December 11, 2006 | Volume 105, Issue 23

The NBA A flap over Ben Wallace's headband fires up the Bulls • Elton Brand isn't getting enough touches • David Lee: the Knicks' big bargain

Sweat Equity

On Clippers power forward Elton Brand (right), who at week's end was averaging a career-low 18.0 points:

HARD-HITTING PRACTICES

Hot Hand

Jason Taylor was alone in the hot tub in early November, trying to soak away the pain of a brutally disappointing 1--6 start, when the Dolphins' veteran defensive end finally lost his cool. What...

HOT READ

IS IT MY imagination, or have division races gone the way of the dodo bird? There just don't seem to be any battles left at the top.

Early Statement

1 The sooner, the better for Greg Oden and Ohio State. Oden (right) came back a month earlier than projected after wrist surgery. If he stays healthy, the Buckeyes will be a favorite to win the...

A New Leafs

The Blue Jackets are raving about new coach Ken Hitchcock. Though at week's end Columbus was 2-3-0 under his direction, the players were rejuvenated by his professionalism behind the bench.......

SOME THINGS in sports make no sense. The foul pole is fair. Olympic divers dive, shower, then dive again. Michael Irvin continues to be on TV.

Exclusively on Verizon Wireless V CAST and SI.com.

Jayhawks Jinxed

The amazing story of Dwyane Wade

We are a nation of lonely football fans, bereft of mirth. Fortunately, the people on the NFL pregame shows understand this. From Howie and Terry to Cris and Jerome to Shannon and Boomer, they all...

Once Mark McGwire was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, but a steroids backlash, and his refusal to "talk about the past," have turned him into an outcast

High-tech spying is wrong, but baseball still has no rule against it

Won By California on a goal as time expired, its 12th NCAA men's water polo championship. With Cal leading USC 6--5 in the fourth quarter, goalie Mark Sheredy (above), the tournament's most...

You'd have thought that pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was the last player left in Japan, given what the Red Sox bid ($51.1 million) last month just to talk to him. (D-Mat has yet to sign.) But plenty...

6,985 Career rushing yards by Pittsburg State's Germaine Race, making him the alltime Division II leader.

Unseeded UCSB completed its improbable run to the NCAA soccer championship

The No. 2 tennis player in the world in the 1980s became Sister Andrea, an Anglican Dominican nun, in September

The windowless Kronk, home to Detroit's best and moistest fighters, has shut its doors

What to watch and watch for

WHEN YOU'RE married to Jessica Simpson, you can afford to splurge on a major league team. When you're divorced from Ms. Simpson, as Nick Lachey is, a one-third stake in a Triple A team is more...

Parents at Castro Valley (Calif.) High demanded that the girls' basketball team be chosen by a six-person panel instead of the coach.

How do you stop a charging elephant? You take away his credit cards—or, if you're playing in the World Elephant Polo Association's annual tournament, you give him a hip check with your own...

BAYARMAA TSOGTBAATAR, Mongolian beach volleyball player, on how she expects her country to fare at this week's Asian Games: "Beach volleyball in Mongolia is very difficult, because we don't have...

Morenike Atunrase SHREVEPORT, LA. > Basketball Atunrase, a junior forward at Texas A&M, shot 8 of 14 from the field and had 22 points (the sixth straight game in which she scored in double...

RAVENS QUARTERBACK

WHO'S Hot

Who is the most annoying player in the NFL?

Chargers Linebacker

Hard lessons for Giants end Mathias Kiwanuka

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy or pdf.]

JOSH BROWN SEAHAWKS

Before he heads to USC, a fiery California QB tries to lead his team to the state title

EXIT STRATEGY

For more high school news and rankings from RISE and Dave Krider's Primetime Performer of the Week, go to SI.com/highschool.

Somalian runners get a new start in Minnesota

IN SOGGY conditions that led to a muddy pileup of more than 40 runners at the 1K mark of Oregon's Portland Meadows 5K course, the Coatesville (Pa.) High boys won the Nike Team Nationals last...

Is there an athlete with more positive energy than the 24-year-old guard? He pulled the Heat out of a deep playoff hole, helped put the shine back on a tarnished league and lifted his mom out of...

In two months, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has gone from a buried backup to the NFL's best-rated passer and its brightest new light

While the Cowboys steam toward the postseason, their NFC East rivals, the Giants, are desperately trying to right their ship

Even before UCLA stunned USC, heightening the championship matchup debate, the BCS was as problematic as ever. SI offers an eight-team tournament with rebuttals to arguments against it

Code Blue

Putting his Olympic volleyball ambitions on hold, Arizona freshman Chase Budinger is focusing on hoops for the first time--and wowing the likes of Michael Jordan

Flashy freshman guard Greivis Vasquez has an uncanny ability to come off the bench--and to the rescue--for surging Maryland

Nine months after letting down the U.S. team at the Winter Olympics--and appearing not to care--Bode Miller is fit, fast and focused on winning World Cup races

No U.S.-born forward can match the career of Dallas center Mike Modano, who is doggedly leading the Stars even after being stripped of his captaincy

In addition to Mike Modano at forward, here are SI's selections for an alltime first-team of U.S.-born stars

WE LIKE THE MATCHUP

DON'T LIKE THE MATCHUP

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.

You've worked too hard to blow it now. Time to hunker down and study key matchups, game-by-game and player-by-player, for three make-or-break weeks

Get the latest NFL news, plus ratings for all fantasy football positions, at SI.com/fantasy.

Under the leadership of a disciplinarian coach, once-woeful Notre Dame has become a national contender

Lefty O'Doul died in 1969, but that hasn't stopped one loyal fan from trying to get him into Cooperstown

Super welterweight Oscar De La Hoya has applied his golden touch to land development, boxing promotion and newspaper publishing, but he's still set for another big payday in the ring

De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions represents some of today's top ring draws

A new bio of Gene Tunney brings a fresh appreciation to the career of an often maligned champion

ROCKY STORIES: TALES OF LOVE, HOPE, AND HAPPINESS AT AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS STEPS by Michael Vitez; photographs by Tom Gralish Paul Dry Books, 129 pages, $22.95

George and Coby Karl have shared a lot on and off the court, including having won a battle with cancer

In addition to Coby Karl and Florida's well-known duo of Taurean Green and Al Horford, a number of other college players have NBA pedigrees. Here are the most productive at week's end.

Film cameras trailing, three ultramarathoners are running the Sahara, from one side of Africa to the other

Engle, who has run an ultramarathon in the Gobi Desert, and Lin and Zahab, both veterans of races in the Sahara, began in Senegal and will traverse six countries and about 4,000 miles in around...