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	To play the Sports Adventure Challenge, choose a level of difficulty from the buttons to the right. A question will be displayed in this window. Then begin searching for the screen that answers the question. Every time you use the globe, the timeline, or any other method of interaction with Sports Adventure, your score will increase. 
	It will keep increasing until you get to the screen that answers the question. Try to keep your score as low as possible.
	If you need help, return to this screen and select the Hint button. This will cost you some points, though!
	When you land on the right screen, Sports Adventure will let you know!Using Sports Adventure


	If you need help using Sports Adventure, read the following informaton. When necessary, click on the down button at the bottom of this text box to continue reading. KEYBOARD USERS: move the cursor to the down button using the arrow keys, then press Enter.
	
The Picture Window
	By clicking on elements in the picture window, you can travel to a time and place somehow related to the object you click on. If nothing happens, try clicking elsewhere in the picture.
	
The Text Window
	You are now using the text window. Move forward or backward in the window by using the up and down arrow buttons below.
	By clicking on words in the text window, you can access the index to find other references to that word in other screens.
	
The Timeline
	The timeline below the picture window changes to reflect the date of the current screen. To travel to a specific time in history, click anywhere on the timeline. To move forward or backward one screen at a time, click once on the right or left arrowheads at either end of the timeline. You can also pick up the slider by holding down the mouse button and dragging it to any other time in history.
	
The Globe Window
	The globe window reflects the current location of the screen you are viewing. Click on any point in the globe window to travel to the nearest point geographically. Move closer to or further from the earth using the slider bar. You can click anywhere on the slider or on the arrowheads at either end of the slider. You can also pick up the slider by holding down the mouse button and dragging it. KEYBOARD USERS: Press PgDn to move closer to the earth and PgUp to move further from the earth.
	When the earth is pictured by itself in the globe window, you can rotate it using the four arrow buttons below the window. Or, you can rotate it by holding down the mouse button at any point on the globe. When you let go of the mouse button, the screen will change to reflect your current location. KEYBOARD USERS: Hold down Shift and press the up, down, left, or right arrow keys.
	
The Category Buttons
	The seven buttons at the upper left of the screen are category buttons. From the left, they are: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey (and other winter sports), Tennis and golf, Boxing, and Olympics.
	You can move sequentially through the history of a category by clicking repeatedly on a category button with the left mouse button. Or, you can select categories (or unselect them) by clicking on them with the right mouse button. When a category is selected, a red box appears around the button and your travels using the globe and timeline will be limited to those categories.
	
The Operations Buttons
 Retrace takes you to the previous screen.
 Library takes you to the library. (More below.)
 When active, Sound plays a sound associated with the picture.
 Print prints the contents of the text window.
 Stop ends your Sports Adventure session.
	
The Library
	Using the library you can access the help system (as you are now) by clicking on the librarian or the Help sign, look up a topic alphabetically by clicking on a drawer in the card catalog, or play a game by clicking on the game board.
	To find a topic, click on a drawer and move through the catalog to a topic that interests you. (You can move more quickly through the catalog list by clicking on the down or up arrow button using the right mouse button.) When you click on the topic you will travel to the screen in which it is discussed.
	To play a game, click on the game board and select a level of play from the buttons that appear in the picture window. A clue will appear. Try to travel to the screen that answers it using as few clicks as possible. For a hint, return to the game screen and click on the Hint button. But remember, it will cost you points!_ Exit - Salida - Sortie


        If you really want to quit your current adventure press Quit, otherwise press Cancel.
 
Glory -- for .4 of a Second
1980

MOSCOW, Soviet Union
	In the 1980 Olympic pentathlon, Soviet Olga Rukavishnikova finished second in the final event, the 800m, to set a world record -- for four-tenths of a second. When her countrymate, Nadezhda Tkachenko, who had been leading the competition after four events, finished in third place, right behind Rukavishnikova, she established a new world record.

	Others sportswomen and men have similarly experienced moments that were as noteworthy for their brevity as their glory.

	In the 1972 season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Falcon running back Dave Hampton reached the 1,000-yard mark for the season. The game was stopped briefly to award him the ball. A few plays later, Hampton was thrown for a six-yard loss. He carried the ball one final time, for a one-yard gain, and finished the season with 995 yards.

	Tony Tucker held the heavyweight boxing title for 64 days (May 3-August 2, 1987), the shortest reign for any heavyweight in history. Tony Canzoneri held the light- welterweight title for 33 days (May 21-June 23, 1933), the shortest reign of any boxing champion.

	At the first significant tournament Lee Mackey, Jr., ever competed in, he shocked the golf world by shooting a 33-31-64 at the 1950 US Open to break by one stroke Jimmy McHale's 1947 record for a round at the Open, and took the lead by three strokes. The next day, with a flock of fans in tow, Mackey bogeyed the second hole, double-bogeyed the fourth, bogeyed the fifth, and shot a second-day 81, good enough for a 22nd-place tie. He shot 75-77 over the last 36 holes and won $100 for tying for 25th place.

	Two hours after what was probably the biggest win of his tennis career to that point -- a semifinal victory over Frenchman Yannick Noah at the 1989 Lipton International Players Championships at Key Biscayne, Florida -- Austrian Thomas Muster was hit by a car and suffered knee ligament damage while heading for a restaurant in downtown Miami.

	Some glory has been terminated by even more tragic circumstances. Bill Barilko scored the winning overtime goal in the fifth game of the 1951 Stanley Cup finals to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, then died that summer in a plane crash. Richard Sanders, bantamweight wrestling silver medalist in 1972, died at 23 in a car accident seven weeks after the Olympics. Odon Tersztyansky of Hungary, gold medalist in the saber in 1928, died in a car accident outside Budapest 10 months later. And Ivo van Damme, silver medalist in the 800m in 1976, died in a car crash on December 29 of that year, at age 22.Giants of the Game
1991

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania
	In college and pro basketball, the dominance of certain big men caused several significant new rules. St. John's All-America center Harry Boycoff, George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Lew Alcindor, to name a few, each helped to inspire crucial changes, including defensive and offensive goaltending, establishing the three-second rule, widening the lane, and a "no-dunk" rule in college (since revoked).

	If one needed a single date on which the era of the big man could be said to have been permanently established, try March 2, 1962. On that day, Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks. Of course, this came as no big surprise since on January 13 of that year Chamberlain had scored 73 points against the Chicago Packers. Chamberlain, by the way, scored 56 or more points in a game 22 times in his career. However, the reason Chamberlain is such a significant figure in signalling the onset of the big-man era is not because of his scoring feats. Men like Mikan and Boycoff, who came earlier, were also scoring machines. The difference was that Chamberlain was an incredible athlete. Before him (and his contemporary, Bill Russell), it was believed that 7-footers were only "goons," awkward and slow of reflex and movement. Chamberlain was a harbinger of things to come -- 7-footers of speed and grace. Most top college teams and all pro teams now have them. And also have graceful 6'11" forwards and 6'6" guards -- not to mention 7'6" guys bombing from 3-point range, such as Manute Bol. Which is why the game is now played "above the rim" rather than below, which is what Dr. Naismith had in mind. An Unforgettable Finish
October, 1986
FLUSHING, New York
	With the bases empty of New York Mets and two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, New York's Shea Stadium scoreboard flashed the message, "Congratulations, Red Sox."

	The Boston Red Sox led the Series three games to two, and they led the game 5-3. Finally, it seemed, the Red Sox were ready to put 68 star-crossed years behind them and claim their first world championship since 1918. Instead, the Red Sox and their fans were left with more agony than ever before, this latest failure providing the ultimate in frustration. Twice down to their final strike, the Mets pulled off one of the most incredible comebacks in baseball history to win the sixth game, 6-5. The next day, the Mets overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat the Red Sox 8-5 for the World Series title.

	The Red Sox -- who themselves had been a strike away from elimination during the playoffs, only to score four runs in the ninth inning to pull out  Game 5, and then go on to win the final two games over the Angels -- got two quick outs in the 10th inning that fateful night. And then Gary Carter singled. And then Kevin Mitchell singled. And then Ray Knight singled, driving in a run. And then Boston reliever Bob Stanley threw a wild pitch, allowing Mitchell to score the tying run. And then, finally, Mookie Wilson hit a spinning grounder to first base -- a play that will live in infamy in New England. It scooted under the glove of Bill Buckner for an error, as Knight danced home with the winning run.

	"This," said Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez, who had already put on his street clothes when the winning rally started, "is nothing short of awesome." In the end, the congratulations belonged to the Mets. As usual, all the Red Sox got were condolences. Olympics '92
1992
ALBERTVILLE, France; BARCELONA, Spain
	The upcoming Olympics will feature, naturally, an array of spectacular displays, upsets, disappointments, and charming performers who will come of athletic age in front of the whole world. In Albertville, watch out for speed skiing, where near-suicidal daredevils exceed 115 miles per hour. The US ski team may well put on a good show here -- not quite reminiscent of Sarajevo in 1984, but certainly more memorable than Calgary '88. America will also be sending her usual strong contingent of women figure skaters, and any one of the three is capable of the gold (and, in fact, a medal sweep would not be out of the question, though it would be unlikely). Because of the disintegration of their nation, the Soviets would seem to have the most to lose and the most to prove at the Winter Games, where they traditionally do very well. 

	At Barcelona, Carl Lewis will again bring a trunk for his possible medal haul, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee will show again that she is the world's dominant woman athlete, presuming she has recovered from her 1991 leg injuries. Germany will compete under one flag, but that may not mean that they will take home even more medals together than the usually skillful West and East Germans once took home alone; remember, some of the best German athletes will not qualify for the national team because half as many spots are available.

	Probably the host Spaniards will, as most Olympic hosts do, fashion some particularly thrilling heroes from among its own. But the stories that will endure from Barcelona and Albertville are ones that haven't been written yet, and some of the performers who will set world records there have names we have yet to know and store away for posterity.   Death at Le Mans
1955
LE MANS, France
	Auto racers know that they are facing death every time they step into their cars, and yet they race anyway. It's not that they are immune to fear, or scornful of it. It's merely that they are somehow able to push any thoughts of personal danger out of their minds, or at least to the fringes of their consciousness, where it does not interfere with the race at hand.

	Every so often, however, they are jolted back to reality, and death can no longer be ignored. Never has it happened in such a horrible way as in 1955, when the worst accident in auto racing history took place at the 24 hours of Le Mans. Driver Pierre Levegh's car spun out of control and careened into the stands, killing himself and 86 others, and seriously injuring 108 people, mostly spectators.

	But there was a winning car that year (Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Buab in a Jaguar D), and the next year, and in the 35 Le Mans that have been held since. The race must go on. sBy a Nose, a Nose, and a Nose
1978
BALTIMORE, Maryland
	Had it not been for the great champion Affirmed, a horse named Alydar might be remembered today as one of the top thoroughbreds of all time. Instead, Alydar is destined to be a footnote to horse-racing history, Affirmed's patsy in one of the fiercest and most one-sided rivalries the sport has ever known.

	In 1978, Affirmed became the 11th horse to win the coveted Triple Crown, which consists of victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. In each race, the valiant but vanquished runnerup was none other than Alydar, who was able to push Affirmed to his greatest accomplishments while coming up barely short himself. Affirmed was a horse who had already established itself as something extraordinary. At Hollywood Park in the 1970s, Affirmed once ran off by himself, setting off a frantic search. He was finally discovered back in his stall, which he had found among 2,244 others.

	After his three victories over Alydar, Affirmed later got a taste of defeat himself when he was beaten by Seattle Slew in the Marlboro Cup, the first race ever to pit two Triple Crown winners against each other. Image is Everything
1991

LAS VEGAS, Nevada
	Andre Agassi is the closest thing tennis has ever had to a rock star. Sure, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe in their youth inspired teeny-bopper adoration, but Agassi's groupies take their man more seriously (or less, as the case may be). When the Las Vegas boy first burst on the tennis scene, his flowing blond hair, denim shorts, and nuclear-powered forehand made him immediately stand out in the crowd. What's more, he had the crowd standing up for him, as he made a tradition of tossing a pair of his shorts into the stands after yet another devastation of a lesser talent. Agassi's talent was undeniable but his showmanship seemed to polarize tennis fandom: some thought him a breath of fresh air, who treated sport for what it really was -- entertainment; others found his playing to the crowd obnoxious, calculated to upset his opponent's concentration.

	Either way, Agassi's rise has been both startling and bumpy. After winning many tournaments, though few of true significance, Agassi at last made it to a Grand Slam final -- to three of them, in fact, in 1990 and 1991. Though he lost all three, he is now solidly established as one of the top players in the world and, after a similarly rocky debut as a Davis Cup player, has become the anchor for the national team which won the Cup in 1990 and which made it as far as the 1991 finals thanks only to his semifinal heroics against Germany. 

	In 1991, Agassi also faced head-on his least likely fans: the committee that runs the All-England tournament known as Wimbledon. Having avoided for several years the grass courts of the most famous tennis playground, Agassi was even able to wear a snazzy new outfit there -- and, with his play, become a fan favorite -- without breaking the club's strict, virtually-all-white dress code.

	Young, fast, and with an improving serve, Agassi can now learn from his experiences, which have turned some people on and put other people off. He is an endorsement machine -- his tennis player-as-rock-star Nike ads and Canon "Image is Everything" ads are particularly ubiquitous -- but perhaps now he can settle down, find his rhythm, pick up his instrument, and just play. He should have a lot of good music in him. Green Grass, White Stars
1957

HARLEM, New York
	Fighting prejudice and knocking down racial barriers every step of the way, Althea Gibson was the first great black tennis player of either sex.

	She began playing in the Harlem section of New York as a child, and went on to dominate the black tennis circuit while trying to break into the women's tour. It took a campaign by former champion Alice Marble before she received invitations to the main tournaments in the United States.

	Acceptance was slow, but it came. In 1950, Gibson became the first black tennis player accepted to compete in the US Championships at Forest Hills. By 1952, she was ranked in the top 10 in the world, and in 1956 she became the first black to win a major title, the French Open. In 1957, she added Wimbledon and the US Championship to her list of firsts, receiving a ticker tape parade up Broadway when she returned home to New York City from England. She repeated both victories in 1958, and was ranked No. 1 in the world both those years.

	"Nothing was easy for Althea," said Mary Hare, an English player who once practiced with Gibson when American players refused to. Gibson was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971, and to the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

	After her retirement from tennis competition in 1958, she tried her hand at golf, joining the LPGA tour. And here's another example of Gibson's versatility: when she was introduced at the Wimbledon ball after her triumph in 1957, she took the microphone and sang a song.
"The Greatest"
1965
LEWISTON, Maine
	When Cassius Clay first announced his presence to the boxing world, winning the light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, he was regarded as a formidable talent. He was also regarded as brash and media-savvy. As a young pro, "The Louisville Lip" and "The Mouth" became two of Clay's more well-known nicknames. He was noted for his pre-fight, rhyming predictions, in which he would inform the world of the round he would knock out his opponent. But while Clay may have had a big mouth, he also had the ability to back it up. In 1964, before his title fight with Sonny Liston, Clay said his strategy was to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," a line that was most likely coined by Clay's corner man, Drew "Bundini" Brown. Clay then went out and captured the heavyweight title when Liston was unable to come out for the seventh round.

	At the age of twenty-one, Clay converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He and Liston squared off again in a controversial 1965 rematch in Maine. The winner was the same, though this time Liston did not even make it past the first round. 

	Ali's popularity grew, as he continued to batter opponents and delight his supporters with predictions and bon mots. But Ali caused a furor when he evaded the draft for the Vietnam War, citing religious and moral grounds. "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong," he said, explaining his decision not to report for the draft in 1966. Ali was suspended as heavyweight champion from March 23, 1967 through September 25, 1970.

	Ali returned and engaged in many memorable bouts, particularly those with Ken Norton, George Foreman and Joe Frazier, with whom he battled three times, winning twice, including the legendary "Thrilla in Manila," on October 1, 1975. Twenty-eight thousand people attended the fight in the Philippine Coliseum, and 700,000,000 more in 68 countries watched via satellite. Ali and Frazier traded punches for fourteen rounds until Frazier's manager, Eddie Futch, refused to let his near-blind fighter respond to the bell for the last round. A gracious, exhausted Ali said that the fight was the closest thing to death he could imagine.

	Almost singlehandedly, Ali made boxing the commercial phenomenon it has become. At one point in his career he was regarded as the most famous and popular human being on the planet, an athlete known and loved in the remotest corners of the world. At that point, Ali was more likely to be called by his most enduring -- and, naturally, self-titled -- nickname: "The Greatest." The Thrilla in Manila
October 1, 1975
MANILA, Philippines
	Not since Admiral Dewey steamed into Manila Bay, armed to the teeth, did such war-like Americans take over the Philippines as did Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on October 1, 1975. But unlike Admiral Dewey, these warriors meant no harm to the citizens of Manila. They were there to harm each other. And did they ever! Known ever since then as the "Thrilla in Manila," the fight is among the most famous of all time. Ali and Frazier had fought twice before, and there is some reason to think that Ali believed Frazier was at the end of his career. In fact, that's the way it seemed at the beginning of the fight to more than 700 million people in 68 countries who were watching it via TV satellite. Ali had things pretty much his own way. But in the fifth round the tide turned. Frazier relentlessly bored in and landed savage punches. Ali admitted later that he was ready to quit by the 10th round. But he didn't, and the tide turned again. From the 11th round on, Ali pounded Frazier, who appeared helpless but refused to go down. The referee, Carlos Padilla, actually helped Frazier to his corner at the end of the 14th round. Frazier, almost blind at this point, was ready for the 15th round but manager Eddie Futch would not let "Smokin' Joe" leave his corner. 

	Ali, the winner, sunk to the canvas in exhaustion, and soon after said that the fight was as close to dying as he could imagine. He hinted that he would retire. He did not, but he was never again the same fighter he had been before.  YAll-Star Moments
1933 to Present
CHICAGO, Illinois
	Quick, now. Try to think of one memorable moment from football's annual All-Star Game, the Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii. Can't do it, can you? Now take the same test with baseball's All-Star Game, and the biggest challenge becomes narrowing down the thrills from innumerable candidates. For some reason -- perhaps because it takes place at midseason when the players are at their peak -- baseball's mid-summer classic has always been the scene of some of the game's most storied moments. In the very first game in 1933, Babe Ruth, by then 38 and fading fast, hit a home run at Chicago's Comiskey Park. And from there it went.

	The next year in the All-Star Game, Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell pulled off one of the greatest achievements in history when he struck out, in succession, future Hall of Famers Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin, with only Foxx able to hit so much as a foul ball.

	Other standout All-Star pitching feats have followed, such as the 1984 game, where 19-year-old Dwight Gooden, the youngest All-Star ever, combined with Fernando Valenzuela to strike out six consecutive batters in the San Francisco twilight. On the negative side, Dizzy Dean suffered a broken toe when he was struck by an Earl Averil line drive in the 1937 game, an injury that ruined his career when he tried to come back too soon and, by favoring his sore foot, developed a sore arm.

	Another notable All-Star injury was incurred by catcher Ray Fosse, who never quite recovered after being bowled over at the plate in 1970 by Pete Rose, a play that remains the All-Star Game's most enduring image. Rose and Fosse were actually friends, and had eaten dinner together at Rose's home the night before.

	Two more moments, in particular, deserve mention: Ted Williams' home run in 1946 on Rip Sewell's notorious "Eephus Pitch," a high-arcing lob that was believed impossible to muscle out of the park; and Reggie Jackson's monumental clout off the light standard in Tiger Stadium in 1971. It was a 520-foot shot off Dock Ellis that might have completely left the stadium had not the light pole intruded. 	The Longest Streak
1851 to Present

NEWPORT, Rhode Island
	The America's Cup, the premier sailing event in the world, was not named after the country, though it well could have been. America kept the Cup for 132 years, the most sustained domination in any sport, until Australia won it in 1983. The United States recovered the Cup in 1987, and retained it with a controversial victory over New Zealand in a special challenge match in 1988.

	In actuality, the America's Cup was named after the 101-foot schooner "America," which back in 1851 won a 60-mile regatta around the Isle of Wight that had been staged by England's Royal Yacht Squadron. "America" was the only American entry and beat out 14 British yachts. The trophy they took home was called The 100-Guinea Cup, but was renamed the America's Cup when the owners of the winning boat bequeathed it to the New York Yacht Club with the stipulation to defend it whenever challenged.

	And then America proceeded to meet every challenge, 25 of them, until 1983, when Australia II took a stunning victory over defender "Liberty" in the seventh and deciding race on the waters off Newport, Rhode Island. The skipper of "Liberty," Dennis Conner of the San Diego Yacht Club, won the cup back with "Stars and Stripes" in 1987, sweeping four races from Australian defender "Kookaburra III" off Fremantle, Australia.

	The following year, Conners was challenged to a Cup defense by New Zealand's Mercury Bay Boating Club, which didn't want to wait the customary three or four years between challenges. The 102-year-old Deed of Gift stated that every challenge must be met, and so a special race was held. The San Diego Yacht Club sent out a 60-foot catamaran to contest New Zealand's 133-foot monohull, and "Stars and Stripes" won in a rout. The furious New Zealanders protested the race and even filed suit, saying the SDYC violated the spirit of the deed by racing a catamaran. A judge in New York State agreed and on March 28, 1989, ordered the SDYC to turn the Cup over to Mercury Bay. The SDYC refused, instead turning it over to the New York Yacht Club as custodian until an appeal was heard. On September 19, 1989, the decision was overturned by the New York Supreme Court, and the Cup was returned to San Diego.

	The next America's Cup is scheduled for May, 1992, off San Diego, and it should be a little more genteel. All challengers have agreed to a standard class of boat, 75-foot monohulls with 110-foot masts.Don't Give Up
1950s to 1970s
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky
	Those who give up quickly might learn a lesson from Eddie Arcaro. As a young jockey, Arcaro lost the first 250 races of his career. Shattered confidence and thoughts of an early retirement might have overwhelmed lesser, larger men.

	Apparently, Arcaro was just a slow starter.

	One of horse racing's greatest jockeys, Arcaro would go on to win five Kentucky Derbies, six Belmonts, six Preaknesses, two Triple Crowns, and almost 5,000 total races.

	Moral of the story? Don't give up so quickly. EAustralian Tennis Champions
1968 to 1991

	A list of Australian tennis champions (Year, Winner, and Finalist):

	1968 Billie Jean King, Margaret Smith

	1969 Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King

	1970 Margaret Smith Court, Kerry Melville Reid

	1971 Margaret Smith Court, Evonne Goolagong

	1972 Virginia Wade, Evonne Goolagong

	1973 Margaret Smith Court, Evonne Goolagong

	1974 Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert

	1975 Evonne Goolagong, Martina Navratilova

	1976 Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Renata Tomanova

	1977 (Jan) Kerry Melville Reid, Dianne Balestrat

	1977 (Dec) Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Helen Gourley

	1978 Chris O'Neil, Betsy Nagelsen

	1979 Barbara Jordan, Sharon Walsh

	1980 Hana Mandlikova, Wendy Turnbull

	1981 Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1982 Chris Evert Lloyd, Martina Navratilova

	1983 Martina Navratilova, Kathy Jordan

	1984 Chris Evert Lloyd, Helena Sukova

	1985 (Dec) Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1987 (Jan) Hana Mandlikova, Martina Navratilova

	1988 Steffi Graf, Chris Evert

	1989 Steffi Graf, Helena Sukova

	1990 Steffi Graf, Mary Joe Fernandez

	1991 Monica Seles, Jana NovotnaaThe Boys From Down Under
1950s to 1970s

AUSTRALIA
	The Land Down Under has always been near the top when it comes to producing entertaining, world-class tennis players. But Australia outdid itself in the 1950s, when it brought forth, under the tutelage of the great coach Harry Hopman, an astonishing array of stars who wound up dominating the decade.

	Frank Sedgman, who won the Australian and US Open twice and Wimbledon once, was the first of the great Aussies, and he was followed by the likes of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Rex Hartwig, Mervyn Rose, Neale Fraser, Mal Anderson, Ashley Cooper, Fred Stolle, John Newcombe and Tony Roche. 

	In the fifties, that group would combine for 20 wins in Grand Slam events, and help Australia hold the Davis Cup for eight of the 10 years. Many of them remained in the sport's top echelon well into the sixties. The country wasn't quite as prolific producing world-class women, but Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong each won their share of majors.

	The Australians were as renowned for their sportsmanship and professionalism as for their ability. As an example, Emerson and Stolle cooked each other breakfast at their Putney flat before playing in the Wimbledon finals in 1964 and 1965.

	Although Australia has yet to produce quality in such quantity again, she has continued to churn out top players such as Pat Cash, who won Wimbledon in 1987. 
Brats
1970s to Present

WIMBLEDON, England
	For all their amazing talents, they are haunted by something outside their control. Is it also the thing that makes them great? Who knows. We do know that men's tennis, as it is contested today, has become much more tolerant of obnoxious displays of behavior than it ever used to be, and than women's tennis has ever been. Sure, players from the past got upset, even downright disgusted, with what they thought of as rotten line calls -- Pancho Gonzalez had a temper, and Billie Jean King lost her composure on occasion.  But it was never like this, where players (usually big stars) feel free not only to question the competence of lineswomen and linesmen, but to ridicule them, even for things having nothing to do with their responsibilities on court. 

	The granddaddy of today's clown princes was Ilie Nastase, whose on-court behavior helped inspire the Association of Tennis Professionals to institute a code of conduct. Nastase was a brilliant shotmaker from Romania who -- unlike John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors -- let his displeasure or frustration get the best of him, and fans would watch uncomfortably as he argued and gestured more and more, and his game completely unravelled. The Romanian availed himself of all the expletives in the book. Nastase's wife, shaking her head over his behavior, once wondered out loud why her husband, who spoke six languages, felt he had to curse on court in English when he played at the US Open, in French when he played at the French Open, in Italian when he played at the Italian Open...

	McEnroe -- dubbed "Superbrat" by the English tennis press -- has also made an art out of the best-of-five set whine, though with him it seems as often directed at himself as anyone else. Still, it's not pleasant to watch or hear, and McEnroe expansively includes others in his tirades; he once gratuitously called an official "a bald eagle," apparently not in reference to the man's acute eyesight. The gloriously talented McEnroe, a pleasure to watch when all is going well, not only has a slew of Grand Slam titles to his credit but has also earned the distinction of being disqualified from a Grand Slam tournament (the Australian Open) for his behavior. 

	But McEnroe often emerges from these walkabouts with more focus; one almost senses that, when he is down, he knows he must do something to improve his station on court, and not infrequently a few harsh, choice words do the trick. The same is true of Jimmy Connors who, despite his end-of-career heroics at the 1991 US Open, has never been above the vile and obnoxious display -- finger gestures and graphic rubbing of body parts used to be two of his favorites. Often, Jimbo will only make his gestures known behind the backs of the officials, just letting the crowd in on it. At the very Open where he won the hearts of so many New Yorkers, Connors called one official "an abortion." Connors, the game's most exciting and emotional competitor, can use this volatility to upset his opponent's concentration. Once, at a clay court tournament, Connors's opponent, after a close call, wanted an official to look at a ball mark near the endline -- something Connors himself has asked for several thousand times in his career. Before the linesman could get up to look at the mark, Connors raced around to his opponent's side of the court, erased the mark with his sneaker, and ran back to the other side.

	His opponent was not amused. The crowd cheered. Connors was tickled with himself. Dumbest Trades of All Time
1960s

CINCINNATI, Ohio
	Baseball lore is filled with stories of spectacularly nearsighted trades. Babe Ruth had led the Boston Red Sox to three pennants in five-plus years when Harry Frazee, the Sox owner, sold him to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan to Frazee. The next year, 1920, Babe hit 54 home runs; the Sox as a team hit 22. Ruth would lead the Yankees to seven pennants. Boston would not win another one for 28 years.

	The Cincinnati Reds shipped Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles before the 1966 season, writing him off as "an old thirty." In his first year with the Orioles, Robinson won the American League Triple Crown, led his team to the pennant and victory in the World Series, and was named American League MVP. The best player that the Reds received in return for Robinson was pitcher Milt Pappas.

	After 2-1/2 years, the Chicago Cubs had seen enough of outfielder Lou Brock to trade him to the St. Louis Cardinals in June of 1964. Brock batted .348 the rest of the year, played 15 more years after that, helped the Cardinals to win three pennants and two World Series, and stole a major league record 938 bases. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1985.

	There have also been some unusual, even comical, trades.

	In 1948, the Brooklyn Dodgers wanted Ernie Harwell, announcer for the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association, to be their broadcaster. Earl Mann, owner of the Crackers, needed a catcher. The Dodgers sent Cliff Dapper, who was catching for their Triple-A Montreal Royals team, to Atlanta for Harwell.

	In the middle of the 1960 season, the fourth-place Cleveland Indians traded their manager, Joe Gordon, to the sixth-place Detroit Tigers for their manager, Jimmy Dykes.

	Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote played against each other in the first game of a May 30, 1922 doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, then were traded for each other and played on the other side in the second game. 

	Rocky Colavito, the 1959 American League home run co-champion, was traded for Harvey Kuenn, the 1959 American League batting champion after the -- what else? -- 1959 season.

	Dale Holman was playing for Syracuse against Richmond on June 30, 1986, when the game was suspended. Before the game was resumed, Holman was released and signed with the Braves organization. Holman was called up to the Richmond club and played in the continuation of the Syracuse game, this time for Richmond. He had a single and double for Richmond to go with the double and two RBIs he'd had earlier for Syracuse.

	In 1986, in the Trade of the Kevins, the New York Mets traded Kevin Mitchell, Kevin Armstrong, Kevin Brown, Shawn Abner, and Stan Jefferson to the San Diego Padres for Kevin McReynolds, Gene Walter, and Adam Ging.

	Dickie Noles was traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Detroit Tigers late in the 1987 season for a player to be named later. At the end of the season, Noles was designated as the player to be named later.

	Oh, to be traded for oneself. "Scraping the Sky
May 1931

AUGSBURG, Germany
	In May of 1931, Swiss Auguste Piccard and a companion became the first humans to reach the stratosphere when they ballooned to 51,961 feet over Germany. The Piccard family was daring in the extreme, though father and son apparently defined extreme in different directions. In January of 1960, almost 29 years after his father's feat, Dr. Jacques Piccard and a companion, diving in a bathyscaphe, reached a depth of 6.78 miles in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Guam.

	Father Bartolomeu de Gusmao flew the first hot-air balloon in 1709 in Portugal -- indoors. Since then, ballooning has come a long way; today, thousands of daredevils lift off into the heavens for both sport and adventure. Modern balloonists have reached altitudes exceeding 20 miles, and are constantly seeking out new ways to make balloons go higher and straighter. But anyone who has ever been in a balloon -- or has even looked up to see the sky dotted with them -- knows too well that the real reason to travel in one is to dance, if only briefly, among the stars. 	Bannister Breaks Four Minutes
May 6, 1954

IFFLEY ROAD, OXFORD, England
	Success breeds success. An athlete or team overcomes some psychological or physical barrier and suddenly others are confident that the barrier no longer exists. The best example of this might be that of the four-minute mile. Before Englishman Roger Bannister crossed that threshold in 1954, it was widely believed to be physically impossible. By the end of 1957, 16 other runners had also broken the four-minute mile.

	There are some forgotten bits of trivia regarding Bannister's historic run. First, he did not break the four-minute mile in an actual race. On May 6, 1954, he ran 3:59.4 while being carefully paced by rabbits Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Bannister's quarter-mile splits were 57.5 seconds, 60.7, 62.3, and 58.9. 

	Hailed as one of the great athletic achievements of the century, Bannister's run is more impressive still when you consider that he had to contend with, according to reports in the New York Times, "a 15mph crosswind during the race and gusts [that] reached 25mph just before the event began."

	Australian John Landy, who had been battling with Bannister to become the first man to break the elusive barrier, became the second to do so a month and a half later in Finland, establishing a new world record of 3:57.9 seconds. Surely, Landy was pleased, though he must have understood that it was Bannister's name, not Landy's, that would forever go down in history. In a run-off to decide who was the faster miler, Bannister and Landy faced off later that year in the "Mile of the Century" in Vancouver, British Columbia. Bannister beat Landy, 3:58.8 seconds to 3:59.6, the first time two men in one race had broken four minutes. 

	The next, considerably less dramatic barrier, 3:55 seconds, was conquered by Australian Herb Elliott. American Jim Ryun made a serious attack on 3:50 with his 3:51.3 in 1966. But it was not until New Zealand's John Walker ran 3:49.4 almost a decade later that the next "impossible" barrier was broken. 

	Twenty-three days after Bannister had run the most famous mile of all time, his fellow Briton, Diane Leather, became the first woman to break five minutes with a 4:59.6 seconds, in Birmingham, on May 29, 1954. In the thirty-plus years since the two British runners broke these significant marks, women's times have improved by a far higher percentage than men's. 

	What is the "impossible" mile barrier today? What are the limits of human speed over that distance? Barefoot Kicks, Underhand Shots
1976

	Most of the greatest athletes have classic form -- "textbook," it's often called. One is reminded of the smooth swing of baseball's Don Mattingly or Will Clark, the jumpshot of basketball's Jerry West or the skyhook of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the powerful stride of football wide receiver Jerry Rice or sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis.

	But other great athletes have been able to do the job just fine, thank you, by relying on some notably unorthodox techniques.

	Mark "The Bird" Fidrych (shown here) used to talk to himself and the ball before throwing a pitch.

	Rick Barry shot free throws underhand. At 90 percent, he is the most accurate free-throw shooter in NBA history. (The technique alone does not guarantee success: Wilt Chamberlain shot free throws underhand, too, and was awful at it, a career 51 percent shooter).

	Harold Connolly wore ballet shoes for better footing in the finals of the 1956 Olympic hammer-throw competition, which he won.

	Washington Redskin placekicker Mark Moseley, who once made a record 23 consecutive field goals, wore five socks on his kicking foot.

	In the 1930s, golfer Leo Diegel used a putting style in which his left hand was inverted and his elbows were held out. Sam Snead putted croquet-style, a method that was later banned.

	5,000m former world record holder Zola Budd, American pole vaulter Desha McNeal Beamer, placekickers Tony Franklin and Rich Karlis, and India's national field hockey team all competed barefoot.

	Willie Mays, Giants outfielder, popularized the basket catch, and his teammate, pitcher Juan Marichal, the high leg kick.

	Rather than clear the hurdles in the steeplechase in traditional fashion, 1968 Olympic gold medalist Amos Biwott of Kenya hopped over them.

	The arc of Jamaal Wilkes's jump shot began over his shoulder and almost behind his head. He was a career 50 percent shooter from the field.

	New York Giant slugger Mel Ott high-stepped into his swing, as did Japanese baseball great Sadaharu Oh. Ott hit 511 home runs, Oh 868.

	To keep loose, Canadian Earl Thomson, gold medalist in the 1920 Olympic 110m hurdles, tied his legs to the bed before going to sleep so that he could not curl up and cramp. The Great American Game
1869

COOPERSTOWN, New York
	It might seem dull to watch a game in which players never hit the ball, but any baseball fan will tell you that a pitcher who prevents any of the other team's players from getting a hit makes for an exciting day at the ballpark.

	Though it's far from certain, this favorite American game may have been invented around 1869 by Abner Doubleday of Cooperstown, New York, though there were similar games with bases played earlier, such as prison ball in France and rounders in England.

	While the exact origin of baseball is unknown, it was Alexander J. Cartwright who set down many of the rules for the game in 1845, including the distance between bases, foul lines, team sizes, etc.

	In addition, Cartwright started the New York Knickerbockers, the first baseball team.

	Baseball became popular among Civil War soldiers, and when the war was over, they spread the game throughout the country. Leading Batters
All-Time
	A list of all-time leading batters:

	Ty Cobb -- .367

	Rogers Hornsby -- .358

	Joe Jackson -- .356

	Ed Delahanty -- .346

	Wade Boggs -- .345 (active in 1992)

	Ted Williams -- .344

	Tris Speaker -- .344

	Billy Hamilton -- .344

	Willie Keeler -- .343

	Dan Brouthers -- .342

	Babe Ruth -- .342

	Harry Heilmann -- .342

	Pete Browning -- .341

	Bill Terry -- .341

	George Sisler -- .340

	Lou Gehrig -- .340

	Jesse Burkett -- .339

	Nap Lajoie -- .338

	Riggs Stephenson -- .336

	Al Simmons -- .334"Dem Bums": The Brooklyn Dodgers
1883 to 1957

BROOKLYN, New York
	A popular New York columnist, Pete Hamill, was once asked, who are the three most evil men of the 20th century? Without hesitation he answered, "Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Walter O'Malley." This opinion was shared by roughly three million people who lived in Brooklyn. O'Malley was the man who owned the Dodgers and who, in defiance of sentiment, history, community cohesion and reason, moved them from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, where, he believed correctly, the team could make more money. To this day, there are people living in Brooklyn who do not recognize the legitimacy of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who believe them to be imposters and who wish them nothing but evil times. And for good reason. To the citizens of Brooklyn, their team, which was started in 1883, was something of a religion. The team was affectionately known as "Dem Bums," especially after cartoonist Willard Mullin drew a loving portrait of the team in the form of a cheerful hobo whose favorite slogan was "Wait 'Till Next Year." During the team's fabled history, legends grew, mostly about the ineptness of the players. Every boy growing up in Brooklyn learned about the day three Dodgers ended up at third base, and the day when a fly ball landed on Babe Herman's head. And no one was surprised when, in explaining an error that cost Brooklyn a World Series game, pitcher Billy Loes remarked that he had lost the ball in the sun. The problem was that the missed ball was a grounder. The talented Loes was also cherished for his explanation of why he never wanted to win 20 games in one season. He said, "If you do it once, they expect you to do it again."

	By the 1940s, the era of ineptness ended and until the team left for Los Angeles in 1958, Brooklyn was a National League powerhouse. When they defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series in 1955, old men wept in gratitude. They were called "Dem Bums" to the very end. They have never been called that in Los Angeles.

	The Dodgers' last game at Ebbets Field was played on September 24, 1957. Only 6,702 heartsick people showed up to watch the funeral. The Dodgers beat the Pirates, 3-0, then left forever. Brooklyn has never been the same.Greatest Sports Feat Ever
1968

MEXICO CITY, Mexico
	The word "Beamonesque" has entered the vocabulary of sports historians to mean a feat so dramatically superior to its predecessors that it cannot be sufficiently appreciated except to be called, well, "Beamonesque."

	American Bob Beamon astounded the world when he won the long jump at the 1968 Olympics with his record 29'2-1/2" leap, a standard that stood for 23 years until Mike Powell of the US broke the record by two inches at the Track and Field World Championships in Tokyo, in the summer of 1991.

	It is not that Beamon wasn't a world-class jumper before that day; he was. And it is not that a world record jump at those Games couldn't have been anticipated; it was, what with the thin air of high-altitude Mexico City. What was astounding about the jump was that Beamon became not only the first human to clear 29 feet but also the first to clear 28 feet. In fact, the first 28 foot-long jump would not occur for 12 more years, until the 1980 Olympics, when Lutz Dombrowski did it. To put Beamon's feat further into perspective: his jump increased the world record by 21-3/4 inches, while in the 33 years before that, since Jesse Owens's jump of 26'8-1/4" in 1935, the record had increased by 8-1/2 inches.

	When the distance of Beamon's world record jump was announced, he sank to the ground with what doctors described as a cataplectic seizure, caused by emotional excitement.

	There's an interesting parallel between Beamon's jump and that of the previous great American long jumper, Jesse Owens. In 1936, Owens was one foul away from elimination in the long jump competition when opponent Luz Long offered him a helpful tip: Play it safe by making a mark several inches before the takeoff board. Owens made a successful jump and would go on to win the gold medal, with Long taking the silver. In 1968, Beamon was one foul away from elimination when competitor Ralph Boston offered the same tip to Beamon that Long had offered Owens. Beamon would go on to win his famous gold medal, with Boston taking the bronze. zMissed Shots, Ruined Lives
1949 to 1950

NEW YORK, New York
	During the 1949-50 college basketball season, the CCNY Beavers accomplished something never done before or since: they won both the NCAA and the NIT championships.

	In each final game, incidentally, they defeated Bradley Tech (now called Bradley University). Moreover, all of the starting players were sophomores (Eddie Warner, Floyd Layne, Ed Roman, Herb Cohen and "Fats" Roth). The following year, all of them were arrested for "shaving" points, thus bringing shame on themselves and their college. Players from other New York City colleges were also arrested, including players from Long Island University, Manhattan College and New York University. (No players from St. John's University were accused.)

	The scandal brought an end to the national dominance of New York City college basketball. It also brought condemnation from coaches all over the country. Phog Allen, of Kansas, called the New York players "alley cats." Adolph Rupp, the great coach of the University of Kentucky, was outraged and was quoted as saying, "They [gamblers] couldn't touch my boys with a ten-foot pole." As it turned out, Rupp knew more about basketball than about basketball players. In due course, several of the Wildcats' players were arrested for shaving points, including Alex Groza (the brother of the Cleveland Browns' great kicker, Lou Groza) and Ralph Beard, both of whom were All-Americas. Two of the star players of Bradley Tech, Paul Unruh and Gene Melchiore, were also arrested.

	Corruption, it would seem, is not confined to New York City. All of the players involved in the scandal were permanently barred from professional basketball. But the story has a few bright spots. Unruh became a successful businessman in Peoria, Illinois. Ed Roman went on to receive a doctorate in education. And in a classic example of happy irony, years later, Floyd Layne became the basketball coach at CCNY. _Barefoot Bikila
1960

ROME, Italy
	The 1960 marathon staged in Rome was significant for several reasons: it was the first to be run at night, and the first that would start and end outside of the stadium. But perhaps most significant of all, it was the first Olympic marathon won by a black African, thus anticipating the dominance over the rest of the world that black Africans would enjoy in world-class distance running for many years to come (and which made itself especially apparent at the 1968 Games, in high-altitude Mexico City, where Kenyans felt almost as if they had a homefield advantage). One of the legendary figures of the Olympics and of distance running, Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, won the Rome marathon running barefoot. 

	Four years later in Tokyo, in an unusual display of versatility, Bikila defended his title wearing socks and shoes. At the awards ceremony that year, no one in the band knew the Ethiopian national anthem, so they played the Japanese anthem instead. 

	Unfortunately, Bikila's career and life, so full of triumph, took tragic turns. At the Mexico City Games, the Ethiopian pulled out after 10 miles with a fracture in his leg. Then, a year later, he was paralyzed in a car crash. The last four years of his life were spent in a wheelchair, and sadly, the only athlete ever to win two Olympic marathons died of a brain hemorrhage in 1973, at the age of 41. Big Men Square Off
1959 to 1969

BOSTON, Massachusetts
	It was basketball's most titanic rivalry, two splendid giants going at each other for ten years, from 1959 to 1969, one peerless on offense, the other on defense. And while one received many more personal accolades and marks in the record book, the other went home every year with another championship ring.

	Man to man, the competition between center Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics and center Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia (later San Francisco) Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers, was won by the latter: in their 142 contests, Chamberlain averaged 28.7 points and an identical 28.7 rebounds to Russell's 14.5 points and 23.7 rebounds. But Russell's team won 85 games and lost only 57 to Wilt's teams, and Russell won 11 NBA titles to Chamberlain's two. Furthermore, while Chamberlain had taken his college team, Kansas, all the way to the NCAA final in 1957, his team had lost in a heartbreaking triple-overtime, 54-53, to North Carolina; while Russell, who won wherever he went, had helped the University of San Francisco win the national crown in both 1955 and 1956.

	While Chamberlain passed up his final year at college to tour the world with the Harlem Globetrotters, Russell spent his first games after college helping the US win another Olympic basketball gold medal, at the 1956 Melbourne Games. 

	It's possible that Chamberlain won the battles but lost the wars. On the other hand, Russell always had more adept players around him than Chamberlain.

	Either Russell or Chamberlain led the NBA in rebounding for 16 out of the 17 years from 1957-73.

	For the 1965-66 season, Chamberlain signed a contract with the San Francisco Warriors for $100,000. Russell then had his own Celtic contract negotiated so that he would be paid $100,001. From Out of Nowhere
1964

TOKYO, Japan
	In one of the most stunning upsets in the history of Olympic track and field, unknown American Billy Mills won the 10,000 meter gold medal at the 1964 Games when he ran an Olympic record 28:24.4, a time that was a phenomenal 46 seconds faster than his previous best. Mills, who hadn't even come in first at the US Olympic trials, had been able to keep up with the favorite and world record holder, Australian Ronald Clarke. Toward the end of the race, Clarke seemed to be in excellent position since neither Mills nor Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi, running with Clarke, had ever broken 29 minutes; at the pace they were all running, Mills and Gammoudi were likely to fade at any moment. 

	But after some jostling and shoving that broke up the lead pack, Mills dropped back, seemingly out of contention. While Clarke and Gammoudi dueled out in front, Mills made a spectacular, unexpected surge on the homestretch and nipped Gammoudi by three yards and Clarke by another second still. 

	The Japanese fans went crazy. They had just witnessed a memorably courageous and competitive race, and, to top it off, the victor's identity was unfamiliar to everyone. Indeed, when one race official caught up to Mills after the race, he asked simply, "Who are you?"

	He was 7/16 Sioux Indian, and the next year, to prove that he wasn't a one-race runner, he broke Clarke's world record. He was Billy Mills, the 10,000-meter man responsible for one of the greatest Olympic upsets ever. \Bird vs. Magic
1979

LOS ANGELES, California; BOSTON, Massachusetts
	Professional basketball received a gift in 1979. Actually it was two gifts, but they would forever be appreciated at least as much in a single breath as they would in two.

	Bird and Magic. Magic and Bird. Earvin and Larry. Larry's Celtics and Magic's Lakers. Together or separately, they stood for versatility and unselfish team play.

	Actually, the impact that these two men had on basketball started in college. Both had been stars, Bird as a phenomenal scorer and all-around forward for Indiana State, Johnson as Michigan State's point guard, the first 6'8" player anyone could remember who was so graceful and accomplished at that position, yet so imposing that he could drive, rebound and see over virtually all opposition. The two men led their teams to the national championship game in 1979. In a much-heralded battle, Johnson's more powerful Spartan team double- and triple-teamed Bird, who had, by force of will and talent, turned a largely forgettable Indiana State team into the second best in the country. Johnson and Michigan State won, 75-64. 

	The year before, Bird had been eligible for the NBA draft and had been picked by the Boston Celtics, but he chose to stay in school and play one more year. After helping Michigan State win the national title, Johnson, a sophomore, declared himself eligible for the pro draft.

	Boston exercised its right from the previous year and signed Bird. The Lakers made Johnson the #1 pick of the 1979 draft. Larry and Magic had left college intertwined, and now they would take their act to the NBA stage together.

	With Bird an immediate success, the Celtics, a mighty franchise that had now fallen on hard times, made the greatest turnaround in the history of the game. The year before he showed up, the Celtics had gone 29-53. In his first season with them, they were 61-21.

	Not to be outdone, Johnson injected new life into the Lakers with his 1,000-watt smile and no-look passes, and led the team to the NBA title. To cap things off, he played center in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Game 6 of the Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring 42 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and handing out 7 assists. At age 20, Johnson was the youngest player to win the NBA playoff MVP Award. As he celebrated with his Laker teammates in the winning locker room, he was still legally too young to drink the champagne.

	Together, Bird and his Celtics and Johnson and his Lakers turned the NBA into a magnificently profitable commercial proposition. Revenue from television and NBA merchandise came pouring in. With shrewd commissioners and player union leaders at the league's helm, and by employing the team "salary cap," the NBA would become, as it is today, the most efficiently run of all the major team sports in America.

	Superficially, Bird and Magic represented different things -- white and black; country boy and city slicker; East Coast and West Coast; tough inside Celtic play and Laker "Showtime." But they really represented the same thing: they both always looked for the open man; they both made the players around them better; they both had uncanny abilities to raise their games in the clutch -- they both wanted the ball with the game on the line. 

	Bird and Johnson almost seemed to alternate winning the ultimate personal and team triumphs in basketball. Both of them won NBA MVP Awards and playoff MVP Awards. They would both become staples on the East or West starting teams for the annual All Star Game. Bird led his team to three titles, Johnson to five. They battled twice a year during the regular season; they battled in charity events. Their teams met three times in the NBA Finals, with Magic's Lakers taking it twice, and once and for all burying the curse the Celtics had cast over the Lakers throughout the 1960s, when their teams met six times in the finals and the Celtics won each time. 

	Larry brought the greatest franchise in pro basketball history back to prominence, while Magic established the Lakers as The Team of the Decade. They endorsed sneakers together. They played in front of constant sellouts at home and on the road.

	Magic and Larry. Bird and Johnson. They will go into the Hall of Fame -- probably not together, now that Johnson has retired, stunning the world with his disclosure that he had tested positive for the HIV virus -- and they have grown to be great good friends. Respectful rivals they always have been. 

	These two players, with their disparate talents and their similar unselfishness, are responsible, as much as anyone or anything else, for the national and international success pro basketball today enjoys. WBattle of the Sexes
1973

HOUSTON, Texas
	The tennis match that drew the biggest worldwide television audience in history (nearly 50 million), and the largest in-person attendance ever (30,472 at the Houston Astrodome), was a $100,000, winner-take-all contest between a 29-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man.

	A sociological phenomenon that fed upon the burgeoning women's liberation movement, the so-called "Battle of the Sexes" between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs on September 20, 1973, captivated the world. Riggs, one of the great players of his day -- he won Wimbledon in 1939 -- had managed to keep his name in the news by becoming an often shameless hustler. He got the most mileage out of playing the role of male sexist pig, which he did to perfection, making constant disparaging remarks about women's tennis, and women in general. Finally, in 1973, he challenged the top women's players to a match. Margaret Court was the first to accept, but on Mother's Day of '73 she was embarrassed in straight sets by Riggs on national television.

	Riggs's gloating was too much to bear for King, one of the great pioneers of the women's game, and she agreed to play Riggs. King, who won a record 20 Wimbledon titles, was the right person for the challenge. Entering the court that night on a throne, wearing a dress with thousands of sequins hand-sewn by legendary designer Ted Tinling, she took care of Riggs in three straight sets.

	Twelve years later, in 1985, Riggs had one more go of it at age 67, teaming up with Vitas Gerulaitis to challenge Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver to a doubles match. Once again, the women triumphed. 
Basketball in Black and White


	Basketball -- college and especially professional -- is so full of exciting black stars and superstars that it is hard to imagine the NBA or the college ranks without black players. Unlike baseball, where Jackie Robinson has achieved mythic stature as the man who integrated the game in 1947, the names of similarly pioneering blacks in basketball are not nearly so well known.

	The New York Renaissance Five, better known as the Rens, barnstormed and beat the Celtics in seven of eight meetings during the 1933 season. The Rens and the all-white Celtics were also the opponents in the first black-white basketball game ever played in the South. The Rens were led by center Charles "Tarzan" Cooper (whom coach Joe Lapchick called the best center he'd ever seen) and 6'5" Wee Willie Smith, and the point was run by 5'7" Clarence "Fat" Jenkins, who was tabbed "the fastest man in basketball." The Rens were legendary for their stamina and prided themselves on never calling timeouts. It was not uncommon for them to play two or three games in a day, and then travel as much as 200 miles back to places like Chicago and Indianapolis because they were denied hotel rooms in smaller towns. White fans would sometimes take it personally if one of the Rens and a white opponent tangled on court, and on more than one occasion mobs gathered to brawl with the team. At least twice, the Rens had to be led out of town by police escort. 

	The Harlem Globetrotters, of course, the world's most famous basketball team, barnstormed all over the country and the world. In 1951, they put on an exhibition in front of an appreciative crowd of 75,000 at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, the same site where, fifteen years earlier, Adolf Hitler had snubbed America's black Olympians. 

	In 1950, Chuck Cooper of Duquesne became the first black player drafted by the NBA when the Boston Celtics picked him in the second round. On October 31 of that year, Earl Lloyd of the Washington Capitals became the first black to play in the NBA, appearing in a game in Rochester against the Royals. The league soon became dotted and eventually deluged with great black players.

	In 1966, Bill Russell became the first black NBA head coach, for the Boston Celtics. That same year, John McLendon was named the first black head basketball coach at a predominantly white college, Cleveland State. 

	But for integrating the game, clearly the most significant event that year was the NCAA finals. Texas Western, with five black starters, beat Adolph Rupp's University of Kentucky team, with five white starters, an event called "`Brown vs. the Board of Education' of college basketball." The notion of black "quotas" in basketball ended and helped to change the complexion -- figuratively and literally -- of the game.

	In 1969, John McLendon became the first black head coach in the ABA, for the Denver Nuggets. Six years later, Al Attles's Golden State Warriors defeated K.C. Jones's Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals, the first championship matchup of black head coaches in professional sports. And in 1984, John Thompson of Georgetown University became the first black to coach an NCAA basketball champion. 

	These milestones are particularly significant because a sport's true acceptance of blacks and other minorities is probably revealed more by the number holding important coaching and management positions, less so by the number participating on the court or field. In this sense, basketball has shown itself to be more highly evolved than football, baseball, and, generally speaking, every other sport. The Disappearing Black Jockey
1911

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky
	Many racegoers do not realize that when they watch the thoroughbreds rumbling down the track, riders crouched low over their mounts, there is something terribly askew.

	There are virtually no black jockeys. 

	This would not be notable, of course, if there had never been any black jockeys, or never more than a few, at most, here and there. But there have. At the turn of the century, most jockeys were black, and black jockeys won 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbies. The last black jockey to ride in the Derby was Jess Conley, in 1911. In 1955, jockey Isaac Murphy was part of the inaugural group elected to the National Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Murphy, one of the great riders in American history, was the first jockey -- black or white -- to ride three Derby winners. 

	So where are the black jockeys today? They can hardly be found among the sport so full of bright-hued silks, in the world that fancies itself one of the more colorful around. CBlack Power
1968

MEXICO CITY, Mexico
	It may be the single most enduring image from the history of the Olympic Games.  

	At Mexico City in October of 1968, gold medalist world record holder Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos gave the Black Power salute on the 200-meter victory stand during the playing of the American National Anthem. They were barefoot, wore black gloves, and bowed their heads. They said that the clenched fists represented black strength and unity, the bare feet were reminders of black poverty, and the bowed heads showed that expressions of freedom in the National Anthem did not apply to blacks. 

	Smith and Carlos's supposedly protected right to free expression seemed forgotten in the ensuing reaction. The United States Olympic Committee suspended both men and ordered them to leave the Olympic village. Back home, the two men often received strong disapproval. Many of those who grew apoplectic over the display on the victory stand seemed to overlook the fact that the "protest" was utterly non-violent. Considering the history of the Olympic movement -- boycotts as predictable as clockwork, the 1972 Munich Massacre that left 11 Israelis dead, biased judging and rooting -- Smith and Carlos's act was positively benign. 

	Later, Carlos eloquently pondered what had gone wrong with international amateur athletics: "Why do they play national anthems? Why do we have to beat the Russians? Why do the East Germans want to beat the West Germans? Why can't everyone wear the same colors but wear numbers to tell them apart? What happened to the Olympic ideal of man against man?" Bobby Orr
1970

BOSTON, Massachusetts
	In the fourth and clinching game of the 1970 Stanley Cup finals, Boston Bruin star defenseman Bobby Orr flew through the air, lunged, and fell as he scored the overtime goal against the St. Louis Blues, to give the Bruins their first Stanley Cup in 29 years. The image of Orr sprawled on the ice has become one of the most enduring in hockey history.

	Orr's place in the game is sacred. He is one of that very select group -- Maurice "The Rocket" Richard and Wayne Gretzky are two other members -- credited with being not just phenomenally gifted, but with changing the idea of how the game was played. Orr rushed, moving at will and with lightning quickness up and down the Boston Garden ice; he had a very hard, accurate shot; he could skate and he stickhandled beautifully. He was an offensive-minded defenseman who controlled the game's pace at both ends. He displayed the daring -- more traditional, defensive-minded observers sometimes termed it "recklessness" -- to rush up ice and create havoc before dishing off to one of the forwards or scoring himself. The next generation of brilliant defensemen -- most notably the New York Islanders' Denis Potvin and the Edmonton Oilers' (and later Pittsburgh Penguins') Paul Coffey -- took their lessons from Orr's tough but stylish play. 

