The Sporting Equivalency: Buck Henry

He's a seriously underrated dude.

by Ted Bauer

What is "The Sporting Equivalency?"

Decent birthday choices for this, including Tom Daschle. We decided to go with Buck Henry. Cue the peanut gallery: "Ha! That's not your demo!" Truth: it's not. But we like shouting out underrated performers. Henry has hosted Saturday Night Live more than 10 times, wrote To Die For (for our money, that's Nicole Kidman's best film) and has appeared in more than 40 flicks himself. Here we go.

Buck Henry's MLB Equivalent: Roy Oswalt

Until the Rays made the World Series, maybe we'd have Carl Crawford here. Oswalt is possibly the most underrated player in baseball (Jayson Stark agrees). He's really consistent, much like Henry's comedy stylings. Next year, some people are already talking up the Astros as a sleeper NL pick, so maybe Oswalt can have his true moment in the sun—like when Henry got injured by John Belushi's samurai sword in a sketch.

Buck Henry's NBA Equivalent: Danny Granger

Fo' serious, Danny Granger could blossom into this generation's Scottie Pippen. (We understand that for this to happen, he needs to find a MJ.) Probably because he plays in Indiana, he doesn't get a lot of ink or love, much like most people would put Henry in the B or C list of top comedy minds. We're not saying he's A-List, as a side note. We reserve that for people like George Carlin and to a lesser extent (wait for it), Matt Groening.

Buck Henry's NFL Equivalent: Donald Driver

Tom Brady gets a lot of ink for being a late pick who really panned out. Look, we realize Driver doesn't have the rings that Brady does, but get this: Driver was drafted No. 213 overall. He's been to three Pro Bowls. In '06, he went for almost 200 yards in a single game. He's gotten some love, mostly when No. 4 was throwing to him, but nothing along the lines of "the diva receivers."

Buck Henry's College Football Equivalent: Shonn Green

We were at a bar with a bunch of Michigan fans for a game this season; Maize and Blue loses, and someone yells: "Could be worse! We could be coached by Kirk Ferentz!" Um. As they say in high school taunting: "Scoreboard." Iowa is playing on January 1st this year and a huge reason is Green, just as he was a huge reason when they ended Penn State's quest for perfection. No love. Henry was co-creator of Get Smart! No love.

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