Yoshinobu Yama-🐐-⚾️ was born on this day in 1998. “Losing Isn’t An Option!” 🥳🎉🎂

In case you already forgot who this man is and what he has accomplished in a decade of an already Hall Of Fame career, here are just some highlights (thanks, Wikipedia!):

With the Orix Buffaloes of the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball): 5x All-Star, 4x Pacific League ERA champion, 3x Pacific League strikeouts and wins champion, 3x Triple Crown, 3x Pacific League MVP, 3x Eiji Sawamura (NPB’s equivalent of Cy Young), 2 no-hitters, 1x Japan Series champion

With the Samurai Japan national team: Gold Medal and All-Olympic Team in Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Gold Medal in 2023 World Baseball Classic

With the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (MLB): 2x World Series Champion (2024, 2025), 2x All-Star (2025, 2026), 2025 World Series MVP, 2025 All-MLB First Team

🥳🎉🎂💜💛 Happy birthday to these members of the Lakers Family (year of birth; years played with Lakers organization)

Earvin “Magic” Johnson (b. 1959; 1979-1991, 1996)
Frank Brickowski (b. 1959; 1986-1987)
Fred Roberts (b. 1960; 1995-1996)
Chucky Atkins (b. 1974; 2004-2005)
Reggie Hearn (b. 1991; 2019/2020, South Bay Lakers)

The résumé on the graphic speaks for itself.

But here’s what it doesn’t tell you about one Sidney Patrick Crosby:

#️⃣8️⃣7️⃣ His jersey number — 87 — is literally his birthday: 8/7/87. Intentional or not, that’s legendary behavior.

🏒⭐️🥅 He scored the golden goal — overtime, 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Canada vs. USA. One of the most iconic moments in the history of any sport, not just hockey.

🍺🥇🗺️ He’s a Triple Gold Club member — Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold, and World Championship Gold. An elite group that very few players ever complete.

👑🐧 He’s spent his entire career with one franchise (Pittsburgh Penguins). In today’s era of player movement, that kind of loyalty has basically gone the way of the dinosaur.

🏆 He won the Calder Trophy (best rookie) in 2006. The hardware collection started immediately and never stopped.

And now… the debate nobody asked for but everybody needs to have 👀

Is Sidney Crosby the NHL GOAT?

Gretzky’s records are untouchable. We know. But Crosby’s hardware haul in the modern era — three Cups, two Olympic golds including THE golden goal, every individual trophy imaginable — has the argument closer than people want to admit.

Drop your takes below. Brian and Davy will be recording today and we’re not above stealing — er, borrowing — from the comments. 🎙️

B.A.D. Takes Only — new episodes on Apple & Spotify

Appropriately dubbed by Marv Albert as "The Greatest Team Ever Assembled," the 1992 U.S. Men's National Team steamrolled the competition, going an undefeated 8-0, and defeating opponents by an average margin of victory of 43.8 ppg. On August 8, 1992, the Dream Team defeated Croatia by a score of 117-85 to capture its first gold since the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

The 1992 squad had the distinction of being the first US Men's team to send mostly professional players, 11 NBA veterans and 1 recently-drafted NCAA phenom:

#	Name	Team
4	Christian Laettner	Duke University (drafted by Minnesota Timberwolves on June 24)
5	David Robinson	San Antonio Spurs
6	Patrick Ewing	New York Knicks
7	Larry Bird	Boston Celtics
8	Scottie Pippen	Chicago Bulls
9	Michael Jordan	Chicago Bulls
10	Clyde Drexler	Portland Trail Blazers
11	Karl Malone	Utah Jazz
12	John Stockton	Utah Jazz
13	Chris Mullin	Golden State Warriors
14	Charles Barkley	Phoenix Suns (traded from Philadelphia 76ers on June 17)
15	Earvin "Magic" Johnson	Retired (last played for Los Angeles Lakers)

Some fun facts about this historic team:

1. While Michael Jordan was regarded as the best player in the world at the time, it was Charles Barkley who would be regarded as the best performer of their dominant run, averaging 18.0 ppg on otherworldly efficiency (71.1% from the field, 87.5% on two-pointers). "The Round Mound Of Rebound" would then carry this momentum into the 1992/1993 NBA season, when he would win MVP in his first year with the Phoenix Suns, leading them all the way to the NBA Finals in June of 1993.
2. Opponents of severely undermatched nations were frequently starstruck by the NBA legends they were competing against. On one occasion, an opposing player trying to guard Magic Johnson was waving to his teammate on the bench to ensure he took a photograph of him guarding the Laker legend. Other examples included entire opposing teams requesting to take photos with and getting autographs from the Dream Team.
3. Head Coach Chuck Daly never called one single timeout during their entire run. Let that sink in!
4. 11 of the 12 were eventually inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as individual players after their respective pro careers, with Laettner being the exception. However, the entire squad was inducted as a team in 2010.
5. And who can forget (see first photo above): Michael Jordan draping the United States flag over his right shoulder to cover up the Reebok logo. He took things personally on a global stage! 🤣

Whether you witnessed this all-time great team or simply read and heard about them: Any additional thoughts or fun facts to share?

