|
TABLE OF CONTENTS
December 29, 2003 Volume 98,
December 29, 2003 Here they come, the next ones, and so soon. FREDDY ADU, the shining hope of American soccer, and MICHELLE WIE, one of the longest hitters in women's golf, turned 14 in 2003, and 18-year-old LEBRON...
Hard times for hockey? Not in Minnesota, where the madly loved Wild showed the rest of the NHL how to run a winning—and profitable—franchise
STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONSDespite appearances to the contrary, New Jersey defenseman Colin White proved that he and the Devils were not toothless in their quest for the franchise's third NHL title in...
Driven by his ambition to reclaim the heavyweight belts, 41-year-old Evander Holyfield soldiered on, even at the risk of a tragic ending
So said a certain bald superstar from Las Vegas about the play of the lavishly talented Roger Federer, who elevated the men's game in 2003
WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONCall her Lawn Chaney. Serena Williams had women's tennis cowed, if not terrified. She dispatched all opponents on the grass at Wimbledon to win her second major of the year. Not...
All year our resident Santa has been making his list and checking it twice, and now he's found out who's been naughty...and who's been wildly—and ridiculously—off-base
WHAT POSSIBLE SENSE CAN A MAN MAKE OF BUSTED FINGERS AND ENDLESS SWIM MEETS AND FOUR CONFOUNDING, ATHLETIC CHILDREN AND RACCOONS IN THE GARAGE AND FEAR OF FOOTBALL AND THE YEARS SPINNING,...
December 29, 2003 College Football
Humble St. John's brought an end to Mount Union's D-III dynasty
It was billed as a matchup of Division I-AA's two best players, but the title game between Delaware and Colgate last Friday in Chattanooga turned out to be no contest. Colgate junior running back...
Job ActionG.M. Rick McKay's jump to the rival Falcons turns him against his old club
In games that have a bearing on the playoffs, I'll go with these picks.
Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback, every week at si.com/football.
Three Rookies make my 2003 All-Pro team, the largest contingent of first-year players in the 25 years my selections have appeared in SI. The Patriots, with the NFL's best record, and the Ravens,...
Dr. Z's Inside Football, every week during the season at si.com/football.
Trading blunder-prone Ricky Davis gives Cleveland a new, winning look
On the defending champion Spurs, who at week's end had won 10 straight after a 9-10 start:
Well-drilled Stanford is in sync, and soon could be even better
1. Everyone should wake up to Wake Forest—and Chris Paul. The blindingly fast and fearless freshman point guard was the catalyst for the Demon Deacons' triple-overtime, 119-114 win over North...
Golden GlowThe U.S. has the talent to win its first World Junior Championship
Despite all the trade speculation, there's a good chance the Wings will not deal goalie Curtis Joseph. With starter Dominik Hasek sidelined indefinitely because of sore groin muscles, Detroit may...
He was a UPS truck of a man, 6'4", maybe 250 pounds, 55 years old, with a chin you could use to crack open coconuts.
December 29, 2003 Line KingsWhen I read No Pain, No Gain (Dec. 8), I had butterflies in my stomach. I just finished my senior season of high school football, and playing on the offensive line is tough. We check...
December 29, 2003 LETTERS•Please e-mail us at letters@si.timeinc.com or fax us at 212-467-4049. Letters should include the writer's full name, address and home telephone number and may be edited for clarity and space.
December 29, 2003 You could sum up the year in sports with a roll call of champions, a listing of those who climbed the highest peaks. But that would leave the year's cliffs and valleys unexplored, an approach that...
Nearly 350 years ago Isaac Newton watched an apple fall to earth, giving birth (in a manner of speaking) to gravity, without which Nellie Fox might still be camping beneath an infield fly at the...
December 29, 2003 | Michael Eric Dyson An expert on race sees the sports world making progress in 2003
December 29, 2003 Want to have sex with an athlete? Just sign here
December 29, 2003 3Times since '99 that both Super Bowl teams missed the next year's playoffs, including the Bucs and Raiders this year.
December 29, 2003 ChargedWith "impaired driving causing death" and "dangerous driving causing death" in a wreck that killed former Blackhawks defenseman Keith Magnuson (page 62), four-time NHL All-Star Rob Ramage....
