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THE LAKERS and the Celtics are at each others' throats, but two key figures from the rivalry's past are teaming up: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are doing a book about their relationship over the past 30 years. Written with the help of ex--Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan (a former SI senior writer), the book is due out in fall 2009.... Ray Crockett was on the field in 1991 when his Detroit Lions teammate Mike Utley was hit awkwardly and was paralyzed from the waist down. Now Crockett, 41, has a sense of what life is like for his friend Utley and other paraplegics. Crockett spent 30 days in a wheelchair for his appearance in 30 Days, an FX reality series created by Super Size Me documentarian Morgan Spurlock. Said Crockett, who's now a real estate developer, "It's the hardest thing I've ever done."...Romany Malco (right) had never picked up a hockey stick before he was cast as Darren Roanoke, the fictional star of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Mike Myers's comedy The Love Guru. But Malco fell for the sport while filming. "[Now] if I don't skate two or three times a week I am hard to be around," he told SI. "The movie changed my life: I met my fiancée [stunt double Taryn Dakah], and I also met my other love, hockey."

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