From Bo C
I had been meaning to ask you about something but forgot until today.
You wrote that the Ball brothers could be the best basketball brothers ever but I did not see if you listed the best basketball brothers.
Who is the best hoops bros. and who are the best brothers among the major sports?
Thanks Jay.
Bo -
We kicked around some of the best basketball brothers. I think the Wilkins may be 1, ahead of the Gasols and Albert and Bernard King. Side note: Few athletes immediately come to mind when I think of what injuries took from them the way Bernard King does. Sure, Dwight Gooden got derailed, but that was with the Booger Sugar. Bernard King's array of post moves were poetic. If not for his multitude of knee and leg ailments, he would have been a top-10 all-time offensive player. This is a hill I am prepared to fight to the death on too.
I think the Curry brothers could pass the Wilkins, because Steph is a multi-time MVP and champ, which gives him the edge over Dominique, even if Gerald Wilkins > Seth Curry.
In fact, if the Currys got there, it would be akin to my favorite brothers-in-sports trivia question. Know which brother-combo has the most MLB home runs? Yep, the Aarons with 768 - Tommie's 13 and Hank's 755.
In truth, I'd likely give the baseball nod to the Alomars, Sandy and Roberto. Especially if there's a spitting competition.
Which leads us to another point. If I had the Currys and the Alomars - and football's greatest brother combo is simple, right Peyton and Eli? - and then we add in the Mannings, do you notice a trend?
Each set of those combinations, among the best brothers ever in their respective sports, their dad was also a notable professional player. Coincidence? Not hardly.
As for hockey, well, this was thanks to Google, and I would defer to a puck-head like Spy, but that one may be the toughest of them all. The Richards. The Suters. The Hulls. The Howes. The Lemieuxs.
From Ron
Jay,
I wonder what you thought about Shaq the Wrestler? From the clips I saw, I thought it looked like a pretty entertaining show. This got me to reminiscing about Shaq and Charles Barkley, two of the greatest big men in the history of SEC basketball. Moreover, their approach to life seems to come from a positive perspective as contrasted with Lebron and Kaepernick who seem to a approach life from a negative perspective.
Thoughts?
Ron -
So, I went back and looked at the video, and considering his age and his size, Shaq was very impressive in his wrestling debut. (I did not get all the table stuff. And wholly buckets, a Tully Blanchard sighting. Was that Arn Anderson? Sweet buckets of nostalgia and nastiness. Yes please.) Man, I used to love wrestling.
Side question: Who was your favorite wrestler growing up? Tommy Rich was there. So was Dusty Rhodes. And Tony Atlas. Yes, the Flair and the Horsemen and those dudes became all-timers, but those cats in the 1970s when I was full-blown into it were amazing.
Of course Shaq's always been entertaining as any pro athlete. Heck, he may have been the only redeeming part of Blue Chips. (Him or Al Bundy as the sports writer.)
And who doesn't love some of Shaq's commercials, be it for Gold Bond powder when does the shimmy or The General insurance. (Side note: The General sure feels like the auto insurance version of pay-day lending, don't you think?)
And his chemistry with Chuck - the good and the occasional hostile - is a huge part of what makes TNT's Inside the NBA the best studio show in sports. Period. There is not a close second.
In fact, if the wrestling association has a brain, the next time Shaq is involved - and again, his turn vs. Cody Rhodes was fun in the clip above - they need to find a way to include Chuck. Have Shaq corned by Rhodes and a couple of other dudes, then here comes Chuck as reinforcements. Wrestling is at its best when it remembers it's fun because it's campy.
And in a lot of ways that's Chuck's ultimate charm. He realizes that his is a blessed life. His jokes are meant with the most honest of intentions and pure beginnings, and he gets a lot of freedom because he's comfortable laughing at himself too.
Side note: Did you see what Chuck said last week, as his daughter was getting married to a Jewish man? Because of the hora - the tradition that the father of the bride is lifted up and passed around the room - Chuck admitted to losing as much weight as he could. He still knew it was not enough, so he told Jimmy Kimmel: "Listen, I need all Jewish people on deck, brother," Barkley said. "Because I can only get so skinny by Saturday, man. It's like I'm a soldier, all hands on deck."
From a lot of folks that could teeter into the danger zone. For Barkley, it's another knee slapper.
But to compare Chuck and Shaq these days with LeBron during his career is not really fair to King James.
First, while Shaq has always been somewhat playful, he and Kobe went at it like cats and dogs and did it in a very public way. And Chuck, well, young Chuck was a fightin', cussin', hard-chargin' dude who was completely comfortable telling you plainly he was not a role model.
Plus, the demands of this day and age is way more stressful than when Chuck and Shaq became one-name superstars. Not sure if that's from a negative perspective from the athlete or the division and angst of times.
From Scott
You didn't have much to say about Meyers Leonard? I thought for sure a Trump-loving bigot like you would be all over how he got got as you say. Your a joke!
Scott -
Thanks for reading my man.
I mentioned Meyers Leonard, and I don't think he got cancelled. If you are a public figure, especially in an entertainment industry in which folks spend their hard-earned money on teams, artists, actors, songs, players, you name it, that they like, if you hurt the appeal of that product you are going to run the risk of getting got, as I say.
Ask Kaepernick, because for all the hubbub about whether it was right or not and what the protest was aimed for and how people took it, those are all semantics to the guys who own the teams. Kaep's was a move at that time that hurt the popularity of the product.
So yeah, the cancel/consequence can come calling whether it's warranted or not.
Roseanne's hatred was exposed. There are too many to count, really. (Side question: The hubbub about a banjo player in Mumford and Sons seems surreal. Here's more on that.)
But, Scott, and it's clear your view of me my man, I'll ask this.
Was Leonard's punishment - a week suspension and a $50,000 fine - for using a hateful word for Jewish people enough? What if he dropped the N-bomb in a league filled with Black players?
And for all the 'Equality' and inclusion ornaments the NBA is tossing on uniforms and painting on courts, did anyone have NASCAR being less tolerant of hate speech than the NBA? Because Kyle Larson's blowback was way, Way, WAY worse than Meyers Leonard's.
From LunchBunch
Jay, it's been a minute since we had a question for you, but then again, our lunch-time conversations about your work have been on hold for the better part of a year, too.
Most of the communication we have now is through social media, but we still read and discuss the 5-at-10. You're on a roll. (And we all miss you on the radio,)
You got us really talking about a topic you had recently - movie characters you'd most like to punch in the face. And there really are too many to even name because while your list was great, it still left off Warden Norton, Worm from Rounders, Longshanks, Richard Vernon and the entire collection of Omegas from Animal House.
We now have done about every category and wanted your thoughts on sports stars you'd most like to punch, TV characters and famous people in general?
Thanks and keep up the great work - it means a lot more than you know to a lot of us.
LunchBunch -
Such a great question, and thanks for the kind words. As for the broadcast part, well, we'll see what's on the horizon, and when I get a plan, you guys and gals will be the first to know.
Wow, you have some great ones. And special career achievement awards for William Zabka and Paul Gleason (who played Richard Vernon in Breakfast Club as well as Mr. Beeks in Trading Places) for being forever punchable.
In truth, acting in some ways mirrors being an NBA player. Sure, there are the Hanks and the LeBron's, the Kawhis and the Clooneys, who have the looks, the cool, the humor or the size, the speed, the shooting and the defense to be all-around superstars.
But the rest of the league and the screen actors guild is filled with role players who can do one thing at an elite level. Be it shoot or rebound or play defense, if you are elite you can make a great living in the NBA. In Hollywood, if you are funny or charming or beautiful or even punchable, you can do the same.
Where were we. Punchable real people is a dangerous scenario because we don't really know them all that well. Now there have been times when some very big-name folks were very big-time bleepholes. Looking at you Freddy Couples.
But in the big-picture place of punchable faces, well, we're here on Fridays for you guys and gals. And if that's the question, then I must find some answers.
Sports - Coach K and Jimmy Boeheim, Nantz has a punchable face and isn't Christian Laettner the Jordan of this conversation. (Side note: The 'I hate Christian Laettner' 30-for-30 was excellent. I always appreciated Laettner to be honest, and can make a hard argument he's the best college basketball player of my lifetime if not all time.)
TV characters - Steve Urkel, Joffrey Baratheon, Major Frank Burns, and of course Ross Geller. (And that's leaving off some really good ones, like Scrappy Doo, Dawson from Dawson's Creek, Screech, Tony's sister in the Sopranos and the entire cast of Grey's Anatomy.)
Great question.
Speaking of that, let's drop some Rushmores.
Rushmore of basketball movies: Hoosiers, Teen Wolf, Hoop Dreams (if you have not seen it, use up the last bits of social distancing to see it - well worth the lengthy time investment) and White Men Can't Jump. (And while we are here, there are way, Way, WAY too many basketball movies that are complete trash. Juwana Mann? Eddie? Celtic Pride? Egad. Now those are some folks who should have shut up and not dribbled.)
Rushmore of 'phone' and be creative: ET Phone home, iPhone, the infamous red phone in Reagan's office, 'Phone a friend' from Who Wants to be a Millionaire. (And that's with all apologies to the 1980s classic, "Mr. Telephone Man" from New Edition ask well as the 1980s classic Mr. Microphone. "Hey good looking, we'll be back to pick you up later.)
Rushmore of 'dolls' and be creative: Uh, Doll-y Parton is far left, Guys and Dolls, The Dollhouse in Ft. Lauderdale, Chucky.
Rushmore of actors forever linked to commercials: Side note: This one got a little off the rails for some of you, and I could have done a better job with clarity. Someone like Lily from AT&T and Flo from Progressive are clear choices because that's the only thing we recognize them. The Allstate guys have been in a variety of things. Also, someone like Joe DiMaggio was Mr. Coffee, but he was far more known for his other career than pitching coffee makers. Side note on the side note: I know we have discussed it before, but man, the insurance folks across the industry, have some top-flight marketing departments, no? So, let's go Lily and Flo as clear choices. I'm going with the 'Time to make the donuts' guy and Mr. Whipple from back in the day. (Ask your parent, 'Dro.)
From Ernie
Jay,
Had Miles been 18-3 at KU, would he have been summarily dismissed?
Ernie -
What a tremendous question, and it's impossible to know the answer for sure because no one is ever going to go 18-3 coaching Kansas football.
But I think we all know the answer in hearts, and it is absolutely Kansas explores every angle and fights all the way to the FBI to try to keep anyone gifted enough to go 18-3 with that trash football program. Heck, if they could find someone to go 18-30, he'd get an extension.
But 18-3? As bad as the allegations against Les Miles appear to be during his time at LSU, they are not worse than what Art Briles orchestrated at Baylor University, and there are a lot of Baylor folks who want to find ways to bring Briles back.
Yes the allegations against Miles are very serious, but we only know the surface-layer sins of Urban Meyer, and every program in the country save five or six, would fire their coach right now to have Urban run their football program.
Why? Because he wins big. He wins 18-3-level big.
Now ask yourself this: If Nick Saban shot a man in cold blood in downtown Birmingham, I'd bet there would be at least a dozen Harvey Updike-Level crazy Alabama fans willing to take the rap for him.
Have a great weekend friends.
Jay Greeson