April 10, 2000 | Volume 92, Issue 15

For three endless hours last October the entire nation watched, horrified but helpless, as a runaway jet carried Payne Stewart and five others to its terrible destination

The only thing that was worse than the Marty McSorley stick-swinging incident was the defensive attitude that the NHL assumed.—Ron Orlandini, Parlin, N.J.

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, 135 West 50th Street, New York, N.Y....

Did you hear about the guy in Chattanooga who won a Big Game lottery jackpot worth $60 million and went out and bought himself a golf course?

January 4, 1965

Highlights

As a title, the U.S. Collegiate Golf Championships (ESPN, Saturday, noon and ESPN2, Sunday, 2 p.m.) has it half right. Yes, a dozen top college teams will play golf. However, the event will take...

No Basketball commentator—perhaps not even any presidential candidate—was more peripatetic last month than Bill Raftery. Working Nets games for Fox Sports New York and NCAA games for CBS and ESPN,...

After simulating the 2000 baseball season, a video-game maker likes—curses!—the Red Sox

XFL.comWant to try out for the new WWF- and NBC-backed pro football league? Its Web site contains an application form for prospective players. Among the questions: Do you wear glasses? Do you have...

The numbers are in: Blowing off work or school to watch sports is the real national pastime

The NCAA is often held responsible when others are to blame

Defying a schedule that forced her to perform her free skate in the dreaded first slot and skeptics who questioned her dedication, Michelle Kwan won the women's world figure skating championship...

7Rule number (of 14) reportedly ordering ball boys at the Ericsson Open not to ogle Anna Kournikova.

A Piqued PeteDavis Cup captain's McBarbs give Pete Sampras that upset feeling

Duped•TV crews that showed up to cover a fallacious New York City April Fools' Day parade at which John Rocker was to have been on a float spewing racial epithets.

Five hundred Yankee Stadium tickets for the June 9 Yanks-Mets game have been reserved for sale in tandem with tickets for what Yankee Nets, the conglomerate that owns both teams, calls the Nets'...

GREG PAAVOLAMichigan man who missed a $2 million shot at a Final Four contest, on Rick Barry's tutelage: "This week was about me seeing Rick as a human being."

This shot of Carlos Ortiz's 14th-round knockout of Gabriel (Flash) Elorde at Madison Square Garden in 1966 is one of 70 New York Daily News boxing photographs, many of them featuring classic...

Peter Yik, VancouverSquashYik, a senior All-America at Princeton, beat Marcus Cowie of Trinity College in Hartford 15-14, 15-1, 15-4 to win the men's national collegiate crown for the second...

Michigan State overcame a nearly devastating injury to its leader to conquer Florida's vaunted pressure defense and win the national title

This week follow our hole-by-hole coverage of the Masters: complete leader boards, up-to-the-minute scoring and daily reports from SI's Alan Shipnuck and Gary Van Sickle.

Led by scrappy guard Shea Ralph, Connecticut smacked down archrival Tennessee to win its second national title

With Doc Rivers manipulating the NBA's lowest-paid roster, the Magic is poised to pull a playoff berth out of its hat

Stone ColdQuebec's François Robergé slides the rock through the rings as his sweepers prepare to escort his stone down the ice during a curling match against British Columbia.

When the Philadelphia Flyers stripped Eric Lindros of his captaincy, the NHL's most bizarre team became even more dysfunctional

Their ardor undampened by a downpour, the good burghers of Cincinnati opened their hearts and wallets for the return of hometown hero Ken Griffey Jr.

A backup for most of his 13-year career, Steve Beuerlein finally has a tight grip on the first-string quarterback job in Carolina

BASEBALLCan Higginson again roar for Tigers?Rapid recovery of Indians' LoftonUnkindest spring cuts

Save the TigerCan Bobby Higginson reclaim his game—and will he do it in Detroit?

See the Expos at La Stade Olympique this season, or don't see them at all. As of Opening Day, Montreal's local television and radio networks, English-language and French, had refused to meet new...

Hart ThrobThe Blues' Chris Pronger should become the first defenseman since Bobby Orr to be the league MVP

ADAM OATESCAPITALS CAn extraordinary passer, the 5'10" 180-pounder led Washington with 67 points through Sunday. At 37 he has a strong presence as Capitals captain.

Don't be surprised to see former Devils coach and current Canadiens consultant Jacques Lemaire behind a bench again next season. At least one team has called Montreal to ask for permission to talk...

Springing A LeagueNBA execs say they plan a minor league for 2001, but they're suspiciously vague about it

Commissioner David Stern is upset about the bright yellow seats in Miami's new American Airlines Arena, which look horrid when they're empty. The league may ask the Heat to change them to a more...

The scoring race between Shaquille O'Neal (29.2 points per game through Sunday) and Allen Iverson (28.8) is coming down to the wire for the second straight year. Not only are the two players...

Caddy-loving Kings backup Scot Pollard plays hungry and thinks goofy

One Hat Too ManyCoach Dennis Green has stumbled as the Vikings' personnel chief

Friends of recently retired Dick Vermeil say he wanted to coach the Rams again next season but bowed to the wishes of his wife, Carol, and walked away....

The Son RisesWith help in the pit, Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned his first Winston Cup win

Johnny Benson traded in his old ride, and the change is paying off

Seasons, through 1999, that Michael Andretti has won at least one CART race, tying the record of Rick Mears, who retired in '92.

When Tom Kite held off Tom Watson to win the Tradition, the long-awaited transition to a new set of Senior stars became a reality

O'Meara at a CrossroadsThe Tour Or TV?

By shooting a 67 on Sunday at the Tradition, Jack Nicklaus, as usual, found a way to take something positive to Augusta. But think how special the Masters would have been if all Tour winners still...

Doug Rouse, Evergreen, Colo.Rouse, 49, beat 108 players from four states at the Utah Golf Association Winterchamps at Green Spring Golf Course in Washington, Utah, a two-day Stableford event....

Not even my mom believed me when I told her I had made an ace three days in a row

Sometimes a joke is just what the doctor ordered

A word to the wise for those who think Tiger is a lock to win the Masters

•Party PooperFirst Phil Mickelson stops Tiger's streak; then he bursts Gary Nicklaus's balloon.

Gary Nicklaus just missed in his bid for a first Tour win but in his loss to Phil Mickelson at the rain-shortened BellSouth Classic he showed a lot of his father's grit