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Talking sports with Sandler, Rock, Spade, James, Schneider
Published: 6/22/2010 3:43 PM
Last Modified: 6/22/2010 10:01 PM

Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade and Rob Schneider took part in a sportswriters-only teleconference Tuesday to talk sports and to promote the June 25 release of their new movie “Grown Ups.” The film is about a group of sixth grade basketball teammates who reunite as adults following the death of their coach.

Following are excerpts from the question-and-answer session:

--Why would LeBron James be a good fit for the Knicks?

Chris Rock: I think he would be a good fit because he can actually play basketball. You can’t say that about a lot of guys on the team right now.
Rob Schneider: New York teams, we buy championships. If you’ve got the money, go buy it. If you can get LeBron, it would be amazing. My thing is I think he will come. Why wouldn’t he come here?
Adam Sandler: I hope I don’t get in trouble for this. I would feel bad for LeBron James in New York right now just knowing he would be in for (an unpleasant experience). I think we’re doomed right now, with or without LeBron. I don’t see good things happening if LeBron shows up. The only thing that could make me happy is if Willis Reed and Clyde (Frazier) decided to play again.
Kevin James: I want him here just because I would love to have another reason to move to New York myself. And if LeBron comes -- I’m throwing it out there -- I’m coming with him. Not just in the vicinity. We are living together.

--David Spade, who produced videos to help Amare Stoudemire get into the All-Star game, was asked this: What are the chances the Suns will keep Stoudemire?

David Spade: I know a lot about this. We’re going back and forth every day on texts. I have almost got him talked into soccer. He thinks it’s a bad idea. No, I don’t know... I like the Suns. I think it all kind of fit well this year and they got a lot closer than people thought. From growing up there with Dick Van Arsdale and Connie Hawkins, I always like teams (that stay intact) and you can follow them when it’s the same guys over and over. But I don’t know. I know it’s a lot of money and this and that. But it seems like they are a good group as is.

--Former UCLA and NBA player Pooh Richardson helped sharpen you guys’ basketball skills for the movie. Who sharpened Pooh’s skills?

Adam Sandler: Pooh showed up with a ball and cones and that’s all I remember.
Rob Schneider: We were all secretly hoping that (co-star) Salma Hayek would sharpen any of our skills.

--What did Pooh work on with you guys and did you have to strike a balance between looking like guys who would have been good players when they were younger, but also look like middle-aged guys playing basketball?

Adam Sandler: These guys didn’t work with Pooh as much as I did. I didn’t do it for the movie as much as I do play basketball a lot and it’s just my excuse so I can get better. We went to UCLA and I hung out with Pooh maybe two or three months and he helped my game a lot. In fact, it’s publicly known that Pooh worked with me. Every time I play well, this happened to me the other day. I beat some kid one-on-one and some other guy came up to me and said ‘well, he takes lessons.’

--Did you get him because Woody Harrelson (star of “White Men Can’t Jump”) was unavailable?

Adam Sandler: No, no, no. We love Pooh, period.
Chris Rock: Gerald Wilkins wasn’t available.

--Did you want to make it look like you guys lost something from a basketball skills standpoint? Early in your lives, you were supposed to be good.

Chris Rock: We don’t have to fake the middle age thing.
Adam Sandler: We don’t have to fake the ability going down.
David Spade: Pooh coached me on being average.
Adam Sandler: The team we were on is in sixth grade and we were good in sixth grade. And I’ve got to be honest. In sixth grade, I was known as a good athlete. As the years progressed, that went away. That made sense in the story. By the eighth grade, I was known as a good reader.

--Here’s a teamwork question: With five comedians working together, how do you avoid jealousy?

Rob Schneider: On "Saturday Night Live," we know what it’s like to be the straight guy with no funny lines sometimes, so all of us, with the exception of Kevin James, who was not on that show, know what it’s like to be stuck with a straight line. So we all had our chance to score and have fun. But also you are dealing with comedians who are in their 40s now, who are more grown-up, so we are not as hungry and scrappy as in our younger days.
Adam Sandler: The best thing about the movie is no matter who gets a laugh, I get to say either that was my laugh or I wrote that one.

