November 27, 2006 | Volume 105, Issue 21

All's Well That Ends Well

IF YOU think you're tired at the end of the day, try getting a real job, such as international tennis star, touring golf professional or major league outfielder; after that your job in roofing or...

He won 95% of his matches and opened an oceanic gap on the No. 2 player. This year Roger Federer became the MJ of tennis

Baseball's off-season spending spree reaches historic heights

Won By Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, the National League MVP award. Howard (above) batted .313 and led the majors in home runs (58) and RBIs (149), power numbers that are the most ever by a...

10,000 to 1 Odds of 4-2-3-9 turning up in the Ohio Pick 4 lottery; it was last Saturday's winning number, worth $2.19 million and chosen 16 minutes after Ohio State beat Michigan 42--39.

A French lab's mistakes are giving traction to cyclist Floyd Landis's doping defense

A Jets rookie denies he was flipping off the world on his (suddenly valuable) football card

Tony Triolo, a former staff photographer who shot more than 50 covers for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED between 1961 and '83, died on Sunday of lung cancer at the age of 76. Longtime SI photographer Neil...

BEING DUMPED is never fun, but Tony Romo seems to have landed on his feet after his girlfriend gave him the heave-ho three weeks ago. Two days later Romo replaced Drew Bledsoe as the Cowboys'...

A man in China has applied for a trademark to market women's sanitary pads under the brand name Yao Ming.

TEEMU SELANNE, Ducks winger, on hockey's popularity in Anaheim: "It's not like back home in Finland or even Canada, where girls wanted my leftover chicken bones from a meal I ate."

What to watch and watch for

Lauren Aird HARARE, ZIMBABWE > Field Hockey Aird, a junior forward at UConn, set the record for goals in a Big East championship game, scoring three times to lead the Huskies to a 4--3...

RAIDERS FULLBACK, AND CHEF

For Crockett's fried-turkey and stuffing recipes go to SI.com/players.

WHO'S Hot

Which team is the most painful and punishing to play against?

DANIEL EWING

[This article consists of a table. Please see hard copy or pdf.]

Panthers Defensive End

Choose sides with well-seasoned pros

In a classic showdown played just hours after the death of a Wolverines legend, No. 1 Ohio State edged No. 2 Michigan to earn a spot in the national title game--where the two teams could meet again

It was not just a man who died last Friday in Michigan, but another piece of a college football institution whose time is nearly gone. The sport was once ruled by giants, larger-than-life figures...

The Cover Two defense has a storied lineage that runs from the Steel Curtain in the '70s to today's stifling Chicago Bears unit. Here's where it comes from, how it works--and how to beat it

The ubiquitous Tampa Two defense will have a major effect on December's playoff races. Keep an eye on these four Tampa Two--heavy games.

Clippers center Chris Kaman is often reduced to his eccentricities and his hair, er, style, but there's more to his story--and to his $52 million game

A gritty racer under all that corporate polish, oft-frustrated Jimmie Johnson--NASCAR's premier driver over the past four years--dodged trouble at Homestead and finally won his first Nextel Cup...

Bo Schembechler 1929--2006

It took three very tough and determined brothers to foster the talents of a young Derrick Rose and protect him from a miasma of Chicago gangs, dealers, hangers-on and, perhaps scariest of all, agents

RISE magazine's high school hoops experts pick the top teams in all 50 states and Washington D.C.

Follow the nation's top teams with updated power rankings each week at SI.com

Christ the King is going for its third consecutive national title, but teams from California and Georgia are the favorites

Lake Howell High is leading a local hoops boom that is turning central Florida into a must-see destination for college recruiters

The NFL Tony Romo makes America's Team his team • Rebuilt running back Frank Gore is carrying the Niners—surprise!—into playoff contention

Romo a Go-Go

In consecutive wins over the Buccaneers and the Rams, the Panthers' defense (right) had a combined 10 sacks and six takeaways while allowing only 333 yards. St. Louis gained just 111.... There's...

HOT READ

In one of those NFL scheduling anomalies that make you wonder, the Bears are completing an Eastern swing of three straight road games. They've won the first two, but each presented some moments of...

In the Running

HOT TOPIC

Dominator III

Though Oilers forward Ryan Smyth (right) and defenseman Steve Staios are key to the team's effort to return to the finals, G.M.'s are eyeing them covetously. Both will be unrestricted free agents...

OKAY, WHO's ready to play What the Hell Were You Thinking, You Lard-Brained Ferret?

Watch exclusively on Verizon Wireless V CAST and SI.com.

ADAM DUERSON MATCHUP OF THE WEEK

Read Peter King's 10 Fantasy Things I Think I Think and analysis from David Sabino at SI.com/fantasy.

The weeks are dwindling, and the fantasy playoffs loom, setting up these games as the ones that will make or break your season

WE LIKE THE MATCHUP

QB DREW BREES at Falcons Has averaged 401.3 yards in last four starts

DON'T LIKE THE MATCHUP

TATUM BELL RB Broncos sprained big toes

Woods succeeds while losing in Asia

WHO: Julieta Granada

Playing against the guys was tough, but it has served me well

The ADT's cutthroat format invigorated an otherwise ordinary event.

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens has increased purses, brought in deep-pocketed new sponsors and made the players' needs priority one. So why isn't she getting more love?

THERE'S A FRESH TAKE ON GOLF EVERY DAY AT SI.COM/GOLF.