Comical Clones: 25 Athletes That Resemble Childhood TV Characters

Sports does not lack for colorful characters. Players such as Brian Wilson and Chad Ochocinco are known for far more than simply their accomplishments on the field.

And that is fine and entertaining, but there is another brand of athletes out there just as entertaining, though probably completely unbeknownst to them. I'm talking, of course, about those athletes that look like characters from the shows many of us grew up watching.

And so, in honor of these unintentionally hilarious athletes, we present 25 Athletes that Resemble Childhood TV Characters. You will laugh, you will reminisce and, hopefully, you will share a few hysterical matches you can think of.

And if you do share, leave your first name along with your suggestion in the comments. If it makes me laugh, I'll match up the photos, put your suggestion in the honorable-mention section and credit you on the slide. I'm curious to see what you guys can come up with.

But for now, to the slides!

Honorable Mention: Phil Jackson

So there is a bit of a resemblance between Phil Jackson and Master Splinter, though mostly I put this here because I would imagine a team huddle with Jackson would be a whole lot like Splinter imparting wisdom.

And yes, this is from the movie, but the cartoon rocked as well, so I allowed it.

Besides, we all know that this is what Phil Jackson says every time one of his teams wins a title.

Honorable Mention: Big Ben

There is absolutely no resemblance between Ben Roethlisberger and Pepe Le Pew.

But methinks they have similar tactics with the ladies. (Skip to 2:15 to see what I mean.)

Well, other than the fact that Pepe is classier and more romantic than Big Ben. And Pepe is a friggin' skunk, for heaven's sake.

25. Beadle Explains It All

Does Michelle Beadle explain as much as Melissa Joan Hart did in Clarissa Explains it All?

Doubtful. Especially if you are a teenage girl. But the Beadle is funny and insightful on Sportsnation, so she has that going for her.

24. Like Woah, Dirk!

The resemblance is uncanny. Well, except for the fact that when the going gets tough, Dirk doesn't run and hide behind a teammate. He just drops big shots.

The same cannot be said for Shaggy, however.

23. Go Go Tedy Bruschi!

Oh man, how ridiculous were the Power Rangers? They would go from scenes with American actors in what appeared to be your standard American small town, to huge battle scenes in Japanese cities.

I mean, how many times did they completely destroy that same city? Imagine being the city planner in that town:

"Hey John, glad you called, what's up? Oh no—just now? The entire skyline? For heaven's sake, not again! This is the third time this month. I know, it is pretty amazing how quickly our construction teams work. No, no, let's just build skyscrapers again, eventually these damn American kids will stop picking their fights here in Japan."

God, I miss the '90s.

22. Urkel Stoudemire

Every time Amar'e turns the ball over, he should ask, "Did I do that?"

While he takes free throws, if the crowd is noisy, he should angrily say, "SSSHHH—not while I'm shooting."

And he should probably snort a lot when he laughs, at least while he is wearing those glasses.

21. Milhouse Boeheim

For years, Boeheim sought his first national title, much as Milhouse long desired Lisa.

It took 26 years for Boeheim to win one at Syracuse, finally breaking through with Carmelo Anthony in 2002-03.

And perhaps in the future, when Milhouse is Homer's boss at the plant, he'll get lucky with Lisa. But until then, the suffering goes on.

20. Balki Ginobli

I wonder if Ginobli and Tony Parker ever do things like this together?

That might explain the whole divorce thing...

19. Michael "The Beagle Brother" Strahan

Look carefully at the top Beagle Brother. Yup, that's Strahan, no doubt about it.

And below him, of course, is ex-teammate Plaxico Burress.

DuckTales was such a fantastic show. Though I always wondered how Scrooge swam through the money like that?

And why didn't he just ask the bank for dollar bills?

And were there ever better theme songs than the ones we got in the late '80s and early '90s?

18. Grady "Fat Albert" Jackson

HEY HEY HEY, it's Grady Jackson!

And I'm gonna sack a QB for you.

Then I'm gonna eat a rib or two.

17. Barney Daly

As characters, these two are fairly opposite.

For one, Barney was only married to Betty, while John Daly has been married and subsequently divorced four times.

And Barney doesn't strike me as half the party animal that Daly was.

But doppelgangers? Oh, you best believe it.

16. Mikey Runyan

I don't know if Jon Runyan can sing like Mikey from Recess, but he sure looks like him.

It has yet to be determined if Mikey will be running for the House of Representatives anytime soon.

15. Al Burns

I think this goes without saying.

From the Comments: Tales from the Black Hole

Big ups to Joe Halverson for pointing this one out.

14. Gus Mikan

George Mikan—one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players.

Gus Griswald from Recess—moved from town to town as a military brat, and was a little-known dodgeball whiz named "El Diablo."

13. Salute Hartnell's Shorts

Hartnell really is perfect as Buddy Budnick, what with their bright red hair and propensity for antagonizing.

12. Doug Ilgauskas

This is how Zydrunas Ilgauskas should be introduced before games.

11. Panthro Villanueva

I don't want to be mean, but Charlie Villanueva is an odd-looking fellow.

I mean, when you can compare a guy to a member of the ThunderCats, that's an unattractive dude right there.

Plus, I bet Panthro could totally post him up.

10. Daniel De Ridder

From left to right: Daniel de Ridder, Dutch soccer player; Uncle Jesse from Full House; Trent from Daria.

I feel like if you combine the two on the right, you would get the perfect clone of de Ridder.

As is, he resembles each of them, to borderline frightening lengths.

9. Rollie Whiplash

The oldies-but-goodies: Rollie Fingers, Hall of Fame relief pitcher, and Snidely Whiplash, arch-villain to Dudley Do-Right.

In today's world, Rollie Fingers would be John Axford, and Snidely Whiplash would be just another hipster.

8. Pau "The Animal" Gasol

Sadly for the Lakers, Pau was anything but an animal against the Mavericks.

7. Raphael Mashburn

Your task is as follows, readers: Find me a Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo.

Bonus points to anyone who comes up with a good Shredder, April O'Neal, or Casey Jones.

6. Gareth Neutron

To be honest, I've never watched The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, but Gareth Bale is often compared to Jimmy Neutron on the Internet—for good reason—so it had to be included.

5. Stan Van Krumm

I'm sorry, Stan Van Gundy, but you look like Krumm from Aaahh! Real Monsters.

If I were Dwight Howard, I'd bounce out of Orlando, too, if my coach looked both like a porn star and a monster that held its eyeballs in its hands.

4. Joakim Fraggle

I think "Red Fraggle" or simply "Fraggle" should be Joakim Noah's nickname from now on.

Noah seems like the kind of guy ready to dance his cares away.

3. Anderson "Sideshow" Varejao

Literally too easy.

Clearly, for years, LeBron played the part of Krusty to Varejao's Sideshow Bob.

Also, Sideshow was a part of my favorite Simpsons' episode of all-time.

2. Yosemite McDonald

For those of you who don't know, Lanny McDonald is a Hall of Fame hockey player who led Calgary to its only Stanley Cup in 1988-89.

One can only imagine how he celebrated.

1. The Commentary Booth

Every time I look at this, I crack up.

Verne Lundquist is perfect as Conrad Waldorf, and Gary Danielson doesn't disappoint as Jerry Statler.

If football commentators were more like this, the world would be a far funnier place.

Big ups go out to the entire B/R Swagger team for helping me brainstorm these ideas. Also, be sure to write your suggestions in the comments. Hope you enjoyed the show!

Be sure to hit me up on Twitter (@TRappaRT) along with the entire B/R Swagger team (@BR_Swagger)