	In 1969-70, Orr did the unthinkable when, as a defenseman, he won the scoring title. He set records for most assists and most points in a season. He was the first defenseman in NHL history to score a hat trick in a Stanley Cup game. 

	Orr led the Bruins to a second Stanley Cup in 1972, and he certainly had a good supporting cast, among them Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, and Gerry Cheevers. But the career of the great #4 was shortened by injuries, probably partially the result of his active style of play. He came back with the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1976-77 and 1978-79 seasons. But he will always be remembered, especially by Boston fans, for the way he singlehandedly took over a game and almost made those in the arena -- players, fans -- stop and watch and admire. In Orr, they were watching not simply one of the NHL's greatest players but one of its innovators, as well. The Golden Jet
1960s to 1970s

POINT ANNE, Ontario
	Bobby Hull was born in Point Anne, and he was born to play hockey. The "Golden Jet," as he was known during his glorious 16-year career -- 15 of them with the Chicago Black Hawks, then finishing off with the Winnipeg Jets -- was a scoring machine, totalling 610 goals, and five times he scored more than 50 goals in a season. He won the Art Ross Trophy for National Hockey League points leader after the 1960, 1962, and 1966 seasons, and twice won the Hart Trophy as the league's Most Valuable Player. He was a perennial All-Star and has been called the greatest left wing ever to play the game. 

	Hull is probably best remembered for two aspects of his game: his shot and his character. Along with Boom Boom Geoffrion, Hull helped to popularize the slapshot; with his Chicago teammate Stan Mikita, Hull first began to use the curved blade which would make his own slapshot -- not to mention those of future NHL stars -- that much more deadly and elusive. Hull was also known as a tough-as-nails competitor who, though often graceful, would not back away from a fight and who lost most of his teeth during his tenure in the league. At times Hull's nose was so shattered and battered that he could barely breathe through it. 

	Hull did not just bring glory to himself, but helped bring a Stanley Cup to Chicago, in 1961, as the Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings four games to two. Hull, in his first Stanley Cup Finals, scored two goals in Game One, including the game-winner. The Black Hawks went to the Finals twice more, losing in 1962 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and in 1965 to the Montreal Canadiens. 

	In 1977, Hull sat out one game to protest hockey violence. His connection to the game now lives on in the person of son Brett Hull, an even more prolific scorer than The Golden Jet. The younger Hull, a star for the St. Louis Blues, relies more on craftiness than power, and led the league in scoring in 1990 and 1991. At this rate, he should easily join his father someday in the Hall of Fame.  Mr. and Ms. Versatility
1869 to Present

AUBURN, Alabama
	Bo isn't the only one who knows. Vic knows. And Sammy knows. And Lottie and Jaroslav and Russ also knew.	

	Bo Jackson's fame is predicated not just on his athletic talent but rather his multiple athletic talents. He was a star slugger and outfielder for baseball's Kansas City Royals, and running back for football's Los Angeles Raiders. While Bo is a remarkable physical specimen, he is hardly the first athlete who had to stop and think for a second about which cap or helmet to put on before heading out onto the field, or court, or rink, or...

	Ellsworth Vines became one of the top 15 golfers in America after leaving the tennis tour in 1939.

	Jim Thorpe starred in pro football, played major league baseball, and won the decathlon and pentathlon gold medals at the 1912 Olympics. If that wasn't enough, he won the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship.

	Football legend Jim Brown is considered one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time.

	Three years after winning the US Amateur golf title in 1909, Robert Gardner broke the world pole vault record, becoming the first man to clear 13 feet.

	Vic Janowicz, 1950 Heisman Trophy winner, played major league baseball, as did 1953 Heisman runner-up Paul Giel.

	In 1976, Sheila Young held world titles simultaneously in two sports: she won the Olympic 500m speedskating gold medal (as well as a speedskating silver and bronze) and a world title in cycling.

	Golfing great Jack Nicklaus, fishing off the Australian coast in the early 1980s, caught what was then the fourth- largest blue marlin ever taken, weighing 1,358 pounds.

	Tennis star Jaroslav Drobny won a silver medal as a member of Czechoslovakia's 1948 Olympic hockey team.

	Edward Eagan won the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal in 1920, and the four-man bobsled gold in 1932. He is the only person to win gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

	Golfer Hale Irwin was an All-Big Eight defensive back in football for Colorado in 1965 and 1966.

	Lottie Dod, five-time Wimbledon singles champion, represented England in field hockey in 1899, won the British Ladies Golf Championship in 1904, and won an Olympic silver medal for archery in 1908.

	Major league pitchers Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins both played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

	NFL tight end Russ Francis's high school javelin record (254'11") lasted from 1971 to 1988.

	Washington Redskin Sammy Baugh just played football, but his talents were indeed varied. As a quarterback, Baugh holds the NFL record for highest average gain per pass in a game (24 passes for 446 yards, average gain per pass of 18.58 yards, on October 31, 1948, against Boston). As a punter, Baugh holds the NFL record for highest yard-per-punt average in a season (35 punts for 1,799 yards, a 51.4-yard- per-punt average, in 1940). As a defensive back, he co-holds the record for most interceptions in a game, four, against Detroit, November 14, 1943.

	Seven Pro Football Hall of Famers played in the major leagues, including Ernie Nevers and George Halas.

	Amos Alonzo Stagg is the only man in both the Pro Football and Basketball Halls of Fame. Besides his many contributions to football, he played in the first public basketball game on March 11, 1892, organized the University of Chicago National Interscholastic Basketball Tournament in 1917, and established basketball at the University of Chicago.

	Cal Hubbard is the only man in both the Baseball and pro Football Halls of Fame. He was a star NFL lineman (1927- 33, 1935-36) and an American League umpire (1936-51).

	On November 8, 1968, Don Gullett, future major league pitcher, scored 72 points in a football game for South Shore (McKell, Kentucky) High School -- the seventh all-time scoring performance in high school history.

	Former major league player and manager Alvin Dark led LSU in passing and rushing in 1942. His play pushed Steve Van Buren, a future star running back in the NFL, into the role of blocking back.

	As a youngster, major leaguer Lee Mazzilli won eight national speedskating championships.

	Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman Ed "Too Tall" Jones was 6-0 as a professional boxer in 1979.

	Deion Sanders scored an NFL touchdown and hit a major league home run in the same week, in September 1989. Jim Thorpe accomplished the same feat in both 1917 and 1919. KThe Greatest Game Ever
1980

WIMBLEDON, England
	If you loved tennis or drama, this was your lucky day.

	In what has been called the greatest single game ever played in the history of lawn tennis, John McEnroe, the tempestuous and brilliant American on the rise, won the battle against his idol, Bjorn Borg, the stoic, flawless Swede at the top of his game. 

	Unfortunately for McEnroe, Borg won the war.

	Unfortunately for Borg, the war had sequels.

	Bjorn Borg had already made history by winning four consecutive men's singles titles at Wimbledon, from 1976-79, and he desperately wanted to start the new decade with another. He had five French Opens to his credit and, though he'd been frustrated at the world's other great tennis tournament -- the US Open -- there still figured to be several Grand Slam titles left for Borg's taking. 

	McEnroe, meanwhile, had burst on the tennis scene with a volcanic temper and probably the softest hands, quickest reflexes, and uncanniest understanding of the game anyone had ever seen. In 1979, his victory at the US Open announced that he might just be one of history's children. One player would later say that the greatest doubles team in history was "John McEnroe and anybody." His talent was irrefutable, and perhaps the only thing that could overwhelm it was his own tortured perfectionism and an exceedingly low boiling point. 

	Or perhaps another great tennis player making the strokes of his life.

	In the 1980 final, McEnroe and Borg fought through the first three sets. The American won handily in the first, the Swede showed his trademark resiliency to win the next two. The play was spectacular: Borg was a rock from the forehand and backhand, rarely venturing to net, rarely making a mistake; McEnroe darted in behind his twisting, left-handed serve, making astonishing volleys yet also leaving himself vulnerable to the Swede's bullet passing shots. 

	McEnroe was on good behavior, too. Perhaps it was that his opponent had once been his tennis idol, a man who never even smiled on court, much less flew into tantrums. Or perhaps McEnroe honored the fact that Wimbledon's famed Centre Court had been, after all, Borg's playground for the past five years. The mutual respect was obvious, the competition breathtaking. 

	The fourth set went to six-all, and thus to a tiebreaker: the first one to seven points, with at least a two-point lead, would win. If Borg won it, he had his fifth Wimbledon in a row. If McEnroe won it, he was all even at two sets, and would have the momentum going into the fifth set to unseat tennis's king.

	They had saved their best tennis -- maybe the best tennis the world will ever see -- for the tiebreaker. Borg saved set point after set point. McEnroe saved match point after match point. One player would make a passing shot and the other one would skid to the ground, slumping in near-defeat. But then he would rise up and make an even more phenomenal shot than his opponent.

	It was tied at 6-all. At 7-all. At 8-all. At 10-all. At 12-all.

	At 14-all. At 16-all.

	Finally, with a 17-16 lead, Borg could save no more set points, and the fourth set belonged to McEnroe, whose whole being now seemed electrified.

	In a fifth set that almost lived up to the fourth, Borg wore down McEnroe and won the title. It was an unforgettable performance by both men. Borg may or may not have realized at that moment that he had both given more than he ever had, and also that he could never give that way again. In losing, McEnroe's stature as a player rose more than it ever had, or would, during victory.

	Months later, McEnroe and Borg met in the US Open final, again for five sets, only this time McEnroe was the better. In their Wimbledon rematch the following year, again it was the American. And again in the US Open that followed in 1981. McEnroe went on to win two more Wimbledons and replace his hero as the world's best player. Borg, his place in tennis history assured, retired in the early 80s, at the advanced age of 26. 

	1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6. For tennis fans who saw the match that day -- especially the heart-stopping, fourth-set tiebreaker -- the numbers speak for themselves. Blood and Guts
1912
SAN FRANCISCO, California
	Because it is such a brutal and dangerous occupation, professional boxing attracts those men who come from the most deprived social groups. Today, for example, the majority of fighters are either African-Americans or Hispanics.

	In the earlier part of this century, many of them were Irish and Jewish. "The Little Hebrew," Abe Attell, is a case in point. Born in San Francisco on February 22, 1884, he became featherweight champion of the world, and held the title for eleven years. Many of his opponents were tough Irish fighters such as "Brooklyn" Tommy Sullivan, Jimmy Walsh, Pat Moore, Patsy Kline, and, most significant of all, "Harlem" Tommy Murphy.

	On March 9, 1912, Attell and Murphy fought what is generally considered the bloodiest and gutsiest bout ever staged. The fight was held in Daly City, California, just south of San Francisco. It lasted 20 rounds, with Murphy being awarded victory by the referee's decision. But what was memorable about the fight was that both fighters were covered with blood during the entire bout. And "covered with blood" means from their head to their legs. It never occurred to either fighter to give in, which is the way it was with the Jews and Irish when the century was young. 

	It is certain that under today's rules such a match as the Attell-Murphy bout would not have been allowed to continue. Nonetheless, there is no way to prevent men from being seriously hurt, or even getting killed. Among the fighters who have killed opponents are Sugar Ray Robinson, Ezzard Charles, Primo Carnera, and Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini. In 1930, Max Baer killed Frankie Campbell, who was the brother of baseball star Dolph Camilli.
Broad Street Bullies
1970s

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
	Except to certain fans from the City of Brotherly Love, the Philadelphia Flyers were one of the most unpopular teams from any sport ever to march downfield, or circle the bases, or -- in their particular case -- rumble down the ice. The Flyers -- known more colloquially as "The Broad Street Bullies" -- used a brand of punishing, often downright dirty style of play that was, in the end, rewarding, considering their two Stanley Cup championships in 1974 and 1975. Their tactics were decried throughout the league, yet no one could beat them, much less beat them up. Because of their success, their style of goon-centric hockey was emulated, and its influence around the league was not really dissipated until several years later, when the wide-open, passing-intensive, European (especially Soviet) style of play was viewed as being the more often triumphant (not to mention aesthetic). 

	Obviously, the Flyers had their share of pure hockey talents -- most notably, captain and center Bobby Clarke and goalie Bernie Parent. Other important scorers or role players included Reggie Leach, Gary Dornhoefer, and Ed Van Impe. Their chief enforcer was Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, who spent most of his on-ice time fighting. But he was hardly the only Flyer who could call the penalty box a second home.

	Going into the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals, the favored Boston Bruins had a 17-0-2 home-ice unbeaten streak against the Flyers -- and the home ice advantage. They promptly had the streak broken in Game Two when Clarke scored a goal in sudden-death at Boston Garden. In only their seventh year in the league, the Flyers, to the chagrin of fans of clean hockey, became the first NHL expansion team to win a Stanley Cup. The Conn Smythe Trophy for Series MVP went to goalie Parent that year and the following one, when the Flyers successfully defended their title against the Buffalo Sabres. 

	When the Broad Street Bullies absolutely needed a home ice win, singer Kate Smith was called in to sing the pre-game "God Bless America" to the rowdy Spectrum crowd. The Flyers were almost assured of victory. 

	Fans of clean hockey got a little measure of satisfaction when the swifter-skating, better-passing Montreal Canadiens shot the Flyers down in the Finals the following year, signalling, many hoped, the end of an unpleasant, if brief, dynasty. The Flyers made it back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1980 and 1987. Though these units still had the lingering reputation as one of the NHL teams most ready to drop the gloves, they were not the same cast. 

	Ironically, Schultz, the chief Flyer goon of the first half of the 1970s, later became the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League and tried to rid the league of fighting. Betcha Didn't Know
1895 to 1948

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island
	Babe Ruth's career was filled with so many legendary moments, and statistical trivia about his career seems less trivia than it does public knowledge. 

	So here are some odd, intriguing, and less well-known facts and numbers about the game's most famous player.

	The "Baby Ruth" candy bar, which made its appearance in 1917, was named not after him but after Ruth Cleveland, the daughter of President Grover Cleveland.

	He is the only starting pitcher in World Series history to bat anywhere but ninth in the order.

	On May 6, 1915, he hit his first major league home run. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the Lusitania.

	Along with fellow Yankee Bob Meusel, he was fined his World Series share of $3,500 and suspended in the fall of 1921 by baseball commissioner Kenesaw Landis for barnstorming after the World Series over Landis's objections. The two players were reinstated on May 20, 1922.

	He pitched the longest complete game, 14 innings, in World Series history, in 1916.

	The two times that Babe Ruth hit three home runs in a World Series game were in Game 4 of the 1926 Series at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, and Game 4 of the 1928 Series, at Sportsman's Park.

	Until 1931, or for the first 17 years of his career, a ball that bounced over the fence -- what would today be a ground-rule double -- counted as a home run. Although none of his record 60 home runs in 1927 is believed to have bounced over the fence, there is no way of telling how many of his career total were of this variety. To his credit, however, sluggers of his era, until 1920, were disadvantaged by a now-defunct rule that stated that any ball that cleared the fence fair but landed in the stands in foul ground was considered foul. Today, such a hit would be ruled a home run.

	The last man to pinch-hit for him was Ben Paschal in the 1927 season opener. Babe had been 0-for-3 that day, with two strikeouts. Paschal singled.

	He won his last nine decisions as a pitcher, spread out over 15 years. His last pitching appearance was a 1933 complete-game victory over the Boston Red Sox.

	On September 5, 1914, he hit his first and only minor league home run, for Providence of the International League.

	In 1918, he hit all 11 of his home runs on the road.

	He co-holds the record for shutouts in a season by an American League left-hander with nine, in 1916.

	He pitched in 10 seasons, and had a winning record in every one of them.

	In his final major league at-bat, he grounded out to Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Dolf Camilli. The pitcher was Jim Bivin, the date May 30, 1935, the place Baker Bowl.

	Of all pitchers in history with 15 or more wins over the New York Yankees, the one with the best won-lost percentage against them, with a sparkling 17 victories and just 5 defeats, is, of course, Babe Ruth. aBig Bill Tilden
1920s

FOREST HILLS, New York
	Bill Tilden was the most cerebral of tennis champions, convinced that greatness was as much in the mind as in the arms and legs. His powerful serve was once clocked at 151 miles per hour, but he especially loved the tactical part of the game, publishing books and articles on inner tennis. When he lost part of his finger in an accident in 1922, he modified his grip and continued to play at the top level.

	In concert with his great rivals, France's "Four Musketeers" -- Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste and Jacques Brugnon -- Tilden dominated the sport in the 1920s. "Big Bill" won seven US Open singles champions, and between 1918-29 was a finalist 10 times, seven of those against his other main rival, "Little Bill" Johnson, a fellow American. He also won five men's doubles and four mixed doubles at the US Open. He won Wimbledon in 1920 (the first American to do so) and again in 1921, then stayed away for five years before winning again in 1930, nine years after his last victory. In one of Wimbledon's most memorable matches, he won his semifinal over Borotra that year by the score of 0-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5. Tilden was also a great Davis Cup player, winning 13 straight singles matches from 1920-26.

	Elegant and eccentric, Tilden became a star of such stature that when he was suspended and declared ineligible to play for the United States in the 1928 Davis Cup, the French Federation, desperate to have a big crowd for the match at new Roland Garros Stadium, used diplomatic channels to petition the President. The American ambassador in Paris eventually was told to go over the head of the US Davis Cup captain and select Tilden.

	Tilden was a homosexual in an era of less tolerance, and twice he was jailed on indecency charges. He became ostracized by his friends and died alone in 1953, at age 60, in a sparse apartment in Hollywood.The Russians are Coming
1972

	In September of 1972, the USSR surprised the world by compiling a
competitive 3-4-1 record in their series with Canada, after everyone had expected Canada to sweep. Not long after the series, National Hockey League scouts began to scour Europe for players, and the league began to adapt to the more open, passing-intensive European style of play.

	It wasn't that the Soviets were considered patsies coming in. Quite the contrary: Their national squad, the Central Red Army team, was considered perhaps the world's single most skillful and cohesive unit on ice. With brief timeouts for American heroics at the 1960 and 1980 Olympics, the Soviet team took the Olympic gold every four years from 1956 on. 

	But the NHL was still skeptical of the ability of the Russians to deal with their league's more physical, even punishing style of play. 

	As it turned out, adapting to Western culture was probably a greater difficulty for defecting Soviet stars. At the end of the 1980s, the NHL, after a decade of integrating many Scandanavian and occasionally Czech stars, turned to Europe's most fertile breeding ground for great hockey players: the Soviet Union. With the collapse of both the Soviet economy and security, and with the lure of big dollars from America and Canada, players like Alexandr Mogilny and Vyacheslav Fetisov entered the NHL (to Buffalo and New Jersey, respectively) and made their impact known. More will inevitably come, as what is left of the Soviet bureaucracy relents, slowly realizing that it is ultimately in its best interest to allow their great hockey players to seek out the finest in international competition, even if that means crossing the Atlantic. 	The Flying Frenchmen
1910s to Present

MONTREAL, Canada
	The National Hockey League's greatest dynasty -- indeed, professional hockey's equivalent of baseball's New York Yankees or basketball's Boston Celtics -- are the Montreal Canadiens. Although the comparison might not be quite fair. Because the Canadiens could probably make the claim that they have been dominating over more decades than even the Yankees. And here's some of the evidence they might cite to prove their point: The Canadiens won five straight Stanley Cups from 1956 to 1960, six of nine from the years 1965 to 1973, four in a row from 1976 through 1979, another in 1986, and are one of the NHL's best teams of the early 1990s -- and, oh, was it mentioned that they won titles in the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, too? The Hall of Famers who have skated up and down the Forum ice in the white, red, and blue include Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, Serge Savard, Frank Mahovlich, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, and Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, to name a very, very few. 

	As if that weren't enough, the Canadiens, the passion of Montreal, have not been above using all of their resources. Indeed, in their own version of exploiting home ice advantage, the Canadiens used to have the visitors' bench at the Forum across the ice from the penalty box, thus keeping the enemy team from making player changes after returning to equal strength as quickly as the Flying Frenchmen could. On top of that, before the institution of the NHL player draft, the Canadiens had the rights to sign any French-speaking player before any other team.

	The most frustrated recipients of the Canadiens' incredible regular season skill and especially their ability in Stanley Cup play has got to be the Boston Bruins. From 1946 through 1987, the Bruins faced the Canadiens 18 times in postseason play, and were eliminated all 18 times, six of those in the Finals. Boston finally got some small measure of revenge in the 1988 Stanley Cup divisional finals by eliminating their archrival. 

	The Canadiens never go for very long with mediocre teams; the city simply will not tolerate it. Indeed it has been a few years now since the Canadiens brought home yet another Stanley Cup. Knowing their history, the team must feel that it is as likely that they will soon come through with another championship as it is that their fans are starting to wonder when that happy day will come already. No Way, Jose
1985 to Present
OAKLAND, California
	Only Jose Canseco could earn a standing ovation for his hitting -- during batting practice.

	Only Jose Canseco could draw screaming headlines in the New York tabloids 

 -- for being seen at Madonna's apartment.

	Only Jose Canseco could predict a 50-50 season for himself (more than 50 homers and 50 steals), and be taken dead seriously.

	Canseco seems destined to go through his entire baseball career as one of those lightning rods of controversy that pops up every so often in sports, infuriating management and raising hackles at about the same rate he hits balls out of sight.

	Canseco's career has always been dogged by controversy -- late arrivals at spring training, innumerable citations for speeding, including a highly publicized incident in which he was ticketed for doing more than 120 mph in his bright red Jaguar XJ-S, an arrest in 1989 for carrying a 9 mm handgun on the floor of his car, accusations that he built his sculpted body through  steroids. It has helped create an aura about Canseco, a certain mythology that exists about few other players. With his twitching body exuding power as he stands at the plate, he is imbued with a charisma that makes him a riveting presence on the baseball field.

	Canseco, born in Havana, grew up in Miami after his father, Jose Sr., brought his family out of Cuba in 1965. Jose, Jr. and his twin brother Osvaldo (Ozzie) had not yet reached their first birthday.

	A 15th-round draft pick in 1982, Canseco first served notice he was a major talent in 1985, when his combined statistics in the minors and majors were a .328 batting average, 41 homers, 140 RBIs. He was an instant impact player for the Oakland A's the following year as a rookie, hitting 33 homers and driving in 117 runs.

	In 1988, Canseco was the American League's Most Valuable Player after becoming baseball's first "40-40" player -- 42 homers, 40 steals. In 1991, he achieved a career high with 44 homers and also drove in 122 runs. But with Canseco, there's always the distinct feeling that much more is possible.

	"He probably has more ability than anyone who has ever played the game," said former A's hitting coach Merv Rettenmund. o
When Silver Means Gold
1988

SEOUL, Korea
	The 1988 men's 100 meter final at Seoul was hyped as one of the great showdowns ever in an Olympics. The world's two fastest human beings, American Carl Lewis and Canadian Ben Johnson -- two men reportedly not fond of each other -- would decide which one was the speedier in Korea, finally, after having repeatedly avoided confrontations in international track meets leading up to the Games.

	There would be other runners in the 100 meter final -- all world-class, obviously -- but few fans took serious account of them. The world expected to see Lewis and Johnson duel it out over 100 meters, and there was the very real possibility that in something under ten seconds after the starter's pistol sounded, the existing world record -- Johnson's 9.83 seconds -- would be history.

	Lewis had already achieved history by duplicating the feat of his idol, Jesse Owens, who had won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics -- in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 4 x 100 meter relay, and the long jump. Lewis had done the same at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and now thought he had a chance to repeat his achievement in Seoul.

	The speed of Johnson -- muscle-bound as no world's fastest human had ever been before -- was dazzling, and there would be no greater satisfaction for him than to use it to beat Lewis, and get in the way of the American's continuing pursuit of immortality.

	In the final, the two men blazed down the track. They both looked extremely strong. But Lewis, almost never beaten at this distance, could not make up the yards between him and the front-running Johnson. As the Canadian broke the tape, having clearly bested his rival, he looked over at Lewis and glared as if to say, Take that.

	The world record had been shattered. Johnson's mark was a mind-numbing 9.79 seconds. Lewis had clocked 9.92.

	But the story of the Seoul Olympic Games did not occur on the track. It occurred soon after the final, when it was reported that Johnson had tested positive for steroid use. He was stripped of his medal, his world record and, eventually, his previous world record. The scandal sent shock waves through Canada and the world, and inspired reforms in random drug testing of amateur athletes.

	Lewis was given the gold medal. In 1991, he would again take possession of the 100 meter world record with a 9.86 seconds -- not quite 9.79, or even 9.83, but then his 9.86 was streroid-free. The confrontation between Lewis and Johnson back in Seoul had been as dramatic as billed -- yet no one knew, as they crouched in position, waiting for the gun to sound that day in 1988, that the real drama would come after the finish line had been crossed. {
Lefty and Tom Terrific
1960s to 1980s
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
	They were the two finest National League pitchers of their generation, all grace and style and power, their careers running a parallel course of brilliance during the 1960s, '70s and into the '80s. When they had walked off the mound for the final time -- Tom Seaver in 1986, Steve Carlton two years later -- they had combined for 640 wins, 7,776 strikeouts, seven Cy Young Awards and an uncountable number of fond memories for their fans.

	Though each played for other teams -- too many others in their latter years, as they flailed about for one more taste of greatness -- Seaver will always be remembered as a Met, Carlton as a Philly. 

	Seaver clinched his everlasting place in baseball lore just three years into his career, when he went 25-7 for the '69 Mets and was the instigator for one of the great baseball miracles. He won the first of his three Cy Youngs that year, and remained the Mets' top star through 1977, when a contract dispute led to his trade to the Cincinnati Reds. Seaver returned to the Mets in 1983 for one disappointing encore season, and then went off to the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox to finish his career. Seaver was the ultimate pitching craftsman, with a delivery so smooth and compact that it bordered on art form. After he had warmed up once on a rainy day at Riverfront Stadium, a member of the grounds crew went to the mound and discovered that Seaver had made just one footprint. 

	Carlton was a stoic lefthander who threw one of the all-time great sliders, a pitch so hard to hit that Willie Stargell said the effort was like "trying to eat soup with a fork." He reached the peak of his career in 1972, when he went 27-10 for an awful Phillies team, accounting for nearly half of their 59 wins. He won the Cy Young that year, and again in 1977, 1980 and 1982, the first pitcher ever to win the award four times. Carlton would keep his arm fit by plunging it repeatedly into a barrel of rice, and midway through his career decided not to talk to the media, a vow of silence he kept for more than a decade. After the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, the franchise's first Series victory ever, Carlton hid in the Phillies training room rather than celebrate with the team. He drank from his own bottle of champagne while  teammates sprayed each other with theirs. 

	In his latter years, Carlton became a sad spectacle, going from the Phillies to the Giants to the White Sox to the Indians and finally to the Twins, and compiling a 16-37 record over those final four seasons. But it hardly dimmed the greatness of Carlton, who will certainly join his equally worthy peer, Seaver, in the Hall of Fame. Casey and Yogi
1962

NEW YORK, New York
	"You can observe a lot by watching," Yogi Berra once said.

	After his seventieth birthday, Casey Stengel remarked that "most people my age are dead at the present time."

	We're not here to discuss Yogi and Casey's baseball exploits. We're not here to talk about how Stengel managed the New York Yankees when they became the only franchise to win five world championships in a row, and how he won a record 10 pennants with them. Or how he also managed the worst team in modern baseball history, the 1962 New York Mets, and finished his career with three last place finishes. We're not here to discuss how Yogi enjoyed one of the game's greatest playing careers, as catcher for the Yankees during one of their many heydays, and how he holds some of the most enviable of World Series records, including most games played, at-bats, hits and doubles. We're not here to talk about how Casey and Yogi are in the Hall of Fame, or how they're both New York baseball legends. 

	That's not why we're here.

	No. We're here to recount some of the more intriguing things that Casey and Yogi have said over the years because, even more than their prowess on the field, these two engaging men are known for their commentary off it.

	About baseball, Yogi Berra once said, "Ninety percent of this game is half-mental." Similarly, he once said, "Ninety percent of the putts that fall short don't go in."

	Casey once went to the mound to pull his pitcher. "I'm not tired," the pitcher said. 

	"Well, I'm tired of you," Casey replied. 

	Yogi once tried to calm a writer who was incensed over the price of a diner breakfast he'd just eaten.

	"That's because they have to import those English muffins," Yogi explained.

	Casey once told a writer, "I won't trade my left fielder."

	"Who's your left fielder?" asked the writer.

	"I don't know," Casey said, "but if it isn't him, I'll keep him anyway."

	After arguing long and loud with an umpire about where a ball had hit and thus whether it was a home run or still in play, Yogi said afterward, "Anybody who can't tell the difference between the sound of a ball hitting wood and a ball hitting concrete must be blind."

	About his baseball players missing curfew to seek out female companionship, Casey said, "It ain't getting it that hurts 'em, it's staying up all night looking for it." On the same subject he also said, "They gotta learn that if you don't get it by midnight, you ain't gonna get it. And if you do it ain't worth it."

	Yogi once showed up for an appointment just fifteen minutes after he was supposed to. "That's the earliest I've ever been late," he said.

	When the expansion Mets made Hobie Landrith, a journeyman catcher, their first choice in the draft, Stengel explained his logic. "You have to have a catcher or you'll have a lot of passed balls."

	On a hot day in Florida, Yogi was dressed snazzily. "Good afternoon, Mr. Berra," a woman said. "My, you look mighty cool today."

	"Thank you, ma'am," Yogi replied. "You don't look so hot yourself."

	Casey once got on the Mets for their inept play during an exhibition trip to mile-high Mexico City. When asked if the altitude bothered his players, Casey said, "The altitude bothered my players at the Polo Grounds, and that's below sea level."

	Asked for the time, Yogi once said, "Do you mean now?"

	Once Casey got into a cab with several writers. "Are you fellows players?" the cabbie asked. "No," Casey answered, "and neither are my players players."

	Probably Yogi's most famous line is the Zen-like "It's not over 'til it's over."

	Probably Casey's most famous line is an elegant cry for something -- anything -- good. "Can't anybody play this here game?" he said.

	Finally, Yogi disputed that he had uttered all the malapropisms that had been attributed to him. 

	"I really didn't say everything I said," Yogi said.b
If Fidel Could Hit the Curve
1960

HAVANA, Cuba
	What would world history be like today if Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who had gotten a tryout with the old Washington Senators on September 27, 1947, had been called back?

	World history, sports history, and various cherished records might be a little different but for a wrinkle here or there.

	What if...

	...CBS/ABC sportscaster Brent Musburger had flourished in his 1959 job as a Midwest League umpire?

	...World War II had not interrupted Chicago Cubs owner Phil Wrigley from installing lights at Wrigley Field in 1942? (For the war effort, he donated the lights that he had bought to a shipyard.)

	..Pearl Harbor had not interfered with the vote on whether the St. Louis Browns baseball team could move to Los Angeles in 1941?

	...Eulace Peacock, who had beaten Jesse Owens in the 100-meters and the long jump at the 1935 AAU championships, had not been kept out of the 1936 Olympics by a hamstring injury?

	...School custodian Pop Stebbins had found "two boxes about 18 inches square" -- precisely what James Naismith had asked him to bring, for the new game he was inventing -- rather than some old peach baskets? (Presumably, the NBA would today stand for National Boxball Association.)

	...New York Yankee majority owner George Steinbrenner, when an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue, had loved and been good at it?

	...Football legend Red Grange had remained discouraged by the stiff competition at the University of Illinois, which made him walk off the team as a freshman? Basketball superstar Michael Jordan had become discouraged when he did not make his high school varsity as a sophomore?

	...Mickey Mantle had not been turned down for military service because of a knee injury? Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, and Stan Musial had been turned down for military service?

	...Jack Crawford had won just one more set in the 1933 US Championship final, and thus the Grand Slam, to become the first player to do it? (Who but real tennis aficionados knows his name now?)

	...Cuban Teofilo Stevenson, who won the super heavyweight gold medal at the 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympics and was considered to be in Muhammad Ali's class, had turned professional?

	...The coin flip between the 12th Earl of Derby -- who conceived of a one-mile run for three-year-olds at Epsom Downs in England and who would become the namesake of a famous American horse race -- and Sir Charles Bunbury, over whether to call the Epsom race the Derby Stakes or the Bunbury Stakes, had gone the other way? (Then perhaps the major event on the American horse racing calendar today would be known as the Kentucky Bunbury.) The Game of the Century
1958
BRONX, New York
	The 1958 sudden-death National Football League title game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants has been called pro football's "Game of the Century." The championship clash, played at Yankee Stadium in front of 64,185 lucky fans, was tied at 17 after 60 minutes of play. The two teams were about to embark on the first overtime in NFL history -- regular season or postseason. Fortunately for the NFL, the game that was being viewed by a national television audience turned out to be one of the most exciting ever played.

	An abundance of the league's most glittering stars was on display that December 28: Pat Summerall, kicker for the Giants; Raymond Berry, the Colts receiver who finished the game with 12 catches for 178 yards; Frank Gifford, the talented New York back who caught a Charley Conerly touchdown pass late in the game, partly atoning for his two second-quarter fumbles that led to Colt touchdowns; Colt defensive standout Gino Marchetti, who broke his ankle late in the game making a key stop on Gifford; and, of course, Johnny Unitas, the Baltimore field general who led his team on a drive in the last seconds of regulation that led to a game-tying, Steve Myhra field goal with seven seconds left. 

	After the Giants punted on the first possession in overtime, Johnny U, who finished the game with 26 completions in 40 attempts for 349 yards and one touchdown, then led his team on one final, memorable eighty-yard drive. Alan Ameche capped it off with his second touchdown of the day, a one-yard touchdown plunge 8 minutes and 15 seconds into the extra period. 

	Not only did the Colts win, 23-17, but more significantly the NFL won, securing its place as a marketable television sport in a nation that was, up to that point, predominantly oriented to baseball.

	The 1959 NFL title game was a rematch of the 1958 classic but could not equal the excitement generated by its predecessor. The Colts beat the Giants again, this time in Baltimore, by a more comfortable 31-16 margin. The Man Who Died Playing Baseball
1920

CLEVELAND, Ohio
	In 1920, Cleveland Indian shortstop Ray Chapman became the only baseball player killed during a major league game. While at bat at the Polo Grounds, Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by New York Yankee Carl Mays. Chapman took two steps toward first, collapsed, and never regained consciousness.

	Batting helmets back then were a thing of the future.

	Chapman was in his ninth year with the Indians, a solid .278 hitter. The man who replaced Chapman at shortstop, rookie Joe Sewell, would not be merely an historical footnote, but distinguished himself as the hardest man to strike out in the history of the game. He made the Hall of Fame. Mays, the pitcher, was in his sixth year in the big leagues when he threw his fateful pitch. He would lead the American League in victories the following season with 27. 

	Chapman died on August 17th, 1920. He was 29 years old. Chariots of Fire
1924

CAMBRIDGE, England
	Until his death in 1978, British Olympian Harold Abrahams and his wife had dinner with fellow Olympian Arthur Porritt and his wife every July 7 at 7:00 pm, the day and very hour of the 1924 Paris Olympic 100-meter final. It was in that race that Abrahams, whose athletic and collegiate exploits were portrayed in the film "Chariots of Fire," won the gold medal and Porritt took the bronze.

	The movie, while reverent, is not entirely accurate. Abrahams did not in fact race around the courtyard of Trinity College in Cambridge, nor was his victory in the 100m redemption for his failure in the 200m; the 100m race preceded the 200m.

	Abrahams, a great long jumper as well as sprinter, had competed at the 1920 Games in Antwerp but had been eliminated there in both the 100m and 200m quarterfinals. 

	Eric Liddell, the other focus of "Chariots of Fire" and the winner of the 400m at the 1924 Games, was a devout Christian and withdrew from the 100m and the 4x100m relay because the heats or final were run on Sunday. He spent the Sunday of the 100m heats delivering a sermon at a Scottish church in Paris. 

	Liddell joined his father in China the following year to do missionary work. He died of a brain tumor in a Japanese internment camp in China during World War II. Monsters of the Midway
1940s to Present

CHICAGO, Illinois
	It was George Halas who founded the Chicago Bears in 1920, and it was Halas, the venerable "Papa Bear," who presided over the league's most colorful and successful franchise, as coach and owner, for the next 63 years, until his death.

	The Bears won a record seven NFL championships during Halas's tenure as coach and owner, and he missed by two years living to see their most recent championship, a 46-10 victory over New England in Super Bowl XX on January 26, 1986. His career spanned from Red Grange to Walter Payton, and it reached a peak during the glorious 1940s, when the Bears acquired the nickname they hold to this day, the Monsters of the Midway.

	The Bears' finest moment came in 1940, when they refined the T formation to such an extent they beat the Redskins 73-0 in the NFL championship game, a rout that's never been approached. Earlier in the season, the Redskins had defeated the Bears, 7-3. Four members of that Bears squad made the Hall of Fame (quarterback Sid Luckman, tackle Joe Stydahar, guard Danny Fortmann and center Bulldog Turner, along with Halas). They won the title again in 1941, 1943 and 1946.

	The Bears hit lean times in the sixties and seventies, despite the presence of such greats as linebacker Dick Butkus and running backs Gale Sayers and Walter Payton. (Besides being a runner without peer, Sayers was also known for his friendship with fellow running back Brian Piccolo, whose losing battle with cancer was immortalized in the movie, "Brian's Song." Piccolo played four seasons with the Bears). The Bears returned to prominence shortly after they named feisty Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame tight end, as their coach. Led by Payton, quarterback Jim McMahon and the rugged "53" defense (which included at nose tackle a 300-pound part-time running back named William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who became a national phenomenon), the Bears were soon monsters again.From Paperweight to Heavyweight
Present

	Even boxing fans can't keep straight who weighs what. Here, then, a quick
chart:

	Strawweight -- 105 pounds (or under)

	Junior Flyweight -- 108

	Flyweight -- 112

	Junior Bantamweight -- 115

	Bantamweight -- 118

	Junior Featherweight -- 122

	Featherweight -- 126

	Junior Lightweight -- 130

	Lightweight -- 135

	Junior Welterweight -- 140

	Welterweight -- 147

	Junior Middleweight -- 154

	Middleweight -- 160

	Super Middleweight -- 168

	Light Heavyweight -- 175

	Junior Heavyweight -- 190

	Heavyweight -- no limit 
Baseball's Rocket
1991
BOSTON, Massachusetts
	To win a Cy Young Award, one has to be good, true, but one also might just be a slightly-above-average hurler who has one great season in him -- John Denny and Pete Vuckovich are hardly what you'd call household names. Two Cy Young Awards are harder to debate. Three pretty much means you're the pitcher of your generation. Carlton took home four; Koufax, Seaver, and Palmer three each. That's not John Denny country there. And it's the kind of company Roger Clemens has been keeping lately. Clemens won the American League's award for the best pitcher in 1986 and 1987. After a lull of three seasons -- during which time he could well have won another trophy -- he was again christened the best in the AL in 1991.

	Clemens's tremendous arsenal of pitches is attributable to perfect mechanics and a sturdy (6'4", 205 lbs.) build. He relies especially on powerful leg thrust reminiscent of Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer. There is no more sickly expression one can find in sports than that look in the eye of a hitter who is about to face Clemens at the top of his form. 

	Clemens not only wins often and gives up few runs, but he strikes batters out in bushels, relying on a 95-plus mile-an-hour hummer. He holds the major league record for strikeouts in a game, once fanning 20 Seattle Mariners. 

	Perhaps contributing to a hitter's fear when he faces Clemens is the Red Sox hurler's volatility. Clemens went ballistic over calls during the 1990 American League playoffs against the Oakland A's and he was tossed out by the umpire and suspended by the league. He has had scrapes with the law and fallings-out with the Beantown fans. 

	But if any pitcher today deserves to be one of baseball's highest-paid (at $5 million a year), it's Clemens. Early in the 1991 season, seasoned baseball watchers wondered out loud whether he could be the first pitcher since Denny McLain to win 30 games in one season. Clemens certainly has the ability and consistency to do so, but it's unlikely he or anyone else will accomplish that feat for a while, what with today's emphasis on relief pitchers -- not to mention the overwork of that expensive right arm that such a pursuit would require. Though he has many years left to his baseball career, it would seem a good bet that Clemens, whose fastball has earned him the sobriquet "Rocket" (every sport seems to have one -- tennis had "Rocket" Rod Laver, hockey Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, football "Rocket" Ismail), is blazing a path to Cooperstown that is as straight and impressive as one of his 95 m.p.h. trails of smoke. Clemente: The Quiet Pirate
1955 to 1972

MANAGUA, Nicaragua
	On September 30, 1972, Roberto Clemente lashed a double off Jon Matlack of the Mets at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium. It was Clemente's 3,000th hit, but certainly not his last. Granted, he was 38, but he had hit .312 that season, and he seemed to have a few good years left in him.

	Tragically, it WAS his last hit, because three months later Clemente was killed when his plane crashed while he was en route to Nicaragua to aid earthquake victims. Clemente, a man of quiet dignity, had heard soldiers were stealing relief aid. "If I go to Nicaragua, the stealing will stop," he said. "They would not dare steal from Roberto Clemente."

	Opposing base runners had learned early not to try to steal an extra base on Clemente, who possessed the greatest throwing arm of his generation. On more than one occasion, he caught the ball against the fence at old Forbes Field, wheeled and fired a strike to home plate, 460 feet away, on the fly. He was also one of the game's finest hitters during his 18-year career with the Pirates, winning four batting titles and compiling a .317 lifetime average. After his death, the Hall of Fame voted to waive the customary five-year waiting period, and he was enshrined in Cooperstown in 1973.

	Clemente was originally signed by the Dodgers, but after he played a season in the minors, Brooklyn thought they could shield Clemente from scouts and left him unprotected in the major-league draft. The Pirates, run by former Dodger executive Branch Rickey, got wind of this young Puerto Rican star and signed him for $4,000 on the recommendation of Branch Rickey, Jr., who was sent by his father to Cuba to scout Clemente.

	Clemente's shining moment was the 1971 World Series. Always the most overlooked of superstars, labeled as moody and not the equal of contemporaries like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, he thrust himself into the national consciousness with a brilliant display. At the age of 37, Clemente hit .414 and played stellar defense, leading the Pirates to a Series win in seven games over the favored Orioles. Roger Angell wrote that he played "a kind of baseball that none of us had ever seen before -- throwing and running and hitting at something close to the level of absolute perfection." G10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
1976

ROMANIA
	At the 1976 Games, gymnast Nadia Comaneci won three gold medals. But that fact alone does not tell you the impact she had on that competition or on the future of women's gymnastics. Because Comaneci achieved something much more profound in Montreal: perfection, at least as far as gymnastics judges are concerned. The 4'11" Romanian became the first Olympic gymnast ever to receive a perfect score of 10 -- and, just to show she had not been the beneficiary of some lucky scoring, she went on to capture a total of seven of them.

	Comaneci was coached by Romanian Bela Karolyi (who would later defect to the US and fashion another gold medal-winning performer out of Mary Lou Retton at the 1984 Games.) Comaneci, from Moldavia, had begun her gymnastics training when she was six years old, and was considered a favorite to contend with the strong Soviet contingent -- namely Lyudmilla Tourischeva, Nelli Kim and the darling of the 1972 Munich Games, Olga Korbut. 

	But the Romanian won the all-around championship with relative ease, and two more golds in the uneven bars and balance beam, where she received a slew of perfect scores. Kim also received two perfect scores in Montreal. Comaneci's ability caused a dramatic rethinking in the scoring of essentially flawless performances. The door had opened to gymnasts. Twelve years later, at Los Angeles, Retton would take the all-around gold with two eleventh-hour 10s.

	Comaneci took second place in the all-around competition at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and two more individual golds, but because of the US boycott of those Games, her performance was virtually overlooked by America, a nation whose heart she had won four years earlier. 

	Little was heard of the great Romanian gymnast until she came to the United States as Communism crumbled throughout Eastern Europe. For Americans, it was disconcerting to realize both how much this woman had been through, and yet how very young she still was. After all, when Nadia Comaneci became the most famous -- and the first perfect -- Olympic gymnast in the world, she had been all of fourteen years old. p	Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy
1901 to 1950

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
	Cornelius McGillicuddy was the given name of Philadelphia Athletics owner and manager Connie Mack, who presided over some of the very best -- and very worst -- teams in baseball history during his remarkable half-century tenure at the A's helm.

	He changed his name as a youth so it would fit into a box score, hardly aware that the name would become synonymous with managerial grace and style, and wind up fitting elegantly on a plaque at Cooperstown. When Mack retired in 1950 at the age of 88, still a distinctive figure in his business suit, straw hat and high collar, he had won nine pennants and 7,755 games, nearly 3,000 more victories than any manager in history. He had also finished last 17 times and lost 3,731 games, a thousand more defeats than anyone else.

	Mack presided over two glorious eras. From 1910-1914, led by the "$100,000 infield" of Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry and Frank Baker, the A's won the World Series three times, and lost to the Miracle Braves in a four-game upset in 1914. Devastated by the loss -- and apparently suspecting his players might have been on the fix -- he got rid of most of his stars, and proceeded to finish last for the next seven years in a row. By the late twenties, however, Mack had built another dynasty, this one powered by the likes of Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove and George Earnshaw. Beating out the mighty Babe Ruth-led Yankees for three straight pennants from 1929-31, he grabbed two more World Series titles. In his most famous strategical ploy, he named 35-year-old Howard Ehmke, who had pitched in just 11 games that year, to start the World Series opener against the Cubs in 1929. Ehmke, who had begged Mack to give him the start ahead of Hall of Famer Grove "because there's one great game left in this old arm," struck out a record 13 and beat the Cubs.

	But by 1931, Mack was in financial trouble and again sold off his stars. The A's never did regain their eminence under Mack, finishing in last place 10 times in his last 16 years. Finally, after a 102-loss season in 1950, Mack  became convinced it was time to retire, and put away forever the rolled-up scorecard he used to position players.

	"I'm not quitting because I'm too old," he said. "I'm quitting because I think people want me to."

  His legacy was a half century of benevolent rule that will never be equaled.@Little Mo, Big Heart
1950s

FOREST HILLS, New York
	Maureen Connolly, or "Little Mo" as she was known, might be regarded today as the greatest women's tennis player in history had not a leg 
injury forced her to retire in 1954, at the age of 19. By that time, she had already won three US Open singles titles, three Wimbledons, two French and one Australian. Connolly, in fact, was never beaten in a Grand Slam singles event, and in 1953 became the first woman ever to win the tennis Grand Slam. Connolly's baseline style, punctuated by accurate lobs and passing shots, has been compared to Chris Evert, with whom she also shared the burden of success at a young age. Connolly won the US Open in 1951 at the age of 16. A natural left-hander, Connolly became a right-handed player after she was informed by her coach, Eleanor "Teach" Tennant, that no left-hander in this century had won a top women's singles championship.

	In July of 1954, just a few weeks before she was to defend her US title, Connolly broke her leg in a horse riding accident and was forced to retire. She remained active in tennis as a coach and commentator until her death from cancer in 1969 at the age of 34, just one day before the start of Wimbledon. One can only guess what Little Mo, a tragic figure of the sport, might have accomplished had she not been forced out of the game in her prime. Baseball's Shrine
1939 to Present

COOPERSTOWN, New York
	By all rights, Baseball's Hall of Fame should be in Hoboken, New Jersey, which is where historians now believe the first organized game of modern baseball was played in 1845. Cooperstown's dubious claim to baseball's birthright was built upon the erroneous assumption that native son Abner Doubleday had invented the game, when in fact it is now agreed to be Alexander Cartwright.

	But we quibble. Thankfully, it was the tiny hamlet of Cooperstown, on the idyllic shores of Lake Otsego, where baseball's shrine arose in 1939. The first inductees had actually been chosen by a special committee of baseball writers in 1936, and a worthy lot they were: Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. The second class of inductees the following year included Napoleon Lajoie, Cy Young, and Tris Speaker. The Hall now houses more than 200 members, who are selected either by 75 percent vote of eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, or by special committees empowered to pick overlooked veterans and Negro League stars. (Journalist Jimmy Cannon once described the Hall of Fame as the place "where baseball writers send their friends"). Players are not eligible until they have been retired five years, a rule that was waived just once, in the aftermath of Roberto Clemente's tragic death in an airplane crash in 1972. A new rule was passed in 1990 making players who had been banned from baseball by the commissioner ineligible, a rule designed mainly to keep all-time hits leader Pete Rose off the ballot.

	A library housing virtually every book ever written about baseball was added behind the Hall in 1968, and another wing was built in 1980. An estimated 250,000 visitors pass through every year to see not only the plaques of those elected which hang in the Hall of Fame Gallery, but the vast collection of memorabilia from every era of baseball's history._I Don't Know's on Third
1940s

	The comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello first performed their signature routine, "Who's on First?," on the Kate Smith Show on radio in the early 1940s, then later in the 1945 movie, "The Naughty Nineties," and many times in between and after.

	Here is the lineup from the routine, around the horn:

	

	Pitcher -- Tomorrow

	Catcher -- Today

	First Baseman -- Who

	Second Baseman -- What

	Third Baseman -- I Don't Know

	Shortstop -- I Don't Give a Darn*

	(*or I Don't Care)

	Left Fielder -- Why

	Center Fielder -- Because 

	The name of the right fielder is not referred to in the routine. The Cornerstone is Laid
1950 to 1963

BOSTON, Massachusetts
	In 1950, Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach passed up choosing Holy Cross star Bob Cousy, calling him a "local yokel." Celtics owner Walter Brown later picked Cousy's name from three in a hat in a special dispersal draft, and Auerbach was "stuck" with Cousy. The New York Knicks got veteran Max Zaslofsky, the Philadelphia Warriors veteran Andy Phillip. The Celtics got the rookie Cousy. 

	Too bad for them.

	In 1952, Cousy was named to the All-NBA first team, along with George Mikan, Ed Macauley, Paul Arizin and Dolph Schayes. Cousy had become one of the league's top scorers -- he was third that year, averaging 21.7 points per game -- but was known more for crisp passing that anticipated the movement to the basket of teammates without the ball, and for his flashy ballhandling. Cousy was one of the first to master the behind-the-back dribble. At 6'1- 1/2", he was not quite as small as people now seem to think he was -- compared to Magic Johnson, everyone seems tiny playing point guard -- but he nonetheless became the model for the compact, always-under-control floor leader who led the fast break, dished off the ball to forwards streaking down the wings, and made sure that he fed his center, posting low.

	Celtics coach Auerbach had long ago ceased to think of Cousy as a liability. The guard was winning the league assists title yearly and, along with "Easy Ed" Macauley and Bill Sharman, a deadly outside shooter, had made the Celtics an exciting offensive team, though the team's defense and rebounding were wanting. 

	That wouldn't last too much longer. In 1956, after leading the University of San Francisco to two consecutive undefeated seasons and national collegiate titles, center Bill Russell was available. Auerbach saw in Russell the final piece of the Celtic puzzle. He swung a big and risky trade, sending Macauley and promising rookie Cliff Hagen to St. Louis for the second pick in the draft, where he nabbed Russell. After Russell helped the US win another Olympic basketball gold medal at the 1956 Games in Australia, he joined the team. He immediately displayed the skills that would make him the greatest defensive center in the game's history; indeed, because of the success the Celtics would enjoy with him in the middle, blocking shots and blocking out, other teams started to emphasize defense to a degree they'd never done before, and Russell's influence on pro basketball can be felt to this day. 

	The Celtics won their first NBA title in Russell's rookie year, lost in the finals the next year, and then won an unmatched eight titles in a row. They took a brief time-out in 1967, then won two more titles, as Russell closed his playing career in 1969. In his 13 years he had won 11 titles, while Cousy had helped to win the first six. 

	Big Bill and Little Bob, along with a formidable supporting cast, helped to create an NBA dynasty and to litter the Boston Garden rafters with championship banners. Auerbach, probably pro basketball's one genuine living coaching legend, had laid the foundations for his dynasty with two players -- one secured with a stroke of genius, the other "forced" on him in what would turn out to be a stroke of great fortunate misfortune.{Crushed Dreams
1980

MOSCOW, Soviet Union
	Too often in this century the Olympics have been exploited as a forum for political protest. The main casualties have been the lifelong dreams of young athletes everywhere.

	In a 1976 boycott, African nations, led by Tanzania, protested the inclusion in the Olympics of New Zealand, whose rugby team had made a tour of South Africa. Iraq and Guyana also boycotted.

	In 1980, President Jimmy Carter led a boycott, which also included West Germany and Japan, of the Moscow Olympics, to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

	In 1984, the Soviet Union returned the favor and led many Communist countries in a boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics.

	At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted to protest Israel's takeover of the Suez Canal.

	In a separate political act that year, Holland, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted to protest the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

	At the 1912 Olympics, in one of the more petulant boycotts of all time, the Italian Fencing Federation proposed lengthening the pe blade to 94 centimeters. When the proposal was rejected, the Italians refused to participate. 8222-0: It's No Typo
October 7, 1916
ATLANTA, Georgia
	On October 7, 1916, on Cumberland College's first play of their game against Georgia Tech, a rush gained a respectable three yards. 

	For Cumberland, it was all downhill from there. 

	That three yards would represent one of their biggest triumphs of the whole afternoon as they lost 222-0 to Tech in the worst rout in college football history, a game in which the second half, remarkably, was even shortened by 15 minutes. 

	The slaughter should stand as an embarrassment in the history of college football -- but not to Cumberland, which played football informally and could field just 15 players for the game, but to the powerhouse Ramblin' Wreck, coached by John Heisman. Tech had no business piling it on after the score was 63-0 at the end of the first quarter, and certainly not after it was 126-0 at halftime. And after a third-quarter score of 180-0? No excuses at all.

	The football players from Cumberland, situated in Lebanon, Tennessee, did not practice for the game. Their president had visions of making the school a big-time football power and so scheduled a date with Georgia Tech. Cumberland's men were game but somewhat overmatched. The Ramblin' Wreck had 32 possessions and scored all 32 times, all touchdowns. Tech rushed the ball 29 times, 19 of those for TDs, and averaged over 17 yards per carry. Everett Strupper scored 49 points. Jim Preas rushed only twice -- TDs both times. Tommy Spence carried the ball just three times -- good for three TDs. Stan Fellers touched the ball five times -- two punt returns, two interceptions, one rush...you got it; five TDs. Tech did not attempt a pass, which might have constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Tech's defense intercepted six passes, five of which were returned for TDs, returned five of nine punts for TDs, and two of three fumble recoveries. 

	Morris Gouger, the top rusher of the day for Cumberland, picked up minus two yards on five carries. It should be pointed out that he did have one five-yard pickup.  In total, Cumberland rushed 34 times for minus 42 yards.

	Occasionally, to throw their bigger, more talented opponents off guard, Cumberland opted to kick off rather than receive after a Tech touchdown. This plan did not work. Happily, Cumberland suffered no serious injuries. Tech coach Heisman, whose name is immortalized by the trophy given every year to the best college football player, was certainly an accomplished football man, but one who moved from college to college to college, a precursor perhaps to the modern-day nomads who coach at one place only long enough to make their mark and then move on, refusing to be weighed down by trifles such as team or school loyalty. It hardly seems right that such a revered coach would allow his team to beat up on another one, especially one so clearly outmanned, by the score of -- no typo here -- 222-0. America's Team... Once
1960s to 1980s

IRVING, Texas
	Whether the Dallas Cowboys' nickname, "America's Team," came from the Cowboys themselves or from their fans or from a sportswriter no longer matters. What matters is that they were the Steve Garvey of professional football teams: seemingly clean-cut, seemingly on the side of good and right, exceptionally talented, and maddening as hell.

	That is, if you weren't a Cowboys fan. If you were a Cowboys fan, of course, then they were just plain clean-cut, always on the side of good and right, exceptionally talented, and thoroughly rewarding. 

	While the Oakland Raiders were busy making their reputation as the National Football League's thugs, the Cowboys went about their business with a cooler, calmer approach. With stoic Tom Landry on the sidelines -- dressed conservatively in his suit and hat, never cracking a smile, perhaps half-lifting an eyebrow to register occasional disgust -- and with unflappable #12, Roger Staubach, leading his teammates to last-minute victory after last-minute victory, the 'Boys forged a tradition of excellence over two decades, from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, that is matched for its consistency and quality by few other teams in professional sports. At some point early on, the Cowboy front office hit upon the ingenious idea (emulated later by many other teams) that rather than always drafting the best football player available they would draft the best athlete -- and turn him into an even better football player. Dallas did just this with Bob Hayes, the 1964 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meter dash and the world's fastest human. Hayes became one of the premier wide receivers in the league. 

