The Cheat SheetBy David Lauterbach on

It was a slow day in the world of sports on Monday, but some notable news stories and pieces came out on The Comeback including Kevin Durant and LeBron James’ short joint rapping career, great Cavs-Warriors content, the AAC wanting to be more than it is, and Al Pacino as Joe Paterno. 

Durant and LeBron’s short joint rapping career

LeBron James and Kevin Durant might be rivals during this year’s NBA Finals, but even though they’ve never been teammates on the court, they reportedly once teamed up in the studio.

According to ESPN, Durant and James recorded the song together when they were working out in Akron during the summer of 2011. However, the song has never been released publicly, and the duo apparently plans to keep it private.

When approached about its existence, James and Durant, to a moderate extent, confirmed that there is such a track before bursting out into laughter without further comment. There are no current plans to release the song to the public.

One individual who listened said it was “a quality track” and added that the lyrics were “surprisingly well-crafted and delivered.” It was so aesthetically pleasing that there were discussions about it being featured in the 2012 film “Thunderstruck,” which starred Durant.

“I heard the track years ago during post-production for ‘Thunderstruck,’” said agent Eric Goodwin, who executive produced the film and once represented both Durant and James. “It was very good. I suggested submitting it to Warner Brothers for the movie soundtrack, but KD wanted to keep it private.”

Despite there being no NBA Finals game on Monday, there were plenty of stories to go around

OAKLAND, CA – MAY 04: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors reacts to the referees after he drew a foul against the Utah Jazz during Game Two of the NBA Western Conference Semi-Finals at ORACLE Arena on May 4, 2017 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The Golden State Warriors lead the Cleveland Cavaliers 2-0 in the best-of-7 2017 NBA Finals, but most people know there’s almost no chance the series goes 7 games. One reason why is Kevin Durant.

From our own Matt Clapp:

While last year’s Warriors team was an incredible one that set the NBA record for regular-season wins with 73, they of course came up short in the NBA Finals to the Cavs. And we’re quickly seeing the difference that offseason acquisition Kevin Durant makes vs LeBron James and the Cavs this time around.

Durant was spectacular once again, with 33 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, five blocks, and three steals.

On the other hand, while many people are talking about Durant’s dominance, others are once again comparing the Warriors to the Bulls.

From our own Kevin Trahan:

Basketball fans have an incredible fascination with finding answers to questions that we cannot possible answer and will never need to answer.

Among them:

  • Was the Dream Team better than the 2012 Olympic team?
  • Would [insert 90s star] dominate [insert present day star] because of course players were so much tougher then?
  • Is LeBron better than Michael Jordan?
  • Would Kentucky beat the Sixers?
  • Would the Heat’s Big Three beat the 2016-17 Warriors?
  • Would the 2016-17 Warriors beat the 1995-96 Bulls?

I have, admittedly, fed into these dumb arguments, thanks to the technological marvel that is NBA 2K.

Now, we have another answer to an unanswerable question: The 16-17 Warriors are better than the 95-96 Bulls, says Vegas.

The AAC wants to brand itself as part of the ‘Power 6,’ but is it really?

Just over a month ago, the American Athletic Conference released a plan called its “Power 6 initiative,” including a detailed strategy for what needs to be done in order to bring the AAC’s reputation in line with the Power 5 conferences.

The AAC very clearly remembers that it was not too long ago that the Power 5 was a Power Six. The Big East was an automatic qualifier back in the days of the BCS, before it was raided so much that it finally ceased to exist as a football conference. Still, a full half of the Big East’s 2012 lineup formed the AAC in 2013, and the AAC was itself an AQ conference in the final year of the BCS. When the powers-that-be formed the College Football Playoff starting in 2014, the AAC was left behind as no longer being a power conference. The AAC certainly remembers that it has only spent three seasons as a second-class conference–the seniors on eight AAC rosters played for a BCS berth. That’s not a long time ago.

