Thirty-eight years ago today Franz Klammer charged down the mountain at Innsbruck in what was, for this observer, the greatest sports moment of my lifetime. Definitely of my childhood.

It may be difficult for anyone under the age of 35 to appreciate, and I am not making a qualitative judgment, but there was a time when sports were not televised wall-to-wall. When you couldn’t wake up on a Saturday morning, any Saturday from Labor Day to April Fool’s Day, and spend an entire day, noon to midnight, ingesting college sports.

Yes, it was an era in which skiers who did not look like Lindsay Vonn could actually garner the cover of Sports Illustrated.

There was no NBA League Pass. No MLB Network. No DirecTV, with “football on your phone.” And, of course, no ESPN.

And, so, in those Dark Ages before cable television, sporting events were exactly that: events. Sure, you could see your local pro teams on television — my Knicks were on WOR-TV, Channel 9, while Phil Rizzuto, Bill White and Frank Messer brought me the Yankees on WPIX-TV, Channel 11. But, as for nationally televised events, they were mostly one day per week.

Was it better then? In some ways, yes. I like Beck Bennett, but “more is better” is not necessarily true. Limits, at least when it comes to appetites, are usually a good thing. Ask Jordan Belfort.

Anyway, it was in those days, in my childhood, the Seventies, that the Olympics were at their zenith. Televised sports had advanced by leaps and bounds in a decade but the age of round-the-clock coverage, of ESPN and CNN, was not yet upon us.

All of which is a preamble for me to say this: for all of the sports I’ve witnessed, in person and on TV, and for as much as I love college athletics, if you ask me to name the two best goosebumps moments of sports I’ve seen, it’s a quick answer: the USA beating the USSR in hockey in 1980 (the “Miracle on Ice”), which everyone is familiar with; and Franz Klammer’s gold-medal downhill run in Innsbruck, Austria, 1976, a moment that rarely gets mentioned. Maybe because no one ever made a movie about it.

The Olympics, in the 1970s, were exotic and exhilarating. Here were ABC’s cameras taking you to points on the globe that you’d only otherwise see in a James Bond film; televising sports in prime-time, night after night, which was just bizarre. When there were only four or five channels to choose from, and no internet and not even video games, the entire nation was a captive audience. What were we supposed to do, flip over to Grizzly Adams?

Dan Haggerty. It was lost on no one that he was quite ursine himself.

It was a weeknight, I remember. Thirty-eight years ago today. I was nine years old, and my parents allowed us to stay up late. Franz Klammer was Austria’s national hero, the host country’s best bet to win a gold medal. Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, had laid down a near-perfect run at Patscherkofel.

Klammer was the final skier of 15 to enter the chute. It was simple enough for this fifth-grader to understand: Klammer had to race down the mountain faster than Russi’s posted 1:46:06  in order to win the gold medal. His entire country was counting on his 22 year-old legs, and it seemed as if they were all lining the run.

Why did an American like me care what happened in Austria? It was the Olympics. And back then, in a sports television universe that was not as fractured as it is today, nothing came close to approaching the Games in magnitude. Not even the Super Bowl, though it was closing the gap.

Klammer, present-day.

What happened? Watch Klammer’s run. Listen to Bob Beattie’s call. He’s not skiing. He’s flying. On the precipice of disaster at every turn. It’s not that he simply needs to ski out of his mind. It’s that he knows this is the biggest possible moment his life will ever attain. He’s 22 years old, skiing for the gold medal in his homeland, a country where skiing is king. Nothing will ever be as momentous.

And the pressure is on. As Beattie says at one point: “He’s going for it.” What else could he do?

The most exciting 1:45:73 I’ve ever seen in sports.

STARTING FIVE

Sherman’s rant occurred on the same day his Beats by Dr. Dre ad dropped.

1. The Beats Goes On

Serendipitous? Certainly. Richard Sherman could not have known that Colin Kaepernick would challenge him for the potential game-winning TD pass in the NFC Championship Game last Sunday, thus giving him the opportunity to make a fantastic deflection and become THE Postgame Interview Get.

Still, the fact that this ad was released on the same day provides a window into why Sherman may have reacted so…what’s the word we’ve decided to go with?…. viscerally.

And that’s a good word, by the way. Because your visceral reaction to Sherman’s rant, whatever it happened to be, was the right one. Lots of media are telling you how you should think about it in the aftermath, just as they’re telling you how to think about the Dr. V story in Grantland. Think whatever you want. Your first thought was probably your best.