	Over the years, the team has featured many stars: defensive tackle Bob Lilly; defensive back and kickoff return specialist Mel Renfro; running back Duane Thomas; defensive lineman Ed "Too Tall" Jones; linebacker Randy White; Heisman Trophy-winning running back Tony Dorsett. These players were all part of the system that brought Dallas victories in Super Bowl VI after the 1971 NFL season, and Super Bowl XII after the 1977 season. The Cowboys were also finalists in Super Bowls V and XIII. 

	But it was always the aura of the team that made them loveable -- or hateable. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders became nearly as famous as the team they were cheering on, and everyone seemed to have an opinion about the Cowboys, just as everyone seemed to have an opinion about the big, bad Raiders. 

	When the Cowboys, after twenty good years, finally fell on hard times and Landry was somewhat unceremoniously let go as coach, Dallas was no longer the team you either loved, or loved to hate. Soon they got so shockingly bad that they were the team you had to pity.

	Not surprisingly, the Cowboys have risen again, and are once again contenders. Their renaissance is due -- also not surprisingly -- to a combination of shrewd draftings (particularly of star quarterback Troy Aikman) and opportunistic trades, especially the 1989 blockbuster deal that unloaded running back Herschel Walker on the Minnesota Vikings for up to 12 draft choices and young players.

	Maybe the Cowboys will return to the Super Bowl winner's circle soon. That would be all right -- so long as no one starts calling them "America's Team" again. USA, Australia, and the Rest
1937

AUSTRALIA
	The Davis Cup is nothing more than an enormous silver punch bowl, but the pursuit of that treasure has motivated tennis players, and moved entire nations, since 1900. That's when Dwight Filley Davis, a leading American tennis player, conceived of an international challenge tournament and donated the Cup that would go to its winner. The United States, with 29 wins, and Australia, with 20, have been the dominant nations in Davis Cup competition. Between 1937 and 1973, those two countries won every year except for 1940-45, when there was no competition. No other country even made it to the finals from 1938-1960.

	But as tennis became more global, so has the Davis Cup become more evenly distributed. South Africa, Sweden and Italy picked up wins in the 1970s, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and West Germany won in the 1980s, and France stunned the United States in 1991. As is the case with virtually every other international sports competition, politics has never been far removed from the Davis Cup. Baron von Cramm, the great and gentlemanly German tennis player who opposed the Nazi regime, was summoned home from Davis Cup play in 1937 by the Gestapo for alleged homosexual offenses. In 1968, Rhodesia faced Sweden at a private club in France to stay clear of anti-apartheid demonstrations in Sweden. Six years later, India forfeited the final round to South Africa in protest over apartheid. In an attempt to quell the influence of politics, the United States proposed in 1977 that any nation that defaulted on political grounds should be banned. When the motion failed, the US, France and Britain announced they would no longer participate in the Davis Cup, a decree from which they later backed down.
	The internecine politics of tennis spilled over into the Davis Cup in 1973, when Yugoslav player Nikki Pilic refused to play for his country's Davis Cup team and was banned by the International Lawn Tennis Federation. The players boycotted in support of Pilic, and the Association of Tennis Players (ATP) demanded that Wimbledon accept Pilic. Wimbledon refused, and all but three of the 82 ATP players boycotted, including 13 of the 16 seeded players at Wimbledon.	 Doing It All
1976

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada
	The Olympic decathlon winner (or world record holder) can make a legitimate claim that he is the world's greatest and most versatile athlete. The unique event christens as champ a man who can perform ten feats very well. The feats may be divided into groups: throwing events (the discus, javelin, hammer, and shot put), sprinting (the 100 meter dash), jumping (the high jump, long jump, and pole vault), jumping and sprinting (the 110 meter hurdles), and middle distance running (the 1500 meters). Held over two days (though at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis all ten events were staged, incredibly, in just one day), the competition is predictably grueling; to make things more grueling still, the final event is the exhausting 1500 meter run. Points are awarded based on how one does against designated standards, not how one does against one's opponents. 

	Because the winner of this competition earns such plaudits, Olympic decathlon gold medalists tend to be among the more recognized of athletes, even though few sports fans ever see a decathlon competition outside of the Olympic one every four years. Americans have done particularly well. In 1912, Jim Thorpe won it. Bob Mathias was a two-time winner, in 1948 and 1952. Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang together attended UCLA and helped each other train for the 1960 decathlon. After the climactic 1500 meter race, the two men fell against each other for support. Johnson edged Yang for the gold. In 1968, American Bill Toomey won in Mexico City. 

	A great rivalry developed in the 1980s between decathletes Daley Thompson from Great Britain and world record holder Jurgen Hingsen from West Germany. Thompson won the Olympic gold in both 1980 and 1984, besting in the latter his nemesis, who had become sick toward the end of the second day of competition. Thompson slowed down toward the end of the 1500 meter race in Los Angeles and refrained from breaking Hingsen's world record. Instead, Thompson tied it.

	In a poignant moment, American Bruce Jenner did not even take his vaulting poles with him after winning the 1976 Olympic decathlon because he knew that he would not compete again. A Running Back Who Hates Football
1991

LOS ANGELES, California
	If Indianapolis Colt running back Eric Dickerson remained healthy, he could surely pass Walter Payton in a few years to become the National Football League's all-time leading rusher. 

	But health may not be the problem. Attitude might be. 

	In a mere eight years of play, Dickerson, a star at Southern Methodist University, had passed all pro running backs who had preceded him but Payton, Tony Dorsett, Jim Brown, and Franco Harris. His average of 4.6 yards-per-carry is better than all but a small handful of other backs, and his 2,105 yards gained in 1984, when he was with the Los Angeles Rams, marks the greatest single total for rushing yardage in a season. (He also has the sixth- and eighth- highest yearly totals.) 

	But Dickerson has rarely been happy in shoulder pads, helmet, and his trademark goggles. He has often expressed his displeasure with the money he was being paid to dart past linemen and run over free safeties. In a much-heralded trade, the Rams sent their star back to the Colts. People thought maybe Dickerson would be happy now, with the change of scenery. But again he had contract problems, and he was suspended for part of the 1991 season over missed practice (or perhaps differing interpretations of missed practice). He continued to complain in public that he really didn't like football -- never had -- and was going to get out soon enough; just you watch. The problem was most people who loved to watch him run got tired of the refrain. 

	Watch Eric run. See Eric score. Hear Eric whine.

	When healthy, Dickerson's speed and cutting ability are still phenomenal, though as a Colt, he finds himself on a team going nowhere slowly. Whether he will ever catch Payton depends partly on how well Dickerson endures the wear and tear that his legs must suffer on the artificial turf of the Hoosierdome; partly on the usual ravages of age; and perhaps most of all on whether he can start finding any pleasure in competing at the game he plays so well. jOne-Woman Show
1932
LOS ANGELES, California
	On July 4, 1932, American superstar Babe Didrickson entered the women's AAU championships -- which also served as the Olympic trials -- as a one-woman team. She took part in eight of the ten events and won six of them, setting world records in the 80m hurdles, the javelin, and the high jump. She also won the shot put, long jump, and baseball throw, and was fourth in the discus. She won the team title with 30 points, earning eight points more than the 22-woman group from the University of Illinois.

	There is no telling how much brighter Didrickson's Olympic legend might have shined had the Los Angeles Olympics later that year offered a women's long jump competition, or a shot put competition. But these contests -- like so many other track and field events -- were not available to women athletes because of the sexist prejudices of amateur athletics' governing body, a male-dominated group which believed women too frail to compete at certain distances and under certain stresses. Didrickson had to content herself with golds in the hurdles and javelin. Though she and fellow American Jean Shiley tied in the high jump, both setting the new world record, Shiley was given the gold because Didrickson's western-style roll of the bar, which allowed her head to clear the bar before her body -- a precursor to the Fosbury Flop -- was ruled illegal.

	Soon after, Didrickson's style of high-jumping was legalized. It would be many decades after that that the Olympics would include for women most -- though hardly all -- of the competitions that for so many years had been offered to their male counterparts.

	But Didrickson was best known for her golfing exploits. She won dozens of tournaments, including several majors, on the women's pro circuit. Didrickson eventually got cancer. But in 1953, 3-1/2 months after undergoing an emergency colostomy, she was back on the tour, finishing third in a tournament. The next year she won the US Open by 12 strokes.

	Sadly, the cancer soon returned and Babe Didrickson, perhaps the most versatile woman athlete in history, died on September 17, 1956, much too young at just 42.h56'll Get You a Movie Star
1941
BRONX, New York
	It started -- harmlessly enough -- against Chicago White Sox pitcher Edgar Smith on May 15, 1941, with a single; nothing fancy. It ended against Cleveland Indian pitcher Jim Bagby, Jr., on July 17, more than two months later, with an eighth-inning double play.

	In between, Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankee centerfielder, put on a record display of skill and consistency that, year by year, gains in stature. From that first single until that last game against the Indians, DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games, breaking Wee Willie Keeler's record 44-game streak back in 1897. DiMaggio's streak has now lasted even longer than Keeler's, and we're still counting.

	During the streak, "The Yankee Clipper" batted .408, collecting 91 hits in 223 at-bats. Curiously, he had 56 singles and scored 56 runs. He also had 55 runs batted in and hit 15 home runs. 

	A song was written about DiMaggio's streak. Baseball fans and non-fans followed its progress throughout the summer of 1941. 

	The day the streak was broken at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Ken Keltner, the Indian third baseman, twice made great defensive plays to rob Joltin' Joe of hits. The Yankee great's last chance to make it a 57-game streak was snuffed when pitcher Bagby got DiMaggio to hit the ball to shortstop Lou Boudreau, who flipped it to Ray Mack, who threw on to Oscar Grimes for an eighth-inning double play.

	DiMaggio was finally beaten, but the very next game he began another consecutive-games hitting streak of 16 games. Thus, he hit safely in 72 of 73 games during that 1941, MVP-winning season. His average for the year was .357.

	Joe DiMaggio would be further immortalized by his great play on the magnificent Yankee teams of the 30s and 40s, his eventual induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, his mention in a Paul Simon song, ("Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?") and his brief marriage to movie idol Marilyn Monroe. In a famous reported exchange, Monroe, after spending part of their honeymoon performing for troops in Korea, said to her new husband, "Joe, Joe, you never heard such applause." 

	"Yes, I did," DiMaggio said simply. Cuts Like a Knife
1952

CHINA
	The two diving events contested at the Olympics are the springboard (three meters, or 9'10", above the water) and platform (a static board 10 meters, or 30'5", above water) competitions. In the springboard event, each woman takes five compulsory dives and then five voluntary dives which are picked from predetermined groupings; in the platform event, the women take four compulsory and voluntary dives each.

	Every dive is given a degree of difficulty. Each judge's score is multiplied by that dive's degree of difficulty to arrive at the total score. 

	In Olympic springboard diving, not until 1952 did any female diver other than an American win a medal (France's Madeleine Moreau took the silver then), and not until 1960 did any but an American win the gold (East Germany's Ingrid Kramer). Today, the Americans, Chinese, Soviets, Canadians, and (formerly) East Germans produce the world's best. f
The Doctor Is In
1983

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
	As even the Russians have discovered, nothing succeeds like competition. In the 1967-68 season, the NBA was riding high and no doubt thought it required no competition. Two new franchises were added to the league -- Seattle and San Diego. The venerable New York Knicks moved into the newest Madison Square Garden. The Los Angeles Lakers moved into their new home, the 17,505-seat Forum. The league's new television contract exceeded one million dollars a year. But like it or not, the NBA had to take on a competitor

 -- the American Basketball Association, formed in time to open the 1967-68 season.

	Among the first stars to sign up with the ABA was Rick Barry (with Oakland). A court decision required him to sit out the 1967-68 season but his commitment to the new league gave it instant credibility. Moreover, George Mikan, the great center for the old Minneapolis Lakers, became the league's commissioner. To give the new league some pizazz, the owners decided to try a red, white and blue ball, and on Friday the 13th of October, the ball was bounced officially at the first ABA game. The Oakland Oaks defeated the Anaheim Amigos, 134-129.

	Although Barry was out for the year, the league was not without stars, chief among them being Connie Hawkins, who led the league that year in scoring. The following year, Barry led the league, although in subsequent years he had to settle for second place as stars like Spencer Haywood and Dan Issel took first place honors. Then in the 1971-72 season came Julius Erving. He began his ABA career with the Virginia Squires, shifted to the New York Nets, and eventually moved on to the NBA when the war between the two leagues ended in 1976. Four ABA teams -- New York, Denver, Indiana and San Antonio -- were absorbed by the NBA, along with such outstanding players as Billy Cunningham, David Thompson, George McGinnis, George Gervin, Moses Malone and Roger Brown. But Erving was the chief prize. His amazing athletic ability allowed him to make moves no one had ever seen before. At times, it seemed as if he defied gravity by leaping and then (so it appeared) stopping in mid-air while defenders rushed by him. Moreover, he made the dunk shot into a lethal weapon, and drew large crowds in all the arenas around the league. They paid their money just to watch "Dr. J," as he was known, tantalize opponents, slam dunk, and help the Phildelphia 76ers win an NBA title in 1983..

	Although Dr. J was the most glamorous contribution of the ABA to professional basketball, the 3-point shot, an ABA innovation, was also accepted by the NBA, and is now standard in college ball, as well. 		Season Without Blemish
1972
MIAMI, Florida
	When Don Shula took over as coach of the Miami Dolphins in 1970, they were a four-year-old expansion team with a lifetime record of 15-39-2.

	"I'm no miracle worker," he warned.

	But two years later, Shula had pulled off something akin to a football miracle. He guided the Dolphins to the first -- and so far only -- perfect season in NFL history. They won all 14 regular season games, then swept through three more playoff games, capping it off with a 14-7 win over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. Other teams had come close to perfect seasons, but none had managed to make it through without a blemish -- not Vince Lombardi's Green Pay Packers, or George Halas's Chicago Bears, or Paul Brown's Cleveland Browns.

  Making the Dolphins' achievement more remarkable is the fact that star quarterback Bob Griese was injured in the fifth game and lost until the Super Bowl. In his absence, the Dolphins were guided by 38-year-old Earl Morrall, who had quarterbacked Shula's Baltimore Colts into Super Bowl III, where they were stunned by the New York Jets and their brash young leader, Joe Namath.

  Morrall wasn't flashy, but he had a knack for pulling out close games, and the Dolphins had several. They earned a 16-14 last-second win over Minnesota, a 24-23 win over Buffalo, and a 28-24 win over the New York Jets. Morrall had plenty of help -- most notably the acclaimed "No-Name Defense," which allowed the fewest points in the NFL, and running backs Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Mercury Morris. Csonka and Morris became the first teammates ever to gain 1,000 yards in the same season.

	Griese came back for the Super Bowl to lead the Dolphins past Washington's "Over the Hill Gang" and complete Shula's miracle. Miami won despite the comically ill-advised pass thrown by Dolphin kicker Garo Yepremian on a botched field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter. Yepremian's wild, fluttering pass was intercepted and returned 49 yards for a touchdown by Washington's Mike Bass. Griese ran out the clock, however, and Shula avoided his third Super Bowl defeat.

	"It became more and more evident that no matter how many games we won, we wouldn't be successful until we won that 17th game," Shula said. "A sixteen-and-one record was not good enough. It had to be seventeen and nothing." zDraft Day
1972

PORTLAND, Oregon
	Draft day is rife with anticipation and terror. Many a basketball team executive fears that, when it comes his turn to choose, he will draft a dud over a diamond-in-the-rough. The Portland Trail Blazers are particularly adept at this skill. In 1972, with the #1 pick in the NBA draft, they chose Loyola's LaRue Martin. Martin, who played in the NBA for four years and averaged 5.3 points per game for his career, is now widely considered the worst #1 pick of all- time.

	But Portland wasn't finished. In 1984, they had the second pick overall. After the Houston Rockets chose future perennial All-World Akeem Olajuwon (from the University of Houston), the Trail Blazers tapped Kentucky's oft-injured Sam Bowie. In his first season, Bowie averaged a modest 10 ppg. Over the next four seasons, due to injury, Bowie played in 63 games and missed 265.

	The Chicago Bulls were particularly happy about Portland's visionary move, since they had the #3 pick in 1984. They drafted future All-Galaxy Michael Jordan. Dallas, at #4, chose future All-Star Sam Perkins. Philadelphia, at #5, picked future All-World Charles Barkley.

	Good basketball teams get that way largely by having scouts who can evaluate young, raw talent and can tell if and how that talent will blossom. Based on these evaluations, teams draft the best available players. Or they'll simply draft the best available athletes, regardless of how good they are at basketball. (Football's Dallas Cowboys made a policy of doing just that, and drafted Olympic sprinter Bob Hayes, once the world's fastest human being. He would eventually become a great wide receiver.)

	What follows is a brief history of some of the more notable draft-day oddities.  

	In 1977, the NBA's Kansas City Kings drafted decathlete Bruce Jenner in the seventh round.

	The Boston Celtics drafted former University of Indiana star Landon Turner in the 10th round of the 1982 NBA draft. Turner had been paralyzed in a car accident eight months before but had expressed a lifelong dream to be drafted by the Celtics.

	In 1981, the Chicago Bulls spent their 10th-round pick on Ken Easley, a UCLA defensive back with only one year of JV basketball experience and a future star for the NFL Seattle Seahawks. In 1984, the Bulls drafted track star Carl Lewis in the 10th round.

	In 1983, the Philadelphia 76ers used their 10th-round pick to select Norman Horvitz, a 50-ish doctor who worked for 76ers owner Harold Katz's Nutri-Systems, Inc.

	In 1977, Lucille Harris of Delta State was drafted in the seventh round by the New Orleans Jazz, becoming the only woman ever drafted in NBA history.

	The Atlanta Hawks apparently have a sense of humor. In 1987, the Hawks drafted Song Tao of China in the third round, Theo Christodolou of Greece in the fourth round, Jose-Antonio Montero of Spain in the fifth round, Ricardo Morandoti of Yugoslavia in the sixth round, and Franjo Arapovic of Yugoslavia in the seventh round. The Hawks did not sign any of them.

	In 1986, Bo Jackson was not only the #1 pick of the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a fourth-round pick of baseball's Kansas City Royals, but the fifth-round pick of the Continental Basketball Association's Savannah Spirits.

	In 1955, the Los Angeles Rams drafted K.C. Jones of the University of San Francisco in the 30th round. Jones was also drafted by the Boston Celtics and opted for a basketball career. In 1983, Jones became coach of the Celtics. His counterpart on the opposing sidelines for several NBA Finals, Los Angeles Laker coach Pat Riley, had also opted for a career playing and coaching basketball, not football. In 1967, Riley, out of the University of Kentucky, had been drafted by San Diego of the NBA in the first round, and by the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL in the 11th round.

	In 1981, Vic Sison was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the 10th round. Sison had been the head student-manager at UCLA when Nets coach Larry Brown was there.	The Glide
1991

PORTLAND, Oregon
	True greatness can only be measured by comparison. Imagine a pitcher with a better fastball than Nolan Ryan. A linebacker who's a step quicker than Lawrence Taylor, and a tad more ferocious. A tennis player whose forehand is slightly more powerful and accurate than Steffi Graf's. 

	Yeah, right.

	It's hard even to imagine any of these.

	Well, try this one on for size: There may be a better leaper in the NBA than Michael Jordan. And one even more spectacular.

	Before you say, Yeah, right, go watch a Portland Trailblazer game.

	You'll see Clyde Drexler performing. And that's really what it is. Though some may consider it heresy to suggest that anyone not named Michael Jordan could be the greatest athlete in professional basketball, those who have seen Clyde "The Glide" in action know that it is largely rooted in observation. Drexler, Portland's All-Star guard, is the quintessential all-around player: he's a lock for 25 to 30 points a night, bushels of rebounds and assists, lightning-quick defensive strikes, and he exhibits the desire to have the ball in his hands in the closing seconds of a tight game. All these skills have made top teams out of Portland (he took them to the NBA Finals in 1990) and his college squad, the famed University of Houston "Phi Slamma Jama" contingent that also featured Akeem Olajuwon and contended annually for the national crown.

	But while Drexler is a consummate competitor, he may also simply be the most spectacular player the NBA has right now -- not a better player than Jordan, mind you, but just as flamboyant and inventive in the air. Not long ago, Drexler dunked easily on an eleven-foot basket, a foot above the regulation height. And he goes much higher than that. Often, he can be seen driving to the basket, only to be repelled by several defenders, at which point he makes a blind pass, or

 -- always a viable option, for him, anyway -- simply hangs in the air, waiting for his opponents to return to earth, one by one. Drexler is part of an exclusive fraternity that has been doing near-scientific research for the past few decades on hang time -- Elgin Baylor, Julius Erving, Michael, Dominique Wilkins are some other charter members. 

	Jordan fans may not want to acknowledge it -- and Jordan does have an NBA and NCAA crown to his name, one of which Drexler still hopes to get -- but when it comes to nightly thrills at the arena, the Glide can not be topped.q"No Mas"
November 26, 1980

NW ORLEANS, Louisiana
	The average boxing fan is not reluctant to label a fighter a coward if a fighter -- even one who is helpless and hopeless -- quits. Surprisingly, examples of quitting are not too frequent. In fact, when it happens, the event usually becomes part of boxing lore. For example, Max Baer, after being floored several times, stayed down in a bout with Joe Louis. Max Schmeling is supposed to have said, "Enough," as he floundered on all fours, also against Louis. 

	A more recent example occurred on November 26, 1980, in a bout between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. Duran had won the welterweight championship from Leonard the previous June. In this rematch, the stylish Leonard was all over Duran, pounding him at will for seven rounds. In the eighth, Duran quit, shouting "No mas, no mas" ("No more, no more"). Leonard regained his title and Duran earned the abuse of fans who thought him a coward. Whether or not it is fair to call a man a coward who, helpless in the face of a brutal beating, decides to withdraw is a question that should not be decided by people who have never been in that predicament. "Crossing the Channel
1926

ENGLISH CHANNEL, Atlantic Ocean
	The English Channel has always been an endurance swimmer's Mount Everest, a challenge that must be attempted because, well, it's there. The first to successfully complete the gruelling 21-mile swim without a life jacket was 27-year-old merchant navy captain Matthew Webb, who took 21 hours and 45 minutes to go from Dover, England to Calais Sands, France, in 1875. When Webb was honored by the city of Dover, the mayor proclaimed, "In the future history of the world, I don't believe that any such feat will be performed by anyone else."

	Easy, now, Your Honor. Since Webb, about 270 swimmers are believed to have successfully crossed the Channel, including a 12-year-old boy in 1979, a 12-year-old girl in 1983, a 65-year-old man in 1983, and a 45-year-old woman in 1975.

	The first woman to swim the Channel successfully was American Gertrude Ederle, who did so on August 6, 1926. Her world record time of 14 hours, 31 minutes was two hours faster than the men's record, and she was rewarded with a ticker tape parade when she returned home. Tragically, she became deaf as a result of her Channel swim.

	Webb, the Channel pioneer, had a far more tragic end. In search of an even greater challenge, he died attempting to swim the violent Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara Falls. Holy Moses!
1977 to 1987

ATLANTA, Georgia
	Edwin Moses's 107-race unbeaten streak in the 400m hurdles spanned 11 years and 22 countries. It began in 1977 and would not end until 1987, when fellow American Danny Harris conquered Moses in Madrid, Spain. 

	Before the streak, during it, and even after, Moses established himself as the greatest quarter-mile hurdler the world has ever seen.

	Moses attended Moorhouse College in Atlanta on an academic scholarship; the school did not even have a track. Moses essentially coached himself as a runner and hurdler. His first real exposure to the grueling 400-meter hurdle event was only months before the 1976 Montreal Games, and in fact those Olympics were his first taste of international competition. Moses won the gold medal by a whopping eight meters, the largest winning margin ever in the event. Because of the US boycott of the 1980 Games, Moses could not win what almost certainly would have been his second gold; to console himself -- and prove once more to the world who was the best -- he set a world record just three weeks before the start of the Moscow Olympics. 

	At one point, Moses held the nine fastest times ever recorded at the distance. During his streak, Moses became even more of a track hero in Europe than in America. 

	In Los Angeles in 1984, Moses finally picked up his second Olympic gold. The silver went to Danny Harris. Three years later, in Madrid, Harris would be the one to make history when he became the first man in more than a decade to reach the tape in the 400-meter hurdles before Edwin Moses did. :Boneheads and Dingbats
1904

ST. LOUIS, Missouri
	Not all athletes and other sports figures have their heads on straight.

	The Russian contingent showed up late for the military rifle team competition at the 1908 Olympics because they were operating on the Julian calendar rather than the customary Gregorian calendar. Twelve days separated the two calendars.

	Boston Celtics announcer Johnny Most visited team doctor Thomas Silva to complain of deafness in 1987. Silva extracted a TV earplug which had been lodged in Most's ear for a year and a half.

	In a 1917 World Series game, Chicago White Sox pitcher Red Faber attempted to steal third base while a teammate was already occupying it.

	American Emerson Spencer, the world-record holder in the 400m run (47.0 seconds) in 1928, made only the Olympic relay team. At the Olympic trials for the individual 400m, Spencer thought he was in a heat race and did not run at full speed. It was actually the final, and he did not qualify.

	At the 1896 Olympics, many fencing judges, unschooled in the sport, thought that a fencer earned points if he received a hit.

	On the fifth hole of the final round of the 1970 British Open, Lee Trevino shot for the wrong flag. Trevino, who started the day with a three-stroke lead, bogeyed the hole and finished tied for third.

	At the 1948 Olympics, one judge awarded a gymnast a score of 13.1.

	After losing money gambling, Cuban Felix Carvajal had to hitchhike to St. Louis for the 1904 Olympics. He arrived at the starting line for the marathon wearing heavy street shoes, long trousers, a long-sleeved shirt, and a beret.

	In the third round of the 1983 Canadian Open, golfer Andy Bean used the grip of his putter to knock in a two-inch putt on the 15th hole. He was penalized two strokes. He finished the tournament two strokes behind the winner.

	1988 Tour de France champion Pedro Delgado of Spain began defense of his title by showing up 2 minutes and 40 seconds late to the starting line of the 1989 Tour. He finished the opening prologue 2:54 behind the leader. After 33 days, he ended up in third place, 3:34 behind the winner. Leading ERAs
All-Time

	A list of all-time best ERAs:

	Ed Walsh -- 1.82

	Addie Joss -- 1.88

	Three Finger Brown -- 2.06

	Monte Ward -- 2.10

	Christy Mathewson -- 2.13

	Rube Waddell -- 2.16

	Walter Johnson -- 2.17

	Orval Overall -- 2.24

	Tommy Bond -- 2.25

	Will White -- 2.28

	Ed Reulbach -- 2.28

	Jim Scott -- 2.32

	Eddie Plank -- 2.34

	Larry Corcoran -- 2.36

	Eddie Cicotte -- 2.37

	George McQuillan -- 2.38

	Ed Killian -- 2.38

	Doc White -- 2.38

	Nap Rucker -- 2.42

	Jeff Tesreau -- 2.43Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance
1906 to 1912

CHICAGO, Illinois
	"These are the saddest of possible words: `Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.'"

	They are among the mythic names in baseball history and yet the game's most famous double play combination actually completed many fewer double plays every year in the seven years they were together on the Chicago Cubs, from 1906 to 1912, than many of today's more forgettable trios.

	But that didn't matter. Newspaperman and poet Franklin P. Adams wrote those words above in "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," a poem first published in The New York Evening Mail in July of 1910. Thanks to the poem's catchy repetition of the names -- Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance, Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance, like a mantra -- Adams would forever consign the three men to a special place in history, a place they would always habitate together. 

	First baseman Frank Chance, the final putout in the immortalized DP combo, also became the Cub manager in 1905 and led the team to three pennants in his first three full years, and a fourth in 1910. He was called "Peerless Leader" by his troops, a moniker that was later shortened to the reverent and elegant "P.L." Chance.

	Fittingly, shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers and first baseman Chance were all named to the Hall of Fame together, in 1946. 

	Harry Steinfeldt was not named to the Hall of Fame in 1946, or ever. Harry Steinfeldt never got mentioned in Adams's famous poem. Harry Steinfeldt, one of baseball's great forgotten men, was merely the third baseman for the Cub infield that included Tinker...to Evers...to Chance.The Classy Queen of Tennis
1970s to 1980s

FLORIDA
	With her fearless baseline play and two-handed backhand, Chris Evert changed the face of women's tennis for the generation that followed. Along with her great friend and rival, Martina Navratilova, she was the most successful player of her era, and the role model for millions of young girls who aspired to be tennis stars.

	Evert broke into prominence in 1970 when, at the age of 15, she beat reigning Grand Slam champion Margaret Court in a tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina. She won at least one Grand Slam title every year from 1974-86, for a total of 21 major championships, and was ranked No. 1 in the world from 1975-78. For six years -- from August 1973 to May 1979 -- Evert did not lose a singles match on clay. She had won 125 consecutive matches when Tracy Austin -- one of a legion of Evert clones -- finally ended the streak by beating her in the 1979 Italian Open semifinals.

	Evert was known for her cool resolve on the court, but it was a facade. Beneath her ice maiden exterior, she was a passionate, driven player.

	"I think I feel emotions more than most players," she once said. "I have a drive, a burning desire to win every time I step on a court. I don't have the serve of Martina or the speed of Rosie (Casals), so I compensate." She was also one of the classiest and most generous of champions. As president of the women's players association, she would handwrite a thank-you note each year to the Wimbledon committee. In 1987, she thought the Cartier-designed silver leopard and gold ball that she had received for winning a tournament in France was something Martina Navratilova would like, so she gave it to her. It was valued at 20,000 British pounds.

	The regard with which she was held by her peers, as well as her inherent compassion, shined through in her final competitive match in 1989, in the quarterfinals of the US Open. After losing to Zina Garrison, Evert hugged and consoled Garrison, who couldn't contain her tears. Just Patrick
1991

WASHINGTON, D.C.
	Patrick Ewing, 7-foot marvel for the New York Knicks, has received pretty much every accolade a basketball player can. As a freshman for Georgetown, he was touted as the greatest center the college game had seen in years, and with his huge wingspan, the grace of a forward, a light shooter's touch, and his commitment to ferociously Hoya-like defense, it was hard to argue. He led his team to the NCAA title game three times in four years, once winning the national championship against the high flyers from the University of Houston. He and Michael Jordan anchored the USA Olympic team that struck gold in Los Angeles in 1984. Ewing was the #1 pick in the NBA draft by the gleeful New York Knicks, a then-lottery team. He is paid millions of dollars (in 1991 he signed a six-year, $33 million contract extension) and has become a fixture on the NBA Eastern All-Star team. Every season he is near the top of the list for scoring, shotblocking, and not far from the top in rebounding. He moves fluidly, and yet his trademarks are his thunderous slams which rock Madison Square Garden, not to mention opposing centers foolish enough not to back out of the way and let him do his thing.

	But this resume does not truly indicate that Patrick Ewing has arrived. The real sign that the 1992 USA Olympic basketball team's starting center has arrived is the way people talk about him. It always used to be "Ewing" or even the dreadfully formal "Patrick Ewing." Now that he has proven himself as a player over several years, now that fans and announcers and other players around the league have witnessed up close his considerable talents, he is increasingly called just "Patrick."

	Michael. Larry. Isiah. When one name will do, then you know you've made it. Patrick -- just Patrick -- is fine, thank you. America Goes Crazy
1992

LOS ANGELES, California 
	People around the world think Americans are crazy. They think we are, on the whole, too extreme, that once we get something in our heads, we don't let go. Witness fitness: Americans are the most gung-ho, the most passionate, about staying in shape, and our full array of health clubs and spas -- not to mention diet books -- is ample testimony to this fact. We seem to be full believers, as a nation, in the "no pain, no gain" ethic. In clubs all across America, one sees women and men climbing stairs that lead to nowhere, rowing boats that don't float, riding bikes that don't move, stretching, pumping, doing situps and push-ups, jumping rope, turning down doughnuts and cake, drinking mountain water from a bottle. When we get outside, we ride bikes that do move, row boats that do float, run marathons and triathlons, turn down doughnuts and cake, drink spring water from bottles. Most health club groupies don't know the name of Dr. Kenneth Cooper, but he holds a cherished place in their heart. Cooper is known as "The Father of Aerobics." Or maybe he doesn't hold such a cherished place in their heart. 

	Naturally, what goes in America eventually goes in the rest of the world. Spas and health clubs are becoming more popular in other countries. Even non-Americans count calories these days, and have their cholesterol levels checked. Some of them, like us, stand on their heads to reverse the effects of gravity, or maybe just to see what the world looks like upside-down. 

	One, two, one, two. Breathe. Breathe.

	They say we're crazy? Maybe so. Now hand over that plate of lo-cal seaweed and that bottle of naturally distilled sky juice and then let's do another set.Falls and Flops
1984

LOS ANGELES, California
	There have been numerous falls and stumbles in the history of sport, especially in track and field. Here are a few of the more notable ones:

	American runner Mary Decker has been involved in several falls. In 1974, at a USA-USSR meet in Moscow, Decker was shoved off the track by Sarmite Shtula in the 4x800m relay. Decker threw her baton at Shtula.

	At the 1983 Millrose Games in New York, Decker shoved Pureto Rican runner Angelita Lind to the ground when she failed to move aside and let Decker pass.

	And in her most famous fall, in the 1984 Olympic 1,500m race, Decker tripped, fell, and screamed at South African Zola Budd, who also fell. Budd was initially disqualified for the incident, but after watching videotapes, a jury voted unanimously to reinstate her.

	At the 1972 Munich Olympics, American miler Jim Ryun tried to squeeze between two runners in the opening heat of the 1,500m when he tripped and fell. He got to his feet but did not qualify. It turned out to be his last amateur race.

	American speedskater Dan Jansen fell going around the first turn of the 1988 Winter Olympic 500m race, just a few hours after learning of the death of his sister, Jane. Four days later, in the 1,000m, Jansen was on a gold medal-pace when he fell on a straightaway two-thirds of the way through the race.

	Finn Lasse Viren fell during the 12th lap of the Olympic 10,000m in 1972, got up, and still won -- and set a world record in the process.

	And in one of the more repetitious examples of an athlete not being able to keep on his feet: In the men's Olympic slalom in 1952, skier Antoin Miliordos of Greece fell 18 times and was so disgusted that he sat down and crossed the finish line backward. 	It's All in the Family
1869 to Present

SEATTLE, Washington
	After seeing their fathers or older brothers succeed in major league baseball, not a few sons and younger brothers have decided to go into the family business. Sometimes they've clashed with one another, and sometimes they've combined for rather extraordinary moments.

	The only home run of Joe Niekro's batting career came on May 29, 1976, off his brother, Phil.

	In his major league debut on May 31, 1979, Detroit Tiger Pat Underwood pitched 8-1/3 innings of three-hit ball and beat his brother, Toronto Blue Jay pitcher Tom Underwood, 1-0.

	Clete and Ken Boyer are the only brothers to hit home runs in the same World Series, and they did it in the same game. In Game 7 of the 1964 Series, Ken hit one for the St. Louis Cardinals while Clete hit one for the New York Yankees.

	Brothers Dixie and Harry Walker each won major league batting titles.

	Brothers Paul and Lloyd Waner are both in the Hall of Fame.

	Bob and Ken Forsch are the only brothers to pitch no-hitters.

	On August 21, 1975, Paul and Rick Reuschel of the Chicago Cubs became the only brothers to combine for a major league shutout.

	All three major league Alou brothers -- Felipe, Matty and Jesus -- played together in the same outfield for the San Francisco Giants, in a September 15, 1963 game.

	In the 1910s and 1920s, Jeff Pfeffer enjoyed a thirteen-year career as a big league pitcher. He followed his brother, Francis Xavier, whose nickname, notably enough, was Big Jeff Pfeffer.

	The greatest number of brothers to appear in the major leagues is five, the Delahanty boys, who played from 1888 to 1915: Ed, the best of them, was an outfielder, as were Frank and Joe; Jim and Tom were infielders. Four O'Neill brothers -- Steve, Jim, Jack and Mike -- played in the majors from 1901 through 1928.

	Ken Griffeys Sr. and Jr., fellow outfielders for the Seattle Mariners, will probably hold this distinction for quite some time: they are the only father-son pair ever to hit back-to-back home runs.

	Faye Throneberry, brother of Marv, had an eight-year major league career and a lifetime average of .236, one point lower than Marv's.

	Impressive baseball lineage does not exist merely between the lines. Harry Caray, the legendary broadcasting voice of the Chicago Cubs, has a son, Skip, who is the voice of the Atlanta Braves (and the NBA Atlanta Hawks). Skip's son, Chip, incidentally, is the voice of the NBA Orlando Magic. Fastballs
1869 to Present
LOS ANGELES, California
	Smoke. Cheese. Hard cheese. Chin music. Heat. Serious heat.

	No matter how you say it, it still means one thing: the fastball. The most ferocious practitioners can rev it up to nearly 100 miles per hour, with an occasional pitch by an exceptionally live arm even going above that. Nolan Ryan -- he of Ryan's Express -- once clocked out at 100+, and so has Cincinnati Red reliever Rob Dibble. "Rapid Robert" Feller was also measured at that rarified speed, but it wasn't done with radar guns back then: Feller threw a pitch just as a motorcycle flew by him at 100mph, and somehow they could tell that the ball and the motorcyclist simultaneously reached a point 60'6" away.

	Walter Johnson, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Sandy Koufax, Orel Hershiser, Rich Gossage: these are just a few, though all esteemed, charter members of the Fastballers Club. About some of them it was said that their fastball actually "rose," a contention physicists have scoffed at. Then again, the majority of these physicists have never been behind on the count to "Rocket" Roger Clemens, with just a stick to wave at him as he comes in high and hard with some radical cheese that maxes out at 97mph. 

	So who really knows.

	Fortunately, thanks to Candy Cummings, not everyone who wants to grow up and be a major league pitcher must be blessed with the rubber arms that these men were, and that enables them to be such frightening sights at the paltry distance of 60'6". Who was Candy Cummings? In 1867, much to the delight of future generations of pitchers, and much to the dismay of future generations of batters, Candy Cummings, became the first pitcher to throw...a curveball.	Flo Jo Doesn't Know Slo-Mo
1988

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana
	It was at the 1988 Olympic trials in Indianapolis that Florence Griffith Joyner really announced both her talent and personality to the American track audience. It was here that she unveiled her wildly colored, one-legged body suit (Evelyn Ashford is acknowledged to have first popularized the full body suit), and it was here, on July 16, that she covered 100 meters in 10.49 seconds, shattering the women's world record.

	Flo-Jo, as she is popularly called, would have been a presence on the track if all she had was that speed. But she also cut a remarkable figure -- with her loose, flowing hair, her perfectly muscled body, her brightly-colored running outfits, her long, technicolored fingernails. She was both the fastest and most glamorous female performer who had ever set foot on the track. 

	Two and a half months later in Seoul, Joyner did not disappoint those who had seen her overwhelm the field at the Olympic trials. She set the world record for the 200 meters (21.34 seconds), the Olympic record in the 100 meters (10.54 seconds), won a third gold medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay (41.98 seconds), and ran a courageous quarter-mile leg in the 4 x 400 meter relay. It was this last performance that may really have won for Joyner the hearts of Americans who watched her: Most world class sprinters hardly consider running the quarter-mile a pleasant experience but Joyner gutted it out in excellent time, enough for the American team to take the silver. 

	Flo-Jo won the 1988 Sullivan Award as America's top amateur athlete for the year.

	In February of 1989, the 29-year-old Joyner -- sister-in-law of Olympic heptathlete and long jump champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee -- announced her retirement from competitive running. She had pretty much done all she had set out to do as an athlete, and she had seriously closed the gap between men and women over sprint distances (it has been widely held that women could only close the gap between their times and men's over greater distances, such as marathons). Joyner's somewhat "early" retirement, while still in top form, inspired accusations that, in the wake of Ben Johnson's steroid scandal, she was worried she might test positive in future meets. But charges of steroid use by Joyner were never proven. 

	Flo-Jo would move on to other things -- presumably very quickly, as would befit one of the most exciting, charismatic, and talented sprinters to come along in a great while.  	Captain Cheeseburger
April 19, 1991
MARSHALL, Texas
	After retiring from boxing, George Foreman became a minister. When he unretired and returned to the ring, he was touted as "The Preacher." While this may or may not have been a catchy nickname, a more pointed appellation was "Captain Cheeseburger," since Foreman weighed a good 40 pounds more than he did when he was heavyweight champion of the world in the early 70s. Foreman was back in it for the money, sure, but his approach -- if not his appetite -- was lighthearted, and he flaunted the fact that he would as soon sit down to a few stacks of pancakes as he would a half-hour with a jump rope. His idea of serious training was to turn down another box of chocolate donuts. But at age 42, Foreman had emerged as one of the only compelling stories in boxing today. In a sport whose reputation for integrity compares with no other since it would not register on any meter, Foreman has put some fun and intrigue back into the game. Mike Tyson seems constantly to be battling himself, the law, women -- anything but opponents; and the current champ, Evander Holyfield, is seen by many as a pretender -- or at least a light-heavyweight masquerading as the heavyweight champion of the world. 

	Born January 22, 1948, from Marshall, Texas, Foreman had a previous and glorious life as the champ. He took the heavyweight title from "Smokin' Joe" Frazier on January 22, 1973, in Kingston, Jamaica. Frazier, a 3-1 favorite, hit the canvas six times before the fight was finally called at 1:35 of the second round. At the time, Foreman weighed a svelte 217. He knocked out Ken Norton, also in the second round, in his second title defense in 1974, in Caracas, Venezuela. But against Muhammad Ali, he came up short, as "The Greatest" became only the second man ever to win back the world heavyweight title (Floyd Patterson was the other), stopping Foreman, the betting favorite, in the eighth round of their titanic battle in Zaire. 

	Now Foreman calls the shots again and takes in millions, after having made a tour of duty through more stiffs than you could find in the city morgue. Though he lost a clear and unanimous decision to Holyfield in Atlantic City on April 19, 1991, Foreman did go the distance, and he was the obvious sentimental favorite. 

	Could George Foreman, at age 42 and counting, possibly be the heavyweight champion of the world again? With that gut?

	In boxing, don't bet against it. Or, bet against it, if you have some inside information.\Equalling the Mark
1988

SEOUL, Korea
	Only two Americans have ever won more Olympic gold medals than swimmer Matthew Biondi's six: Ray Ewry, who won 10 golds toward the beginning of the century in track and field events which have since been discontinued; and another swimmer by the name of Mark Spitz, who won nine golds. 

	This is significant because it was Spitz's astonishing standard, set at the 1972 Munich Games -- seven world records and seven gold medals in seven races -- that Biondi was shooting for at Seoul. Many observers thought that, as improbable as it sounded, Biondi might just do it. The world record holder in the 100 meter freestyle, Biondi had been the first man ever to go under 49 seconds at that distance; 15 years before, Spitz had been the first man to go under 52 seconds. Biondi's specialties -- like Spitz's -- were the freestyle and butterfly sprints. Biondi, co-captain of the University of California water polo team, was a big man, who took huge, powerful strokes through the water. 

	He was entered in four individual races and three relays, just like Spitz.

	Biondi put on a remarkable performance at Seoul. He won the most medals of any athlete at the Games -- seven, including five golds (second only to East German swimmer Kristin Otto's six), one silver and one bronze. By himself or in relays he set four world records and one Olympic record. It was hardly what you'd call disappointing. 

	But Spitz's standard remains. Unblemished. Unsurpassable -- unless, that is, a swimmer comes along who is the world's best at three different strokes, an improbable accomplishment. Someday Spitz's standard might be equaled, though that, too, is unlikely.

	If it is any consolation to Biondi -- as if a man who wins five gold medals in one Olympics needs consolation -- he has been hailed, along with Spitz, as one of the two greatest swimmers America has ever produced.  	The Charity Stripe
20th Century

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts
	Making free throws is supposed to be relatively easy for top-flight college players and anyone in the NBA; that's why they're called "free throws." The foul line is also known colloquially as "the charity stripe." Indeed, several years ago the NBA revoked a rule that gave players, under certain circumstances, three chances to make two foul shots, deeming the luxury an unnecessary slowing down of the game and, more often than not, just plain unnecessary. For great free throw shooters -- the names that first come to mind are Larry Bird, Mike Newlin, Chris Mullin and Calvin Murphy, who, during the 1980-81 season once made 78 free throws in a row -- it is almost a shock if their shot does anything but ruffle the net as it goes through. Rick Barry, as close to automatic (lifetime 90%) from the foul line as anything this side of a machine, shot his free throws underhand. Legend -- and fairly accurate accounting at the University of Indiana -- has it that only once during the illustrious four-year career of sharpshooter Steve Alford did he miss both ends of a two-shot foul. Twice, tops.

	Practice makes perfect. 

	Some free throw shooters are good and maddening. On April 5, 1988, Milwaukee Buck Ricky Pierce, a lifetime 85% shooter and a notoriously slow one at that, had one of his free throws voided by referee Jack Madden for delay of game. Madden claimed that Pierce had violated the 10-second rule before taking his second shot. 

	Wilt Chamberlain, a terrible free throw shooter -- 51% for his career -- did manage to make 28-of-32 free throws, or 88%, the night he scored 100 points, and in so doing set another, far less heralded, record for most free throws made in a game.

	On January 29, 1989, then-Cleveland Cavalier Chris Dudley, the league's most consistently misguiding free throw shooter, went to the foul line to shoot two free throws. He missed his first shot and then his second, but on the second miss, Washington Bullet Darrell Walker was called for a lane violation, as he tried to get an early jump on the rebound he was sure would be there. Dudley missed again, but this time the Bullets' Dave Feitl committed the lane violation. Dudley missed again, but Feitl again committed a lane violation. Dudley then missed for the fifth straight time.

	Practice makes perfect. 4Dee-fense, Dee-fense


LOS ANGELES, California
	Defense wins football games.

	A good defense beats a good offense.

	The best offense is a good defense. 

	They're all football cliches, and, like most cliches, they're also true. The greatest teams in National Football League history have all featured ferocious and stingy defenses. Occasionally, a defense, or a special unit within a defense, is good and colorful enough to earn a nickname. Since the 1960s, there have been several such nasty and unyielding fraternities. There were the "Purple People Eaters" -- the Minnesota Viking front four in the 1960s and 1970s, including Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, Alan Page, and Gary Larsen, and later Doug Sutherland. There was the "Steel Curtain" -- the Pittsburgh Steeler front four in the 1970s, including "Mean" Joe Greene, Ernie Holmes, L.C. Greenwood, and Dwight White. Going back a few years, there was the "Fearsome Foursome" -- the Los Angeles Ram front four in the 1960s, including Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy, Roosevelt Grier, and Merlin Olsen.

	In the 1980s, linebackers have become the game's defensive glamour boys. The New York Giant crew, featuring Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks, has left its impact on many an opposing backfield. The linebacking corps of the Chicago Bears, especially the 1985 Super Bowl-winning squad, took a backseat to no one, at least so long as Mike Singletary was anchoring it. Other teams -- the 1970s Oakland Raiders and the 1990s Kansas City Chiefs, to name two -- have even built defensive reputations around their agile, hard-hitting secondaries -- the cornerbacks and safeties. 

	You win with defense. 

	It all starts with defense. 

	Football is a hitting sport. 

	The words are trite, but to scrambling quarterbacks and 180-pound halfbacks and 5'11" wide receivers leaping to reach overthrown balls, the terror never is. 	Mudville, etc.
1908
CHICAGO, Illinois
	Baseball, more than any other sport, is overrun by rituals and tradition and lore. There's the throwing out of the first ball, of course. Tossing the ball around the horn after a strikeout. The seventh-inning stretch. The home run trot. Every kid dreaming about catching at least one foul ball. "Pepper" -- where a coach hits short balls to a couple of players, who then pitch it back to him -- before the actual game starts.

	Even stepping into the batter's box is treated by hitters as a sanctified moment. Boston Red Sox hitting marvel Wade Boggs, who is not Jewish, uses his bat to draw in the dirt the Hebrew symbol for the word "chai," which means life. 

	Anyone who's been to a major league game knows that the seventh-inning stretch is usually accompanied by the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"; at Wrigley Field in Chicago, announcer Harry Caray leads the way. Jack Norworth, who wrote the lyrics for the song in 1908 (Albert Von Tilzer composed the music), apparently thought he intuitively understood the spirit of the game well enough to do it justice, because he did not actually see his first big-league game until more than 30 years later. 

	By the way, trivia fans, the name of the girl in the song -- a stanza that never gets sung -- is Nelly Kelly.

	Another cherished artifact in baseball history is Ernest Lawrence Thayer's poem, "Casey at the Bat." It is surmised that the fictional Casey was based on either Dan Casey or his brother Dennis, both major leaguers in the 1880s. Whoever the model was, though, the score never changes: It's always 4-2, and the Mudville nine are always on the short end. There is no joy.

	As for tossing out the first pitch, we do know that the first American president to throw out the first ball of the season was William Howard Taft, on April 14, 1910, in Washington, for a game against Philadelphia. Since then, thousands of celebrities and heroes have done likewise: camera bulbs flash, the catcher take the toss (and as often as not waves his gloved hand as if the pitch stung him), returns the ball as a souvenir to the one-note pitcher, shakes hands, dons the tools of ignorance, crouches behind home plate and waits for perhaps that most entrenched and loveliest of all the game's traditions: the umpire yells, "Play Ball!" 
Sports in the Future
2000

	What will sports be like in the future? We don't know for sure, but we do
know a few things.

	The 1992 Winter Olympics are in Albertville, France and the Summer Games are in Barcelona, Spain. In 1996, the centennial of the modern Games, the Summer Olympics will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, much to the dismay of Athens, Greece, which lobbied long, hard, and unsuccessfully to have the 100th anniversary held in the same city where the first modern games were held in 1896, not to mention the nation which gave the world the Olympic idea (and ideal) to begin with. 

	In major league baseball, Denver and Miami will be getting expansion teams. The National League may or may not send Cincinnati and Atlanta to the East, and St. Louis and Chicago to the West. A utility infielder will someday soon sign a $100 million, guaranteed contract, which grants him the right not to play if he doesn't feel like it.

	In the NHL, San Jose has just welcomed an expansion pro hockey team. The league will never do anything to get rid of fighting, despite what they say. 

	Eventually all pro football will be played inside domes. This will happen because, increasingly, phenomenally talented underclassmen entering the draft early will insist that they will not play at Green Bay or Chicago in a snowstorm, and their agents will support their clients' decision.

	Michael Jordan will find new ways to amaze us. The Sacramento Kings will someday have a winning streak on the road. Baskets will be raised to eleven feet.

	Using instant replay as a way to overrule officials' calls on the field will, for good or bad, be the wave of the future. Pro football has now used it for a few years and now pro hockey is trying it. Perhaps someday a World Series Game 7 will be decided fifteen minutes after the fact, when an umpire's out call is changed to safe. Or vice versa.

	Either bungee-jumping is a fad or five years from now there will be a pro bungee-jumping league. There will be All-Star games and post-season play. Kids will trade bungee-jumper cards.

	Perhaps rollerblading will become an Olympic sport. Mogul skiing, after all, will be a medal event in Albertville.

	Boxing will remain corrupt.

	Women's tennis will eventually be dominated by nine-year-olds. The women's tennis association will lobby to have child labor laws waived so that the #1-ranked player in the world can play a night match at the US Open.

	John Daly will hit a drive that goes 500 yards.

	Indy 500 cars will eventually be replaced by vehicles that run on alcohol. Or perhaps they will be replaced altogether by rockets.

	And sports heroes and goats and transcendent moments we can only imagine now will make themselves known, each in their own good time. |Perfect...Not
1972

IOWA
	Dan Gable, one of America's legendary wrestlers, has known virtually nothing but complete success as an athlete. 

	For his competition in the lightweight (149-1/2 lb., or 68 kg., weight limit) division at the 1972 Munich Games, he trained for three years leading up to it -- every day, seven hours a day. As expected, the 23-year-old native of Waterloo, Iowa -- a hotbed of great wrestling -- won the gold medal, beating Japan's Kikuo Wada in the final. 

	In 1984, Gable returned to the Olympics to coach the American freestyle wrestling team through its very successful run in Los Angeles. 

	And back when he was wrestling for West High School in Waterloo? Gable was 64-0. 

	And in college? Gable won his first 117 matches at Iowa State. 

	But for all that, even Dan Gable wasn't perfect. He lost his final college match, to Larry Owings of Washington in the NCAA finals, 13-11. ;Midgets Among Men
1951

ST. LOUIS, Missouri
	One of the most dependable losers in baseball history, the St. Louis Browns also managed to be among the more engaging. In 1950, for instance, when the major league regular season was still 154 games long -- today it is 162 games long -- the team held a champagne celebration after recording their 55th win late in the season, since it meant that they could not possibly lose 100 games that year. 

	Perhaps the tone for the team's luck was set way back in 1910. In his first major league game, 21-year-old Ray Jansen went 4-5.  

	It turned out to be Jansen's only major league game. One of the Browns more promising prospects retired with a stunning, if somewhat skewed, lifetime batting average of .800. 

	Between 1930 and 1939, the team drew a paltry average of 115,000 fans per year. When the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954, the team's attendance in the first year almost topped the total for that entire decade in St. Louis.

	The Browns won their only pennant in 1944, a year when the major leagues were depleted by the war. The next year, one-armed Pete Gray, an outfielder, appeared in 77 games for the team. Gray had been the 1944 MVP for Memphis of the Southern Association, batting .333 with five home runs.

	In the team's most inspired moment, St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck signed a 26-year-old, 3'7", 65-pound midget to a contract. In between games of an August 19, 1951 doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, tiny Eddie Gaedel popped out of a cake as a promotional stunt. Leading off the first inning, Gaedel, wearing the uniform number 1/8, batted for rightfielder Frank Sauicer. Gaedel walked on four pitches. 

	The Browns released Gaedel the following day when the American League President refused to approve his contract, claiming that the use of a midget was not in baseball's best interests. The Iron Horse
1925-1939

BRONX, New York
	New York Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp, a 15-year veteran who twice won the American League home run title, gave way one June day in 1925 to a rookie named Lou Gehrig. It seemed an innocent enough replacement. But Gehrig, in perhaps the most legendary example of making the most of one's opportunity, proceeded not to miss a game for the next 13 years. 

	Gehrig soon become one of the greatest players and feared hitters baseball had ever seen. He was part of the "Murderers Row" lineup the Yankees sported in the 1920s and 30s, and Gehrig, who had set college baseball records nearby at Columbia University, was such a competent hitter and home run threat that he batted behind Babe Ruth.

	Gehrig hit .340 lifetime, and he was third all-time in slugging percentage and runs batted in. But Lou is remembered today at least as much for his quiet dignity as his skill. It is not surprising, for instance, that many baseball fans don't know that Gehrig hit two home runs, including the game-winner, in the 1932 World Series game against the Chicago Cubs in which the more flamboyant Ruth "called" one of his own two home runs. 

	Gehrig is noted more still for his durability. The "Iron Horse" did not miss a single game until the mid-spring of 1939. 

	The last game of Gehrig's playing streak turned out, sadly, to be the last game of his career. Despite not having their star first baseman in the lineup for the first time in 2,130 consecutive games, the Yankee juggernaut went out and crushed the Detroit Tigers, 22-2, on May 2, 1939, and Gehrig's replacement, Babe Dahlgren, hit a home run.

	Gehrig had been hitting just .143 in limited action that season. At the time, he was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease that would soon kill him (and later bear his name).  

	Later that year, the #4 worn by Gehrig became the first number in the major leagues ever retired when the Yankees accorded him the honor. On July 4, during Lou Gehrig Day at Yankee Stadium, the great first baseman gave his farewell speech and uttered one of the most famous lines in sports history: "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." 

