Next Week

Already embattled, hockey begins with a covey of nouveaux riches players, an expanded NHL, a new WHA and legal turmoil over jumpers from the former to the latter.

Baseball nears the last of the ninth: William Leggett previews the playoff showdown between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, while Ron Fimrite limns Oakland's Charlie O.

Tall tales have been told for half a century about the skill and skulduggery of an old gambler named Titanic Thompson. Now the man himself recounts his sporting life.