Top 7 Musician Athletes

Going from music to sports or from sports to music, it’s tough to cross over.  Sports has had its share of beyond-atrocious musical offerings: “B-Ball’s Best Kept Secret” the rap album, Shaq, random baseball players with the guitar, Frank Thomas’s record label called “Big Hurt Records,” and the kind of them all, Macho Man.  Music to sports-wise, pretty much anyone who has ever played in a Rock and Jock Game or a celebrity softball game has clearly not belonged there, but there are exceptions.  This week’s Top 7 looks at the best musicians who have played sports in public.

7. Garth Brooks

Unless I’m missing someone, he’s the only musician that has actually played baseball in a Spring Training game.  Plenty of guys have taken batting practice (though you don’t hear much about people doing it anymore), but Brooks actually played in a game, grounding into a double play and making a play at second.  It also set off at least six million “low places” references in articles the following day.

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6. Flea

He hit six consecutive three-pointers in a Rock and Jock contest, and later made the game-winning ten-point shot.  He surprisingly did all of it with clothes over his underwear as well.  Research says that Bill Bellamy is actually in the Rock and Jock Hall of Fame, but it’s hard to include Bill Bellamy in a best-of list.

5. Nelly

His diving catch and home run in the celebrity softball game this past All-Star Weekend is the celebrity softball equivalent of Jim Edmonds’ 2004 NLCS home run/catch Game 6/Game 7 combo.  It may be the single-greatest non-pro sports moment of all-time.  Nelly also does a great job branding sports and music together, giving the Cardinals their due often in his videos.  Plus he has an entire song about shoes.

4. Ice Cube

With that devastating hook that he shows in “It Was a Good Day,” you just have to take his word when he says that he was inexplicably keeping stats during a playground basketball game and hit for a triple-double, while simply messing around.  That has to be the most famous basketball-themed line in rap history (though not the most awesome, that has to go to “guaranteed, make you jump like Rod Strickland” from Wu-Tang’s “Triumph.”  Actually, that may be a Top 7 in itself).  By the way, the guy who currently calls himself “Ice Cube” can’t possibly be the real Ice Cube.  It’s safe to say that the guy who did the “Be True to the Game” video would hog tie the “Are We There Yet?” Ice Cube and thrown him in the trunk of his car.

3. Master P

Desperate for attention during the lockout, two NBA teams actually gave him contracts between 1998 and 1999.  He wasn’t bad at basketball at all though, and dominated Rock n Jock games.  There was also an underrated performance in a Rock n Jock baseball game where he shut down several major league players, including Brady Anderson, who hilariously declared that “I can’t believe that I’m 0 for 3 off Master P.”  While he never set any records for points-per-game, he will hold the record for most records released for at least another trillion years.  His No Limit label defined “throwing crap against the wall and seeing what sticks.”  They would release at least four new CDs per week, with four songs having Master P grunting in the background and calling it “featuring Master P.”  Snoop Dogg’s effort for No Limit remains of the worst rap albums ever.

2. Macho Man

It’s time for the bi-yearly Top 7 discussion of Randy Savage’s masterpiece, “Be a Man.”  There is actually a video of 50 Cent endorsing Macho and his album.  It is well worth a listen for lyrics like “I’m gonna kick you in the butt and wash your mouth out with soap.”  If you have never listened to it, it is highly recommended that you find it online and check it out, preferably within the hour.  Since Macho is a legitimate musician, it is mandatory to include him on a list such as this.  Fantastic matches for well over a decade, the lovely Elizabeth, and many other accomplishments that you can hear about on his rap album, because he’s “the wrestling king, but now (he’s) spittin’ lyrics.”

1. Lil Romeo

And whether you can call Master P’s NBA contracts a gimmick or not, his son receiving a real scholarship from a real basketball program like USC definitely deserves real praise.  You sure didn’t see Britney Spears signing with LSU for a volleyball scholarship after “Baby One More Time.”

The Top 7 is written by Jason Major. He considers himself the anti-Eminem because he raps about heterosexuals and Tylenol. Email him at [e-mail].

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