	The Iron Horse died in 1941, two weeks short of his 38th birthday. 5Ambassadors in Short Pants
1927 to Present

HARLEM, New York
	Although he was barely five feet and couldn't make a hook shot if his life depended on it, Abe Saperstein is one of the truly significant figures in the history of professional basketball. Born in London, Saperstein grew up in Chicago, and became the founder of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. The Trotters featured an all-black squad dressed in red, white, and blue-striped uniforms. In their first season, 1927, they won 101 of 117 games, all seriously played. Not until 1929 did the Trotters experiment with the clowning tactics that have made them so popular. In their early years, the Trotters were concerned to show that they were as good, playing straight, as any team in America. In 1935, they played the Original Celtics, one of the legendary great teams in basketball history. With the score tied at 32, and two minutes left to the game, the Celtics called timeout and then left the floor rather than risk defeat. The incident made the Trotters famous.

	Among the greatest Trotter players were Reece "Goose" Tatum, Marques Haynes (dribbler without peer), and "Meadowlark" Lemon, who because of their skill and sense of humor helped to bring basketball to countries around the world. With the breakdown in the 1950s of the color line in professional basketball, the Trotters could no longer attract the best black players in America, but they remain a source of wonderful entertainment, and are generally held to be responsible for the widespread growth of basketball leagues in South America, Europe, and just about every other place they have visited.l	Playing by the Rules
1990
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
	Few sports have such an intricate set of rules, and as strict a code of honor in enforcing them, as does golf.

	The flouting of those rules -- usually unintentionally, and sometimes even unknowingly -- has led to some poignant, painful and classy moments over the years.

	In the 1946 US Open, Byron Nelson's caddie accidentally kicked his ball, leading to a penalty stroke that helped cost Nelson the 1946 US Open. Four years later, Lloyd Mangrum's chances of winning the US Open disappeared when he was penalized two strokes for lifting his ball to brush off a bug during an 18-hole playoff with Ben Hogan and George Fazio. Mangrum, who trailed Hogan by a stroke at the time of the incident on the 16th green, lost by four strokes.

	An even more heartbreaking violation occurred in 1968, when Roberto de Vicenzo, who had apparently finished the Masters in a tie with Bob Goalby, signed an incorrect scorecard and thus handed the victory to Goalby. The scorecard listed him as shooting a 4 on the 17th hole instead of the birdie 3 that he actually had. By golf rules, the incorrect score became official once signed, and de Vicenzo lost by a stroke.

	While in first place by a stroke, Greg Norman disqualified himself from the $625,000 Daikyo Palm Meadows Cup in Brisbane, Australia in January 1990. Norman said that he had inadvertently taken illegal relief -- moving his ball when he wasn't allowed -- on a drive into the water in the first round and only later overheard that such a gesture was outside the rules. Norman had shot 66 in the first round and a course record 63 in the second round before withdrawing.

	More good sportsmanship was displayed by the British Walker Cup team during their match with the Unities States in 1953. American James Jackson was found to have 16 clubs, which called for immediate disqualification. The British, captained by Tony Duncan, refused to accept such a victory, and modified the penalty to a loss of two holes. America went on to win.

	The correct application of the rules comes above all else, even marital bliss. John Laupheimer, a senior USGA administrator, assessed British Curtis Cup member Mary Everard a penalty stroke because her caddie had cleaned off a ball -- an infringement of Rule 23.2 -- that Everard had marked and lifted at the request of her playing companion. Laupheimer and Everard had been married earlier that year. A Player Invades America
1961
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
	A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, Gary Player was the first player from overseas to make a major mark on the American golf tour, eventually elevating himself to the rarified level of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. That trio dominated the sport to such an extent in the 1960s that they became known as "The Big Three," an uninspired but apt nickname. Player took the final step onto that plateau in 1961, when he won the Masters tournament on the final hole by a stroke over Palmer, who was then at the peak of his career. It was the first Masters victory ever by an overseas player; in 1965 he became the first foreigner to win the US Open since 1920.

	Player was small and wiry -- "Jack Nicklaus was my size when he was 12," he would often joke -- but his golf game was precise and tactically sound. He won tournaments in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and won all four major tournaments at least once, one of only four players in history to do so. Player made his big breakthrough in 1959, when he came back from eight strokes down on the final day to win the British Open, the first of his three victories there. He traveled the world over in his career, winning the Australian Open seven times and the South African Open 13 times. He remains a competitive player on the Seniors Tour.

	Player's emergence presaged the end of American dominance in the international golf arena. Nowhere had that dominance been more telling than in the Ryder Cup competition, the bi-annual match between golfers from America and Britain (later expanded to include all of Europe). From 1935 through 1983, the Americans lost the Ryder Cup just once, in 1957. But the rise of such European stars as Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam led to American defeats in 1985 and 1987, and a tie in 1989. The Americans finally won back the Ryder Cup in 1991, edging Europe by a point.
Grand Slams
20th Century

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York
	To female and male pro tennis players, they are the four most coveted prizes in the sport, the only prizes that matter to history: the respective singles titles for Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open. Winning one Grand Slam title puts you in a special class; winning several puts you in a more elite category still; winning all four titles in a row guarantees you a place in the game's lore. 

	The lure of winning Grand Slam titles, or more Grand Slam titles, is often the only obstacle that keeps great players in the twilight of their careers from retiring. Champions such as John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, and Ivan Lendl continue playing, all admit, largely for the chance to win one more Grand Slam (which, more often than not, means Wimbledon): all three players know by now that their greatness will always be measured by their performance at these four tournaments. After Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open, he said happily that whatever happened to him for the rest of his career, at least he had once been the US Open champion. Boris Becker is the youngest man ever to win Wimbledon, when as a 17-year-old qualifier he shocked the tennis world in 1985. In 1989, Michael Chang and Aranxta Sanchez both became the youngest players ever to win the French Open. 

	The skill, consistency, and versatility required to win all four tournaments in a year are extraordinary. Wimbledon is played on grass, the U.S Open on acrylic cement, the French on red clay, the Australian on synthetic hard courts. At Wimbledon, a suburb of London, players must compete with rain and failing light that often causes suspended matches; at the US Open, played in Flushing Meadows, players are confronted by more raucous crowds, the distractions of New York City, and noise from planes overhead; at the French, contested in Paris, players must be in top physical shape or risk wilting in the blazing heat inside Roland Garros Stadium; at the Australian, players also deal with blistering heat, and many don't yet have their games in gear as the tournament -- the least prestigious of the four -- inaugurates the tennis season. 

	But Grand Slams -- holding all four titles at once -- have been achieved. American Don Budge did it in 1938, and Australian Rod Laver a remarkable two times, and seven years apart, at that -- 1962 and 1969. American Maureen "Mo" Connolly was the first woman Grand Slammer in 1953. Australian Margaret Court was next in 1970. American Martina Navratilova won all four titles in a row, though not in the same calendar year (1983-84). In 1988, West Germany's Steffi Graf pulled off an unprecedented "Golden Slam" when she added the Olympic tennis gold medal to her four majors. 

	Many great players have just missed the Slam. In 1974, Jimmy Connors won three legs of the Slam -- all but the French, from which he had been banned because he had signed a contract with World Team Tennis. And in 1933, Jack Crawford won the Australian, French, and Wimbledon. In the fourth and last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Championships (as it was called then), Crawford was up two sets to one to Fred Perry. 

	Alas, Perry won the last two sets, 6-0, 6-1, and Crawford fell just short. It is likely that Crawford would be considerably more well-known today had he just pulled out that last set and thus become the first player ever (and still only the third man through the present day) to earn this remarkable tennis achievement. The Galloping Ghost
1924

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois
	In an October 18, 1924 game against Michigan to dedicate the University of Illinois' new Memorial Stadium, Illini running back Red Grange had one of the greatest days in college football history. He returned the opening kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown, then scored on runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards, all in the first 11 minutes of the game. He later scored a fifth touchdown, threw for a sixth and accounted for 402 total yards.

	Afterward, a Michigan coach tried to downplay Grange's performance by scoffing, "All he can do is run." Illini coach Robert Zuppke replied, "And all Galli-Curci can do is sing."

	Grange, who soon became known by his fancy moniker, "The Galloping Ghost of the Gridiron" (usually shortened to simply "The Galloping Ghost"), was the person most responsible for the surge in popularity of professional football. A three-time All-America at Illinois, his decision to sign with the Chicago Bears immediately after his final collegiate game in 1925 caused unprecedented excitement (and also unprecedented protest from the college ranks, leading to the passage of a long-standing rule prohibiting a player from turning pro until his college class had graduated).

	Grange played his first pro game on Thanksgiving Day, 1925, and 36,000 fans jammed Wrigley Field to watch a 0-0 tie. Grange and the Bears went on to play nine games in the next 15 days, packing stadiums across the Midwest and East. Grange pocketed an unheard of $50,000 from the tour, and another $50,000 from a subsequent sweep of the South and Far West. It turned out to be a bargain, because the publicity Grange generated helped established the fledgling pro league.

	Grange went on to play professionally through 1935, and eventually was named to both the collegiate and professional Halls of Fame.

	"What a football player -- this man Red Grange," wrote Damon Runyon. "He is melody and symphony. He is crashing sound. He is brute force."
Jewish Baseball Players
1876 to Present
DETROIT, Michigan
	The first game of the 1965 World Series fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, which created a dilemma for the National League champion Dodgers. Their ace pitcher, Sandy Koufax, who had won 26 games and the Cy Young Award that year, was a practicing Jew who had always refused to pitch on Yom Kippur. The Dodgers had no choice but to send out to the mound Don Drysdale, who was knocked out by the third inning of an eventual 8-2 Dodgers loss to the Minnesota Twins. After the game, former pitcher Lefty Gomez came into the Los Angeles clubhouse and said to Dodger manager Walt Alston, "Hey, Alston, I bet you wish Drysdale was Jewish, too."

	The legacy of Jews in baseball is a surprisingly rich one, dating back to 1866, when a third baseman named Lipman Pike accepted $20 to play for the Philadelphia Athletics. According to some historians, that made him baseball's first professional player. Pike, who first appeared in a box score in 1858, a week after his Bar Mitzvah, was certainly the first Jew to play in the major leagues, a distinction he claimed when he played for the St. Louis Browns in 1876. He compiled a .304 average in five seasons, and gained a measure of fame in 1873 when he won a 100-yard race against a standardbred horse named Charlie.

	Particularly at the turn of the century, when immigrants dominated baseball and anti-Semitism was strong, few players acknowledged their Jewish heritage. Anti-Semitism has always been a threat for Jewish players, as witnessed by a column in the St. Paul Pioneer Press the day after Koufax refused to pitch in the World Series against the Twins because of Yom Kippur. Entitled, "An Open Letter to Sandy Koufax," it contained many veiled anti-Semitic references, and concluded, "The Twins love matza balls on Thursdays." (The Yom Kippur game was played on a Thursday). Responded Koufax, "I couldn't believe it. I thought that kind of thing went out with dialect comics."

	Hank Greenberg, who led the American League in homers four times from 1936-46, was the first Jewish player to make the Hall of Fame, an honor he received in 1956. Koufax, a three-time Cy Young winner, followed in 1972. Other notable Jews in baseball include Al Rosen, the American League MVP in 1953; Ken Holtzman, a key pitcher on the Oakland A's three World Series champions in the early 1970s; and Ron Blomberg, the first designated hitter in baseball history. And then there's Moses Solomon, a slugger who played at the end of the 1923 season for the New York Giants. Known as "the Jewish Babe Ruth," he once hit 49 home runs for Hutchinson of the Southwestern (class C) League, and was also called "The Rabbi of Swat." The Great Gretzky
1980s to Present

EDMONTON, Canada
	Most superstars break records. Wayne Gretzky obliterates them.

	Gretzky, who by age seven was being called the next Bobby Orr, was a legend in Canadian junior hockey. But such phenoms, while noteworthy, are hardly unheard of. What is unheard of is the phenom who brings an almost identical capacity to dominate competition when that competition happens to be the top players in the world. Which is exactly what Gretzky did.

	In his first year in the NHL, Gretzky led the league in scoring and assists, won the Hart Trophy as league MVP and -- just to show he wasn't cheating -- the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play and effectiveness. The next year he bettered his league-leading point total by 27 points. The following year, he set the all-time record for most goals and points scored. Four years later, while leading his Edmonton Oilers to one of the four Stanley Cups they won with him at center and captain, he broke his own points record. A mere 11 years into his stellar career, Gretzky became the NHL's all-time leading scorer, wiping out the record that his idol, Gordie Howe, took 26 years to establish.

	Perhaps it is telling that Gretzky had wanted to wear Howe's uniform number, 9, when he joined the Oilers. The number was taken, though, and Gretzky had to settle for something else. So he became the rare hockey player to wear the lofty #99.

	The number suits him well, since his talents are so clearly beyond even the brightest of his peers. IAlmost Too Close to Call
1986
MONACO
	In the closest finish in Grand Prix racing history, Brazilian Ayrton Senna beat Englishman Nigel Mansell in the 1986 Spanish Grand Prix by 0.014 seconds -- 1:48:47.735 to 1:48:47.749.

	It may have been the closest finish ever, but Formula One Grand Prix racing is consistently one of the most exciting and dangerous sporting spectacles in the world. When one thinks of Formula One cars flashing through city streets throughout the world -- the Monte Carlo race is the tour's signature event -- one thinks of unbelieveable speed, naturally, and glamour (James Bond and expensive jewels and casino chips and bubbling champagne) and vehicles that seem more rocket than car; indeed, the Formula One automobiles recently changed from housing turbo-charged engines to normally-aspirated power plants -- yes, power plants.

	Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi are the only two drivers ever to win both Formula One and Indy-car races. The top driving stars on the tour in the early 1990s are Senna and Frenchman Alain Prost, who broke Jackie Stewart's all-time record of 27 Formula One victories. Among the other driving legends who with every race confront (or confronted) death are Argentine's Juan-Manuel Fangio, Austria's Niki Lauda, Brazil's Nelson Piquet, and Great Britain's Jim Clark, who died in 1968 in a Formula Two race in West Germany. Gorgeous Gussie
1940s

WIMBLEDON, England
	Gussie Moran will forever be remembered more for her contribution to women's tennis fashion than for her forehand or net game. In 1949, Moran caused a sensation at Wimbledon by wearing lace panties designed by Ted Tinling. The All-England Club committee ruled that the panties were "unnecessarily attracting the eye to the sexual area," and terminated Tinling's services as an umpire for 20 years. From then on, however, Moran was nicknamed "Gorgeous Gussie," and the era of conservative and often uncomfortable attire for women players was in the eclipse.

	In 1948, the year before the scandal, Tinling, a designer and for decades one of the most visible presences around both the men's and women's tennis tours, had made a special dress for top British player Betty Hilton. She wore the dress and lost badly to American Louise Brough in a Wightman Cup match. In one of the strangest excuses in sports history, Hilton's defeat was blamed on her self-consciousness over the color of her dress.

	The other pivotal moment in the history of women's tennis fashion belongs to Anne White. During the supposedly more liberated 80s, White adhered to Wimbledon's strict all-white or primarily white dress code (a stricture that was rumored for the last several years to have bothered American Andre Agassi, he of the neon bicycle shorts). But while White could not get away with wearing new colors, she could -- or so she felt, anyway -- take liberties with style. She wore a gleaming, all-white bodysuit and caused an admiring sensation at the tournament. Again Wimbledon officials convened, again they found little to be amused about, and the aptly named American tennis player was admonished to eschew her scintillating outfit for the more traditional tennis dress. America's Ice Princess 
1976

INNSBRUCK, Austria
	Dorothy Hamill won a triple in 1976: She won -- unanimously -- the women's figure skating gold medal at the Innsbruck Olympics; she won the world championships; and she won America's hearts -- also, it would seem, unanimously. 

	Few Olympic athletes have been as roundly adored as Hamill. The three-time United States champion swept across the ice with a combination of athleticism and grace rare in figure skaters; most naturally tend to favor one virtue over the other. Hamill, under the tutelage of legendary Italian skating coach Carlo Fassi, also added new moves to the skating repertoire, including the "Hamill camel." 

	But it was as much the radiance of Hamill's personality as her skating skill that won her so many fans. Because figure skaters are so utterly alone when performing, observers tend to root just a little harder for them than they might for other athletes. It was not difficult to root hard for Hamill. In interviews, she was modest, even self-deprecating. When she sat down after a routine to watch the judges' scores flash on the board, the nearsighted Hamill, who performed without glasses, squinted to try and make out the numbers. After the Innsbruck Olympics, young girls all across America had their hair cut in the Hamill style. 

	She had worked her magic, but so had Fassi. The coach achieved a rare distinction when his other top student, Britain's John Curry, won the men's figure skating gold at the 1976 Games. 

	Hamill retired from amateur competition and skated professionally in ice shows, where she was, naturally, the favorite draw. For many Americans, Dorothy Hamill will always be one of the most charming athletes they have ever been privileged to watch perform. 
Hank's Homers
1974
ATLANTA, Georgia
	A lot of people thought nobody could swat a baseball like the great Babe Ruth. But Hank Aaron kept at it, and on May 8, 1974, in front of 53,000 fans at Atlanta Stadium, Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Ruth's lifetime home run record.

	Aaron had come far. He was born in 1934 in Mobile, Alabama, and began playing baseball at age 15 with the semi-pro Mobile Black Bears.

	Later he joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro National League, then attracted the attention of the Boston Braves, which assigned him to its Class C team in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and later to its Class A team in Jacksonville, Florida. As a black, he was booed when he first appeared on the field, but as people watched they were impressed, and some even cheered.

	In 1954, when left fielder Bobby Thomson broke his ankle, Aaron was selected to play with the Milwaukee Braves. Then, in 1972 -- with the Braves now in Atlanta -- Aaron was given $200,000 a year, making him the highest paid player in baseball history at that point. Hitting the Wall
1898 to Present

BOSTON, Massachusetts
	Just because the first half of the Boston Marathon, America's oldest regularly contested footrace, is slightly downhill does not make the going any easier; in fact, the decline forces runners to put on the brakes, thus causing wear and tear that a level terrain would not. As if that isn't enough, competitors in this famous 26-mile, 385-yard race must negotiate treacherous "Heartbreak Hill," between miles 16 and 18, the most storied section of the course and just about the mile count where -- hill or no hill -- marathoners traditionally start to "hit the wall." It is here where, over the years, many leaders have faded, and many others have broken from the pack on their way to victory. 

	The race is held on Patriots' Day every April. The winner of the second Boston Marathon, in 1898, was named Ronald McDonald. Clarence DeMar won the race a record seven times, most of those victories coming in the 1920s. Massachusetts native Bill Rodgers practically owned the course in the mid- to late-70s, when he won it four of five years. 

	Because of changes in layout, from 1953-56 the course was, unbeknownst to runners and race organizers, only 25 miles, 958 yards long. The error was eventually discovered and the extra distance was tacked on in 1957. 

	Though the race is marked by sportsmanship and camaraderie, one of the most famous moments in Boston Marathon history is also one of the ugliest in all of American sports. In 1972, in a moment that completely negated the good will one associates with marathoning, race officials dragged the first woman entrant off the course to prevent her from finishing the race. She had been entered under just her first initial and last name and was hoping to get through the grueling test of endurance just like the male competitors on that spring day. Since that obnoxious occurrence, women have been included as competitors. New Englander Joan Benoit, the first Olympic women's marathon champion in 1984, is a two-time winner and the course record holder. 7Muscles of Thunder
1980 Olympics

LAKE PLACID, New York
	They are probably his two most enduring features: those thighs. In 1980, Eric Heiden used these immensely powerful muscles to help propel him around the speedskating oval at Lake Placid and record the single finest individual performance in the history of the Winter Olympics. Heiden entered five races; won a gold medal in five races; set an Olympic record in five races. For an American champion, winning so often and so profoundly in his home nation, enormous opportunities for commercial exploitation awaited. But Heiden, a humble and engaging winner, refused to give in. His one major endorsement -- allowing himself to be put on the Wheaties box -- was agreeable, he said, because he actually ate the cereal growing up.

	Heiden retired soon after -- it's impossible to imagine how an amateur athlete might ever have topped what Heiden had just accomplished -- entered medical school, and attempted a brief career in competitive cycling, another sport where he could make good use of those absolutely tremendous quadriceps -- that's thighs, to you. 	The Heisman
1935 to Present

SOUTH BEND, Indiana
	The Heisman Trophy, given to the best college football player in the country every year and the sport's most prestigious individual award, started out with a different name and purpose. In 1935, the award debuted as the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy and was meant to honor the best player east of the Mississippi. Jay Berwanger, star halfback for a mediocre University of Chicago team, took the trophy. 

	In 1936, the DAC's first athletic director, John W. Heisman, died. The award's name was changed, and its reach expanded to include all college football players. 

	Some notable winners include Michigan halfback Tom Harmon (1940), Notre Dame quarterback Paul Hornung (1956, the only player to win from a losing team), Army halfback Pete Dawkins (1958), Navy quarterback Roger Staubach (1963), Syracuse halfback Ernie Davis (1961, and the first black player to win), Ohio State running back Archie Griffin (1974, 1975, the only player to win it twice), and Pittsburgh running back Tony Dorsett (1976). In the 80s, Marcus Allen, Herschel Walker, Doug Flutie, and Bo Jackson have all been honored. 

	Terry Baker, Oregon State's Heisman winner in 1962, was also the starting guard for OSU's Final Four basketball team in 1963. Notre Dame's Angelo Bertelli played in just six games in 1943 before having to report to the US Marines -- and still won it. Army's Felix (Doc) Blanchard was the first junior to win it. 

	A remarkable four past and future Heisman winners were all in uniform at Yankee Stadium on November 9, 1946, when Army played Notre Dame: Army's Blanchard (1945) and Glenn Davis (1946), Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack (1947) and Leon Hart (1949). That game ended in a 0-0 tie.

	Twice North Carolina's Charlie Justice came in second in the Heisman voting -- in 1948 and 1949 -- but couldn't win. Obviously many great players have never won the award. Syracuse's Jim Brown was fifth in the voting as a senior in 1956. Kansas senior Gale Sayers was 12th in the 1964 voting.

	Notre Dame, Ohio State, and the University of Southern California have produced the most winners.

	It was said that before Joe Theismann's junior year at Notre Dame, the school's sports information director suggested that the quarterback change the pronunciation of Theismann -- "THEEZ-man" -- to "THIGHS-man" -- to rhyme with Heisman, as in Trophy. Theismann did, but still ended up second in the voting for the award in 1970 to Stanford's Jim Plunkett ("PLUNK-it"). Hi-Tech High Five
1979 to Whenever

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky
	The origin for the "high-five" is claimed by Derek Smith of the 1980 NCAA champion University of Louisville basketball team. Smith was quoted in The New York Times, The Sporting News, and other publications as saying that he and his teammates Wiley Brown and Daryle Cleveland wanted something "a little odd." The high-five was created and fine-tuned during preseason practice and introduced to the nation on TV in 1979. 

	As the high-five has become the congratulatory standard on fields and in arenas across the globe, Smith and his teammates must be considered innovators of the highest order.

	Congratulating a player for a job well done used to be accomplished with a quick pat on the behind or a simple handshake. These archaic forms eventually gave way to "slapping five" or "giving five." Not everyone took well to this, however. Major league pitcher Charlie Hough once broke his finger executing one of these complicated maneuvers. 

	The high-five has been augmented of late by the "forearm bash," popularized by the "Bash Brothers" of the Oakland Athletics baseball team -- Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Dave Parker, and Dave Henderson. In the last couple of years, a new strain -- these forms of giving and receiving thanks seem to multiply like viruses -- has appeared: the "low five." Strangely, six-foot, six-inch slugger Darryl Strawberry favors this form of congratulation, and years from now may suffer back problems because of it. 

	Stay tuned for new forms of the five. /Fosbury's Flop that Didn't
1968

MEXICO CITY, Mexico
	Dick Fosbury introduced the "Fosbury Flop" high jump internationally at the 1968 Olympics, where he won the gold medal. His technique -- jumping headfirst, and back to the ground -- would become favored by most high jumpers in the world. By 1980, 13 of the 16 high jump finalists were using the Fosbury Flop. 

	Dwight Stones, Franklin Jacobs, Patrik Sjoberg, Javier Sotomayor (the first to break 8') and Valery Brumel are some of the other stars in this sometimes peculiar-looking field event. One of the more durable high jumpers -- indeed, athletes of any stripe -- is Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany. In 1972, 16-year-old Meyfarth won the Olympic high jump to become the youngest individual track gold medal winner ever. Twelve years later in 1984, she won the gold again to become the oldest Olympic high jump winner ever.

	In 1988 at Seoul, American Louise Ritter surprised the track and field world when she jumped an Olympic record 6'8" and took the gold, the first Olympic victory for an American woman since Mildred McDaniel won in 1956. The Race Between Races
1936

BERLIN, Germany
	Adolf Hitler saw the 1936 Berlin Olympics as an opportunity to show the world, through athletic competition, that Aryans were a superior race. Jesse Owens, a black American sprinter and long jumper, was the most prominent athlete to take exception to the notion of racial superiority.

	Owens won four gold medals -- in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the 4x100 meter relay, and the long jump -- and he did so resoundingly, with world records at the 200 meters and relay, and an Olympic record for the long jump. To Hitler's disgust, Berlin's Olympic Stadium became the stage for Owens that he had hoped it would be for German athletes. 

	Today, Owens's place in history is appreciated. However, he wasn't always appreciated when he was actually performing. On May 25, 1935, at the Big Ten championships at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Owens broke five world records and equaled a sixth in 45 minutes. At 3:15 p.m., he won the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds to tie the world record. At 3:25, he long-jumped -- his only attempt of the day -- 26' 8-1/4" for a world record that would stand for 25 years. At 3:45, he ran the 220-yard dash in 20.3 seconds for a world record and was also credited with the world record in the 200m. At 4:00 p.m., he ran the 220-yard low hurdles in 22.6 seconds, the first time anyone had broken 23 seconds. He was also given credit for the world record in the 200m hurdles. It was an astonishing performance by any measure.

	That year, the Sullivan Award, given by the AAU to the best amateur American athlete, was won by golfer Lawson Little. 

	In 1936, when Owens won his four Olympic golds, the Sullivan award was won by Glenn Morris, the Olympic decathlon champion. President Franklin Roosevelt did not invite Owens to the White House or send him a letter of congratulations after his Olympic performance.

	At least one of Owens's competitors -- touchingly, a German under the watchful eye of Adolf Hitler -- appreciated that he was in the midst of greatness. With Owens one foul away from being disqualified in the long jump at the 1936 Games, German Luz Long, his main rival, introduced himself and gave Owens a tip: Make a mark several inches before the takeoff board and jump from there. Owens did that and qualified easily. Owens went on to win (not surpassing Long until his next-to-last jump) and was congratulated first by Long, who won the silver medal, in full view of Hitler. 

	Owens later wrote, "You can melt down all the medals and cups I have, and they wouldn't be plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment."

	Long was killed in the Battle of St. Pietro, July 14, 1943.

	There is one interesting note about the political jockeying that did go on at the Games Hitler hoped would be his Aryan showcase. Owens replaced Marty Glickman on the US 4x100 meter relay team, and Ralph Metcalfe replaced Sam Stoller. Glickman and Stoller were the only two Jews on the US track team and the only two members who did not compete at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. 	Do You Believe in Miracles?
1980
LAKE PLACID, New York
	As Yogi Berra once said, It was deja vu all over again.

	In 1960, in front of a partisan American crowd in Squaw Valley, California, Bill Christian and his teammates upset the Soviet Union in the semifinals and went on to win America's first Olympic hockey gold medal. In 1980, in front of a partisan American crowd in Lake Placid, New York, Dave Christian, Bill's son, and his teammates upset the Soviet Union in the semifinals and went on to win America's second Olympic hockey gold.

	The latter triumph ranks among the most emotionally charged moments in the history of American Olympic competition, especially the semifinal match against the world's best team, the USSR. Perhaps the crowd at Lake Placid and those Americans watching at home on television were cheering a little louder for some restored sense of national pride: the US was in the thick of the Iranian hostage crisis, buffeted by inflation, and the recent Summer Olympics in Moscow had been boycotted by order of the Carter Administration, to protest the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. Thus, expectations for the Winter Games -- traditionally a competition on a much smaller scale than the Summer Games -- grew accordingly. 

	Having the home ice advantage didn't hurt: The only Olympic hockey gold America had ever won had been that one back in Squaw Valley in 1960. Even so, the American team was not predicted to win or even medal. But the 20 Olympians, nine of whom had played for US coach Herb Brooks at the University of Minnesota, outdid themselves in front of the whole world, and in particularly dramatic fashion. Only once in their seven games (6-0-1) did the Americans score first. In their semifinal against the Soviets -- the same team to whom, just weeks before, the US had lost a game by seven goals -- Mike Eruzione, the team captain, scored the winning goal halfway through the third period and the Americans held on for a thrilling, come-from-behind, 4-3 victory. In the final, the USA came from behind one last time against Finland, and won, 4-2. While the rest of the team, draped in an American flag, jumped up and down and hugged each other, goalie Jim Craig skated by himself around the rink until he found his father. 

	It was in celebration of the hockey team's achievement that ABC sportscaster Al Michaels made his famous call, asking the world -- or, more to the point, America -- if they believed in miracles. Because, as far as the sports world went, the closest thing to one had just happened on the ice at Lake Placid. BHogan's Heroics
1953

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland
	"I vowed I would bring this monster to its knees," Ben Hogan said in 1951 after he had won the US Open golf championship on a rugged Oakland Hills course.

	Hogan himself was never brought down, not even by a horrible car accident in February of 1949 that nearly killed him, causing multiple injuries and hospitalizing him for a month. Hogan was 36 at the time and one of the finest golfers in the world, having already won the US Open and PGA titles. Most people feared Hogan's career was over, but it had hardly begun. Hobbling badly, he captained the US's victorious Ryder Cup team in England later that year, and in January, 1950 entered the Los Angeles Open and tied for first with Sam Snead. A month later, Hogan won the US Open in a playoff. He won five majors after his accident, including a victory at the British Open in 1953 in his first and only appearance overseas. Although his putting betrayed him in his later years, he still was able to put together, at the age of 54, a 67 in the third round of the 1967 Masters, the lowest round of the tournament.Every Golfer's Dream
October 9-12, 1983
SAN DIEGO, California
	A hole-in-one.

	It's what every golfer dreams about. Sure, there's breaking par, or holing out from an especially difficult sand trap, or sinking a sixty-foot putt with a serious left-to-right break that you finally read correctly for the first time in your life. But, considering that many golfers go entire lives without hitting even one, acing a hole has to be right up there among rare and thrilling sports moments with, say, catching a foul ball.

	Scott Palmer is not a golfer who was tortured by his hole-in-onelessness for very long. In fact, Palmer achieved something so extraordinary in golf annals, that it almost defies belief -- not just for anyone who has played golf, but for anyone who knows statistics. From October 9-12, 1983, at Balboa Park in San Diego, California, Palmer made a hole-in-one in each of four consecutive rounds. 

	Whether due to luck or skill or some combination of both, Palmer's feat is just the kind of accomplishment that would infuriate you if you had to play alongside him for all four rounds, or would make you feel your place in the cosmic order if you yourself were Palmer -- who, so far as we know, is of no relation to Arnold. Body by Evander
1991

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey
	He's the heavyweight champ and he's got an incredible physique, but many fight fans won't take Evander Holyfield seriously until he fights Mike Tyson -- fights him and beats him, that is. Tyson was on the wrong end of a bad night when he lost to James "Buster" Douglas, a journeyman puncher who had the fight of his life and made his fortune with eight good rounds one winter night in 1990, in Tokyo, Japan. But the money was so good that Douglas got fat and when he met challenger Holyfield, he weighed 246 pounds, 15 more than he had for Tyson. "The Real Deal," as Holyfield is sometimes called, knocked Douglas down and out in round three, and Holyfield's reign as heavyweight champion began. But it seemed as much through circumstance and good timing as through great pugilistic skill.

	Certainly Holyfield's lineage is good. He would have won the 1984 Olympic light-heavyweight gold medal had the referee not judged Holyfield to have thrown a slightly late hit, one that knocked out his opponent. He made his way through the professional ranks, rising steadily as a serious contender, but "Captain Vander" has always seemed to be a little on the light side to make a true heavyweight. Certainly his quickness afoot did not hurt him against lumbering overeaters like Douglas, and later George Foreman, though Foreman did last the whole 12 rounds with Holyfield, again casting doubt on whether he could stand up to a true and fit heavyweight, especially one named Tyson. For now, Holyfield wears the belt, at least until Tyson, or someone else, comes along and takes it from him.

	If Holyfield is not remembered as a great champion, he will certainly be remembered as a smart and well-managed one. He took in $8 million for the Douglas fight, then $22 million more for the Foreman bout. His eventual fight with Tyson could bring in more than $100 million. Pay-per-view TV has been a boon to this 29-year-old (in 1991), who has hinted he might retire if he beat Tyson and found himself financially set for several lifetimes. In that fight, he will inevitably be cast as the clean-living good guy to Tyson's snarling villain, a confrontation that will make for drama and huge bucks, and should prove, once and for all, whether or not Evander Holyfield is "The Real Deal." Gordie Howe: Marvel of Fitness
1950s to 1980

DETROIT, Michigan
	It is hard to know what to admire more about Gordie Howe's professional hockey career -- his skill or his durability. Certainly he had awesome talent. When he retired, he held the record for most points scored in a National Hockey League career (a record which seemed mighty impressive until Wayne Gretzky took all of 11 years to break it). In his day, Howe was the only ambidextrous player in the league. He was not just a high-scoring right wing but a solid defensive player, as well, and the force of his character made him the natural team leader and heart of the Detroit Red Wings. An opposing coach who didn't spend a good deal of his pre-game preparation outlining a plan to stop Howe -- or at least contain him as best as possible -- was a foolish and unusual man indeed. 

	But then there's the matter of his durability. Howe played for an incredible 25 years in the NHL, six more in the WHA, and then returned to the NHL in 1979-80 for one more year. As a 51-year-old grandfather, he made the All-star team. Back in his heyday, Howe won the league MVP trophy five times -- in 1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, and 1960. To be named the league's best is one thing, but to be named it eight years apart is very rare. Fifteen years in a row he was named either a first or second team All-Star. 

	Or maybe, again, it's Howe's competitiveness. The Red Wings won four Stanley Cups with him: In 1950, over the New York Rangers, and in 1952, 1954, and 1955 against the Canadiens. In the 1955 playoffs he set records (since broken) for scoring in a championship series (5-7-12) and in postseason play (9-11-20). 

	Or wait: Maybe it was Howe's toughness. Howe did not play in the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals because of a serious head injury he sustained in the first game of the playoffs. He was carried off the ice on a stretcher; not only his career but his life was put in jeopardy. Later, in a famous battle with New York Ranger Lou Fontinato, Howe pummeled the brash fighter who had attacked him while Howe was busy tangling with another player.

	No, it's definitely Howe's skill that, in the end, most impresses. Or durability. Or competitiveness. Or toughness...  How Fast Does it Go?


	A list of the top (or nearly top) recorded speeds of various balls and
other moving bodies, in miles per hour:

	-- A jai alai pelota: 188

	-- A golf ball driven off a tee: 170

	-- A tennis serve (depending on how it was measured):

	Bill Tilden: 151

	Colin Dibley: 148

	Jeff Southwick: 141

	Steve Denton: 138

	Scott Carnahan: 137

	-- A Gordie Howe slapshot: 118.3

	-- A ping pong ball: 105.6

	-- A Nolan Ryan or Goose Gossage fastball: 103

	-- A Frisbee (by Alan Bonopane): 74

	-- A Bill Johnson skiing (1984 Olympic downhill): 64.95

	-- A cheetah running: 63

	-- A thoroughbred running: 43

	-- A greyhound running: 42

	-- A Sugar Ray Robinson punch: 35

	-- Eric Heiden speedskating: 31

	-- Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis running (during the fastest 10m interval of the 1988 Olympic 100m final): 26.95

	-- Matt Biondi swimming: 5.05

	And, finally, one extremely slow speed: A rope in tug-of-war, an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1920: 0.00084 (averaged)Beware of Moose
1973 to Present

ANCHORAGE, Alaska
	It's a man's world, or so the saying goes. And it's a dog's life, according to another old maxim. But when it comes to the racing of dogs, it's a woman's world, at least when it comes to the Iditarod, the foremost dog sled race in the world.

	The gruelling 1,157-mile race across Alaska is run every March from Anchorage to Nome, following an old frozen river mail route. Its name comes from a deserted mining town along the way. The race commemorates an emergency mission in 1925 to get medical supplies to Nome during a diphtheria epidemic.

	Started in 1973, the race was dominated in its early years by men, mainly because only men competed. But in 1985 Libby Riddles became the first women's Iditarod champion, and a woman named Susan Butcher soon came to dominate the event. Butcher, a 30-year-old breeder and trainer of Alaskan huskies, won in 1986 in a course record 11 days, 15 hours and six minutes. She won again the next year, breaking her own record by 13 hours. Butcher won for a third consecutive year in 1988, and yet again in 1990, giving women mushers five wins in six years.

	Racing in the Iditarod is not without its hazards. Butcher did not finish in 1985, because she and her dog team were trampled by moose. The Sports Adventure Library


	Welcome to the Sports Adventure Library! You can use the card catalog in the library to find any topic you wish.
	Just click on the card catalog drawer containing the topic you want to find, then click on the topic itself. Sports Adventure will take you right to a screen on that topic.

	To play a quiz game, click on the checker board. To learn more about Sports Adventure, click on the Help sign.tGentlemen, Start Your Engines
1911 to Present
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana
	The first Indianapolis 500 took place in 1911 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and carried a purse of $25,000, $10,000 to the winner. Forty-four cars entered, each one sporting not just a driver but a mechanic as well. The day was marred by a succession of crashes, including one that led to the event's very first death when mechanic S.P. Dickson was hurled against a fence 20 feet away after the front wheels of his car flew off. The winner was Ray Harroun, who navigated a car called a Marmon Wasp at an average speed of 74.062 miles an hour.

	The current Indy, with its high-tech racing machines that reach breathtaking speeds and compete for huge purses, bears little resemblance to that pioneer event, which gave birth to what remains the greatest spectacle in auto racing. Held on Memorial Day, it annually draws the largest crowd of any sporting event in the world, give or take a World Cup soccer match or two. About the only thing that remains the same from that original race -- besides the crashes, of course -- is the single-minded pursuit of victory that has always motivated drivers at The Brickyard.

	When Rick Mears won in 1991, he reached qualifying speeds of 224 mph
s
and averaged 176.457 mph in his 200 laps around the 1.5-mile oval, earning $1,219,704 for his efforts. It was the fourth victory for Mears, who joined A.J. Foyt and Al Unser as the only four-time winners.

	So far, only one woman has been able to break into Gasoline Alley. In May of 1976, Janet Guthrie competed in the qualifying round but failed to win a place in the actual race when she had to withdraw her car with mechanical problems. In 1977, she competed but had to quit after 27 laps because her car again failed. She finished the race in 1978, completing 190 laps and finishing ninth.
	Kevin Cogan was not so lucky in 1982. Starting from the front row, Cogan initiated a pileup during the 80 mph pace lap that knocked Mario Andretti, Roger Mears, Dale Whittington and himself out of the race before it had begun.

	Other memorable Indys include the 1916 race, which was actually the Indianapolis 300. The race was shortened because World War I had limited European entries and curtailed American carmaking. Carl Fisher, the Indy president, did not think that older cars would survive 500 miles. The most controversial 500 was run in 1981, when Bobby Unser crossed the finish line first, but was penalized a lap after the race was completed for passing cars illegally under the caution flag. Runnerup Mario Andretti was awarded first place, but Unser appealed to the US Auto Club, and four months later, the USAC overturned the ruling as too harsh. Unser was allowed to keep the championship as long as he paid a $40,000 fine, a small price to pay for the most prestigious victory in auto racing.

	INDIANAPOLIS 500 Winners:

	1971 Al Unser, Johnny Lightning Special, 157.735 mph
	1972 Mark Donohue, Sunoco McLaren, 162.962 mph
	1973 Gordon Johncock, STP Double Oil Filters, 159.036 mph
	1974 Johnny Rutherford, McLaren, 158.589 mph
	1975 Bobby Unser, Jorgensen Eagle, 149.213 mph
	1976 Johnny Rutherford, Hy-Gain McLaren/ Goodyear, 148.725 mph
	1977 A. J. Foyt, Gilmore Racing Team, 161.331 mph
	1978 Al Unser, FNCTC Chaparral Lola, 161.361 mph
	1979 Rick Mears, The Gould Charge, 158.899 mph
	1980 Johnny Rutherford, Pennzoil Chaparral, 142.862 mph
	1981 Bobby Unser, Norton Spirit Penske PC-9B, 139.084 mph
	1982 Gordon Johncock, STP Oil Treatment, 162.026 mph
	1983 Tom Sneva, Texaco Star, 162.117 mph
	1984 Rick Mears, Pennzoil Z-7, 163.612 mph
	1985 Danny Sullivan, Miller American Special, 152.982 mph
	1986 Bobby Rahal, Budweiser/ Truesports/ March, 170.722 mph
	1987 Al Unser, Cummins Holset Turbo, 162.175 mph
	1988 Rick Mears, Penske-Chevrolet, 144.809 mph
	1989 Emerson Fittipaldi, Penske-Chevrolet, 167.581 mph
	1990 Arle Luyendyk, Domino's Pizza Chevrolet, 185.981 mph
	1991 Rick Mears, Penske-Chevrolet, 176.457 mph
VGood Engines, Better Genes
1970 to Present
DAYTONA, Florida
	"Family tradition" is more than just an empty phrase in the world of auto racing. In a remarkable number of cases, it's a guiding principle. For whatever reason -- genetics, the ready availability of cars, or the dangerous, intense nature of what they do -- race car drivers tend to beget race car drivers, who tend to beget more race car drivers.

	Most notably, there are three generations of Pettys -- Lee, Richard and Kyle -- and the father-son teams of Al Unsers (Sr. and Jr.); Mario, Michael and now Jeff Andretti; and Bobby and Davey Allison. And that doesn't even count Bobby Unser, the brother of Al Unser Sr., or Donny Allison, the brother of Bobby, or John Andretti, the nephew of Mario.

	It really got complicated at the 1991 Indianapolis 500, where a different member of the Andretti family started the race in each of the first four rows. There was patriarch Mario, 51; Michael, 29; Jeff, 27; and John, 28. Michael Andretti won the CART driving championship in 1991, with Al Unser Jr. a close third.

	"From a very young age, I was used to speed and control of machinery," said Michael Andretti, who has already started HIS son, 4-year-old Marco, racing go-carts in the backyard. The Pettys are looking for a fourth-generation driver in the not-so-distant future in Adam Petty, who was 11 in 1991.

	It is inevitable, of course, that a race will sometimes pit father against son. Two notable examples: fifty-year-old Bobby Allison held off his son, Davey, to win the 1988 Daytona 500. And Al Unser, Sr., edged his son, Al, Jr., 151 points to 150, to win the CART-PPG championships in 1985.Follow the Leader
June 1990

DETROIT, Michigan
	Just when you thought the era of the small point guard was over, here comes a little guy to ruin everything.

	In 1979, when 6'8" sophomore Magic Johnson led the Michigan State Spartans to the NCAA title, then became the court general for the 1980 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, coaches and critics of the game said Johnson had -- "overnight" -- revolutionized the position. They were right about that. They said the days when an NBA team could win it all with a petite man at the point were over. 

	They were wrong about that.

	In 1981, Isiah Thomas, all six-feet-and-one-inch of him, followed the example of Johnson, his close friend, and also led a Big Ten team (Indiana) to the national crown, and also did it as a sophomore. Like Magic, Isiah had nothing left to prove as a college player. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons and soon became a lock as the East All-Star team's annual starting point guard. As the Pistons assembled better personnel and gained experience year by year, they inexorably improved. In 1986, they lost to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. The next year they beat the Celtics but lost in the Finals to -- who else -- Magic and the Lakers. Not to be denied, Thomas -- called "Zeke" by his teammates -- came back for the rematch the next year, sharing his usual pre-game kiss on the cheek with Johnson, then helped Detroit sweep LA in four games. Thomas was not done and the following year, 1990, he and the Pistons repeated, with the Portland Trailblazers as their victims. 

	Thomas, who grew up in Chicago, is almost always the smallest man on the court, inevitably the quickest, and often the most ready to tangle. While he gives away a half foot to his old friend, and at least a few inches to most of his other peers at the point, his passes are uncanny and he is a supreme ballhandler -- a skill some of those basketball coaches and critics forgot is at least as well managed by small men as big, and almost always better. (Leave Magic out of this for now.) A deadly clutch performer, Zeke is one of those shooters and occasional three-point bombers who almost willfully saves his best for when it really counts. 

	In 1990, after Thomas had brought Motown its second NBA title in a row, the critics and coaches christened a new age: The Era of the Little Man. Thomas and fellow small guys Kevin Johnson of the Phoenix Suns and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz and Mark Price of the Cleveland Cavaliers were all good enough, the experts had now decided, to lead their teams to the Promised Land. That was the wave of the future. Of course, the predictions were nonsense in 1980 and they were nonsense in 1990. Because whenever a player as rarely gifted as Isiah comes along, he decides what the ensuing era will be like. Not the other way around. Oh, Sadaharu!
1960s to 1970s

YOMIURI, Japan
	Sadaharu Oh, who is known as "The Babe Ruth of Japan", started out his baseball career as a left-handed pitcher, just like Ruth. He finished it with 868 homers, more than Ruth, who hit 714, and more than Hank Aaron, whose 755 homers set the major-league record.

	Oh played 22 seasons for the Yomiuri Giants, who converted him to a first baseman to keep his bat in the lineup every day. His batting style was utterly distinctive. He would step into the ball by lifting his foot into the air, and then swing the bat, he said, like a Samurai sword. It was a technique he learned from a martial arts master and would practice with a real sword daily. He was a practitioner of Zen, which he felt gave him mental strength. Oh limited his reading so as not to strain his eyes, and he drank a secret blend of Korean ginseng herb to energize himself before games.

	The son of a Chinese emigrant, Oh's family name, appropriately enough, means "King" in both Chinese and Japanese. He won every home run title from 1962 to 1974, averaging over 45 a year and setting a Japanese record one year with 55 homers (in a 130-game season, 32 fewer than Americans play). He also won five batting titles and was named Most Valuable Player seven times during that span. In 1974 and 1975, he won back-to-back Triple Crowns. Oh combined with another great Japanese star, Shigeo Nagashima, to form a hitting combination that was dubbed "The O-N Cannon," and compared to Ruth and Gehrig.

	They led the Giants to nine straight championships from 1965-73. Tossing the Javelin
20th Century

HELSINKI, Finland
	The men's javelin officially weighs 800 grams (1 pound 12 1/4 ounces) and measures between 2.6 meters (8' 6 1/4") and 2.7m (8' 10 1/4"); the women's javelin weighs 600 grams (26.16 oz.) and measures between 2.2m (7' 2 2/3") and 2.3m (7' 6 1/2"). On a legitimate javelin throw, the sharp metal point must break the turf. The thrower must make the toss on the run and the javelin must be released above the shoulder. While most javelin throws are relatively straight, the sport, moreso even than other throwing events, hardly encourages spectators to gather anywhere near the scene of the crime. 

	The Scandanavians -- the Finns in particular -- have been masterful at this event. Matti Jarvinen, the 1932 gold medalist and world record-breaker ten times, was known as "Mr. Javelin." The 1952 American gold medalist was named Cyrus, or "Cy," Young, the same as major league baseball's winningest pitcher.

	In 1976, Hungarian Miklos Nemeth, threw the javelin a world record 310'4", winning the competition by the widest margin in the history of Olympic field events (the second-place throw was a distant 288'5"). Nemeth came from good stock: his father, Imre, won the hammer-throw gold in 1948.

	American superstar Babe Didrickson won the women's javelin in 1932. In 1984, Tess Sanderson of Great Britain became the first black athlete to win an Olympic throwing event when she broke the Olympic javelin record on her first throw.xJean-Claude Killy: Bombs Away!
1968

GRENOBLE, France
	Jean-Claude Killy, the sexy, charismatic Frenchman, was trying to satisfy himself with a triple sweep of the men's alpine events at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France, but he was hoping to please his whole country, as well. The French were pulling fervently to see Killy, ranked #1 in the world, repeat what Austrian Toni Sailer had done at the 1952 Olympics -- win the downhill, slalom, and giant slalom competitions in one Games. With his usual combination of elan and controlled recklessness, Killy, the man who has for the last quarter-century probably been skiing's most visible and successful ambassador, did not disappoint. He won the downhill by 8/100ths of a second, the slalom by 9/100ths, and the giant slalom by a rout, more than two seconds ahead of Swiss silver medalist Willy Favre; there was a bigger difference between Killy and Favre than between Favre and the eighth-place finisher. (This is partly explainable by the fact that, for the first time in the history of the Olympic giant slalom, the competition was decided by two runs, not just one). 

	Killy won France's heart and was immediately signed to lucrative contracts with European and American companies, for ski-related equipment and virtually everything else. Handsome and determined, Killy reaped personal riches from his success at the 1968 Games, but he also helped popularize the sport, especially in America. He became one of the key figures involved in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, not so very far from where, as a 16-year-old, he dropped out of school to join the French ski team and begin his headlong rush to Olympic greatness.	 Schoolgirl Swimmer
1988

SEOUL, Korea
	It seemed almost as if Janet Evans, by herself, was taking on the rest of the swimming world -- or, more to the point, East Germany's female swimming juggernaut -- every time she got in the pool at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The East German women, like the American men, had dominated international swimming competitions for so long that Evans was hoping to restore some prestige to American women's swimming. And she more than did that. The 17-year-old was one of the stars of the Games, winning three gold medals and setting a world record in the 400 meter freestyle. Evans returned to her Placentia, California, home and high school an Olympic hero but she seemed relatively unchanged, and flashed her literally winning smile wherever she went. 

	But for all that prestige she had restored, she was hardly done.

	At the 1989 Pan Pacific Games in Tokyo, Evans won four golds, including three individuals, and set a world record in the 800 meter freestyle (8:16.22) that broke her 1988 mark. That, along with her 1,500 meter freestyle best, meant that she held three world records. She had become the best women's swimmer in the world. Soon after, she entered Stanford University as a freshman. 

	Evans was named the 1989 Sullivan Award winner, as America's top amateur athlete. At the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, she won two more gold medals. Her rise had been incontrovertible -- and in exact counterpoint to what was happening to the state of East German swimming. In international competition, the usually overwhelming presence of the East Germans had now been reduced to a whisper of its former greatness. In part this was due to Germany's reunification and the problems that ensued to allocate funding for athletics. But it probably had more to do with the much tighter doping controls that amateur athletics bodies had put in place. Credible sources had finally acknowledged that the East German swimmers (and their other athletes) had been using steroids freely for years. While their swimming program was in turmoil, America's was making something of a comeback, and the person most responsible for the renaissance was Janet Evans. Browns on the Browns
1957-65

CLEVELAND, Ohio
	As if it weren't enough for the Cleveland Browns to have a coach named Brown (Paul), their greatest player and, some say, the greatest running back of all time was also named Brown (Jim). Paul Brown was the first coach of the Browns, as well as their most successful and revered one.

	Jim Brown didn't last nearly as long but when he was there, running records fell like dominoes. For one thing, during the nine years he played, from 1957 to 1965, Brown won the rushing title eight times. No one has ever come close to that number. Green Bay Packer Jim Taylor is the only running back ever to beat him out. That happened in 1962 after Brown had won the previous five years. Brown then followed with three more titles. He averaged 5.22 yards per carry, which ranks second in NFL history. The only runner to surpass him is Marion Motley, also of the Browns. Motley averaged 5.70 yards per carry but carried the ball only 828 times in his career. Brown carried the ball 2,359 times. He scored 106 touchdowns, placing second on the all-time scoring list for backs. Only Walter Payton scored more (110) but Payton played four years more than did Brown.

	Those who saw Brown play remember the remarkable combination of power, speed and shiftiness of his unique style. They also remember that Brown always limped back to the huddle whether he was injured or not. The idea was to create the illusion that he might be hurt. Creating illusions came naturally to Brown. That's probably why he retired at age 29, at the peak of his career, to make movies. lThe First Family
1988

SEOUL, Korea
	Jackie Joyner-Kersee is probably the greatest woman athlete in the world, maybe ever. At Seoul in 1988, she broke her own world record for the seven-event heptathlon (7,291 points) which consists of the 100 meter high hurdles, shot put, high jump, 200 meter dash, long jump, javelin throw, and 800 meter run. (At the 1984 Los Angeles Games, she just missed winning the heptathlon gold.) 

	She set an Olympic record in the long jump (24' 3-1/2"). 

	She is the co-holder of the American record for the 100 meter high hurdles. 

	She was a starter on UCLA's basketball team. 

	Indeed, Joyner-Kersee is blessed by good genes and associations. Her family -- both by blood and marriage -- may be the most awesomely gifted for some miles around. Her coach, Bob Kersee, is also her husband. Her brother, Al Joyner, won the 1984 Olympic triple jump. Al married Florence Griffith, three-time gold medalist at Seoul. In an unprecedented domination by sisters-in-law, Jackie and Flo-Jo both set world records at the US Olympic Trials in Indianapolis on the same day (July 16, 1988): Jackie in the heptathlon, Flo-Jo in the 100 meter dash. Currently, the only three world track and field records that American women hold are Joyner-Kersee's heptathlon record and Griffith-Joyner's 100 meter and 200 meter times. 

	The world's greatest woman athlete won the long jump at the 1991 World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo, but she had to quit the heptathlon competition after pulling her hamstring muscle. Presuming she heals as expected, Jackie Joyner-Kersee will be the favorite at Barcelona once again to show the world who's best.  The Great Black Hope
July 4, 1910

RENO, Nevada
	As sports is always a reflection of the society of which it is a part, racism has never been far from boxing.

	The most obvious example is in the career of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. Born in Galveston, Texas, on March 31, 1878, Johnson's reign as boxing's supreme performer lasted from 1908 until April 5, 1915, when Johnson, out of shape and 37 years old, was knocked out in the 26th round by Jess Willard at the Oriente Race Track in Havana, Cuba.

	Prior to that, Johnson's career was filled with trouble and pain, largely because he was black and therefore was thought unsuitable to be champion. Fight promoters were on constant alert to find a "great white hope" -- a white fighter who could beat Johnson. Johnson complicated his situation by living what white America considered a flamboyant and uncompromising life, including his marriages to white women. In 1912, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act, charged with "transporting" a white woman across state lines for "immoral purposes." He fled to Europe to avoid imprisonment but later served a year in the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.

	Johnson's most famous bout was fought against Jim Jeffries on July 4, 1910, at Reno, Nevada. Jeffries was an ex-champion who had retired undefeated but was pressed back into service as a great white hope. He was out of shape, had not fought in several years but was courageous and, incidentally, a man who did not share the racial prejudices of the average fan. He was no match for Johnson, who was then at the height of his powers. In the 15th round, Jeffries' seconds threw in the towel to spare their man any further beating.

	An interesting sidelight to Johnson's career is that the first defense of his title, in 1909, was against Victor McLaglen. McLaglen lost, went on to become a movie actor, and won an Academy Award for his performance in "The Informer."Pilot to Tower
1991

CHICAGO, Illinois
	The first thing you notice, of course, is the length of time he's in the air. Then the grace with which he moves, lays it in, passes, or -- the Jordan trademark -- jams. Then you notice the tongue.

	Even among his pro basketball colleagues, a fraternity of men who routinely defy gravity, Jordan's leaping ability seems not so much to defy gravity as to deny it outright. Beginning with his days at North Carolina, where as a sophomore he buried a last-minute jump shot to beat Georgetown and help win the 1984 national championship, Michael "Air" Jordan has emerged as a guard who can score in bushels -- and win, too -- like no one before him. In 1986, his second year in the NBA, Jordan hit for 63 points in a playoff game against the Boston Celtics. He has won the scoring championship five years in a row, an unprecedented feat for a guard. Now that his Chicago Bulls have won the 1991 NBA championship, Jordan would seem to have accomplished all that it is possible for a basketball player to do: win an NCAA title, an Olympic gold medal, an NBA ring. He has been named the league's Most Valuable Player. He has won -- indeed, he has practically redefined -- the All Star Dunking Contest. As a pitchman for numerous products, most notably Nike, and the NBA's most consistently airborne performer, Jordan has become known all over the world. In 1991, he is arguably the world's most spectacular athlete.

