September 23, 2002 | Volume 97, Issue 12

Pleased as PunchOscar De La Hoya admires his handiwork after flooring Fernando Vargas with a perfect left hook in the 11th round of their 154-pound title fight on Saturday in Las Vegas (page 46).

Randy RemarksI'm so glad that Randy Moss (How Good Can Randy Moss Be?, Sept. 2) explained to us that we have the wrong idea of him. I was particularly touched by the fact that his NFL heroes are...

LETTERS

JANUARY 16, 1956

They looked like still-life portraits of saints in stained glass—those Technicolor photographs, scissored from Sport magazine, that papered boys' bedrooms in the 1950s. "When we started, the media...

As the days dwindle down and rosters swell, fans can sneak a peek at next season's phenoms—and applaud the guys who can't believe they're in the Bigs

Chris Webber may have talked his way into an indictment

A year after being smothered in soup, shaving cream and stage love by an actress playing his mother in a commercial for Campbell's Chunky Soup, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is back in the...

28Years that William Schuster of Oshkosh, Wis., was on the Packers' season-ticket waiting list before being allowed to buy four seats this year.

Former NBA player Bison Dele hasn't been heard from in months

One hundred years ago this week, in the Sept. 16, 1902, Chicago Tribune, the names TINKER-EVERS-CHANCE appeared together in box score agate for the first time, the record of a routine 6-4-3 double...

DeniedBy the NFL, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning's request to wear Johnny Unitas-style shoes for Sunday's game against The Dolphins. Manning had wanted to wear black hightops as a tribute to the...

(Taptaptap) Is this thing on?

After giving up his NYPD Blue badge last year, the 32-year-old actor goes from the streets of New York to the great outdoors as the host of ESPN's The New American Sportsman.

Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler seems to be starting a career in sports, not as an athlete but as a belter of national anthems. Last Saturday at Yankee Stadium—where she appeared with fellow cast...

For a million Canadian dollars you might leap this high yourself. That was the prize money offered at the CN International Spruce Meadows Masters show-jumping tournament in Calgary, Alberta, where...

In Australia sheep-counting is now a competitive sport with a national championship. Last Saturday, Peter Desailey of Wyvern Station counted 277 sheep to win the title.

ANNA KOURNIKOVAThe tennis star, 0 for 117 tournaments, after falling in the finals of the WTA's Shanghai Open last Sunday: "Not only did the fans here wish me to win, but so did the fans all over...

SEPTEMBER 20-26

Costas is a KO for HBO, Fox gets a haircut, Top o' the ratings

Division Lesson

Deron Verbeck, KAILUA-KONA, HAWAIIFree DivingVerbeck, 38, set an American record for static apnea (holding one's breath while floating facedown in water) of 6:48 during the U.S. free-diving team...

PROBLEM SOLVED: b. Mike Scioscia. Howe (Yankees) and Peña (Braves) pitched in the 1995 playoffs. Valenzuela pitched for the Padres in '96.

After a vicious hit knocked him out of the playoffs, Montreal's Richard Zednik is ready for camp

In just his third year in CART, Cristiano da Matta is speeding toward the winningest season ever

Jeremy Bloom wanted to play for Colorado so badly that he gave up lucrative skiing endorsements

In a test of the latest NFL video games, most of which become more realistic with each new edition, SI's master of the control pad crowns a new champ

If you prefer campus life, there are a trio of college football video games on the market. The quality of each is roughly on par with its manufacturer's NFL game. All three college versions...

In the latest installment of their storied rivalry the Dodgers and the Giants are at it again, battling for the National League wild card

A 3-0 start under new coach Tyrone Willingham has the Fighting Irish faithful hoping Notre Dame's luster has been restored

Two hours before Penn State's kickoff against Nebraska last Saturday, sophomore quarterback Zack Mills sat on the Nittany Lions' team bus as it motored through Happy Valley toward Beaver Stadium....

When one team dominates as thoroughly as USC did in its 40-3 rout of Colorado, it's hard to know where to begin explaining what went right. The Trojans held the Buffaloes to 61 total yards, and...

Fernando Vargas brought his rage and muscle to the ring, but Oscar De La Hoya had the savvy and skills to make a bloody 11th-round TKO look as measured as a day at the office

Tim Montgomery, training partner and new beau of Marion Jones, ran the race of his life in Paris

Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher and Falcons quarterback Michael Vick showed off their speed and athleticism in a showdown between two of the league's hottest young stars

For the author—a Baltimore native and future sportswriter—the Colts' quarterback was more than a boyhood hero. He was an inspiration for the entire city

Tough as nails, as Alex Hawkins, a teammate, vividly shows in this excerpt from his book My Story

In Barry Levinson's Diner, set in the Baltimore of 1959, the young hero insists that his fiancée pass an impossibly difficult Colts trivia test before he'll agree to marry her. This became known...

In an interview more than two decades after his last game, the old pro showed the passion of an All-Pro still in his prime

We consider Johnny Unitas the best quarterback ever to play the game, so what better way to honor his memory than to introduce the U Ratings? Using six statistical measures supplied by Elias...

Mass substitutions, sophisticated defenses and the pressure to win add up to one conclusion—we'll never see another Johnny U

The NFL

No Standing PatWith a pair of convincing wins, the Patriots seem intent on proving that their Super Bowl win was no fluke

TRADING E-MAIL WITH...Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber

What's wrong with the Rams? First of all, I don't think Kurt Warner's healthy. Maybe it's his arm or shoulder or thumb, but something's wrong with his delivery. Watching the Rams lose to the...

Clarett JuggernautFreshman Maurice Clarett has been a stunning success for Ohio State

Tennessee RB Cedric Houston versus Florida MLB Bam Hardmon

Time to TinkerHaving clinched the AL Central, the Twins try to work out two kinks that could stymie their World Series hopes

The Twins aren't the only team with concerns entering the postseason. Here is the biggest question facing each of six other playoff-bound clubs.

Mark Bellhorn, whom the Cubs got from the A's last November in a trade for infield prospect Adam Morrissey, wasn't supposed to be Chicago's biggest off-season acquisition. Bellhorn had a career...

Campus confidential: For more college football coverage, including stats, rankings and Ivan Maisel's Heisman watch, go to cnnsi.com/football/college.

So, kid, you want to be a New York Yankees batboy? Hang out with Derek Jeter? Ride in the parades? Great. But, first, maybe you'd better take a look at a batboy's typical day.

Motocross is a dirty business, but Ricky Carmichael was unswerving in his dash to a spotless season

At age 47, and with Huck Finn in his heart, Slovenian Martin Strel became the first man to swim—yes, swim—the Mississippi

Eco BoostCelebrity entrants are but one of the twists that have rekindled the fire of the Eco-Challenge's Mark Burnett

A Life Worth Living: The Adventures of a Passionate Sportsmanby Jack HemingwayThe Lyons Press, 224 pages, $24.95

Speed Climber

In his first major expedition since an April ski disaster on Alaska's Mount St. Elias that left two dead (SI, April 29), ski-mountaineer John Griber is currently shredding at 21,000 feet, some...

SI senior writer Franz Lidz filed this dispatch from Saskatchewan, where he's been covering Michel Fournier's attempt to break the world freefall record of 102,800 feet.

Compassion was not my initial response to the news that a transgender mountain biker was creating a stir in Canada. My initial response was gratitude, as in, Thank you, God, for the easiest column...

siadventure.com

After a summer chillin' with Sheryl Crow and boosting off killer waves, Rusty Sage is back in school, plotting ways to reinvent the kayak