Sports chatter: Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!

If someone could have two birthdays in a year, it would be Bobby Bonilla. He was born on Feb. 23, but July 1 has become an annual Bonilla celebration.

For the 10th straight year, Bonilla received a check from for $1,193,248.20 from the New York Mets. He hasn’t played a game since 2001 and suited up just 60 games for the Mets in 1999.

Bonilla, 57, batted .160 with the Mets, which led to a buyout of his contract. Instead of paying the final $5.9 million he was owed, the Mets decided to pay Bonilla nearly $1.2 million every year on July 1 from 2011-2035. The total amounts to about five times the money he would’ve been owed had the Mets just made one upfront payment.

This will always be one of the smartest decisions by a player, and one of the not-so-smart choices by a team. Bonilla essentially made $30 million for 60 games, all while hitting for the worst average of his career. Now he gets paid until he’s 72.

It’s not like Bonilla was a bad player. He was a six-time All-Star and batted .279 in his career. He had seven seasons with 30 or more doubles.

Two of those all-star seasons came in his first stint with the Mets (1992-95). His second stint in ’99 was about as close as an athlete can get to committing robbery without being charged.

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!

As most NBA fans expected, Pelicans rookie sensation Zion Williamson will grace the next-generation cover of NBA 2K21.

With the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles set to arrive some time in the fall, publisher 2K Sports, for the first time, will have different cover stars across the next and current-gen versions of its game.

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard will be the cover star for NBA 2K21′s current-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.

Williamson’s profile has skyrocketed ever since clips of him dunking over high school kids spread over social media two years ago. His freshman season at Duke only lifted those expectations when he became the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

His in-game player model in NBA 2K21′s PS5 version was highlighted in a trailer to officially announce the game back on June 11.

2K’s last reveal, for its special Legend Edition cover, is expected Thursday and many believe the late Kobe Bryant will be the one on the front of the box.

Vasiliy Lomachenko is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in boxing. The Ring Magazine and Complex Sports have him ranked No. 2 in the world, and ESPN has him No. 1.

The lightweight champion is about to get one of his toughest tests yet. According to Top Rank chief Bob Arum, Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) is scheduled to fight Teofimo Lopez in a unification bout on Sept. 19.

Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) is Ring Magazine’s No. 1 contender. He’s knocked out six of his last seven opponents.

Many believe Lomachenko is one of the greatest fighters of his time. Here’s his best chance to prove it. At 32, he isn’t getting any younger, and his world-class speed will eventually start to to tick away. There is no time like the present to make his case that he’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

Lopez also has an opportunity. He’s heard the stories about how great Lomachenko is, but Lopez has done nothing but dismantle every opponent put in front of him.

This fight on paper, looks to be one of the best since the coronavirus pandemic altered the sport.