Cards fan featured in MLB's ''I Live For This'' campaign

[Roark1138]

Cards fan featured in MLB's "I Live For This" campaign
CardsClubhouse's own "wprsnpr99" stars in commercial
From Roark1138, CardsClubhouse.com

Click here & Watch it!

This past January, Major League Baseball executives crisscrossed America interviewing baseball's most dedicated fans for a special project. Naturally, one of their stops was St. Louis, the nexus of Cardinals baseball -- where better to find a dedicated fan, right?

Fans began lining up at 7am on that cold January morning and, after a full day of interviews with baseball fans, MLB executives found what they were looking for -- An incredibly dedicated Cardinals fan with the right look and attitude to star in MLB's latest "I Live For This" television campaign.

The real surprise was the lucky fan was none other than Laura J., though you'll recognize her as "wprsnpr99" from CardsClubhouse.com! Laura was kind enough to sit down with us and discuss her experiences during her 4-day whirlwind trip to Miami Beach, Florida where the commercials were filmed.

CCH: Laura, how did you get the interview with MLB?

Laura: STLCardinals.com held an internet contest [in which] two lucky fans would be chosen from the online entries to receive an automatic 'front-of-the-line' pass - No standing in line or sitting on cold concrete waiting for hours! [...] That night, on my way home from work, my cell-phone rang. It was a representative from MLB.com telling me that I had won! I had an appointment at 3 pm to be escorted to the front of the line. I was so excited that I had to pull my car over! My hands were shaking and I was crying tears of joy, excitement, and anticipation. I had no idea of what to say, what to do, or what to wear. Of course, when I got home I immediately logged in and sought the advice of fellow CCH'ers!

CCH: What did you do for the interview itself?

Laura: I settled on the KISS method -- Keep It Simple Stupid. I was up all night organizing my Cardinals paraphernalia, memories, and ideas. I took my photos from the Cardinals campout, my bag of Busch Stadium dirt, my autographed hats from each of the last five opening days, my 3 favorite game ticket stubs, my glove, the first ball caught at the stadium, things like that. I also had red sunglasses from a Budweiser promo event. I used a paint marker and drew the "STL" logo on the lenses and wore them to the interview. I also put two temporary tattoos on my face and wore my black Bud Light pants and my Rolen batting practice jersey. A friend had given me a set of red and white Mardi Gras beads.

The only special thing I did for my interview was with my red glasses. During the second interview with the producers, directors, and executives, I pushed my glasses up and said, "Everyone talks about the Sea of Red - but I SEE Cardinal red and I see that you folks don't have any Cardinal Red on today. Let me see if I can fix that." I pulled my extra red glasses from my pockets and passed them out to everyone in the room...like a calling card.

CCH: What were your feelings after your interview? Did you think you did well? Did you think you had a shot?

Laura: Do you know how it feels when you get out of a job interview and you just know that you nailed it? That's exactly how I felt. I was pleased with my efforts, but knew that my chances of being chosen were one out of thousands. Surely there would be another fan with better stories than mine. Surely there would be someone else worth choosing. So while I felt good about the process, I never considered for a second that they would actually choose me!

CCH: How did you find out you were selected and what was your first reaction?

Laura: Reporters, newspaper articles, and other sources said that callbacks and notifications would take place within 24-48 hours. 24 hours went by -- nothing. 48 hours went by -- still nothing. Every time my phone rang, my stomach would drop to my toes and my heart would race. Finally, on February 3rd, the first day that I remember that I did not get excited when my phone rang, Pola Brown, an executive producer from Nonfiction Spots, called! Ms. Brown told me that I was one of three finalists and that the actual winner would be notified by the following Monday. I don't remember much of the conversation because my head was spinning. My heart pounded in disbelief and I nearly hyperventilated. I didn't sleep much in the days to follow. I would lay awake at night replaying the whole experience in my mind. Of course I would think of thousands of things I could have said, but didn't. Mostly I just laid there smiling so hard that my face hurt!

CCH: How was the trip to Florida?

Laura: The trip was great! Being that this commercial was a 'union shoot' I automatically became a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). As a member of SAG, I am required to fly in first class. I've flown plenty of times for both business and pleasure, but I've never flown first class so that was pretty cool! I stayed in South Beach at the "Shore Club". It is considered to be THE hotel in South Beach for 'A' list celebrities.

I was in Florida for four days. Tuesday was a travel day, Wednesday was scheduled for "wardrobe", Thursday was the actual shoot, and Friday was my travel day home.

CCH: How was your first day on set? What did you select to wear for the commercial?

Laura: When we arrived on set, we were greeted by a camera crew and interviewed by a reporter from the Today Show!

