March 26, 2007 | Volume 106, Issue 13

MANAGER MIKE SCIOSCIA seventh season with Angels SOME PLAYERS seek fame. Howie Kendrick runs into the famous by accident. As the Angels' second baseman stood in the on-deck circle between...

MANAGER BOB GEREN first season with A's THERE WAS a justified air of excitement at A's camp this spring. On the part of the players, regarding new manager (and former bench coach) Bob...

MANAGER MIKE HARGROVE third season with Mariners

MANAGER WILLIE RANDOLPH third season with Mets

MANAGER BOBBY COX 18th season with Braves JOHN SCHUERHOLZ, Atlanta's venerable general manager, views his team's failure last season to win a 15th straight division crown as anything but...

MANAGER CHARLIE MANUEL third season with Phillies

MANAGER FREDI GONZALEZ first season with Marlins

MANAGER MANNY ACTA first season with Nationals

MANAGER TONY LA RUSSA 12th season with Cardinals

MANAGER LOU PINIELLA first season with Cubs

MANAGER NED YOST fifth season with Brewers

MANAGER PHIL GARNER fourth season with Astros THE THREE dirtiest words around Astros camp this year: World Baseball Classic.

MANAGER JIM TRACY second season with Pirates

MANAGER JERRY NARRON third season with Reds

MANAGER GRADY LITTLE second season with Dodgers

MANAGER BOB MELVIN third season with Diamondbacks THE WEALTH of young talent on the Diamondbacks was apparent one day in early March when general manager Josh Byrnes watched outfielders...

BUD BLACK first season with Padres

MANAGER CLINT HURDLE sixth season with Rockies IN LATE AUGUST, after a once promising season had turned into yet another Rocky Mountain Horror Show, Colorado made what at the time seemed...

MANAGER BRUCE BOCHY first season with Giants

YOU CALL yourself a sports fan? Then why don't you help your team? Screaming at opponents, "You shoot worse than Dick Cheney!" is not enough. Wearing your DUCK FUKE! hat is not enough. It's time...

Jock Culture So Ohio State is The Program (March 5)? Try looking south to Gainesville, where Florida is the first Division I school to win men's basketball and football national titles in the same...

IN THIS MONTH'S whirlwind of NFL player relocations, no move was more surprising than that of three-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker Joey Porter, a career Steeler who was cut by the team on March...

WHO'S Hot

Who has the hardest shot in the NHL?

As commissioner from 1969 to '84, Bowie Kuhn led baseball in tumultuous times

NASCAR's boxy 'Car of Tomorrow' aims to keep crews honest

Upsets, anger and tragedy rocked the first week of the Cricket World Cup

1923--2007

Won By Juan Manuel Marquez, the WBC super featherweight title, with a unanimous decision over Marco Antonio Barrera. Both men were bleeding by the end of the wild bout, which took place in Las...

JOHN AMAECHI, ex-NBA center who recently said he was gay, on people who use the Old Testament to justify anti-homosexual views: "It also forbids eating shellfish. If being gay is as bad as going...

72 Goals scored by Oshawa Generals center John Tavares this season, breaking the Ontario Hockey League record for 16-year-olds set by Wayne Gretzky in 1978.

Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball coach Carol Russell was on the bench for a Division II NCAA tournament game five hours after giving birth.

BRAVES LEFTFIELDER

A spring of change for closers stepping into the rotation

ADD TALK-SHOW host to the job titles held by Knicks guard and discount sneaker entrepreneur Stephon Marbury. Stars on Stars premiered on Fox Sports Net on March 9, with Marbury lobbing softball...

A new film celebrates a groundbreaking swim coach

BASEBALL VIDEO games have become so realistic they might as well come packaged with pine tar rags and rosin bags. In fact, the two titles licensed by Major League Baseball for 2007, MLB 2K7 by 2K...

BEWARE THE FLIES OF MARCH. The farcical four-handed flub by the Marlins' Josh Willingham (above, left) and Eric Reed—yep, they dropped it—and the smackdown that left Giant Nate Schierholtz (below,...