2. Hello, Neumann

Neumann in ’71; and today, with his daughter Esmeralda.

As profiled in this edition of Newsweek, Johnny Neumann, the last man to average 40 points per game over a season in Division I, is 63 years old –and has a full course load of classes at Ole Miss, where he is presently a sophomore.

3. Who’s Colin Jost?

Jost shoot me.

As first announced by departing “Weekend Update” co-anchor Seth Meyers, the new man on the desk will be Colin Jost. Who? He’s actually the head writer at SNL. A former president of the Harvard Lampoon, Jost joined the writing staff at 30 Rock in 2005 as a 22 year-old, just out of college. He does stand-up, too. He also looks like every preppy villain in every preppy movie ever made. I’m thinking particularly of the older brother in the torture porn flick, Funny Games.

Not Colin Jost. But it could be.

By the way, February 8 will be a Saturday and it will also be Cecily Strong’s 30th birthday. Kate McKinnon turned 30 earlier this month. Lorne Michaels likes himself some “metabolism.”

4. Wall-Star Game?

West                                                                                    East

Kevin Love                                                                Carmelo Anthony

Kevin Durant                                                           LeBron James

Blake Griffin                                                            Paul George

Kobe Bryant                                                            Kyrie Irving

Stephen Curry                                                         Dwyane Wade

Kudos to the fans for voting in Curry and George, both deserving. Quibbles with Kobe and D-Wade based on games missed thus far, but Keith Olbermann told us on his show last night that anyone with a keyboard or a radio show is not allowed to whine about it. This from a man who has his own nightly one-hour show/bully pulpit. Ooooooookay, Keith.

I’d sub in James Harden for Kobe (or CP3, but he’s out with an injury) and LaMarcus Aldridge (who put up a career-high 44 last night, perhaps in a fit of anger) for Blake Griffin on the West. For the East, John Wall is averaging 20 points and eight assists per game.

5. Rafa is Auss-ome

He’s just…so…good.

Maybe you stayed up with Jade McCarthy and Kevin Ngandi to catch the 3:30 a.m. live Aussie Open semi-final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. I did not. Rafa won in straight sets. If he wins the final, the tennis grand slams career wins total will be Federer 17 and Nadal and Sampras, who attended the match, tied with 14. And by the end of 2015, Nadal should be atop that list.

Reserves

Well, he is.

The legendary Bill Walton works as the analyst for last night’s Colorado-Arizona contest and, as usual, does not fail to disappoint. He espouses the aesthetics of team play instead of, as he said it, “take the ball out front, dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble, then shoot.”

When the game veered toward blowout land, Walton discussed the Biosphere (you, Bill, I actually have been inside. Funny story: the one ecosystem they were unable to reproduce: a desert. Now that is irony.) and a weekend concert in Tucson featuring Leon Russell at the Rialto.

Red, the next time you’re in Tucson, you should definitely dine at Alex Flanagan’s parents’ steakhouse.

Walton is, for me, an absolute joy to listen to. He actually treats words like currency and complete thoughts as valuable commodities. Right now, his partner, Dave Pasch, is way too stiff and Bristol-roboto. If ESPN would simply pair Walton and Brent Musburger for one broadcast, it would be gold.

The Hall

Charter Inductees: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner

1937:  Tris Speaker, CF; Cy Young, P.

1938: Grover Cleveland Alexander, P; Eddie Collins, 2B

1939:Nap Lajoie, 2B; Joe Jackson, LF

1940: Billy Hamilton, OF; Cap Anson, 1B

1941: Wee Willie Keeler, RF; George Sisler, 1B

1942: Rogers Hornsby, 2B; Pie Traynor, 3B

1943: Mickey Cochrane, C; Frankie Frisch, 2B

1944: Ed Walsh, P; Old Hoss Radbourn, P

1945:

Lou Gehrig, 1B; 1923-1939, Yankees

The greatest first baseman of all time, Gehrig helped the Yankees to six World Series titles, held the career grand slams (23) and consecutive games played (2,130) records until the mid-1990s, and is No. 5 all-time in career RBI. Belongs on any top five players of all-time list.

Nichols was always prepared to be traded at a moment’s notice.

