Maybe Landon Donovan was unavailable.

I have something of a bone to pick with the new Gilette ad campaign. I think they picked a bizarre troika of star athletes to pitch their product.

Tiger Woods, I get. The man is unquestionably the greatest golfer of his generation. Quite probably the best of all time.

Ditto Roger Federer. He is unquestionably the best tennis player of his generation. Well on his way to being called the best of all time.

Batting third, however, we have... Thierry Henry?

There is a slight problem here. The first two guys did not need any introduction. In fact, if Gilette had not bothered to put their names on the screen at all, I would not have needed any captions to identify Tiger or Federer. I think that is true for most men of my demographic (by which I mean wordy males who pay an inordinate amount of attention to sports).

The third guy not only had to be introduced, the credentials they listed read, "2003 Footballer of the Year." Seems to dim the star power put off by the other two, no?

I think that if Gillete were trying to make the point that their product is the best, and is used by the best, they should have stuck with the individual sports when selecting the third guy. Tiger, Federer, and the undisputed heavyweight champ of the world, for instance. Or Tiger, Federer, and Jeff Gordon, maybe. Even Tiger, Federer and Tony Hawk might work. His status as pro skater #1 is more or less undisputed.

But since boxing sucks, Jeff Gordon gets pelted with beer when he wins, and nobody normal cares about skateboarding, I can understand Gillete choosing to go another route. But if they were willing to turn to team sports, there would seem to be plenty of stars more prolific, more recognizable, and more recent than Henry. Peyton Manning, for one, was named the best player in his sport more recently than 2003. And you know he would have been willing to mug for the camera for a bit.

Or maybe they should have stuck with just two pitchmen. When you have two unquestioned superstars, the ad is diminished by adding someone who doesn't quite rise to that same level of badassery.

And look, I know Henry is a badass. He has to be- he is a pro soccer player and I have heard of him. But I think that Gilette made a very curious choice in going with an anonymous-in-the-states Frenchman whose most noteworthy personal achievement came almost 5 years ago, whose defining team achievement came almost 6 years ago, who plays a sport that Americans only care about every four years.

I think it is one of the worst casting decisions in a shaving ad since Edge shaving gel had David Robinson and Tim Duncan, WHO BOTH HAVE FACIAL HAIR, pitching their wares.