In Honor of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm's' 20th Anniversary, Here Are Five Great Larry David Sports Moments: TRAINA THOUGHTS

1. It was 20 years ago today, Oct. 15, 2000, that the very first episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm aired on HBO.

I will argue until the day I die that peak Curb—Seasons 3, 4 and 5—is funnier than any show that's ever been on television.

Sports has always played a big part on Curb and in Larry David's real life. Back in 2017, I did a piece on five of the best sports moment in the show's history.

Today, in honor of the show's 20th anniversary, I'm giving you five more great sports moments from Curb and Larry David's real life.

• Episode 7 of Season 10, which aired this March, featured a storyline that revolved around a friend of Larry's killing himself because of the New York Jets. The episode featured the classic line, “The Jets killed Carl—and a little bit of the Knicks,” by Larry. It also gave this classic scene with Larry and Jane Krakowski arguing about the Jets.

• In my 2017 piece, I mentioned the scene when Larry tripped Shaquille O'Neal. That is probably the greatest sports scene ever on Curb. But we also should acknowledge another scene in that episode. Larry and Shaq playing Scattergories and Shaq trying to convince everyone that "peanut butter" is an acceptable answer for the "dairy" category.

• Another episode cited in my 2017 piece was "The Carpool Lane," in which Larry picks up a sex worker so he can use the carpool lane on his drive to Dodger Stadium.

The twist here is that that episode saved a man from going to prison. If you haven't seen the Netflix documentary The Long Shot, I can't recommend it enough. I don't want to give too many spoilers, so I'll just say it tells the story of a man who was accused of murder, but ended up getting exonerated because of Curb and this episode.

• Larry David has given several interviews in which he claims he could be an offensive coordinator in the NFL. And he's not kidding.

• Larry took in a 2013 Suns-Knicks game and his reactions were exactly what he'd expect from Larry David.

2.  A brand new SI Media Podcast dropped yesterday afternoon and this week's guest is Ernie Johnson. The host of the iconic Inside the NBA discusses the show's popularity, the off-air relationship he has with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaq, the one time he got legitimately mad at Barkley, how he navigates the unruly cast, the lessons he learned when doing MLB play-by-play, whether he regrets talking about the 2016 election on the air and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.

3. After the Rays' Randy Arozarena homered yet again last night, his teammate Brett Phillips busted out the dry erase board, and we want to see more of this during baseball celebrations.

4. As I wrote in yesterday's Traina Thoughts, people like to focus on the NFL and NBA, but almost every sport and league has faced a significant ratings decline in 2020. This chart lays it all out for you in a very easy manner to understand if you are a person who actually cares about facts.

5. Hell of a quote.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Here's a top-five all-time Curb Your Enthusiasm scene.

7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Kirk Gibson home run happened 32 years ago today. Many of the top play-by-play people cited the calls of Gibson's homer as their all-give favorite in this project I put together a few months ago.

Here is the Vin Scully television call.

Here is the Jack Buck radio call.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.