And of course we need to ask:

Was this Dream Team the greatest team in USA Men's Basketball history?

Drop your takes below, and the B.A.D. Show just might feature you on a future episode of the podcast!🎙️

B.A.D. Takes Only — new episodes on Apple & Spotify

Happy 52nd birthday, Derek Lamar Fisher, a.k.a. “D-Fish” 🥳🎉🎂

The most important cog in the machine of the Los Angeles Lakers’ five championships in the 2000s that few ever talk about, Fisher was one of the steals of the stacked 1996 NBA Draft (24th overall), after a four-year college career at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) that ended with earning Sunbelt Conference Player of the Year honors.

D-Fish would go on to have an 18-year NBA career, spending 13 with the Lakers (1996-2004, 2007-2012), 2 with the Golden State Warriors (2004-2006), 3 with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2012-2014), and part of 1 with the Dallas Mavericks (2012). He was the consummate professional, teammate, and leader; never wowing you with his stats, but convincing even the harshest critics via good old fashioned eye test with his intangibles. Every championship run features “D-Fish That Saved Los Angeles” at least once — Google him if you don’t believe me!

My personal favorite moment was when he posterized 2001 MVP Allen Iverson in Game 2 of that year’s NBA Finals — a little vengeance for AI stepping over Tyronn Lue the game prior, and even better that I had the privilege of meeting Fish at a public signing event later that summer! (Unfortunately, this predated smartphones, but I still have the autographed photo and the core memory of shaking his hand & saying thanks as the line kept moving. 🙏🏼)

And how could I forget: The 0.4-second game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 5 of the 2004 West Semis vs the San Antonio Spurs, which Shaquille O’Neal appropriately dubbed as, “One Lucky Shot Deserves Another!”

He would later be Head Coach of the New York Knicks for two seasons (2014-2016), the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA for four seasons (2019-2022), and the Crespi Carmlite High School (Encino, California) boys’ basketball team for two seasons (2023-2025).

Fisher has been a regular guest analyst on television the past decade-plus, officially joined the NBA on NBC crew starting in the 2025/2026 season, and most recently became one-half of the radio duo that is D-Fish & Decker on 97.1 The Fan LA.

Although he may never be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, I firmly believe his jersey #2 should hang in the rafters of “The House That Shaq & Kobe…and D-Fish Built” as a way to honor his vital contributions to the Lakers Family’s legacy of winning. 💜💛2️⃣

🗣️ Do you agree with Davy’s jersey retirement take? Is Derek Fisher in fact the third most important Laker in their 5 championships (2000-2002, 2009-2010)? And is he on the Mount Rushmore, or even the GOAT, of Greatest Non-AllStar Playoff Performers?

Drop your takes below, and the B.A.D. Show just might feature you on a future episode of the podcast!🎙️

B.A.D. Takes Only — new episodes on Apple & Spotify

Happy 61st birthday, David “The Admiral” Robinson: US Navy (1983-1987); National College Player Of The Year (1987); First Pick of the 1987 NBA Draft; 10x NBA All-Star; Rookie Of The Year (1990); Defensive Player Of The Year (1992); Most Valuable Player (1995); 50th & 75th Anniversary Team Member; 2x NBA Champion (1999, 2003); 3-Time U.S. Olympian with 1 Bronze (1988) & 2 Gold (1992 with Dream Team, 1996 with Dream Team III); Naismith Hall Of Fame (Class of 2009); San Antonio Spurs Legend (14 seasons, 1989-2003) 🥳🎉🎂

📸: @NBAHistory on X/Twitter

Belated Happy Heavenly Birthday to Roman Ildonzo Gabriel Jr.! (August 5, 1940 - April 20, 2024)

The towering Wilmington, North Carolina, native played for New Hanover High School before starring as QB for the North Carolina State University Wolfpack (Raleigh, NC). At NC State, he first team All-American, first-team ACC, and ACC Player of the Year in back to back years for all three honors (1960, 1961), which earned him a well-deserved spot in the College Football Hall of Fame.

He went on to be drafted in 1962: first overall in the AFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders AND second overall in the NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams for whom he would play 11 seasons (1962-1972) and end his illustrious professional career with the Philadelphia Eagles for five seasons (1973-1977).

He was 1969 NFL MVP and First Team All-Pro with the Rams, 1973 Comeback Player of the Year with the Eagles, twice led the NFL in passing touchdowns (in the aforementioned 1969 and 1973 seasons), led the NFL in passing yards (1973), and was a four-time Pro Bowler in his 16 year NFL career.

On a personal notable note: He was the first Filipino-American QB and first-and-only (as of the writing of this tribute) Asian-American MVP in NFL history.

Despite all these all-time great accolades, the name Roman Gabriel is still nowhere to be found in Canton, Ohio’s Pro Football Hall Of Fame…😢

Still, as a fellow Filipino-American and Los Angeles Rams fan, I remember his life and legacy very fondly. Love to all his family, friends, and fans 🕊️🐏🏈