July 06, 1998 | Volume 89, Issue 1

Your article on the Vecsey brothers shows that putting ego, money and self-promotion ahead of family is not restricted to the millionaire athletes they cover.—CHRIS MANCUSO, Philadelphia

Letters to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should include the name, address and home telephone number of the writer. They may be mailed to The Editor, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Time & Life Building, New York,...

November 13, 1961

Amid the season's countless sports books, a CPA's memoirs make a bold entry

•That the Rose Bowl execs who sold their game's name to AT&T get flooded with collect calls from fed-up fans.

Golf

111Age, in years, of Orlando nursing-home resident Samie Howe, to whom the city's 1999 WNBA expansion team awarded its first season ticket.

JEER HIMDon't hate him just because he's beautiful. Boo Gordon because—like the Yankees of yore—NASCAR's defending champ wins with such heartless efficiency. He always has the best equipment money...

Admit it. You've tried to get into soccer, but like most Americans you don't have much of a feel for the sport, and there's been so little scoring in the World Cup that you're not sure if that...

The South Korean government has invited Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson to run in a race marking the 10th anniversary of his 1988 Olympic 100-meter victory—the race after which he tested positive...

RYAN PICKETTOhio State football recruit from Zephyrhills, Fla., and the owner of a Rottweiler puppy named Buckeye, after attaining the required SAT score on his third and final try: "If I wouldn't...

Saturday 7/4

Remember when elevators and golf telecasts used the same background Muzak? No more. Last weekend during the Western Open, the top-five hit Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls—a band last seen on network TV...

Brett Heyl, Norwich, Vt.KayakingBrett, 16, a member of the 18-and-under national slalom team, was the top qualifying junior at the senior team trials, finishing seventh in 5:35-49. A winner at the...

Departments

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and CNN team up on the Internet to offer up-to-the-minute sports news and stats. Follow the action in France on our real-time World Cup scoreboard and kick around soccer...

What the first half of the season has lacked in pennant-race excitement it has more than made up for in individual brilliance. SI's Tom Verducci has selected—and artist Phillip Burke has...

Punch OutChristian Vieri (21), who would score the only goal in Italy's second-round World Cup victory over Norway, was thwarted early by keeper Frode Grodås (page 62).

As three All-Star sluggers chase Roger Maris's hallowed record, SI took a hard look at the players who will crown the new home run king—the pitchers

With Greg Maddux on his way to an unprecedented fifth Cy Young Award, SI asked the few hitters who have fared well against the Braves' ace to share their secrets

The Angels and Padres are up, and the Dodgers are down in a reversal of fortunes in Southern California

Whether as a game-breaking receiver or a heartbreaking romantic, fleet flanker Tim Brown of the Raiders is a great catch

SOCCER

Creative TensionBrazil's dazzling 4-1 win over Chile was colored by spats and catcalls

France has a king again, and his name is Pelé. Soccer's grand ambassador is all over Paris—commentating, smiling, flogging products—in short, being Pelé. So it seemed only natural last month when,...

Out with the Old?The service let call may have seen its last Wimbledon. Steffi Graf may have, too

To Deal or Not to Deal?That's the question facing some would-be contenders as the trading deadline approaches

The Cardinals signed Stanford pitcher Chad Hutchinson to a four-year, $3.5 million contract last week, the most money ever given to a first-year player by the team that drafted him, even though he...

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

Ben Grieve is a first-year player who's been around baseball all his life

Gone are the days when Brooklyn and L.A. managers just faded away

A Perfect 10The Celtics were delighted when Paul Pierce's draft stock slipped

In trading Charles Oakley to the Raptors for Marcus Camby last week, the Knicks rid themselves of $10 million that counted against the cap (though they'll pay the Raptors $8 million toward...

Three's a CrowdVancouver's brash new G.M., tempestuous coach and meddlesome star

Penguins co-owner Roger Marino is making enemies in Pittsburgh by refusing to pay retired legend Mario Lemieux the money he is owed (nearly $33 million on a seven-year guaranteed contract he...

It took 20 years of dedication and sacrifice for Oklahoma State football coach Bob Simmons to land his dream job. It took the extraordinary devotion of his wife, Linda, to keep his dream-and him—alive

The most fearsome competitive eater in the world stands only 5'8". He weighs 135 pounds. His waist is 30 inches. You look at him and you think, I spot this guy a pork shank and I still beat him....

Two-timer: After Joe Ogilvie holed a 137-yard pitching wedge for a double eagle at the 489-yard, par-5 14th hole in the final round of last week's Nike Greensboro Open, "every hair on my body...

When it comes to holes in one, Tour pros are all aces

5Strokes by which Annika Sorenstam broke the tournament scoring record while winning last week's ShopRite LPGA Classic.

PGA

A year that began with great promise has turned out to be a dud

After years of anonymity, Joe Durant was someone special at the Western Open

Desert ClassicMadcap Doug Keister and friends play and party in a Western wasteland

What do these players have in common?

What's all the fuss about? I had a super time caddying for my son, Matt, at the U.S. Open. It was like Augusta times two. We had huge crowds cheering us on, people who had paid big money for...