- We were in our daily talent meeting where our hosts get briefed on the guests for that day. As one of the segment producers was going over the Suzanne Somers segment (which in itself is somewhat comedic, considering the name of our show) he mentioned we would be talking about her new book, and more specifically, the chapter on "Male Menopause." Without missing a beat, one of our hosts says, "I had that once, when I was 27." The room stopped cold, everybody froze, afraid to ask the obvious... with nothing left to say, the meeting continued...

And finally....

- The time Tonya Harding called my cell repeatedly to invite me to join her and her new bikini in the hotel hottub.

Monday, February 20th

All this week we'll be sharing with you our favorite moments from behind-the-scenes here at Best Damn from the first 1,000 shows. In order to get the dirt, we agreed to post these anonymously. And trust me, if you saw some of the people who work behind-the-scenes, you wouldn't want a piece of them either. So without further ado, here's some of the great (and not-so-great) moments from the first 1,000 shows of the Best Damn Sports Show Period.

- Witnessing a conversation in the Avocado Room between Mike Tyson and Elliott Gould. They were discussing their ex-wives and women issues. It was surreal.

- The comedy writers asked me to be in a police comedy sketch where I was a suspect that Bryan Cox was supposed to throw on the trunk of the car and cuff. Going into it, I knew Cox was a ex-NFL player and probably only had one speed so I kind of knew what to expect but figured he'd see my size and hold back a bit. Wrong. When they said action, he grabbed me by my collar, threw me on the hood and held my hands behind my back for what seemed like forever. Needless to say, it hurt. He was laughing while I was trying not to show pain. To make matters worse, the comedy never even ran.

- Getting flat-out denied by Bill Belichick in my bid to secure a 1,000th show shout-out -- I asked him if he had a memory of Jim Brown he'd like to share, and he responded, "Yeah, I do. But not for that show."

And our top one for today....

- As a Best Damn producer, I've pre-interviewed hundreds and hundreds of guests. Usually, the conversations are friendly. I prepare them for the show, go over topics, and, basically, give them a head's up if we've got anything "crazy" planned. Because, let's face it. We've been on the air for five years, so it's safe to say that most athletes come to Best Damn expecting something a bit, for lack of a better term, outside the box. Except for Ronnie Lott. For Ronnie's segments, we thought it would be fun to dress Chris Rose up in a sumo suit and let Ronnie hit him - hard - while Chris tried to catch a pass. Just like Ronnie used to do back in the day, minus the guy in the sumo suit. Now, allegedly Ronnie knew what we had planned and was "on board". Of course, that wasn't the case, as I soon found out while prepping him in the green room before his segment. As I began explaining what we had planned, the look on his face never changed. It was the same look I imagine he gave many wide receivers and running backs in the 80's and 90's. Let's just say he wasn't smiling. And I was scared. Terrified. And that's when I mentioned the sumo suit, which was followed by...silence. At least twenty seconds of bone chilling silence. And then, this: "So, you're saying that you want me to look stupid". To which I responded..."uh, huh...ummm..." Followed by more silence. At this point, I'm thinking one of two things. Either I'm getting Punk'd, or Ronnie Lott is going to kill me. Unfortunately, it was more the latter than the former. So, instead of taking a hit from the NFL's hardest hitting safety...EVER...I thanked him for his time and slowly shuffled out of the green room, not quite certain what had just taken place, but certain that I had just narrowly averted a good beating. Anyway, long story short, his segment starts and out of nowhere, Ronnie tells Chris Rose that he's so excited because he heard that he's going to get the chance to hit him while he's wearing a sumo suit. EXCITED. When I heard that, I nearly fell out of my chair in the control room. Maybe I had been Punk'd. Or maybe Ronnie just felt like putting the fear of God into a 160-lb producer. Either way, it's something I'll never forget.

Many thanks to our staff for the great stories. As a reminder, this is just a small sampling of some of the crazy and even sometimes uplifting stories we've got. Be sure to check in all week as I've definitely saved some of the best for last. As a reminder, we begin the celebration for our first 1,000 shows on Monday February 27th as we begin the countdown of the 100 most memorable moments in Best Damn History. The countdown wraps up on our 1,000th show on Wednesday March 1. We've got lots of great guests and surprises lined up. You won't want to miss it.....

Friday, February 17th

Still plugging away on our 1,000th show. The 3 shows counting down the Top 100 moments in Best Damn History will air February 27th-March 1st with the final 20 moments on March 1st's show. We've got a star-studded guest-list lined up including the return of Tom Arnold. We're also putting the finishing touches on next week's poker shows. Without getting into too much detail, let's just say there's a big difference in gambling websites that end in .net and those that end in .com. Without further ado, we turn it over to one of our segment producers, Matt, who tells us how he got through a rainy day in L.A.

Where is John Salley?

It rained here in Los Angeles today. The 405 freeway feels like the parking lot at a Whitesnake reunion tour...JAM PACKED!

I made a quick drive-by at the FOX studio store and came across an auction for a classy $1500 Barney's suit worn only once in a photo shoot by 61 year-old Jeffrey Tambor; aka George Bluth Sr. of the possibly defunct, yet classic show "Arrested Development." The starting bid was $250; already taken by a man that I will refer to as "Guy who didn't win Jeffrey Tambor's $1500 Barney's Suit at the studio store auction." Let me tell you folks, this is one classy suit. I finagled my way into the back of the store to try it on for size. Fit like a glove. It was 2:15pm on the Swatch watch and the auction closed at 3:00. I bid a cool $270 and hid the auction sheet behind a pile of "Skin" Season 1 DVDs. I was sure nobody would look there. Long story short, I'm picking up Tambor's suit Tuesday morning. Scoreboard "Guy who didn't win Jeffrey Tambor's $1500 Barney's Suit at the studio store auction"

I feel like Costanza driving around in Jon Voight's car, but in all actuality I really am driving around in JON VOIGHT'S CAR!

I'd now like to take a short break and give a shout out to my fellow Best Damn blogger Charlie (a man that oversees million dollar shows & drives a luxury automobile). He has literally brought the pain on our first 2 blogs. Tough act to follow. I feel like Hagar succeeding Lee Roth.

"Right Now" vs. "Jump" - Give me "Right Now" in a photo finish by a nose

Happy Holiday Weekend ... FACT: Millard Fillmore, the 13th President, was the first President to have a stepmother.

Final thought... Club Sandwich + Guava Juice at the FOX commissary = crazy delicious

Thanks, Matt. Next week, our blog will be filled with memories from our production crew about the first 1,000 episodes. All behind-the-scenes stuff that was NOT on TV and you won't want to miss.