Morning Briefing: Kevin Durant remembers his hometown

Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant is giving back to his hometown.

Durant is partnering with College Track, a company that provides help to those wanting to go to college, to form the Durant Center in his hometown of Suitland, Md.

The center will help teenagers and young adults by providing tutoring services through college graduation and also will provide some college scholarships.

“The full-circle stuff that you dream about,” Durant told Kent Babb of the Washington Post. “So many people that meant so much to me at that time, and to see my name on the building...hopefully that inspires kids in the area.”

Durant has pledged $10 million to help cover construction and operating expenses for the center, which has already accepted almost 70 students with an emphasis on low-income families.

But no one throws rice at you

New England Patriots center David Andrews has an interesting analogy for getting ready for the Super Bowl.

“Winning. That’s all that really matters. That’s all you really remember. It’s kind of like your wedding day. Everyone freaks out about all these little details, all this stuff, but no one really remembers all that at the end of the day. They just remember the results of the wedding.

“So I guess that’s kind of like football, the Super Bowl, a big event but really all that matters and all you’ll really remember is if you won or lost.”

Well, I never looked at my wedding as a competition, but it is oddly comforting to know that if I want to know what competing in the Super Bowl is like, I can just look back at my wedding day.

Anything that helps

The day after Mariano Rivera was elected unanimously to the Baseball Hall of Fame, former Texas Rangers star Michael Young, who was also on the ballot but received only nine votes, shared a story on how the Rangers thought they had figured out a way to beat Rivera.

“We’d have the guy in the on-deck circle use the metal donut. If Jorge [Posada, the Yankees catcher] set up inside he’d knock the donut off hard, hitter would hear it, and know it was cutter inside. It worked. He’d get three outs on 12 pitches instead of nine.”

He’s back

Former Laker Lamar Odom, who almost died of a drug overdose, kidney failure and several strokes in 2015, is playing pro basketball again.

He arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday to join Mighty Sports Philippines as they prepare to play in the Dubai International Basketball Championship in February. Odom shared his thoughts on Instagram:

“Feeling great, brand new and just really blessed for starting over in basketball. My Filipino brothers and sisters have welcomed me with open arms & hearts and I feel blessed to be here. My first pro practice day in years and I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Best sports movies

It’s Oscars season, so our daily online newsletter, The Sports Report, is going to take advantage of that natural tie-in to poll all of you on what the best sports movie of all time is. The poll will be broken down first by sport, starting with football. So, what are the five best football movies of all time? You can type in this url: https://poll.fm/10220498 to vote. Or you can email houston.mitchell@latimes.com and list your picks for the five best football movies.

We have received almost 4,000 ballots so far, so make sure your voice is heard. I’m pulling for “Gus,” starring Don Knotts, Ed Asner and Gus, the football-kicking mule.