Kid Nichols, P; 1890-1906, Beaneaters, Cardinals, Phillies

Charles Augustus Nichols had a lifetime record of 361-208 and an ERA of 2.96. Seventh all-time in victories. Nichols is the youngest player ever to reach the 300-win milestone, having done so at age 30.

The Bank

Balance: $791

Last Night: Bye

Record: 6-8

Tonight: Let’s put $50 on the Swaggy P’s getting 1.5 points at Orlando. First game between Lakers and Magic that has not involved Dwight Howard in eons.

Remote Patrol

SUNDAY

The Grammys

CBS 8 p.m.

The pee wee Kiwi hit it big in 2013 with her ode to an American League team that never makes the playoffs.

My sweet Lorde. She’ll be performing, as will the two surviving Beatles, and there’s even a duet with Carole King and Sara Bareilles (I may be the only straight male who is excited about this). The awards themselves? Who cares? As the siblings Doobies once advised, “Oh oh oh, listen to the music…”

STARTING FIVE

Tanaka Blast

1. Baseball’s InvAsian

Masahiro Tanaka will cost the New York Yankees $175 million, or more than C.C. Sabathia. Is he worth it? Well, he has won his last 26 decisions and his ERA has been 1.27 two of the past three seasons (it was 1.83 in the third). Is he worth it? Fellow Japanese pitchers Hisashi Iwakuma (3rd in ERA in the AL) and Yu Darvish (4th) have been for Seattle and Texas. So has reliever Koji Uehara ( a 0.57 WHIP, which is ree-dick) for Boston.

Doubters (ahem, Keith Olbermann) will point to Hideki Irabu or Kei Igawa. Fair. But what about Chien Mien-Wang and Hiroki Kuroda, the latter of whom has been the Yanks’ best starter the past two years?

2. Where’s Joel?

Embiid, a native of Cameroon, began playing basketball at age 16. Now the seven-footer is seen as the next Olajuwon.

The Wooden Award Midseason 25 list was released yesterday and whose name was not among the 25? That of Joel Embiid, freshman center for the Kansas Jayhawks, who is currently the No. 1 overall pick in ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft. Remember, it was not even three months ago when a certain publication put another Jayhawk frosh on its cover with the line “From Wilt…to Manning…to Wiggins.”

3. Ward of CBS

Ward reporting from the remains of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity of the campus of ASU.

The latest face in morning news could be around for awhile. Meet Clarissa Ward, who joined firmly in third (fourth?) place CBS This Morning recently to share the circular desk with Charlie Rose and Gayle King. Rose , King, Ward. You must have four letters to sit there, I guess.

Anyway, Ward is of English and American heritage and attended (nose lofted upward) Yale University. She’s done the whole Baghdad/Syria/Tahrir Square thing, too. She’s like a taller, blonder, younger, estrogen-ier Richard Engel.

4. OK in OKC

The world’s best basketball player.

In consecutive nights the Oklahoma City Thunder take down the top two teams in the Western Conference (other than themselves), Portland and San Antonio. Kevin Durant scores 46 and 36 in the games and in the past 11 games he is averaging 38.1 points. A superstar in his prime. How lethal will OKC be when Russell Westbrook returns?

Old-timers such as myself prefer Durant’s game to LeBron’s because he does not play football/basketball. When LeBron cannot hit his shot, he just palms the ball before his first step, then drives to the hoop like Jim Brown, in search of contact and well aware that no ref will whistle him for a charge. Durant plays the game the way those of us who were raised on Dr. J and Havlicek and Pistol Pete and Rick Barry played it. They were artists, not bulls.

Maybe it’s a generational thing.

5. NFLX >>> NFL

Spacey and Wright.

Stock in Netflix leaped nearly 18%  ($58.27) after hours yesterday based on the company’s quarterly earnings report. A year ago yesterday you could have had a share for $96. Today it’s nearly four times that, at $389. The lesson, as always: Never bet against Robin Wright.

Reserves

The term “thug” originated in India, from the Hindi or Marathi “thag”, which was loosely translated as “ruffian.” To my knowledge a native-born Indian has never played a down in the NFL. Just something to consider.

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Astronomical Pun Goes Here

Gerald Green had a team-high 23. The Suns have played the majority of the season minus Eric Bledsoe and Emeka Okafor, two of their premier players.

