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Tale of the Tape:
Fedorovs vs. Risons


Page2 columnist


Love means never having to say you're sorry, and if you don't believe it, consider two warriors who have walked the walk:

Andre Rison made his fame hauling in tough passes over the middle, yet he remains a moth to the flame of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, the woman who torched his Hot'lanta mansion. When their wedding plans hit the wall, hopeless romantics everywhere felt we'd hit rock bottom ...

But then, news broke that Sergei Fedorov and Anna Kournikova had survived her girlish peccadilloes and were married earlier this month in a small, private ceremony ... that apparently never happened.

It's time to sort through the wreckage.

The Fedorovs and the Risons: two super couples, two over-reported, under-realized unions, and what might have been. Let's see how they stack up in the Tale of the Tape:

Left Eye & Bad Moon vs. Anna & Sergei
Category  
The Risons
 
The Fedorovs
  Advantage
Pre-nups   Codicil 1-A: No smoking in bed   Longer than "War & Peace"   Push
Who broke the rumor   They did   They didn't   The Fedorovs
Groom's secret desires  
Pepa
 
To marry Anna Kournikova ... and to fly.
  Andre
Bride's secret desires  
Destiny Child's wallowing in Spice Girls-esque agony
 
That people could look past her tennis and see her physical beauty
  Fedorovs
At the heart of the matter   Love?   Uh ... Green Card?   Push
How they proposed   Penned a rap that rhymed "wedding" with "bling bling"   Went five-hole with a diamond ring   Push. All's fair ...
Commitment to Excellence   Andre's gal sports a Raider eye patch   Sergei's gal would never trade him for Jason Allison   The Risons
Complications   Left Eye would have to absorb Andre's debts   The most interesting thing about a married Anna? Her won-lost record   Fedorovs
Ring inscriptions   "Caution: Contents flammable"   "Caution: Contents could erase your hard drive."   Push
First dance   "Burning Down the House"   "No Scrubs"   The Risons! Oh, the irony!
Writing their own vows   "How 'bout a little fire, Scarecrow?"   "I promise to love, honor ... and move out of Pavel Bure's condo."   The Fedorovs
Honeymoons would have been marred by   Subpoenas   Paparazzi   Risons
Would have sold exclusive wedding pics to   The Source   Pravda   Risons
New addresses   The limbo of a four-game suspension   The glamour that is Hockeytown   Fedorovs
Best man's teeth   Guilded with symbols of the Wu-Tang Clan   Missing   The Risons

So, there you have it. In a tip-drill bouquet that lands in turnover town, the advantage goes to ... the Risons! Can you say upset?

But hang in there, Anna and Serg. As a married couple, you just become the next Ward and June Cleaver, and we're back to wondering which Playmate Cade McNown is dating.

Until next time, I'm Nick Bakay reminding you the numbers never lie.

Humorist Nick Bakay, currently a writer for the CBS sitcom "King of Queens," is a regular contributor to ESPN The Magazine and Page 2. He has a website at http://nickbakay.com.

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