hock, the ad, while popular with all ages, tested best with the 18-to-34

WASHINGTON -- The Kansas City Royals are going to have to work on their nicknames as far as President Barack Obama is concerned. Everything else was looking pretty good though as he honored the 2015 World Series champions at the White House on Thursday, describing them as one of the grittiest, most complete teams weve seen in a long time.The Royals last visited the White House in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan saluted their never-say-die spirit in the Rose Garden. The 2015 team showed the same quality. Six outs away from playoff elimination, the Royals scored seven runs to defeat the Houston Astros. They went on to win that series and to beat the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets. Obama noted that the Royals held the record for comeback wins in the playoffs.Obama also acknowledged that it had been a long time between visits to the White House for Kansas City. Lets face it, its been a long road for Royals fans, Obama said. There were some dark years, some tough decades.But Obama said that began to change when general manager Dayton Moore was hired and the Royals started to develop talented players through their minor league system. Among them: outfielder Alex Gordon, infielders Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, and catcher Salvador Perez.Obama called each of the players by his nickname: Gordo, Moose, Hos and Salvy. But the president didnt seem to find those too creative.Were going to have to work on these, Obama said.When the president calls you out, you definitely got to start thinking about something, Hosmer said after the ceremony. Weve got some guys in the locker room, Im sure theyre starting to bear down on that.However, Obama admitted to liking outfielder Jarrod Dysons description of one of the teams top weapons: Thats what speed do.Thats a good quote, Obama said.Obama noted that his press secretary, Josh Earnest, is a big Royals fan, and that the Royals visit Thursday was right up there as far as his best days ever. Manager Ned Yost, Hosmer and Perez interrupted the days press briefing to present the Kansas City, Missouri, native with a team jersey, an upgraded mug and an autographed World Series baseball. Yost said the team didnt want Earnest to get into trouble by him trying to hijack the presidents jersey.The team gave Obama a Royals jersey with the No. 44 in gold lettering, which nicely matched the ornate drapes in the White House East Room.Authentic Nike Free UK .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Discount Nike Free UK . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. http://www.nikefreecheapuk.com/ . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. Nike Free UK Online . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Nike Free UK For Sale . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play.NEW YORK -- Disillusionment. Fear. Rage.In a divided America, the political conventions are sure to arouse those sensations among the millions of viewers tuned in. Then in a commercial break, an electric guitar will blare the final lines of the The Star-Spangled Banner over images of a diverse group of U.S. athletes tearing up as they heard their national anthem during 2012 Olympic medal ceremonies.The words flash by on the screen, white on a black background, between the shots of sobbing and beaming champions: FOR 17 DAYS ... WE ARE ALL ... UNITED. The 30-second spot closes with a rising American flag, the graphic for NBCs Rio Games coverage and the date of the opening ceremony.NBC is buying ad time on other networks during both conventions the next two weeks, seeking a receptive audience for a not-so-subtle message.The country is more partisan, seemingly, than its ever been, said John Miller, the chief marketing officer for NBC Olympics. And for 17 days, we say were all united. For 17 days, we all root for Team USA. Weve got to put everything aside for a minute.The ad debuted March 15, the day of crucial primaries in Ohio and Florida, and aired on CNN and Fox News along with NBC networks. It appeared frequently during NBCs coverage of the Olympic trials, but it will again accompany non-sports fare at the conventions.Any place theyre talking about politics, thats the spot were going to run, Miller told The Associated Press last week.With so much bleak news over the past few weeks -- terrorist attacks, shootings and political division -- another NBC ad promotes the message of global unity, with athletes narrating scenes of competitors from different countries embracing.I dont know of anything else in the world, the voiceover goes, that brings people together and empowers people so purely as the Olympics does.The motivation for NBC in these spots isnt just to lure in viewers hoping for a break from the news of the day. Its also to seek to frame the Olympics as a pure, inspiring event amid the troubles swirling around the Rio Games -- from the Zika virus to Brazilian political turmoil, from polluted waters to doping scandals.Miller, once the executive behind NBCs classic must-see TV campaign, was looking to counteract those sorts of concerns before the 2008 Games when he first produced an ad with these themes.dddddddddddd. Beijing brought its own set of worries, from human rights issues to air pollution.This is the part of the story where Miller mentions Yoko Ono. He went to John Lennons widow to buy the rights to Imagine for a 60-second spot with a message of global unity.NBC tested the commercial with potential viewers, and Miller expected it to do well with an older audience. The way the network sells advertising for the Olympics, what matters is the number of households tuned in more than the demographics. So Miller wouldnt have been too alarmed if the spot captivated older viewers but flopped with younger ones.I specifically made it a little schmaltzy to capture that older audience, he recalled.To his shock, the ad, while popular with all ages, tested best with the 18-to-34-year-old range. As he summed up the explanation those younger viewers would relate: The country had been at war at least half of their memorable lives.That notion of American unity, as well as global unity, is extraordinarily strong and resonates with the young as well as the old, Miller said. But it even resonates more strongly with the young.So the theme became a valuable one for NBC to promote both Summer and Winter Games, a way to connect with younger viewers who will one day make up the main audience under the networks lengthy contract to broadcast the Olympics. Miller acknowledged NBC is probably pushing that refrain even harder this time around.It seems to be more appropriate now than ever, he said.NBC dives deep into its research of Olympic viewership, though its never looked specifically into whether depressing news in the real world makes viewers more likely to tune in. As it happens, the Beijing Games marked the start of an upswing for Olympic ratings in the United States.Jim Bell, the executive producer for NBC Olympics, doesnt have any numbers to prove why exactly viewers tune in, but he does know what he keeps hearing from acquaintances who tell him theyre looking forward to the Rio Games: How they need a break -- whether its from their job, or the news cycle, or their kids. ' ' '