• by Douglas Quenqua , June 23, 2008

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the NBA must be feeling pretty good these days. Not since Las Vegas assured us "What Happens Here, Stays Here" has an ad been so satirized as Goodby, Silverstein's campaign for the NBA's "There Can Only Be One" campaign. The TV spots, which use a split screen to combine the faces of two NBA players simultaneously reciting a monologue about competition, have inspired parodies ranging from the low - adult-themed YouTube rip-offs - to the prestigious - the cover of Time's May 4 issue, which fused Barack Obama's face with Hillary Clinton's under the headline, "There Can Only Be One."

But the ultimate sign of cultural penetration? Even the parodies are now being parodied. On May 17, Saturday Night Live turned the Time cover into a mock political ad, thereby completing the circle of satire from TV to print to back again.