Rivalry

The Duplass filmmaking brothers have turned sibling rivalry into an extreme sport for "The Do-Deca-Pentathlon," hitting the brother-lode with this fractious comedy about two sibs settling old grudges. Co-writers/directors Jay and Mark show an uncanny feel for what the growing pains between brothers can look like and how the bruises can linger. Thematically, it continues the Duplass tradition of taking on the trials of family relationships. It's the competitive juices between boys that continue to boil into adulthood that is preoccupying the filmmakers this time.

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte shared a handshake, a few seconds of small talk, a little bit of laughter. The two swimmers bumped into one another in the bowels of a sports arena Saturday, Lochte walking out of an interview room just as Phelps headed in. This could have been different. This could have been pro boxing, where the combatants meet on stage and stare down one another. After all, these Olympic Games will come with a convenient, easy-to-follow plot for the American television audience: Phelps vs. Lochte!

The Dodgers and Angels renew their interleague rivalry, opening a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday with both clubs contending in their divisions — but having arrived there by very different paths. The Angels (32-29) have won 14 of 18 games since May 22 and now trail the American League West-leading Texas Rangers by three games. The Dodgers (39-22), who led the National League West by seven games May 22, are 10-9 since then and have seen their lead over the San Francisco Giants dwindle to five games.

Bryce Harper, the rookie phenom on the once lowly Washington Nationals, will dig into the batter's box and look to exact some more revenge against the Phillies' lefthander Cole Hamels on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park. The last meeting of the two ended with Hamels being suspended and Harper rubbing a sore back as the Phillies pitcher “welcomed” the rookie into the league with a 93-mph purpose pitch to the kidneys ( see video above ). After the game, when reporters asked Hamels about the first pitch to the Nationals' right fielder, the pitcher simply said: “I was trying to hit him. I'm not going to deny it. I'm not trying to injure the guy. They're probably not going to like me for it, but I'm not going to say I wasn't trying to do it. I think they understood the message.” And in case you didn't get the message, Hamels continued, “[It's the]

NEW YORK - The American theater regularly portrays outsized figures we know from history. ESPN routinely packages narratives of athletes we know from sports broadcasts. Rarely, however, does one production seek to do both. Like its subjects, "Magic/Bird," a new Broadway show about the basketball icons, is the most unlikely of pairings. It combines traditional stage drama with slick sports multimedia - all in the service of an intimate story about that most complex of sports rivalries and friendships, the one between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

The welcome arrived via text message. "I'm standing outside your house. Welcome to Trojan country. " It was sent by USC football Coach Lane Kiffin. "I guess we're neighbors," said the man who received it, first-year UCLA football Coach Jim Mora. Quipped Kiffin: "A town divided. " Why should Manhattan Beach be any different? The UCLA-USC rift stretches through Southern California and beyond like a fault line. Mora, who presided over his first spring practice on Tuesday, arrives at UCLA at a time when the city rivalry is so slanted toward downtown Los Angeles that it's an uphill drive to Westwood on the 10 Freeway.

Quickly and decisively, the Clippers point out that there isn't a rivalry between them and the Lakers. "Honestly, I don't think it is one," center DeAndre Jordan said. "But I'm not worried about any other team. I don't care about them. I respect them as a team and as players. Once we step in between that line, I could care less about any accomplishments they have. " And just as quickly and decisively, the Clippers maintain that they plan to stand their ground when they meet the Lakers on Wednesday night in the Clippers' designated home game at Staples Center.

NEW ORLEANS — Folks on Bourbon Street and other rues are saying this might be the best Final Two in NCAA history. "All four teams here are great," Ohio State guard Aaron Craft said Friday. Oh yeah — four. But you wouldn't know it based on the buildup for Saturday's NCAA semifinal between Kentucky and Louisville. "I would say this is probably the most amped-up Final Four game in college basketball history," Louisville guard Peyton Siva said. Few big games in history — OK, no big game in history — has been preceded by rival fans getting in a fight while awaiting dialysis treatment.

I am from Louisville. I am not from Kentucky. My birth certificate is clear, but my heart contradicts, and will pound appropriately Saturday during the most deeply personal of basketball games. I am Louisville. I am not Kentucky. The two schools play in an NCAA national semifinal basketball game that, to the rest of the nation, might seem like little more than an odd rivalry between two campuses separated by about 75 miles of the same backwoods state. Yet for those who have lived there, it is about a cultural divide that can define a life.