	Whether playing defense, handling the ball, taking jump shots, driving to the basket, or even playing the point guard position and amassing assists with remarkable ease, Jordan constantly makes us aware of his glorious talents. Indeed, his body was seemingly engineered for the aerodynamics of basketball. 

	Still, after watching him take off from the foul line yet again, and climb through the air toward the basket as if in slow motion, those of us acquainted with the notion of gravity can't help but ask:

	When will he come down? Why is it taking so long? !
Baseball's Joshua
1947 to 1956

BROOKLYN, New York
	Most people know the basic facts. On October 23, 1945, Jackie Robinson signed a contract to play for the Montreal Royals of the International League. This was in preparation for his eventual elevation to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and thus would make him the first black player (in the modern era) to play in the major leagues.

	Robinson played in Montreal during the 1946 season and was brought to Brooklyn in 1947. In that year, he played all of his 151 games at first base, in part because Branch Rickey (also pictured here), the Dodgers' general manager, feared that Robinson would be too vulnerable to malicious assaults (for example, spikings) if he played second base. In 1948, Robinson moved to second base and, at that position, established himself as a premier player. Eventually, he won a batting title, a Most Valuable Player Award, led Brooklyn to six National League championships, and in 1962, was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. In 1956, at age 37, Robinson was traded to the New York Giants but chose to retire rather than play for the hated crosstown rivals.

	Those are the facts. They tell only part of the story. To understand Robinson's achievement, one must know something of the context of his experience. For example, not only did players on other teams object to playing against a black man but some of his teammates objected to playing with a black man. Among them was the most popular Dodger player at the time, Dixie Walker. Walker, who was from Alabama, expressed the wish to be traded to another team rather than play alongside a black man. He was joined in this view by a third-string catcher, Bobby Bragan; another sub, Dixie Howell; and the team's second baseman, Eddie Stanky, also from Alabama. Before he asked to be traded, Walker hoped to enlist the support of Pee Wee Reese in opposing Robinson's elevation to the team in 1947. Reese, a Kentuckian and the team's star shortstop, refused to have anything to do with the protest. "Hey look, man," he said to Walker, "I just got out of the service after three years. I don't care if this man is black, blue, or what the hell color he is. I have to play baseball." Reese's roommate, Pete Reiser, also refused to join Walker's protest. Eventually, Walker was traded, and Robinson and Reese developed an unusually strong bond which helped Robinson cope with the near intolerable stress he was under, especially during his first few years. But mostly Robinson had to do it alone. He endured the most primitive insults, attempts to injure him, death threats, and even his own self-doubts. That he conquered all of this is one of the most courageous stories in sports history. Part of that story, of course, are the people of Brooklyn who rallied around Robinson from the start. They could see that Robinson was a great ball player. But their vision went far beyond that. They knew that their team and the team's fans were part of a significant sociological episode that would have repercussions in many spheres of social life. And they also knew that each day Robinson took the field, he was showing more courage, self-discipline and sense of purpose than any athlete they had ever seen. They loved Jackie Robinson. To no one's surprise, the housing complex which now stands where Ebbets Field once did is called The Jackie Robinson Apartments.The Sky Hook
1960s to 1989

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin
	Here's today's test. Can you name the NBA players who played in the most games, played the most minutes, made the most field goals, attempted the most shots, blocked the most shots and committed the most fouls? These seem like hard questions but the answer is simple: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

	And just for the record, Kareem is third in the most rebounds category, eighth in highest field goal percentage, third in most free throws attempted, and fifth in most free throws made. In other words, Jabbar was more than a player. He was an entire league.

	For those who were paying attention, this could probably have been predicted when he entered the NBA in the 1969-70 season. His name, then, was Lew Alcindor. His game was awesome from the start. The season before he came, the Milwaukee Bucks had won only 27 games. With Alcindor, they won 56, and a championship. That year, he came in second in scoring with a 28.8 average per game, just behind Jerry West and just ahead of his old nemesis, Elvin Hayes. In college, Alcindor (at UCLA) and Hayes (at Houston) had faced each other in a monumental duel in which Houston inflicted on UCLA its only defeat in the Alcindor era. But Alcindor had no time for unpleasant memories. In the 1970-71 season, he led the league in scoring, and again the year after that (under his new Muslim name). He continued his assault on scoring records every season until his retirement after the 1988-89 season. Of course, for 14 of his 20 seasons, he spent his time leading the LA Lakers to championships.

	During the Jabbar era, they won five times. In ten of his seasons, Jabbar was named to the NBA All-Star team and is indisputably the greatest center who has ever played. His grace, intelligence and team orientation were special features of his game. And he added a phrase to basketball language with his famous "sky hook." This was a standard hook shot -- right arm extended full and away from the defender -- but when done by a graceful, 7 foot 2 inch man with a soft touch, it was poetry in motion.Mint Juleps in May
1991

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky
	The Kentucky Derby has been called the most exciting two minutes in sports, and anyone who has ever soaked up the flavor of jam-packed Churchill Downs on that first Saturday in May, heard the poignant rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home," and then watched the best 3-year-old horseflesh in America sail around the track would have to agree. When the horses reach the home stretch, which surely must rank among the most hallowed pieces of real estate in the world, the sweet tension is sublime. The first winner of this race was a horse called Aristides, with Oliver Lewis up. Aristides had a time of 2:37.75 over the mile and a half course, a distance that was changed to a mile and a quarter in 1896 and remains so to this day. The fastest navigation was made by the incomparable Secretariat, who broke the two-minute barrier in 1973 with a 1:59.4 clocking. Eleven horses have used the Kentucky Derby as the springboard to the Triple Crown, the last one being Affirmed in 1978. Jockey Steve Cauthen won the Kentucky Derby aboard Affirmed in his first appearance in the race.

	Willie Shoemaker will never live down what he did in the Kentucky Derby in 1957. Leading on Gallant Man, he mistakenly pulled up 110 yards before the finish line and was passed by Iron Liege. But Shoemaker will also never be forgotten for what he did at Churchill Downs in 1986, when he became the oldest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. He was 54 when he rode Ferdinand, trained by 73-year-old Charlie Whittingham, to the Derby win. Horse racing has tended to be a man's world, but three fillies have won the Derby: Favored Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980 and Winning Colors in 1988. And of course controversy has reared its ugly headlines on occasion, never uglier than in 1968 when Dancer's Image finished first but was disqualified after traces of prohibited medication were found in his system. Forward Pass was declared the winner.Kenya's Great Runners
1968

KENYA
	Though the Kenyan middle and long distance runners were a long way from their country when they went to Mexico City to compete in the 1968 Olympics, they must have felt they had something of a homefield advantage. They often trained at high altitudes and Mexico City was a high-altitude city. It was here, then, in the thin air of the huge Mexican metropolis, that the great tradition of Kenyan running champions first took hold and came to world attention. 

	Naftali Temu, a Kisii tribesman, became the first Kenyan to win an Olympic gold medal when he triumphed in the 10,000 meter competition. That event also marked the first time in Olympic history that Africans swept the medals (the silver went to an Ethiopian, the bronze to a Tunisian). In the 800 meter event, Wilson Chuma won the silver. The 3,000 meter steeplechase was won by Amos Biwott, with countryman Benjamin Kogo taking second. 

	The typical strategy of most of the Kenyans runners was to blitz to an early lead and hold on, and it seemed to be working just fine. 

	The greatest of the Kenyan runners to come of age at Mexico City was Kipchoge "Kip" Keino. This Nandi tribesman was suffering from a severe gallbladder infection during the Games. He still entered the 1,500m, the 5,000m, and the 10,000m competitions. During the 10,000m, Keino, who had no coach, was leading with two laps to go when he collapsed. A stretcher was brought out but Keino got up and finished the race. Four days later, he ran in the 5,000m and took second place (10,000 meter winner Temu took the bronze). In his final race, the 1,500m, Keino won the gold, beating American favorite Jim Ryun and setting an Olympic record. 

	Kenyan Ben Jipcho, who would win the silver in the steeplechase at the 1972 Munich Games, also ran in Mexico City. Mike Boit, another Kenyan, would win the 1972 Olympic bronze at the half-mile distance. 

	Keino, Boit, and world-class distance runner Kipwambok (Henry) Rono were all members of the Nandi, a subgroup of the Kalenjin tribe in Kenya.<	The Natural
October, 1988
LOS ANGELES, California
	When he walked to the plate to pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Los Angeles Dodger outfielder Kirk Gibson already had a lot working against him. First, baseball's top relief ace, Oakland A's pitcher Dennis Eckersley, would be 60'6" away from him. On top of that, Eckersley had not given up a home run, or so it seemed, since the early 1980s. On top of that, Gibson was available for pinch-hitting duty only because he was too hurt to start. Down 4-3 with a man on base and two outs, the Dodgers certainly were in need of a home run, but things like that just don't happen, except maybe in the movies -- specifically, movies like "The Natural," which was based, not always accurately, on the Bernard Malamud novel of the same name. In the film, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs who, also injured, comes to bat at a crucial moment, takes a Herculean swing, and lofts the ball deep into the stadium lights, literally setting off fireworks that shower down on the pennant-winning hero. 

	But Hollywood is Hollywood. And even though Hollywood is in Los Angeles, where this showdown was taking place, Eckersley's fastball was very real. With many of the Dodger fans having already shuffled off to their cars to beat the traffic jam, the injured Gibson hacked away, working the count to 3-and-2. Eckersley delivered and Gibson took one more cut. And with it, he not only won a game and turned the Series tide (the Dodgers would shock the A's in five games), but etched an image -- that of the hobbling hero who plays past pain to produce a moment sublime even by his standards -- into the minds of all baseball fans who saw it, especially kids who watched and privately formed their ideas of moments to aspire to, and dream about. 

	Though his was one of the most dramatic homers in Series history, Gibson was no stranger to postseason heroics. He had already helped the 1984 Detroit Tigers win a title, having pounded out two important home runs in that Series. An ex-football player, Gibson has seemed injured during his baseball career as often as not, but he has seemed like a winner all the time. When he moved into the batter's box that memorable fall night in 1988 and took his mighty swing, he may not, in his pain, have looked like a natural, but he most certainly looked like The Natural. It's All Downhill From Here
1976
INNSBRUCK, Austria
	Home favorite Franz Klammer was barely seconds out of the gate in the 1976 Olympic men's downhill competition when it looked as if he were about to fall. With the pressure he must have been feeling at the moment, and for the weeks leading up to the race, it was hardly surprising. 

	Klammer, from Mooswald in Carinthia, had lost only once in nine World Cup downhill events the previous winter. As Austria prepared to host the Winter Games in 1976, excitement grew over Klammer's chances to win the gold medal for his country -- and with the excitement, great pressure was brought to bear on him. Klammer was virtually told that the future fortunes of the Austrian ski industry depended on him to come through. Klammer was 22 years old. 

	Adding to Klammer's problems was Switzerland's Bernhard Russi, the defending Olympic downhill champion. Russi bombed down the hill and held first place when Klammer, skiing 15th, hit the course. He was wild out of the gate, and only an incredible balancing act saved him from a premature and embarrassing finish. But he had lost valuable time and was almost two-tenths of a second behind Russi's pace. 

	But chased by his own demons -- not to mention the exhortations of his whole country -- Klammer shot down the rest of the nearly two-mile hill with complete disregard for his body parts or his life. He was in search of nothing but pure speed and more speed. In perhaps the two most reckless and thrilling minutes (actually, 1:45.73) of skiing ever, Klammer beat Russi by one-third of a second. Herbert Plank of Italy won the bronze.

	A footnote: making an impressive sixth-place showing in the race was American skier Andy Mill, now more well-known as husband of former tennis great Chris Evert. |Winner, and Still Madman
1991

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana
	As basketball coach, Bobby Knight, the University of Indiana's on-campus legend, has won everything: an NIT title in 1979, three NCAA titles (in 1976, 1981, and 1987, perhaps more impressive for its span than winning two or three consecutive titles would be), and the Olympic gold in 1984. What's more, he even played on an NCAA championship basketball team, the 1960 Ohio State Buckeyes. It's been said there may be no one in the world who knows more about the game of basketball than Coach Knight.

	But while he has coached numerous future NBA stars, and while he's revered throughout the state and the universe of college basketball for his emphasis on fundamentals, team play, defense, and winning, he can't seem to escape the onus of his own personality. His is a manic character which, on the one hand, has driven him to be so successful and, on the other hand, to humiliate freshmen in front of full stadiums of fans; to enrage local authorities while coaching the US basketball contingent in international competition; and, in his most notorious act of a wayward temper, to throw a chair across the court, while free throws were being shot, to express his displeasure with a referee's call.

	Some take issue with his methods -- until he brings home another national crown or at least Big Ten title; then Coach Knight is forgiven all. He does boast a sterling graduation rate among his players, a rarity in big-time college basketball, but must he get so volcanically angry at a freshman? Is it necessary to be so withering? Aren't there good college coaches out there whose faces don't turn purple and whose veins don't bulge? ;Koufax's Short, Brilliant Career
1955 to 1966
LOS ANGELES, California
	In the Biblical story of Joseph, we are told of the fate of a people who enjoyed seven fat years and then suffered through seven lean years. Subtract one from each segment, turn it around, and you have the story of Sandy Koufax. He began his career with six lean years, during which he lost more games than he won. He ended his career with six of the most glorious years in baseball history. Beginning in the 1961 season, when his wildness was tamed, he was overpowering. During his six fat years Koufax won 129 games and lost only 47 times. In each of his last four seasons, he pitched a no-hitter, including a perfect game on September 1, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs. He won the Cy Young Award as baseball's best pitcher three times -- in 1963, 1965, and 1966. Koufax also won four World Series games. Those who saw him pitch regard him as perhaps the most dominating pitcher who ever lived.

	He retired in 1966, suffering from traumatic arthritis. He discovered that in addition to the painful fluid in his elbow, his arm had actually begun to shrink. "I've got a lot of years to live after baseball," he said, "and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body." In saying that, Koufax demonstrated his intelligence and maturity. In 1965, he also demonstrated his religious convictions. That year, he declined to pitch in the first game of the World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, one of the high holy days of the Jewish religion. Perhaps Koufax was familiar with Bible stories, and as a Jew, thought it best not to disregard the Higher Law. '
Lakers versus Celtics
1960s to Present

BOSTON, Massachusetts
	Basketball's most storied team rivalry pits, not surprisingly, the two best teams in the league's history. The Boston Celtics have won the most NBA championships, 16, and the Lakers -- first in Minneapolis; and then, beginning with the 1960-61 season, in Los Angeles -- are second with 11 titles. No one else is close. As finalists, the Celtics have also fared better than their cross-country rivals, losing in the finals a mere three times; the Lakers, who certainly should be recognized for reaching the final series so often, would nonetheless rather not have come up just short a record 13 times, 12 of those in Los Angeles. Indeed, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, and each time lost to the Celtics. Three of those series went the full, painful, seven-game distance. 

	But things would change for the Lakers. In 1972, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain helped them win their first title in Los Angeles, beating the New York Knicks in five games. The next decade began well as the Lakers captured two more titles, in 1980 and 1982, both against the Philadelphia 76ers. Naturally, Boston won the intervening title, in 1981, this time against Houston.

	When the old rivals again met in 1984 -- their first championship showdown in 15 years -- both teams featured a slew of certain and probable Hall of Famers -- for the Lakers, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy; for the Celtics, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson. But as cool and collected and talented as the Lakers were, either the ghosts of years past got to them again -- or the notorious Sports Illustrated cover jinx did. Magic Johnson appeared on the magazine's June 4 cover. Not only did the Lakers proceed to lose another heartbreaking seven-game series to the Old Green, but they did so in almost too-dramatic fashion: they had a one game to none lead, the game lead and possession of the ball with only 15 seconds left in Game 2 (which they lost); and they had a five-point lead with 56 seconds left in Game 4 (which they lost). Even the Series MVP, Larry Bird, was surprised by the turn of events. "To be honest," he said, "they should have swept."

	Finally, the following year, with the drama of the rivalry taking on new dimension and the NBA's popularity growing because of both the team battle and the personal battle between the game's two most compelling superstars, Johnson and Bird, the Lakers beat the Celtics in six games. Just to show the world and themselves and the Celtics it was no fluke, the Lakers did the same thing to their East Coast counterparts two years later, again in six games. The idea that the Lakers could never beat the Celtics in a Finals was put to rest.	

	Besides the immortals mentioned above, a host of other great players have spent at least some, if not all, of their careers on one of the NBA's two dynasties: John Havlicek, Elgin Baylor, Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Dave Bing, George Mikan, Paul Westphal, Dave Cowens, Vern Mikkelsen, Pete Maravich, Bill Russell, Jim Pollard, Bob Cousy, to name a few. 

	These two teams accounted for 8 of the 10 NBA titles in the 1980s, and one of those two teams was runnerup five times.

	As a sign of their true parity, through 1988, the Celtics' home playoff record was 165-54. Through 1988, the Lakers' home playoff record was 164-54. HRaging Bull
1941 to 1952

DETROIT, Michigan
	It isn't entirely clear why Hollywood thought it worthwhile to make a movie, "Raging Bull," about Jake LaMotta's life. But one reason could be his courage and tenacity. For example, he fought Ray Robinson six times. Robinson, of course, is generally regarded as modern boxing's greatest champion. As expected, LaMotta lost to him five times. Those who saw their last fight, which was stopped in the 13th round, remember it as an example of either unparalleled courage or stupidity. LaMotta was defenseless from the 9th round on but refused to go down. Robinson hit him at will, and seemed at times sorry to be carrying on. 

	But LaMotta was not always so defenseless. On the contrary, from 1941 to 1952, the "Raging Bull" had 106 bouts and won 83 times, among them 30 by KOs. On June 16, 1949, LaMotta won the middleweight championship by defeating the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Cerdan, who was the lover of world-famous singer Edith Piaf, was killed in an airplane crash while returning to the United States to prepare for a rematch with LaMotta.	Super Mario 
1991

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania
	Since Wayne Gretzky entered the National Hockey League and virtually took a can of spray paint to the record books, scrawling his name wherever he pleased, no one has come along who might even be whispered to be in Gretzky's class -- no one, that is, until sensational Mario Lemieux ("the best," in French) emerged from Quebec junior hockey in 1984 to join the woeful Pittsburgh Penguins. (And only one name has been whispered to be in that class since, junior hockey whiz Eric Lindros, who has been touted as the next...Mario Lemieux). At center, Lemieux is not the passer that Gretzky is, but #66 is much bigger and stronger than #99, and almost as prolific a scorer. Lemieux has won two NHL scoring championships, one league Most Valuable Player Award, and before his ever-recurring back problems seemed to worsen in the late 1980s, he appeared to be the only player capable of taking a serious run at Gretzky's seemingly untouchable points record -- and he may make that run still. 

	But, as with all great players, Lemieux would ultimately be judged not merely by individual accomplishments but by whether he could lead his team to a championship -- just as Gretzky, for all his prodigious scoring feats, was not hailed as the greatest of all time until he had turned the Edmonton Oilers into an annual Stanley Cup machine in the mid- to late 1980s. 

	Without a doubt, the Penguins stunk. They had not made the playoffs in five of Lemieux's first six seasons -- actually, a rather difficult feat, given the NHL playoff system. 

	But in 1990-91, Lemieux showed that his greatness is sufficient to elevate a whole team. With the help of a bevy of high-scoring forwards and star defenseman Paul Coffey, Lemieux led the Penguins to the championship over the Minnesota North Stars. After the clinching, 8-0 win, Lemieux was given the Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP. It was a hard decision to criticize, considering Lemieux's postseason contributions were 16 goals and a whopping 44 points. 

	For all of his scoring prowess, Lemieux is not one to hog all the glory for himself. Back on February 13, 1988, he was credited with a goal and six assists in the Penguins' 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Kings. A seven-point game would have been a Penguins team record, but Lemieux told officials that he did not deserve the final assist. A review showed that he was right, and the assist was credited to Doug Bodger. 
Full Speed Ahead
1989

PARIS, France
	On July 23rd, 1989, the last day of the 76th Tour de France, American cyclist Greg LeMond waited on the starting ramp at Versailles. He was 27 kilometers from Paris's Champs Elyses, the thrilling final section of the world's most prestigious bicycle race, and he trailed France's Laurent Fignon by 50 seconds, a margin considered by virtually all experienced Tour watchers to be too considerable to erase in this single, final time trial.

	After 22 days and almost 87 hours of riding, it was clear that Fignon, the Tour winner in 1983 and 1984, was fully returned to form. Still, LeMond was not about to accept second place without a good fight. He felt he was capable of a spectacular comeback, and if history was any lesson, then he had good reason to feel this way. After becoming the first American ever to win the Tour de France in 1986, LeMond was accidentally shot and nearly killed in April of 1987 by his brother-in-law, while the two of them were out turkey hunting. LeMond almost died -- he took 46 shotgun pellets in his body -- and few expected him to return to competitive cycling.

	Now, on this July day over two years later, LeMond did something unusual before taking off for Paris. He cut himself off from his support crew, insisting that they not report to him any time splits along the way, that they not give him any reports on how Fignon was doing. He would just ride as fast as he possibly could and hold nothing back.	

	With the fastest time trial in Tour history, LeMond beat Fignon by eight seconds in what was hailed as the most exciting Tour finish in history, and one of the most courageous performances in cycling -- or any sport, for that matter. The legend of LeMond, already revered in France and Europe, where competitive cycling is much more popular than it is in the US, would surely grow after this day.

	One month later, to cement his reputation for last- second heroics, LeMond won the World Cycling Championships by staging another final-day comeback in hard rain. At year's end, Sports Illustrated named him their coveted "Athlete of the Year," an especially transcendent achievement considering LeMond's sport is so unfamiliar to many Americans.

	LeMond won the Tour de France for the third time in 1990, though with considerably less drama than the year before. He led for a portion of the 1991 Tour but illness forced the two-time defender to drop back.

	Whether LeMond will eventually match or surpass the record five Tour wins achieved by cycling immortals Eddy Merckx, a Belgian, and Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, both French, remains to be seen. But given his penchant for comebacks, one might want to think twice before betting against Greg LeMond. Forehands and Fur Coats
1926

PARIS, France
	"La Grande Suzanne" -- as Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen was called -- was known for her near total domination of women's tennis, her salmon-pink bandeau, and the rather curious ostentation of entering the court wearing a fur coat, no matter how warm the weather. 

	In the 20s, Lenglen (1899-1938) was the female counterpart to America's Bill Tilden and to her own countrymen, the "Four Musketeers." Lenglen teamed in mixed doubles with one of the Musketeers -- Jacques "Toto" Brugnon -- and, astonishingly, the two of them never lost. Except for her one loss to American Molla Mallory in the 1921 US singles championships -- while supposedly still suffering from a bout with bronchitis -- Lenglen was unbeaten in US singles from 1916-26. In the 1922 Wimbledon final she exacted her revenge on Mallory with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing that lasted all of 27 minutes. 

	Lenglen won the 1919 Wimbledon after Dorothy Lambert Chambers had two match points against her. She won the next four Wimbledons, then defaulted in 1924 to Elizabeth Ryan, her sometimes doubles partner, because she was weakened by jaundice. Lenglen might be excused for pulling out of the Ryan match before it was over: certainly something must have been wrong for her actually to lose a set, one of only three she dropped during the seven years of her reign. 

	In 1925, healthy again, she won Wimbledon. At the French championships it was more of the same, as Lenglen won the singles and doubles titles (with various partners) from 1920 through 1926, except 1924. 

	To put "La Grande Suzanne"'s career into perspective: Lenglen actually endured a start-to-finish loss in singles just once from 1919-26. Her reign was noble, incontrovertible, and probably a little too warm. The Long Island Power Company
1980 to 1983

UNIONDALE, Long Island
	Most expansion teams are awful. The New York Islanders were no exception. They were truly inept when they joined the National Hockey League in 1972. 

	But most expansion teams also improve, and some of them even win championships after not so many years -- the New York Mets, for instance, won the World Series in 1969, their eighth year in the National League. 

	But for an expansion team to turn into a dynasty is still rather unheard of. Yet that's just what the once-laughingstock Islanders did, through shrewd drafting of players, key acquisitions, great coaching, and much patience. 

	That the Islanders became a dynasty was great news only to some New York-area hockey enthusiasts. Long-suffering fans of the New York Rangers, who had not won a Stanley Cup since 1940, found it painful to watch their hated rivals on Long Island win not one but four Stanley Cups in a row. To make matters worse, the Islanders usually had to eliminate the Rangers -- a good, not great, team during the heyday of the Islanders -- on their way to yet another Cup.

	The team was anchored by several stars: high-scoring wing Mike Bossy, tough-digging center Bryan Trottier, wing Clark Gillies (the three of whom made up the "Long Island Power Company" first line), brilliant and nasty goaltender Billy Smith, and, perhaps most of all, their future Hall of Fame defenseman, Denis Potvin. Other key players included John Tonelli, Bobby Nystrom, and Butch Goring. Ken Morrow, a defenseman who had just arrived from his stint with the US Olympic team and the "Miracle at Lake Placid," found himself playing on all four of those Islander Cup-winners; thus, Morrow knew nothing but complete team success for his first several years in world-class hockey. 

	Smith and Nystrom especially enjoyed the first Cup the Islanders won, since they had been with the team from its inception and mistake-prone early years. After beating the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals, the Islanders returned to the Finals the next year to conquer the Minnesota North Stars. In 1982, they beat the Vancouver Canucks to become the first American-based team to win three Stanley Cups in a row. Denizens of Madison Square Garden winced. In 1983, the Islanders beat the Edmonton Oilers and became only the second team ever to win four Cups in a row (the Montreal Canadiens had a streak of four and five each). 

	But the day of the Islander dynasty was nearing dusk. The following year, in a rematch with the Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers, Edmonton reversed the result, making history themselves as the first former WHA team to win a Stanley Cup. The Oilers would then win three more Cups over the following four years. 

	Still, the Islanders had more than proved their point: An expansion team, with the right mix of personnel, can become not just good, not just great for one season, but a dynasty. For the first chunk of the 1980s, no one in the National Hockey League was better than the New York Islanders -- and the franchise was not even a teenager yet.  NThe Pack
Late 1950s, 1960s

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin
	When he took over the Green Bay Packers, coach Vince Lombardi was reported to have gathered his new team, held up a football and said, "Gentlemen, this is a football." (It is also reported that one of the players then said, "Coach, could you slow down a little?") Lombardi believed religiously in fundamentals because they had always seemed to work. And for the Packers, they worked like a charm. In his nine years with the team (1959-67), Green Bay was 98-30-4 and won five NFL titles, including the first two Super Bowls. After his team had handily beaten the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II, Lombardi was carried off on the shoulders of his players. He then literally and figuratively stepped down. He would coach the Washington Redskins for one season, 1969, but his name and legend would always be inextricably bound with The Pack, the National Football League's best team of the 1960s.

	Lombardi's reputation as a tough guy's tough guy was at least as storied as his coaching acumen. He had been a great college player in the 1930s, one of the famed "Seven Blocks of Granite" for the Fordham defense. Certainly he could be a fireball on the sidelines, or in practice. But one of the major premises that he was at heart a snarling, overbearing taskmaster rests on what may essentially have been a misquote. One of the most famous and oft-repeated lines in sports -- the uncompromising "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" -- is credited to Lombardi, even though he was not the first to say it and perhaps may never have said it. The line was first uttered by Henry R. "Red" Sanders, head coach at Vanderbilt and UCLA, in 1940. John Wayne repeated the line in the 1953 movie, "Trouble Along the Way." On April 8, 1962, in a speech in Milwaukee, Lombardi said, "Winning isn't the only thing; trying to win is." But the catchier aphorism stuck, and forever after Lombardi was regarded, at least to those who never met the man, as the ultimate hardnose.

	The Packers under Lombardi were blessed with great personnel, especially quarterback Bart Starr, fullback Jim Taylor, all-purpose halfback Paul Hornung, linebacker Ray Nitschke, and defensive back Herb Adderley. With Lombardi the general on the sidelines and Starr the general on the field, the Packers found a place on the NFL championship map usually reserved for teams from much bigger cities -- New York, Chicago, Washington.

	The great Packer tradition -- their success, anyway -- has faded somewhat, and Lombardi's particular stamp is long gone. But there isn't a team in the NFL that enjoys coming into frozen Lambeau Field to play a game in mid-December. Of course, winning a contest under such circumstances is hardly much easier for the home team. But that's just the kind of game where Lombardi would have told his men, "When the going gets tough -- " 

	Wait. He didn't say that, did he? The Longest Home Run Ever
April 17, 1953
WASHINGTON, D.C.
	Who has hit the longest ball ever? Obviously no one can answer this with certainty, though it wouldn't be surprising if the perpetrator came from this list of major league wallopers, all known not merely as home run hitters but also as men capable of particularly astounding moonballs: Dave Kingman, Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, Mike Schmidt, Darryl Strawberry, Greg Luzinski, Willie Stargell, Jose Canseco, Cecil Fielder.
	Probably the farthest any of these men has hit a ball would be in the 500-to-600 foot range. Strawberry once opened the season with a home run that struck the roof of Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Physics and engineering students were rushed in the next day -- a ritual that inevitably occurs the day after a memorably long home run -- to figure out how far the ball would have gone if not for the interference. Their results were predictably debatable and provocative but the homer was clearly in the 500+-feet range. The Pittsburgh Pirates commemorated a Stargell shot by marking the upper-deck seat where his ball had landed. Kingman once hit a ball off of Catfish Hunter in spring training that Hunter personally calculated at 1200 feet -- six hundred feet up, he said, and six hundred feet out. Another time, Kingman crushed a ball far over Waveland Avenue behind Chicago's Wrigley Field. His ball eventually bounced against a building, missing by feet the open window of a street-level apartment in which the resident had been sitting watching the Cubs game on television. Another eighteen inches over and the sedentary fan could have experienced the unique joy of catching a ball without leaving the comfort of his own living room chair.
	Perhaps the most famous "longest home run ever" was hit by New York Yankee Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, on April 17, 1953. Batting righthanded, Mantle hit a pitch off of Washington Senator pitcher Chuck Stobbs that bounced off of Griffith Stadium's left field football scoreboard 460 feet from home plate and landed in a backyard across the street -- 434 Oakdale Street, to be precise. The distance was estimated by Yankees publicist Red Patterson at 565 feet. 
	The ball was found. Its cover was impressively torn where it had struck the scoreboard.

The Longest Yards
November 8, 1970

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana
	They say two heads are better than one. Perhaps half a foot is better than one.

	Tom Dempsey was born with half a right foot. But with that foot he would make a football travel 189 feet, the longest field goal in the history of the National Football League, and with it he would win a cherished, if unlikely, place in the game's lore.

	The Detroit Lions had just taken the lead from the New Orleans Saints, 17-16, on an 18-yard, Errol Mann field goal. Eleven seconds remained at Tulane Stadium, and the hometown fans could not have been optimistic about their team's chances. When the Saints got the ball, quarterback Billy Kilmer completed a 17-yard pass to the Saints' 45-yard line, but now there were only two seconds left. 

	New Orleans would go for the field goal.

	Saints holder Joe Scarpati kneeled at the New Orleans 37-yard line, ready to take the snap from center. The crossbars were 63 yards away (in those days, the crossbars stood at the front of the end zone, not at the back, as they do today). Dempsey, who wore on his right foot a special, league-approved shoe, trotted onto the field. He'd already booted three field goals on the day, but they were all relatively measly -- 29 yards, 27, and 8. 

	The Saint center snapped the ball. Scarpati put it down. Dempsey kicked...and had no idea whether his kick was good or not.

	Then, he said, "I saw the referee's hands go up and heard everybody start yelling and I knew it was good. It's quite a thrill. I'm still shook up."

	The Saints won, 19-17.

	Dempsey's remarkable 63-yard field goal broke Baltimore Colt Bert Rechichar's 56-yarder in 1953.

	Almost six years later, on October 16, 1976, the planets lined up just so to create another extraordinary day in the history of field goal kicking. In College Station, Texas, Texas A&M placekicker Tony Franklin made three field goals against Baylor, by no means an extraordinary day for the kicker, except that one of the kicks was a 64-yarder, another one a 65-yarder. And that's not all: on the same day, in a game just 300 miles away, Abilene Christian University's Ove Johannson, kicking against East Texas State, booted a 69-yard field goal, the longest in the history of football. 7	Arc of a Diver
1984

LOS ANGELES, California
	At the 1972 US Olympic trials in Chicago, diver Michael Finneran was awarded perfect 10s by all seven judges for a backward 1-1/2 somersault, 2-1/2 twist (free) from the 10-meter platform. Greg Louganis matched this feat in 1982. They are the only two divers in international competition to receive straight 10s from all the judges.

	Indeed, Louganis, of both Samoan and Swedish ancestry, was virtually perfect throughout the 1980s and is probably the greatest diver in history. As a 16-year-old at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, he took sixth in the springboard event and the silver medal in the platform, bested only by Italy's diving legend, Klaus Dibiasi. Louganis was the favorite to win both men's diving golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics but the American boycott snuffed the opportunity. 

	After winning both the springboard and platform diving golds at the 1982 world championships, Louganis was again an odds-on choice to double-gold at Los Angeles in 1984. He was under great pressure, both as the overwhelming favorite and as the host nation's diver of choice. It would be interesting to see how Louganis's nerves would hold up, as he performed feats whose precision could disintegrate at the slightest display of uncertainty. 

	His nerves held up all right, it would seem. Louganis became the first male Olympian in 56 years to win golds in both diving events. But he didn't merely win; despite all the pressure, he set points records in both events. His winning margin of 94 points in the springboard competition was the largest ever in that Olympic event; in the platform, Louganis became the first diver ever to score over 700 points. 

	In 1988, Louganis was again favored to make history and repeat his double-gold from four years before. He provided one of the scariest moments of the Seoul Olympics when he hit his head on the board in mid-dive, and he provided one of the most thrilling moments, too, when his last, gorgeously-executed dive gave him the margin he needed to win his second pair of Olympic golds.

	But for all that, Louganis will be remembered not for his haul of medals but for his artistry and form, as he twisted and turned and tumbled in the air, then sliced the water, barely rippling the surface. When we watched Louganis dive, we were watching a dancer whose feet never touched the ground. Conn Gets Cocky
1941
POLO GROUNDS, New York
	Sports fans know of many famous moments in the history of the now-defunct Polo Grounds, including, of course, Bobby Thomson's "shot heard 'round the world." On a June night in 1941, from approximately 10pm to 11pm, an historic event was unfolding at the Polo Grounds before 54,487 fans. Billy Conn, the crafty, fast, and stylish boxer from Pittsburgh, was beating Joe Louis. After 12 rounds, Conn was way ahead on points. Louis was confused and battered. His famous remark, made before the fight, that Conn "could run but he couldn't hide" was evidently wrong. Louis could barely land a punch.

	And then a strange thing happened.

	Emboldened by his success, Conn decided that he could knock Louis out. In the 13th round, he stopped running and came out swinging. Louis was both stunned and delighted. He delivered two shots heard 'round the world -- a left hook and a hard right. Now Conn was stunned but not delighted. Louis followed with a series of blows that finished off Conn with only a few seconds left to the round. Conn had run, all right, but in refusing to hide, he lost the chance to bring off one of boxing's greatest upsets.Reggae Luge
1988

CALGARY, Canada
	One of the two greatest underdogs and fan favorites at the 1988 Calgary Olympics was the Jamaican bobsled team. (The other was English ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, who finished dead last in his competition.) The Jamaicans crashed on their third heat and skipped the fourth and final heat, but the very idea of a bobsled team emerging from a Carribean nation charmed those on hand to watch the Jamaicans gamely compete against clearly superior opponents.

	What exactly is the bobsled, and how is it different from that other Olympic "sledding" sport, the luge? First, both are highly dangerous sports which have seen their share of fatalities. In 1953, Swiss bobsledding world champion Felix Endrich was killed while the four-man bobsled he was leading crashed into a tree. And just before the luge competition in 1964, British competitor Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski was killed during a trial run.

	Bobsleds, or "bobs," have two pairs of runners and cowls (or hoods) for each rider. The bob is steered by cables attached to the flexible front runners, and the riders look as if they are in a tight car, one passenger behind the other. Modern bobs are extremely streamlined, and look something like tubed rockets. There are two-man and four-man bobsledding events, both decided on the basis of four runs. There is no Olympic bobsledding competition for women.

	The luge is really just a toboggan, though a very sophisticated version. Sledders ride feet first, guiding the luge with their feet. For men there are both two-seat (decided by two runs) and one-seat events (decided by four). Women only contest the single-seat luge event at the Olympics. The Germans and Austrians have always been among the best lugers in the world, though lately the Italians and Soviets have become their equals.

	As if the luge is not dangerous enough to begin with, one of the four runs must be negotiated at night. kSphairistike, Anyone?
1900

BIRMINGHAM, England
	Modern lawn tennis probably evolved from French Royal Tennis or "Jeu de Paume," which was played as long ago as the 11th century. But like so many other sports, the game really came into its own in England. In 1858, Major Harry Gem plotted out a playing area on the lawn of a Birmingham friend. Fourteen years later, Gem founded the Leamington Club. Two years after that, in 1874, another English major, Walter Clopton Wingfield, patented a form of the game which he called "sphairistike," which soon was nicknamed "sticky." Somehow, this rather playful name eventually gave way to "tennis." 

	To raise money in 1877 for a "pony-roller" for croquet, a club in England held a tennis tournament, which proved a success. The All-England Croquet Club would hold the competition again and the Wimbledon tournament grew into the most famous and prestigious tennis competition in the world.

	While vacationing in Bermuda, Mary Ewing Outerbridge saw British officers playing a peculiar racket game and had equipment sent to her Staten Island home. Outerbridge is now known as the "Mother of American Tennis."

	The United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) was founded in 1881. Early enthusiasts, especially women, wore relatively restricting dress on-court: men were clad in long pants, women in long dresses and petticoats. They also wore shoes, not Reeboks or Nikes. The game then was all white -- the clothing, the balls, the participants. 

	Eighty-seven years later, in 1968, tennis's "Open" era began, as tournaments were opened to both amateurs and professionals. Except for Wimbledon, pre-Wimbledon tune-ups, some Australian tournaments and the Newport, Rhode Island tournament -- the only grass court tournament in America -- tennis is hardly played on lawns anymore, white has given way to colors, women's wear is just as unrestricting as men, and they wear sneakers. The World's Most Famous Arena
19th-20th Centuries

NEW YORK, New York
	The reason why Madison Square Garden was so named makes perfectly good sense: it was built at Madison Square, at the conjunction of 26th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City. That structure was demolished in 1889, and since then no less than three other "Madison Square Gardens" were built, none of them within sight of any street, square or park with the name of Madison. The current one is on Seventh Avenue, spanning 31st and 33rd Streets.

	Nonetheless, the name has stuck, and the "Garden," in all of its incarnations, is probably the most well-known sports arena in the world. Championship boxing matches, hockey games, basketball games, tennis tournaments, track meets and even six-day bicycle contests have been held there. The Garden is the home of the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers. At the present time, the Garden is owned by Gulf + Western, which also uses it for rock concerts, much to the chagrin of old-time sports fans who believe the Garden should be used for sports and nothing else.Man O' War
1947
KENTUCKY
	Man O' War, perhaps the greatest Kentucky-bred thoroughbred ever, never raced in the Kentucky Derby, or, for that matter, competitively on a track in his home state. He was beaten only once, in the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga Springs. His surprising conquerer was named, appropriately enough, Upset.

	When the horse retired in 1920, the Lexington, Kentucky Chamber of commerce announced that school children would throw flowers in his path during a parade through town. Owner Samuel Riddle rejected the idea. "He's only a horse," he said via telegraph.

	Nonetheless, the champion thoroughbred was always treated like something more. When Man O' War, age 30, died on November 1, 1947, he became the first thoroughbred to be embalmed in preparation for his funeral. Two thousand people turned out for the ceremony, which was broadcast nationwide on radio. He was extolled by nine speakers, and many who filed by his open casket reached down to touch his flesh. Local merchants draped their storefronts in black. 7
The Mick
1950s to 1960s
SPAVINAW, Oklahoma
	Those arguments that used to rage in New York City over who was the best center fielder -- Willie, Mickey or the Duke -- might have been unnecessary had not Mickey Mantle spent most of his career hobbled by knee injuries. 

	Mantle had incredible natural ability, combining raw speed with raw power. He was once clocked at 3.1 seconds from home plate to first base, and he hit what is the longest home run ever measured, a shot completely out of Griffith Stadium in Washington that went 565 feet. The accomplishments of his 18-year career were among the greatest in history -- 536 home runs, a Triple Crown in 1956, three Most Valuable Player awards -- but his ravished legs robbed him from achieving even more. His troubles dated back to the World Series in 1951, his rookie season, when he tripped over a drain pipe in right field in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium and tore knee cartilage. After watching Mantle at an All-Star Game in the prime of his career, pitcher Early Wynn commented, "I watched him bandage that knee -- that whole leg -- and I saw what he had to go through every day to play. ... Seeing those legs, his power becomes unbelievable."

	Mantle lived hard, and was not above more than an occasional night on the town with his buddies Whitey Ford and Billy Martin. On one such outing, at New York's famed Copacabana Club, they were involved in a highly publicized brawl that eventually caused Yankee management to trade Martin, claiming he was a bad influence on Mantle. Considering that Mantle had just won the Triple Crown that year, the claim was dubious.

	It was Mantle's father, Mutt, a zinc and lead miner in Commerce, Oklahoma, who made the two most important contributions to Mickey's career. The first was coaching him to be a switch-hitter at the age of 5. Mutt would pitch to him from one side of the plate, his grandfather from the other. Mutt's other, more famous, contribution occurred in 1951, when Mantle failed in his first stint with the Yankees and was sent to their minor-league team in Kansas City. When Mantle started 0-for-22 at Kansas City, he called up his father in despair. "I don't think I can play baseball any more," he told him. Mutt showed up in Kansas City the next day and began packing Mickey's bags. When Mantle, puzzled, asked his dad what he was doing, Mutt replied, "Packing. You're going home. You're going to work in the mines, that's what we'll do. You can work back down there."

	Mantle got the point, stayed in Kansas City, hit .360 and was called back up to the Yankees permanently. In 1974, he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.Used His Head, Sometimes
1986

MEXICO CITY, Mexico
	When Diego Maradona led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup in soccer, he was the top player in the world, and arguably the world's No. 1 sports hero. Just five years later, he was a fallen star, suspended for 15 months after testing positive for cocaine, and later arrested for drug possession.

	Maradona had been brilliant during the '86 World Cup, winning the Golden Ball Award as the competition's Most Valuable Player. Argentina won the Cup with a 3-2 win over West Germany in the finals at Mexico City.

	Maradona's trouble's began to mount, however. In 1989, he had a lackluster season, and his relationship with his Italian club, Napoli, deteriorated. When he was booed as he limped off the field after playing only 17 minutes in a game, Maradona said, "The people who jeered are ignorant cretins. I want to stay in Napoli, but if peace there depends on my leaving, I will go." He missed the deadline for reporting to his team that year, instead going to the Andes to ski.

	In 1990, Argentina came back to make the World Cup finals again, this time losing to West Germany, 1-0. On January 19, 1991, Maradona stunned the world by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year. "I can't continue this way," he said. In March, when a cocaine test came back positive, he was suspended for 15 months by several soccer governing bodies. His arrest came in April during a police raid in Buenos Aires. It is estimated that Maradona stood to lose $20 million in salary and endorsements over the next two years. |
World's Biggest Sporting Event
1970s to Present

NEW YORK, New York
	In 490 B.C., a Greek courier, perhaps named Pheidippides and the unwitting father of the marathon race, ran from the Plain of Marathon to Athens, to announce the Greek victory over the larger Persian army. The story has it that upon covering the distance and parting with his news -- "Rejoice! We have won" ("Nenikekamen," in the ancient Greek) -- the courier died of exhaustion.

	Since then, thousands, even millions, of women and men have commemorated this act of mind over matter by testing the limits of their own endurance -- though most, unlike poor Pheidippides, have been left at the finish line with nothing more than severe fatigue, dehydration, and blisters, not to mention a profound sense of accomplishment. 

	The most spectacular incarnation of the 26.2 mile race, the New York City marathon, is run every year in early November. Upwards of 25,000 runners take off across Staten Island's Verrazano Bridge, making a glorious parade of humanity. The course meanders through the city's four other boroughs -- Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The racers finish in Central Park, near Tavern on the Green. 

	Though all marathoning involves more than a little inward-seeking, the New York City marathoner hardly experiences the typical loneliness of the long distance runner. The streets are lined by more than two million New Yorkers, who hand out orange sections and water and present palms to slap, and shout general encouragement and praise. Music bands dot the course, playing reggae, rock, jazz, and, of course, the theme from "Rocky." From the tree-lined Orthodox Jewish section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to the brassy, wide-open crush along Manhattan's First Avenue, the marathoner can find ample distraction and support should she or he be suffering through a particularly rough spell. 

	Depending on the time of year, the NYC Marathon, which embraces both world-class runners and those just hoping to finish, alternates with the London Marathon as the world's largest participatory sporting event. Though great male runners -- Alberto Salazar, in particular -- have had fine moments here, this grand race really belongs to two people: New York Road Runner Club head and race founder Fred Lebow, and Norwegian Grete Waitz. Waitz seems to have been winning in New York City forever (officially, her first victory was in 1978), and over the years the great runner has become a crowd favorite. The out-of-towner always gets an especially warm cheer from New Yorkers -- a crowd, five- and ten-deep, made up almost exclusively of former out-of-towners who once upon a time came to settle in the city that never sleeps, or stands still. (Career Without Blemish
September 23, 1952

CHICAGO, Illinois
	The only heavyweight champion to go through an entire professional career without a defeat was born on September 1, 1923, in Brockton, Massachusetts.

	His name: Rocky Marciano.

	Among his 49 victims was Joe Louis who, in a pitiful comeback attempt in 1951, was stopped in the eighth round by a ferocious attack by the then up-and-coming Marciano. Marciano won the heavyweight championship from Jersey Joe Walcott in Chicago on September 23, 1952, as a result of one of the hardest single punches ever thrown. Walcott, motionless on the canvas, appeared dead as his seconds and a medical advisor rushed to his side. Walcott wasn't dead but his brain must have been addled since nine months later he chose to fight Marciano again, this time in Chicago. Mercifully, Marciano knocked Walcott out in 2 minutes and 45 seconds of the first round.

	All together, Marciano defended his title six times before retiring undefeated. On August 31, 1969, Marciano died in an airplane crash in Newton, Iowa. The next day would have been his 46th birthday. D
The Man with the Asterisk
1961

BRONX, New York
	With a flair for the dramatic, New York Yankee outfielder Roger Maris hit his record 61st home run at Yankee Stadium on the final day of the 1961 season, and he did it against New York's fiercest American League rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

	On October 1, Maris took Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard deep, 15 rows into the rightfield stands, where Sal Durante, a 19-year old fan from Brooklyn, captured the ball. Because of the ball's historical value, Durante handed it over in exchange for two trips to the West Coast and $5,000. 

	Stallard would not be a stranger to baseball infamy. His other large claim to fame is being the losing pitcher on Father's Day, 1964, when Jim Bunning threw his perfect game against the New York Mets.

	Maris's 61 homers in a season broke Babe Ruth's 60 (which broke Ruth's own record of 59, which broke Ruth's record of 54, which broke Ruth's record of 29, which broke Ned Williamson's record of 27). But Maris's record would be qualified -- even tainted -- at least for a while: Because the major league season was 162 games long when he played and only 154 games long when Ruth played, separate records were kept for 154-game and 162-game seasons, and Maris's achievement was marked with an asterisk. In 1969, the Special Baseball Rules Committee determined that baseball would have one set of records and that "no asterisk or official sign shall be used to indicate the number of games scheduled."

	But the damage was done, and many baseball fans still refuse to acknowledge Maris as the true record holder for most home runs in a season.

	Maris's Yankee teammate, Mickey Mantle, hit 54 homers that 1961 season -- the most a player has ever hit without winning a home run title. Between the two M's, they had a whopping 115 home runs. Certainly, having Mantle batting behind him in the lineup did not hurt Maris; the home run king did not receive one intentional walk during the season.

	Maris won the American League Most Valuable Player in 1961, but many people forget that he was also the AL's MVP the previous year, as well. Indeed, Maris had a way of being overlooked. Few remember that Maris's 61st homer was the only run of the day, as Yankee pitchers Bill Stafford, Hal Reniss and Luis Arroyo combined for a 1-0 shutout. And fewer still know that Maris holds yet another impressive sports honor: the national high school record for most touchdowns scored on kickoff returns in a game (four, for Shanley High School in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1951).

	Then again, it is understandable that most sports fans should equate Maris with only one number: 61.

	Or 61*. 9 Wimbledon Titles
1970s to Present

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York
	Early in her tennis career, Martina Navratilova was regarded as a volatile, if supremely talented, spirit. When she lost in the early rounds of tournaments -- often looking bewildered in the process, and berating herself loudly -- she would bury her head in a towel, inconsolable. Her off-court anxiety, however, was more considerable than it was for most other players: she had left her family and defected from her home in Czechoslovakia to play tennis full time. As Navratilova adapted to life in America and learned to control her masterful serve-and-volley game, the lefthander blossomed into perhaps the greatest woman player of all time, winning a record nine Wimbledon singles titles, including six in a row from 1982-87, loads of other Grand Slam single titles, and establishing herself as unquestionably the finest doubles player women's tennis had ever known (often partnered with Pam Shriver). 

	Staggeringly succesful at her sport, Martina became an American citizen and saw her career marked by a poignant footnote: she became the first player in history to compete on winning Federation Cups for two different nations -- she helped her native Czechoslovakia win in 1975, and then led the US team to victory, the first time in 1982.

	Martina became one of a small handful of players ever to win a Grand Slam, though hers was not accomplished in a single calendar year (1983-84). In 1984, she won 74 singles matches in a row. That year, she earned a record $2,173,556, which included a $1 million bonus for winning the Slam. So much for communism. 

	Throughout the 80s, her career was sparked by her fierce, but always respectful, rivalry with American Chris Evert, her diametric opposite in demeanor and style of play.  Remarkably fit and athletic, Navratilova remains among the world's top-ranked players on a tour dominated by teenagers, and she is also one of the rare voices in professional tennis with much to say about the world off the court. CThe Mask
1959

MONTREAL, Canada
	On November 1, 1959, Montreal Canadien goaltender Jacques Plante got smashed in the face by a puck. It was one of the best things that ever happened to goalies.

	Plante, one of the league's best netminders, had been hit hard by a shot off the stick of New York Ranger Andy Bathgate. When Plante, his face bloodied, went to the locker room at the end of the period, he informed Canadiens coach Toe Blake that he would not continue to play if he couldn't wear a mask that he'd designed himself. Blake did not like the idea -- no one wore masks then -- but he had no choice and agreed. Plante returned to the game wearing his mask, and he wore it from then on. 

	Other goaltenders -- Terry Sawchuk, Charlie Hodge, Gerry Cheevers, to name three -- began to follow Plante's sensible example. Some of the "oldtimers" -- Johnny Bower and Glenn Hall, for instance -- only gave in at the end of their careers. Plante's fine performance in the 1960 Stanley Cup Finals, in which he allowed just five goals in four games as his Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, is credited as the pivotal moment that brought the mask wide acceptance. 

	Now, of course, hockey goalies all over the world wear the mask -- invariably more newfangled and comfortable ones than Plante's primitive version. Indeed, it's hard to imagine a goalie not wearing one today. But it was not so long ago that goaltenders routinely got smashed in the face, and, astoundingly, let it be. Fortunately for the next generation of faces, on November 1, 1959, after Jacques Plante got hit, he decided it was time to cover up.The Munich Massacre and More
1972

MUNICH, Germany
	Politics have always played too large a role in professional sports, as well as supposedly amateur ones, namely the Olympics. Baseball's tacit "whites only" rule for decades, point shaving, boxers taking dives, boycotts, biased judging and officiating, violence on the playing field stoked by nationalism -- the list of people using and abusing sport for political and monetary gains is endless.

	The most disgusting example occurred at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Germans had viewed the Games as an opportunity to pour some salve on the wounds left by the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Adolf Hitler had used as a propaganda stage to prove, he hoped, the superiority of the Aryan race. But to the horror of the German Olympic organizers and to the horror of the entire world, the Munich legacy not only wouldn't salve wounds, it opened up new ones so deep that the Olympic movement itself was forever scarred. Eight Palestinian terrorists stole into the Olympic Village, headed for the dormitory where the Israeli contingent was staying, killed two Israelis, and took nine more hostage. The terrorists demanded the release of hundreds of prisoners from jails in Israel, and they wanted assurances that they could leave West Germany alive. At the airport, German sharpshooters killed three terrorists. In the ensuing gunfire, all nine Israeli hostages, one policeman, and two more terrorists were killed. The Games were suspended for a day and a half and a memorial service was held in the main stadium. Such an act was atrocious by any measure, on any world stage. It surely made the 1972 Games the bleakest of all Olympics.

	The "Futbol War" in 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras was sparked by soccer matches that fueled existing tensions. It was also known as the "Soccer War," the "Football War," and the "One-Hundred Hour War." The two countries met in a World Cup qualifying round in June of 1969. Honduras won the first leg on June 8. El Salvador won the second leg on June 15, necessitating a decisive third game. Both games had set off fierce rioting. In Honduras, Salvadoran residents were attacked, and hundreds of thousands of migrants fled across the border. Reprisals were made against Hondurans in El Salvador. Diplomatic relations were cut off. On June 24, El Salvador declared a state of siege. That day, El Salvador defeated Honduras 3-2 in a neutral Mexico City site. Fighting intensified. On July 3, a Honduran plane was reported to have attacked Salvadoran border troops. On July 14, Salvador forces invaded Honduras. Honduras bombed San Salvador and Acajuta. On July 18, a cease-fire was made. The death toll was estimated at 2,000.

	At the 1956 Olympic Games, Hungary and the Soviet Union faced each other in water polo a month after Soviet troops had invaded Hungary. The "Blood in the Water" match was punctuated by brawls and was finally stopped by the referee with Hungary leading, 4-0.

	Emily Davison, a suffragette who was frustrated by the English Parliament's refusal to grant women the right to vote, brought attention to the cause in 1913 by running onto the famed Epsom Downs track during the Derby Stakes, Britain's premier race, and into the path of the leading horse, owned by King George V. To the horror of the crowd, Davison was trampled and killed. Say Hey! Willie Mays
1954 World Series
POLO GROUNDS, New York
	Game 1 of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians wasn't even over and already Willie Mays, the great Giant centerfielder, was sick of Vic Wertz. Wertz, Cleveland's first baseman, had been up four times; all he had managed so far were two singles, a double, and a triple.

	Now it was the eighth inning. Two Indians were on base. No outs. And here came Wertz once more.

	You could guess what might be coming next.

	To cool off Wertz, the Giants brought in reliever Don Liddle. Wertz stepped to the plate, swung, and crushed the ball to dead-center field, a valley which -- especially in the Polo Grounds, the Giants' home field -- seemed to go on forever. The ball would clear 400 feet with no trouble.

	At the crack of the bat, Mays took off. Tracking the missile as he went, he finally turned his back almost completely on the field and the ball, reached out his arms like a wide receiver awaiting a Hail Mary pass...and the Giants #24 turned Wertz's best shot of the day into a spectacular, over-the shoulder, 460-foot out. Mays wheeled to the infield, threw -- his cap flying off in the motion -- and prevented the runners from scoring.

	New York won the game, 5-2, in ten innings. They swept the Series from the Indians.

