Editor’s note: In recognition of Sunday night’s Academy Awards, during which one of the honored movies was the Massachusetts-based sports film “The Fighter,” we’re republishing this list that first appeared on our site last year.

"Fever Pitch" featured appearances by a few Red Sox players from the 2004 World Series championship team.

Some people just can’t be pleased. Common knowledge has it that many musicians want to be athletes, hundreds of athletes want to be musicians, and plenty of actors are envious of athletes. The same stands for athletes being actors. All too many times, athletes stand out as the awkward people who never have more than a few droning lines and can never really advance the plot of the film beyond the lone scene they’re in. Of course, the ploy never matters much to the studio bigwigs as it can bring in thousands of an athlete’s fans to just catch a brief glimpse of their hero during the course of a two-hour film.

It’s not always that way, however; whenever an athlete is being an athlete on screen, things seems slightly more natural. Think Barry Bonds in “Rookie of the Year,” Reggie Jackson in “The Naked Gun,” or the litany of NBA players who co-starred with Lil Bow Wow in “Like Mike.” For every Jim Brown (“The Dirty Dozen”), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (“Airplane!”) and O.J. Simpson (“The Naked Gun”), there’s a Michael Jordan (“Space Jam”), Shaquille O’Neal (“Kazaam” and “Steel”) and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (“The Game Plan” and “The Tooth Fairy”) who should never step on a Hollywood set.

For Boston fans, they can only hope that their heroes can get onto a list of the former and not the latter. Rajon Rondo can now be seen in the basketball-rich movie “Just Wright” starring Queen Latifah and Common — when he isn’t making historic plays that can be added to the pantheon of Celtics playoff moments, that is. Thankfully, Rondo is starring as himself, playing basketball, so things are looking good so far. In his honor, let’s count down some of the best movie cameos by Boston sports icons. Note that we are not including Celtics guard Ray Allen (“He Got Game”) because he was playing for another team at the time. And we’ll tell you right now, Dennis & Callahan fans, that your heroes didn’t make the cut. Sorry.

10. Derek Sanderson

During the heyday of the Big Bad Bruins, Turk made an appearance as himself in the 1971 movie “Face-off,” about a pro hockey player and a folk singer who fall in love. He also appeared in the horror film “A Knife for the Ladies” in 1974, during his second stint in Boston. It wasn’t surprising to see Sanderson on the big screen, as he was known as someone who rode his fame and fortune as far as he could take it.

9. Rick Fox

Fox, a first-round draft pick of the Celtics in 1991, played in Boston until 1997, when he signed with the Lakers in part so he could continue the acting career he started while a Celtic. In 1994, he made an appearance in the college basketball movie “Blue Chips,” and two years later he had a role in “Eddie,” the movie that starred Whoopi Goldberg as a fan turned coach of the New York Knicks. Fox has gone on to become a regular on the big and small screens. Read the rest of this entry »

Brett Favre signed his new contract with the Vikings on Monday, and details have been leaking out. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the new contract will be $20 million in total, but the way it breaks down is different than previously reported. Favre reduced his base salary from $13 million to $11.6 million and received a $4.4 million signing bonus along with it. With the addition of $4 million in incentives, Favre reaches the $20 million mark.

Florio also mentions that Favre will make an additional $4 million this year and another $4 million next year, both in deferred 2009 salary; he already made $4 million last season. Favre will take over $30 million from the Vikings for his two years of service.

Dolphins offensive lineman Nate Garner required surgery to repair his left foot, which was worked on already over the course of the offseason. Garner was originally the backup to right tackle Vernon Carey, but he has been getting comfortable in the starting left guard position. According to The Miami Herald, coach Tony Sparano said that Garner won’t be expected to return to play for another eight week, which pegs him at a return on Nov. 4 against the Patriots, at the earliest.

Garner’s injury is just one of many uncertainties on the Dolphins offensive line this preseason. Rookie and possible starting right guard John Jerry tweaked his right knee on Monday, which prevented him from continuing to practice. There has also been a contest between Joe Berger and Jake Grove to find out who would be the starting center, but Sparano confided that neither one is jumping forward in the contest because both have been underwhelming in practice.

Despite various concussion tests showing no results of a concussion, the Giants are unsure of when they can expect Eli Manning to return to the football field after opening a large gash on his forehead during a preseason game against the Jets on Monday night.

In an interview with ESPN 1050 on Tuesday, Manning said, “All day, I’ve been getting tests done and just making sure there is no further damage to my brain or to my skull, and everything looks fine. That’s good news.”

Coach Tom Coughlin is just as concerned with the three-inch tear on Manning’s forehead that required 12 stitches. “Just the nature of where the helmet sits, according to where the stitches are, could create problems in terms of healing,” Coughlin said. The coach still expects Manning to join the team for the Giants’ final three days of training camp in Albany even if the quarterback won’t participate.

The New York Daily News reports that Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte has a “small, persistent strain” of his left groin that was identified through an MRI conducted Tuesday night. Because of the setback, manager Joe Girardi said that Pettitte would not be back for “another two weeks at least.” That would place Pettitte’s return at close to the beginning of September.

Pettitte originally injured his groin in a game against the Rays on July 18 and was expected to return to action in another 4-5 weeks. He was throwing a simulated game in Tampa on Friday hen he reported a slight discomfort in the area, cutting short the practice.

