It’s Never Too Early to Bang the Drums

Gene Wojciechowski, writing for ESPN the Magazine, on Heisman hype: “Talk about your miracles on 34th Street. . . .

“There on the corner of 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, just across the street from Madison Square Garden, is a 100-by-80-foot mural of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington, which is interesting since many New Yorkers don’t know Oregon from oregano.

“And they wouldn’t know Harrington if he quacked his way up and down Broadway.

“But that didn’t stop the school’s athletic department from dropping 250 large [$250,000] on the cost of the mural, thanks to big-money donations from eight or so Duck boosters.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Laker record for free throws made without a miss in a playoff game?

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Magic number: Ray Ratto, writing for ESPN.com, is hopeful that the Laker-Philadelphia 76er series goes seven games because it “separates the mildly entertaining from the enduringly memorable.

“Seven games tells us much about a player that we could never know in four, five or even six games. . . . There have been only three seven-game NBA Finals since 1978. . . . What we get far too often instead is a quick, ruthless beating by one side over another, a parade, and the other side saying, ‘Well, at least we got there.’ ”

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Pessimistic: British golfer Nick Faldo, 43, is getting married for the third time--to Swiss public-relations executive Valerie Bercher, 27, on July 28. At least one observer doesn’t give the marriage much of a chance.

“If I were Mrs. F III,” says Vanessa Feltz of the London Express, “I’d need a private, personal temple so I could go down on my knees, make a few libations and sacrifices to the gods and delay the arrival of Mrs. Faldo Numbers IV, V and VI.”

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Low tolerance level: Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, writing on Barry Bonds chasing the home run record: “He is one superstar who has benefited from playing on the West Coast, the full impact of his irritability lost over several time zones.

“Imagine his reaction in August after the pestering reaches toxic levels, and some National Enquirer goof asks him if he’s on steroids. He’ll have taken out restraining orders by then.”

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Jordan clone? Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune on Kobe Bryant: “[He] has gone to great lengths to say he doesn’t want to be like Mike, but everything else about him says he does. His turnaround, fall-away jumper is Michael Jordan circa ’98. His moves around the basket are eerily similar.

“The way he carries himself on the court, his facial expressions, the raft of endorsements. . . . It’s Michael revisited.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1944, Cincinnati Red pitcher Joe Nuxhall, at 15 years 10 months, became the youngest player to compete in a major league game when he worked two-thirds of an inning against the St. Louis Cardinals.

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Trivia answer: Gail Goodrich, 17, against the Chicago Bulls on March 28, 1971.

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And finally: Tony Siragusa, the Baltimore Ravens’ 340-pound defensive tackle, put the Super Bowl champions’ visit to the White House on Thursday in perspective:

“It was cool, man,” he told the Associated Press. “But I’m a little depressed they didn’t have a buffet ready.”