Lakers’ Derek Fisher lets fans know he’s still got it

Every so often, Derek Fisher delights in reminding that he’s alive, well and still capable of hitting clutch shots.…

Usually it’s in the playoffs. …

Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon will be All-Stars one day, perhaps even while still playing for the Clippers.…

Only Pau Gasol and the Lakers, among NBA championship contenders, could open a seven-game road swing with a game in their home arena.…

Via Twitter or any other form of communication, Peyton Manning doesn’t need LeBron James to defend him.…

Dwyane Wade & Co. are heating up.…

Let bygones be bygones, Pro Bowl voters seem to be saying, as they’ve made Michael Vick the leader in balloting for next month’s NFC-AFC all-star matchup in Honolulu.…

Maurice Jones-Drew might not be the NFL’s best running back, but nobody’s been better over the last five weeks.…

Torii Hunter, apparently, is a better hitter than recruiter.…

The average annual value of Carl Crawford’s new contract with the Boston Red Sox is $20.2 million, seventh-highest among current players behind Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, CC Sabathia, Joe Mauer, Johan Santana and Mark Teixeira.…

Cliff Lee, of course, will soon join the $20-million club.…

Led by MVP front-runner Tom Brady, the New England Patriots have emerged as clear-cut favorites to win the Super Bowl, according to odds posted at bodog.com, with the Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers the co-No. 2 picks.…

Benjarvus Green-Ellis sounds more like an accounting firm than a Patriots running back.…

Speaking of interesting names, reader David R. Federick of Los Angeles was perusing a Vanguard financial services brochure when he discovered this one: Kobi Laker.…

Laker is a certified financial planner at Vanguard, which is based in Pennsylvania, where Kobe Bryant played high school ball.…

Neither Auburn nor Oregon was ranked among the top 10 in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll.…

Auburn was 23rd, Cam Newton & Co. making the longest climb of any team ever to reach the BCS title game.…

With Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky and Kansas partnering for the Champions Classic, a series of early-season doubleheaders that will be played in New York, Atlanta and Chicago over the next three years, perhaps UCLA, North Carolina, Indiana and Connecticut should put together a similar event.…

Led by UCLA with 11, the latter group has won 23 NCAA championships while the former group has won 16.…

Chace Stanback, a transfer from UCLA, has led Nevada Las Vegas to a 9-0 start and No. 20 ranking.…

Sidney Crosby’s 17-game scoring streak started with a two-goal outburst against the Ducks last month in Anaheim.…

Don Meredith, who famously crooned Willie Nelson’s “The Party’s Over” during “Monday Night Football” telecasts, once aspired to a singing career and toured for a time in a show with Roger Miller.…

Tyrone Fahie, a 28-year-old defensive end who made the Nebraska football team as a walk-on after serving two tours of duty in Iraq, will be awarded an honorary Lott IMPACT Trophy on Sunday at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach.…

Wednesday’s anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor reminds that in 1941, 17 years before the Dodgers arrived from Brooklyn, owner Don Barnes of the St. Louis Browns proposed moving his American League club to Los Angeles.…

At league meetings in Chicago, held two days after the attack, Barnes’ fellow owners unanimously rejected the idea.…

Dodgers announcer Charley Steiner will be awarded an honorary doctorate Dec. 18 when he gives the mid-year commencement speech at Bradley, which not only is Steiner’s alma mater but also Chick Hearn’s and Ralph Lawler’s.…

Hooligans, please note: Public consumption of alcohol is not permitted in Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup.…

Noting that “Law & Order” aired an episode about a philandering golf star who gets hit by his club-wielding wife, Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald writes, “Just when I think Hollywood is out of fresh ideas they go and prove me wrong.”

jerome.crowe@latimes.com