Leonard Fournette Pays Tribute to Classic Movie With Must-See Tattoo

Also in Traina Thoughts: petty Mahomes; Rob Manfred causes a big stir; MLB pitcher has funny explanation for black eye; and more.

1. People getting tattoos of famous people or movie characters isn’t all that noteworthy. The execution of those tattoos, however, could be noteworthy. 

In the case of free-agent running back Leonard Fournette, his tattoos and the execution of said tattoos is extremely noteworthy.

Thanks to Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt, we learned Friday morning that Fournette has tattoos of Robert De Niro and Chazz Palminteri, who played Lorenzo and Sonny, respectively, in the great 1993 film A Bronx Tale.

The tattoos, on each of Fournette's very large calves, are a re-creation of the movie poster.

Today’s Leonard Fournette discovery on @gmfb

I love this dude.

Any NFL player have better movie tattoos? pic.twitter.com/Hd5oKBNUeJ

— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) June 16, 2023

Personally, if I were to get a tattoo to commemorate A Bronx Tale, I'd go with Frankie Coffee Cake, but I digress.

Amazingly, De Niro’s and Palminteri’s Bronx Tale characters aren’t the only film icons inked onto Fournette’s body.

When I checked in with Brandt to confirm that Fournette’s Bronx Tale tattoos were real, because journalism needed to be done on this hard-hitting story, Brandt told me that Fournette also has a tattoo of Chunk from The Goonies.

I think what I love the most about this is that Fournette was born in 1995. A Bronx Tale came out in ’93. The Goonies came out in 1985. So not only does Fournette have great movie taste, but he also loves the classics.

2. Earlier this week, Ja’Marr Chase said Joe Burrow was the best player in the NFL. When a reporter told Chase that Burrow said Patrick Mahomes was the best player in the NFL, Chase tried to be funny and said, “Pat who?” Not only was Chase’s line not that clever, it also gave Mahomes the chance to do this Thursday night when the Chiefs got their Super Bowl rings.

This part of this story was that after Mahomes’s tweet, “Petty Mahomes” was trending on Twitter.

3. Everyone is soooooooo worked up over this quote from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

I found it hilarious. Around 3,000 fans show up to Oakland for A’s games, and then one night 25,000 people showed up and it’s supposed to be some big thing? Please.

4. Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks returned from the injured list Thursday, but he was sporting a black eye. What happened? According to Fairbanks, he was trying to teach his 3-year-old son a sports lesson.

5. We gave you five sports figures we’d like to see replace Pat Sajak as host of Wheel of Fortune when he retires next year. One person we didn’t name has thrown his hat into the ring: Stephen A. Smith.

6. This week's SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

The popular SportsCenter anchor, who is also ESPN’s main golf host, shared his thoughts on the PGA-LIV merger and tried to give us as much insight as possible on what it all means, despite the lack of information out there.

Van Pelt also revealed that he doesn’t plan to host SportsCenter for too much longer. When asked whether he’d be host in three years, he said, “Nah.”

• Other topics covered with SVP include:

• U.S. Open betting tips

• Pat McAfee’s joining ESPN

• The night he lost his voice on live TV

• The beauty of his “Bad Beats” segment

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

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: As a Howard Stern and a fan of prank calls to radio and TV shows, I periodically get asked, “Where’s Sour Shoes?” Sour Shoes is a famous prank caller who used to be a regular on The Howard Stern Show because of his uncanny ability to do anyone’s voice. Unfortunately, he has been MIA for three years, but Howard finally got an update this week, and, in the clip, you can hear many of Sour Shoes’ incredible impersonations.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.