It Seems That Elvis Is Back in the Building

Elvis Stojko is a national treasure in Canada, the skater who landed the world’s first monster quadruple-triple in 1997. Last week he returned to the rink where he first accomplished the feat and did it again.

Said Steve Milton in the Hamilton Spectator: “The height, form, landing and recovery came right out of the textbook that he wrote when he landed the world’s first quad-triple.”

It was the first time Stojko had landed one successfully since winning the 1997 World Championship. It also climaxed the seven-time Canadian champion’s comeback he hopes will lead to a gold medal in the Salt Lake Olympics--at which time he will retire.

“I wasn’t just fighting to be the best, I was fighting against a lot of people who were against me,” he said. “Not so much the fans, but the critics and the people inside the sport. It’s emotional. This is exactly the way I wanted to say goodbye.”

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Trivia time: Who has won the most Australian Open tennis tournaments?

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Neon Deion: St. Louis Ram cornerback Aeneas Williams intercepted two Brett Favre passes for touchdowns last week, but the Green Bay Packer quarterback wouldn’t say Williams was the best corner he has faced.

“He’s one of the best, [but] I wouldn’t say he is the best,” Favre told Don Pierson of the Chicago Tribune. “Deion Sanders was pretty good. At least I’ll throw at Aeneas. If I can help it, I wouldn’t throw it at Deion.”

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Did he get a raise? Joab Lesesne was an assistant football coach at Wofford last season. He was also president of the Spartanburg, S.C., university from 1972 to 2000.

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Premature perhaps: Gary Sheffield, in USA Today Baseball Weekly: “This [Atlanta] is where I want to be. I want to go into the Hall of Fame as a Brave.”

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Unhappy camper: The bowl championship series had college football fans in a dither around New Year’s Day, but concerns about Oregon or Nebraska had nothing on John Shafer, the athletic director at Mississippi.

Ole Miss had a 7-4 record and sat home, while 6-5 Alabama--a 27-24 loser to Mississippi--was in the Independence Bowl.

“I didn’t watch any bowl games, I boycotted them,” Shafer told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I was in a snit. All I did was come to my office in the morning and answer e-mail from fans who were killing me for not getting us in a bowl.”

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Balance: In Charlotte’s 111-101 win Wednesday night over the Seattle SuperSonics, each Hornet starter scored in double figures. David Wesley had 21, Baron Davis 20, Lee Nailon 19, Elden Campbell 17 and P.J. Brown 14.

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Trivia answer: Margaret Smith Court, 11. Roy Emerson, with six, has the most men’s titles.

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And finally: Larry Lucchino is one of the new Boston Red Sox owners. Speaking at the Boston baseball writers’ annual dinner, he said:

“I come from San Diego, where if they had a baseball writers dinner in the middle of the winter, it would be in a drive-through restaurant with 4 1/2 people.”

P.S. Wonder if Lucchino knows that the new Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America president is Bill Center--from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Shav Glick