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          50 Cent's first pitch fail, Meow Game among the year's funniest sports moments

          • Joe DeMartino, ESPN EditorDec 22, 2014, 03:13 PM
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            • General Editor
            • Joined ESPN in 2006
            • Massachusetts native, Northwestern graduate
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          It is so difficult to be funny. I'm trying to be funny right now and I'm probably failing. There isn't even a punch line here. That's, like, the most important part.

          This isn't going well. Let's start again.

          Here are a bunch of funny sports things that happened this year. The funniest ones are unintentional. At least, I think so.

          5. Jeremy Lin posterizes his mom

          Parents of high-level athletes have to sacrifice a lot for their children to achieve greatness. Mostly, that involves hundreds of hours of driving to practice, thousands of dollars spent on high-priced trainers, and resisting the urge to yell at referees who clearly have it in for your precious future Hall of Famer.

          Jeremy Lin's mom has one burden she alone must bear: Her son has a tendency to dunk on her, even when she's not actually aware she's playing a game.

          4. Lance Stephenson blows in LeBron's ear

          There's weird, there's gloriously weird, there's uncomfortably weird, and then there's Lance Stephenson. He was assigned to guard LeBron James during Game 5 of the Heat-Pacers series, which would normally be a daunting task for anyone on this planet save for an actual grizzly bear. Stephenson decided the only way to get into LeBron's head was to literally get into LeBron's head, by blowing in his ear.

          Shine on, Lance Stephenson. Yours was the troll that launched a thousand memes.

          3. Phyllis from Mulga goes off on Colin Cowherd

          Hey, did you know that fans of the Southeastern Conference are passionate? Have you watched literally any SEC game from the past forever years? Heck, you don't even need to watch a game -- you can just listen to Paul Finebaum's show, where you might happen upon longtime listener/longtime caller Phyllis from Mulga, Alabama. Phyllis took exception to ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd saying that Alabama's dynasty was over after Bama's loss to Auburn, and she called in to Finebaum's show to voice her displeasure. She also called Cowherd "Colin Cow-turd," which probably brought up a lot of unhappy playground memories.

          2. Hockey player expertly plays the Meow Game

          Yes, we know it's also called the Cat Game, but frankly, Meow Game gets the point across much more efficiently. The "Cat Game" could be a game you play with your cat, or a game where you dress up as a cat, or one where you debate the relative merits of Cat Power and Cat Stevens. The "Meow Game" can really be only one thing, and if you've ever seen the movie "Super Troopers," you know exactly what that thing is:

          1. 50 Cent's horrendous first pitch

          Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is a lot of things -- a hit-making artist, a savvy businessman, a superb troller of Floyd Mayweather. One thing he is not is a man who knows how to throw a first pitch. In a way, that's reassuring. We all need flaws, Curtis.

          Honorable Mention: Joe Kelly's wife jokes about marrying Derek Jeter; Gordon Hayward says he'd beat LeBron one-on-one; Metta World Peace has pretty ridiculous panda shoes; The Mavericks did a "Run-DMC" rap.

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