--Adam Sandler has done movies about different sports. Where does basketball rank in terms of favorite sports as a fan and as a player?

Adam Sandler: I play basketball every day. I am not great. I am OK at it. I wish I could get better, but I’m just slow and I can’t jump too high. But I would say ranking them, I would say I’m the biggest baseball fan because the Yankees win more.

--Thirty years after the movie’s release, what’s your affection level for “Caddyshack” and would it be playing with fire if anyone tried to remake it?

Adam Sandler: I don’t think they would want to remake that one. (Then came a reference to Caddyshack 2). Caddyshack. Vacation. Beverly Hills Cop. Those kind of movies are what led me and I think a lot of these other guys into wanting to make movies. So, yeah, I don’t watch Caddyshack as much as I used to, but when it’s on I watch it and I love it.

--You remade “Longest Yard.” But was “Caddyshack” such a perfect storm that it couldn’t be duplicated?

Adam Sandler: “Yeah, I don’t think anybody ( could do it). Ted Knight, I don’t know who would be Ted Knight. I don’t know who would be Chevy (Chase). I have no idea. I think we are better off leaving that one alone. We were better off leaving Longest Yard alone too, but it was fun making it.

--NBA analyst and former player Mark Jackson said Kobe Bryant has supplanted Magic Johnson as the greatest Laker. Agree?

Chris Rock: Not even close. Magic has got five rings man. Magic beat Bird. Magic beat AIDS. He’s the greatest. He’s the winner of all time.

--But doesn’t Kobe Bryant have five rings too?

Chris Rock: He has got them. He was there. He picked them up. Magic Johnson won those rings. Kobe got three with Shaq man.
Kevin James: Magic won none without Kareem.
Chris Rock: He won the first one without Kareem, remember? (Jabbar) wasn’t on the floor.
Adam Sandler: I do watch a lot of basketball. No one scares you more when they have the basketball than Kobe.
Chris Rock: Kobe Bryant is the best player in basketball today.
Adam Sandler: Any part of the game, when you don’t want him to hit, he is going to hit.
Chris Rock: But he ain’t Magic Johnson.
Someone in group: Was Magic Johnson your uncle?
Chris Rock: I’m just trying to get into the movies for free, man. (FYI, Johnson owns a nationwide chain of movie theaters).

--Peter Vecsey of the New York Post asked Sandler if writing is always stressful. “It is for me,” Vecsey said. “Just wondering about you.”

Adam Sandler: Vecsey, I’m just like you. I phone it in and hope it turns out all right.... It’s fun. It’s like the best part of the whole deal is sitting in a room and imagining these things being said because, in your head, you think it’s all turning out great. Now when you get on a set and you hear it said out loud, you think, ‘oh my god, they screwed that one up.’ It’s fun to blame everyone else.

--Who was the best athlete among you guys?

Adam Sandler: Different sports for everybody. Kevin James can knock everybody out here the quickest. He can hit a ball the furthest. He can drive a golf ball the furthest.
David Spade: I can skateboard. Rock, what do you do?
Chris Rock: I’m a PlayStation athlete. NBA Live 2K.

--If LeBron came to the Knicks and won a championship, what would that do to his legacy to win a championship in that city and revitalize the franchise?

Chris Rock: Would you just slow down for a second? If he just comes here and wins a game, I’ll be happy. Have you seen our team?
Rob Schneider: I’m a Golden State Warriors fan. The best thing that happened to our franchise in the last 25 years is one of the players tried to choke his coach. That’s on our highlight reel.

--How happy was Nate Robinson when he got sent from the Knicks to the Celtics?
Chris Rock: I love Nate Robinson. Just what people need -- a short Rasheed Wallace.


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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