Pau Gasol Leads The Way For Mediocre Athlete-Thespians

As you may or may not have heard of, Pau Gasol recently starred in an episode of CSI: Miami, which aired yesterday on CBS. He plays Victor Emparo, the wealthy head of a video game company. Yes, when we see a 7 foot guy walking around, we immediately think ‘that guy must be in the video game industry.’ Makes sense, makes perfect sense. (They could’ve at least cast an Asian guy like Yao Ming or Yi Jinlain or something, I’m just saying.)

Sad to say, but Pau doesn’t make it to the end of the episode, as his character dies. Not by homicide though, but by suicide. A man can only take so many David Caruso one liners.

I would have put spoiler alert somewhere, but that would imply that you watch CSI: Miami. And if you do, then it is a sad, sad day for Americans. Somewhere right now, a baby in an Uncle Sam outfit is crying.

Pau isn’t the only California superstar of recent times to dabble his hand in acting. Recently, Nnamdi Asomugha also had a stint on Friday Night Lights as a Officer Ken Shaw, which in this case actually does make great casting. That’s why Nnamdi went to Cal.

Now, we all remember how some other athletes have hilariously tried to make the switch to acting:

UGHHHHHHHHH.

But I think with the right casting, some of our very own California athletes can make the jump to the big or silver screen, just like Nnamdi and Pau. It’s just about the part. Below is a list of athletes and the roles they were born to play in Hollywood.

JaMarcus Russell ...…………………. The lost Klump from the Nutty Professor
Philip Rivers …………………………Stereotypical 80’s jock college/high school villain
Jim Harbaugh ………………………... Philip Rivers’s character’s dad
Pete Carroll ………………………….. Philip Rivers’s character’s grand dad
Patrick Marleau ……………………... Stigmata victim # 1

Justin Fargas …………………………. Huggy Bear in the remake, remake of the 2003 version of Starsky and Hutch
Jeff Tedford ………………………….. Lead role in a Sgt. Slaughter biopic
The Anaheim Duck …………………… A cop in a remake of Howard the Duck (The duck part went to Tom Hanks)
Monta Ellis ……………………………. Gob from Arrested Development

San Jose State Football Team …………. Lead roles in a 2008-2009 Detroit Lions biopic movie
Kevin Riley …………………………….. Pip from Great Expectations
Don Nelson ……………………………… Barney Gumble in live version of the Simpsons
Donald Sterling …………………………. Russell Crowe’s character in Virtuosity (the combined intellect and psychiatric profile of every ‘evil’ person in history)
Norv Turner ……………………………… The coach from The Waterboy
Michelle Wie …………………………….. Live action version of Wendy Testaburger
Alex Smith ……………………………… The lead role as a quarterback from the new Wayans Brothers movie: Sports Movie