Wardrobe only took an hour or so, so I had the rest of [Wednesday] to lie on the beach! "Wardrobe" consisted of the wardrobe supervisor going through my Cardinals clothes, deciding which would work, and making sure that the items were MLB approved. They settled on jean shorts, a navy t-shirt, and my Rolen jersey. MLB had provided racks of clothes, jackets, hats, etc, but they wanted the fans to 'look' just like they would on gameday, so they wanted to stick with our own items if at all possible.

CCH: Can you describe the video production?

Laura: On Thursday, I was picked up at the hotel at 7am. We did some paperwork, ate breakfast (catered! YUM!) and then I went to makeup. It was kind of relaxing to sit in a chair and have someone else do my makeup! Once we were done the fun began! The set was plain-jane -- a white draped backdrop. I stepped on the set and took my place at the mark. We shot film for about an hour then would break. We wrapped up around 1 or 2pm, so in all we did about 5 or 6 hours of filming.

CCH: Was the commercial scripted?

Laura: Peter Gilbert [the director] went over the same questions that we went over in St. Louis. If there were certain 'lines' or 'sayings' he liked, I did them over and over until I said the same thing in a bunch of different ways.

CCH: How did you feel about your performance? Were you nervous?

Laura: I was pleased with how smoothly things went. I wasn't nervous but did feel slightly overwhelmed. Think about it -- little ol' me from the middle of nowhere now involved in a Hollywood-type production! It was magical, unbelievable, and absolutely amazing all at the same time! I was waiting for Ashton Kucher to pop out and say I had been Punk'd!

CCH: Did you meet anyone interesting on set?

Laura: I got to know most of the other fans chosen from the other cities. I briefly spoke with the ladies from Boston. When we were introduced, they wasted no time and started trash-talking the Cardinals and the recent sweep during the series. Luis, the Dodger fan, is quite the comedian -- He and I were the only solo representatives. Sean, the Yankee fan, is a 4th grade teacher for the NY public schools [and] brought two of his students with him. Wish I had him as a teacher, don't you!? The guys from Anaheim, three brothers and a dad, [had gone on] a trip of a lifetime -- All 30 stadiums in 48 days. It turns out we were at the same game together, Fathers Day 2004, when Griffey hit #500 at Busch Stadium!

CCH: Did anything else interesting happen on the set or in Miami?

Laura: My last night in Miami, a friend and I went out to dinner. A place called the Rendezvous - on Ocean Drive. After paying the gargantuan bill, we were heading back to the hotel and noticed a crowd gathering in front of a fancy building. Upon closer inspection, we realized we were walking through a scene being set up for an episode of "CSI: Miami". Too cool!

CCH: When will the commercials be released?

Laura: The commercials will begin airing March 14th. They will be shown on ESPN, FOX, TBS, and MLB.com until April 30th.

CCH: Have you seen your commercial yet?

Laura: As of this moment, I have NOT seen the final product. I am anxious to -- I hope I didn't embarrass myself and that I represented the STL fans well enough [and] made them proud!

CCH: We're sure you did an excellent job representing Cardinal nation, Laura. Congratulations, well done, and we can't wait to see your commercial!

[Oberkfell3B]

Very cool! Congrats wprsnpr99 !!!!



Off the MLB websight. you can watch the spot there!
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[MacPujols2505]

congrats i saw it today on espn
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"People call me El Hombre," Pujols said. "But only Stan is the Man."- Albert Pujols

[Roark1138]

[tavarezfan]

Congrats on being chosen for the commercial I saw it today on espn great job

[Bizzy15]

Awesome and congrats.. Saw it a few times today on ESPN!

[scottyfan]

Wow! That's so exciting! Congrats! Can't wait to see it on tv

[Cardinal70]

Great that MLB has that up so we don't have to wait around for it. Congrats! Great commercial!
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[NJCards]

Laura! Great job! Your enthusiasm really comes through in the commercial. You seem very natural, also. Very cool!
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[spydr31]

WOW

That is awesome! I can't wait to get home and watch it.
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You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970

[ElBirdo]

Big Congrats!
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[msredbird51]

wprsnpr99~ I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering why we never heard the final outcome of your audition. You were just trying to surprise all of us here at CCH weren't you?

That is sweet!! It's a great commercial! Congrats on your newfound fame!
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The more she drinks, the better you look.

[michaela]

wprsnpr, i am THRILLED to pieces for you!!! Way back when, I just had a good feeling when you said you were randomly chosen... I saw the comm. today on ESPN and wondered if by any chance it was you. REPRESENT! It gave me goosebumps and it MADE ME CRY. I swear.
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"He tried to sneak that fastball by Rolen. That's like trying to sneak the sun past the rooster."

[Roark1138]

[Beckett93]

Hot dog, we have a celebrity in our midst! I saw the commerical too and wondered if it was wprsnpr, because in the interview about going to the front of the line she said she cried at games and in the commerical there was mention of crying. This is tremendous and congratulations wprsnpr!