	No one who saw one of the most famous catches in World Series history will ever doubt the moment the game and Series turned. And Vic Wertz? He will forever be remembered by baseball fans not for the four hits he had that day but rather for his gigantic, soaring out. The Master's Tournament

Winner and score:


	1934 Horton Smith -- 284

	1935 Gene Sarazen -- 282

	1936 Horton Smith -- 285

	1937 Byron Nelson -- 283

	1938 Henry Picard -- 285

	1939 Ralph Guldahl -- 279

	1940 Jimmy Demaret -- 280

	1941 Craig Wood -- 280

	1942 Byron Nelson -- 280

	1943-45 No tournament -- 

	1946 Herman Kaiser -- 282

	1947 Jimmy Demaret -- 281

	1948 Claude Harmon -- 279

	1949 Sam Snead -- 282

	1950 Jimmy Demaret -- 283

	1951 Ben Hogan -- 280

	1952 Sam Snead -- 286

	1953 Ben Hogan -- 274

	1954 Sam Snead -- 289

	1955 Cary Middlecoff -- 279

	1956 Jack Burke, Jr. -- 289

	1957 Doug Ford -- 282

	1958 Arnold Palmer -- 284

	1959 Art Wall, Jr. -- 284

	1960 Arnold Palmer -- 282

	1961 Gary Player -- 280

	1962 Arnold Palmer -- 280

	1963 Jack Nicklaus -- 286

	1964 Arnold Palmer -- 276

	1965 Jack Nicklaus -- 271

	1966 Jack Nicklaus -- 288

	1967 Gay Brewer, Jr. -- 280

	1968 Bob Goalby -- 277

	1969 George Archer -- 281

	1970 Billy Casper -- 279

	1971 Charles Coody -- 279

	1972 Jack Nicklaus -- 286

	1973 Tommy Aaron -- 283

	1974 Gary Player -- 278

	1975 Jack Nicklaus -- 276

	1976 Ray Floyd -- 271

	1977 Tom Watson -- 276

	1978 Gary Player -- 277

	1979 Fuzzy Zoeller -- 280

	1980 Steve Ballesteros -- 275

	1981 Tom Watson -- 280

	1982 Craig Stadler -- 284

	1983 Steve Ballesteros -- 280

	1984 Ben Crenshaw -- 277

	1985 Bernhard Langer -- 282

	1986 Jack Nicklaus -- 279

	1987 Larry Mize -- 285

	1988 Sandy Lyle -- 281

	1989 Nick Faldo -- 283

	1990 Nick Faldo -- 278

	1991 Ian Woosnam -- 277The Amazins
1962 to Present

FLUSHING, New York
	They were born to replace beloved children who had turned their backs and flown the coop. They themselves became beloved, though the love was mixed with sympathy and even pity because they were so inept. They showed lots of heart, hardly any talent. Eventually they would turn into a great team, and one of baseball's most amazing stories.

	When New York City's two National League franchises, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, skipped town after the 1957 season for the greener (as in grass, as in money) pastures of California (Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively), the city was left with just one team -- though that one team, true, was the superb New York Yankees in the Bronx. But New York, it was always said, was a National League town, and five years later, in 1962, the New York Mets were born. Their first years they played in the Giants' old home, the Polo Grounds, until Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, was finished.

	The team was hardly a worldbeater. Despite having at their helm old Casey Stengel, the former Yankee manager who had led that team to a phenomenal 10 pennants, the Mets did almost nothing right on the field. In their first season, they established a standard for major league ineptitude by winning 40 games and losing 120.

	But they were loved. The city embraced this mixture of over-the-hill greats and upstarts who were young and green (as in inexperienced, as in the color Stengel turned watching what was happening on the field). That first year they had losing streaks of 17, 13, and 11 games. Sandy Koufax no-hit them in June. Roger Craig, their stopper, led the league in losses with 24. Richie Ashburn was the closest thing the team had to a real star. Over the next few years, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider, Dodger greats past their primes, took turns with the Mets, as did Yogi Berra, all more as gate attractions than real contributors.

	But the team's reputation was made by its truly incompetent members, and no one was more lovably incompetent than first baseman "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry. Perhaps the incident that most embodies the spirit of those early Mets involved Throneberry's hitting a triple. He was called out for missing first base. When Stengel went out to argue with the first-base ump, the second-base umpire walked over and informed Stengel not to bother because Throneberry had missed second base, too. Stengel looked at Throneberry, who was undoubtedly half-proud, half-confused standing on third base. "Well, I know he touched third base because he's standing on it," said Stengel, pyrrhically.

	The team continued its last place ways, and also continued to draw fans at a surprising clip -- to the chagrin of the much better Yankees, who were losing fans to the interlopers. Finally, in 1969, the Amazins, as they were called, took a nucleus of good young players and especially lively arms (Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw) and the right leadership (veteran first baseman Donn Clendenon on the field, manager Hodges off of it) and became contenders. With much platooning, their usual enthusiasm, and some truly improbable play, the New York Mets came back from a big late-summer deficit to overtake the Chicago Cubs, win 100 games, and capture their first divisional title. 

	The city went crazy. When the Mets then swept the Atlanta Braves in the League Championship Series and, even more astoundingly, took only five games to beat the heavily- favored Baltimore Orioles -- relying again on unlikely heroes and some of the most astonishing defensive play in recent Series memory -- the Mets not only had won the hearts of New York City (they had really done that back in '62, just by showing up) but the baseball world. The New York Mets were no longer just fill-ins but a team that had come into their own. 

	Sure, the city's baseball fans still wished that Walter O'Malley and Horace Stoneham, the respective owners of the Dodgers and Giants, would rot in hell for what they did back in 1957, but now at least New York had a hometown, National League team to root for once more.American Cagers Strike Gold
1988

SEOUL, Korea
	The 1988 Olympic Games were the bleakest of times for the United States men's basketball team, which suffered its first non-disputed loss ever to the Soviet Union and failed to win the gold medal for just the third time in Olympic history.

	But for the US women's basketball team, Seoul was the site of their greatest triumph. In just the fourth year of Olympic competition for women, the Americans won their second straight gold medal. But this victory was far more special than the one four years earlier because, unlike 1984, when an Eastern bloc boycott was in effect, all of the world's great teams participated.

	In the absence of the Soviet Union, which had won the two previous gold medals, the Americans had romped to the gold in '84. They finished 6-0, winning each game by 28 points or more and outscoring their opponents 516-320. They were led by University of Southern California star Cheryl Miller, the sister of Indiana Pacers star guard Reggie Miller and former California Angels catcher Darrell Miller. Cheryl averaged 16.5 points and seven rebounds, leading the Americans in both categories, as well as assists. Another standout was Lynette Woodard, who went on to become the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

	The American victory in '84 had a poignant footnote. Pam McGee, an All-America from USC, had made the US team, but her twin sister, Paula, also a USC All-America, had not. After helping the United States to win, Pam gave her gold medal to Paula. Temporary Insanity
January 1, 1954

DALLAS, Texas
	Rice University running back Dick Moegle put on a show at the 1954 Cotton Bowl, picking up an astounding 261 yards and scoring three touchdowns on only 11 carries, but he would not be the focus of the day -- or, at least not primarily. Since no one on the field for the University of Alabama, Rice's opponents, seemed able to stop Moegle, a Crimson Tide player on the sidelines decided to take matters into his own hands -- literally.

	The fleet Moegle had taken the ball and already covered more than 50 yards, and he was now outstriding his opponents for what appeared would be a 95-yard touchdown run. Watching from the sidelines, frustrated Crimson Tide fullback Tommy Lewis was unable to bear the humiliation. So he bolted from the sidelines and made the tackle himself, near the Alabama 40-yard line.

	Lewis, as shocked at what he had just done as any of the 75,000 people in the stands or those at home across the country watching on TV, jumped back up and returned to the sidelines as if nothing had happened. But everyone had seen it, the referee awarded a touchdown to Rice -- 28-6 winners that day -- and Lewis become a brief and unlikely pop hero for his brazen display of unbridled, if illegal, enthusiasm.	

	Lewis and Moegle were both invited to appear on Ed Sullivan's television show, though Lewis, in later years, did all he could to live down his most notorious athletic moment -- a moment when, for a few seconds, he lost his mind.] Sports Adventure


	They jam. They swat. They burst. They plunge. They whack. They spin. They fly.

	You click.+Joe Cool
1980s to Present

SAN FRANCISCO, California
	In the history of the Super Bowl -- a game that has produced heroes both unlikely (Green Bay's Max McGee, Miami's Jake Scott) and likely (Green Bay's Bart Starr, Pittsburgh's Lynn Swann) -- Joe Montana's star shines brightest. He holds nearly every significant Super Bowl record a quarterback can hold. Of his four trips to "The Show" -- naturally his team, the San Francisco 49ers, won all four -- twice he won by directing last-minute drives, twice he won in blowouts. Under the tutelage of coaching innovator Bill Walsh, Montana led an offense that was nearly impossible to hold down, much less stop altogether, by using short passes to multiple receivers, superior scrambling ability, and unparalleled vision of what was going on downfield. Despite the great clutch quarterbacks who preceded him -- Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese -- most people by now must think that Montana patented the last-minute drive. With him at the helm, his 49ers, the Team of the 80s, were virtually unbeatable on the road, and they weren't exactly pushovers at home in Candlestick Park. He played hurt. When people thought his career was over, he returned and won more titles. He has the highest quarterback rating in the history of the game. He is also (if this isn't obvious by now) one of the rare athletes who, just by walking out onto his stage, makes everyone in the ballpark -- fans, media, teammates, certainly opponents -- stop and take notice. 

	Unfortunately for Steve Young, a quarterback good enough to start on almost any other team, Montana has been so great and tough that Young received less notice for his play than he did as the NFL's only $2 million-a-year backup QB. 

	Each year he performed, more football veterans said that Joe Montana was not only the greatest QB ever, but probably the greatest player. Period.

	Montana was a star at Notre Dame, but no one imagined then that, as a pro, he would redefine the way the quarterback position was played, and establish an offense that could move with such flawless efficiency -- especially in an era that put an increased premium on defense. 

	In the 1991 NFL season, Montana had to sit out with another injury. It is impossible to know if he will return. If he does, it would not be surprising -- not for him, anyway. And if #16 never again trots onto the grassy field, never gathers about him in the huddle his ten gold-and-red-clad teammates, never looks past his offensive line to his fierce opponents to figure out what they are planning to do perhaps even before they know it, never flings a 50-yard, on-the-fingertips bomb to Jerry Rice or John Taylor streaking down the sidelines...if he never does any of those things again, Joe Montana will still have given 49er and all football fans more thrills than perhaps anyone who has ever put on shoulder pads. ZIron Mike
1986
LAS VEGAS, Nevada
	On November 22, 1986, at the Las Vegas Hilton, Mike Tyson stopped Trevor Berbick at 2:35 of the second round to win the WBC heavyweight title. At 20 years and 5 months, "Iron Mike" became the youngest man to claim any part of the heavyweight championship. That footnote alone would guarantee him a place in boxing history, but Tyson seemed to have the rare stuff of great champions. As a teenager he had come under the tutelage of Cus D'Amato, who turned the once-juvenile delinquent out of Brooklyn into a ferocious fighter. Twenty-five of Tyson's first 27 professional opponents could not go the distance, and 15 of them did not last past the first round. He had the snarl, he had the jab, he had the killer instinct. Boxing is a hurtin' game, Tyson once said, and he planned on being the one inflicting must of the hurting. 

	On June 27, 1988, in one of the quickest and most lopsided heavyweight title fights ever, Tyson demolished Michael Spinks in all of 91 seconds. He got $21 million for his minute-and-a-half of work (which may not be as outrageous as the $13.5 million Spinks got for his). 

	But in becoming one of America's biggest celebrities, and its most well-compensated athlete, the Tyson fire may have been snuffed, or at least redirected. He had a quick, unhappy marriage to actress Robin Givens. He was accused of harassing and hitting women. He broke from his longtime trainer Kevin Rooney. He took up with promoter Don King. He still felt the loss of D'Amato's passing. On February 10, 1990, he suffered one of the most heralded upsets in heavyweight history when a virtual unknown, James "Buster" Douglas, stopped Tyson in the eighth round of their fight in Tokyo, Japan. Tyson was not used to being on the canvas -- in his outside life, yes, but not in the ring. 

	Tyson wanted his championship belt back. He won three fights to put him in position to take it from new champion Evander Holyfield (who had beaten Douglas in the meanwhile), but people were saying his jab was not what it once was, the fury alone would not do it, his jaw was not quite as invincible as had once been thought. 

	An injury and then, more important, an ensuing rape trial -- Tyson has been indicted on rape charges, stemming from the account of a contestant in an Indianapolis beauty pageant -- have thrown his career into further turmoil. Is he a rapist? A manic-depressive? A wife beater? A completely misunderstood man? All of those? None? With his surprisingly soft-spoken manner, with a body like a tank, Tyson is a puzzle. As far as today's fight fans go, he has been called "the only heavyweight who counts." Will he show the resilience of previous great heavyweight champs and win back his title, as Floyd Patterson did, as Ali did? Is his once-great career in complete tatters? Stay tuned. The "Saga of Mike Tyson" seems to have a few more installments, at the very least. `The Best Names in Sports
20th Century

	Van Lingle Mungo.
	His is one of the great names of baseball -- indeed, of all sports. Mungo, the Brooklyn Dodger and New York Giant pitcher, even inspired a 1970 song -- titled, appropriately enough, "Van Lingle Mungo" -- that chronicled memorable baseball names.

	But Mungo's is hardly the only colorful name. Here are just a few other great names from the sports world -- though it must be noted that Mungo's fraternity, major league pitchers, seems as a group to be more responsible for memorable monikers than any other:

	-Maurice Archdeacon, 1920s Chicago White Sox outfielder

	-Andr Champagne, NHL left wing, 1962-63

	-Cletus Elwood "Boots" Poffenberger, 1930s pitcher

	-Ossee Schreckengost, turn-of-the-century catcher

	-Edward Wineapple, 1920s pitcher

	-Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma "Buster" McLish, pitcher, 1944-64

	-Fatima Whitbread, British javelin Olympian

	-Morris Titanic, NHL left wing, mid-1970s

	-Fair Hooker, Cleveland Brown receiver

	-James Bluejacket, 1910s pitcher

	-Climax, Saskatchewan, the hometown of 1970s NHL defenseman Gord Kluzak

	-Vitautris Casimirus Tamulis, pitcher in the 1930s and 1940s

	-Onix Concepcion, 1980s shortstop

	-Thane Gash, Cleveland Brown safety

	-Vida Blue (pictured here), Oakland Athletic and San Francisco Giant pitcher, 1970s and 1980s

	-Heinie Manush, Hall of Fame outfielder, 1923-1939

	-Harthorne Wingo, New York Knick forward, 1972-76

	-Coy Bacon, NFL defensive lineman in the 1960s and 1970s

	And finally, the 1976 Olympic rowing tandem that won the silver medal in the pair-oared shell without coxswain: Calvin Coffey and Michael Staines.Broadway Joe
1969

FLUSHING, New York
	In one of the most renowned expressions of confidence in sports history, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath, in a 1969 speech to the Miami Touchdown Club three days before Super Bowl III, predicted that his American Football League (AFL) team would upset the National Football League's (NFL) Baltimore Colts. The Colts were favored to win by anywhere from 17 to 23 points. 

	"I guarantee it," Namath said. 

	Namath had been a fine player at the University of Alabama -- one of several great quarterbacks to play for Bear Bryant -- though even then he was cursed with the gimpy knees that would give him trouble throughout his pro football career. Never an All-America and just 11th in the Heisman Trophy voting in his senior year of 1964, Namath nonetheless stirred up the football world right out of college when the Jets from the upstart AFL signed him for a whopping bonus. The league, in existence since 1960, desperately needed charismatic and talented players to bring them some of the national attention that the more established NFL had already secured. Lance Alworth, Jim Otto, George Blanda, Nick Buoniconti, Billy Cannon, and Jack Kemp were all AFL alumni but now the high-visibility Jets would have a marquee attraction at their helm. 

	But beating the NFL Colts in the Super Bowl? The same showcase where, the previous two years, the NFL's Green Bay Packers had crushed two different AFL pretenders? The same Colts who were being called one of pro football's great all-time teams? 

	So much for tradition and hype. In the Orange Bowl in Miami, Namath completed 17 passes in 28 attempts for 206 yards, and the Jets thoroughly outplayed their NFL counterparts, winning easily, 16-7. 

	Thanks to Namath and the Jets and other displays by AFL teams that they could compete with the NFL's best, the leagues merged.

	New York City seemed made for Namath and he for it. Pennsylvania-bred, he was a winner, engaging in interviews, and he quickly earned several sobriquets, including "Broadway Joe," "Joe Willie," and "Joe White Shoes." He became known not only for his strong arm and ability to pick apart secondaries but also for his brash, high-flying, late-night lifestyle and the white Persian rug in his bachelor pad. When NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle ordered Namath to sell his stake in Bachelors III, a nightclub, because it was frequented by persons of dubious trade (i.e. gamblers), Namath declined to do so and retired. Six weeks later, Namath unretired and gave in. 

	Since first becoming a football star, Joe Namath has been in the public eye almost ceaselessly. He would cause a later stir by doing a pantyhose commercial, become a football announcer on television, and endorse a host of products. But his greatest claim to fame was that he had the arrogance to predict his team could beat football's "establishment," and the skill to back up his claim. In so doing, Namath, as much as anyone else, transformed the Super Bowl into the American spectacle that it would eventually become. NBA Champions
1988

	1946-47 Philadelphia (4), Chicago (1)

	1947-48 Baltimore (4), Philadelphia (2)

	1948-49 Minneapolis (4), Washington (2)

	1949-50 Minneapolis (4), Syracuse (2)

	1950-51 Rochester (4), New York (3)

	1951-52 Minneapolis (4), New York (3)

	1952-53 Minneapolis (4), New York (1)

	1953-54 Minneapolis (4), Syracuse (3)

	1954-55 Syracuse (4), Ft. Wayne (3)

	1955-56 Philadelphia (4), Ft. Wayne (1)

	1956-57 Boston (4), St. Louis (3)

	1957-58 St. Louis (4), Boston (2)

	1958-59 Boston (4), Minneapolis (0)

	1959-60 Boston (4), St. Louis (3)

	1960-61 Boston (4), St. Louis (1)

	1961-62 Boston (4), LA Lakers (3)

	1962-63 Boston (4), LA Lakers (2)

	1963-64 Boston (4), San Francisco (1)

	1964-65 Boston (4), LA Lakers (1)

	1965-66 Boston (4), LA Lakers (3)

	1966-67 Philadelphia (4), San Francisco (2)

	1967-68 Boston (4), LA Lakers (2)

	1968-69 Boston (4), LA Lakers (3)

	1969-70 New York (4), LA Lakers (3)

	1970-71 Milwaukee (4), Baltimore (0)

	1971-72 LA Lakers (4), New York (1)

	1972-73 New York (4), LA Lakers (1)

	1973-74 Boston (4), Milwaukee (3)

	1974-75 Golden State (4), Washington (0)

	1975-76 Boston (4), Phoenix (2)

	1976-77 Portland (4), Philadelphia (2)

	1977-78 Washington (4), Seattle (3)

	1978-79 Seattle (4), Washington (1)

	1979-80 LA Lakers (4), Philadelphia (2)

	1980-81 Boston (4), Houston (2)

	1981-82 LA Lakers (4), Philadelphia (2)

	1982-83 Philadelphia (4), LA Lakers (0)

	1983-84 Boston (4), LA Lakers (3)

	1984-85 LA Lakers (4), Boston (2)

	1985-86 Boston (4), Houston (2)

	1986-87 LA Lakers (4), Boston (2)

	1987-88 LA Lakers (4), Detroit (3)

	1988-89 Detroit (4), LA Lakers (0)

	1989-90 Detroit (4), Portland (1)

	1990-91 Chicago (4), LA Lakers (1) <NBA Leading Scorers
All-Time

All-Time Leading Scorers


	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- 38,387

	Wilt Chamberlain -- 31,419

	Elvin Hayes -- 27,313

	Oscar Robertson -- 26,710

	John Havlicek -- 26,395  Highest Scoring Average, Career 

	Michael Jordan -- 32.6

	Wilt Chamberlain -- 30.1

	Elgin Baylor -- 27.4

	Jerry West -- 27.0

	Bob Pettit -- 26.4NCAA Championship Results
1939 to 1991

	1939 Oregon (46), Ohio St (33)

	1940 Indiana (60), Kansas (42)

	1941 Wisconsin (39), Washington St (34)

	1942 Stanford (53), Dartmouth (38)

	1943 Wyoming (46), Georgetown (34)

	1944 Utah (42), Dartmouth (40) OT

	1945 Oklahoma St (49), NYU (45)

	1946 Oklahoma St (43), N Carolina (40)

	1947 Holy Cross (58), Oklahoma (47)

	1948 Kentucky (58), Baylor (42)

	1949 Kentucky (46), Oklahoma St (36)

	1950 CCNY (71), Bradley (68)

	1951 Kentucky (68), Kansas St (58)

	1952 Kansas (80), St John's-NY (63)

	1953 Indiana (69), Kansas (68)

	1954 La Salle (92), Bradley (76)

	1955 San Francisco (77), La Salle (63)

	1956 San Francisco (83), Iowa (71)

	1957 N Carolina (54), Kansas (53) 3 OT

	1958 Kentucky (84), Seattle (72)

	1959 California (71), W Virginia (70)

	1960 Ohio St (75), California (55)

	1961 Cincinnati (70), Ohio St (65) OT

	1962 Cincinnati (71), Ohio St (59)

	1963 Loyola-IL (60), Cincinnati (58) OT

	1964 UCLA (98), Duke (83)

	1965 UCLA (91), Michigan (80)

	1966 UTEP (72), Kentucky (65)

	1967 UCLA (79), Dayton (64)

	1968 UCLA (78), N Carolina (55)

	1969 UCLA (92), Purdue (72)

	1970 UCLA (80), Jacksonville (69)

	1971 UCLA (68), vacated (62) [Villanova declared ineligible]

	1972 UCLA (81), Florida St (76)

	1973 UCLA (87), Memphis St (66)

	1974 N. Carolina St (76), Marquette (64)

	1975 UCLA (92), Kentucky (85)

	1976 Indiana (86), Michigan (68)

	1977 Marquette (67), N Carolina (59)

	1978 Kentucky (94), Duke (88)

	1979 Michigan St (75), Indiana St (64)

	1980 Louisville (59), vacated (54) [UCLA declared ineligible]

	1981 Indiana (63), N Carolina (50)

	1982 N Carolina (63), Georgetown (62)

	1983 N Carolina St (54), Houston (52)

	1984 Georgetown (84), Houston (75)

	1985 Villanova (66), Georgetown (64)

	1986 Louisville (72), Duke (69)

	1987 Indiana (74), Syracuse (73)

	1988 Kansas (83), Oklahoma (79)

	1989 Michigan (80), Seton Hall (79) OT

	1990 UNLV (103), Duke (73)

	1991 Duke (72), Kansas (65) The Turks Keep Getting Younger
1992

PARIS, France
	Every year they seem to be a little more precocious and, it seems, they hit the ball a little harder. Gabriela Sabatini has been around for several years, and Steffi Graf is one of the old women of the game. Martina Navratilova? She's positively ancient. No, as 1991 ended, Monica Seles reigned over women's tennis, and she was all of seventeen. But watch out for Jennifer Capriati, the American phenom who turned pro in 1990 at age...13. She earned approximately $5 million from tennis in the previous year, according to Forbes magazine's (August, 1991) annual list of the highest-paid athletes, and she's just dying to make Seles (an estimated $7.6 million in earnings) look old. Well, maybe dying's the wrong word for someone who has a ways to go before she celebrates her Sweet Sixteen.

	In men's tennis, it's not quite so dramatic. Still, new American stars Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, David Wheaton, and Michael Chang -- who, in 1989, became the youngest man-child ever to win the French Open -- are hardly in the autumn of their careers.

	Who will it be next? Twelve-year-olds? Nine-year-olds? For accuracy's sake, shouldn't they start calling the women's and men's tours the girl's and boy's? NHL Point Leaders
All-Time

	Wayne Gretzky, Edm, LA -- 2142

	Gordie Howe, Det, Hart -- 1850

	Marcel Dionne, Det, LA, NYR -- 1771

	Phil Esposito, Chi, Bos, NYR -- 1590

	Stan Mikita, Chi -- 1487

	Bryan Trottier, NYI, Pitt -- 1381

	John Bucyk, Det, Bos -- 1369

	Guy Lafleur, Mont, NYR, Que -- 1353

	Gilbert Perreault, Buff -- 1326

	Alex Delvecchio, Det -- 1281

	Jean Ratelle, NYR, Bos -- 1267

	Norm Ullman, Det, Tor -- 1229

	Jean Beliveau, Mont -- 1219

	Bobby Clarke, Phil -- 1210

	Bobby Hull, Chi, Winn, Hart -- 1170TNHL Winners and Finalists
1951 to 1991

	1951-52 Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens

	1952-53 Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins

	1953-54 Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens

	1954-55 Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens

	1955-56 Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings

	1956-57 Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins

	1957-58 Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins

	1958-59 Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs

	1959-60 Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs

	1960-61 Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings

	1961-62 Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks

	1962-63 Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings

	1963-64 Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings

	1964-65 Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks

	1965-66 Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings

	1966-67 Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens

	1967-68 Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues

	1968-69 Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues

	1969-70 Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues

	1970-71 Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks

	1971-72 Boston Bruins, New York Rangers

	1972-73 Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks

	1973-74 Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins

	1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers, Buffalo Sabres

	1975-76 Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers

	1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins

	1977-78 Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins

	1978-79 Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers

	1979-80 New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers

	1980-81 New York Islanders, Minnesota North Stars

	1981-82 New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks

	1982-83 New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers

	1983-84 Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders

	1984-85 Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers

	1985-86 Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames

	1986-87 Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers

	1987-88 Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins

	1988-89 Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens

	1989-90 Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins

	1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota North StarsThe Golden Bear
1986
AUGUSTA, Georgia
	Jack Nicklaus won 20 major golf championships, which is an astonishing accomplishment by itself. But consider this: he finished second in majors 19 times, and was third another nine times. Seventy times, he cracked the top 10.

	"He plays a game with which the rest of us are not familiar," the famous golfer Bobby Jones said upon seeing Nicklaus for the first time. Nicklaus won the US Open his first year on the tour, and added the Masters and PGA after less than two years as a pro.

	There are few who wouldn't agree that based on his consistency in major tournaments alone, Nicklaus deserves the title of greatest golfer of all-time. He might have clinched the honor in 1986, when he capped his career with a stunning victory in the Masters, shooting a 65 in the final round for his sixth title at Augusta National. At age 46, he was the oldest player ever to win the event, and his triumph thrilled the nation.

	Besides the six Masters victories, the first and last of which were 23 years apart, Nicklaus also won the British Open three times, the US Open four times, the PGA five times, and the United States Amateur twice. He has earned more than $5 million in his career.

	"When he plays well, he wins," Johnny Miller said during Nicklaus's prime. "When he plays badly, he finishes second. When he plays terrible, he finishes third."

	Since turning 50 in 1990, Nicklaus has already made his mark on the Seniors Tour, winning two of the first four tournaments he entered that year and taking his first major, the US Senior Open, in 1991 by shooting a 65 in an 18-hole playoff with Chi Chi Rodriguez. Nicklaus called it one of the greatest tournament rounds of his career.	 "You can't catch Jack," said Rodriguez. "Once he puts those paws on you, you're done." A Debut to Remember
1978
NEW MEXICO
	It wasn't as if Nancy Lopez came out of nowhere in 1978, when she had the most dazzling rookie season of any golfer in recent history. After all, she had won the New Mexico Women's Amateur at age 12, she had won the US Junior Girls' and Western Junior titles three years running, and she had won the national collegiate championship as well as tying for second in the US Women's Open as an amateur. By the time she hit her teens, in fact, word of her prowess had already spread to the LPGA tour.

	"I heard all about her," said Jane Blalock, a prominent golfer. "She was just 14 but they said she already could hit a ball farther than I could and farther than a lot of other girls on the pro tour."

	But nothing quite prepared the golf world for her meteoric rise in 1978, when at the age of 21 she won nine tournaments, one of them the LPGA championship, and a record-breaking five in a row. She was named rookie of the year, player of the year, and winner of the Vare Trophy for the best scoring average.

	She was no flash in the pan, either. Lopez has gone on to win more than $3 million in her career, and she became the 11th member of the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1986 when she won her 35th tournament, less than 10 years into her career. Becoming a mother has only enhanced her career. Lopez, who is married to former baseball player Ray Knight, the MVP of the 1986 World Series for the Mets, had a daughter in 1983 and two years later won LPGA Player of the Year honors. She had another daughter in 1986 and two years later was again named Player of the Year.

  "She plays by feel," said golf great Carol Mann. "All her senses come into play. That's when golf is an art."Ryan's Express
1966 to Present
ARLINGTON, Texas
	It seems a ridiculous notion now, but for much of his career Nolan Ryan was regarded, unfairly, as nothing more than a glorified .500 pitcher -- one with a lot of strikeouts, to be sure, and the ability for an occasional masterpiece, but a borderline Hall of Fame candidate.

	With each passing year, however, Ryan solidifies his status as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Certainly, he is the most amazing pitching specimen, still throwing a 90-plus mph fastball as he moves closer to age 50 than 40, with 25 seasons behind him. His Hall of Fame credentials are now unquestioned, and he continues to compile a resume that may never be approached. 

	In 1991, pitching for the Texas Rangers at the age of 44, Ryan threw his seventh no-hitter, three more than any pitcher who ever lived. (He also has 12 one-hitters, 19 two-hitters, 30 three-hitters, 27 four-hitters, and has lost five no-hitters in the ninth inning). He struck out 203 more batters in '91 -- his 15th time over 200 strikeouts, and 22nd consecutive year over 100 -- to bring his career strikeout total to a record 5,511, more than 1,000 ahead of runnerup Steve Carlton (4,136). He won 12 more games, giving him 314 in his career, tied for 13th all-time. And his appealing modesty continued to earn him new fans.

	Ryan holds the records for most strikeouts in a season (383 for California in 1973) and has struck out 10 or more batters in a game 213 times, 115 more than second-place Sandy Koufax. And the most amazing thing of all is that he's hardly slowing down. His longevity has been credited to a comprehensive conditioning program and nearly flawless pitching mechanics. One of Ryan's fastballs was clocked in a 1974 game with Detroit at 100.9 mph. Nearly two decades later, he hasn't dropped off by much.

	"He's the only guy who puts fear into me," Reggie Jackson once said. "Not because he can get me out, but because he could kill me." ;Missed It By That Much
January 27, 1991

TAMPA, Florida
	Super Bowls are supposed to be unseemly routs. They're supposed to be over and done with by halftime, two weeks of hype followed by 60 minutes of anti-climax.

	Or so we've come to expect during more than XX years of mostly unfulfilled Super Sundays. And that's why Super Bowl XXV, on January 27, 1991, was such a treat. For four quarters the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills slugged it out, a compelling matchup of the Giants' old-fashioned power running game against the Bills' new-fangled no-huddle offense. In the end -- the very end -- the Giants won 20-19, but their victory wasn't secure until Buffalo placekicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal attempt with eight seconds remaining. Norwood's kick sailed to the right, about four feet wide of the goal post. 

	"It came down to the last kick, and the Super Bowl is supposed to be played that way," said Bills quarterback Jim Kelly. "If you want to write a Super Bowl script, this is probably what you have to write."

	No Super Bowl had ever been decided by fewer than three points before. The MVP for the Giants was veteran running back O.J. Anderson, who gained 102 yards on 21 carries, but their inspirational leader was quarterback Jeff Hostetler, who had replaced injured Phil Simms with two games left in the regular season. In the Super Bowl, Hostetler was knocked woozy by a tremendous hit in the first half, but he came back to throw a touchdown pass to Stephen Baker before intermission, and then guided the Giants to 10 points in the second half. 

	As it turned out, they needed every one of them.HFour Horsemen and a Gipper
20th Century

SOUTH BEND, Indiana
	If there's one college you could call "America's Team" it would have to be Notre Dame. 

	Their football legacy is more storied than any school's. Their history is resplendent with national titles; Heisman Trophy winners; classic duels with -- to name a very few -- Army, the University of Southern California, Michigan State, Penn State, and Miami; great players -- Paul Hornung, Angelo Bertelli, Johnny Lujack, Tim Brown, Joe Theismann, Joe Montana, Rocket Ismail; great coaches -- Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Knute Rockne, Lou Holtz; and lots of that famed Irish luck. 

	The most legendary backfield to play for the school was "The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame" -- the talented quartet made up of quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, halfbacks Jim Crowley and Don Miller, and fullback Elmer Layden. They were christened by sportswriter Grantland Rice, who watched the four men put on an offensive show against Army on October 18, 1924. "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again," Rice wrote in his account of the game for the New York Herald Tribune. "In dramatic lore, they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below." 

	Notre Dame's athletic teams used to be known as the Catholics and later the Ramblers. They officially became the Fighting Irish in 1927. 

	"Win one for the Gipper" was supposed to be coach Knute Rockne's admonition to his team at halftime of a scoreless Army-Notre Dame game in 1928. According to legend, Notre Dame quarterback George Gipp, dying of a viral throat infection, had told Rockne to save the inspirational ploy for just the right moment. There is some dispute about whether the deathbed scene ever really took place.

	In 1929, Notre Dame's new football stadium was under construction, so the team played no games at home. They went 9-0. They did not lose a home football game from 1906-27.

	Rockne was killed in an air crash in Kansas, on March 31, 1931. He was 43.

	Unbeaten Michigan State and unbeaten Notre Dame played to a 10-10 tie in 1966. The game's finish has become one of the most famous in college football history as the Irish ran out the clock to preserve the tie and their top ranking. Notre Dame is still criticized to this day for making little, if any, attempt to risk winning the game.

	After a recent spell of downright mediocrity, the Fighting Irish have again returned to being contenders every year for the national title, as they make their way annually through one of the most entertaining and competitive schedules of any college team. 

	It was once said that the three toughest jobs in America were President, Mayor of New York City, and football coach at Notre Dame. When Notre Dame's coach heard this, he responded, "How did the Mayor of New York City get in there?" &The Flying Finn
1928

FINLAND
	Paavo Nurmi, born in Turku, Finland, in 1897, is one of the most famous Olympians of all time. The great distance runner appeared in the 1920 Games at Antwerp, the 1924 Games at Paris, and the 1928 Games at Amsterdam. In one or more of these Games, he competed in the following events: the men's 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Nurmi, known as the "Flying Finn" and the "Phantom Finn," kept up a tradition (which continues today) of great Finnish distance runners. One of his trademarks was the stopwatch he carried when he ran and which he consulted periodically to check his pace. 

	Nurmi won a total of 12 medals -- nine golds, three silvers. Because he is an Olympic legend, and because he appeared in so many heats and finals, stories about him naturally abound. He did not compete in the 10,000 meter race in 1924 -- though he was the defending champion and wanted to -- because Finnish officials believed he was entering too many races. (Apparently they relented in 1928, and he won the gold again.) 

	In a steeplechase heat in the 1928 Games, Lucien Duquesne of France once pulled out Nurmi when he fell into the first water jump. Nurmi reciprocated by pacing Duquesne the rest of the way, and the two finished the heat together. (In the final, Nurmi took the silver and Duquesne came in sixth.) 

	But perhaps the most telling story about Nurmi involves the 1924 Games. Nurmi had qualified for the finals of both the 1,500 meters and the 5,000 meters, only to learn that they would be held 30 minutes apart. The outraged Finnish team protested but all the French officials would do was change the starting times slightly so that there would now be all of 55 minutes to rest between finals. 

	Nurmi won the 1,500 meter gold medal. After a quick rest he lined up, fifty-five minutes later, to run the 5,000 meter final. 

	With 500 yards to go in that race, Nurmi looked at his stopwatch one last time, threw it to the grass, and picked up his pace. 

	The Phantom Finn won the gold medal. And set another Olympic record.Soar Like an Eagle?
1988

FINLAND
	To be able to fly for even a few seconds, after lifting off from a 70-meter or 90-meter ski jump, must certainly be thrilling. One imagines it would be a compliment to say to one of the daring young athletes who compete in these dangerous and thrilling events that he had soared like an eagle.

	Not in 1988 it wouldn't.

	The worst competitive ski jumper -- and the most popular -- in history showed up at the Calgary Games to take dead last in both individual ski jumping events. The margin between Great Britain's Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards and the next-worst competitor was vast. But Edwards became a pop hero for his rare combination of enthusiasm, daring, and ineptness. Eventually, the British Ski Federation banned The Eagle from competing in the world championships, claiming that he "was jumping worse than ever," which was not so easy to envision in Edwards's case. Many thought the BSF's move was spiteful, others thought it merciful.

	Despite Edwards' non-heroics, the ski-jumping story at the Calgary Games was written by Matti Nykanen, a Finn who has become the Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan of ski jumping. By 1984 at Sarajevo, Nykanen was already the world's best. He won the 90-meter gold by the largest margin of victory in Olympic jumping history. But a bad second jump on the "small," or 70 meter, hill cost him the gold there, and he had to settle for silver. 

	Nykanen, who once received at least as much attention for his antics and bad behavior as he did for his breathtaking jumping, was happy to see that, starting with the 1988 Winter Games, a third "pure" jumping event (as opposed to Nordic combined events, which include both ski-jumping and cross-country skiing) was to be added: The 90-meter team competition. That was fine with Nykanen, because it just meant more medals that he could win. 

	Nykanen and his fellow competitors soared over the Canadian crowds, while Edwards, to great cheers, was doing something else altogether. By the end of the competitions, Nykanen had become the first jumper in history to win three "pure" golds, as he won both individual events and shared in Finland's team gold. 

	Nykanen had been incredible to watch. What magnificent creature could you compare him to? A bird? Yes, maybe. An eagle? Not bloody likely. 6Canada's National Pastime
1928

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland
	This American goalie doesn't look very formidable, and neither were any of the other goalies who had to face the onslaught of a Canadian Olympic hockey team's rush. Indeed, the squad from Canada was so dominant in the early part of this century that it received one of the ultimate compliments in sport: In the 1928 Olympic competition at St. Moritz, Canada was simply advanced straight to the final round, while the other 10 competing nations were divided into three pools, with the winner of each joining Canada in the finals. 

	On the way to winning its third hockey gold in a row, Canada held the opposition to no goals while averaging 13 a game.

	The Americans were the only nation to give the Canadians anything more than shooting practice, losing in 1920 and 1924 to her northern neighbor by the quite respectable scores of 2-0 and 6-1, and taking home the silver each time. In 1928, however, the USA did not make the final round. Canada decimated Great Britain, 14-0, host nation Switzerland, 13-0, and outplayed Sweden in an 11-0 nailbiter. 
The Olympic Ideal
1896

ATHENS, Greece
	They survived 1,200 years of invasions, natural disasters, wars and even the loss of Greek independence. No matter what else was going on in ancient Greece, every four years the "Call to the Games" was sounded, a "Truce of God" was declared, and the Olympics Games began.

	That kind of record cannot be boasted in modern times. Since they were reestablished in 1896, the Olympics have been suspended during two world wars and have been marred by violence and political controversy.

	But both the ancient games and their modern heirs are dedicated to the ideals of sportsmanship, bringing together in competition athletes from around the world, and striving for excellence.

	The origin of the games in Olympia, Greece, is shrouded in myth. The first definitive record of victors' names dates to 776 BC and stretches without interruption to 394 AD, when Roman emperor Theodosius abolished the games. It is believed that the Olympics began as a one-day religious festival and developed into a seven-day carnival of culture, athletic prowess and religious ceremony. 

	The early games featured foot races, chariot races, boxing, and the five-event pentathlon designed for Spartan warrior-athletes. Kings raced alongside commoners, their only prize an olive wreath, symbolizing the Greek ideal of individual excellence.

	That early sense of competition is what Baron Pierre de Coubertin aimed to recapture when he revived the Olympic Games in the late 1800s. The Frenchman insisted that there should be no point score in the games and he was against nationalism dominating the competition.

	The first modern Olympics was held in 1896 in Athens and included many of the events we now associate with the Summer Olympics, including track and field, cycling, swimming, weight lifting and pistol shooting.

	The highlight of those first modern games was the marathon, run over the ancient course from the battlefield of Marathon to the Athens stadium 25 miles away. As the leader burst into the arena, the crowd of 60,000 cheered wildly, recognizing Spiridon Loues, a Greek peasant whose victory established the modern games.

	The games have been held many times since that first competition, and in 1924 were split into summer and winter games.

	Twice, during World War I and World War II, the games have been suspended. In 1936, the Olympics were held in Berlin under the watchful eye of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. In 1972, Arab terrorists targeted the competition, kidnapping 11 Israeli athletes who were killed during a gun battle between the terrorists and German police.

	Politics has also intruded on the games. In 1980, the United States boycotted the Moscow games and the Soviets and other Soviet bloc nations responded by boycotting the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 1984. A Thief in His Own Backyard
1913
BROOKLINE, Massachussetts
	It was so storybook as to be apocryphal. 

	For a surprise of such charming dimensions to have occurred in baseball, a skinny farm kid would need to have shown up the day of the World Series, thrown a few fastballs before the game for the manager, and then gone in and won Game 7. In basketball, maybe a gangly fellow from off the street would have won a desperate, last-minute place on the injury-decimated team, only to score 35 points and lead his team to the NBA title. 

	It happened not in baseball or basketball but in golf. Yes, it was storybook and, yes, it really happened. 

	Amateur Francis Ouimet, 20, had grown up across the street from the Brookline Country Club in Massachusetts. He had caddied at the club and become a pretty fair, though still undistinguished, golfer. When the 1913 US Open championship was held there, Ouimet qualified and competed. As much as playing in the prestigious tournament, Ouimet was thrilled to get a glimpse of the grand British player, Harry Vardon, who had been US Open champ some 13 years before.

	Ouimet may have come as much to learn as to play but in the process, he taught the world's best a lesson. Holding steady over the last four holes of regulation (playing one-under for them), Ouimet found himself in a three-way tie with Vardon and Ted Ray, another great British professional. To the further shock of the golf world, it was the young American who was the rock in the 18-hole playoff that ensued, while the two seasoned Brits faltered, losing going away. If Ouimet was at a disadvantage in tournament experience, perhaps his familiarity with the course helped him in the end.

	His victory is seen not only as perhaps golf's greatest upset but also as an historically significant moment -- the moment when the reign of British golfing supremacy ended and American domination began. Ouimet's delightful run of good golf signalled the changing of the guard and it all began, fair or not, in his own backyard.  @The Golfer With an Army
1950s to 1960s
AUGUSTA, Georgia
	No golfer in history ever had a more loyal or enthusiastic following than Arnold Palmer, and few had a more successful career. Like Babe Ruth in baseball and Red Grange in football, Palmer added a human quality and an undefinable charisma that made his sport accessible to the masses and paved the way for the big-money bonanza that followed. The way he would hitch up his trousers and attack a hole with hellbent ferocity endeared him to the legion of Palmer fans who were dubbed "Arnie's Army," and which follow him to this day in his successful stints on the Seniors Tour.

	Palmer's first big splash came in 1958, when he won the Masters title, followed by the US Open and another Masters victory in 1960. For the next five years he was at the top of the sport, winning four more majors, capped by a six-stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus in the '64 Masters. In 1963, Palmer became the first player to top $100,000 in earnings in a single season, and his second-place finish in the 1968 PGA championship pushed him over the million dollar mark, another golfing first.K	Pele
1977

BRAZIL
	After Pele's great debut at age 17 in the 1958 World Cup, in which he scored two goals against Sweden in the finals to help his country to victory, European clubs offered the Brazilian star huge sums to play for them. However, the Congress of Brazil stepped in and declared Pele an official national treasure and forbade his sale or trade.

	Pele led Brazil to another World Cup in 1970 but he is best known in America for trying to help sustain the North American Soccer League, which was formed in 1968 from the merger of the National Professional Soccer League and the United States Soccer Association. In 1971, three foreign clubs -- Portuguesa of Brazil, Lenerossi-Vicenza of Italy, and Apollo of Greece -- joined to compete against league members in cup competition, the results of which were included in league standings.

	In 1975, Pele signed with the New York Cosmos. Other notable players in the league included Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Kyle Rote, Jr., and Shep Messing. Among the league's innovations were the "shoot-out" tiebreaking procedure and the abolition of the 107-year-old FIFA offsides rule: the NASL changed the demarcation from the midfield line to a line 35 yards from the opponent's goal.

	During a pregame ceremony before his final professional game on October 1, 1977, Pele led the crowd of 75,646 at the New Jersey Meadowlands in a chant of "Love! Love! Love!" He played the first half with the Cosmos and at halftime removed his #10 Cosmos jersey and gave it to his father. Pele then donned his old #10 for Santos, the Brazilian team he'd played with for 18 years and the Cosmos' opponent that day, and played the second half with them. After the game, he gave his Santos jersey to his first coach and took a lap around the field. Cosmos goalies Messing and Erol Yasin then carried him off on their shoulders.

	Despite all of the league's marquee names and strange new rules, it could not hold on in America, and the league's final championship went to the Chicago Sting, which defeated the Toronto Blizzard on October 13, 1984.

	Americans like to play soccer but, compared to the rest of the world, they are not particularly interested in watching it. Perhaps the game that is known everywhere else as "football" will find its place as an American spectator sport when the World Cup comes to the US in 1994.The Most Perfect Game
October 8, 1956
BRONX, New York
	On the day that he pitched his World Series perfect game, New York Yankee Don Larsen was notified that his estranged wife, Vivian, had filed a court action seeking to withhold his Series money. She charged that Larsen was delinquent in his support payments.

	Larsen had better luck on the field. His performance in mowing down all 27 Brooklyn Dodgers he faced in Game 5 of the 1956 Series was so overwhelming that shortstop Pee Wee Reese was the only Dodger batter even to manage a ball three. Alas, on a 3-2 pitch, Reese looked at a third strike. 

	When Dale Mitchell, pinchhitting for pitcher Sal Maglie and the last threat to Larsen and the Yankees' 2-0 lead, also looked at a third strike -- Larsen's 97th pitch of the day -- Yankee catcher Yogi Berra burst from behind the plate and leapt into Larsen's arms. 

	It must have been an especially memorable day, too, for Babe Pinelli, the umpire who had called the historic game. It was Pinelli's last day ever behind the plate, as the 22-year veteran retired from umpiring after the Series which, in their usual fashion, the Yankees won from the Brooklyns, in seven games. 

	Who would have thought that Larsen, the pitcher who just two years before had posted one of the worst season winning percentages ever for anyone with more than 20 decisions (3-21 in 1954, when he was with Baltimore), would become the first man to throw a no-hitter of any kind in postseason play -- much less a perfect game in the World Series, at Yankee Stadium? 

	It's a funny game. Shooting Stars
20th Century

POLO GROUNDS, New York
	They are the women and men who capture the images of sport that endure forever: the sprinter leaning for the tape, the running back lunging for the first down, the power forward arching before the jam, the outfielder reaching for the line drive, the golfer frozen in mid-swing, the figure skater spinning in place. 

	The players play, oblivious to the fact that their poses are being recorded for all time. Their photographic biographers run up and down the sidelines, or hunch quietly beside court, clicking away, capturing a history that is measured in points, in games, in strikes and balls, in seconds. 

	The equipment -- especially the lens -- of today's sports photographer is vastly more sophisticated then that used by their predecessors here. But their eye hasn't changed all that much, nor their purpose: to freeze action that still expresses action, to hold for one moment speed and grace, to stop for an instant bodies that are about to collide, or land, or soar. 

	Just a word, then, from all sports fans, to all the best photographers who have chosen sport as their subject:

	The athletes thank you, and we thank you. 0The Skier Who Changed Football
1971

KANSAS CITY, Missouri
	In a goofy mood one afternoon in 1965, Montana State student Jan Stenerud, a native Norwegian who would win three Big Sky Conference ski jumping titles for his college, interrupted his jogging to try kicking a football. He booted the ball through the uprights, sixty yards away. Basketball coach Roger Craft happened to be watching at the time and later apprised football coach Jim Sweeney of this fact. 

	Three things came out of this small event:

	1) The ski jumper helped the modern kicking game take flight. 

	2) Sweeney owed Craft a dinner. 

	3) Football would never be quite the same. 

	After college, Stenerud was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs. Following his illustrious career there, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

	In truth, Cornell's Pete Gogolak became the first soccer-style kicker in pro football when the Buffalo Bills signed him to a contract in 1964. But rather than muddle the facts of the evolution of the football kicking game, here is a somewhat reliable, if odd, chronology.

	1916: George Gipp, who will one day drop-kick a 55-yard field goal, joins Notre Dame's freshman team. 

	1941: Does anyone notice that the kicking tee has been legalized? (What, with Pearl Harbor being attacked?)

	1945: Ben Agajanian, the game's first kicking "specialist," enters the league sans the four toes on his kicking foot he lost in an elevator accident. 

	1964: Gogolak signs with the Bills, becoming pro football's first soccer stylist and paving the way for an invasion of strange-sounding Europeans. Sportswriters lament the fact that spellcheck programs are still years away.

	1966: New rule: Goalposts are painted bright gold. 

	In the same year, Bills kicker Booth Lusteg, who carried his own goalposts in his car, misses a last-second, 23-yard field goal against the San Diego Chargers and the game ends in a tie. Afterward, Bills fans beat up Lusteg. Police ask Lusteg why he didn't call for help. "Because I deserved it," he replies.

	1967: The Dallas Cowboys go on a "Kicking Caravan" through 28 cities, traveling 10,000 miles in search of a placekicker. Incumbent Danny Villaneuva does not interpret this as a vote of confidence.

	1970: New Orleans Saint Tom Dempsey, missing half of his kicking foot, wins a game by kicking a 63-yarder, the longest field goal in NFL history. 

	1973: The Miami Dolphins complete the only perfect season in NFL history despite kicker Garo Yepremian's backward pass in Super Bowl VII, which leads to the lone Washington Redskin score and helps further secure the belief that kickers should kick and not be heard. 

	On the up side, the Oakland Raiders draft Southern Mississippi's Ray Guy, the first time a punter is picked in the first round.

	1974: New rule: Goalposts are moved from the goal line to the end line. Another new rule: Kickoffs shall be made from the 35-yard line, not the 40. Another new rule: Missed field goals from beyond the 20-yard line will return to the line of scrimmage. 

	1976: New rule: Ribbon two inches by 36 inches long will be attached to the top of each goal post to assist in determining wind direction. So much for the wet-finger-in-the-air method.

	1979: Dave Jennings, the New York Giants punter, clarifies his position. "I'm not a football player," he says. "I'm a punter."

	1984: New rule: Kickers and holders may be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct if they simulate being roughed by a defensive player. Enrollment by kickers in acting classes plummets. 

	1987: One of David Letterman's Top Ten NFL Strike Demands: "Players can smoke onfield during point-after attempts."

	1991: The New York Giants believe God has a rooting interest in the NFL postseason as they continually bow their heads, hold hands, and pray when their own or opposing kicker attempts a three-pointer. Considering the results of these kicks, the eventual Super Bowl XXV champs may be right.

	1994: The World Cup is held in the US, setting off a national soccer craze. Kicking proficiency soars. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXIX on a last-second, 83-yard field goal. Who Is Cornelius Warmerdam?
1940s

NEW YORK, New York
	The gain in height cleared that pole vaulters have made since the modern Olympics began is astonishing. In 1896, the bronze medalist, Evangelos Damaskos of Greece, vaulted 9' 4-1/4". The fifth-place finisher cleared a mere 8' 2-1/2" -- just inches more than today's top men high jumpers clear. Improvements both in technique and equipment -- not to mention the generally superior conditioning that the modern athlete enjoys over his predecessors' -- are responsible.

	Americans once had a stranglehold on the Olympic pole vault competition, winning the gold medal every year from the Games' inception until 1972 (not including the 1906 Intercalated Games). Oddly, an American has not been back to the Olympic winner's circle since. Bob Seagren, the 1968 winner, took the silver in 1972 after his Cata-Poles were banned, because of either their content or their lack of previous availability; in the ensuing controversy, it was hard to tell quite what he had done wrong. 

	Today, Soviet Sergei Bubka, the 1988 Olympic champion, owns the event, having become the first man to vault 20' (in Malmo, Sweden, on August 5, 1991). It was his fourth world record -- of 1991. 

	But the greatest pole vaulter of his time, maybe of any time, was an American who never got a medal, and never even competed in an Olympics, due to circumstances -- namely, World War II. Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam pole-vaulted 15 feet or more 43 times between 1940 and 1944. No one else cleared the height until 1951. When he retired, Warmerdam's best vault was nine inches higher than anyone else's. His world record of 15' 7-3/4", set on May 23, 1942, remained until April 27, 1957, when Bob Gutowski broke it. The Man Who Mastered Babe
1922 to 1924
ST. LOUIS, Missouri
	During the 1922, 1923 and 1924 seasons, New York Yankee slugger Babe Ruth batted .315, .393, and .378, and hit 35, 41, and 46 home runs, respectively. But his batting average was under .200 in 30 at-bats with one home run against Hub Pruett. The St. Louis Browns lefty reliever, who relied much on his screwball, struck Ruth out 15 times, including 10 of the first 11 times he faced him. 

	Pruett's lifetime mark was 29-48, with a 4.63 ERA. After Pruett retired, he became a doctor and thanked Ruth for putting him through medical school because, Pruett claimed, his success against Ruth was the main reason that he was kept in baseball. The Big Red Machine
1970s

CINCINNATI, Ohio
	They were the best National League team of the 1970s, and in fact one of the best teams baseball has ever seen. Their .667 winning percentage (108-54) in 1975 ties that year's team for seventh-best all-time.  

	Wherever you looked around the Cincinnati Reds diamond you saw All-Stars and future Hall of Famers. At second base, two-time MVP Joe Morgan. At third, "Charley Hustle" -- eventual all-time hits leader Pete Rose. At shortstop, Dave Concepcion, the brilliant fielder who is credited with being the first player intentionally -- and resourcefully -- to bounce a long throw on artificial turf. At first base, perennial 100-RBIs-a-year man Tony Perez. 

	The outfield was almost more of the same. George Foster could hit home runs in bunches while Ken Griffey and Cesar Geronimo hit for average and chased down anything belted their way. 

	If you were looking for a weakness, you weren't about to find one behind home plate. Catching for the Reds was future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, one of the best who ever played the position.

	Exactly half of the Reds starting lineup had won or would win the National League MVP Award during the 70s, two of them twice (Morgan and Bench).

	Actually, the Reds did have a weakness, a significant one -- pitching. But though the arms on the mound were, as a group, mediocre, Cincinnati got around this glaring shortcoming in two ways: by having such a spectacular regular lineup, and by having a manager who refused to let any pitcher pitch for very long before pulling him out in favor of a fresher arm. Indeed, Reds manager Sparky Anderson was unkindly known by his pitching staff as "Captain Hook" for his habit of relieving his starters so early. The team set a record in 1975 by going 45 games in a row without a complete game.

	Didn't matter. The Reds won four pennants between 1970 and 1976 and seemed gradually to get better as the decade wore on. They lost in the World Series in 1970 and 1972. In 1975, they were, by baseball terms, nearly unbeatable at home, winning a National League record 64 games at Riverfront Stadium. That year they won the Western division by a whopping 20 games and won the World Series, overcoming in the process the drama of Boston Red Sox Carlton Fisks's 12th-inning, Game 6-winning home run. Then the next year the Reds made short work of the New York Yankees, not only sweeping them but doing so with only nine Reds coming to bat (the designated hitter rule was in effect). 

	The Reds returned to the winner's circle in 1990, shocking and sweeping the favored Oakland A's with a new crew. But the Reds that won that Series cannot be compared -- for sheer, overwhelming talent -- with their predecessors of a decade-and-a-half before. Those Reds are all now retired, in the Hall of Fame, or, in the case of Rose, out of jail and piecing things back together. 

	For half a decade not that many years ago in Ohio, he and his mates made up the best National League team anyone had seen in a very long time. Curse of the Bambino
1918 to ?

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
	To be a Boston Red Sox fan -- and most everyone in New England is, whether they admit it or not -- is to have an intimate relationship with heartache.

	The worst moments are frozen in time, and in the collective psyche. Johnny Pesky holding onto the ball in the 1946 World Series while Enos Slaughter scored the decisive run. Bill Lee serving up the blooper pitch that Tony Perez hit over the screen for a homer in Game 7, 1975. Mike Torrez giving up Bucky Dent's homer in the 1978 playoff with the Yankees. Bill Buckner letting Mookie Wilson's grounder go through his legs in 1986, when they had just moments before been one out away from the World Series title.

