Like the tides and O.J. Simpson, the much publicized spat between Dan Shaughnessy and Curt Schilling is back, with a new wrinkle. In his game recap today, the usually steady Gordon Edes peppered his bleary-eyed effort with a quip regarding the latest Celtics news.

“They’d better have four balls,'’ Francona said, marveling at Reggie’s famous demolition of the Knicks at the feet of Spike Lee. Jerry Remy suggested that the Cooz was still available.

In my journey through the morning sports pages, I also stumbled across this jab at Ainge and the C’s:

First Tom Brady gets named best-dressed man in the world – an unspeakable shot at Bill Belichick, Larry Bird, and yours truly. Then we find out the Celtics are going after Reggie Miller as part of their back-to-the-future archaeological dig. Really now. Reggie Miller? The guy is almost 42. He’s a television analyst. Why not just see if Cooz wants to lace ‘em up one more time?

Shaughnessy managed to yet again work himself into a column, and was unknowingly called out by his fellow Globe writer for stealing a joke from Remy. Coincidence? I doubt it. If we can get Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman involved, this debate could rival stem-cell research, Lincoln-Douglas, and gay marriage combined.  I wonder which side Schilling takes; “no comment” isn’t in his vocabulary.