Bill Murray's 10 Greatest Sports Moments

#10. Cheers for the University of Illinois Men's Basketball Team at the 2005 NCAA Championship

In 2005, the Illinois Illini marched through the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament to the Final Four in St. Louis. During the team's historic 29–1 regular season, Murray frequently popped up in the bleachers at Assembly Hall to show support for his home state's namesake institution. Murray continued to show his support behind the Illini bench before they ultimately toppled to North Carolina in the NCAA Championship Game.

#9. Announces He’s Quitting Comedy to Join the NBA

On October 6, 1993, Michael Jordan sent a tsunami through the sports world by announcing his retirement from professional basketball. Burned-out on the game and still mourning his father's death (or, perhaps, under heat from the NBA for a hush-hush gambling addiction), Jordan bowed out to pursue his passion for baseball.  A few years later on Ahmad Rashad's "Inside the NBA," Murray mocked Jordan's now-infamous press conference by claiming he was retiring from comedy to focus on playing hoops. The whole charade was far from comedy gold, but that didn't stop "Space Jam" from earning a very respectable $27,528,529 opening weekend at the box office.

#8. Entertains the Cubs For Comic Relief During 2007 Playoffs

There were high hopes that 2007 would finally be the year the Chicago Cubs end longest championship drought in professional sports. While attempting to clinch the NL Central against the Marlins in late September, manager Lou Piniella brought out Murray during batting practice to ease the team's end-of-season tension. At the time, there were rumors Murray might be a part of an ownership group to buy the team off the Sam Zell-owned Tribune Co. Wearing a backwards Cubs hat and spitting sunflower seeds, Murray noted to the AP that his faith in the team went far beyond just cautious optimism: "There is no time for being cautiously optimistic. That's for losers. [I'm] very optimistic. Look at how I'm dressed. Do I look cautious?" The Cubs lost to the Marlins, but clinched the division by beating the Reds.

#7. Randomly Cheers On the George Mason Men's Basketball Team

In 2010, George Mason's men's basketball team played Wofford in Murray's frequent stomping grounds of Charleston, South Carolina, where he's a part-owner and self-appointed "director of fun" of the Charleston Riverdogs minor league baseball team. After meeting with the team over dinner, Murray cheered on the George Mason Patriots from behind the bench. This past January, the actor attended another George Mason hoops game, this time against Towson where his son Luke is an assistant coach for the basketball team.

#6. Wins the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am with D.A. Points

Murray's annual golf gig is to play jester at the AT&T National Pro-Am and entertain the crowd at Pebble Beach with his camouflage suits and hula-hooping skills. In 2011, Murray won the Pro-Am with University of Illinois alumni D.A. Points. The win was Points first PGA victory and helped him earn a place in the Masters tournament later that year.

#5. Calls a Chicago Cubs Game for WGN

Before the 1987 baseball season started, the Chicago Cubs announced that iconic play-by-play announcer Harry Caray had suffered a stroke. The organization went into crises mode and came up with a plan for other beloved Chicagoland celebrities to share the mic with color commentator Steve Stone. Jim Belushi, George Wendt, Mike Royko and George Will all gave it a go. Just a few weeks into the season, Bill Murray took the WGN booth on April 17th, 1987 during a 7-0 Cubs win against the Montreal Expos. The broadcast is engrained in Chicago sports lore, with Murray poking fun of the Canadian National Anthem and betting Steve Stone a case of beer that Cubs’ pitcher Rick Sutcliffe would get his first career steal. Amazingly, Murray won the bet. Check out some video of the broadcast here.

In 2008, Murray's brother told the Sun-Times he allegedly wanted to get back in the Wrigley Field booth, remarking "I think being an announcer for the Cubs would be a cool retirement job — after acting.”'

#4. Hosts the 1990 Homerun Derby

Sadly, the 1990 Home Run Derby at Wrigley Field was not televised. However, Murray MC'ed the three-hour event, mocking every major leaguer who stepped to the plate over the Wrigley P.A. system. According to The Chicago Tribune, he declared Jose Canceso as "armed, dangerous... and he has five toes on each of his feet" and joked that Cecil Fielder, recently back from Japan, was "all crazed up on sushi." He called Bobby Bonilla "A former White Sox... who just wasn`t good enough for the White Sox" and joked that Ryne Sandberg "learned how to hit picking apples off of trees."

#3. Injures Fans Accidentally at Golf Events, Yet Becomes Even Cooler In How He Makes It Up to Them

As a celebrity golf tournament in 2007, Murray tossed a Coke bottle into a crowd and hit a man in the face accidentally, drawing blood just before teeing off. He ended up being a good sport about it, joking with the spectator and signing the bottle that caused his nose to bleed.  Two years later a similar incident occurred in Tampa Bay when he hit a woman on the head with an errant drive. Though she needed a few stitches, she laughed it off and requested an autographed copy of "Caddyshack," to which he delivered.

#2 Skydives at the Chicago Air Show

Perhaps Murray's first documented foray into the world of extreme sports came at the kick off the 50th Chicago Air and Water Show in 2008. The comedian leaped 13,000 feet with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights in a tandem jump over the city. The best part of the story, however, isn't the leap itself; it's what Murray talked to the Army parachutist about after pulling the rip chord and floating two miles to the ground: Golf.