On Tuesday, Pettitte threw in the outfield then moved to the bullpen, where he threw about 20 pitches on the mound and 20 off. When he complained of the same discomfort from Friday, an MRI was conducted during the Yankees game against the Tigers. Pettitte currently has a record of 11-2 with a 2.88 ERA, the best start in his 16-year career.

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As many people know, new Celtics center Shaquille O’Neal makes a living out of making a character out of himself. In the past few years, he’s toned it down considerably, but in his heyday Shaq was everywhere. Not only was Shaq featured in several feature films, including “Blue Chips,” “Kazaam” and “Steel” (he also made an appearance in “He Got Game” with his now-Celtics teammate Ray Allen), but he made his way into homes every night through his many, many endorsements. From milk to soda to candy to cable, Shaq was — and still is — the NBA’s king of sales.

Through the power of online video, let’s look back on some of Shaq’s best commercials, with our minds set on seeing Shaq represent the Green on more ads in the future.

Pepsi — Playground Bully, 1993

Synopsis: Shaq, looking a bit like Gary Payton, literally breaks into a neighborhood basketball court, bends a rim down to dunk (seeing the opposite is a lot more fun) and proceeds to storm over to the cooler for a much deserved beverage. When there is no soda left in the cooler, he casually walks over to a small kid, who flat out denies him the Pepsi.

Best Moment: 0:16 — Romantic music starts to play as Shaq lays eyes on the child, giving the totally wrong impression.

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The sound of a plastic bat’s sweet spot coming flush into contact with a whistling ball. Seeing the white orb traveling about 10 feet beyond the left field wall. Running the bases with pride as though you were David Ortiz, Carl Yastrzemski or Ted Williams. All these emotions are fed from a simple little backyard game that is best played during the summer: Wiffle Ball. For the weekend of Aug. 6-8, players from far and wide will get the same feelings when they play in the Travis Roy Foundation’s 2010 Vermont Wiffle Ball Tournament, but they also will feel fantastic for helping out a good cause.

Tucked away in the forested mountains of Essex, Vt., are what could be considered the most famous Wiffle Ball fields in the world, Little Fenway and Little Wrigley. Built in 2000 as a whimsical backyard project for a bunch of friends, Little Fenway was the first field built by Pat O’Connor and it quickly took a life of its own. After several trips between Boston and Essex to get the proper paint color, dirt type and dimensions of the original Fenway Park down “pat,” O’Connor opened up Little Fenway on July 4, 2001.

Part of the allure to building such a unique structure would be for recreation, but O’Connor saw beyond that and decided it could be used for something better. Since the beginning, Little Fenway has raised money through tournaments for many noble causes, including the Travis Roy Foundation. The two sides have teamed up since 2002, when the inaugural tournament was held.

“Little Fenway was designed for Wiffle Ball and it seemed like a natural venue to use for a tournament to benefit the Travis Roy Foundation,” O’Connor said. “The money we raise goes directly to the people who need it.

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Celtics guard Tony Allen was down and out after tearing his ACL following an unnecessary dunk during a break in the action. (AP)

This year has been called the Year of the Pitcher in baseball because of the two perfect games, three no-hitters and several close calls (Armando Galarraga and Daisuke Matsuzaka), but it also has been called the Year of Bizarre Injuries. The season is more than halfway through, but the number of strange injuries is plentiful. There have been injuries that sound somewhat familiar, like getting injured thanks to a coffee table (Russell Branyan) or a sneeze (Mat Latos) or frustration (A.J. Burnett), but there have been some new kinds of injuries, like during celebrations (Kendry Morales and Chris Coghlan) or by errant throws to the nether regions (Carl Crawford).

Now, news has come out that the reason why the Rays acquired reliever Chad Qualls was because during batting practice Friday, a day before the deadline, set-up man Grant Balfour engaged in a wrestling match with pitching coach Jim Hickey and injured his left side. Because of horsing around with a grown man, Balfour is going to miss 4-6 weeks.

Baseball seems to have the majority of strange injuries, and the Red Sox don’t have an exemption from the rule, especially this season. Both Jacoby Ellsbury and Jeremy Hermida have had their seasons upended by the same injury, breaking ribs by colliding with third baseman/man of steel Adrián Beltré. Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek also suffered the same injury to the same bone in their foot thanks to foul balls just days apart. Víctor Martínez suffered a broken thumb when several balls slammed into the same location over the course of a game, and this week Kevin Youkilis was placed on the disabled list with a torn muscle in his thumb that has doctors perplexed.

Despite the fact that the Red Sox have suffered a plethora of injuries to their starters this season, they can take solace in the fact that all of the injuries have happened on the field and none of them are too absurd. The same can’t be said for the past. Here’s a list of the stranger injuries in Boston sports history, separated by team. Read the rest of this entry »

WEEI’s Alex Speier has reported that a source familiar with the situation said that there was no deal between the Red Sox and Mets involving relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com had reported (via Twitter) that the two teams were still talking with minutes to go before the deadline, but the source said that the two sides had not matched up. The Mets were (and presumably are) interested in Ramirez, and the two sides had discussed a swap of the Sox reliever for Rod Barajas before the catcher went on the disabled list. The two sides also discussed Ramirez for a prospect, but could not match up.

MLB insider Brent Gambill has posted on his Twitter feed that the Red Sox might be talking to the Braves about shipping out Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury has missed all but nine games this season after fracturing several ribs in a collision with third baseman Adrian Beltre back in April. He is scheduled to play for Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday night in the next phase of his rehab assignment.