Dueling

The novel "The Night Circus" (Doubleday: 387 pp., $26.95) is receiving a good deal of attention, and it's rightly deserved - even though some comparisons of Erin Morgenstern's fable to other popular books seem sky-high and unfair (to her). Does anyone's book, for instance, really deserve the pressure of being called the next Harry Potter? Can anyone live up to that? In the vaguest of terms, there's a similarity to Rowling's saga. Morgenstern's novel also centers on two dueling magicians, one of whom is difficult to pin down by name.

Six undefeated schools will lose Saturday. That's not a prediction, that's a fact. The pruning process features 12 of the 33 remaining unbeaten schools playing each other. This isn't a four-out-of-seven sport, it's cutthroat. Others may also fall. The "0" in USC's record is at risk at 2-1 Arizona State. Clemson has to host one-loss Florida State. California is 3-0 but is playing at Washington this week, not home against Presbyterian. Wisconsin should be 4-0 after mowing over a South Dakota team with a coach, Ed Meierkort, who says he's going to ask Badgers quarterback Russell Wilson for his autograph.

After 17 years, it appears the "The Lion King" still has a mighty roar. A 3-D version of Disney's popular 1994 animated film is hitting more than 2,000 theaters this weekend for a limited two-week engagement and is expected to launch with about $15 million, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys. That should put the movie in a tight race for No. 1 with "Contagion," the pandemic thriller that was most popular with moviegoers last weekend, when it opened to $22.4 million.

Darrelle Revis, the No. 1 cornerback for the New York Jets, goes by the nickname Revis Island, and he can make any receiver feel like a forgotten castaway never heard from for four solid quarters. Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant is unfazed. In fact, if Revis is shadowing him tonight, Bryant plans to do a little island hopping. "I'm not going to change up my game for no corner," Bryant told reporters this week. "I'm not the type of guy to single anybody out — no DB, nothing like that.

Reporting from San Francisco -- There will come a day when an old man will sit in his rocking chair and tell his grandchildren he was at AT&T Park on a night like Friday night. He will tell the kids how he saw Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum go head-to-head, matching each other zero for zero, much the way his own grandfather used to tell him about Sandy Koufax and Juan Marichal. The stories will increase in magnificence with each retelling, Kershaw's curveball becoming this much sharper and Lincecum's fastball that much more electric.

Jeff Mathis admitted that the pitching showdown between Jered Weaver and Minnesota's Anthony Swarzak on Saturday was both exhilarating and frustrating. Exhilarating because, as a catcher, he got to call the pitches for Weaver's nine scoreless innings. And frustrating because as a hitter he was 0 for 2 against Swarzak in a game in which the Angels were nearly held hitless. "Every guy that goes to the plate wants to get that big hit for" Weaver, Mathis said. "You want to get in there and battle for him. Not only yourself.

Reporting from Pittsburgh — The Dodgers reverted to their usual low-scoring form Wednesday night, but so did the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hiroki Kuroda blanked the Pirates over seven innings in a 2-0 victory for the Dodgers at PNC Park on Wednesday night, limiting the opposition to three hits. "He was pretty good tonight, huh?" Manager Don Mattingly said. "That was huge. " That was particularly true because the Dodgers were short-handed in the bullpen, as Hong-Chih Kuo was placed on the disabled list and Blake Hawksworth was unavailable because of a mild groin strain.

The film world is sufficiently enamored of Linda Lovelace to develop not one but two biopics about the porn pioneer. But can even one get off the ground? Lovelace is the "Deep Throat" actress who later became an anti-porn crusader; she's seen as a '70s icon, albeit a troubled one, who broke ground and then regretted it afterward. A year ago, Lindsay Lohan was set to play the lead in "Inferno," one of the two independently financed movies about the colorful Lovelace -- before Lohan's troubles got her the boot.

LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador — Donald Moncayo walks to the edge of a flat grassy field that once held two large pits that brimmed with a stew of water and crude from an oil-drilling operation. He lifts a heavy auger above his head and prepares to plunge it into the ground. "They always show you the shirt, the coat and the tie," he said of the area, called Sacha 53, which is now pastureland and spindly trees. "They never show you the tumor underneath the shirt. " For almost a decade, celebrities, journalists and shareholders have tromped through Ecuador's jungles on competing excursions that have become a routine part of what could be the world's most expensive environmental case.

Dan Haren's tandem cycle of domination with Jered Weaver should continue to be a fun ride for the Angels, but the joy was interrupted Friday by Boston and its left-hander Jon Lester. Lester (2-1) struck out eight in six shutout innings to outduel Haren as the visiting Red Sox beat the Angels, 4-3 — Boston's 11th triumph over the Angels in 12 games dating to last season. J.D. Drew had two hits and a run batted in for Boston, and Jed Lowrie scored twice as Haren (4-1) lost for the first time in 13 starts before 39,005 at Anaheim Stadium.