High Fives: King of fantasy

Brandon Funston Mike Harmon Matt Romig Yahoo! Sports' trio of fantasy experts will each offer up, on a regular basis, a look at their top five lists dealing with a variety of topics. This week's topics: The consummate fantasy player, storied venues, poorly-run franchises, outrageous athletes and one-hit wonders.

Reader response to last week's High Fives
Brandon, huge props for referencing Xavier McDaniel's performance in "Singles." Such an underappreciated movie and an underappreciated movie line. Although my favorites are "That's a nice hat, and I mean that in a totally non-hostile way" and "I just happened to be nowhere near your neighborhood." … Great reference. – Luke, Chicago, IL

This week's High Fives – best athlete performance on screen – goes to the same guy with the best performance in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Jesus Shuttlesworth, baby! That Ray Allen kid, now He's got Game. – Jay, Ottawa, Ontario

I'm glad to see someone recognizes the genius of Phil Hartman. Personally, I would have ranked Bill McNeal a close second following any of Phil Hartman's characters on "The Simpsons." If I may use a sports term, "News Radio" was the most underrated program of its time and was never the same after his unfortunate passing. – Leland, Nashville, TN

For the sitcoms, props to the Seinfeld characters, but no mention of Joey Tribiani of "Friends?" No character of a sitcom goes solo unless they did something right. – Pat, Chicago, IL

Brad Penny, Odalis Perez and Derek Lowe comprise the best trio of starters anywhere except on your lists. You'll See … – Mike, Cullowhee, NC

What about Al Bundy or Bart or Homer Simpson for Top 5 sitcom characters of the past 25 years? – Mike

I can't believe that on a list of sports figures appearing in movies, none of you put Roger Clemens in "Kingpin." He actually has a couple of lines, and he's hilarious. – Kevin, Manchester, NH

I was looking at your rankings for the top 5 teams with the three best starting pitchers and I noticed not one of you guys chose my team, the Twins. Let's get serious, any staff with the reigning Cy Young winner should at least be a write in at No. 5. Not to mention, Johan Santana is followed by a ground-ball inducing Brad Radke, and … Carlos Silva … I mean they have won us back- to-back-to-back Central Division championships. – Mike, Minnesota

In your list of top 5 sitcom characters, I totally agree with Dan Fielding, Cliff Clavin and George Costanza … but how could none of you pick the most quoted character ever … AL BUNDY! Nobody ever made failure so funny. … Ed O'Neill cemented his place on that list and should not have been overlooked. After all, he scored 5 touchdowns! – Dennis, Bayside, NY

Top 5 actors on screen and you clowns couldn't pick Jim Brown from any number of his great appearances from the Dirty Dozen to whatever he's done more recently? Come on! – Akira, Durham, NC

How could the Minnesota Twins not grace a single top five starting rotations list? … Santana, Radke, and Silva all have ERAs in the 3's, K/BB ratios over 10 and share a combined record of 10-5! The numbers speak for themselves. The Twins' top three should be in the top five. – Pueblo, Eden Prairie, MN

I was somewhat not surprised to see all of you list Dontrelle Willis on the top 5 streaking players you expect to come back down to Earth soon. Thing is, it humored me to see that you all listed the Marlins Staff as a top trio in the league, so what is it? Is Dontrelle going to be a second-half dud again or is the Marlins staff tops? The way I see it, Dontrelle is off to a start that he won't be able to match, but his rookie year everyone attributed his hot start to his weird delivery, and then last year when he was a bust, everyone said it was because hitters got his timing down and that he altered his mechanics. What's the excuse this year? And don't forget, he was drafted by the Cubs, and you know how ex-Cubs always seem to blossom a few years post-Cubs. – Joshua, Fort Collins, CO

In regards to your (Funston) High Fives comment concerning Garland: "Fifth-best AL run support; facing Seattle, Oakland, and Detroit in 4 of 5 starts has helped."

Garland has been lights out and would've gotten the wins with even Grienke-like run support. The fact that Garland has been winning games 8-0 and 9-1 means that if his ERA does eventually start to climb, he has the fifth-best run support as a safety net. Saying that he gets good run support would help the argument for continued success more so than it would hurt it. And while Oakland's lineup isn't great, Seattle's is, and Detroit's is not too shabby. Giving up one run through 17 innings against Pudge, Guillen, Meathook, White, Inge, and Monroe is not an easy task. – Mike, Boston, MA

Even though "Happy Days" started in the 70s, it was still on TV in the early 80s, so you have to include "The Fonze" (Henry Winkler) as a top 5 sitcom character of the past 25 years.

Also, all three of you seem to be Cheers buffs. How can you not include either one of Kevin McHale's guest starring roles on Cheers … in the Top 5 athlete performances on-screen? Both, IMO, are very funny Cheers episodes with Kevin acting well for an athlete. – Steve, Elsmore, KY

I can't believe that none of you guys listed any Brian Bosworth movies like "Stone Cold" in your top 5 athlete performances. Did I just say that? In all seriousness, Lance Armstrong's scene in "Dodgeball" was pretty good. – Josh, Chicago, IL

What was Matt (Romig) thinking when he listed Dmitri Young among the Top 5 streaking players you expect to come back down to Earth soon? He has had some injury problems, but if you check the stats, he has never hit below .297 in a complete season and he is on pace for only his second best HR output. An average of .311 (at the time) hardly qualifies as streaking, especially with an improved lineup around him. It would seem he doesn't have far to fall. – Mike

Harmon's suggestion that Carl Everett will 'stay in orbit' …I think he might have missed the meaning. I thought you were talking about guys who will continue to be nice players, not guys who literally belong in orbit. – Mike, Springfield, MA

1. Homer Simpson – Far and away the greatest sitcom character ever, all other characters pale by comparison. "MMMmmm – bacon covered Donuts."
2. Al Bundy – A lovable slob who always failed.
3. George Jefferson – Walked the famous walk …
4. Alex P. Keaton – Still the best Republican out there.
5. Cliff Huxtable – The ideal father figure, stern AND hilarious. – Dillinger, South Winsdor, CT

In High Fives, for best sitcom character, you listed Kramer, but for athletes on-screen performance, you forgot Kramer's famous run-in with Paul O'Neil

Kramer: "Yeah, I promised him you'd hit him two homeruns, is that no good?"

O'Neil: "No, that no good, that's terrible! Homeruns are hard to hit!"

Kramer: "Yeah, well, it's really important …"

O'Neil: "How'd you get in here anyway?"

Or who could forget Costanza's batting tips to Jeter and Bernie Williams when Bernie uttered the famous line: "Are you the guy who put us up at that Ramada in Milwaukee?"

Those were some great scenes from a great show. – Chuck, Cromwell, CT

I just want to thank the two guys (Funston and Romig) who brought up Phil Hartman on "NewsRadio." "NewsRadio" might be the most underrated show of all time! – Nich, Eaton, OH

Let me guess, you're not going to give Clint Barmes his respect because he plays in Colorado? You know, I am getting sick of people using that excuse to not give Colorado players respect. Todd (Helton) lost out on Rookie of the Year because of that. Get over it, the ball only carries nine percent more here in Colorado. – Brandon, Denver, CO