should be.”

He recently gave us a taste of his glory days at the inaugural game of the American Flag Football League — except he threw for eight touchdowns. That’s not the signature Vick we miss, but it was cool to see him on the gridiron again slinging the pill.

Vick was unlike anything we had ever seen in the NFL. He terrorized teams with his blazing speed and video-game like ability to stop on a dime and change direction. There wasn’t an obstacle that Vick couldn’t finesse his way around, and NFL fans couldn’t wait until Sunday to get another taste.

His style of play turned some people into fans of the game, and turned others into lifetime fans of his in particular.

Nike’s made some great advertisements over the course of the years — but this is by far their best in making viewers long for more.