Duke

Duke Russell is in a familiar place. He's sitting at the back of a meeting room in his dark blue glen plaid suit. His gray hair is slicked back. His talking points are typed out. He's ready to make his case. When his turn comes, he voices the appeal he's made for years to local college leaders, politicians and others. "We have to save the field," he says. On this night, he's at a meeting of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council on the campus of Los Angeles City College. The field — or rather, the land he hopes to preserve for a sports field — is just outside.

Mario Lopez is sweating. And panting. And, if you look closely, grimacing. As he stands in the corner of a boxing ring awaiting the bell that will signal the next round, the "Extra" host sways nervously in a pair of loose-fitting trunks that make his short legs seem even more compressed. The Crest-commercial smile he flashes while doling out celebrity palaver for the benefit of a syndicated-television audience is absent. In fact, Lopez's mouth is nearly shut, the only thing visible through his slightly pursed lips is a mouth-guard specked with blood.

Kyrie Irving traveled just a few miles down the road to become the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. The players that followed him came from across the globe. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Irving with the No. 1 selection in a draft filled with internationals, confident his foot is healthy enough to lead the rebuilding effort that follows LeBron James' departure. Loudly cheered by family and friends not far from where he starred at St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth, N.J., Irving showed no signs of the toe injury on his right foot that limited him to 11 games last season as he walked up the stairs to shake hands with Commissioner David Stern on the stage at the Prudential Center in Newark.

MARK HEISLER'S NBA MOCK DRAFT 1. Cleveland — Kyrie Irving, 6-1¾, 191, Fr., Duke. Who said he's so small? If he's no Derrick Rose, he's a quarter-inch taller and very good, besides. 2. Minnesota — Derrick Williams, 6-7¾, 248, So. Arizona. Unable to find big man, GM David Kahn goes small with him at center, opening floor up for Ricky Rubio. 3. Utah — Enes Kanter, 6-9¾, 259 Fr., Kentucky. Would make their front line as wide as a mountain range (if not ticketed for Wizards in multi-team swap with Jazz taking Brandon Knight after all.)

In what may go down as the most famous draw since the New York Knicks got Patrick Ewing in the first NBA lottery in 1984, which gave birth to the Frozen Envelope conspiracy theory … Here's Nick's Pick! Nick Gilbert, the 14-year-old son of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, stole the show Tuesday at the lottery in Secaucus, N.J., then hit the jackpot, drawing the No. 1 pick. Born with a nerve disorder that caused tumors to grow throughout his body, Nick lost vision in one eye and underwent three rounds of chemotherapy.

'Back to Bataan' Wayne stars as a U.S. Army colonel in this stirring 1945 film about the aftermath of the Battle of Bataan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. 'Flying Tigers' Released in 1942, Wayne's first war film finds the Duke playing a fighter pilot for the legendary unit that protected China against Japanese attack. 'The Sands of Iwo Jima' Wayne earned his first lead actor Oscar nomination for his memorable turn as a tough Marine sergeant whipping recruits into shape in this 1949 gem directed by Allan Dwan.

About an hour south of Washington, D.C., deep beneath rolling hills near the verdant Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, lies a storehouse filled with bounty. At one time, during the Cold War, that treasure was cash — about $3-billion worth — that the Federal Reserve had socked away inside cinderblock bunkers built to keep an accessible, safe stash of funds in case of nuclear attack. Photos: America's record stash Now what's buried here, however, is cultural rather than financial: The bunkers are a repository containing nearly 100 miles of shelves stacked with some 6 million items: reels of film; kinescopes; videotape and screenplays; magnetic audiotape; wax cylinders; shellac, metal and vinyl discs; wire recordings; paper piano rolls; photographs; manuscripts; and other materials.

With a stiff grin, wavy hair and old-fangled steel-rimmed glasses, a brass image of Tom Schieffer greets fans as they stream through the front gate of Rangers Ballpark, the Texas-size cathedral to major league baseball. The wall plaque proclaims the stadium, built in the mid-1990s with ample taxpayer support, as the "lasting legacy" of the former Texas Rangers president and co-owner. A more modest monument to the solace Schieffer has always found in baseball lies a few miles west.

Some wore T-shirts blazoned with the words "Off with their Heads. " Others favored phrases such as "Citizens not Subjects" or "England doesn't need a Queen. " Amid the huge outpouring of royalist support and fervor around Britain as a potential future king of England and his bride exchanged wedding vows Friday was the smaller voice of naysayers far less impressed by the idea of celebrating kings, queens, dukes and duchesses. In London, in a corner of central Red Lion Square a short distance from, but out of sight and sound of, the cheering crowds around Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, the group called Republic held the main anti-monarchy street celebration: Not the Royal Wedding.

Point guard Kyrie Irving is leaving Duke after one season to make himself available for the NBA draft. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement issued Wednesday by the school that Irving plans to hire an agent, ending his college career. Irving played only 11 games and sat out roughly two-thirds of the season because of an injured big toe on his right foot. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists for top-seeded Duke, which was upset by Arizona in the West Regional semifinals.