Get ready for Al Pacino as Joe Paterno

The concept of Al Pacino starring as Joe Paterno in a movie has been rumored for nearly five years. The movie was set to be based on Joe Posnanski’s biography of Paterno, but eventually fell apart.

Now, the story of Pacino as Paterno has legs once again, with Variety learning that the legendary actor will be playing the late coach in an HBO film directed by Barry Levinson.

Levinson will direct and executive produce through his Levinson/Fontana banner, with Jason Sosnoff and Tom Fontana also executive producing. Edward Pressman and Linday Sloane will also executive produce, along with Rick Nicita through his RP Media Company. Debora Cahn, John C. Richards, and David McKenna will write. The film will be produced in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Pacino and Levinson have worked together multiple times, including in HBO biopics about Jack Kevorkian and Phil Spector.

Quick Hits

NASHVILLE, TN – JUNE 03: A fan holds up a stuffed catfish prior to Game Three of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 3, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Predators defeated the Penguins 5-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

– The Nashville Predators evened up the Stanley Cup Finals at 2-2 with a game four 4-1 victory of Pittsburgh. Game 5 will be on Thursday June 8th in Pittsburgh.

– Who are the NFL’s 8 most overrated players?

– Lane Kiffin offered a sixth grader, yes that’s right a sixth grader, a scholarship.

– A Missouri State player suffered a brutal leg injury for the second time this year.

– Alex Hannold climbed a 3,000-foot granite wall without ropes because that sounds great!

– Papa John’s employees were apparently dealing cocaine to customers who ordered “extra olives” on their pizza.

“What the detectives would do is they’d order pizza and go out and wait in the parking lot,” said Sgt. Cindi West, spokeswoman for the King County Sheriff’s Office. “The employee would bring the pizza out and in the box would be the cocaine.”

Investigators dubbed it “Operation Extra Olives.”

“The operation got named because every time they’d order pizza, they’d say, ‘Give it extra olives,’” West said.

– Jalen Rose still isn’t over Kobe Bryant scoring 81 against him. This comes from a scene from Rose’s sitcom for ABC, Jalen vs. Everybody, which wasn’t picked up for a full season order by the network. But a pilot was filmed, and at least one clip has made its way onto the internet. (Update: And the pilot’s going to be shown in its entirety on ESPN Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.)

It’s entirely possible that this clip featuring Rose and Kobe Bryant might have been the only truly funny scene in the pilot. But if not, the video indicates that Jalen vs. Everybody may have had some potential.

– Ohio State and Thad Matta have parted ways.

– FIFA will have Cristiano Ronaldo on the cover for the first time.

– Ivory Coast midfield Cheick Tiote collapsed and died during practice this week.

– Carolina Panthers’ center Ryan Kalil released a fantastic parody video of Cam Newton’s birthday weekend video.

Cam forgot to invite us to his birthday getaway so we didn’t invite him on our camping trip. #WeHadMoreFun

A post shared by Ryan Kalil (@ryankalil67) on Jun 5, 2017 at 4:54am PDT

– Andre Drummond did really poorly on Jimmy Kimmel’s fake game show, so he blamed it on only 6 months of college.

“I went to school for six months,” Drummond said, both poking some fun at himself and at the same time making a point about the shortcomings of the one-and-done rules in basketball. This was a point not overlooked without comment by Rose.

“And only basketball players and football players are forced to go to college,” Rose said. This is, of course, not 100 percent accurate, but is generally true.

– Bruce Arena made a statement with his USMNT selection this weekend.

– Oh J.J. Watt…

A Random “The Office” Video:

Good thing to keep in mind and good skill to have in general really.

One Last Glorious Moment of Procrastination:

About David Lauterbach

David is a writer for The Comeback. He enjoyed two Men's Basketball Final Four trips for Syracuse before graduating in 2016. If The Office or Game of Thrones is on TV, David will be watching.

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