Let’s handle our business.
Rushmore of all-time sports greats’ best moments in comedy movies — This one was tougher than I expected, and we had to factor in the greatness of the athlete as much as the greatness of the scene, which eliminates Xavier McDaniel in “Singles.” Kareem in “Airplane!,” Favre in “There’s Something About Mary,” Mike Tyson in “The Hangover” and Marino in “Ace Ventura.” This one was really tough.
Rushmore of Tommy, and only Tommy — “Tommy Boy,” Tommy Lee Jones, “Tommy” by The Who and Tommy John (player and procedure).
Rushmore of fast-food burgers — Wendy’s, Hardee’s, Sonic and Culver’s
Rushmore of “Rose” in sports — Rose Bowl, Tyler Rose (Earl Campbell’s nickname), Run for the Roses, and Crash’s pitch-perfect lesson to Nuke in the locker room, “The rose goes in the front, big guy.”
Rules, friends. Here’s Paschall with some UT football goodness on a crew of LBs looking forward to 2026.
Also of note, man, everyone even tangentially involved in the Dianna Russini photo thingy is losing jobs.
Let’s get to a quick bag.
From Chris
Jay, been a long time. Hope you are good.
I read your column almost every day still.
I know you are not as big into the NBA as you used to be.
But I have a question for you.
Is this it for LeBron?
Thanks and hope you and the Greesons are doing good.
Chris
Great to hear from you, my man. We are better than we deserve, and I share those sentiments to you and yours.
No, I’m not following every bounce of the Association, especially compared to past days.
But your question is assuredly an interesting storyline.
Is this LeBron’s swan song? It’s a question worth discussing.
He’s 41 and still playing at a fringe All-NBA level.
He’s averaging 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. He shot better than 51% from the field and played more than 33 minutes per game.
Again, he’s 41, friends.
If this is it, I would greatly respect the decision to skip the farewell tour, although LeBron has earned one as much as anyone since Kareem. MJ included.
Part of me hopes that at the end of whichever series the Lakers get bounced, LeBron hangs them up and says thanks and walks into the sunset.
Will that happen? No possible way. But I do think that would be pretty awesome.
The NBA superstar with more pre-career fanfare than anyone since Kareem (again) leaving with a casual and abrupt mic drop would be cool.
From Michael P
Jay, I heard you are a fan of the draft.
Can I be the first or at least the next to ask why?
Michael
Great question, and in truth my draft affection — I love the draft, you know this — started with the NBA draft.
I loved basketball growing up even more than football, and the connection between college hoops and the NBA made the NBA draft must-see for me.
The connection turned serious in the 1984 draft with Bowie over Jordan and amazingly the comedy of John Stockton being picked in round one.
We thought Stockton’s highlights were hilarious. At that time, the Gonzaga clips looked like meh-church league basketball, and we knew Stockton was going to be a massive bust.
Yeah, nailed that one, huh?
As for the decades-long affinity for the draft, the merger between college and pro is a big part of it to this day. And since my love for football has passed hoops — and the foreign and prep influences in the NBA draft, too — the NFL draft has become king.
The draft is such a ballet-like blend between hope and chance and shrewdness and value and unknown that it’s always intriguing to me.
From Mark
Who wasted more money, the tennis fan who spent $357K on Boris Becker’s 1989 U.S. Open trophy or the golf fan that spent more than $54K on two youth golf trophies won by an adolescent Tiger Woods in the mid-1980s?
Both Becker and Woods set fire to their sports at early ages and had issues with the law, etc. Becker has not cleared those hurdles quite as easily as Tiger.
Boris Becker’s net worth is estimated to be very low, with various sources citing between $100,000 and $1 million as of 2025-2026.
As of April 2026, Tiger Woods’ net worth is estimated to be approximately $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion.
Mark
Great point. And, man, the skyrocketing marketplace for sports memorabilia is staggering to me.
But I can at least see spending big money for a major championship trophy.
If you have the means, that could be a dazzling talking point.
Having Tiger’s 12-year-old trophy from the Signal Mountain Invitational (or whatever it was) is nuts to me.
Great comment.
From Spy
First, I think Maddux would dominate because he could paint corners like Salvador Dali. He made guys hit his pitches, not theirs. Gwynn would be an afterthought. Nobody cares about .350 hitters anymore.
How soon do Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers split up after they start arguing over who makes more money in their domicile? You know they’re a couple, right?
Spy
As for Greg Maddux in today’s game, how much fun would it be to watch Maddux go like 103-for-104 on ABS appeals, you know?
As for the dating dynamic of the Dallas duo, well, I was unaware of it until this week.
Wow. That’s a whole different level of conversation.
And one that the Dallas media folks are trying to kibosh at every turn.
Here’s a clip of Azzi Fudd (no relation to Elmer, I am told) being asked about it and the Dallas PR flaks stepping in.
Man, grab your popcorn for this one.
Have a great weekend, everyone.