The Phoenix Suns hand the NBA’s top team, record-wise, the Indiana Pacers, their worst loss of the season: 124-100. It’s also the most points that anyone has scored on the Pacers. Jeff Hornacek’s team has already won as many games a the team’s midway point of the season (24-17) as most people thought they’d win all year. The Suns are now officially on everyone’s radar.

Six Suns scored in double figures, which is just the way Hornacek likes it.

****

Happy 40th!

Keep on rockin’, Kelly Kapowski

I’m On Fire

They’re not booing, they’re yelling, “Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!” Bruce Springsteen’s son, Sam, 20, joins the Colt’s Neck, N.J., Fire Dept. As a former Monmouth County resident myself, I can tell you that Colt’s Neck is fairly swank. Lots of horse farms. The kind of place where Pie O My would live. And what happened to that filly?

By the way, Springsteen has recorded “Streets of Fire” and “I’m on Fire”, but he also wrote the Pointer Sisters hit “Fire.”

Cold, Hard Facts

A fantastic piece in Outside magazine about what it is like to freeze to death. Because it’s January and it’s not Inside magazine. Recommended reading for the Broncos and Seahawks.

The Hall

Charter Inductees: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner

1937:  Tris Speaker, CF; Cy Young, P.

1938: Grover Cleveland Alexander, P; Eddie Collins, 2B

1939:Nap Lajoie, 2B; Joe Jackson, LF

1940: Billy Hamilton, OF; Cap Anson, 1B

1941: Wee Willie Keeler, RF; George Sisler, 1B

1942: Rogers Hornsby, 2B; Pie Traynor, 3B

1943: Mickey Cochrane, C; Frankie Frisch, 2B

1944:

Ed Walsh, P; 1904-1917, White Sox, Braves

In six of his 14 seasons Walsh posted a sub- 2.0 ERA and retired with a 1.82 mark, which no one has ever improved upon. Won 40 games in 1908. In an all-Chicago 1906 World Series, he led the Sox to an upset of the Cubs, winning two starts while allowing just one run in 15 innings.

Walsh, like Frisch, attended Fordham. His thick brown locks also place him in the Hall of Mane.

Old Hoss Radbourn, P; 1880-1891, Five Teams

Charles Gardner Radbourn won a Major League-record 59 games in 1884 and did not even make the cover of Sports Illustrated. Retired with 309 wins, 24th-most in MLB history.

The Bank

Balance: $791

Last Night: Took Oklahoma minus-14; they won by eight.

Record: 6-8

Tonight: Sitting this one out.

Remote Patrol

Australian Open

ESPN 3:30 a.m.

Brady-Manning and Federer-Nadal in the same week? Yes.

Get up early, or stay up late, to see the two best men’s tennis players of the past decade (ever?), Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, meet in the semis. Knowing these two, it’ll go five sets, so you can probably sleep in until at least 5:30 a.m. Currently Federer has 17 career grand slam wins, Pete Sampras 14, and Nadal 13.

STARTING FIVE

The Oracle of Omaha better be ready to pay up.

1. March Millions

This could work.

Item 1: Yesterday Quicken Loans, owned by billionaire Bil Gilbert, and Berkshire Hathaway, owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, announced that together they will pay $1 billion (that’s the first number you learned followed by three commas and nine zeros) to anyone who correctly picks ALL 67 games of this year’s NCAA mens’ basketball tournament.

Item 2: The most popular cause among journalists and college athletes in revenue-producing sports is income disparity, the concept that the “student-athletes” should be paid for their services.

My Idea: There exists a group of people who are in a prime position to influence the outcomes of these games. A group of young men. Actually, 68 small groups of young men. What if these young men were to, I don’t know, create a Facebook group to which only they had access? What if they were to just toss around the idea that the higher-seeded team in every game would win, with one or two or six exceptions since someone out there is bound to hand in a bracket that is chalk?

If Coach K. can get paid, why not the players? And it’s not even a salary; it’s a contest.

What if all of these young men were to agree that within every one of their 68 smaller groups, the 10 most influential members would receive equal shares? Those outside the top ten in any of the 68 smaller groups would receive some smaller share. Now, all we need to happen is to have someone turn in a bracket, keep all of the members apprised of what that bracket looks like, and then let the madness begin!

If you multiply 68, the number of teams in tournament, by 10, you get 680. Now divide $1,000,000,000 by 680 and you get a quotient of….

$1,470,588.24

That’s PER PERSON.

I got your Cost of Attendance right here, pal. Not bad for less than three week’s work.

