I got to thinking about this while reading Gil Brandt's interesting piece on whether some NFL team should take a chance at turning Usain Bolt into a wide receiver.
If you were to do a look-a-like of Bolt and another NFL player, whom would it be?
The Packers general manager who might forever be known as the man who traded Brett Favre and a member of "Talking Heads" fame.
Thanks to loyal blog reader and noted look-a-likes aficianado "jujubee" for this one. My sense is that "jujubee" about spit out her coffee when she spotted this one. Not sure Mr. Thompson would be as enthusiastic, but I'm sure he'd play along.
Memo to Staple: No, I do not have any "Talking Heads" songs on my iPod.
You probably have to be as old as Best to appreciate this one, but it's the Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and the star of the 70's sitcom "Good Times."
Many thanks to jeffp for uncovering this gem as part of a link he sent us called sportscracklepop.com
Thanks to Andrew for suggesting this one in response to the Favre-Beckham attempt in a previous post. It's the Phillies outfielder (who used to play for the Brewers). Andrew tells us Jenkins has often been mistaken for Favre and has occasionally scored some free beers as a result.
This is scary good, Andrew. Well done.
I admit I may be stretching things here (I'm sure jeffp will let me know if that is indeed the case). And maybe it's the crew cuts and scruffy beards. But they pass the litmus test of look-a-likes: Many times when I look at Favre, especially in person, he looks like the great soccer player.
The Giants' championship quarterback, and the Olympic champion swimmer display their respective spoils of victory.
(jeffp, you have to admit this one works.)
The Yankees' backup catcher and the CBS announcer.
Even JeffP has to admit this one is in play.
Happy Birthday, America.
The Mets' interim manager and the award-winning actor (one of What About Bob's personal faves.)
The Dolphins' cornerback, who is now the subject of a legal investigation, and the former Giants' cornerback Collins.
The Neil Best story goes like this: When he was on the Giants' beat, he was talking to Allen one day about then Giants receiver Tim Carter. At one point in the conversation, Best said of Carter: "He has nice abs." There was some context to the quote, but let's just put it this way: Best quickly discovered this is not something you say in an NFL locker room.
Watching Langer in the Senior PGA Championship today, it was stunning how much he looked like Bayless, he of ESPN First Take fame.
Langer was one of the world's great golfers during his prime, and Bayless remains the most passionate sports aficianado I've ever met. His intensity and knowledge are unmatched, and no one in sports journalism works harder or prepares longer than Bayless.
If you've ever watched him, you'll know he's also not a very big fan of LeBron James, Roger Clemens or Terrell Owens.
An absolutely brilliant call by Joe M., one of our faves in the look-a-likes business. A tour de force.
Bowen's Spurs are in the NBA Finals, and Smoove is the actor who played Leon on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Joe M. tells us he is also on "Til' Death."
Bowen first:
The folks at Dolphins blog "Phinsider" came up with this one, which was seen and forwarded by loyal look-a-like man jeffp as well as TRock.
Thanks to both.
It's Miami's rookie quarterback out of Michigan and Quagmire, one of the stars of "Family Guy."
The Dolphins' defensive end (we think) of Dancing With The Stars fame and the Giants' rookie linebacker.
Good work from TRock.
In honor of this weekend's Kentucky Derby, we thought we'd offer you our first glimpse into what Ed McNamara will surely wish he'd thought of first: equine look-a-likes: This year's favorite
"Big Brown" and 1981 Derby and Preakness winner "Pleasant Colony."
Pleasant Colony was trained by one of the most colorful horsemen ever, the lovable Johnny Campo. He was all the rage back then, especially in New York, although he apparently isn't quite the household name any more.
I told Boland I was doing an equine look-a-like, and when I mentioned Campo, he said: "Who?"
These kids today.
In the meantime, check out Eddie Mac's dispatches from Kentucky this week. He knows as much about horse racing as he does about football ... which is a lot.
(In answer to your question: Yes, I have gone off the rails. The draft is over, I've still got the heights, weights, and 40 times of hundreds of drafted players, as well as team-by-team evaluations, swimming in my head. Please indulge me as I attempt to decompress before the start of training camp. Ok, I gotta get outta here before I go Abramson.)
(Rock must be getting jealous of all these mentions of Boland, but he's down in D.C. with the Giants enjoying a day of sunshine and admiring the sights and sounds of our nation's capital, so I don't feel too badly.)
From our upstate NY pal Tony Arnoldine, a truly frightful look-a-like of Jeff Van Gundy and the late actor Vincent Schiavelli.
Oh, my.
It wasn't bad enough that we didn't get the memo about National Look-a-likes-Day, which was last Sunday, now Neil Best is getting into the act.
