November 30, 1998 | Volume 89, Issue 22

The Denver hype has now reached Phase Two. Phase One was in late October, when the Broncos handled the Jaguars fairly easily, leading to all sorts of silly speculation that they just might have a...

The Answer ManIn his biggest test Marcus Outzen stumped Florida State's archrival

Amp Campbell, CB, Michigan StateA second-team All-Big Ten selection as a junior last season, the 6-foot, 192-pound Campbell suffered a severe cervical-spinal injury against Oregon on Sept. 5 but...

Tommy TubervilleThe Ole Miss coach took himself out of the running for the Arkansas job in '97. If he says no to Auburn, will schools still call?

•Notre Dame (9-1) at USC (7-4)The old combat term million-dollar wound took on a negative—not to mention much inflated—connotation for the Fighting Irish on the final snap of their 39-36 victory...

When Nick Davis came to Wisconsin this fall he knew his best chance to make an impression on coach Barry Alvarez was to excel as a return man. The Badgers were last in the Big Ten in kickoff and...

Can you hear them coming? The rattling walkers? The creaking knees? The menacing thump of orthopedic shoes?

Reading about the Buss family makes me appreciate the fact that I come from a family rich in love, not in money.—Cindy Gualtieri, Stoughton, Mass.

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,...

Jeremiah Watts, Greenbelt, Md.FootballJeremiah, a 215-pound senior defensive end for Eleanor Roosevelt High, had 11 solo tackles, three sacks, two blocked punts, a blocked field goal attempt and a...

DON'T MISS

1.4 Average rating in cable homes for movies that replaced this season's first six canceled NBA games on TBS and TNT, a decrease of 22% from the 1.8 for the first six games on those channels last...

Leave it to golf to add to the weekend's leftovers with the 16th annual Skins Game (ABC, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3:30 p.m.). This year, an event that in the past has usually been loaded with...

The Waterboy, like much of Adam Sandler's work, appeals to sports fans' basest instincts

June 7, 1976

The latest sports money grab hits close to home for one longtime Bostonian

•That Kansas State, Tennessee and UCLA all finish the regular season unbeaten so that college football analysts will never, ever, ever have to shut up.

Departments

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and CNN team up on the Internet to offer up-to-the-minute sports news. Interact with your favorite SI writers: send Seth Davis, David Fleming, Kostya Kennedy, Peter King, Alan...

5Minutes, per competitor, allotted for unspooling whoppers in the Biggest Liar in the World competition in Gosforth, England.

YES

NFL Players endure boot-camp conditioning and endless two-minute drilling in practice so they'll be prepared for the fourth quarter, but games are often settled much earlier. Six teams have...

Before they could perform at last Saturday's Cal-Stanford game, both teams' mascots—Oski the Bear and the Stanford Tree—were required to take Breathalyzer tests.

KARL MALONEJazz forward, on a certain outspoken Rockets forward: "Say what you will about Charles Barkley—when he tells you he's going to do something, he'll either do it, or he won't do it."

College football owes much to a dwindling breed of distinctive broadcasters

Talented teams come and go, but there's one part of the collegiate sports landscape that remains constant: mascots, those sometimes lovable, larger-than-life creatures invented to stir school...

Jared DeVries passed up the NFL to play his senior season at struggling Iowa

Tiny Middlebury produces teams to match its impressive new facilities

In the new batch of video games, the simplest one is the most fun to play

•All-Star Baseball 99Acclaim / $59.99 Nintendo 64The essence of baseball is tough to capture in a video game; this is the best attempt yet.

The Gipper, for one, was a big boozer and a gambler

Base jumper Marta Empinotti scales cliffs and towers and drops into thin air

There are bigger gripes in basketball these days, especially in the NBA, but a sweaty ball is always an irritant to players. The Wilson Solution ($70) has microscopic holes in its knobby surface...

In workmanlike fashion, the Broncos dispatched the Raiders for their 11th consecutive win, leaving no doubt that they could roll through the regular season without a loss

Take Your Best Shot

With no pomp and precious little padding, the Broncos' deceptively fast has become the NFL's unlikeliest star wide receiver

Unbeaten Tennessee, No. 1 in the bowl rankings if not in the eyes of insiders, ripped Kentucky to prove it can be as good as it is lucky

John Chaney wanted his Temple team to lose, and it did—but not before showing that this could he the Owls' year

Three fellow refugees say the tale of Yankees ace escape from Cuba doesn't hold water

In a 20-foot boat like the one below, Romero and his wife (opposite), El Duque and five other refugees:1. left Cuba for Anguilla Cay to meet Ramis's boat (A), which took on water and never...

Because he lacks power, free agent was entertaining few offers in his bid to become the major leagues' highest-paid player

In his quest to become an NBA coach, former superstar will go anywhere to gain experience-even an Apache reservation in Arizona

TENNIS

Lioness in WinterSteffi Graf may be near the end of her career, but she's hardly toothless

3Top 10 players Pete Sampras had defeated, through Sunday, in 1998.

Sudden ImpactRookie wideout Randy Moss is propelling the Vikings to new heights

1. Sour RiceEntering Sunday's action, Jerry Rice had a league-high 58 catches; he finished his night, a 31-20 win over the Saints, with three more receptions, one for a touchdown. Fellow wideouts...

At the NFL fall meetings last month, during glitzy expansion presentations by groups from Houston and Los Angeles, Redskins general manager Charley Casserly says one owner turned to him and...