Hitting the Lottery

If you missed it, an Ohio University offensive lineman won the lottery for $250,000 earlier this week. Michael Eynon is hardly the first person in sports to hit the jackpot. The following teams and players hit the proverbial jackpot, and it changed some of their careers. In other cases, it brought championships.


10. 2007 Seattle Supersonics
Reminiscent of the draft 23 years before it. A center injured in college taken ahead of a "do everything" guard/forward. In the case of the 2007 NBA Draft, there were two players clearly better than the rest. Picking first could prove a huge blunder. Picking seconds, like the Sonics did, is a no-brainer.

9. Eric Gagne
Traded at the 2007 trade deadline, Gagne pitched poorly in the twenty games he saw the mound in a Red Sox uniform. But, he managed to win a World Series in the process.

8. Jim Sorgi
Jim Sorgi's 2007 salary: $850,000. Jim Sorgi's career touchdown passes: 6. Sorgi has been fortunate enough to be Peyton Manning's backup for his entire four year career. And, he has yet to play in a meaningful game. Instead, he's getting paid nearly a million dollars to stay in shape and play the last two games of the year after the Colts have clinched the division title. I'd take it.

7. Steve Fisher
The day before the 1989 NCAA Tournament, Bill Frieder was fired as Michigan basketball coach. Steve Fisher was named interim coach and most assumed that he would be replaced following the tournament. Glen Rice scored a record 184 points in the tournament, making Fisher's job pretty easy. Fisher signed a contract following the tournament and hit the jackpot again two years later with the Fab Five.

6. Sam Cassell
Sam Cassell signed with the Celtics in March to provide them with a veteran point guard to help the young Celtic players not named Pierce, Allen, and Garnett. Instead, he averaged 12 minutes per game in the playoffs, proving to be a great, veteran cheerleader.

5. Christian Laettner
Christian Laettner was a wonderful college basketball player. His basketball IQ was through the roof. But, he wasn't a Dream Teamer. Except he was. He sat the bench in the 1992 Olympics and watched the greatest basketball team ever dominate like no one has ever seen before. And he gets to call himself a part of that team. Not a bad distinction.

4. Phil Jackson
One of the most successful coaches in NBA history sure has run into some great help. If Michael and Scottie weren't enough, Kobe and Shaq should have been. Sure, nine championships as a coach is tough to argue with. But, I'm pretty sure I could've had at least six with those four playing for me.

3. 2005 Illinois basketball
The only list member not to take full advantage of hitting the jackpot. Illinois played in Indianapolis, Rosemont, and St. Louis in their six tournament games. These three cities: a combined 1062 miles from Champaign. Rumor has it they walked to all three sites as a warm-up. Unfortunately, home court advantage at a neutral site tournament wasn't enough. Illinois lost to UNC in the Finals.

2. Larry Coker
The 2001 Miami team that Larry Coker inherited consisted of the following: Willis McGahee, Andre Johnson, Antrel Rolle, Ken Dorsey, Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Jon Vilma, Bryant McKinnie, Kellen Winslow, Jeremy Shockey. That's not even all of the NFL talent on the roster at the time. Maybe the most talented college football team of all-time, Coker would have had to try not to win a National Championship. Apparently he did in 2002. Following the loss to Ohio State in the National Championship game, the talent left along with Coker's career.

1. 1984 Chicago Bulls
The Blazers picked Sam Bowie with the #2 pick. The Bulls had a no-brainer for a pick at #3. After establishing himself as the greatest player of all-time, Michael Jordan seems like even more of a no-brainer 24 years later.