	One.....out......away! 

	It hasn't always been torture to root for the Bosox. They seemed to be dynasty-bound, in fact, when they went 4-for-4 in World Series play during a seven-year span during the 1910s. But they haven't won again since 1918, losing all four Series in which they've been involved -- all in seven games, naturally. They've been involved in both American League playoffs, and lost both, of course. In 1978, they let the Yankees overcome a 14-1/2-game deficit to eventually beat them in a one-game playoff.

  According to local legend, the team has been jinxed since 1920, when cash-strapped owner Harry Frazee sold a young pitcher named Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. The Yankees went on to win 22 World Series titles. The Red Sox are still waiting for the so-called "Curse of the Bambino" to be lifted.

	And yet it hasn't been all bad. Red Sox fans get to watch games in Fenway Park, the oldest and quaintest of big-league ballparks, with its legendary "Green Monster" in left, a 37-foot-high fence that terrorizes pitchers and taunts hitters. And Fenway has been peopled with some of the greatest ever to play the game. Ted Williams hit .400 there. Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown there. Roger Clemens struck out 20 there.

	But they're still waiting for the next World Series banner to fly there. The Henley
1950

THAMES RIVER, England
	Lady Clementine Churchill once remarked to Winston that the Henley Royal Regatta, the world's premier rowing event, was "a lovely pageant of English life."

	Established in 1839 and contested on the Thames River at Henley almost every year since, it remains quintessentially English, starting with the stewards, who are appointed for life and charged with the task of maintaining proper decorum among participants. A writer described one of the turn-of-the-century Henleys this way: "Edwardian heydey, blue skies, pink champagne, the razzle-dazzle of the parasol." The regatta was halted for World War II, but just briefly. The official history of the Henley contains this notation for 1945: "The war in Europe having ended in May, it was decided to hold a one-day Regatta on Saturday, July 7th."

	Top rowing teams from around the world participate in Henley, but no one takes it more seriously than the host British. According to a famous story, three Cambridge students stopped training briefly in 1931 so they could pick up their diplomas in person. The coach, Sir Henry Howard, was furious. "Degrees! Bugger degrees!" he exclaimed. "If I knew there were chaps up to this sort of business, they wouldn't have been in the Henley crew!" 	A Smile to Light a Country
1984

WEST VIRGINIA
	Smile.

	That's one of the two best things 4'8-3/4", 94-lb. gymnast Mary Lou Retton did at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The other was perform gymnastic wonders.

	No American woman had ever won an individual gymnastics medal before 1984. But because the Olympic boycott meant that the dominant Soviet team would not be competing -- they had won the team combined gold medal at the previous eight Olympics, not to mention armfuls of individual golds -- there seemed a very good chance that an American woman could finally break through and make history. Which isn't to say that the USA would not have had a chance otherwise; they had a strong team in 1984, as well as the coaching services of Romanian Bela Karolyi, Nadia Comaneci's mentor when she dazzled the world with her seven perfect 10s at the 1976 Olympics.

	Besides her radiant smile, Retton, from West Virginia, was physically notable for her muscularity and athleticism, a departure from the more lithe and balletic body type of Comaneci and Olga Korbut.

	Remarkably, the 1984 Olympics was Retton's first international competition ever; a wrist injury had prevented her from competing in the 1983 world championships. But she came from good stock: Mary Lou's father, Ron, had co- captained with Jerry West the University of West Virginia basketball team that lost in the 1959 NCAA finals, and he had played shortstop in the New York Yankees farm system until 1963. Even when Retton suffered a knee injury six weeks before the Olympics, hope was not lost. Arthroscopic surgery successfully removed torn cartilage and she was ready to compete.

	Retton was locked in a close battle with Romanian Kati Szabo for the all-around competition (made up of performances on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and the floor exercise). With two rotations to go, Retton trailed Szabo by .15 of a point. Retton then earned perfect 10s on both the floor exercise and the vault, and took the gold. In the individual events she won a silver (vault) and two bronzes (uneven bars, floor exercises). She was fourth in the balance beam. In the team combined competition, the talented Romanians, led by Szabo (who had four golds and one silver for the whole Games), won the gold, while the USA took second, giving Retton another silver.

	Mary Lou Retton made Olympic history in Los Angeles, and afterward achieved one of the highest honors an American athlete can achieve: She appeared on the Wheaties box.	

	Naturally, she was smiling broadly.L	Mr. October
October 18, 1977 
BRONX, New York
	In Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, New York Yankee outfielder Reggie Jackson took only three swings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

	As far as Yankee fans were concerned, that was more than enough.

	Because each Jackson swing produced a home run. In fact, the last swing he took in Game 5 also produced a homer. Considering that he also walked on four pitches in Game 6, that meant that the last four swings that Jackson took that year all ended in the seats. 

	It should not be surprising, then, that Reginald Martinez Jackson's most enduring nickname is "Mr. October," for his countless clutch performances in the autumn postseason.

	Burt Hooton was Jackson's first Dodger pitching victim in the fourth-inning, as Reggie swatted a two-run homer into Yankee Stadium's right field stands. Elias Sosa was next on Jackson's hit list; another two-run blast to right. And then it was Charlie Hough's turn, as Jackson hit a leadoff solo tater to centerfield in the eighth inning. The Yankees won the game, 8-4, and the Series, four games to two. 

	Babe Ruth is the only other player who has homered three times in one World Series game, and Babe did it twice, in 1926 and 1928. In the 1977 Series, Jackson totalled five home runs in just 20 at-bats, an eye-popping rate of one homer for every four at-bats. Even Ruth never matched that in any of his ten illustrious World Series appearances. 

	Jackson was not only a great player but also a great winner. He led the Oakland A's to three championships in the mid-1970s, then helped the Yankees to two titles (and a third pennant). His Series slugging average of .755 is tops all-time. 

	Jackson, one of the game's most exciting players and an unabashed "hot dog" -- an Oakland teammate once said there wasn't enough mustard in the world to cover Jackson -- typically dropped his bat after hitting a monster home run, then stood frozen for a moment at the plate, watching the ball soar up and out before he slowly worked in to his oft-used home run trot. He seemed to enjoy his three Game 6 homers at least as much as the delirious Yankee fans, who were witnessing their team win their first championship in 15 years. He gave something to them, and they gave something back to him, as they realized they were watching one of the greatest individual performances in World Series history.

	Mr. October. Catchy. Inventor of the Triple Double
1960 to 1961

CINCINNATI, Ohio
	The way the game of basketball is supposed to be played, as everyone once believed, is that your big man gets the rebounds, your little man gets the assists, and someone else scores the points. In the 1960-61 NBA season, Oscar Robertson joined the Cincinnati Royals and changed all that. When the season ended, Robertson was third in the league in scoring, averaging more than 30 points a game. He was also first in the league in dishing out assists, averaging almost 10 per game. Although he was not among the top five in rebounding, he averaged almost 9 per game. Robertson, in other words, "invented" the triple double. Until Robertson came on the scene, it was generally believed that no player could be big enough, fast enough, unselfish enough and accurate enough to rebound, assist and score in double figures in a single game. In recent years, it has been commonly done in a single game by such outstanding players as Magic Johnson and Clyde Drexler but almost never prior to the "Big O's" arrival on the scene.

	It is worth noting that Robertson's arrival in 1960-61 was accompanied by the arrival of Jerry West, who joined the Lakers the first year they played in Los Angeles (having moved there from Minneapolis). West became the backbone of the Laker team for many years, and was famous for his quick release of the ball on his jump shot. Had it not been for the fact that West's career paralleled Robertson's he would quite likely be ranked as the best NBA player of the 60s. 
The Granddaddy of Bowls
1929

PASADENA, California
	There are now enough college bowls in the country in December and January to serve salad to an entire football squad, but the Big Four, despite rumors to the contrary, are still: the Orange, played in Miami, Florida; the Cotton, played in Dallas, Texas; the Sugar, played in New Orleans, Louisiana; and the Rose, played in Pasadena, California. All are played on New Year's Day, and except for the Sugar Bowl, which is played in the Louisiana Superdome, all are played in stadia with the same name as the most famous game played there each year. 

	Of these four grand games, the Rose Bowl has by far the most glorious tradition. The other three bowls began in the 1930s; the first Rose Bowl was played in 1902, with Michigan romping over Stanford 49-0 and using the same 11 men the entire game. There was then a 14-year hiatus before the second Rose Bowl was played, in 1916. The game was played in Tournament Park until 1922, when it was moved to its present site. Only once since has it not been played at the 104,091-seat stadium: Because of fears of a Japanese sneak attack on the West Coast, the 1942 Rose Bowl game -- to be played less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor -- was moved from Pasadena to Durham, North Carolina. Oregon State beat Duke, 20-16.

	Since 1947, the Rose Bowl has pitted the champion of the Big 10 Conference in the midwest against the Pac-10 Conference champion in the west. While the Big Ten has generally boasted a stronger conference and stronger champions for at least the past couple of decades, there's something about playing in California that seems to get to the Midwesterners, and New Year's Day surprises, and even wipeouts, by lesser-ranked Pac-10 teams have become almost routine. The sun, the warmth, the palm trees; something. From 1970 to 1987, the Big 10 won the Rose Bowl a whopping two times. 

	The most famous play in any Rose Bowl was a bonehead one. California center Roy Riegels picked up a fumble and ran the wrong way down the field to set up the decisive score for Georgia Tech in the 1929 game. No one remembers that Riegels was an All-America and a team co-captain the following year. They do know that he shall always be known as Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels.

	The Rose Bowl stadium has served as the site for many other memorable games that did not take place on January 1. In the second quarter of a 1974 game, Notre Dame was romping over the University of Southern California, 24-0, when Trojan running back Anthony Davis put on a show that would not soon be forgotten. "A.D." scored four touchdowns and USC. totaled 55 points in the next 17 minutes, and the Trojans romped, 55-24.

	Going out west for a little R & R at the Rose Bowl can be a mighty unrelaxing experience for teams from the Midwest. Rowdy Tennis 
1970s
BOSTON, Massachusetts
	World Team Tennis was another kooky idea that the 70s spawned. 

	Founded in 1974, this new league of professional players tried to compete with the current men's and women's tour by infusing into one of the world's most individual sports a sense of team play. (Davis and Federation Cup, which also foster team play, apparently were too selective and nationalistic, not to mention unlucrative). Many stars joined WTT to see what all the fuss was about. Billie Jean King, Ken Rosewall, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, and Martina Navratilova were all "drafted" by teams, and proceeded to take their show on the road, travelling to indoor arenas around the country.

	Some league innovations included eliminating the term "love"; using a four-point, no-ad scoring system (if any game went to 3-3, the winner of the next point won the game -- WTT's version of sudden death); substitutions -- "pinch- players" -- were allowed at any time (suppose, as coach, you decided you didn't want Borg returning serve from the backhand side); and, most tellingly in the spirit of this new breed of tennis, crowds were encouraged to be rowdy.

	On September 21, 1978, the Los Angeles Strings defeated the Boston Lobsters three games to one in a best-of-five series.

	The league died that year. It was not greatly mourned. Tennis had survived its most serious brush with pro wrestling-style promotion. WWalk, Then Run
1960

ROME, Italy
	It was not a promising beginning for the fastest woman in the world.

	Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely in Tennessee in 1940, the third youngest of her father's 22 children. Before her childhood was over, Rudolph had been through severe bouts with polio, double pneumonia, and scarlet fever, which resulted in the temporary loss of use of her lower left leg. To help improve her health, Rudolph's mother and many siblings gave her several leg rubs a day. She wore a brace and eventually orthopedic shoes. And then she did not even need those.

	Perhaps all of the hardship and rehabilitation worked in Rudolph's ultimate favor, making her legs and her mind stronger. She became a star high school basketball player and won a bronze medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, as a member of the US women's 4x100 meter relay.

	But it was in Rome four years later that Wilma Rudolph showed just what a lot of love and attention could do for a person. She won the golds in the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash, and then made up for a bad pass on the final leg of the relay to complete the triple sweep in the 4x100 meter relay. She was without question the fastest woman in the world. Counting the heats she'd run in all three races, Rudolph actually crossed the tape first in Rome nine times. Not a bad finish for what had been a less-than-promising start.S	Faster, Faster
1984

LOS ANGELES, California
	The United States has dominated the 4x100 meter men's relay so thoroughly for so long that the drama is more often to see if the four blurs running it will shatter the existing world record, not if they will win. In Olympic competition, America has won the event 13 of 17 times, losing only by disqualification (1912, 1960, and 1988) and boycott (1980). Indeed, ten times the winning American team has used the Olympic showcase to set or tie the existing world record. 

	At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, only one world record was set in track and field: the men's 4x100 meter relay, in which one F. Carlton Lewis, better known as Carl, ran the anchor leg in a rather speedy 8.94 seconds. He shared the new record of 37.83 seconds with Calvin Smith, Ron Brown, and Sam Graddy. 

	At the 1988 Games, the Americans, shockingly, were disqualified before the finals for a baton pass made outside their lane. The mishap deprived Lewis of his chance to repeat his four golds from 1984 (a feat that was denied anyway when he did not win the gold in the 200 meters). 

	On September 1, 1991, at the World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo, Japan, the American relay team again put on a show. The credentials of the four men were so stunning that it was almost laughable that they should all be on the same team: Andre Cason, world indoor champion at 60 meters; Denis Mitchell, who took the bronze in the 100 meters at the world championships; Leroy Burrell, indoor 60 meters world record holder, silver medalist at the 100 meters, and the former world record holder for that distance; and Lewis, who had broken Burrell's 100 meter record with a 9.86 clocking in Tokyo. 

	As usual, Lewis, who has showed that after more than a decade of competition he is still perhaps the world's most astounding athlete, ran the anchor leg. The four men lowered the world record by a healthy 17/100ths of a second, to 37.50. The world record they had broken? Their own, naturally -- or, rather, that of the Santa Monica Track Club relay team, made up of Lewis, Mitchell, Burrell, and Mike Marsh (instead of Cason). 

	It is the hope of all other great 4x100 meter relay teams -- the Jamaicans, the Canadians, the French, the British -- to knock off the Americans. That's a worthwhile aspiration, for sure, but it does not seem as if the USA is ready to pass the baton just yet. Run Leaders
All-Time

	Ty Cobb -- 2245
	Babe Ruth -- 2174

	Hank Aaron -- 2174

	Pete Rose -- 2165

	Willie Mays -- 2062

	Stan Musial -- 1949

	Lou Gehrig -- 1888

	Tris Speaker -- 1881

	Mel Ott -- 1859

	Frank Robinson -- 1829

	Eddie Collins -- 1818

	Carl Yastrzemski -- 1816

	Ted Williams -- 1798

	Charlie Gehringer -- 1774

	Jimmie Foxx -- 1751

	Honus Wagner -- 1735

	Willie Keeler -- 1727

	Cap Anson -- 1719

	Jesse Burkett -- 1718

	Billy Hamilton -- 1692QCalling the Shot
October 1, 1932

WRIGLEY FIELD, Chicago, Illinois
	Did he or didn't he?

	There's no doubt that he hit a home run. There's also no doubt that he was the one player who had the flair to make a gesture like that, and the ability to follow up on it. But whether he did it or not no one really quite knows -- not the fans in the stands that day, not the reporters covering the game. The choppy film of that moment still leaves baseball historians guessing.

	We mean the famous "called shot."

	In Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, New York Yankee slugger Babe Ruth stepped to the plate to face Chicago Cub pitcher Charlie Root. It was the fifth inning and the Wrigley rooters had been taunting Ruth all game -- both understandable and not, considering that Ruth had already hit a three-run homer off of Root back in the first inning. But now the game was tied at four. Then -- here's where it gets muddy -- Ruth may or may not have pointed to a spot out in centerfield. He was either telling the Cubs and their fans, Just watch this. 

	Or maybe he was just adjusting his sleeve. 

	Did he or didn't he?

	Either way, Ruth then hit a homer to deep centerfield.

	Of this we are sure: Lou Gehrig followed Ruth's famous homer -- his second of the day, too -- with his much quieter, but equally important shot. Of this we are sure, too: The Bronx Bombers won the game, 7-5. And this, too: The Yankees swept the series from Chicago.

	But whether Ruth actually predicted that he was going to hit a homer, and where he planned to hit it, before taking his mighty swing -- this we will probably never know.

	We do know it makes a good story. Babe Ruth: An Unlikely Slugger
1914 to 1935
BALTIMORE, Maryland
	With his big stomach and spindly legs, Babe Ruth didn't much look like a great baseball player -- but, man, could he hit a ball!

	As a boy, Ruth roamed the streets of Baltimore, chewed tobacco by age seven and drank whiskey by age 10. Worried about him, his parents sent Ruth to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, where Brother Matthias befriended him, teaching him not only academics and good behavior, but also baseball.

	Ruth was later selected for the Baltimore Orioles, but soon caught the attention of the Boston Red Sox, who bought his contract. Ruth was a great pitcher but an even better hitter. In perhaps the most storied bonehead baseball move of all time, the Sox sold him to the New York Yankees, where in 1920 Ruth inaugurated the lively-ball era with an unheard-of 54 home runs. George Sisler was the runner-up with 19.

	Revelations that Chicago White Sox players had taken money from gamblers in 1919 had damaged baseball's reputation, but during this dark hour Ruth's hitting and charisma helped keep up public interest in the game.

	Ruth turned the Yankees into perennial winners and the most famous sports franchise of all time. In 1927, Ruth's Yankees hit 158 home runs -- 102 more than the second-best team. That year, the Boston Red Sox hit five home runs all year at Fenway Park, their home; Ruth himself hit eight at Fenway, and teammate Lou Gehrig hit six.

	Besides "Babe," George Herman Ruth was known at times as "Bambino," "The Sultan of Swat," "The Caliph of Clout," "The King of Clout," "Jidge," "Slambino," and "The Wizard of Whack," to name a very few.

	He was the first major athlete to endorse Jockey, famed today for Jim Palmer's underwear ads.

	The Yanks let 40-year-old Ruth go at the end of the 1934 season, and he signed with the Boston Braves. In May, 1935, shortly after hitting home runs 712, 713, and 714, he announced his retirement. 

	Ruth's home run record stood until 1974, when Hank Aaron hit his 715th ball over the fence in Atlanta.Something in the Water?
1991 

SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, Dominican Republic
	San Pedro de Macoris, a town of 100,000 in the Dominican Republic, has produced major league shortstops Alfredo Griffin, Tony Fernandez, Damaso Garcia, and Rafael Ramirez; 15 other major leaguers, including Juan Samuel, George Bell, Joaquin Andujar, Julio Franco, and Pedro Guerrero; and more than 100 minor leaguers.

	Other towns and schools have produced what would seem to be a disproportionate number of great baseball players and other athletes. Woonsocket, Rhode Island, for example, has produced two baseball Hall of Famers, Gabby Hartnett and Nap Lajoie. Eddie Murray, probably the premier American League first baseman of the 1980s, and Ozzie Smith, the premier National League shortstop of the 1980s, were high school teammates at Locke High School in Los Angeles. New York Met outfielders Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee were also teammates at Country Training High School in Mobile, Alabama. Herb Score and Dick Brown of Lake Worth, Florida, later became battery mates for the Cleveland Indians.

	Several high schools have had four future major leaguers on their team at one time -- Waxahachie in Texas; both Roosevelt and Beaumont High Schools in St. Louis; and, in California, both Washington (Los Angeles) and Compton High Schools. Hillsborough HS in Tampa has produced several players, most notably among them Dwight Gooden, Floyd Youmans, Gary Sheffield and Mike Heath. 

	But Martin's Ferry, Ohio, and its sister villages might be the best place to grow up if you want to be a world-class athlete. Hailing from there are Lou and Alex Groza of the NFL and NBA, respectively; World Series hero Bill Mazeroski; basketball Hall of Famer John Havlicek; Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas; NFL linebacker Bill Jobko; and major league pitching greats Phil and Joe Niekro.ySatchel Paige: Don't Look Back
1948 to 1965

KANSAS CITY, Missouri
	He is the first pitcher in baseball's Hall of Fame with a losing record, but to judge LeRoy "Satchel" Paige solely on his major-league statistics is to demean one of the most enduring, colorful and successful careers in baseball history.

	In 1948, when Paige was 42, he finally broke into the majors with the Cleveland Indians, the oldest rookie in history and the first black ever to pitch in the American League. For 22 years, he had been the top pitcher and No. 1 gate attraction in the Negro Leagues, known for his unparalleled showmanship and a vast array of pitches and throwing motions, including the famous "hesitation pitch." Paige, who would barnstorm across the nation year round, often defeating major league stars in exhibition games, once estimated he pitched in 2,500 games, played for 250 teams, and threw 100 no-hitters. But baseball's color barrier kept him from displaying his considerable pitching talent in the majors. Finally, in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke down baseball's white walls with the Dodgers, and the following year Indians owner Bill Veeck signed Paige.

	Dizzy Dean, Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Gehringer were among the Hall of Fame players who said Satchel was the best pitcher they ever saw. Though his best days were behind him, he carved out a 6-1 record in 21 games for the Indians, who won the pennant and World Series.

	Paige went on to pitch in a total of six major league seasons, including a cameo appearance with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965 at the age of 59. His overall record was 28-31 -- excluding, of course, the 2,000 or so wins he is believed to have picked up outside the majors. Paige kept right on barnstorming into his sixties, still able to fill the stadium. He was the embodiment of his most famous saying, the last and most poignant of his six rules on how to stay young: "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."The Three Longest Seconds
September 10, 1972

MUNICH, Germany
	In the days before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the competition between the USSR and the USA was rigorous and relentless, not least in sports.

	One of the most controversial, and still argued, games between the two nations occurred in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

	On September 10, the American team, never before beaten in Olympic competition, was on the verge of defeating the Soviet team for the gold medal. Doug Collins had just made two foul shots, putting the US ahead by a point, and, incidentally, giving them their first lead of the game. That seemed good enough since there were only three seconds left in the contest. The USSR inbounded the ball, and then, inexplicably, referee Renato Righetto called timeout with one second left. Whatever the source of the confusion, play was resumed but not with the clock at one second. R. William Jones, the Secretary-General of the International Amateur Basketball Association, intervened, and ruled that the clock be set back to three seconds. Jones had no right to make such a decision but in the confusion no one, apparently, pointed that out.

	The game continued at three seconds. Ivan Yedeshko threw a long pass to Sasha Belov, who literally pushed his way through two confused Americans and made a layup for the winning basket. The subsequent protest by the Americans was rejected by a commission made up of judges from Hungary, Poland, and Cuba, none of whom were in a position to rule otherwise in 1972. The victory remains on the books although it must be noted that the American team refused to accept the silver medal. Were such a situation to occur today, probably everyone would vote against the Russians, including and especially the Russians.~Big Red
May 1973
CHURCHILL DOWNS, Kentucky
	In 1969, horse owner Penny Tweedy lost a coin flip for the right to choose the first foal of Bold Ruler. In compensation, Tweedy was given the first choice the following year. She picked a foal named Secretariat.
	Secretariat turned out to be the greatest consolation prize in horse racing history, a thoroughbred of astonishing grace, power and, above all else, speed. Dubbed "Big Red" because of his coat's reddish hue, Secretariat achieved a supremacy and dominance matched only by Man 'O War a half century earlier.
	It was at the 1973 Kentucky Derby that Secretariat first became a legend. Ridden by Ron Turcotte, who a year earlier had won at Churchill Downs with Riva Ridge, Secretariat's stablemate, Secretariat won in a record time of 1:59.4. No other horse has ever gone under two minutes. Remarkably, each quarter-mile split was faster than the one that preceded it. The Preakness was next, and Secretariat won there as well, by 2-1/2 lengths. Finally, he made a shambles of the Belmont, taking a 31-length victory on the same track where Man 'O War, in 1920, had won the Lawrence Realization Stakes by 100 lengths.
	Secretariat reached such a level of fame that he was on the cover of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, and even got an agent from William Morris named Steve Pinkus.
	"Secretariat's only human," Pinkus once said, and he might even have been right.Field of Broken Dreams 
1919

CHICAGO, Illinois
	In baseball's darkest hour, several members of the Chicago White Sox, including superstar "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, were accused of "throwing" the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds so that gamblers could make money by betting on the Reds, and the offending players could pocket some guaranteed cash.

	The players were found not guilty by a jury, but after the 1920 season the baseball commissioner banned them for life anyway, believing that keeping them in the game would not be in the best interest of baseball. 

	Several members of the 1919 White Sox -- who became known more familiarly as the Black Sox -- were certainly not on the take, and performed admirably in the Series, despite some less-than-sterling support from the rest of the team. Pitcher Dickie Kerr, for instance, won two games -- a three-hit, 3-0 shutout and a 10-inning, 5-4 win -- and compiled a 1.42 ERA in 19 innings. (Ironically, Kerr was later suspended for three years, 1923-25, for pitching against an outlaw team during a contract dispute.) Other "clean" members of the team included Manager Kid Gleason, Eddie Collins, Red Faber, and Ray Schalk. 

	"Shoeless" Joe Jackson has become one of the most mythical figures in American lore. His story has been told, or twisted, in books, plays, movies, even musicals. There are, to name a few, W.P. Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" (the basis for the movie "Field of Dreams"), Eliot Asinof's "Eight Men Out" (also a later movie), Bernard Malamud's "The Natural," and the song "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo." from the play "Damn Yankees." Jackson hit .408 in his first full season, with the 1911 Cleveland Indians. He was immensely talented both at the plate and in the field, and simply loved to play the game. 

	But he has become so mythologized because he is a tragic figure. He was one of the players banned for life following the 1920 season, a year in which he hit a rather robust .382. 

	There is one particularly memorable story about Jackson -- probably apocryphal, certainly enduring. When Jackson emerged from the courtroom after testifying in the grand jury investigation of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox, a small boy was supposed to have said, "Say it ain't so, Joe."

	Jackson denied to his death that such a plea was ever made.Sweet but Short
20th Century

HOUSTON, Texas
	We remember the greats of the game, naturally, and just as naturally we forget the ones who were just up in the major leagues long enough, as they say, for a cup of coffee. 

	But what do we do with the ones whose candles burned so quickly but so very brightly?

	Well, we forget them, too, of course. But why not stop here, for a moment anyway, and cherish their brief glory.

	More than 20 brief major leaguers have a lifetime average of 1.000. While most had one hit in their one at-bat, John Paciorek went 3-for-3, drew a pair of walks, and scored four times for the Houston Colts in the final game of the 1963 season. The next season, Paciorek started in the minor leagues, then had a back operation, and never got to play again in the big leagues.

	The only run batted in of Philadelphia Phillie Howie Bedell's 1968 season broke the record 58 consecutive-innings scoreless streak of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale. It was also the third and last RBI that Bedell had in his career.

	New York Yankees infielder Brian Doyle, with only 52 previous major league at-bats, hit .438 (7-for-16) in the 1978 World Series. He would have only 147 more at-bats in his major league career.

	Detroit Tigers pitcher Floyd Giebell's third major league victory beat the Cleveland Indians and future Hall of Famer Bob Feller, 2-0, and helped the 1940 Tigers clinch the pennant. Giebell would not win another major league game.

	And in his pitching debut on April 14, 1967, at Yankee Stadium, Billy Rohr of the Boston Red Sox came within one out of a no-hitter. He lost that but still won the game, beating Whitey Ford, 3-0. 

	Rohr won just two more games in his major league career.

	It was better than nothing. Putting the Shot
1968

	For men, the shot is a 16-pound iron or brass ball. The women's shot is
considerably smaller at 8 pounds, 13 ounces (4 kilograms). The ball must be pushed or "put" -- not thrown -- and when released can't drop below the level of the contestant's shoulder. 

	Since 1948, no woman from outside Eastern Europe has held the world shot-put record. The Press sisters -- two Soviets in the throwing events who, between them, captured 26 world records and won five Olympic golds and one silver -- were big stars in the 1960s. But when sex testing came to international competition, Tamara and Irina Press were suddenly nowhere to be found. 

	American men once dominated the shot put, winning every gold from the first Olympics through 1968, with the lone exceptions of 1920 and 1936, and several times the US swept the shot put medals. Since 1968, however, the well has been pretty dry. Michael Carter, now a star football player with the San Francisco 49ers, won the silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. CThe Juice
1973

BUFFALO, New York
	A rebellious youth in San Francisco, often in trouble with the law, Orenthal James Simpson found his niche in football. After attending City College of San Francisco for two years -- has any other star player ever had such a modest beginning? -- Simpson transferred to the University of Southern California, where he gave Running Back U its most honored graduate. Simpson led USC to a Rose Bowl victory and a national championship as a junior in 1967, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy balloting. The following year, the Trojans lost in the Rose Bowl, but Simpson was the landslide winner of the Heisman after leading the nation in rushing (1,309 yards) for the second year in a row. He was also a world class sprinter, earning a world record as part of a 440-yard relay team.

	Simpson's fame, and prowess, only grew when he joined the pro ranks, leaving the sun of Southern California for the ice and snow of Buffalo, which made him the No. 1 pick in the nation. When the Bills signed Simpson in 1969 after a salary dispute and a brief holdout, team owner Ralph Wilson said, "Simpson will be getting more money than any rookie has been paid since the merger, and Buffalo will be getting what it feels is an outstanding football player who one day may take a place among the great running backs of his game."

	That day took a while to come, as Simpson struggled for three seasons on bad Bills teams. A frustrated Simpson even threatened to retire. But the Bills slowly assembled an outstanding offensive line, dubbed by Simpson "The Electric Company" (because it turned on the Juice), and coach Lou Saban, in contrast to previous Bills' coaching regimes, turned him loose. In 1972, O.J. led the league with 1,251 yards, then followed in 1973 with one of NFL's landmark seasons. He set a single-game record with 250 yards in the opener, and went on to rush for 2,003 yards, shattering Jim Brown's single-season record of 1,863, established in 1963. Eric Dickerson eventually surpassed Simpson, but the Juice had already squeezed a place for himself among football's most elite competitors.7Please Don't Water the Grass
1990s

TORONTO, Canada 
	Before it opened in 1965, the Houston Astrodome, the wave of stadia future, went by a much more unobtrusive name, Harris County Domed Stadium. (The Astros themselves were called the Colt .45s from 1962-65.) The Astrodome had natural grass during its first season. In 1966, an "Astroturf" infield was put in, and later that year the outfield surface was changed. 

	The architectural marvel attracted baseball fans and non-fans alike, to see how a baseball game looked indoors. Purists were not amused.

	But whether they were amused or not, technology proceeded apace, and within the next quarter-century, Astroturf, or artificial turf, competed with grass as the standard surface in outdoor -- and was always the surface of choice at indoor -- baseball and football stadia, especially in cities with considerable rainfall and harsh winters. Domes, too, began to dot the North American landscape, with some of the most noteworthy ones going up in or around New Orleans, Detroit, Minneapolis, Toronto, Seattle, and Indianapolis. 

	On June 15, 1976, a baseball game at the Houston Astrodome was rained out when the city was flooded with up to 10 inches of water. The Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates made it to the Dome, but fans, umpires, and stadium personnel did not. 

	Purists got a little chuckle out of that one. Stan the Man
1941 to 1963

ST. LOUIS, Missouri
	Stan Musial was born on November 21, 1920 in Donora, Pennsylvania. He joined the St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 21, toward the end of the 1941 season. His first time at bat, he popped up on a knuckleball. That was because he had never seen one before. His second time up he was thrown another knuckleball. He hit it against the wall for a double, knocking in two runs. That should have told everyone something. And it did. In the last 10 games of the 1941 season, Musial batted .426. From that time until his retirement at the end of the 1963 season, Musial was the National League's most devastating hitter. From 1946 to 1958, he led the league in hitting six times. At his retirement, he held league records for most at bats, most runs scored, most base hits and most runs batted in. His lifetime batting average stands at .331.

	Musial was an extremely popular player, revered in St. Louis but also greatly admired by fans in other cities. When Brooklyn Dodger announcer Red Barber started calling him "Stan the Man," Brooklyn fans picked up on it and always referred to him, affectionately, in that way. In his last game, Musial, then 43 years old, hit his 475th home run, and his last. On his retirement, he had played longer for one team than any player ever had. Home Continent Advantage
1950

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil
	Only three times in 14 World Cup competitions (through 1990) has a country from outside the host continent won the Cup -- and on two of those occasions, a South American team won in Mexico. Five times, the host country has won the Cup: Uruguay in 1930,Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany in 1974, and Argentina in 1978. The host country has gone to the Cup semifinals or beyond nine times.

	In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at Maracaa, the biggest soccer stadium in the world, perhaps the most famous World Cup match of all time was played, in 1950. After Uruguay unexpectedly beat host Brazil, 2-1, in the final, at least eight Uruguayans reportedly died of heart attacks from the shock. 

	That World Cup competition was also the setting for what has been called "the greatest upset in the history of international competition," when the United States defeated England, 1-0, America's lone World Cup victory in the last half century. The US goal was scored by a Haitian immigrant from New York named Joe Gaetjens, who was carried around the field on the shoulders of Brazilian fans.

	In 1994, the USA will host the World Cup for the first time, and many soccer enthusiasts from around the country -- and the world -- hope that the excitement generated by the world's most celebrated sports event will rouse America out of its slumber and make soccer as popular a spectator sport across the United States as it is in virtually every other part of the world.q
Mark Spitz: 7 for 7 for 7
1972

MUNICH, Germany
	Mark Spitz was an Olympic disappointment.

	After winning five swimming gold medals at the 1967 Pan-American Games, the great American butterfly and freestyle specialist confidently predicted that he would win six golds at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics -- a feat no athlete, swimmer or otherwise, had ever achieved in a single Olympic Games. 

	Spitz did win gold at Mexico City, but only twice, and both were for relays. In individual events, his haul -- for him -- was poor: one silver, one bronze. 

	Spitz didn't do so much predicting before the 1972 Munich Olympics, though privately he was again dreaming big. He wanted to outdo the performance of American swimming great Don Schollander, who had won four golds at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics; and really Spitz hoped to go that one better and -- that goal again -- become the first athlete ever to win six golds in one Games. He had a chance to be in as many as seven races -- four individuals and three relays.

	After Spitz had raced five times -- winning five golds in three individual races (butterfly and freestyle) and two relays -- he thought less seriously of a clean sweep. But why? The only obstacle left was the 100m freestyle, since his later medley relay was, thanks to the dominance of the American men's swimming team, a virtual lock. 

	But he wasn't sure that he could win the 100m, and knew that at least one of his challengers had been swimming extremely well. Spitz seriously considered dropping out of the heat for the 100m free; perhaps that would be preferable to swimming and maybe losing and blemishing all he had accomplished so far. Fortunately, Spitz was talked out of this nonsense by his coach.

	Spitz, the mustachioed wonder, qualified for the final and there he gave it all he had. Naturally, he set a world record and won the gold. Same for the relay that followed.

	Mark Spitz -- whose racing strategy was usually not to go out too fast, and save his strength for a devastating finish -- had certainly finished in devastating style. He entered seven races, won all seven, and set seven world records in the process. He would be the single greatest athletic hero of that Olympics, and certainly one of the greatest of all time. A poster of him in his red-white-and-blue bathing suit, his chest covered by gold medals, became an instant hit across the US, and he was in commercial demand all over. His stated plans of becoming a dentist after he retired from competitive swimming seemed to fade with the attention.

	At least partly because of the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Games, Spitz, who is Jewish, returned home before the closing ceremonies. The Immaculate Reception and More
1970s

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania
	Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney never saw the play that came to be known as "The Immaculate Reception" and ushered in one of the greatest dynasties in sports. 

	He never saw Terry Bradshaw's desperation last-second pass to Frenchy Fuqua, never saw Fuqua collide with Oakland Raiders linebacker Jack Tatum, the ball popping up into the air. He never saw rookie Franco Harris snatch it knee-high, without breaking stride, and race into the end zone as time expired, capping one of the most bizarre finishes the NFL had ever seen.	

	Rooney's Steelers had won the Central Division title in that 1972 season, the first championship of any sort during Rooney's 40 years of ownership. But in their first playoff game, against the arch-rival Raiders, the Steelers trailed 7-6 with just a few seconds to play. The beloved Rooney, renowned for his kindness, headed for the press box elevator to congratulate his players for a fine season.

	It was fourth and 10, 22 seconds to play, the ball on Pittsburgh's 40-yard-line. The play was supposed to be a pass to wide receiver Barry Pearson, but a heavy rush caused Bradshaw to improvise. Barely eluding a sack that would have ended the game, Bradshaw heaved the ball downfield in Fuqua's direction near the Oakland 35. When Fuqua and Tatum collided, the ball popped backward, right toward Harris.

	"I thought to myself, `Oh, no! Wow! This is it!'" Harris said later. "The ball kept coming straight at me. From there it was all instinct."

	Like Rooney, Bradshaw didn't see the play's conclusion, because he was flat on his back. Both knew from the reaction of the crowd, however, that something very, very special had just happened. After much huddling by the officials and several looks at a television replay -- the first known use of instant replay for officiating purposes in the pro ranks -- the touchdown stood. The Steelers won, 13-7. They lost the next week to Miami in the AFC championship game, but the Steelers had received the first taste of postseason success, and soon their appetite would become voracious. The Steelers won the Super Bowl after the 1974, '75, '78 and '79 seasons, and often pointed to the Immaculate Reception as the true start of their dynasty.5	Lord Stanley's Cup
1890s to Present
EDMONTON, Canada
	Back home, his real title was Right Honourable Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Baron Stanley of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, in the Peerage of Great Britain, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. But in Canada, he is known simply as Lord Stanley, the once-Governor General and, more important, the giver of the Stanley Cup, the trophy presented every year to the National Hockey League's best team. 

	Lord Stanley arrived in Canada from England in 1888 and was fascinated by ice hockey. He quickly became a fan of the Ottawa team and sponsored the building of a rink and the formation of a team. Indeed, the Governor General so immersed himself in the spirit of the Canadian national passion that he imagined a more organized competition to determine which team across the nation was best. 

	Of course, there would have to be a trophy waiting for the winner. 

	"I have for some time been thinking it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup, which could be held from year to year by the leading hockey club in Canada," he suggested in an 1892 letter to his aide, Lord Kilcoursie, who was also a forward on the Rideau Rebels hockey team. "I am willing to give a cup..." 

	The trophy, a $50 rose bowl called, simply enough, the Lord Stanley Cup, was to be given to the champion who emerged from the 1892-93 winter campaign. But it wasn't until 1894 that the cup was engraved with the name of the first winner: The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. The Stanley Cup acquired an almost immediate prestige, and teams from Canada -- and eventually teams from America, too -- would become obsessed with winning it. 

	The Stanley Cup has been hoisted by hockey greats for decades now, and brings tears of joy to those players who win the rare honor of skating around the rink with it after the Stanley Cup playoff Finals have concluded. The Cup has been won the most times by the Montreal Canadiens. In the 1980s, it was virtually the exclusive trophy of two great teams, the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders. And every season in the NHL, the Cup has been, directly or indirectly, the grail that inspires so many brilliant goals, fabulous rushes, split-second saves, bloody fights. Lord Stanley was willing to give a cup that every great hockey player was willing to give his all to win. A Strange Game
1869 to Present

CINCINNATI, Ohio
	It's a strange game, they say. And whoever they are, they're right. A sampling, then, of just a few of the countless unusual things that happen in baseball.

	Playing in an afternoon game for the New York Mets on August 4, 1982, Joel Youngblood got a single off of Chicago Cubs pitcher and future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. During the game, Youngblood was traded to the Montreal Expos. He flew to Philadelphia, and that evening got a single off of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher and future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton.

	On June 8, 1920, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Edd Roush was ejected from the game for taking a nap in the outfield during a break in play.

	On September 15, 1946, the second game of a Chicago Cubs-Brooklyn Dodgers doubleheader was postponed when gnats descended on Ebbets Field in the sixth inning. The sun was shining and fans waved white scorecards to shoo the insects, creating a hazard to the players' vision. The Dodgers 2-0 lead was good enough for a win, since five innings had been completed. 

	On May 20, 1960, a Chicago Cubs-Milwaukee Braves game was called because of fog at Milwaukee County Stadium. Umpire Frank Dascoli took three crew members into the outfield and had Frank Thomas of the Cubs hit a fungo. When none of the umpires nor any of the three Cub outfielders could see the ball, Dascoli wiped out the game, which was tied 0-0 in the fifth inning.

	On July 17, 1914, New York Giants outfielder Red Murray was struck by lightning while running the bases.

	He was not seriously injured. 
Daaaaaa-rrryll!
1983 to Present
LOS ANGELES, California
	Wherever he goes, Darryl Strawberry seems haunted by comparisons to the greatest hitters of all time. But these are not Strawberry's ghosts. They are ghosts who suddenly materialize at the behest of fans and writers, who shake their head whenever Strawberry strikes out, or hits into a double play, or lets a fly ball get past him. These observers of the game call up their images of Duke Snider and Ted Williams and Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio -- remembered in perfection all -- and wonder where Strawberry went wrong. 

	When the New York Mets first picked the 6'6" rightfielder from Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, he was immediately labeled the best everyday prospect in the organization's history, with a swing as smooth as Williams's. Others couldn't help but see the tremendous power, especially to the opposite field, that Strawberry generated with his muscular arms. The name of Mantle started popping up with some regularity.

	Though he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1983, Strawberry soon enough seemed to inspire much head-shaking about why he wasn't applying himself, why he wasn't living up to his potential. Yet, if you looked at his statistics, and especially if you watched him play, you saw that he was slugging home runs and hitting for decent average. You recognized his speed on the base paths, and the fear in the eyes of opposing pitchers as they tried to work around him. Maybe more important, Strawberry had become one of the most popular and exciting draws in the game. But because so much was expected of Strawberry before he'd even played his first major league game, his annual yield of 30-plus homers and 90 runs batted in seemed hardly to impress some people. Along with Dwight Gooden, the Rookie of the Year in 1984, Strawberry helped turn the awful Mets of the late 1970s and early 1980s into perennial contenders, finally winning the world championship in 1986. Strawberry was voted an All-Star year after year, the Mets won another divisional title in 1988, and still people shook their heads. Why wasn't Straw better?

	In fact, he is. When objective comparisons are made with, for instance, the great old New York outfielders at similar stages in their careers -- Mays and Snider and DiMaggio and Mantle and others, all of whom now bask in the glow of unimpeachable retirement -- Strawberry is well in their league, surpassing most in home runs, lagging most by some percentage points in batting average; basically, doing just what the doctor had ordered. While his defensive liabilities are obvious, Strawberry is on a bead for the Hall of Fame, as one of the game's great home run hitters and gate attractions. At Boston's Fenway Park during the 1986 World Series, taunting chants of "Daaaa-ruuhl!" began among the rightfield patrons. The chant can now be heard all over National League parks whenever Strawberry comes to play, this time in a Los Angeles Dodger uniform. The chant is now voiced as much in affection as in derision. Either way, if it's true that one's worth to a team is measured by the attention one merits, then at least all of those people across the country who keep yelling Darryl's name understand that Strawberry is not quite the disappointment so many others have made him out to be.

	Most major league pitchers would tend to agree. Strikeout Leaders
All-Time
	Nolan Ryan - 5511
	Steve Carlton - 4136

	Tom Seaver - 3640

	Bert Blyleven - 3631

	Don Sutton - 3574

	Gaylord Perry - 3534

	Walter Johnson - 3508

	Phil Niekro - 3342

	Ferguson Jenkins - 3192

	Bob Gibson - 3117

	Jim Bunning - 2855

	Mickey Lolich - 2832

	Cy Young - 2796

	Warren Spahn - 2583

	Bob Feller - 2581

	Jerry Koosman - 2556

	Frank Tanana - 2537

	Tim Keefe - 2527

	Christy Mathewson - 2502

	Don Drysdale - 2486mPound for Pound, the Best
1950s

CHICAGO, Illinois
	It happens occasionally that a performer in any field is so superior that a phrase has to be coined to describe him or her. In the case of Sugar Ray Robinson, the phrase was "pound for pound, the best fighter alive."

	Robinson was at his most effective as a middleweight, a champion's title he held no less than three different times. On June 25, 1952, Robinson tried to win the world light-heavyweight title from Joey Maxim but collapsed in the 14th round from heat exhaustion. Robinson won the middleweight title for the first time by beating Jake LaMotta on February 14, 1951. He lost the title to Randy Turpin in London five months later but regained it in a rematch. After his unsuccessful attempt to win the light-heavyweight crown, Robinson retired, and tried to make a career as an entertainer. Failing at that, he made a comeback in the ring. He knocked out Bobo Olson in the second round at Chicago Stadium, December 9, 1955, and thus won the middleweight title for the third time. 

	But Robinson's place in boxing history was secured not so much for the titles he held but for the way in which he fought. He appeared effortless. His hands were incredibly fast. He could take a punch well. And, above all, he was efficient. He roamed the ring with a stylish confidence that no one had ever seen before. Pound for pound, as they say, Sugar Ray was the best. They Fought Till They Dropped
1889

ROXBURY, Massachusetts
	While the Union and Confederate armies were facing each other in a bitter civil war, an event occurred in Roxbury, Massachusetts, that was to have an important effect on prize fighting wars. On October 15, 1858, John Lawrence Sullivan was born. Known affectionately as "John L." throughout his career, Sullivan became the most well-known champion in the history of boxing.

	He became the world champion on February 2, 1882, by defeating Paddy Ryan in Mississippi City. At the start of the ninth round of that historic fight, a gallant Ryan, almost unconscious, staggered to the center of the ring where Sullivan was ready to tear into him and did so with brutal efficiency. For ten years afterward, Sullivan took and defeated all contenders but only if they were white men. He refused, for example, to fight Peter Jackson, a black Australian, because Jackson was "a member of the colored race." On July 8, 1889, Sullivan and Jake Kilrain fought the last bareknuckles heavyweight title fight. Sullivan won by a knockout in the seventh round, doubtless to the disappointment of Bat Masterson, the once-famous sheriff of Dodge City, who served that day as Kilrain's timekeeper.

	Sullivan did not fight for three years after the Kilrain bout, except for exhibitions. He was, therefore, not in prime condition when he fought James Corbett for the championship in New Orleans on September 7, 1892. Both fighters wore five-ounce gloves. Corbett knocked out John L. in the 21st round, thus ending the career of boxing's first "glamour boy." America's Biggest Spectacle
1967 to Present

MIAMI, Florida
	The Super Bowl is America's single biggest sporting spectacle but it has hardly been its most exciting, at least not for the 1980s. From 1984 through 1990 (Super Bowls XVIII through XXIV), the average margin of victory was a dismaying 27 points. Happily, though, the game's capacity to put people to sleep rather than make them jump from their chairs may be on the wane. Super Bowl XXIII, between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals in Miami's Orange Bowl, turned into a 20-16 thriller, won by the 49ers on a 10-yard Joe Montana-to-John Taylor touchdown pass with just 24 seconds left. (Some media and fans suggested afterward that these two teams should be made to face each other in the Super Bowl every year, considering that they were responsible for the decade's only previous exciting championship game, a 26-21 nailbiter in 1982, also won by the 49ers.) 

	Then, in January, 1991, kicker Scott Norwood of the Buffalo Bills barely missed a field goal attempt in the closing seconds of a riveting battle, thus allowing the New York Giants to escape with a 20-19 victory. 

	The Super Bowl is not short on tendencies and oddities.

	In the last ten years, the NFC has won every Super Bowl but one. The AFC has not won since the Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins in 1984.

	For the first 23 years of the Super Bowl's history, when one of the NFL's original teams won the Super Bowl, the stock market was up for the year; when a team from the old AFL won the Super Bowl, the stock market was down for the year.

	Both the Minnesota Vikings and the Denver Broncos have appeared in the Super Bowl an admirable four times, and neither has ever managed to win one.

	From 1972 through 1980, the Super Bowl was won by a team whose starting quarterback wore #12.

	And from 1981 into the next decade, every Super Bowl has featured at least one starting quarterback whose first name began with a "J": Jim Plunkett (1981), Joe Montana (1982), Joe Theismann (1983), Joe Theismann and Jim Plunkett (1984), Joe Montana (1985), Jim McMahon (1986), John Elway (1987), John Elway (1988), Joe Montana (1989), Joe Montana and John Elway (1990), Jim Kelly and Jeff Hostetler (1991). 

	I 1-15-67 Green Bay (35), Kansas City (10) at Los Angeles

	II 1-14-68 Green Bay (33), Oakland (14) at Miami

	III 1-12-69 NY Jets (16), Baltimore (7) at Miami

	IV 1-11-70 Kansas City (23), Minnesota (7) at New Orleans

	V 1-17-71 Baltimore (16), Dallas (13) at Miami

	VI 1-16-72 Dallas (24), Miami (3) at New Orleans

	VII 1-14-73 Miami (14), Washington (7) at Los Angeles

	VIII 1-13-74 Miami (24), Minnesota (7) at Houston

	IX 1-12-75 Pittsburgh (16), Minnesota (6) at New Orleans

	X 1-18-76 Pittsburgh (21), Dallas (17) at Miami

	XI 1-9-77 Oakland (32), Minnesota (14) at Pasadena

	XII 1-15-78 Dallas (27), Denver (10) at New Orleans

	XIII 1-21-79 Pittsburgh (35), Dallas (31) at Miami

	XIV 1-20-80 Pittsburgh (31), Los Angeles (19) at Pasadena

	XV 1-25-81 Oakland (27), Philadelphia (10) at New Orleans

	XVI 1-24-82 San Francisco (26), Cincinnati (21) at Pontiac

	XVII 1-30-83 Washington (27), Miami (17) at Pasadena

	XVIII 1-22-84 LA Raiders (38), Washington (9) at Tampa

	XIX 1-20-85 San Francisco (38), Miami (16) at Stanford

	XX 1-26-86 Chicago (46), New England (10) at New Orleans

	XXI 1-25-87 NY Giants (39), Denver (20) at Pasadena

	XXII 1-31-88 Washington (42), Denver (10) at San Diego

	XXIII 1-22-89 San Francisco (20), Cincinnati (16) at Miami

	XXIV 1-28-90 San Francisco (55), Denver (10) at New Orleans

	XXV 1-27-91 NY Giants (20), Buffalo (19) at Tampa `Hang Ten
1900s

HAWAII
	Way back in 1779, British Lt. James King saw something off Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii Island, that he described as "most perilous and extraordinary...altogether astonishing and...barely to be credited." 

	He meant surfing.

	Stand-up surfing came into its own at Waikiki, around the turn of the century. To surfing historians, if such creatures exist, the year of the Great Stock Market Crash, 1929, is also significant because that's when hollow boards were introduced. Twenty-seven years later, light plastic foam boards arrived. In 1964, world amateur surfing championships debuted. In 1975, a world pro circuit started.

	This is a quick surfing history we're giving you here. Do what you want with it.

	Hawaii's Makaha Beach is famous for the height of its ridable waves; they top out at 30 to 35 feet. A few times a year, off Matanchen Bay near San Blas, Mexico, rides of more than a mile long are possible.

	But none of that really matters, does it? For a most perilous and extraordinary adventure, one altogether astonishing -- and, yes, barely to be credited -- just get out there and see for yourself. And They're Off
1984

MISSION VIEJO, California
	They are poised almost like birds above the water. Two swimmers, each completely focused on the task that lays before him; on his strategy, his form. Any second the water will explode in sound and motion and the men will take off in huge, ferocious strokes for the other side.

	But this is the moment just before. 

	When the race has finally been swum, one of these two may have earned an Olympic gold medal and a place in history. One may have swum the race of his life. One may have made the miscalculation of his career. 

	For a swimmer -- for any amateur athlete -- the Olympics are not only the culmination of a young life filled with training, but they are often the last competition. The rising before dawn every day, the grueling training, the luxuries of which they've been deprived to maintain this perfect physical machine -- it is all for this moment. For some of them, the success of all those years of work will be judged simply -- by how they perform in this next one minute of their lives. The difference between gold and silver may be three or four hundredths of a single second, the difference between any medal and a "Great effort" less than that. 

	But they can't worry about that now. That's a long time from now. A whole lifetime.L.T.
1991

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey
	Anyone who knows football, especially defense, especially linebacker play, could talk at length about the greatness of Lawrence Taylor -- about how, with his speed and instincts and tackling ability and relentlessness, he could almost singlehandedly wreck his rival's entire offensive plans for the afternoon. 

	About how L.T. is so good and smart on the field that he is essentially allowed to "freelance" -- to go wherever his intuition takes him, which is often to the other side of the play, considering that few teams try to run at Taylor after they've been stuffed time after time. 

	About how no one wants to run away from Taylor either, because the only sight scarier than L.T. boring down on you is L.T. tracking you down.

	Anyone who really knew football could talk about all that and more, and about how #56 turned the New York Giants from patsies into two-time Super Bowl champions. About how Taylor is legendary for the pain he has played through. About how he made himself perhaps the most imposing and beguiling defensive force the modern game has known.

	But all of that would be pointless. Taylor, like other great athletes, ultimately defies explanation and description. If you really want to know what makes L.T. great, you'd be much better off watching him play some Sunday afternoon than listening to explanations of what makes him great. 

	The eyes. The legs. The streamlined body. The intensity.

	As an observer, that's all you'd know, and all you'd need to know.  -"The Catch"
January 10, 1982

SAN FRANCISCO, California
	Now it's simply called "The Catch." At least if you're from the Bay Area, or you root for the San Francisco 49ers, that is; simply, "The Catch." Say "The Catch" and everyone will know what you're talking about.

	It happened with a minute left in the 1981-82 NFC Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys led, 27-21. Joe Montana, the 49er quarterback, was marching his team downfield on the kind of eleventh-hour drive that he would virtually patent over the next decade -- but no one knew that then. On third and three and San Francisco on Dallas's six-yard line, Montana rolled to his right and looked for Freddie Solomon. The only problems were that Solomon had slipped on the play, while Montana was being fiercely rushed. Now the quarterback was heading for the right sideline and had nowhere to throw. 

	Finally, in the moment that officially signalled to the world that the 49ers were for real, Montana saw 6'4" Dwight Clark near the very back of the end zone. Just before he was sacked, Montana let the ball go. Clark and his Cowboy defenders leapt.

	The ball stuck in Clark's hands as he brought his feet down, and then spiked the pigskin into the end zone. The referee signalled touchdown.

	A dynasty was born. The 49ers won the game, 28-27, and went on to win the Super Bowl two weeks later, their first of four over the next eight years, as they established themselves as The Team of the Decade, and Montana as the coolest field general the NFL had ever seen.

	Ask 49er fans when it really began. The Catch, they'll say. r	The Hawk
1954 to 1965

ST. LOUIS, Missouri
	He was 6'9", blessed with a rare combination of shooting and rebounding skills, and he arrived to play professional basketball just when the game was undergoing one of its most radical changes. 

	In 1954, when Bob Pettit joined the Milwaukee Hawks, the NBA had decided to add the 24-second clock to pick up the tempo of the game. In previous years, scoring had dipped while fouling had increased; fan interest in the game began to wane as teams, more concerned with winning than popularity, used whatever slow-down tactics they could to give themselves a chance. But the new clock changed all that, sped the game up, and no talent was more ready to take advantage than the rookie forward from Louisiana State, the right man at the right time.

	In his first year in the league, Pettit was fourth in scoring, third in rebounding. His next year he won the scoring title, but change was determined to follow him around. The Hawks relocated to St. Louis, a city hungry for a new professional sports team, since their baseball Browns had moved to Baltimore the year before.

	The following year, the now-St. Louis Hawks lost in the NBA Finals in one of the sport's most thrilling games, a double overtime Game 7 which saw Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics win their first championship. The final score was 125-123. Pettit had dropped in two free throws in the final seconds of regulation to send the game into the first overtime. At the end of the second OT, Pettit's last-second shot to tie bounced off the rim. 

	The following year, the two teams met again, and this time Pettit was determined to make sure the result was not the same. Up three games to two on the defending champions, Pettit did what the great ones do. He scored 50 points, including 19 in the final quarter, as the Hawks edged the Celtics, 110-109. 