Pre-draft preparations have caused me to slack off in poking fun at Best, who is back to posting plenty of pics of beautiful women as he seeks to draw page views now that the end of the month is upon us. I will try and pay more attention to these things moving forward.
In the meantime, here's a spot-on call from Stapler: Former Tigers, Dodgers and Mets (among others) pitcher Jose Lima and new Giants' safety Sammy Knight.
This one's from the Star-Ledger. In it, he looks as if he's about to cry. Didn't he just say he wants Joba Chamberlain to start? Doesn't he own the team?
Caption suggestions welcome.
(We once had a Hank Steinbrenner picture that drew a record-setting 15 look-a-like suggestions. Among the look-a-likes: Actors John Lithgow and Ray Liotta, NBA coach George Karl, former Cincinnati Red owner Marge Schott, comedian Bob Newhart and actor Carroll O'Connor of Archie Bunker fame. Funny, but they didn't reference this astonishing list on National Look-a-Likes Day yesterday.)
I must have missed the e-mail, because jeffp tells me that yesterday was National Look-a-likes Day.
Which is absurd, because why in the world would you designate a Sunday as a national day of recognition for a tradition we have embraced on this blog. I just don't get it.
Then again, if you look at this article and the look-a-likes they include, it is pretty obvious that whoever is running the show is not very good at what he or she is doing. There are some atrocious look-a-likes in here. Even jeffp on his worst day is better than some of these.
Ok, if I don't finish my column on Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco, then jeffw is gonna call me on the carpet.
The Bengals' me-first receiver and the "boxer" of Rocky fame and then the "A-Team."
PGA golfer Stephen Ames and comedian Adam Carolla, who co-starred with Jimmy Kimmel in "The Man Show," a program that most married men would never admit to watching. Or at least enjoying. (It was at times hysterical ... yes, dear, it was awful!)
Ticky-tocky-ticky-tocky hoy! hoy! hoy!
(jeffp, this might be your best one yet.)
Forgot to include this one from our upstate NY pal Tony Arnoldine, who offers up a Paul O'Neill/Ted Danson look-a-like. Well done, sir.
jeffp back on his game. The Patriots star linebacker and the former cop from CHiPS.
Bruschi is still playing for the Patriots. Last I checked, Estrada was selling Florida real estate on infomercials at 3 a.m.
(I'm actually up at that hour due to the Glauber sleep disorder that my four brothers and I suffer from, and I see all kinds of infomercial nonsense. The one I really get a kick out of is this guy Kevin Trudeau, who is on a kick to show you how to get your finances in order. I remember a few years back he was pitching a product to improve your memory. And then it was offering tips on getting healthy by using techniques and products doctors won't tell you about.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to Google "Kevin Trudeau" and "fraud" and found many articles that detailed assorted no-no's for ripping off the public.)
The David Letterman band leader and the Daily News' answer to sports media critic Neil Best. Raissman and Best once appeared together on WNBC's Press Box with Jonas Schwartz. I'm sure it was a ratings bonanza.
(UPDATE: Joe M. offers three-way look-a-like by adding in Howie Mandel.)
- Shaffer photo courtesy of CanadasHallofFames.com.
- Raissman photo courtesy of Daily News.
- Mandel photo courtesy of brilliantbutcanceled.com
Holy moly.
Tom Crean isn't even the Indiana coach for a day, and he's already a merchandising king at IU. Introducing, the Crean & Crimson t-shirt, available immediately.
Thanks to Wisconsin State Journal Packers beat guy buddy Jason Wilde for this staggeringly funny look.
Wilde obviously has too much time on his hands now that Brett Favre is done with football, but we're glad to see he's spending his time wisely.
Yes, it's true.
I have accepted the head coaching job at Indiana, and I will address any and all questions at my press conference tomorrow. 
I'm very excited about this opportunity to coach at the place Bobby Knight made famous.
I will be sure to mention look-a-like Bob Glauber in my introductory remarks.
As you know, I am married to the sister of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and former Colts and Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh, now the Stanford head coach. In fact, I caught up with John Harbaugh at today's NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach.
Ravens PR director Kevin Byrne spotted me in the crowd, and Harbaugh and I chatted briefly about things. Best of luck to John in his endeavors at Baltimore. I'm sure he'll do a fine job.
In the meantime, I have a speech to write.
See you tomorrow at the podium at IU.
This one from "Mark," who likens the Davidson hoops star to Ivey, one of the greatest poker players in the world. Curry and his Davidson mates continue their incredible run in the tournament today against Kansas.
(Prediction: jeffp will poo-poo this look-a-like. It's not a perfect match, but it's serviceable.)
The Tennessee basketball coach and the New York Post basketball/football writer. Hey, Lenn. Smile, dude.
