Rick Brunson

Eric Daniel "Rick" Brunson (born June 14, 1972) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 9 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and has also worked as an assistant coach for several teams. He played college basketball for Temple.

Professional playing career

Born in Syracuse, New York, he attended Salem High School, becoming the only McDonald's All-American Game from Massachusetts in 1991. Brunson graduated from Temple University. Not drafted by any NBA team in 1995, he played for the Adelaide 36ers in Australia in 1995-96 for whom he was their season MVP, and in the CBA next season. He was signed as a free agent by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1997–98, playing again in the CBA at the start of the 1998–99 season. Brunson then signed with the New York Knicks, and was a member of the 1999 Eastern Conference championship team. In 2000–01, he started off with the Boston Celtics, but finished the season with the Knicks again. He rejoined the Trail Blazers in 2001–02. He then signed with the Chicago Bulls the next season, splitting between the Bulls and the Toronto Raptors in 2003–04, before moving on to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004–05. A breakout season in which he averaged a career-high 5.5 points per game landed him a 2005–06 contract with the Seattle SuperSonics, but only appeared in four games due to injury. On February 28, 2006, the Sonics waived Brunson. He was subsequently signed by the Houston Rockets, with whom he finished his ninth and final season as a professional basketball player.

Jim Rome

James Phillip "Jim" Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by CBS Sports Radio.

Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts The Jim Rome Show on radio. For a number of years Rome hosted a television show Jim Rome Is Burning (formerly Rome Is Burning), which aired on ESPN in the United States and TSN2 in Canada. In 2011, Rome ended his relationship with ESPN to join the CBS network where he hosts his own show, as well as an interview-format show on the Showtime channel. His past hosting jobs included sports discussion television shows Talk2 (ESPN2), The FX Sports Show (FX), and The Last Word (Fox Sports Net). The Jim Rome Show is tied for the #21 most listened to talk radio show in the United States and Rome is the #29 most influential talk radio personality according to Talkers Magazine.

Personal life

Born in Tarzana, California, Rome graduated from Calabasas High School in 1982 and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) with a degree in Communications in 1987. He lives in Irvine, California, with his wife, Janet (Nauman), and their two sons, Jake (age 12) and Logan (age 8).