June 26, 2006 | Volume 104, Issue 26

Phil Before the Fall In his quest for his first U.S. Open trophy (inset) on Sunday, Phil Mickelson overcame an errant tee shot on the 17th hole at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y., with a brilliant...

The American Way My job wants me, advertisers want me, my ex-girlfriend still wants me, Uncle Sam wants me and now U.S. Soccer (June 5)? I applaud how far the program has come in just under 10...

If you bring only 4,000 baseball books to the beach this summer, make one of them Veeck As in Wreck, the best baseball book ever written, if you ask Karl Cicitto, who has roughly 4,000 baseball...

He's coming back to the NBA after striking a sweet deal with Charlotte, but has Michael Jordan, at 43, finally found his destiny?

A new book questions how well integration has served the modern black athlete

Admitted That he was named in an affidavit released in connection with a June 6 federal raid on the home of Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley, former first baseman David Segui (above). The...

Even when he's asleep, former Syracuse tailback Walter Reyes doesn't get caught napping. On June 11, Reyes, 25, who's trying to win a job with the Dolphins this summer, was staying with a friend,...

The three-time WNBA MVP and Houston Comets forward was named this month to the league's All-Decade Team.

ESPN baseball analyst and Hall of Fame scribe Peter Gammons, long known as a maestro of the keyboard, is now a wizard of the fretboard too: His debut album, Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old, will...

What to watch and watch for

Lee Cruz DADE CITY, FLA. > Baseball Cruz, a senior outfielder at Tampa, led the Spartans to the NCAA Division II national title and was named the College World Series MVP and NCAA player of the...

IRL DRIVER

WHO'S Hot

BATTING ODOR

Rangers Shortstop

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

Heavy-handed officiating aside, the U.S.'s fortunes took a turn for the better against Italy, setting up a match that may affect the team for years

On the verge of surpassing Tiger Woods as the game's dominant player, Phil Mickelson instead blew the U.S. Open with a 72nd-hole collapse--failing to measure up to his archrival

Meet Nick Swisher, the irrepressible young slugger for the streaking Oakland A's, who knows how good he is and is happy to talk to anyone about it

With a rollicking crowd behind it, high-energy Carolina controlled Game 7, blunting Edmonton's comeback bid and delivering a hockey championship to Tobacco Road

Who will contend for next year's Stanley Cup? For an early look at 2006-07 go to SI.com/nhl.

The mad-as-hell Mavs, the superstar heat of Dwyane Wade and a fascinating coaching duel between masters old and new drove the best postseason in a decade toward climax

Seven-foot Andrea Bargnani, a.k.a. the Next Dirk, is the best player ever to come out of Italy-and the best player in this year's NBA draft

DUKE LACROSSE, the 46 white players, a black dancer and the reputation of the university are forever changed. But is the case solid? Was the coach made a scapegoat? Exclusive sources describe...

The case has produced a steady drip of leaks, damage control and conflicting evidence

Baseball Trade talks heat up, but pickings are slim The Angels demote their best starting pitcher An embarrassing turn of events for the Diamondbacks

Trade Deficit

The Angels can't do much right these days, and demoting their best starter to the minors continued the trend. To make room for ace righthander Bartolo Colon, who came off the DL last week, L.A....

IS DODGERS ROOKIE MATT KEMP THE NEXT JEFF FRANCOEUR? Kemp, who hit seven home runs in his first 45 major league at bats, is doing his best impression of the Braves' Francoeur (seven homers in his...

ARIZONA'S EMBARRASSING RUN From June 5 through Sunday the Diamondbacks lost 12 of 13 games while being outscored 101-38; released relief pitcher Jason Grimsley after federal agents knocked down...

Nothing Doing

Recently retired Bernard Hopkins continues to add to his titles. He was named Philadelphia's "community engagement ambassador for peace."... Jermain Taylor's Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy, coming off...

Let It Rain

The most relieved men at Michigan were Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. NASCAR's two most popular drivers have struggled recently at intermediate-length tracks, but both were smiling when the...

Me, I like pulling the legs off spiders. I eat my sack lunch at the Discount Surgery Center, just to hear the wails. I'm the guy yelling up to the man on the ledge, "Just do it!"

Exclusively on Verizon Wireless V CAST and SI.com.

A European hasn't won the Open since 1970, but that almost changed at Winged Foot, where Colin Montgomerie, among others, made the case that it will happen--and soon

Thanks to its Father's Day finish, the U.S. Open is always a time of celebration for the men who have formed a special bond through golf

He didn't make it to the weekend, but simply by playing his way from Zambia to Winged Foot, Madalitso Muthiya was a big winner at the U.S. Open

The Open's over, but Phil may not be alone in feeling like an idiot

WHO: Phil Mickelson

Tiger Woods faces a future that's suddenly filled with uncertainty

The greens were lumpy, the fairways mere ribbons, and the scores ... oh, my! Yet everyone came away thinking that Winged Foot was fair

George Mason's Final Four run boosted its hoops program but might give the university itself a bigger lift

Jimmy Winkfield was America's top jockey, but bigots drove him abroad, where his ride got really wild

IN PRAISE OF ATHLETIC BEAUTY by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht Belknap Press, 263 pages, $22.95