Iron Man

Cal Ripken Jr. is not a very big fan of Cal Ripken Jr. these days. Ask him how he feels about starting his 10th All-Star Game, before 46,000 adoring home-town fans who have made him a civic treasure, and the owner of a .216 batting average will stand silently at his locker in a corner of the Baltimore Orioles' clubhouse, frown, then pick out words not usually associated with Cal Ripken. Words such as embarrassed. Lucky. Backed in. "Personally," he said softly, "I'd feel a lot better about myself if I would have been playing better than I have been.

William Smith, 68, associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the man who introduced two generations of youngsters to orchestral music, died yesterday at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. Mr. Smith, a Havertown resident, had suffered strokes in 1989, 1990 and in October. He last led the orchestra on Dec. 13 and 14, in performances of Handel's Messiah at the Academy of Music. He was hospitalized in January and submitted his resignation to music director Wolfgang Sawallisch in February.

The Summer of Downey? On Friday, Iron Man - easily one of the smartest, most satisfying comic-book superhero movies since Tim Burton's first Batman - opens across America. And Robert Downey Jr.'s the guy: As playboy industrialist Tony Stark, a billionaire inventor who transforms himself into an awesome armor-plated crimefighter, Downey puts the iron in irony. He's cool, he's tough, he's weird. And at the other end of Hollywood's most lucrative season - after a May, June and July full of sequels, franchises, and star-studded, special-effects-laden "event" pictures - Downey will show up again, in Ben Stiller's buzz-aplenty Vietnam War-pic parody Tropic Thunder.

When Cal Ripken Jr. took the field on May 30, 1982, the big films were Gandhi and Tootsie, Madonna was just a wannabe pop star, and Wilson Goode was a wannabe mayor. But let's put it in baseball terms: In all the years between Ripken's debut and the storied September evening in 1995 when he shattered Lou Gehrig's record by playing in his 2,131st consecutive game, more than 3,700 major-league ballplayers spent time on the disabled list, with torn hamstrings and rotator cuffs, sore arms and bad backs, the usual baseball afflictions.

The last time Allen Iverson missed a regular-season NBA game, Glenn Robinson was a Milwaukee Buck, Kenny Thomas was a Houston Rocket, and the playoffs were right around the corner. Iverson's iron-man streak is over. For the first time in more than a year, Iverson won't be in uniform when the 76ers visit the Toronto Raptors tonight at the Air Canada Centre. Iverson, who has swelling in his right knee, was one of three Sixers who didn't make the trip to Toronto yesterday afternoon.

Shawnee's Ryan Mulholland rarely looks over his shoulder anymore. Last season, whenever the horn would blow at a stoppage of play, Mulholland would usually glance to the sidelines to see if he would stay in the game. Now a senior, the 6-foot-1 Mulholland is the iron man of Shawnee, which has won three games in a row following an opening 47-46 loss to Pennsauken. He is also the Renegades' leading scorer, averaging 21.5 points per game. A year ago, Mulholland was frequently the eighth man in a seven-man rotation.

Someday soon, Ryan Minor will jump into the big leagues and land in the toughest job in baseball. Unless Cal Ripken, as many suspect, has struck some truly Faustian deal, the Orioles star cannot play forever. That, however, is exactly what his replacement will be expected to do. The first time the next Baltimore third baseman misses a game because of a bad ankle or an aching back, the negative comparisons will commence. In Baltimore, The Man Who Replaces Ripken has as much chance of being beloved as The Fish Stick Who Replaces Crabcakes.

"Iron Man" is a name that suits its star, Robert Downey Jr. He's not musclebound, by any means, but he has shown admirable staying power. Not so long ago, Downey Jr. was on his way to being dead - drugs, multiple stints in rehab, DUI raps, gun charges. The epitaphs written for Heath Ledger and River Phoenix appeared to be shaping up for Downey Jr. - a talented kid, but one of the lost. In the end, though, one of his rehabs stuck. He was lucky. So are we. Always one of the best actors of his generation, Downey Jr. has rebounded with performances ("Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "Zodiac")

GIMME FIVE Jeff Bridges has been acting since 1970, but he didn't make a $100 million movie until 2003. His top five: "Iron Man" (2008), $318 million. "Tron: Legacy" (2010), $171.9 million. "True Grit" (2010), $170.5 million. "Seabiscuit" (2003), $120 million. "King Kong" (1976), $56 million.

1. Get Him to the Greek . (R) 2. Robin Hood . (PG-13) 3. Iron Man 2 . (PG-13) 4. Prince of Persia . (PG-13) 5. Killers (PG-13) 6. The Experiment (R) 7. Letters to Juliet . (PG) 8. Just Wright . (PG) 9. Legendary 1/2 (PG-13) 10. Marmaduke . (PG) Top DVD titles at U.S. Blockbuster stores for week ended Oct. 3. ( New this week)