An NCAA back chats up his soccer idol

BEFORE N.C. STATE alum Rhett McLaughlin married UNC grad Jessie Lane in 2001, the couple hashed out an informal prenup: Their sons would be taught to root for Rhett's beloved Wolfpack; their...

The 36-year-old co-stars with Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory

What to watch and watch for

Kwonya Ferguson MELBOURNE, FLA. > Track and Field Ferguson, a junior at St. Augustine's, helped the Falcons to the team title at the NCAA Division II Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships...

The first week of the NCAA tournament was devoid of upsets--but not star power--as a septet of top seeds stole the show and set up a slate of Sweet 16 blockbusters

More Madness

The second round of the women's NCAA tournament was played after this issue went to press. For complete coverage, including a closer look at Oklahoma's Courtney Paris (above), photo galleries and...

When Pitt and UCLA meet in the Sweet 16, their coaches will face the one matchup they've always wanted to avoid

SI's team of experts will file exclusive dispatches for SI.com from every game throughout the tournament. A few select excerpts:

Every player wants to be a starter--no one really wants to be known as a great sixth man. But with a super sixth, like Dallas's Jerry Stackhouse, sparking each of the league's top three teams,...

Full-Court Press

Here's a breakdown of the race for this season's Sixth Man Award.

Or so it seems this off-season, as the Patriots have been aggressively stockpiling impact players. Have they regained the edge over AFC rivals Indianapolis and San Diego?

DOMINIC RHODES

Splitter, slider, curve Fastballs: four-seam, two-seam, cut Shuuto, mad changeup

Blow by Blow North Carolina center Tyler Hansbrough took a painful shot from Michigan State's Marquise Gray (below) during the Tar Heels' 81--67 second-round win, and Niagara's Charron Fisher was...

Dice-K isn't the only newcomer who will leave his mark on the 2007 season. These players won't all start the season in the Show, but by year's end SI believes that you'll remember their names

THE QUICK STUDY

THE LITTLE BIG MAN

THE GOOD OL' BOY

THE FIVE-TOOL GUY

THE POCKET ROCKET

THE GAS MAN

THE HISTORY MAKER

SI's REGULAR SEASON POWER RANKINGS

MANAGER JOE TORRE 12th season with Yankees PERHAPS YOU'VE heard that these Yankees are different from their forebears. There's now an emphasis on roster and payroll flexibility, and a...

MANAGER TERRY FRANCONA fourth season with Red Sox RIGHTHANDER Curt Schilling is lugging an additional burden this season, and that's not a reference to the 10 pounds he put on this winter...

MANAGER JOHN GIBBONS fifth season with Blue Jays

MANAGER SAM PERLOZZO third season with Orioles ABANDONING THEIR usual off-season M.O. of falling for the biggest brand names in free agency (even if they're past their prime), the Orioles...

MANAGER JOE MADDON second season with Devil Rays

MANAGER ERIC WEDGE fifth season with Indians

MANAGER JIM LEYLAND second season with Tigers

MANAGER OZZIE GUILLEN fourth season with White Sox

MANAGER RON GARDENHIRE sixth season with Twins

MANAGER BUDDY BELL third season with Royals

Lorena Ochoa is out to do more than just shake up the rankings. She's trying to change a country

Vijay Singh's Sunday surge to victory at Bay Hill was so ruthlessly executed that it could have easily been mistaken for someone else's work

Loren Roberts wins yet loses

23

A Michigan resort with a rare codesign by Nicklaus-Muirhead

WHO: Vijay Singh

When it comes to pro success, the meek shall inherit the FedEx Cup

by JIM GORANT

Arnold Palmer should become the ceremonial starter at the Masters

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

Manager Ron Washington first season with Rangers MUCH OF the conversation at Rangers camp this spring centered on the comeback of Sammy Sosa and understandably so, given his high profile...