Of Darren, Duncan and Dissin'

Nice to be back on the side of the page again.

Lots to talk about. Try to hear Ahmad Rashad’s “Rewind” voice from “NBA Inside Stuff” (THURSDAY!) in your head as we touch upon notable sporting news in the past week.

TUESDAY! That’s the last time I’ll do that. But, the NBA season did commence yesterday. And with what hoopla! I can’t remember so much excitement since the Verve Pipe performed at last year’s Springfest! The NBA is in a strange state right now, where past stars Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, John Stockton and David Robinson continue to share the spotlight with now veteran All-Stars Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. It reminds me of the WWF (I refuse to ‘get the F out’), where Hulk Hogan and Rick Flair stick around to “nurture” the next generation of wrestling superstars until fans respect the new guys.

I think Kobe’s proven he can handle himself on his own by now, but Commissioner David “Vince McMahon” Stern must enjoy having the seniors around while their bodies publicly deteriorate. The All-World Dallas Mavericks are my pick this year to finally dethrone the Lakers, unless Dirk Nowitzki gets injured from a hit to the head with a steel chair by a former teammate while the referee is not looking.

The World Series just ended. It was a good one, too. Seven games, comeback victories, long home runs—too bad it had to be Anaheim that won. It’s funny, you root so hard for the Yankees to lose in the playoffs and yet, come World Series time, you can’t help but miss them. They provide drama, great baseball and a perennial villain. The World Series is much more interesting when there is an “Underdog meets Evil Empire” storyline. Last year’s Series featured ninth inning home runs and game-winning hits. This year’s featured a three-and-a-half-year- old boy running onto the field when he shouldn’t have. Yes, the games were often exciting, but the most indelible image of this year’s playoffs was of Giants’ Manager Dusty Baker’s toddler. Not quite Carlton Fisk or Bill Mazeroski.

Speaking of baseball, is Cal Ripken’s consecutive game streak really the most memorable Major League moment of all-time? More memorable than Carlton Fisk’s 1975 Game Six home run, Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th career homer or Kirk Gibson’s “I don’t believe what I just saw” fist pumping blast in the 1988 World Series? It’s a great record, but it’s not really a baseball moment. He just showed up a lot.

The presentation of the award during Game Four of this year’s World Series was made even more embarrassing by the fans’ embrace of Pete Rose. Rose still refuses to admit he gambled on baseball despite volumes of evidence pointing his guilt. If you’ve ever seen him interviewed, he routinely acts like James Traficant in his bizarre denials and frequent assaults on reality. Beam me up, Pete!

Transitioning to the NFL, how about Terrell Owens’ sharpie out of the sock stunt on Monday Night a couple weeks ago? Pure genius. If only he had signed the ball and then handed it directly to Shawn Springs, the cornerback he beat on the touchdown reception. “Dear Shawn, better luck next time. Love, Terrell.” I hope other NFLers take a pointer from Owens and work on their creativity for celebrations. There should be less dancing and more straight-up taunting. Score a touchdown on a corner? Jump into the stands and kiss his girlfriend. Intercept a pass? Find the quarterback’s mother and moon her. That’s what I call a celebration.

Finally, a brief word on Harvard football. Fans, if you can, make plans to go to Penn on Saturday, November 16. This year’s game will almost certainly be eerily akin to last season’s epic battle. Both Harvard and Penn should be undefeated in the Ivy League heading into “The Game before The Game.” With the Ivy Crown likely on the line, the Crimson will face a Penn team that might be even better than last year’s squad. If Harvard can hold on to the ball and avoid stupid penalties, the Crimson has a shot at consecutive undefeated Ivy League seasons for the first time in school history.

And if Harvard does win the league title with a victory against Yale at home, Neil Rose and Carl Morris should console the downtrodden Elis like true champions, giving all Yalies a personally autographed picture free of charge.

—Staff writer Alexander M. Sherman can be reached at sherman@fas.harvard.edu.