The San Diego Chicken has teamed with two American sports icons in a trio of new commercials for Sony HD television.

MVP quarterback Peyton Manning and NASCAR headliner Dale Earnhardt, Junior are featured with The Chicken (played by Ted Giannoulas, as always) in a pair of light hearted spots which call attention to Sony's technological leadership in sports broadcasting.

CBS football anchor James Brown is also included in the spots that has a store customer getting HD shopping advice from the sports figures in a press conference like setting.

"Working with Peyton and Dale was as fun as it looks," said Giannoulas. "Still, it was interesting to see how much they applied of themselves with their lines--even in the stuff we improvised."

One of those spontaneous scenes ended up being used in the final cut for one of the spots. In it, the customer turns to a store clerk and mutters that he doesn't like sports. The Chicken overhears him, gets upset and in his fury, attempts to jump the conference table toward the customer, only to be restrained by Manning himself.

Manning and Earnhardt are the latest to be added to the roster of athletes The Chicken has been highlighted with in commercials. Others include Michael Jordan, Pete Sampras, Charles Barkley, and Merlin Olsen.

See the commercials by clicking on the links below: