— Las Vegas hotels:
MGM, Vdara, Westgate, SouthPoint
— TV shows:
Law & Order
Magnum PI
CSI
Odd Couple
— Sports movies:
American Underdog
Moneyball
Blue Chips
Any Given Sunday
— Non-sports movies:
Rounders
A Star is Born
Leap of Faith
Begin Again
— Food:
Pizza, spaghetti/meatballs, scrambled eggs/sausage, chicken parm
— Current college basketball coaches:
John Calipari
Mark Few
Danny Hurley
Tom Izzo
— All-time college basketball coaches:
John Wooden
Dean Smith
Mike Krzyzewski
Jerry Tarkanian
— Actresses:
Gina Gershon, Diane Lane, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sela Ward
— Musicians:
Bob Seger, Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Van Morrison
— best NFL coaches:
Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Tom Landry
— In-person events:
2000 NFC title game: Rams 11, Buccaneers 6
2008 World Series game: Rays @ Phillies
Frank Sinatra concert in Albany, 1990
2008 Tennessee @ South Carolina football game
—Bucket List:
Spring training game, preferably in Arizona
LSU home football game, on a Saturday night
A’s home game in Oakland Coliseum
Rams’ home game in SoFi Stadium
— best quarterbacks, in Super Bowl era:
John Elway, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Patrick Mahomes
— best MLB starting pitchers (since 1960):
Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux
— Best-ever NBA players:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Lebron James
— favorite television characters:
Oscar Madison, Odd Couple
Jonathan Higgins, Magnum PI
Ray Donovan
Henry Blake, M*A*S*H
— Major league managers:
Bruce Bochy, Dick Williams, Sparky Anderson, Terry Francona
— My favorite sodas:
Dr Brown’s cream soda
Cherry Coke
Orange Crush
Dr Pepper
— Batman villains:
Riddler, Joker, Catwoman (Julie Newmar), Penguin
— Famous birthdays, June 24th:
Michele Lee, 82Joe Penny, 68
Chris Barnes, 59 (Tanner in Bad News Bears)
Alaa Abdelnaby, 56
JJ Redick, 40
Taj Gibson, 39
Tremayne Anchrum, 26
Wilyer Abreu, 25
Christopher Morel, 25
— Al Pacino movies:
Any Given Sunday
Heat
Danny Collins
Sea of Love
— Baseball movies:
Moneyball
For Love of the Game
Bull Durham
Major League
— Denzel Washington movies:
He Got Game
Pelican Brief
Remember the Titans
Out of Time
— Gene Hackman movies:
Hoosiers
Runaway Jury
The Replacements
Class Action
— Basketball movies:
Blue Chips
One on One
Fast Break
The Way Back
(He Got Game gets an honorable mention here)
— Steve Martin movies:
Leap of Faith
Shopgirl
Roxanne
Grand Canyon
— Gambling-related movies:
Rounders
Let It Ride
The Gambler (Mark Wahlberg version)
Lucky You
— Gina Gershon movies:
Bound
PS I Love You
Showgirls
Pretty In Pink
— Bill Murray movies:
Lost In Translation
Caddyshack
Meatballs
St Vincent
— Marisa Tomei movies:
My Cousin Vinny
The Rewrite
The Big Short
Lincoln Lawyer
— Robert DeNiro movies:
Last Vegas
Heat
Jackie Brown
Midnight Run
— Kevin Costner movies:
For Love of the Game
The Bodyguard
Bull Durham
Draft Day