My Brain and "All The Smoke"

As a kid, playing and watching sports was my favorite thing to do. Even to this day, I am still a HUGE sports fan, especially Memphis basketball. Growing up in Memphis, basketball and BBQ formed the backbone of our city. Memphians take pride in having the best BBQ and one of the best basketball programs in the country. Penny Hardaway is a former Memphis tiger and NBA basketball player. He is a role model, mentor and leader to many young basketball players around the country and to the citizens of Memphis. He is currently the head coach of the University of Memphis Men’s Basketball team. After signing the number 1 recruiting class in the county, he did an interview stating he wanted “all the smoke”. This phrase stuck with him and the program as they began to compete in the 2019-2020 season. Corky's BBQ is one of the most famous BBQ restaurants in the city. They created a Penny Hardaway BBQ sauce and named it “all the smoke”. When I first saw this commercial, I saw Penny and was instantly excited and happy. My temporal lobe allowed me to recognize his face and dopamine and serotonin were released which allowed me to feel excited and happy. Seeing a commercial about basketball also brings back memories of attending games when I was a kid and stopping to eat BBQ on the way to the game. My long-term memory of attending Memphis basketball games is stored in the hippocampus which is located in the temporal lobe. I also always associate the smell of BBQ to basketball and Memphis. The olfactory nerve is responsible for the sense of smell. The olfactory bulb that is connected to the amygdala and hippocampus relates smell to memories.

Since this was only on sale for a short period, I could not find the actual commercial. Here is a link to a youtube video of them filming for the commercial and a picture of the product. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JvpBBHhjTw