Metallica have joined the ranks of celebrities to film a 'This Is Sports Center' commercial for ESPN. The band's new spot will air during Monday's night's (July 14) ESPN broadcast of the All-Star Game's Home Run Derby.

The premise of the promo is that the guys in Metallica are hurting for something to do after Mariano Rivera's retirement from baseball last year. For years, Rivera used 'Enter Sandman' as his walk-in them from the bullpen, and the group played a big part in his retirement ceremony last year.

In the spot, the guys are trying to pitch their music as the theme for another popular athlete. But even though they're Metallica, they're not having much success in finding any biters on their music. Kirk Hammett gets perhaps the worst end of things, as 'Sports Center' anchor Stuart Scott uses his guitar lessons flier to wad up a piece of gum in front of him. Drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone, "That's just classic. The whole thing is really funny. Man, let's do another 20 of these. It's really fun."

Speaking more about the shoot, Ulrich explains, "Sometimes it can be quite freeing to put yourself at the mercy of others. ESPN's commercials have a tendency to be hilarious. We were like, 'That sounds like a good time.' The whole thing had an overriding impulsivity to it."

Ulrich revealed that the band shot a number of different set-ups in addition to the ones seen in the spot, so it's possible that there may be more Metallica in future ESPN spots.

In reality, Metallica have plenty on their plate as the band works through their massive riff collection to put together their long-awaited follow-up to 'Death Magnetic.'

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