Great Game

So enough with the whole "more people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials than for the game" nonsense. With brothers - John and Jim Harbaugh - facing off as coaches of the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, respectively, and plays including a record 108-yard run by Raven Jacoby Jones followed almost instantly by a blackout in the New Orleans Superdome, this year's Super Bowl was one of the most exciting in recent memory. First perpetual dark-horse Baltmore took an early lead, then Beyonce blew out the house with a high-voltage show that cranked up the value of halftime real estate for years to come and reminded everyone what "it's got legs" means.

UCLA's Tony Parker slipped away without comment after a 75-59 victory over USC on Sunday. He was not made available to the media after the game, but his play, for once, could speak for itself. What the Bruins can be and what the Bruins are was clear from Parker's play. The 6-foot-9, 275-pound enigma from Georgia, had eight points, three rebounds, a block and a steal in 13 more-bang-for-your-buck minutes during the first half. UCLA bolted to a 47-26 halftime lead. Parker was limited to four scoreless minutes in the second half.

Re "This 'diplomacy' thing could really catch on," Opinion, Oct. 5 The game "Diplomacy" was popular with wonkish college students in the 1970s -- coincidently, when most of our senior diplomats were getting degrees. It is based on gathering allies to crush your enemies, then back-stabbing your allies to gain world domination. It appears to me the Bush administration was playing "Diplomacy" rather than learning it. Kevin Crozier Sun Valley

Dwight Howard isn't Dwight Howard. He's not the dunk-tastic, shot-blocking force of energy under the basket that he used to be. But why? The Lakers center continues to point to back surgery last April to repair a herniated disk. "It's one of the biggest factors," Howard said after practice Saturday. "Coming off the injury, I only had four weeks to get ready for the season, which was training camp and then preseason. I didn't really have a chance to really get in good shape.

The overall theme of Fallout 3 is unlike any in the history of video gaming: It's all about childbirth. The moment your customizable main character is born in a futuristic bomb shelter outside Washington, D.C., you realize you're in for something different. And being taught to control the toddler version of him or her at the start of the game and learning as she does is possibly the most original tutorial in all of gaming.

There will be talk of last Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game for years, and maybe lost in all the lore will be the job Pat Haden did as the NBC commentator. Haden is one of the best football commentators, and he has never been better than he was Saturday. Here was Haden on Reggie Bush: * "He's the 1st Amendment with hips. He expresses himself in his own way." * "He's a little bit like Barry Sanders. Every time he touches the ball, you hold your breath."

In a game of errors, the man who can go and get the mistakes enjoys a certain advantage. Thus did USC defeat UCLA Friday night behind Derrick Dowell, who took 21 rebounds, blocked 4 shots, scored 24 points and won 2 jump balls. Dowell beat the 6-10 Brad Wright for one jump ball and the 6-8 Gary Maloncon for the other.

Hang on. This thing isn't over. You might feel like it's over. It isn't. It might seem as if the Kings' hockey season has come to a terrible, painful end. It hasn't. If Tuesday's Game 5 had ended the season, they wouldn't be having a Game 6. This is check, not checkmate. The Kings are cornered, not captured. Nobody could blame you for being depressed if you are. The Kings lie wounded. They took a shot to the heart. It was a backhand shot by Glenn Anderson of Toronto. It hurt. It hurt plenty.

She didn't like sports. She didn't even like the outdoors. She attended a school that eventually became UCLA. There is a building at USC that carries her last name, but it wasn't named for her. There is someone in her family in the USC Hall of Fame, but it's not her. Marion Wilson was a singer, not a song girl. She was a homemaker, not a groundbreaker. But Saturday, on the 80th anniversary of the first USC-Notre Dame game, she will again be a legend. Because it's her game. She set it up.

In his popular "Flashman" series, George Fraser has taken a minor character from Thomas Hughes' "Tom Brown's Schooldays" and turned him into one of the most dashing figures in the Queen Victoria's Empire. Harold Paget Flashman is a coward, a liar, a cheat, a lecher and thoroughly entertaining. His efforts to save his own hide at all costs invariably lead him into the thick of the fray, where he becomes a hero in spite of himself.

So enough with the whole "more people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials than for the game" nonsense. With brothers - John and Jim Harbaugh - facing off as coaches of the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, respectively, and plays including a record 108-yard run by Raven Jacoby Jones followed almost instantly by a blackout in the New Orleans Superdome, this year's Super Bowl was one of the most exciting in recent memory. First perpetual dark-horse Baltmore took an early lead, then Beyonce blew out the house with a high-voltage show that cranked up the value of halftime real estate for years to come and reminded everyone what "it's got legs" means.

