[SoCal Pubbie]

My wife’s late grandmother used to refer to Kobe and Shaquille as Toby and Chenille.

[DoodleBob]

Joey: Wait a minute. I know you. You're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You play basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Roger Murdock: I'm sorry, son, but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Roger Murdock. I'm the co-pilot.

Joey: You are Kareem! I've seen you play. My dad's got season tickets.

Roger Murdock: I think you should go back to your seat now, Joey. Right, Clarence?

Captain Oveur: Nahhhhhh, he's not bothering anyone. Let him stay here.

Roger Murdock: But just remember, my name is... [showing his nametag]

Roger Murdock: ROGER MURDOCK. I'm an airline pilot.

Joey: I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense.

[Kareem gets angry]

Joey: And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs.

Roger Murdock: [breaking character] The hell I don't! LISTEN, KID! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!

[rlmorel]

Heh, after listening to accounts of former NBA players, the only ones who tried to trash talk Larry Bird were rookies who didn’t know any better and were full of piss and vinegar! Calling him “Larry Nerd” would have been a mistake.

One of my favorite stories: During a game in the late 1980s, Seattle Supersonics forward Xavier McDaniel tried to get in Bird’s head. After the Celtics called a timeout, Bird told McDaniel exactly where he was going to receive the ball and said he was going to shoot it right in his face. Bird returned to the floor, executed the exact step-back jumper he described at the buzzer, and then told McDaniel: “Damn, I didn’t mean to leave nothing on the clock.

[dfwgator]

Andre “Bad Moon” Rison.

[Dr. Sivana]

There’s “Wilt the Stilt” Chamberlain and
“Mountain Man” Bill Walton.

Julius “Dr. J” Erving.
Moses “The Mailman” Malone (for his dunking)

My favorite, though, was “Pistol Pete” Maravich.