Lorenzo Charles, N.C. State

Let’s say that the median salary in the U.S.A. is $50,000. And let’s explain to our young men that for most of them, that check represents at least 29 years of work. Even if we are optimistic, for most of them, at least 15 years of post-collegiate labor. Or they can just follow this plan.

2. FLOTUS Dunk

The Bucks want to offer Mrs. Obama a 10-day contract.

By now this has made the rounds. I just would like to add that if you’ve been watching the Miami Heat play this month, this GIF symbolizes their commitment to defense.

3. Master Thespian

“How indeed, detectives?”

I know you think I feature Matthew McConaughey far too often on this site, that perhaps I’ve gone McConau-Gay. But we’re watching an athlete in his prime who is simply killing it. It’s like Bob Gibson in 1968 or Mel Gibson in the Nineties, before he opened his mouth about Jewish people.

And while we are only three weeks into the new year, this is the best scene on any show I’ve watched so far. It’s the final scene from the premiere of “True Detective”, as Rust Cohle lets the two detectives know that as deviant and spaced as he may seem, he’s known why they called him in to talk since the very moment he entered the room. Also, the backing guitar, the timing of it and the tone, fits perfectly.

4. uNDer armour

Mike Brey will start this guy on Saturday.

“We Must Protect This House…of Worship?”

Notre Dame and Under Armour, the world’s top supplier of unbearably tight-fitting clothing that no one over the age of 30 should wear, sign the most lucrative shoe and apparel deal in college sports history, reportedly for $90 million over 10 years. Stock in Under Armour (UA) rose 3.40% yesterday on the news. Au was the symbol for gold. Now in South Bend, they’ve reversed the letters.

5. Damon in Davos

From Oceans 11 to potable water.

In the film “Syriana”, which was actually on television last night, Matt Damon plays a Switzerland-based oil commodities analyst. This week Damon is in Davos, Switzerland, to address the World Economic Forum about, well, water (but not necessarily well water).

“Having traveled in the Third World quite a bit, I started to get a real appreciation for the magnitude of the water crisis, and it just shocked me,” Damon said. “Every 20 seconds a kid dies because they lack access to clean water and sanitation.”

His message to the world’s most influential people? It IS your fault.

My favorite Damon scene from “Syriana”, a bleak but powerful film. Maybe a little too bleak.

Reserves

Why does watching other people be happy make us so happy?

You’ve probably seen this footage of the Auburn band as Chris Davis scores the winning touchdown in the Iron Bowl, but just in case. Those sousaphone players deserve a Heisman, hoisting their horns upon their shoulders in preparation to play before Davis even crosses pay dirt. That’s awesome.

***

Deadspin’s Greg Howard (or is this just an alias under which Jason Whitlock writes?) informs us that White America cannot handle an athlete who is 1) Black 2) Successful and 3) Arrogant. To which I say, “Bullshit.”

Muhammad Ali.

The problem with Richard Sherman’s rant, Mr. Howard, is not that it was arrogant. It’s that it was hostile and absolutely without charm. Ali met all three of your parameters. So did Rod Tidwell. And white and black audiences sopped it up with bread. Charm and a sense of humor, traits that those men and many other successful, arrogant black males possessed, will take you a long way.

I’m not even linking to the piece. It was self-righteous, race-baiting garbage.

********

Hawaii 5-0 Foot Waves

Fifty-foot waves are headed for the Oahu’s North Shore today and, ironically, an esteemed surfing competition will be canceled. Not due to the height of the waves, but rather the wind conditions.

Moriarity was just 16 when he made the cover of Surfer for this spectacular wipeout.

Which reminds me: I caught “Chasing Mavericks”, a 2012 film on the brief but spectacular existence of Jay Moriarity, last night on Showtime. Highly recommend. Or, at least the final 20 minutes. The visuals from Mavericks, the famous surfing spot just south of San Francisco, are wild.

Here’s footage from Moriarity’s infamous wipeout, in 1994, at the age of 16. After this, he retrieved his board and went back to the lineup. That’s plain balls.

*****

Michelle Beadle is returning to ESPN, a story broken by Richard Deitsch at SI.com. We’ll see if the magic is still there.

*****

Everything that’s wrong with education in the United States in one depressing essay by Thomas Friedman. My sister-in-law has taught at the same elementary school for more than two decades and I pretty much hear the same stories from her. (This is not one of those Rick Reilly moments in which my in-law will then run to another publication and claim that I misquoted her.)

