On October 16, 2024, All-Star CFL receiver Whit Tucker passed away. He was 83. Howie was a kid but he has memories of watching Tucker play in the 1960s. Tucker was part of the Ottawa Rough Riders' three-headed monster of quarterback Russ Jackson, halfback Ron Stewart and Tucker. That Riders' team went to four Grey Cups in the decade of the '60s, winning three of them. That night also saw some great players hit NHL milestones. Sidney Crosby notched point number 1600 and his Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin scored the 500th career goal. Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin was collecting his 700th assist. That allowed him to join an elite club of players who scored 700 goals and assisted on 700 other goals.
Lastly, one of the Sports Lunatics, Howie Mooney, has put out his third book. The Consequences of Chance is a collection of seventeen stories that follow in the same vein as his first two books, Crazy Days & Wild Nights and MORE Crazy Days & Wild Nights. The boys talk about the book and how Howie got into writing and how he enjoys researching the stories he writes.

The morning that Pete Rose passed away, a giant in basketball also lost his life. Dikembe Mutombo was one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history. But as great as he was on the court, he was also great off the court in his philanthropic endeavours and just the way he carried himself with every person he met. Shawn and Howie discuss Mutombo's life and legacy as well as how the retirement of Vince Carter's jersey is going over in Toronto and also the passing of the great pitcher, Luis Tiant.

Pete Rose was one of the greatest players in baseball history. He collected more base hits than anyone else in the game's storied past. But he was a flawed individual. While manager of the Cincinnati Reds, and possibly while a player, he gambled on baseball. That's a stark contravention of Baseball's Rule 21, which states that Gambling on baseball is NOT allowed. In 1989, Rose, the game's 'Hit King' was banned from baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame has kept his name off ballots ever since. In this edition of The Sports Lunatics, Shawn and Howie examine and discuss Pete's life and career. Shawn added some amazing audio to the conversation as well. At 40 minutes, it's well worth the listen.

In this episode, Shawn and Howie discuss the Oakland Athletics' John Fisher leaving the city for a minor league park in Sacramento in the hopes of eventually moving to Las Vegas. Shawn did an amazing job in adding some great audio to the real raw emotion of this show. The relocation of a franchise is one of the saddest things that can happen to a city. The fans are the biggest victims in these situations.

In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie look at the night that Shohei Ohtani created the 50-50 club -- 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season. Was it the greatest night by a hitter in the history of baseball? Has Shohei become must-see TV? How likely was it that anyone could hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the same season? The boys discuss that and a whole lot more, including Sidney Crosby signing an extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins for $8.7 million per season until the end of the 2026-2027 campaign. They also examine the longevity of the great Jaromir Jagr and they talk about some of the latest written stories that have appeared on thesportslunatics.com . 51:29 minutes.

James Earl Jones passed away on September 9, 2024. He was the consummate actor, the pro's pro. His IMDb page is extensive when it comes to the sheer numbers of credits he amassed over a sixty year career. Yes, he provided the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars. But there are a few of his movies that have great significance to sports fans. In The Great White Hope, he portrayed the great Black boxing champion Jack Johnson and the racism that Johnson was forced to deal with in the early 20th century. In The Greatest he played civil rights icon Malcolm X in the movie about the great Muhammad Ali. Then, in The Sandlot, he was the former baseball great, now blind, who helps the kids deal with their issue regarding a signed Babe Ruth ball. And, in Field of Dreams, as reclusive author, Terence Mann, he helps Kevin Costner's character realize he had to build the ball diamond in the middle of his corn field. Field of Dreams has been such an important film in the minds and lives of so many baseball fans and Shawn and Howie discuss Jones' career and a lot about his roles in the aforementioned movies.

In this edition of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie discuss former NFL players that their listeners have named on their Facebook page as perhaps being forgotten. The list of names is wide-ranging and you might know them well. But others may not. Names like many from the 1960s Green Bay Packers to stars from the 1970s and '80s are thrown around here and the boys examine their lives and careers. We hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane.

On the evening of Thursday, August 29, the lives of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were taken when they were struck by a car as they were riding bicycles on a road in Oldman's Township, NJ. They had just attended the wedding rehearsal and dinner for their sister and her fiancee and were to be groomsmen at the ceremony the next day. Tributes began pouring in immediately upon the news being broken. The Sports Lunatics, Shawn and Howie, look at the night and the careers of the brothers, and discuss their own feelings about the events that unfolded in New Jersey that night.