December 29, 2003 Died
December 29, 2003 Folks who don't want to shell out $19.95 to watch the inaugural Lingerie Bowl on pay-per-view at halftime of the Super Bowl can still see some attractive entertainment on CBS. Calling the game "a...
December 29, 2003 A Scottish rugby team quit in the middle of a league match because the players complained that the 43° weather was too cold.
December 29, 2003 Surrounded by more than 70 of his ex-players—including George Stanich, from his first UCLA team in '48-49, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whom he still calls Lewis Alcindor—John Wooden was honored...
December 29, 2003 JOHN AMAECHIRockets center, on not having played a single minute all season: "That's part of the challenge of being a professional athlete."
WHAT TO WATCH AND WATCH FOR
SI's Under Review-ers Choice Awards recall the highs and lows of sports broadcasting in 2003:
December 29, 2003 Ben Gum, PARKERSBURG, W. VA.FootballBen, a senior fullback and linebacker at Parkersburg South High, rushed for 232 yards to lead the Patriots to a 26-20 victory over Martinsburg and their first...
Big Game Season
December 29, 2003 To submit a candidate for Faces in the Crowd, go to SI.com/faces.
MOST VALUEBOWL: b. Danny Wuerffel, who in 1997 threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns in the Gators' 52-20 Sugar Bowl victory over Florida State
Who would have guessed that football-mad Oklahoma is also a GYMNASTICS HOTBED?
For more about sports in Oklahoma and the other 49 states, go to si.com/50.
The former Sooners coach on his life with the OU football juggernaut
December 29, 2003 To sign up for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S free subscriber-only e-mail newsletter, go to sicustomerservice.com/siextra.
December 29, 2003 Revisit more of the top stories, memorable moments and compelling images of 2003, and check out sport-by-sport storylines for 2004 from SI's experts on the beat, at si.com.
Oklahomans weigh in on sports*
To read an SI Flashback story about Oklahoma's 2000 national championship, view a gallery of every OU cover or vote for the greatest Sooners squad of all time, go to...
December 29, 2003 Althea Gibson76Was there ever a better female athlete than Gibson, who went to college on a basketball scholarship, became a tennis champion (infusing power into the women's game) and played on...
December 29, 2003 A Year ago Jack McKeon was sitting on his farm in North Carolina, out of baseball and prospects. Carmelo Anthony was a freshman at Syracuse, known only to college hoops buffs. And Dontrelle Willis...
In pitching the upstart Marlins to a World Series win over the Yankees, 23-year-old Josh Beckett joined a timeline of mound immortals
WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSA Hero's welcome awaited shortstop Alex Gonzalez after his 12th-inning homer off little-used Yankees righthander Jeff Weaver won the Series-turning Game 4, but these Marlins...
With a double-overtime, rim-out humdinger last March, Arizona and Gonzaga reminded us—in a tough season—how magnetic their sport can be
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
December 29, 2003 A YEAR OF ToughnessCoaches like to say, No pain, no gain," but its the players who put their bodies on the line, be it Pudge Rodriguez blocking the plate in the ninth to help knock the Giants out...
In an age of ever-shifting personnel and pervasive parity, coaches such as Bill Parcells and Marvin Lewis have become the NFL's new franchise players
SUPER BOWL XXXVII CHAMPIONSDefensive tackle Warren Sapp puts the wraps on Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon during the Bucs' 48-21 win in the NFL title game, in San Diego. Tampa Bay's...
A campaign to find a cure for the disease that struck his caddie had an interesting side effect on Tom Watson: It made a new man out of him
MASTERS CHAMPIONNo Canadian, much less a left handed one, had won a Grand Slam event until Mike Weir made a six-footer for par on the 72nd hole of the Masters to tie Len Mattiace, then beat him...
On a crossroads afternoon for NASCAR, old school fave Bill Elliott won the final fall race at Rockingham as Matt Kenseth clinched the 2003 crown
NASCAR WINSTON CUP CHAMPION
Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, the highest-paid player in the NBA, must constantly fight off the image of the Star Who Hasn't Measured Up
NBA ChampionsFor the second time in five seasons the Spurs celebrated a title, this time with a Game 6 victory at the SBC Center over the New Jersey Nets. After averaging 24.2 points, 17.0...
Sousaphones and Song Girls notwithstanding, signs point to an imminent change—for better or worse—in the tradition-bound game
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
|
|
.