August 27, 2001 | Volume 95, Issue 8

In the San Francisco Giants' clubhouse, everybody knows the score: 24-1.

A Welcome HeroNever in my 35 years of reading SI have I been as touched as I was by William Nack's article on Bob Kalsu (A Name on the Wall, July 23). This should be required reading for today's...

Letters

MAY 4, 1959

An A-to-Z primer for toddlers who don't know Yogi Berra from Yogi Bear

Highlights

An interactive website is trying to get sports employers and job seekers on the same page

The idea was broached over dinner in March. Steve Sabol, head of NFL Films, sat across from an old friend, Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, and threw out what he figured was a crazy idea:...

Note to CBS: Whenever Tiger Woods is 13 or more strokes off the lead after three rounds, as he was at last weekend's PGA, please refrain from using images of him to promote your final-round...

The NFL preseason is agonizingly tense—for all the wrong reasons

Jim Harbaugh, 1998Would-be Ravens savior completed 33 of 47 passes for 320 yards in 4-0 August, then led club to lofty 6-10 mark.

The NBA gave itself a nice pat on the back last week when it announced the hiring of Stephanie Ready as an assistant coach with the Greenville (S.C.) Groove of its new National Basketball...

Golf people love to tag some star-crossed pro as "the best player never to have won a major." (For the record, it's still Phil Mickelson after his second-place finish in the PGA [page 40].)...

7Bases stolen by Davey Lopes when his club was ahead by seven or more runs; as Brewers skipper, Lopes was furious recently when Padre Rickey Henderson swiped second with San Diego leading...

On Friday, Summer Catch, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. (right) as a Cape Cod League pitcher, opens in theaters nationwide. We asked former big leaguer Mike Pagliarulo, who played third for the...

Saturday Nights in the mid-1980s: Fueled by a speedball of Mello Yello and Reese's Pieces, I needed only to survive the grindingly slow last few skits of Saturday Night Live before TV heaven...

Stopped•By Cytodyne Technologies of New Jersey, the distribution of Androdyne, a supplement containing androstenedione, which is banned by the NFL. The league has said it will prohibit players...

For more Over/Under debate, plus Jon Wertheim's exclusive U.S. Open draw breakdown and predictions, go to cnnsi.com/si_online.

Earl Anthony made pocket money as a kid by setting up pins in a bowling alley. His knack for knocking them down as an adult made him the first bowler to earn $1 million during his career. Anthony,...

If you've ever watched Alonzo Mourning in action and thought, Gee, now where I can get myself a 'do like Zo's? you're in luck. The Heat center and his longtime barber, Peter Bethel, have just...

U.S. Open officials refused to renew Queens businessman Steven Levkoff's $110,000 luxury suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium in part because Levkoff failed to order the obligatory $24,000 worth of food...

RANDY THOMASThree-hundred-pound Jets guard, on his new diet: "I still like my sweets, but I have cut back. For instance, I might not eat a whole pie. I might eat only half."

Kevin Harvick is driving Dale Earnhardt's car and doing a lot more besides

Brendan Hansen, HAVERTOWN, PA.SwimmingHansen, 20, won the the 200-meter breaststroke at the world championships with a meet-record time of 2:10.69. In March, as a freshman, he led Texas to its...

In talking two of three games in New York, the Mariners showed they have no intention of letting the Yankees or history stand in their way

Phil Mickelson hoped for a big win at the PGA, but steady David Toms had the storybook ending

BELLY UP TO THE BAR AS SI'S WRITERS TAKE THEIR BEST SHOTS AT THE MOST OVERRATED PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGSIN SPORTS—AND CELEBRATE THE MOST UNDERRATED ONES

Over RATEDStar-Spangled Banner

Over RATEDHeisman Trophy

Over RATEDThe NBA Dr. JAs often happens with great artists, Julius Erving had already done his best work by the time he was discovered by the mainstream public. After five ABA seasons spent mostly...

Over RATEDVince Lombardi"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing." Three things are wrong with this piece of gibberish attributed to Vince Lombardi (above): 1) It is meaningless. Turn it...

Over RATEDBaton PassingSprint relays boil down to nothing more than running fast and passing a stick. The baton pass is hardly the feat of subatomic precision that heavily favored U.S. teams...

Over RATEDAli vs. ForemanRope-a-dope has entered the lexicon as a strategy that means "winning by doing almost nothing." That says everything one needs to know about the Rumble in the Jungle, the...

Over RATEDMark McGwire

Over RATEDSteffi Graf

Over RATEDJerry RiceOf all the accomplishments in Jerry Rice's 17-year career, the least impressive is his record for most consecutive games with a pass reception, a streak that stands at 225....

Over RATEDWimbledon

Over RATEDPhiladelphiaUnspeakable, even for us screamed the Philadelphia Daily News headline after Eagles fans cheered as Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin lay motionless on the Veterans...

Over RATEDNolan Ryan

Over RATEDPress Box Seals

Over RATEDBoomer SoonerThe fight song experts who wrote College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology were mighty charitable when they ranked Oklahoma's Boomer Sooner as the nation's 16th best. (The...

Over RATEDCal RipkenCal Ripken's record of playing in 2,632 consecutive games recalls what Samuel Johnson said about a dog walking on its hind legs: The wonder is not in that he does it well, but...

Over RATEDMark FidrychA quarter century ago a pitcher named Mark Fidrych made a name for himself—the Bird—with his oddball exuberance. The rube-ish rookie packed 'em into Tiger Stadium by...

Over RATEDFidel Castro

Over RATEDThe VenueWhen, in this age of technological wonder, will people stop saying of one sports spectacular or another, "Dude, I was there!" So what? Sports deliver, you know. Nobody dines in...

