Oscars are front and center

And now, the envelope please ...

After Sunday’s Oscars and the over-the-top, red-carpet-to-Spago coverage, Morning Briefing is proud to present its Oscar picks -- the five greatest Oscars in sports history.

5. Oscar Goodman. The Las Vegas mayor showed the NBA how to party hearty, or at least do it without gunplay (attention: Stephen Jackson).

4. Oscar Madison. For better or worse, the face of sportswriters since the “Odd Couple” hit the Broadway stage, movie theaters and TV screen.

3. Oscar De La Hoya. Hard to dislike a guy who responds to the blustery comments by Floyd Mayweather Jr.: “Come May 5, when I touch you, you’re going to hurt.” He, and Mayweather, have already “touched” plenty of others. The May 5 fight is a sellout, with a record 1,200 closed-circuit showings expected.

2. Oscar Robertson. Before Magic Johnson and In-N-Out Burger tussle over who deserves credit for making “double-double” part of the English language, it might be noted the Big O averaged a double-double (point and rebounds) in each of his first three seasons.

1. Oscar Gamble. That hair, man, that hair.

Rocky Oscar Road

Sylvester Stallone, whose “Rocky Balboa” was ignored by the Academy this year, has a so-so history in big fights. His Balboa character has a meager 4-3 record in big movie fights, beating Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago and Tommy “Machine” Gunn, while losing to Creed, Lang and Mason “the Line” Dixon.

Then again, 4-3 isn’t so bad. Stallone’s “Rocky” series is a woeful 1-5.

Trivia time

What Hall of Fame broadcaster appears as himself in the 1948 film “The Babe Ruth Story”?

Decor? Isn’t he a winger for the Canucks?

Given the state of television today, it was only a matter of time before Tony Siragusa landed a home-improvement show.

Not surprisingly, the show is called “Man Caves.”

“Women have taken over the rest of the house,” Siragusa said. “We’re teaching guys how to create their own spaces. If you’re the kind of guy who gets pedicures, we’re not coming to your house. The man cave is the true man’s space, and the decor is non-negotiable.”

Just a guess here, but the series could be short-lived. After you have the Barcalounger, the mini-fridge and the TiVo-loaded wall-sized plasma screen, what else is there?

Trivia answer

Mel Allen.

And finally

During the winter, Detroit Tigers pitcher Zach Miner couldn’t escape reminders about his team’s World Series failure against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miner lives in Jupiter, Fla., the Cardinals’ spring-training home.

“My house is literally 200 yards from the front of the stadium,” Miner told the Detroit Free Press.

“So I had to drive by while they were putting up the signs that say, ‘2006 World Series champions.’ It kind of burns the back of your neck.”

chris.foster@latimes.com