Like her Super Bowl-bound older brothers, Joani Harbaugh is fiercely competitive. When she was 7, she tried out for a part in her school play, "The Wizard of Oz. " She wanted to be Dorothy but instead landed the role of a munchkin. "I was highly, highly offended," recalled Joani, who is five years younger than her brother, Jim, 49, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, and six years younger than John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens. "I do remember that I wasn't Dorothy or Glinda. So I decided to memorize the entire play in case anybody went down with the flu or something, they could put me in there.

The NHL's Board of Governors gave unanimous approval Wednesday to the collective bargaining agreement it had tentatively reached with the players' association. The next step will be for players to ratify the deal. That electronic voting process is expected to begin on Friday and conclude on Saturday, with players also approving the deal. That would allow the NHL to officially end the lockout and permit training camps to open on Sunday. As soon as the lockout is officially lifted, the league is set to release a full regular-season schedule in which each team will play 48 games within their respective conferences.

Cowboys veteran Tony Romo and Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III each will face a tremendous amount of pressure to produce Sunday in a regular-season finale whose winner will capture the NFC East Division title. If Dallas loses, it doesn't make the playoffs. Washington can lose and still advance to the postseason with losses by Chicago and Minnesota, which seems unlikely and practically makes the Cowboys-Redskins game a winner-take-all proposition. Romo is often maligned for failing to win big games.

OutKast's Big Boi has worked with a bevy of impressive names across many genres throughout his career. Beyond his OutKast partner Andre 3000, Big Boi's solo work features pairings with stars big and small, including Jamie Foxx and Janelle Monáe, and his upcoming album will host appearances from name rappers such as Ludacris and indie acts such as Phantogram.  But in early 2013, Big Boi and friend-collaborator B.o.B. will add an entirely new medium to the resume. The two are set to have pivotal roles in the upcoming Electronic Arts shooter "Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel," the third title in the "Army of Two" franchise.

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis will be offering his analysis of the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers throughout the World Series. Known for his defensive prowess, Ellis batted .270 and led the Dodgers in walks this season, though after Game 1 he sounded entirely envious of Barry Zito's hitting approach. There were times during the season when I would come off the field frustrated or angry or discouraged by the way the game was going for the Dodgers that night. With perfect timing, my reality check would kick me right in the gut. The music would die down and then everyone would stop and stand as our public-address announcer would introduce the veteran of the game.

"I see great things in hockey. It's our game--the North American game. It will take our people indoors, fill them with sausage and beer, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these broken noses, and be a blessing to us. . . . " OK, so Walt Whitman never really said that. Even if he had, old Walt's words would have never seen the light of some windy, droning, 18 1/2-hour PBS documentary titled, simply, grandly, "Hockey."

What is your favorite memory of childhood play? At its inaugural exhibit recently in Van de Kamp Hall at Descanso Gardens, the Museum of Childhood asked visitors to fill out forms, in three age groups, answering that question. Then they asked me to judge the entries. The Museum of Childhood, by the way, founded by Jon Lappen, seeks to collect and exhibit children's dolls, cars, trains, soldiers, puppets and other toys as a cultural resource. It is looking for a permanent home.

Salary dumps are designed to save teams money while shedding extraneous players. They don't normally help them land a Hall of Famer. Salary dumps allow teams to rid themselves of aging veterans. They don't usually help them find up-and-comers they are eager to bring back. Salary dumps let teams unload players with questionable pasts. They don't inevitably result in the acquisition of ones with promising futures. Being frugal has rarely been as lucrative as it has recently for the Lakers, who have parlayed a series of trades largely intended to reduce payroll into the arrival of Steve Nash and blossoming reserves Jordan Hill, Robert Sacre and Darius Morris.

Hey ump, you're missing a great game. Never has that taunt been more appropriate than if it was said to Mike DiMuro during Tuesday's New York Yankees-Cleveland Indians game at Yankee Stadium. In the seventh inning, Yankees left fielder Dewayne Wise tumbled into the seats in his attempt to catch a foul ball in the seventh inning. The video clearly shows Wise dropping the ball into the stands. In fact, a fan grabbed the ball and held it up over his head like a prized trophy. DiMuro credited Wise with a catch.