Highlights from Marshawn Lynch, Tom Brady appearances Monday on ESPN’s ‘ManningCast’

Considering it didn’t debut until this season, it was easy to forget how much we missed ESPN2’s “ManningCast” on “Monday Night Football.”

Eli Manning and his brother Peyton were back Monday for the Saints-Seahawks game after a month’s hiatus, and they had an A-list of guests.

First up was Marshawn Lynch, the former Seahawks running back.

Eli Manning asked Lynch about something he said last December: Lynch’s pregame ritual was to drink Hennessy.

On Monday, Lynch said he took three shots of Hennessy before the broadcast. “So I’m feeling really good,” Lynch noted.

Eli Manning then said he was having a shot, to Lynch’s delight.

Later, Lynch dropped an F-bomb on the air. That all happened in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady joined the broadcast and talked about getting the ball used for his 600th career touchdown pass back from a fan.

The fan got an autographed Brady helmet and jersey, a signed Mike Evans jersey and game-used cleats, $1,000 credit at the team store and two season tickets for the rest of this season and all of next.

Brady also said he would give the fan a Bitcoin, making the total haul for the fan an estimated $100,000.

Later Manning noted that Brady is stealing his NFL records and working with Manning’s former coaches “like a single white female stage 1 stalker clinger here buddy.”

And those were just some of the highlights. Good stuff.

A Bulls renaissance?

DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points for Da Bulls as they won 111-108 in Toronto and improved to 4-0 on the season.

It was the first time the Bulls have started a season 4-0 since the 1996-97 championship team with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

On Monday, the Bulls saw a 20-point lead cut to seven in the fourth quarter, but DeRozan scored 11 points and made all five of his free-throw attempts.

“Part of the reason they wanted me to come here it was my experience, being in those moments, understanding how to deal with those moments,” DeRozan told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s a learning experience, me just teaching other guys.”

Dunk of the night

The Cleveland Cavaliers won 99-87 in Denver on Monday, handing the Nuggets their first loss of the season.

Lauri Markkanen scored 12 points for the Cavs, with two coming on this huge dunk over Nikola Jokić.

Move over Gretzky

Alex Ovechkin scored twice as the Washington Capitals beat the Senators 7-5 in Ottawa on Tuesday. It was Ovechkin’s 84th career multi-goal game on the road, which broke a tie with “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky.

Retiree helps at World Series

Mike Swanson retired at the end of the regular season as the Royals’ Vice President of Communications and Broadcasting, but he’s got one last job to do.

This one is for Major League Baseball, and it’s something familiar to him.

Swanson is back at the World Series helping MLB coordinate media needs. He tweeted a photo from Houston, where the Fall Classic between the Braves and Astros begins Tuesday night.

Two of those World Series assignments were with the Royals in 2014-15.