Over RATEDDarryl DawkinsLoved you, Darryl Dawkins. Loved that Shel Silverstein world inside your head. Still, just because you christened your dunks with florid names and hung on the rim after...

Over RATEDUSC vs. Notre DameThe best Rivalries generate heat from internecine warfare (Army-Navy), neighborly sniping (Michigan-Ohio State) or sibling rivalry writ statewide (Alabama-Auburn)....

Over RATEDRed Sox

Over RATEDBill BucknerFifteen years after Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, the image of Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner (right) allowing Mookie Wilson's squibber to dribble through his...

Over RATEDBaseballIf I have to Endure another self-important George Will-Bill James-Ken Burns spew on the lofty significance of this national pastime that is past its time, I'm going to hurl. I...

Over RATEDPhil Mickelson

Two GoodRaiders tight end Mondriel Fulcher doubles his pleasure by catching his second touchdown pass in the second quarter of an exhibition game that the 49ers went on to win 20-17 (page 25).

Over RATEDBob WaterfieldOur football-history IQ stinks. Bob Waterfield (right) is in the Hall of Fame (he went in with the third class, in 1965), so when his name comes up today, you think, Hey,...

Over RATEDThe PitIf Albuquerque had an NBA team, the University of New Mexico's University Arena, a.k.a. the Pit, would be a facility of great felicity. It has all the charmlessness of a...

Over RATEDPebble BeachA perennial leader in magazine golf course ratings, Pebble Beach Golf Links overwhelms visitors with its coastal beauty and then piles on the cognitive dissonance by charging...

Over RATEDExperienceFrom the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to the hidebound Vancouver Canucks, the mantra is "You need experience to win in the playoffs." This (like the Mighty Ducks) is a canard. Too...

Over RATEDAngelo ArgeaAngelo Argea, the bush-mopped man on Jack Nicklaus's bag from 1963 to 1981, was a Las Vegas taxi driver who got lucky. Nicklaus admits the caddie master at the Palm Springs...

Over RATEDThe Donut

Over RATEDA Pitcher's WinsIn 30 starts during the 2000 season, San Francisco southpaw Shawn Estes won 15 games, tied for 10th in the National League in that category. Estes achieved this with a...

Over RATEDFranco HarrisA Highlight Reel of Pittsburgh Steelers fullback Franco Harris's greatest runs would have a lot of this: Franco darts past a cheerleader; Franco leaps over a Gatorade...

Over RATEDFlo-JoFor one season she transformed herself from a workaday sprinter named Florence Griffith Joyner into a cultural icon named Flo-Jo. The year was 1988 and—with slinky racing suits...

Over RATEDMuhammad Ali

Over RATEDGolf in the KingdomLet's get one thing straight: Golf is not an 18-hole Rorschach test, nor is it a metaphysical journey during which the open-minded can commune with God and nature....

Over RATEDSteve PrefontaineThere's no better way to become an American legend than to achieve early success and then die young. This was never more true than in the 1970s: Hendrix, Joplin,...

Baseball

Better Than EverWhile others pursue the home run record, Sammy Sosa is having his finest season

Two advance scouts, one from each league, reflect on what they saw and heard last week:

BLUE JAYS 11, RANGERS 3 Aug. 17

St. Louis infielder Placido Polanco is a powerless, yet powerful, asset

Taking a FlyerBy trading for oft-injured Eric Lindros, the Rangers gambled big time with their future

D Wade ReddenSENATORSThe No. 2 pick in the '95 draft, he was on the cusp of stardom two seasons ago, at 22, but took a small step backward last year, playing brilliantly but inconsistently. His...

The NHL may force the free-agent contracts signed over the summer by center Joe Sakic and defenseman Rob Blake, both of the Avalanche, and Stars center Pierre Turgeon to be reworked. In 2004-05...

The Red Wings are happy to have Uwe Krupp back, but he still has a bone to pick with them

On the Upswing?Following a disappointing eight months, Marat Safin may have found his stroke

3Venus Williams's WTA Tour ranking when she entered last month's Acura Classic.

As the clock runs down, the Florida project chugs nicely toward completion

When members of the University of Florida Golf Course green-keeping crew arrived at work on Saturday morning, Aug. II, they discovered that someone had left donuts—not the sugary kind,...

Atlanta's 500-plus-yard Monster

The PGA Championship has become the most exciting major. We had Tiger Woods versus Sergio Gracia in 1999,Tiger versus Bob May in '00 and, last week, Phil Mickelson going head-to-head against David...

What do these players have in common?

Should Curtis Strange have picked the 11th and 12th players in the Ryder Cup standings, or was he right in selecting regardless of rank?

Maggie Noel, HOUSTONMaggie, 13, took two tides in three weeks. She won the girls' division of the Inner City National Championship for the third straight year, shooting a three-under 65 for a...

Playing in the PGA was a ton of fun, but nothing beats my job at Trump International

Undoubtedly, 2001 has been the Year of the Kid in golf. Take Ty Tryon (below). A 17-year-old junior-to-be at Dr. Phillips High in Orlando, Ty made news last week by announcing that he's turning...

•Tough CallIf their positions had been reversed, would Phil Mickelson have laid up like David Toms?

What's wrong with Tiger Woods? There are no easy answers, but almost everyone you talk to has a theory

Picking the Ryder Cup wild cards was a difficult job, but somebody, namely Curtis Strange, had to do it

Think the crowd at Brookline was tough? Consider what Mark O'Meara and Lanny Wadkins endured at the first Ryder Cup at the Belfry, in 1985. "We were playing Seve [Ballesteros] and [Manuel]...