	Pettit was named to the All-NBA First team 10 years in a row, was named league MVP twice, and All Star Game MVP an eye-opening four times. And unlike many future Hall of Famers in many sports, he left the game on top: he never averaged below twenty points in any season. In his last season, 1964-65, Pettit became the first NBA player to reach 20,000 career points. While Pettit's teams were never quite as good as the maddening Celtics -- his Hawks would lose twice more in the finals to them -- he will be remembered as one of the greatest forwards ever to play the game. The Shot Heard 'Round the World
October 3, 1951
NEW YORK, New York
	A tiny little part of every Brooklyn heart died that autumn day in 1951 -- which may partly explain why people from Brooklyn have so much character. But, like Charlie Brown, they'd probably trade the character for the win.

	The Dodgers and their crosstown rivals, the New York Giants, finished the 1951 season at 96-58. They would meet in a best-of-three playoff to determine who would get the honor of going to the World Series and losing to the city's third and final -- and best -- team, the New York Yankees.

	The Giants won the first game, the Dodgers the second. And now, at the Polo Grounds, the Giants' home turf, the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the ninth inning of Game 3.

	But Dodger starter Don Newcombe, who had been superb all day, began to tire and gave up a run in the Giants' final turn at bat. Now, there was one out and the Dodgers led 4-2. Whitey Lockman was on second and Clint Hartung stood on third. Hartung had come in to pinch-run when Giant right fielder Don Mueller broke his ankle sliding into third.

	Bobby Thomson, "The Staten Island Scot" (he was born in Glasgow), was coming to the plate. Behind him in the order, and taking his place in the on-deck circle, was a 20-year-old rookie named Willie Mays.

	Dodger manager Charlie Dressen decided to make the pitching change and called in Ralph Branca, who had given up a two-run homer to Thomson in Game 1, a 3-1 loss. Dressen's move would go down as probably the most famous pitching change in baseball history.

	Branca moved to the mound, his stage. He quickly got a strike on Thomson. The time was 4:11 in the afternoon. Catcher Rube Walker called for the next pitch. Branca reared and fired. Thomson swung...if you're from Brooklyn, maybe you should go to another story, another picture.

	Thomson's three-run homer gave the Giants a 5-4 win and became known as "the shot heard 'round the world." He was mobbed at the plate. Larry Jansen was the forgotten winning pitcher for the newly crowned National League champs. Giant manager Leo Durocher and second baseman Eddie Stanky wrestled in the Polo Ground grass, jubilant at the turn of events. The Giant fans went crazy. They didn't concern themselves with the Yankees, who of course would beat them in the World Series to follow. Branca sat at his locker, his face buried in his hands.

	Thomson and Branca. Branca and Thomson. The two names would forever become intertwined in baseball history. Branca, who pitched for 12 years and had a .564 winning percentage, would forever be known as the man who gave up the homer. Thomson -- who was eventually replaced by Mays and traded to the Milwaukee Braves, where he would be replaced by a young outfielder named Hank Aaron -- would forever be known as the man who hit perhaps the most famous home run ever. 

	Everyone who was a baseball fan had to appreciate the plain excitement of what happened that day...everyone, that is, but Brooklyn fans.

	A little piece of their hearts died that day, October 3, 1951.  	The Greatest Athlete Ever
1912

 STOCKHOLM, Sweden
	He is considered the greatest athlete ever produced by America, maybe the world, and it's hard to argue otherwise.

	Jim Thorpe, Native American, starred in college football, pro football, played major league baseball, and won the Olympic decathlon and pentathlon gold medals. If that wasn't enough, he won the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship.

	Thorpe played college football at the Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Indian Industrial School, an institution designed to train and educate Indian youth. In one 1912 game against Army, he scored on a 92-yard run that was called back on a penalty. On the next play, he scored on a 97-yard run. Under coaching immortal Glenn "Pop" Warner, Thorpe racked up 53 touchdowns and kicked 17 field goals and 70 extra points.

	His world record score in the 1912 decathlon, 700 points more than the runner-up, was so high that it would have won the silver medal in the 1948 Games. When Sweden's King Gustav V presented a bust of himself to Thorpe for winning the pentathlon, the great athlete is reported to have said, "Thanks, King."

	There was a doomed note to those Stockholm Games, however. In destroying the rest of the field at the 1912 Games, Thorpe may have done himself as much harm as good: one of the competitors he overwhelmed in the pentathlon and decathlon was Avery Brundage, who finished sixth in the former competition and could not even finish the latter. Brundage later became president of the International Olympic Committee (1952-72) and was empowered to return to Thorpe the two Olympic medals that had been taken from him decades before, following charges that Thorpe had played semipro baseball and thus forfeited his amateur standing. A year after Brundage took office, Thorpe died, unredeemed. Sadly, it was not until 1982, a decade after Brundage had left the IOC presidency, that Thorpe's name was restored to the Olympic record book. In 1983, Thorpe's children were finally presented with his gold medals.

	It is particularly ironic that Thorpe, the greatest American athlete of the century, should be stripped of his medals for having played professionally the one sport at which he was actually mediocre -- baseball. Thorpe, who played off and on from 1913-19, apparently could not hit the curveball and had a lifetime average of .252.

	Thorpe was buried in a Pennsylvania town, Mauch Chunk, which agreed to change its name to Jim Thorpe in exchange for his body. Why Isn't This Man Smiling?
1965

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin
	All untalented families are alike. All talented families are talented in their own way...which is to say, not always uniformly.

	Tommie and Hank Aaron hold the record for home runs by brothers with 768 -- 13 for Tommie (pictured here) and 755 for Hank. Joe and Johnny Evers combined to play in 1,784 major league games -- 1 for Joe and 1,783 for Johnny. The stolen base record for brothers is held by the Wagner boys: 4 for Albert "Butts" Wagner, and 722 for Honus.

	Jeanne Evert, Chris's sister, played on the women's tennis tour briefly in the late 1970s.

	Mack Robinson, Jackie's older brother, was second to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympic 200m.

	Adeline Gehrig, sister of Lou, competed in the 1924 Olympics as a fencer. She was American women's foil champion from 1920 to 1923.

	Sam Wright played in the major leagues for three years and hit .109. His two brothers, Harry and George, are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

	Eddie Payton, brother of Walter, was a running back and kick returner for four NFL teams in five years.

	Henry Mathewson appeared in the major leagues in two seasons, compiling a record of 0-1. His brother, Christy, won 373 games, which ties him for the third-highest total in major league history.

	Former San Francisco Giants reliever Randy Moffitt is the brother of tennis great Billie Jean King.

	Yo-Yo Davalillo, brother of 16-year veteran Vic, played in 19 games for the 1953 Washington Senators.

	Nelson Munsey, older brother of Chuck Muncie, was a defensive back for the Baltimore Colts from 1972-77, and for the Minnesota Vikings in 1978. Chuck not only outshined Nelson on the field but changed the spelling of the family name.

	Carol Lewis, sister of Carl, was an Olympian in the long jump in 1984 but did not win a medal.

	George Dickey hit .204 in six seasons. His brother, Bill, one of the greatest catchers of all time, is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

	Joey LaMotta, brother of middleweight champion Jake, was also a professional boxer.

	Marlene Floyd, sister of Raymond Floyd, has been a member of the LPGA tour. Janet LePera, sister of Donna Caponi, has played on the LPGA tour. Bobby Wadkins, Lanny's brother, also has played on the PGA tour.

	Bubba Wyche, Sam's brother, was a quarterback for the WFL Detroit Wheels in 1974, the same year that Sam was quarterback for Detroit's other professional football team, the NFL Lions.

	Faye Throneberry, brother of Marv, had an eight-year major league career and a lifetime average of .236, one point lower than Marv's.

	Darren Flutie, Doug's brother, was a wide receiver for Boston College.

	Ozzie Canseco, Jos's twin brother, and Gordon Hershiser, Orel's brother, have yet to make the impact on the game that their siblings have.

	Phil and Orrin Olsen, brothers of Hall of Famer Merlin, both played in the NFL. Phil was a defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams from 1971-74, teaming with Merlin. Orrin was a center for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1976.

	Buddy Baer, younger brother of heavyweight champion Max, twice lost to Joe Louis in heavyweight title fights.

	And Dave Dryden, Ken's brother, was also a professional goaltender. Both lost 57 NHL games in their careers. Dave, however, won just 48 NHL games, while Ken won 258.                Astaire and Rogers on Ice
1984

SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia
	She was an insurance clerk. He was training to be a policeman. But the two ice skaters from Nottingham had other ambitions -- to be competitive ice dancers. The City Council voted to give the pair 14,000 (British) pounds to help defray their training expenses. Many in the town grumbled about such an extravagance. 

	But not only did Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean of Great Britain become great ice dancers, they redefined their specialty as no one before them had -- as Gretzky did hockey, as Matti Nykanen did ski jumping, as Astaire and Rogers did ballroom dancing. "T & D," as they were known, were soon considered among the most beloved of British athletes -- indeed among all British personalities -- and mesmerized audiences around the world. 

	Competitive ice dancing, which first became an Olympic event at the 1976 Innsbruck Games, is made up of three parts: a set of three compulsory dances (counting for 30% of the total score); an original set pattern dance (20%); and a four-minute free dance (50%). Torville and Dean had to be the odds-on favorites for the gold at Sarajevo in 1984: at the World Ice Dance Championships at Helsinki, on March 12, 1983, T&D were awarded the maximum number of points possible when, incredibly, they received perfect 6.0s from all nine judges for artistic presentation. They repeated this feat at Ottawa in March of 1984. (Not surprisingly, they hold the record for receiving the most 6.0s in a career, and the most in one competition.)

	At Sarajevo, they did not disappoint. To the music of Ravel's Bolero, Torville and Dean glided across the ice like Fred and Ginger, and they received 12 out of 18 perfect 6.0s, including uniformly perfect marks for artistic impression. The multiple world champions had won the gold and -- more to the point as ice dancers -- showed the whole world just how graceful and beautiful pairs ice dancing could be, as they painted pictures across the rink. 

	It was probably safe to say that they had given the world at least 14,000 (British) pounds of joy. Triple Crown Winners
1919 to 1978
	1919 Sir Barton (ridden by John Loftus)
	1930 Gallant Fox (ridden by Earle Sands)

	1935 Omaha (ridden by William Saunders)

	1937 War Admiral (ridden by Charles Kurtsinger)

	1941 Whirlaway (ridden by Eddie Arcaro)

	1943 Count Fleet (ridden by John Longden)

	1946 Assault (ridden by Warren Mehrtens)

	1948 Citation (ridden by Eddie Arcaro)

	1973 Secretariat (ridden by Ron Turcotte)

	1977 Seattle Slew (ridden by Jean Cruguet)

	1978 Affirmed (ridden by Steve Cauthen)Olympic Pigeon Shooting?
1900

PARIS, France
	Many things about the modern Olympics (1896 through the present) are quite different from the ancient Games thousands of years ago. It used to be, for instance, that the Olympics took precedence over war. When an Olympic Games began in ancient times, wars were suspended for the duration of the competition. Today, the reverse is true, and war takes precedence over the Olympics. Because of World War I, no Olympics were held in 1916; because of World War II, there were no Games in 1940 or 1944.

	Yet the difference between the first modern Games in Athens in 1896 and today's Games are almost as arresting. What follows is a list of some odd, "modern day" Olympic events now defunct -- in most cases, happily so:

	Live pigeon shooting (1900). This was the only event in Olympic history in which animals were killed intentionally. Leon de Lunden of Belgium won the gold medal, with 21 birds killed, one more than Frenchman Maurice Faure had bagged.

	A 100m freestyle swim that was open only to members of the Greek navy (1896).

	Tug-of-war (1900-20). In 1908, after a humiliating first-round loss to Great Britain, the Americans protested that the British had used illegal spiked boots. When the protest was disallowed, the Americans withdrew.

	Croquet (1900).

	Dueling pistols (1906, in the Intercalated Games).	

	Plunge for distance (1904).

	Underwater swimming (1900).

	The standing broad jump (1900-12).

	The standing triple jump (1900 and 1904).

	Motor boating (1908).

	Skeleton (1928, 1948). This event was held only when the Olympics were staged in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The competitor rode a heavy sled headfirst and steered by shifting his weight and dragging his feet. Strangely, American John Heaton took the silver medal in the skeleton both times, 20 years apart. The Long Count
1927

CHICAGO, Illinois
	How long is long? When are ten seconds actually fourteen seconds? Or is it seventeen seconds? Philosophers like questions of this type. Fighters don't. But on September 22, 1927, in Soldier Field, Chicago, with 104,943 fans watching, these questions were important. The occasion was the second Jack Dempsey-Gene Tunney bout. In the seventh round, Dempsey knocked Tunney down. Tunney appeared glassy-eyed and confused. Dempsey stood over him, hovering like some triumphant tiger celebrating a kill. He apparently forgot that prior to the fight an agreement had been made requiring a fighter to go to a neutral corner should he score a knockdown. Referee Dave Barry did not forget. He stopped counting, signalled Dempsey to go to a neutral corner, and then resumed the count. Some witnesses claimed later that Tunney was down on the canvas for fourteen seconds, some claimed seventeen, all claimed it was more than ten. In any case, Tunney rose, continued the fight, and won. He said later that he was aware at every moment what the situation was, and could have been up in time even if the count had not been stopped. Others present were not so sure. And, of course, Dempsey fans believed that the "Manassa Mauler" had been cheated of victory.

	Tunney earned $990,445 for beating Dempsey, but Tunney was paid with a $1 million check and then wrote his own check to make up the difference. /Ty Cobb: The Georgia Peach
1905 to 1928
DETROIT, Michigan
	Perhaps no professional athlete has ever burned with such an intense passion to succeed as Ty Cobb, an emotional impetus that established him as the greatest baseball player of his era, and the most disliked. He was mean, bigoted, domineering and arrogant, traits that perhaps can be traced to the traumatic incident that occurred when he was 18. Ty's mother shot and killed his father, mistaking him for an intruder.

	Whatever the reason, Cobb was a skinny bundle of snarling rage whenever he stepped on a baseball field. He fought with opponents, who came to fear his sharpened spikes, which he brandished like a weapon every time he slid. Just as often, he fought with his own teammates, umpires or even fans in the stands. One time, when a roommate of his in the minors, Nap Rucker, took a bath ahead of him, Cobb got furious. "Oh," said Rucker. "Did you want to be first today?" Snapped Cobb, "I've got to be first all the time -- in everything." 

	The statistics Cobb amassed during his 24-year career from 1905-28, all but the final two with the Detroit Tigers, were mind-boggling. His career batting average of .367 is far and away the highest ever. He surpassed .400 three times and won 12 batting titles. He held the record for hits (4,191), stolen bases (892) and stolen bases in a season (96) until they were broken, respectively, by Pete Rose, Lou Brock and Maury Wills. He stole home successfully 35 times in his career.

	Long after Cobb's retirement, someone asked Lefty O'Doul, one of the fine hitters of his day, what he thought Cobb's average would be now, against modern-day pitchers. "Oh, about .340," O'Doul replied. The questioner was taken aback. "That's not so impressive with this lively ball." "Well," O'Doul answered, "you have to take into consideration the man would now be 78 years old!"=US Tennis Championships
1962 to 1991

Winners and finalists:


	1962 Rod Laver, Roy Emerson

	1963 Rafael Osuna, Frank Froshing III

	1964 Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle

	1965 Manuel Santana, Cliff Drysdale

	1966 Fred Stolle, John Newcombe

	1967 John Newcombe, Clark Graebner

	1968 Arthur Ashe, Bob Lutz

	1968 Arthur Ashe, Tom Older

	1969 Stan Smith, Bob Lutz

	1969 Rod Laver, Tony Roche

	1970 Ken Rosewall, Tony Roche

	1971 Stan Smith, Jan Kodes

	1972 Ilie Nastase, Arthur Ashe

	1973 John Newcombe, Jan Kodes

	1974 Jimmy Connors, Ken Rosewall

	1975 Manuel Orantes, Jimmy Connors

	1976 Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg

	1977 Guillermo Vilas, Jimmy Connors

	1978 Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg

	1979 John McEnroe, Vitas Gerulaitis

	1980 John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg

	1981 John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg

	1982 Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl

	1983 Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl

	1984 John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl

	1985 Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe

	1986 Ivan Lendl, Miloslav Mecir

	1987 Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander

	1988 Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl

	1989 Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl

	1990 Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi

	1991 Stefan Edberg, Jim CourieryThe Strongest Man in the World
1970s
MUNICH, Germany
	Between 1972 and 1980, Soviet Vassily Alexeyev, the uncontested "strongest man in the world," broke 80 official world weightlifting records. He won two Olympic golds, eight world titles, and nine European championships.

	Alexeyev found stardom even in America in an event that rarely rouses much attention on this side of the Atlantic. In the Olympic weightlifting competition, each contestant is allowed three lifts. The various categories are the snatch, the clean and jerk (also called jerk), and the press, which was abolished after the 1972 Games. If the top two contestants should lift the same total weight, the tie is broken by giving the gold to the man with the lower body weight. 

	In 1970, competing in the super heavyweight (unlimited weight) division, Alexeyev broke the world records for the press, the jerk, and the three-lift total. At the 1972 Munich Games, Alexeyev, weighing 337 pounds, won his competition by a very comfortable 30-kilogram margin over his nearest competitor. At Montreal in 1976, Alexeyev now weighed 345 pounds, and again came away a winner. Unbeaten from 1970 to 1978, Alexeyev was injured late in the decade, and tried to come back at the 1980 Olympics, in front of his home fans in Moscow. But he had lost something and was eliminated from the competition. 

	Alexeyev was known to include at least two dozen eggs as part of his breakfast. !Poetry in Motion
1990

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota
	They stand in a huddle. They clap at the break. They move cautiously to their positions. 

	They hunch over. Their fingers span the turf. One barks out signals. Two others go in motion.

	One snaps the ball. Two lines, thousands of pounds of flesh, surge forward. 

	The blockers block. The guards pull. The receivers fly. 

	We watch.

	The quarterback turns with the ball. The halfback buries it in his gut.

	A defender gets by his man.

	They move toward and away from each other in a dance. The noises are real, and the hits. Finally, a man without the ball wrestles to the ground the one man with the ball. They go down. Two more bodies pile on, and two more.

	They get up slowly. They move to their respective huddles. They clap at the break and do it all over again. w
Made in USA, Perfected Elsewhere
1895 to Present

HOLYOKE, Massachusetts
	Volleyball was invented in America but obviously fine-tuned elsewhere. 

	In 1895, William G. Morgan devised his new game inside a YMCA in Massachusetts (oddly, basketball was also devised in a YMCA in Massachusetts, though not the same Y; basketball was founded in Springfield, volleyball in Holyoke). But America never did well in international competition. Indeed, before 1981, American men had never won an Olympic medal or finished better than sixth at the World Volleyball Championships. But that year, Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons joined the national team and everything changed.

	Kiraly, widely regarded as the world's best all-around player, and Timmons, a ferocious spiker, made the American team not merely competitive but world-beaters. Before the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the American team toured the Soviet Union to take on the current world champions. It was a wipeout -- four straight victories on Russian soil. And each time the winner was the US. America went on to win its first Olympic volleyball gold in 1984, and then captured the 1986 world title. 

	Hey, the Americans seemed to be saying: We invented this game. Remember?

	At Seoul in 1988, the American men took their second gold medal in a row. Other world volleyball powers -- men's and women's -- include Japan, China, Cuba, Brazil, and the Soviet Union. 

	Most of America's greatest volleyball players hail from Southern California, and have played for one of the area volleyball powers -- UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, San Diego State. In fact, universities in California, especially southern California, are so dominant in NCAA volleyball that only those four schools have ever won the national title. Indeed, only twice has a non-California school even reached the title game (Penn State in 1982 and Ohio State in 1977). 

	Women's and men's volleyball were first introduced as Olympic sports in 1964. The matches are best three-of-five sets, the first one to fifteen points for a set (you must win by two points). The men's net is seven inches higher (7' 11-1/2") than the women's net (7' 4-1/2"). A spiked volleyball can travel up to 70 miles per hour. 

	A professional beach volleyball circuit has recently developed in California, giving a second life to great amateur players. Watching the US national team players -- as a full unit in Los Angeles or Seoul, or in two-man teams on the beach -- has made many Americans realize what an exciting and athletic sport volleyball can be. At the Olympics especially, Kiraly and Timmons and their mates worked the ball so fluidly that, if one didn't know better, one might think Americans had practically invented the sport.Mountain Man
1970s to 1980s

PORTLAND, Oregon
	William Theodore Walton, III, was basketball's hippie. He wore his bushy red hair in a pony tail and he wore a scruffy beard. When his team won the National Basketball Association championship, he rode his bicycle in the victory parade. 

	He was also 6' 11" and one of the greatest players college basketball had ever seen. A superstar with John Wooden's dynastic UCLA team, Walton had big shoes to fill -- literally and figuratively -- when center Lew Alcindor left the Bruins to make his mark in professional basketball.

	Incredibly, Walton may have even surpassed Alcindor as a force at the college level. Walton presided over the last years of UCLA's unmatched run of seven consecutive NCAA titles, leading the team to national championships in 1972 and 1973, winning the Final Four Most Valuable Player award both years, and winning most of the major college player of the year awards for all three of his seasons as upperclassman.

	The American Basketball Association tried dearly to sign the iconoclastic superstar and bring legitimacy to their league -- they had tried the same with Alcindor -- but the NBA's fledgling Portland Trail Blazers made Walton the #1 draft choice in 1974, and the ABA had now lost out on two great centers from UCLA. 

	Walton's first two years at Portland were marked by injury, the aspect of his career that, along with his formidable talent, would characterize and haunt him for the rest of his days in professional basketball. In the 1976-77 season, his third with Portland, Walton finally enjoyed his first relatively injury-free season and led a young, otherwise no-name team to the NBA championship, beating the favored, Julius Erving-led Philadelphia 76ers in six games. The final was viewed as a victory by team play over individual brilliance. Philly won the first two games at home but when the series moved to Portland, where "Blazermania" was in full bloom, a team led by Walton, forward Maurice Lucas and guard Lionel Hollins routed the 76ers by 22 and 32 points respectively in Games 3 and 4. Portland upset Philadelphia back at the Spectrum and then came home to win their first title, on June 5, 1977. 

	The franchise was only seven years old. A team that had never been higher than last before the 1976 season had just gone all the way. 

	Walton, never the scorer in the NBA that Alcindor (later Abdul-Jabbar) was, made his presence felt with relentless defense and shot-blocking, great passing, and ferocious rebounding, and he was certainly capable of being an offensive force. The championship season had been just Walton's third as a pro, and his first free of serious injury. Portland, coached by the innovative Jack Ramsay, seemed to have in place the cornerstones of a perpetual contender. 

	The team went on a tear for most of the next season, with Walton dominating his opposition perhaps even more than he had the previous year -- and then he got hurt again. Walton had been impressive enough while healthy to win the season's MVP award but the Trail Blazers were eliminated in the second round. The following year, Walton's ailment prevented him from playing at all, and he charged the team with mishandling his injury and forcing him to play hurt. He declared free agency and San Diego signed him at great expense. Again -- surprise -- Walton got hurt, and played in only 14 games the next season. He missed seventy games the following two years. 

	It was once said that Walton had all the superior physical gifts of a 6'11" man, but the feet of a much more delicate creature.

	Walton would win another NBA championship yet. Years later, as a key rebounding backup for the Celtics, he helped Larry Bird and Robert Parish bring yet another title banner to Boston Garden. Walton played in 80 regular season games that year. More than a decade into his professional career, he had just played in the most games of any of his seasons, as a reserve for the franchise whose team concept he had once tried to emulate 3,000 miles away. 

	Walton's basketball career was thus bifurcated: he would be remembered at UCLA for having no peer, and he would be remembered in the NBA as much for what injury prevented him from accomplishing as what his vast talent briefly did. yWar Games
1941 to 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
	War has interrupted the careers of many great (and not-so-great) baseball players, including Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Hank Greenberg, and Stan Musial. Ironically, Williams, who fought in two wars (World War II and Korean), served for nearly two years and 39 missions during the Korean War, essentially without serious injury; on his first day of spring training after he came back, he broke his collarbone.

	World War II enlistments and the military draft left the major leagues largely depleted of great talent during the years 1943, 1944, and 1945. Older players whose skills had faded and younger ones whose skills had nowhere to fade suddenly got the chance to play, or continue playing, big league ball. The hapless St. Louis Browns won their only pennant in 1944; in 1945, one of their outfield positions was patrolled for almost half a season by one-armed Pete Gray.

	Because of the rubber shortage during the second World War, the major leagues experimented, in 1943, with Balata, a rubber substitute around the core of the baseball -- the same material that covers most golf balls. Balata substantially reduced the ball's resiliency: by April 29, the entire American League had hit just two home runs. By May 9, Balataballs were no longer shipped.

	In 1946, baseball's stars returned from serving their country overseas, and the teams and individuals that should have been winning championships and batting titles did so once more.

	Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson died of tuberculosis in 1925, presumably from poison gassing that he had suffered in France in World War I.0Duel in the Dunes
1978

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland
	Every sport is ennobled in those eras when its two greatest players establish a rivalry, friendly or otherwise, that inspires each to new flights of greatness. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Golf has had many such linkings, none more compelling than the battle for supremacy between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson in the 1970s.

	Every year from 1971 to 1980 but one, Nicklaus or Watson was the PGA Tour's leading money-winner. Nicklaus won 10 majors during that time, Watson four.

	Their rivalry, built on mutual respect and eventual affection, came to a zenith in the 1977 British Open at Turnberry, Scotland, where they matched each other nearly shot for shot for four mesmerizing days. In the end, Nicklaus had the second-lowest score in British Open history, shooting a 65 and 66 in the final two rounds for a 269. But Watson came up with a 268, the lowest British Open score ever, finishing with two 65s to beat Nicklaus by a stroke. The stage was theirs alone; the next closest competitor finished 10 strokes back. Watson, who at 28 was nine years younger than Nicklaus, didn't take the lead for the first time until the 70th hole, two holes away from the finish.

	Watson continued to dominate golf into the eighties. His epic win over Nicklaus was his second major; he would win six more through 1983. As for Nicklaus, he obviously wasn't demoralized by the defeat at Turnberry. He came back to win the British Open the following year and remained a great champion for another decade. Tarzan Breaks a Record
July 9, 1922

HOLLYWOOD, California
	The first human being ever recorded to swim 100 meters in under one minute was Johnny Weissmuller, on July 9, 1922. But Weissmuller's legacy would not rest so much on his swimming skill as it would on what he looked like in loincloth, and how he yelled. Weissmuller became Hollywood's most famous Tarzan.

	Weissmuller won three swimming gold medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics, and a bronze in water polo. In 1928 in Amsterdam, he again set an Olympic record in the 100 meter freestyle. While training for the Olympics four years later, Weissmuller received an offer to model swimsuits for the BVD Underwear Company. Someone in Hollywood noticed Weissmuller in the ad and invited him to screen-test for "Tarzan, the Ape Man." The swimming star got the part, beat his chest for America, and let out the famous yell. Over the next decade and a half, Weissmuller made 11 very popular Tarzan movies.

	The role of Tarzan seemed to attract Olympians. 1932 Olympic swimming gold medalist (400 meter freestyle) Clarence "Buster" Crabbe gained recognition playing Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers in the movies. Two other Olympic medalists also played Tarzan -- shotputter Bruce Bennett (whose real name was Herman Brix) and marathoner Glenn Morris. Factory of Champs
1980
LAKE PLACID, New York
	In 1980, Lichtenstein's Hanni Wenzel won the slalom and giant slalom gold medals and the downhill silver, and her brother, Andreas, won the giant slalom silver. The Wenzels' four medals converted to one medal for every 6,250 people in the country. 	The Splendid Splinter
1939 to 1960
BOSTON, Massachusetts
	"There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived."

	That's what Williams -- according to his autobiography, "My Turn at Bat" -- wanted people to say about him when he walked by.

	And if you look at Williams' record, or you were lucky enough actually to see him swing, you'd probably have to say what the "Splendid Splinter" wanted you to say.

	The Boston Red Sox leftfielder and Hall of Famer could have sat out the last day of the 1941 season and been credited with a phenomenal .400 average -- he was hitting .39955 at the time -- but he chose to play the first game of a doubleheader. He went 4-for-5. He could have sat out the second game to make sure he protected his average (now .4039), but he played that one, too, went 2-for-3, and finished at .406 (.4057). 

	As great as he was, Williams was not always lucky. After his memorable 1941 season, he did not win the American League Most Valuable Player. This is explainable in part by the fact that the player who beat him out, New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, enjoyed his record 56-game hitting streak that season. In 1942, Williams came back to win the American League Triple Crown (home run, runs batted in, and batting average titles all) -- only this time the MVP Award went to Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon, who batted .322 with 18 home runs, and led the league in striking out (Williams had twice as many homers, 34 more RBIs, and batted .356). In 1947, Williams again won the Triple Crown, becoming only the second player in history to do it twice. 

	The MVP Award that year went to DiMaggio.

	Williams did win two MVP awards, in 1946 and 1949, but for a lucky break here or there, he could easily have taken home five.

	In 1957, Ted Williams reached base 16 consecutive times: he had four homers, two singles, nine walks, and was hit by a pitch.

	Williams, a .344 lifetime hitter, missed three full years of a career that spanned from 1939 to 1960 to serve in World War II, and then missed more time serving in the Korean War. He finished with 521 home runs but had times been different, he would have made a serious run at Ruth's then-alltime home run record of 714.

	Williams finished his career dramatically, on September 28, 1960, homering in the eighth inning in what would be the final at-bat of his career. In one of the most memorable replacements in baseball history, Carroll Hardy trotted out in the ninth inning to Fenway Park's left field, taking over for Williams, perhaps the greatest hitter who ever lived. Wilt's Greatest Night
1962

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania
	On March 2, 1962, New York Knick Cleveland Buckner, a career 6.4 points-per-game scorer, had a career night, scoring 33 points against the Philadelphia Warriors. Normally, reporters would have surrounded Buckner after the game. It did not matter that teammate Richie Guerin also scored over 30 points; he was one of the NBA's top scorers, so that kind of performance was expected. And it did not matter that teammate Willie Naulls also scored over 30 points; he, too, was a top scorer.

	It did matter, however, that Wilt Chamberlain of the Warriors scored 100 points that night, the all-time NBA record.

	Chamberlain was helped that night by an unusually accurate eye from the foul line. Wilt, a 51-percent career free-throw shooter, made 28 of his 32 free throws in the game, or 88 percent.

	Chamberlain's 100 points broke his own record of 78, set on December 8, 1961. That memorable season he also had a 73, two 67s and a 65. Indeed, he led the NBA for the year with an astonishing 50.4 points-per-game average.

	It is more likely that his 100 points-in-a-night record will be broken than will his 50.4 ppg -- and there are but two chances, as they like to say, that the former record will be broken: slim and none.

	Chamberlain's stamina was also renowned. During the 1961-62 campaign he averaged 48.5 minutes per game -- more than a full regulation game per game. That year he played in 79 complete games (including overtime games). For his NBA career, he averaged 45.8 minutes per game, and never fouled out of a regular season, All-Star, or playoff game.

	Chamberlain is the only person to lead the NBA, at various times, in scoring, rebounding, and assists in a season.

	In 1967, Wilt made a record 35 field goals in a row. Wimbledon Men's Championships
1975 to 1991
WIMBLEDON, England
	1975 Arthur Ashe over Jimmy Connors

	1976 Bjorn Borg over Ilie Nastase

	1977 Bjorn Borg over Jimmy Connors

	1978 Bjorn Borg over Jimmy Connors

	1979 Bjorn Borg over Roscoe Tanner

	1980 Bjorn Borg over John McEnroe

	1981 John McEnroe over Bjorn Borg

	1982 Jimmy Connors over John McEnroe

	1983 John McEnroe over Chris Lewis

	1984 John McEnroe over Jimmy Connors

	1985 Boris Becker over Kevin Curren

	1986 Boris Becker over Ivan Lendl

	1987 Pat Cash over Ivan Lendl

	1988 Stefan Edberg over Boris Becker

	1989 Boris Becker over Stefan Edberg

	1990 Stefan Edberg over Boris Becker

	1991 Michael Stich over Boris BeckerWimbledon Women's Championships
1957 to 1991

WIMBLEDON, England
	1957 Althea Gibson, Darlene Hard

	1958 Althea Gibson, Angela Mortimer

	1959 Maria Bueno, Darlene Hard

	1960 Maria Bueno, Sandra Reynolds

	1961 Angela Mortimer, Christine Truman

	1962 Karen Hantze Susman, Vera Sukova

	1963 Margaret Smith, Billie Jean Moffitt

	1964 Maria Bueno, Margaret Smith

	1965 Margaret Smith, Maria Bueno

	1966 Billie Jean King, Maria Bueno

	1967 Billie Jean King, Ann Haydon Jones

	1968 Billie Jean King, Judy Tegart

	1969 Ann Haydon Jones, Billie Jean King

	1970 Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King

	1971 Evonne Goolagong, Margaret Smith Court

	1972 Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong

	1973 Billie Jean King, Chris Evert

	1974 Chris Evert, Olga Morozova

	1975 Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong Cawley

	1976 Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong Cawley

	1977 Virginia Wade, Betty Stove

	1978 Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert

	1979 Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1980 Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1981 Chris Evert Lloyd, Hana Mandlikova

	1982 Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1983 Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger

	1984 Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1985 Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd

	1986 Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlikova

	1987 Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf

	1988 Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova

	1989 Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova

	1990 Martina Navratilova, Zina Garrison

	1991 Steffi Graf, Gabriela SabatinibStriking Gold
1988

EAST GERMANY
	At the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, American Rosalyn Sumners, the current women's figure skating world champion, was supposed to battle it out with American Elaine Zayak, the 1982 world champion. East German Katarina Witt, also a serious contender, broke up the American showdown and took the Olympic gold medal for herself, beating Sumners (Zayak did not medal). Though Witt was a top-flight skater before the Olympics, the Games, as they so often are, were her "coming out" as a performer. So began one of the most successful figure skating careers ever. Witt, who was born in 1965 and is arguably the most stunning figure skater the world has ever known, received 35,000 love letters after the 1984 Games. 

	At the Calgary Olympics in 1988, Witt, who was crowned world champion in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988, was trying for her second gold. Her most serious competition would again come from the United States, this time from Debi Thomas, the only woman to break Witt's hold on the world title by taking that championship for her own in 1986. But again Witt triumphed, this time after Thomas stumbled badly in the final program. 

	The utterly graceful Witt was now poised for a professional career that knew no bounds -- despite the fact that she was East German. Her skill, appeal, and popularity were such that the government could not restrict her movement the way they had with other athletes, and so Witt became something of a precedent-setter. She was granted freedom of travel and signed a multi-year contract, estimated somewhere in the $300 million to $400 million range, with the European tour of "Holiday on Ice." Reportedly, Witt would get twenty percent of the money, and the state would take the rest. While this would seem to be quite enough for Witt to live in, the reunification of Germany most likely embellishes Witt's take considerably. 

	However, this is not the concern of figure skating fans -- and specifically Katarina Witt fans -- the world over. All they know is that when they see this wonder perform on ice, they are getting their money's worth, and they are also watching something priceless. The Big Train
1907 to 1927

WASHINGTON, D.C.
	When the Washington Senators signed Walter Johnson out of an Idaho semipro league in 1907, the teenager agreed to go on one condition. If he didn't make it in the majors, the Senators would pay his way back to Idaho.

	It was an expense the Senators never needed to worry about. By the time Johnson retired in 1927, he had established himself as one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived. Possessed of an overpowering fastball that helped earn him the nickname "Big Train," Johnson won 416 games, second to Cy Young, and established a major-league record that still stands with his 110 shutouts. His 3,508 strikeouts stood as the record for more than half a century, until broken by Nolan Ryan, and his streak of 55-2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in 1913 was the standard until Don Drysdale surpassed him in 1968. It was of Johnson that New York's Ping Bodie first uttered the famous words, "You can't hit what you can't see."

	Johnson's most famous feat occurred in 1908, when he pitched a four-hit shutout against the New York Highlanders on Friday, September 4, and came back to pitch a three-hit shutout the next day. Sunday baseball was prohibited in New York, so the two teams didn't meet again until Monday. Johnson sought out his manager, Joe Cantillon, and said, "It's all right with me if it's all right with you." Johnson went out and shut out the Highlanders on two hits.

	For most of his career, Johnson's greatness went for naught with a series of bad Washington teams that inspired the popular saying, "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League." But finally, in 1924, after 18 major-league seasons, Johnson pitched in his first World Series against the Giants. Before the first game, opposing pitcher Art Nehf shook hands with him and said later, "Walter was so nervous I felt sorry for him. When we shook hands for photographers, his hand trembled." Johnson, who was 36 and past his prime, lost his first two games in the Series but won the seventh and deciding game. The next year, the Senators made the Series again, and this time Johnson won his first two games but lost the decisive Game 7. In 1936, Johnson became one of the original five inductees in the Hall of Fame. +Not Just a Man's Game
1940s to Present
STRATFORD, Connecticut
	The Raybestos Brakettes were the New York Yankees of women's softball, and Joan Joyce was their Babe Ruth and Whitey Ford rolled into one.

	Joyce is regarded as the greatest women's player in history, and she led the Brakettes, out of Stratford, Connecticut, to 14 national fastpitch championships from 1966-83. During 20 years of amateur competition, Joyce had a pitching record of 509 wins and just 33 losses. While with the Brakettes, she threw 105 no-hitters and 33 perfect games, had a lifetime ERA of 0.19, and was national Most Valuable Player eight times. Her fastball was once allegedly clocked at 116 mph, but early in her career she couldn't control it, and almost gave up pitching. During a game one day, a workman on top of a telephone pole saw her pitching and sought her out afterward. A softball pitcher himself, he advised her to use a slingshot motion instead of a windmill motion. Joyce tried it, and found that with the new delivery she was able to control the ball. She went on rack up 6,648 strikeouts in 3,972 innings. Joyce played first base when she wasn't pitching and had a lifetime .327 average.

	After her retirement from the amateur ranks in 1975, Joyce teamed with Billie Jean King to found the International Women's Professional Softball Association, a short-lived league in which she was the star attraction. She was so dominant, in fact, that a rule had to be passed preventing pitchers from appearing in consecutive games. When the league folded, Joyce joined the women's professional golf tour.

	Some 30 years earlier, there had been another attempt to form a women's pro league, this one called the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Lasting from 1943-54, the league used a ball sized between a baseball and a softball, and produced such star players as Dottie Kamenshek, who was called a major-league caliber fielder by New York Yankee Wally Pipp, and Sophie Kurys, who stole 201 bases in 1946. It was not as enlightened as it might appear. As part of their spring training, the women were sent to charm school. \The Wizard of Westwood
1940s to 1970s

WESTWOOD, California
	John Wooden was a three-time All-America basketball star at Purdue, but even most avid basketball fans don't know that he was a great player. And that's Wooden's own fault. Because he was an even greater coach -- so good that he is remembered almost exclusively for what he did while leading the University of California at Los Angeles to become the greatest college basketball dynasty of all time.

	In his 27 years as UCLA's coach, Wooden, "The Wizard of Westwood," compiled a 620-147 record and won 10 national titles, including seven in a row from 1967-73. He coached 24 first-team All-Americas -- including his two most dominating players, centers Lew Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton. Walton presided over the school's NCAA record 88-game winning streak. Amazingly, in Wooden's last 12 years, the Bruins were 335-22.

	Perhaps the most famous game Wooden ever coached at UCLA was a loss. When the Bruins, with Alcindor in the middle, took on Elvin Hayes's Houston Cougars at the Astrodome on January 20, 1968, it was billed as basketball's "Game of the Century." Houston won by two points, 71-69, as Hayes outscored Alcindor, 39-15 (Alcindor was recovering from an eye injury suffered the previous week.)

	At least some did not forget that Wooden, whose coaching career began at the high school level, was once quite an athlete, too. The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, inducted Wooden in 1960, for his achievements as a player. They re-inducted him in 1972, for his achievements as a coach. He is the only person so honored twice.The World Cup
1930 to 1990

	1930 Uruguay (4), Argentina (2)

	1934 Italy (2), Czechoslovakia (1)

	1938 Italy (4), Hungary (2)

	1950 Uruguay (2), Brazil (1)

	1954 West Germany (3), Hungary (2)

	1958 Brazil (5), Sweden (2)

	1962 Brazil (3), Czechoslovakia (1)

	1966 England (4), West Germany (2)

	1970 Brazil (4), Italy (1)

	1974 West Germany (2), Netherlands (1)

	1978 Argentina (3), Netherlands (1)

	1982 Italy (3), West Germany (1)

	1986 Argentina (3), West Germany (2)

	1990 West Germany (1), Argentina (0) 
The World Series
1903 to 1991
	A list of World Series winners:

	1903 Boston (A) 5, Pittsburgh (N) 3

	1904 No series

	1905 New York (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 1

	1906 Chicago (A) 4, Chicago (N) 2

	1907 Chicago (N) 4, Detroit (A) 0; 1 tie

	1908 Chicago (N) 4, Detroit (A) 1

	1909 Pittsburgh (N) 4, Detroit (A) 3

	1910 Philadelphia (A) 4, Chicago (N) 1

	1911 Philadelphia (A) 4, New York (N) 2

	1912 Boston (A) 4, New York (N) 3; 1 tie

	1913 Philadelphia (A) 4, New York (N) 1

	1914 Boston (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 0

	1915 Boston (A) 4, Philadelphia (N) 1

	1916 Boston (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 1

	1917 Chicago (A) 4, New York (N) 2

	1918 Boston (A) 4, Chicago (N) 2

	1919 Cincinnati (N) 5, Chicago (A) 3

	1920 Cleveland (A) 5, Brooklyn (N) 2

	1921 New York (N) 5, New York (A) 3

	1922 New York (N) 4, New York (A) 0; 1 tie

	1923 New York (A) 4, New York (N) 2

	1924 Washington (A) 4, New York (N) 3

	1925 Pittsburgh (N) 4, Washington (A) 3

	1926 St. Louis (N) 4, New York (A) 3

	1927 New York (A) 4, Pittsburgh (N) 0

	1928 New York (A) 4, St. Louis (N) 0

	1929 Philadelphia (A) 4, Chicago (N) 1

	1930 Philadelphia (A) 4, St. Louis (N) 2

	1931 St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 3

	1932 New York (A) 4, Chicago (N) 0

	1933 New York (N) 4, Washington (A) 1

	1934 St. Louis (N) 4, Detroit (A) 3

	1935 Detroit (A) 4, Chicago (N) 2

	1936 New York (A) 4, New York (N) 2

	1937 New York (A) 4, New York (N) 1

	1938 New York (A) 4, Chicago (N) 0

	1939 New York (A) 4, Cincinnati (N) 0

	1940 Cincinnati (N) 4, Detroit (A) 3

	1941 New York (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 1

	1942 St. Louis (N) 4, New York (A) 1

	1943 New York (A) 4, St Louis (N) 1

	1944 St. Louis (N) 4, St. Louis (A) 2

	1945 Detroit (A) 4, Chicago (N) 3

	1946 St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3

	1947 New York (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 3

	1948 Cleveland (A) 4, Boston (N) 2

	1949 New York (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 1

	1950 New York (A) 4, Philadelphia (N) 0

	1951 New York (A) 4, New York (N) 2

	1952 New York (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 3

	1953 New York (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 2

	1954 New York (N) 4, Cleveland (A) 0

	1955 Brooklyn (N) 4, New York (A) 3

	1956 New York (A) 4, Brooklyn (N) 3

	1957 Milwaukee (N) 4, New York (A) 3

	1958 New York (A) 4, Milwaukee (N) 3

	1959 Los Angeles (N) 4, Chicago (A) 2

	1960 Pittsburgh (N) 4, New York (A) 3

	1961 New York (A) 4, Cincinnati (N) 1

	1962 New York (A) 4, San Francisco (N) 3

	1963 Los Angeles (N) 4, New York (A) 0

	1964 St. Louis (N) 4, New York (A) 3

	1965 Los Angeles (N) 4, Minnesota (A) 3

	1966 Baltimore (A) 4, Los Angeles (N) 0

	1967 St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3

	1968 Detroit (A) 4, St. Louis (N) 3

	1969 New York (N) 4, Baltimore (A) 1

	1970 Baltimore (A) 4, Cincinnati (N) 1

	1971 Pittsburgh (N) 4, Baltimore (A) 3

	1972 Oakland (A) 4, Cincinnati (N) 3

	1973 Oakland (A) 4, New York (N) 3

	1974 Oakland (A) 4, Los Angeles (N) 1

	1975 Cincinnati (N) 4, Boston (A) 3

	1976 Cincinnati (N) 4, New York (A) 0

	1977 New York (A) 4, Los Angeles (N) 2

	1978 New York (A) 4, Los Angeles (N) 2

	1979 Pittsburgh (N) 4, Baltimore (A) 3

	1980 Philadelphia (N) 4, Kansas City (A) 2

	1981 Los Angeles (N) 4, New York (A) 2

	1982 St. Louis (N) 4, Milwaukee (A) 3

	1983 Baltimore (A) 4, Philadelphia (N) 1

	1984 Detroit (A) 4, San Diego (N) 1

	1985 Kansas City (A) 4, St. Louis (N) 3

	1986 New York (N) 4, Boston (A) 3

	1987 Minnesota (A) 4, St. Louis (N) 3

	1988 Los Angeles (N) 4, Oakland (A) 1

	1989 Oakland (A) 4, San Francisco (N) 0

	1990 Cincinnati (N) 4, Oakland (A) 0

	1991 Minnesota (A) 4, Atlanta (N) 3 Sweetness
Mid 1970s to 1980s

CHICAGO, Illinois
	In his first NFL game in 1975, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears rushed eight times for a total of zero yards. Fortunately, the Bears didn't give up on him, and Payton didn't give up on himself. By the time he retired in 1987, Payton -- or "Sweetness," as he had come to be known -- had gained more yards (16,726) and scored more touchdowns (110) than any running back in football history.

	Small and compact (5'-10", 202 lbs.), Payton was a bundle of fury when turned loose on the football field. He trained by running up sandbanks on a 65-yard course he built himself near his hometown of Columbia, Mississippi, but his ability to bounce away from even the most vicious hit by a defender was innate.

	"Guys like Walter have a power in them, a kind of ferociousness," former Rams coach John Robinson said. "They run like they're possessed."

  "It's like he runs with a fever," said a Bears teammate, defensive end Al Harris.

	Payton didn't try out for football until his junior year in high school, choosing instead to play drums in the school band. The Bears were chronic losers when he joined them out of Jackson State University, but he achieved the final goal of his career in 1986 when they romped over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
Who Turned on the Lights?
1930s to Present

CHICAGO, Illinois
	On August 8, 1988, something remarkable happened in sports, an event that was never thought possible. The Cubs played a night game at Wrigley Field.

	When the Cincinnati Reds had played the first major-league night game under the lights at Crosley Field on May 24, 1935, Cubs owner Philip Wrigley had scoffed. Night baseball was "just a fad, a passing fad," Wrigley insisted.

	The Cubs held out as long as they could, long after every other park in baseball had been outfitted with lights. Finally, when the Tribune Company bought out the Wrigleys in 1981, they began plotting almost immediately to illuminate Wrigley, and it finally happened on that August evening. (Actually, it had happened the night before, but the game was rained out before it became official).

	But not even the corporate suits of the Tribune Company could rid Wrigley of all its considerable charm. Not unless they ripped the ivy vines off the outfield walls, or kicked out the vociferous "Bleacher Bums" from their outfield seats, or got rid of the fans who watch the game from the rooftops on Waveland Avenue, or made announcer Harry Caray stop leading the crowd in "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch. Nor could they encourage their fans to start doing "The Wave," a cheer that, according to their publicist, has never been performed at Wrigley Field. Cubs fans started a new and wonderful trend in the late 1980s when they began throwing back onto the field home run balls hit by the opposing team. And another tradition lives on: Fans who missed the game can learn how the beloved Cubbies fared merely by looking at the stadium. After a win, a blue flag with a "W" on it is flown; after defeats, a white flag with an "L".

	It was at Wrigley where Tinker, Evers and Chance turned the double play in the early 1900s, where Fred Toney and Hippo Vaughn pitched baseball's only double no-hitter in 1917, where Hack Wilson got the bulk of his 56 homers and 190 RBIs in 1930, where Babe Ruth hit his alleged called-shot home run in 1932, where Gabby Hartnett hit his epic "Homer in the Gloamin" in 1938, where Joe Pignatano hit into a triple play in his final big league at-bat in 1962, where the Pirates' Rennie Stennett went 7-for-7, where Rick and Paul Reuschel became the only brothers to combine for a shutout (in 1975), where the Phillies came back from a 13-2 deficit to win 18-16 on four Mike Schmidt home runs in 1976, and where no National League pennant has been won since 1945, and no World Series championship team has been housed since 1908.v	The Goats of Fall
1903 to Present

	For a baseball player, there's nothing more magical than to emerge as the hero of the World Series. With 
hundreds of millions of fans looking on, even the most mediocre of ballplayers can gain immortality (not to mention thousands, or millions, of dollars worth of endorsements) with a timely hit or series of hits, a sparkling defensive play, or a well-pitched game at precisely the opportune moment. Witness Don Larsen, or Al Weis, or Gene Larkin, to name but three.

	But there's a flip side, of course. Make a mistake at the wrong time, drop a ball or blow a call or give up a home run, and your immortality is also ensured, only in this case it's called infamy. For every Series hero there is a corresponding goat, who would gladly give up his place in history if only he could.

	Like Dennis Eckersley, for instance. Eckersley had one of the greatest seasons a relief pitcher has ever had in 1988, but he'll be remembered for the home run he gave up to hobbling Kirk Gibson. Bill Buckner was one of the fine hitters of his day, retiring with more than 2,700 hits, but he'll never live down the ground ball by Mookie Wilson that scooted through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Willie Davis was another fine player, but chances are you link his name to the second game of the 1966 World Series, when he made three errors in the fifth inning to foil what turned out to be the final game ever pitched by the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax. Mike Schmidt is headed for the Hall of Fame, but he wishes he could expunge from his record that .050 batting average (1-for-20) in the 1983 Series. Red Sox fans are STILL furious at Johnny Pesky for not throwing the ball sooner in the seventh game in 1946, allowing Enos Slaughter to score the winning run. The Dodgers' Mickey Owen had set a National League record for most consecutive errorless chances in a season by a catcher in 1941, but his name is still associated with the passed ball he had in the World Series that year that allowed the Yankees to come back and win the fourth game. Not even umpires are immune. Don Denkinger is regarded as one of the game's better arbiters, but his legacy will be Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, when he blew a call at first base in the ninth inning that helped the Royals come back and win the game. If the Cardinals had won Game 7, Denkinger's muff would have been forgotten. But they didn't, it wasn't, and it never will be.l"The Game"
1870s to Present

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut / CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts
	Harvard and Yale, compatriots in the academic world, have been enemies on the athletic field for well over a century, and nowhere is this rivalry more pointed than on the gridiron. The Yale-Harvard contest that closes the Ivy League season for both schools on the Saturday before Thanksgiving may look genteel -- what with its pre-game tailgate parties sporting Cabernets and pates and Brahms string quartets twittering over the car CD player, the Bulldog and Crimson alumni decked out in their duck-motif sweaters and floor-length beaver coats and beanies...but, hey, it's still all in the name of college football. The Eli and Cantab players still wear shoulder pads and helmets and fight over a pig bladder.

	The contest has come to be known simply as "The Game" and the two participants have storied football legacies.

	Yale's football legends include the great innovator Amos Alonzo Stagg; Walter Camp, known as the "Father of American Football"; and Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger. For Harvard, the unforgettables include coaching marvel Percy Haughton, dropkicker Charlie Brickley, and Eddie Mahan. 

	In 1909, Yale's football team not only went undefeated, untied, and unscored upon, but did not allow an opponent inside the 25-yard line. In 1888, Yale outscored its 13 opponents 698-0, a record that still stands. From 1876-1900, Yale football was 231-10-11. 

	Harvard could be almost as dominating. From 1908-16 they went 71-7-5. 

	It is said that alumni donations to each school tend to rise or fall based on who wins the annual clash, and for the players, beating their archrival will often wipe out the disappointment of an otherwise losing season. Before "The Game," Eli coach Tad Jones once told his players, "Gentlemen, you are about to play football for Yale against Harvard. Never in your lives will you ever do anything so important."

	While Yale has more often had the better team, Harvard has made a habit in the last quarter-century of spoiling perfect years for the Bulldogs, or denying them of the Ivy League title. "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29," read the famous headline in The Harvard Crimson the day after undefeated and previously untied Harvard scored 16 points in the last minute of their 1968 game to deadlock the undefeated and previously untied Bulldogs.

	Both schools have sent many players to the NFL, though few have gone in recent decades, since the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships. Certainly the most renowned football player from either school is Brian Dowling, Yale's quarterback in the late 1960s, who compiled a record of 16-1-1 while a junior and senior starter. Dowling had a forgettable pro career but he has been forever immortalized for his Yale exploits. That's because one of his schoolmates was cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who used Dowling as the model for quarterback "B.D." in the Doonesbury comic strip. oThe Dynasty That Ruth Built
1920s to 1960s

BRONX, New York
	Appropriately enough, the first home run ever hit in Yankee Stadium was a shot by Babe Ruth. Babe did it on April 18, 1923, in the first game ever played at what would come to be known as "The House That Ruth Built." His three-run tater in the third inning helped the New York Yankees win, 4-1, over the Boston Red Sox.

	Ruth and his teammates would go on to establish the Yankees as the most successful and celebrated sports team of all time. Perhaps the most awesome incarnation of that team was the 1927 version that featured a lineup known as "Murderers Row."

	But the Yankees were good for years after Ruth had retired -- for decades, in fact. From 1927-62, the team won 19 World Series in 36 years, including five in a row from 1949-53 and four in a row from 1936-39; they lost the World Series just four times during that 36-year period. In the 16-year span from 1949 to 1964, the Bronx Bombers won 14 pennants. From 1954-63, the American League MVP was a Yankee eight times. The 1939 Yankees outscored their opponents by 411 runs, the largest differential in the modern era.

	The galaxy of Yankee greats is studded with stars: Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Elston Howard, Bill Dickey, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter, Don Mattingly. Other Yankees, not bound for the Hall of Fame, have nonetheless contributed to some of the most famous moments in baseball history: Don Larsen, Bucky Dent, Chris Chambliss. 

	Even under the chaotic ownership of George Steinbrenner and with the team's descent into mediocrity and beyond, the Yankees retain a special place in the history of the game. No baseball fan worth his or her Cracker Jack can claim truly to understand the game without having once made the pilgrimage to the most famous ballfield in America, and maybe even all the world: Yankee Stadium. OCzech Mates
1940s to 1950s

CZECHOSLOVAKIA
	Emil Zatopek, Czech army lieutenant, distance runner, and one of the most successful and beloved of all Olympic heroes, married countrymate Dana Zatopkova. Apparently, the match was meant to be. Not only were the two Czechs born on September 9, 1922, but on the same day that Zatopkova won the javelin title with an Olympic record throw, Zatopek won the 5,000m, on his way to an unprecedented sweep of the 5,000m, 10,000m, and the marathon.

	Zatopek, winner of four Olympic distance medals -- he also won the 10,000 meters in 1948 -- was known as a competitor as much for his friendliness as for his tenacity. Though he won 38 consecutive races at 10,000m between 1948 and 1954, Zatopek was known for chatting with the other lead runners during their distance races, often offered them advice about pacing (which some refused to heed, invariably to their later dismay), and in semifinal heats of the 5,000 meters would sometimes let good but still lesser runners catch up and even pass him, so that they could say they won a heat. (Finals were, of course, a different matter.) When he decided to try for his amazing triple sweep in 1952, Zatopek did so having never before run a marathon. Worried about pacing himself, he stayed with the pre-race favorite until that runner had exhausted himself, and the Czech went on to a surprisingly easy victory. Zatopek greeted the runner-up at the finish line with a slice of orange.

	Six weeks before the 1956 Olympics, Zatopek suffered a hernia while training with his wife on his shoulders. He still managed a sixth-place finish in the marathon.

	Zatopek, whose running style made him look as if he were struggling, even on the verge of collapse, once said, "I was not talented enough to run and smile at the same time." It is frightening to think what he might have accomplished had he really been talented.