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.....