****

Games of Thrones

If you’re doing No. 2, you may be two by two.

A photo taken by a British newsman of a toilet at a venue in Sochi. This is NOT the type of Olympic movement we are going for.

***

Instagram is not a toy, kids.

A fraternity at Arizona State University, Tau Kappa Epsilon, a frat that had already been suspended, decides to stage an MLK-themed party. And so Arizona’s reputation as a (as THE)  racist state only is further enhanced.

The Hall

Charter Inductees: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner

1937:  Tris Speaker, CF; Cy Young, P.

1938: Grover Cleveland Alexander, P; Eddie Collins, 2B

1939:Nap Lajoie, 2B; Joe Jackson, LF

1940: Billy Hamilton, OF; Cap Anson, 1B

1941: Wee Willie Keeler, RF; George Sisler, 1B

1942: Rogers Hornsby, 2B; Pie Traynor, 3B

Frisch also stole 419 career bases.

1943

Mickey Cochrane, C; 1925-1937, Athletics, Tigers

The 1928 American League MVP, Cochrane has the highest career batting average for a catcher (.320), at least until Joe Mauer retires. Had his career ended after a near-fatal beaning.

Frankie Frisch, 2B; 1919-1937, Giants, Cardinals

The “Fordham Flash” was a switch-hitter whose .316 lifetime average remains the standard for those who bat from both sides of the plate.

The Bank

Balance: $835

Last Night: Bye

Record: 6-7

Tonight: Let’s take Oklahoma minus-14 versus TCU. That’s a huge spread, of course, but the Horned Frogs have lost by 32 and 26 in their only two road games since Dec. 5. For $40.

Remote Patrol

Thunder at Spurs

ESPN 8 p.m.

He’ll be the MVP and he’ll clean out your gutter.

At least one of these two teams will play in the Western Conference finals. Kevin Durant had 46 last night in a win against Portland and 54 on Friday in a defeat of Golden State. He’s gone for at least 30, roughly his average, in each of his past eight games.

STARTING FIVE

Black Sea, black widows, black cloud.

1. Is Sochi Safe?

The Winter Olympics are about two weeks away, and as happens with every Olympics since Munich, the inevitable security concerns stories begin to appear. This time, though, the stories have weight behind them. To begin with, reacquaint yourself with Sochi’s location. It’s a weekend getaway from a number of countries that are hostile to the West.

Sochi borders the Black Sea, in Russia, of course.

The venues themselves will likely be safe, as will the athletes. It’s the cafes and the plazas, where thousands of tourists will congregate, that will give officials migraines. And let’s hope that’s all.

2. Ouch, Babe

She’s thinking, Fifty-Cent in the pits at Daytona was more lucid.

My former colleague Jeff Pearlman stays up past his bedtime, opens up the lap top, and unleashes a screed on the spokeswoman for TruBiotics. Meeee-ow! I’m not the biggest EA Sports fan, but what did she do wrong here? She actually asked the question everyone was thinking; and then a FOX producer ordered her to abandon ship. Contrast that with Ed Werder’s fawning interview of the same human, just moments later, for ESPN. If EA had smiled and fawned this way, she would have been roundly pilloried. And squarely pilloried.

3. RIP PAT?

You can’t spell “Party” without “P-A-T.”

Once upon a time my good friend Steve Hymon was a reporter (read: fact-checker) at Sports Illustrated. Reporters were not expressly forbidden to submit “Point After” essays, but we knew our chances of ever having one published were miniscule. “Hymo”, as he’s known, penetrated that barrier with an essay entitled “Rename This Column” in which he advocated that the NFL adopt college football’s option for a two-point conversion after a TD.

At the time, the NFL only allowed the kick PAT.

Some time after Hymo’s column, the NFL did adopt his idea –I’m sure they never credited him, though.

So now Roger Goodell is considering ending PATs? Why? Is he doing this just for kicks? I’m hoping to read a hed that says something like, “NFL Will Eliminate PAT, Replace With Four More Regular Season Games.”

The PAT is the fine after-dinner mint that we all crave. A coda for a symphonic drive. A chance to beat the traffic to the fridge for our next “Old Star or Old Milwaukee…nothin’ snooty.”

And, of course, I have to ask: Would such a maneuver coerce my former employer into actually taking Hymo’s advice (“Rename this column”) itself?