Another good one from our upstate NY buddy Tony Arnoldine.
The Villanova basketball coach and the former Bucs, Browns, Ravens, Jets, Patriots, Cowboys and Panthers quarterback.
Sounds like a law firm, but it's actually another valued look-a-likes contribution from jeffp. Phil Martelli is the St. Joseph's basketball coach, Lou Lamoriello is the Devils' general manager and occasional coach, and Rod Marinelli is the Lions' head coach. JP had a Martelli-Marinelli straight-up look-a-like, but I thought Lamoriello bridged the gap nicely.
Will be back momentarily with the height, weight and cone-drill speed of a college player you've never heard of.
Many thanks to long-time Look-a-likes supporter Matt E. (no, not Matt Estrella of Spygate fame) for this one of the Yankees' somewhat aggressive baserunner who occasionally drives his spikes into a Tampa Bay Devil Rays infielder in a spring training game and actor Lillard of "Scream" fame. Lillard also appeared in the baseball movie "Summer Catch."
Unlike Phil Hughes, Duncan does not piss me off. And even if he really did piss me off, I would probably never publicly admit it, because he seems to be a fairly intense individual who might not take kindly to criticism.
I did once piss off Lawrence Taylor, however. In training camp in 1987, I did an article on him and wrote that his drinking would eventually lead back to cocaine use. I had to run it by him before the article was published, and he was not very happy about it. But he did not hit me, and I thank him for that. He did resume using cocaine and was eventually suspended, but he appears to be clean and sober now, and for that, I am happy.
Look, I'm just trying to make an honest living covering the NFL, typing up blog posts, and beating my brains out trying to beat Neil Best in our monthly page views war.
But I was just referred to Phil Hughes' blog and realize that my life - mostly my blogging life - is something akin to Sisyphus pushing the rock up the mountain, only to see it roll back down.
I don't know what Hughes' page views totals are, but I can see by the number of comments he draws from breathless Yankees fans that it's light years ahead of our friendly little Newsday blogs that Best and I do.
Sigh.
In the meantime, we bring you a look-a-likes from our upstate New York blog pal Tony Arnoldine of Yankees rookie pitcher Ian Kennedy and Alfred E. Neuman of MAD Magazine. Arnoldine got the Kennedy pic from Hughes' blog. Apparently the two pitchers are pretty tight.
(I don't know if there even is a MAD Magazine any more, but I do know that Best and I could walk into the local stationary store back in the day and pick one up. It was a hit back then, when a Snickers bar cost a dime.)
In honor of the Big East Tournament, we bring you the West Virginia coach and the famous actor. Thanks to jeffp and Joe M., who collaborated on this one.
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My man Tom Crean shook off a regular season-ending loss to Syracuse to lead Marquette to a win over Seton Hall last night in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
Up next: Notre Dame tonight at the Garden. As my man Stapler tells me, the Fighting Irish love the 3-point shot, so Tommy C.'s boys will have to play solid defense on the perimeter to continue on in the tournament.
And if you're keeping score at home, Crean is 5-2 since our meeting a few weeks ago in the world's most famous arena.
We love to have fun with look-a-likes on this blog - in real life, too - but here's a story where a guy used his looks to fool plenty of folks and sit with soccer royalty at a recent game.
Apparently a Nicholas Cage look-a-like pulled it off so well that he was presented with a personalized Nicholas Cage team jersey and sat with Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon for a match.
Classic stuff.
... Dangit! I KNEW I should have just walked into the Marquette basketball team's locker room and started acting like I really was Tom Crean.
I must admit I feel a little squeamish about this one, what with Spitzer's recent "issues" and today's resignation. Bill Cowher certainly doesn't deserve to be lumped in with this mess. And the last thing I want to do is annoy Cowher or Steelers fans. But after "Ryan" sent us this look-a-like suggestion, and then none other than Black N Gold seconded the motion this morning, I'll go ahead and post it.
Coach C., please forgive me.
jeffp concurs with our take that Blunt looks a bit like Mike Bossy. Judge for yourself.
Bossy was quite an athlete to cover, especially for a young reporter just getting into the business. I cherish my days covering the Islanders back in their glory days, and Bossy was one of the most thoughtful athletes of his time. He also had a hell of a shot. A Bossy one-timer from Trottier was a thing of beauty.
I decided to take down the Aaron Rodgers-Scott Stapp look-a-likes post, although not because of anything Joe M. did wrong in suggesting it.
When I came across a news item that Stapp had once been arrested for domestic assault, I felt it inappropriate to put him into our look-a-likes directory. I just got done writing how I abhor such acts, so once I realized Stapp had been arrested last year in Florida on a charge related to domestic violence, out he goes.
