When comedies and sports come together, they usually create video gold. And we can thank Bill Murray for the latest unforgettable sports stunt as the perfect Friday treat.

Good ol' Billy boy got the task of throwing the season's first pitch at Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs. Usually that person of honor strides up to the pitcher's mound, winds up, throws woefully short, giggles a little bit at said bad throw, and goes on with their lives. 

Not Bill, of course.

Never one to give up on opportunity on how we need to stop taking ourselves so damn seriously, Bill decided to do a hilarious impromtu sprint around the bases and, after relief pitcher Kerry Wood's encouragement, slide into home base. It's pretty freakin' hilarious.

Joba ChamberlainIt's hard to say who I'd rather not be right now: Joba Chamberlain or his 5-year-old son, Karter. As a Yankees relief pitcher, you'd think that any major injury Joba would sustain would take place while playing baseball.

Nope ... try jumping on a trampoline with his son at a kids' recreation center!

The injury is so severe that it might be the end of Chamberlain's career. He suffered a nasty open dislocation of his right ankle and lost a ton of blood. An open dislocation (hope you haven't had lunch yet) means that the bone pierced the skin. He won't be able to put weight on the ankle for two to three months.

Did I say this before? All because the guy was jumping on a trampoline with his son!

It had to start somewhere. Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun has just become the first player in Major League Baseball to successfully challenge a suspension for a positive drug test. He's back in the game just in time for spring training. Now for the big question folks.

Why was he ever "out" of the game to begin with? The MLB says it had some of Braun's urine and they said it contained “insanely high levels” of testosterone, pointing to the use of performance-enhancing drugs (aka steroids). So what? Even if it were true (and I'm not saying it is -- dude just overturned that suspension, remember?), isn't that Ryan Braun's problem, not the league's?

Sad news out of the sports world today: An MRI shows that Gary Carter, 57, a 19-year baseball veteran and National Hall of Famer, has new brain tumors, after being treated for four small brain tumors last year. If you haven't heard of Carter, he was one of the best catchers in Major League Baseball, playing mostly for the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.

Not only was he elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he's in the New York Mets Hall of Fame, as well as the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (bet you didn't know there were so many?). His number, 8, was retired by the Expos in 2003.

To say this guy had an amazing career playing baseball is an understatement. But his battle with cancer, unfortunately, has not gone as well as everyone had hoped. It goes to show how cancer, even despite all the recent advances, can have devastating effects on anyone, from relatives to actors to sports stars. 

I'm a firm believer in the old adage "good things happen to good people." And the US military veterans who have been granted a whole week at baseball fantasy camp are a prime example. The seven guys, all wounded while serving our country, will spend seven days shagging balls and catching flies with members of the Chicago White Sox organization this month. I can't think of a better group for the gig, can you?

After all, what do sports teams and the US military have in common?

First, the Red Sox were under fire for drinking beer in the clubhouse during games. They admitted that was true. But now, they're getting "tsk, tsk"s for a report that they were drinking beer in the dugout during games! Whoa! It's one thing behind closed doors, right, but put it out there in potential view of fans, kids, TV cameras, and it's a whole different, err, ballgame?

The Red Sox responded quickly, and team president Larry Lucchino, along with a bevy of players, said that they have "absolutely, positively" never allowed beer-drinking in the dugout during games. They obviously wanted to shut the rumors down ASAP, stating, "It is time to look forward and move forward, rather than allow a reckless, unsubstantiated accusation from ‘anonymous sources’ to mislead the public.” In other words, "back off, you lousy lyin' sports journos!" ... basically.

A group of United States senators may have just found a way to make Major League Baseball appeal to more of the ladies. I know, I know, fans are always wary when the government tries to stick its fingers into MLB regulations (cough, steroid witch hunt, cough). But the appeal being made to the players' union to ban chewing tobacco during televised games may just be the key to selling more tickets well after the last out of the World Series.

Of course the Senators behind this -- Dick Durbin of Illinois, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Senate Health Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa -- are using the "think of the children" approach to appeal to the players. But I think they're on the wrong track. These players should think of the women.

Plenty of us have had one of those days at work when a nice, cold alcoholic beverage would really hit the spot. And now the rumors that Red Sox pitchers Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey have a habit of tipping back some beers in the clubhouse (while eating fried chicken and playing video games) during games have turned into a confession from White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski that he really has tippled between plays! So do these guys have an excuse?

Most of us wait until we get home to crack open the bottle of wine -- because we value our jobs enough to stay sober while we're on the clock. But then, most of us aren't major league athletes under pressure to deliver in front of thousands of fans in a stadium and even more at home.