4. A Film About a Film Critic?

Aisle be seeing you…

Steve James, the Chicago-based filmmaker who gave us “Hoop Dreams”, a universally acclaimed documentary, is screening a film about the late Chicago Sun Times and nationally known film critic, Roger Ebert, at Sundance Film Festival. It’s called “Life Itself”, based on Ebert’s entertaining autobiography. And here’s one review of a film about a film reviewer. And here’s another.

5. Dr. V Was No Dickie V.

Answer: No. Years of lying and depression may have.

The “Harrumph Harrumph Harrumph!” story of the week goes to Grantland.com, where a young writer’s profile on a sham putter salesperson went horribly awry. Grantland Editor-in-Chief Bill Simmons apologized. A guest with expertise on trans-gender issues explained what went wrong.

The writer, Caleb Hannan, did some wonderful digging here to expose the subject, Essay Anne Vanderbilt. The subject would take her life before the piece ever ran. Hannan’s piece was first widely praised. Then there was backlash. Now there is penitence.

Sorry, I don’t get it. While Hannan overreached by informing one of Vanderbilt’s investors about her sexual reassignment, he was reporting a piece on a person in which the crux of the story became the fact that the person was misrepresenting his or herself. And in that case, her transgender issue is germane to the story.

I’m sorry that Vanderbilt felt so lost that she committed suicide. But I do wonder why the only ones never blamed for a suicide are those that actually commit suicide.

Reserves

Joan Niesen, one of the new SI hires, has gone from Georgetown to Mizzou J. School to Fox Sports North to the Denver Post to SI in rapid succession.

Sports Illustrated announces THREE COUNT ‘EM THREE writing hires in one swell foop, and that doesn’t include our man Hamilton, who was also recently brought aboard. Curiously, still no word on the whereabouts of Thayer Evans.

If there’s one word in the first graf of that release that should catch your eye, well, have you ever heard of the Citric Acid Cycle? What does it all mean? I cannot be sure, but SI will be having a screening of “Logan’s Run” for any editorial staffer interested later this week.

*****

Totalitarian State of Denial

The North Korea Rodman, Steve Francis and their baller buddies didn’t see.

North Korea, where they smuggle in not guns but computers and video cameras. This is an excellent 50 or so minutes from PBS’ “Frontline.”

****

Hoopage: Swaggy P. scores 31 in a Laker loss, giving him 60 points since returning from suspension…Ohio State loses its fourth straight (but Aaron Craft remains pure and sublime)…Kansas beats its fourth straight ranked team: the six other teams who have beaten four ranked squads is as many games have won the national title…Miami finishes its road trip against mostly crap Eastern Conference teams 2-4…Notre Dame women’s hoops remains undefeated with a win at Tennesssee; probably won’t meet UConn until Final Four.

The Hall

Charter Inductees: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner

1937:  Tris Speaker, CF; Cy Young, P.

1938: Grover Cleveland Alexander, P; Eddie Collins, 2B

1939:Nap Lajoie, 2B; Joe Jackson, LF

1940: Billy Hamilton, OF; Cap Anson, 1B

1941: Wee Willie Keeler, RF; George Sisler, 1B

1942:

Rogers Hornsby, 2B; 1915-1937, Six teams, mostly Cardinals and Browns

The Rajah’s .358 career batting average is second only to Ty Cobb, and no one since has bettered the .424 batting average he posted in 1924. Only player to ever hit above .400 and at least 40 home runs in the same season (1922, when he hit .401 with 42 homers).

Pie Traynor, 3B; 1920-1935, 1937, Pittsburgh Pirates

Often considered the greatest 3rd baseman pre-Brooks Robinson, Harold Joseph Traynor had a career .320 batting average and a .946 fielding percentage. Only struck out 278 times in 17 seasons.

The Bank

Balance: $835

Last Night: Took the Lakers plus 9.5, they lost by 2. So we win.

Record: 6-7

Tonight: Coming later

Remote Patrol

Indiana at No. 3 Michigan State

ESPN 7 p.m.

Dakich. He’s terrific. Some of you think he’s the worst. Which only corroborates my opinion.

You’ve got a potential Final Four squad in the Spartans plus Dan Dakich is your analyst. What else do you want? Can IU’s Yogi Ferrell duplicate the performance he had against the then No. team in the country, Wiscy, last week?