Funny Picture of the Week

I was at work a few Saturdays ago, when I got a frantic call from my estranged roommate. Barry had been gone on his snowboarding sojourn for over three weeks, and aside from a few facebook wall posts, and late night drunken text messages, I hadn't heard from Barry at all. So needless to say, I was excited. But before I could utter a single word, Barry staring rattling off some crazy line of questions about a former Utah Jazz basketball player.

Now, as I do know a little bit about sports, I am used to calls like this from friends. Whether it be call from a Sonics game from a friend who can't remember the name of that tall left handed guy, who used to shoot all those three's back in the mid 90's (Sam Perkins), or an angry and confused buddy who wants to know why the Mariners would pay $40 million for some fat guy from Minnesota (Carlos Silva), I am pretty used to answering random questions. But I wanted to talk to my buddy Barry.

Here is a script of our conversation:

Me: "Hey, whattup Barry?" I answered excitedly.
Barry: "What is the name of that big tall guy that used to play for the Jazz?"
Me: "What? Where are you?"
Barry: "Utah...what is that guys name?"
Me: "Uh...what? Tall guy? Utah? Uh...when did you get to Utah?"
Barry: "I can't talk long dude, what is that really tall guys name?"
Me: "Tall guy from Utah? I don't know, is he white?"
Barry: "Yeah, he's white and really really tall...like 7 foot 5."
Me: "Oh, that's Mark Eaton...that guy is a huge freak."
Barry: "Mark Eaton...cool dude, thanks. Gotta run."
Me: "What?....."
"Click"

This is how Barry operates. I guess it is impossible not to run at 100 miles per hour when you are constantly high on Skittles and Starbursts. I remained confused about this whole interaction until I received the picture posted above in an email two days later. Barry explained that the pointedness of his call was necessary because they had to chase big Mark down and ask for the picture...but they didn't feel comfortable asking him if they didn't know his name. Even before I knew the extent of the story, I was proud of my quick pull on Eaton's name, but when I found out that the picture wouldn't have happened had my mental rolodex of sports knowledge not been so astute, I was downright proud. It isn't every day that I can apply my sports geekiness in any sort of practical fashion, and it makes me very happy any time I can.

Other funny notes on this picture:
1. Barry is 6'6'', and he looks like a little kid next that giant freak.
2. The skier in the background has a full body, turquoise jump suit.
3. Barry has a moustache.
4. How is it possible that Mark Eaton could play a full NBA career, be that tall, and still be able to ski? That is unbelievable. How can his knees handle it? He is a freak.
5. Can you think of anything funnier than seeing Mark Eaton hit a huge jump? No you can't, it'd be hilarious.

Mark Eaton's career stats:

Games: 875, Games Started: 815, Minutes: 25169, Field Goals Made: 2072,
Field Goals Attempted: 4526, FG Percentage: .458, 3-pointers made: 0,
3-pointers attempted: 2, Total Rebounds: 6939, Assists: 840, Steals: 368,
Blocks: 3064, Points: 5216