September 18, 2000 | Volume 93, Issue 11

Cat's CradleJaguars receiver Jimmy Smith gets behind Ravens cornerback Duane Starks for a first-quarter touchdown catch in a game Baltimore won 39-36 (page 62).

AUGUST 14, 1961

Verdict on VickWith last season's performance in the Sugar Bowl, Michael Vick proved he was not only the most exciting but also the best player in the country 04 Cut above the Rest, Aug. 14). Vick...

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....

Turned off by the Olympics? Here are TV alternatives we'd love to see

Highlights

If any sport needs a good gossip columnist, it's auto racing. Silly season—the time of year when drivers scramble to line up rides for the next season and when rumors circulate faster than Bill...

A Web site helps you understand what Miller might mean

The postmortem on Nebraska's Sept. 2 Webcast of its 49-13 win over San Jose State (SI, Sept. 4) is that the Internet isn't going to make TV obsolete anytime soon. The foxsports.com transmission of...

What's worse—suing to go to the Games, or just not caring?

These are some of the smallest contingents expected in Sydney

On Aug. 28, 1945, a 43-year-old former catcher named Clyde Sukeforth walked into an office in Brooklyn and said, "Mr. Rickey, here is Jack Roosevelt Robinson." It was a sentence that has led...

Last week Major League Baseball struck a deal with the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius to acquire the Internet domain name mlb.com, ending years of frustration for fans seeking baseball's...

1Instance in big league history in which one pitcher was relieved by another with the same name, after Mets lefthander Bobby Jones replaced Mets righthander Bobby Jones on the mound against the Reds.

Venus Williams got a congratulatory phone call from President Bill Clinton after her U.S. Open victory last Saturday. Herewith, selected gems from their exchange.

In a Pickle

Here's SI writer-reporter Brian Cazeneuve's lowdown on the Sydney Olympic Village, which will play host to most of the 10,300 athletes partaking in the 2000 Summer Games.

Are they or aren't they? The buzz of the week was about the possible Serena Williams and LaVar Arrington love match. On Thursday the New York Post ran a story, headlined SERENA NETS NFL HUNK, that...

The Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania Action Fund is selling condoms commemorating recently razed Pitt Stadium, with packaging that includes an image of the arena and the phrase FEELS...

STEVE LUBRATICHTigers assistant general manager, after Al Gore threw batting practice at Comerica Park: "I hear he's looking for a four-year deal with a four-year extension."

Air Jordans never die. They just get reissued and snapped up at big-city stores

These new products should make the outdoor life easier on two wheels, in the water, on the court and along the trail

Ray Ewry's remarkable Olympic success came in the short-lived standing jumps

Phil Raschker, ATLANTATrack and FieldRaschker, 53, an accountant, dominated the women's 50-54 age group at the national masters' outdoor championships, winning all 10 events she entered, including...

Thanks to a three-touchdown performance by swift-footed quarterback Eric Crouch, top-ranked Nebraska survived an overtime thriller at Notre Dame

Boosted by a retro Rocket and a host of newcomers, the Yankees blew away Boston and established themselves—again—as the team to beat

Chuck Knoblauch's arm isn't the only one the Yankees are worried about. If New York is to thrive in the postseason, three heretofore reliable members of the Yankees setup corps—righthanders Jason...

Marat Safin's star soared at the U.S. Open, while Venus Williams showed she's in a galaxy of her own

Bob Knight's controversial 29-year reign at Indiana came to an ironic end when he gave a student an unmannerly lesson in manners

With Kurt Warner and the Termites eating up huge chunks of yardage, Super Bowl champ St. Louis is still decimating the league's defenses

With Tony Banks finally maturing into a first-rate quarterback, the Ravens are ready to join the ranks of AFC contenders

The Number Of Female Olympians Is Growing—even A Pistol-packing Iranian Is In Sydney—but For Many The Games Are Unattainable Because Of Oppression, Prejudice And Disease

BASEBALLJokers who are big deals in a wild-card raceTigers' Ausmus deserves Gold GloveBig Unit vs. Braves

Wild-Card DrawThe key to the American League playoff chase may not be in the stars

Rockies outfielder Larry Walker, who shut himself down for the season with an inflamed elbow last week, has hired a personal trainer and a nutritionist for the off-season in hopes of curbing his...

For complete coverage of the Sydney Games, go to cnnsi.com/olympics. Get the latest news, up-to-the-minute results and exclusive daily dispatches from SI's team on the scene.

Downturn In DallasInjuries, old age and salary-cap woes have the Cowboys between a rock and a hard place

The quietest retirement in recent history by a significant player: last week's exit by Bucs tackle Paul Gruber, who gave up his comeback from a broken right leg he'd suffered in the 1999...

My Two Cents

I've always liked Oakland-Denver matchups. Strange things happen. It's particularly interesting now, because they're the only teams in me AFC West that have beaten anybody, and the division was a...

Thrown for a LossMiami and its young passer took a wrong turn on a trip to Washington

•Florida (2-0) at Tennessee (1-0)The Vols have redshirt freshman A.J. Suggs playing quarterback. The Gators have true freshman Travis Harris at middle linebacker. In other words these aren't the...

Fifth-year seniors have been as common at Vanderbilt as bowl invitations. The Commodores haven't had a winning record since 1982, and who wants to come back for yet another losing season? But...

For eight months Texas coach Mack Brown equivocated about whether sophomore Chris Simms would replace junior Major Applewhite at quarterback. Simms started the Longhorns' opener last Saturday but...

Georgia Southern's Adrian Peterson has 24 straight 100-yard rushing games

<b>Armed with new methods for detecting EPO, Graham Trout and his colleagues at Australia's Sports Drug Testing lab have Olympic cheaters in their crosshairs.</b>

Al McGuire never liked funerals. "Why wait until the guy's dead?" he'd ask. "Buy him a drink while he's alive!"

Ryan FitzGerald, Norton, Mass.Ryan, 17, a 12 handicapper, aced the 302-yard par-4 4th at the Olde Scotland Links in Bridgewater during a round of 22-over 94. Ryan's drive landed on the front of...

I've been around wooden drivers my entire life, and I'm here to tell you they're history

Job hunting requires patience and a cell phone

Connoisseurs OF the game have always swooned over a particular player's mastery of a certain type of shot. For example, the cognoscenti greatly admired Jack Nicklaus's ability to hit a high,...

•Fall GuyThe only downside to rooting for Tiger: We have to wait five weeks before he tees it up again.

Tiger Woods capped off a brilliant summer by winning yet another national championship in record-breaking fashion

Philip Francis, 11-year-old phenomTiger in Training

This year Tiger Woods has played the best golf ever seen, but he hasn't had the greatest season in the game's history. Unless he shoots a 58 in one of his few remaining tournaments, Woods's 2000...

What do these players have in common?

Whom should CBS hire to replace Ken Venturi, who is retiring after this season?

NICKNAMES for TIGER WOODS

Woods leads the Tour in scoring by 1.7 strokes for two reasons: He hits the most greens in regulation (GIR), and he's also No. I in putts per GIR. Here are the Tour's best in GIR and how they rank...