¡VIVA RIVAS!

Welcome, my Jemelos de Minnesota amigos (MN Twins friends). First, undying thanks and admiration to bat-girl.com, which uncovered a couple of Johan Santana YouTube video gems. Reading through the comments, I noticed a few people requesting English translations.

You're in luck! I present to you a translation of both videos plus a press release on Minnesota's newest favorite drink, Malta Regional:

MALTA REGIONAL

(CUE AWESOMELY CAMPY SINGER)
Malta Regional….with Johan Santana, the pride of Venezuela!

(song begins)
Johan Santana returns to Tovar and he reacquaints himself with his homeland and the flavor --- OF MALTA REGIONAL!

(speaking)
This was his first coach! (show two guys in baseball uniforms, one sitting on a scooter)

Double Cy Young! He’s the best pitcher of the highest quality!

(This part is a little trickier…it uses some colloquialisms I’m not familiar with. But with context clues, this is what I came up with)

He’s a simple man, Johan….something about him being humble.
He’s the symbol of Venezuela, he’s the face of the country. Santana. MALTA REGIONAL!…is always with him, and in the streets of his town Johan returns home!

(Johan supposedly talking, but it’s really the singer dubbed over a picture of Johan talking to his "first" coaches):
If you believe in something and you give it your all, you can do it!

(Old-sounding lady with the crazy clown hair): No wonder he has such a strong arm!

MALTA REGIONAL – Vida y mas na’, vida y mas na’!

"THE SPEECH"

(text)
Johan spoke on Jan. 16, 2007 at a Venezuelan congressional ceremony honoring him for his 2nd Cy Young. This is an English translation of what he said.

(Johan speaks)
Of all my experiences, the best thing I’ve had happen to me professionally was winning two Cy Youngs; to give joy to the entire country, and fill people with pride. I think…(applause)…I think, if not one of the best, it’s the best experience I’ve had as a professional baseball player.

I don’t want that to stop – I want it to continue to grow. I want you to continue supporting it. I want you to find a way to support all of sports, in general, because just as you support and celebrate what I do and what my teammates and colleagues do in the Major Leagues, imagine if you had the chance to enjoy not just baseball, but sports in general. Because sports for me is a universal language. Sports crosses frontiers. Sports is bigger than anything going on this country…I think it represents us all.

It also gives me pride to be a role model for some, if not all, of our youth. It’s fulfilling and gives me motivation to keep working hard. Being a role model is something that fulfills me as a Venezuelan, as a person, and a human being.

MALTA REGIONAL PRESS RELEASE

My translation of a Malta Regional press release. It’s a little tough to translate because of a lack of punctuation, but here’s what I came up with:

With Johan Santana’s participation, Malta Regional debuts its advertising campaign of flavor and live. The publicity effort is part of a January 2007 launch strategy for the new product, and is designed to reach out to established consumer loyalty.

The regional advertising spots hope to align the brand with Venezuelan family values through a unique style, which seeks to reflect the Venezuelan lifestyle. With the slogan “vida y mas na,” the commercials recreate moments associated with the consumption of the malt beverage, accompanied by a contagious and urban hip-hop-style rhythm.
The advertising campaign of Malta Regional will continue through all of 2007, through radio, movie, television and print mediums. The advertisements develop situations where the Venezuelan consumer enjoys the taste of a malt beverage. The strategy will also include Johan Santana as spokesman for the brand.
“We have designed a package of realistic and simple ad spots that demonstrate the lifestyle of the Venezuelan, who always has time to spend time and have fun with his friends,” said Roger Contreras, V.P. of image and corporate relations of regional brewery.