15 Super Famous Actors Who You May Not Have Known Played Football

Written by Ashley Burns / 11.15.12

On Tuesday night, UPROXX’s beloved clown prince and star of Community, Joel McHale, stopped by Conan to discuss how NBC might eventually air the final season of Community, as well as his brief and underwhelming stint on Sons of Anarchy. And I’m so relieved right now, because that opening sentence has so many of my favorite things that I never get to talk about here because Maske, Kurp and Danger get to have all the fun over at Warming Glow.

Of course, plenty of other sites picked up on McHale’s always-charming interview and one little nugget of information seemed to have caught a lot of bloggers and interwebbers by surprise – McHale played tight end for the Washington Huskies and even has a ring from U-Dub’s 1992 Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. And when I read all of the surprised, “Why I never!” reactions, I was like, “Hey, I knew that.”

I only knew it, though, because I remembered reading something on ESPN.com recently that I actually enjoyed. Back in August, ESPN’s Charles Curtis kicked off the series “How Good Was He?” which was a phenomenal idea that seemed to have died several weeks later with “How Good was 2 Chainz at Basketball?”, but I hope there will be more. In fact, let’s consider this short feature a little kick in the pants for ESPN’s Playbook to get back to these enjoyable interviews.

It turns out that a lot of famous actors actually have roots in football, and I’m not just talking about crossover legends like Alex Karras and Bubba Smith (rest their souls) or humiliating one-and-done guys like Howie Long and Brian Bosworth. You may read this and say, “Eh, nothing new” but several of these famous actors who used to play football actually surprised me.

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Diamondbacks Fan Catches Foul Ball, Maintains Pizza Integrity

Written by Brandon Stroud / 04.18.12

He asked Domino’s if he could keep the ball, but they said “no”. The best part is either the terrified lady to his left who can’t enjoy what’s happened even after it’s done, or the slow reveal of the guy behind him with his fingers in his ears. (via Yardbarker)

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Links

diamondbacks-foulThe Internet Vs. Hologram Tupac: The 20 Best Images, Photoshops, And GIFs Thus Far |UPROXX|

In Photos: The 2012 New York International Auto Show |Smoking Section|

Celebrating the Best New TV Character of the Season with Schmidt’s 25 Douchiest GIFs |Warming Glow|

Favorite Twitter Account Of The Day: Baseball’s Best Fans |With Leather|

Our 30 Favorite Cosplay Photos From PAX East 2012 |Gamma Squad|

Shia Labeouf’s comic book might be better than Michael Madsen’s poetry |Film Drunk|

The ‘Girls’ Internet Backlash Has Officially Started |UPROXX|

Meme Watch: Lawyer Dog Will Help You Navigate This Dog Eat Dog World |UPROXX|

Ri-Ri Goes Topless For Facebook Friends |Smoking Section|

Your Mid-Week Guide To DVD And Streaming: Tom Cruise Climbs Michael Fassbender’s Amazing Bulk |Film Drunk|

Holy Crap, Rick Ankiel |With Leather|

Four Comics Miniseries You Should Be Reading Right Now |Gamma Squad|

Which of These Six Shows Would You Most Want to See on AMC? |Warming Glow|

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ROFLMNBAO: Starbury’s Still Got It!

Written by Ashley Burns / 04.04.12

With a 1.5 game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks for the 8th playoff spot in the East, it seems like the New York Knicks are in good position to at least make the playoffs. They’re still sitting at .500 (27-27) as they have been for most of the season, and even the energy of a new coach and system isn’t helping them get over the hump and back into serious contention, despite some analysts who have the Knicks pegged as a title contender hiding in the best spot possible. Because any team, regardless of talent level, really wants to play the No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.

But over in China, an old Knick is proving that he had some gas left in the tank to get himself a championship. Stephon Marbury and the Beijing Ducks – mmmmmmmm, Beijing duck – are the new Chinese Basketball Association champions, after Starbury scored 41 points in Game 5 to oust the defending champions, Guangdong Hongyuan. Marbury also scored 52 points in Game 2 and 53 points in Game 3, so if you were wondering how the New York sports media would pass the time with Jeremy Lin out for the season… stop.

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ROFLMNBAO: Heading Down The Home Stretch!

Written by Ashley Burns / 03.28.12

As we head into the 4th quarter of the NBA season, the Chicago Bulls are the first and only team to have clinched a playoff spot so far, which wouldn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, except that Derrick Rose has missed 17 games this season. Meanwhile, the Miami Heat have entered that “we know we can kill anyone but we’re saving it for the playoffs” phase of their season, which doesn’t mean much, because they’ll still finish in the No. 2 spot – if they don’t gain ground and upend the Bulls, that is – because the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers most likely aren’t going to catch them.

In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder showed they’re ready to start the playoffs now, with a 103-87 thrashing of the Heat on Sunday. San Antonio, though, has flown under the radar while becoming the second best team in the conference, and those cranky, grizzled veterans are probably the biggest threat to the Thunder’s Finals run. Well, except maybe the Lakers or the Mavericks. Or anyone.

This season has been strange.

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ROFLMNBAO: The Best Of This Week’s NBA In Pictures

Written by Ashley Burns / 01.04.12

There have been very few surprises in the NBA through the first 7 games of the season. The Los Angeles Lakers struggled out of the gates but have turned it around, the Dallas Mavericks made some roster changes and their chemistry is hurting because of it, the Oklahoma City Thunder are dominant but need to solve the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook thing, and the Miami Heat are already in postseason form. With the exception of the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks struggling early, it’s mostly business as usual.

So instead of boring everyone with make believe insight and analysis as teams are still finding their feet after a 6-month vacation, I thought we’d dip into the game photo well to have some more fun with our new weekly ROFLMNBAO feature. Especially since the above image of Alex Rodriguez at yesterday’s Lakers game has given me such joy today.

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Al Bundy: Shoe Salesman, Jiu-Jitsu Master

Written by Brandon Stroud / 06.16.11

Ed O'Neill Jiu-Jitsu

Why is it, that if a man kills another man in battle it’s called heroic; yet if he kills a man in the heat of passion, it’s called murder?

“Modern Family” star Ed O’Neill would be able to answer that question. According to Black Belt magazine, O’Neill, most famous for scoring four touchdowns in a single high school football game, is also (apparently) a 15-year Gracie veteran with a black belt in jiu-jitsu. It’s sort of like finding out Alf could kill you with a palm strike. O’Neill got hooked on jiu-jitsu after visit the Rorion Gracie’s gym in Torrance, California, and failing the “robber test”. The test: a robber breaks into your home and pins you down. You’ve got to find a way to get up off the ground. Can you do it?

Taking the bait, he asked Gracie how he’d managed to maintain complete control (while on top of O’Neil). Once the principle was explained the simplicity of the art floored O’Neil. He set up an appointment to begin training and has been rolling ever since.

This is in direct contract to Ashton Kutcher, who recently put up pictures of himself wearing a borrowed black belt during a trip to Rio de Janeiro. The shorter version of the story: Ashton Kutcher is going to get murdered by a home invader, and Al Bundy is going to kick that guy’s ass. Let’s rock.

To celebrate the spread of this celebrity fun fact, here’s a montage of Al beating the crap out of people.

[h/t to Cagewriter by way of Fightlinker]
(man, my site needs a tougher name)

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