Scorecard

Lords of No Rings
Dan Marino's retirement and Ray Bourque's trade to the Avalanche evoked the question: Who are the best players in the four major sports never to have won a championship? We whittled the candidates down to two in each sport (sorry, Ernie Banks and Barry Sanders) for this tale of the tape.
Football		Basketball		Baseball		Hockey
Dan Marino	Dick Butkus	Karl Malone	Charles Barkley	Ted Williams	Ty Cobb	Ray Bourque	Marcel Dionne
Achievements		Achievements		Achievements		Achievements
25 NFL records; 420 touchdown passes and 61,361 passing yards	Eight-time All-NFL First Team; named linebacker on 75th Anniversary squad	Third alltime in scoring; 11-time All-NBA First Team; two-time MVP	One of three guys with 23,000 points, 12,000 boards, 4,000 assists	Lifetime .344 average, 521 homers, two Triple Crowns, last man to hit .400	Alltime best .367 lifetime average, 12 batting titles, 892 steals	400 goals (as of Sunday), most by defenseman; five Norris trophies	731 goals, third alltime; two Lady Byng trophies for sportsmanship
Closest Call		Closest Call		Closest Call		Closest Call
Lost only Super Bowl 38-16 to 49ers in 1985	Joined Bears two years after their 1963 NFL title	Lost NBA Finals to Jordan's Bulls in 1997 and '98	Lost NBA Finals to Jordan's Bulls in '93	Boston lost 1946 Series to Cardinals in seven games	Lost Series in 1907, '08, '09; retired year before A's won	Lost Stanley Cup finals to oilers in 1988 and '90	Made it to the second round three times with Kings
Karmic Reason He's Ringless		Karmic Reason He's Ringless		Karmic Reason He's Ringless		Karmic Reason He's Ringless
Made those lame Isotoner TV commercials in the 1980s	Grid gods knew he would star in awful kiddie hoops show Hang Time	Fearing HIV, he opposed Magic Johnson's return to NBA in 1992	Once attempted to spit at heckler and instead hit little girl	Never tipped cap to fans, even after homering in final career at bat	Besides climbing into stands to pummel handicapped heckler?	Larry Bird hogged all titles allotted to Boston stars since 1980	Despite $3.6 millen contract, drove '76 Buick Skylark for years
But at Least He...		But at Least He...		But at Least He...		But at Least He...
Still has both knees to walk away on	Won title as Coach Katowinski on Hang Time	Has regained all that hair thanks to Rogaine	Can spit at anyone he likes when he's Alabama governor	Is enshrined in Fishing Hall of Fame	Bought 300 shares of Coca-Cola in '18 and made fortune	Could sip from Lord Stanley's mug with Colorado	Kept the Lady Byngs, got rid of the Skylark
Our Pick Even the most fearsome defender ever can't snarl at Dan's records		Our Pick Sorry, Charlie. God makes power forwards with Malone in mind		Our Pick Williams, who lost prime years to war. Plus he wasn't a racist s.o.b.		Our Pick Bourque, but here's hoping he works his way off this list soon

The Season of Forgiveness
The victim of a famous on-court assault embraces his attackers

For the first time since the attack that made him part of college basketball lore, Luke Witte stood up in the middle of March Madness and said he's not mad anymore. Witte, a former Ohio State center, still flinches when he recalls the night in January 1972 when he was stomped and beaten by Minnesota players Corky Taylor and Ron Behagen in the final seconds of a Buckeyes win over the Gophers. Despite suffering lacerations to his chin that required 27 stitches, as well as other injuries, Witte played several seasons in the NBA with the Cavaliers before entering the Presbyterian ministry and settling down with his wife, Donita, in Charlotte, where they live with their three children.

On Sunday morning Witte revisited the past at Forest Hill Church, where he's a minister. During a sermon by senior pastor (and former North Carolina forward) David Chadwick on forgiveness, Witte stood up in front of the 1,800 worshipers, next to a photo of himself lying on the basketball court that night, his face soaked in his own blood, and told them that though he still feels the mental anguish from 28 years ago, he's ready to embrace his attackers.

"I struggled this week," he told the congregation, thinking about having to get up for the first time in his church and profess his love for the Minnesota players who hurt him. But Witte, 49, said he has come to the conclusion over the past decade mat he had two choices: wallow in bitterness or bask in the liberation that comes with breaking loose from the past. "I can choose to live in anger and hurt," said Witte, "but I can also choose to live in the freedom of knowing Christ is in charge."

So that's how Witte, wearing an Ohio State-red sweater for the occasion, bared his soul on a weekend when his Buckeyes were competing in the NCAA tournament. He wanted people to know how much better it feels to love your enemy. "Your heart is free, isn't it?" Chadwick asked Witte in front of the congregation.

"It is very free," Witte answered.
—Ken Garfield

COLLEGE BASEBALL
Killer Bats?

Arizona State pitcher Ryan Mills suffered a broken jaw. University of Houston righthander Danny Crawford lost five teeth. Cal State-Northridge reliever Andrew Sanchez? Fractured skull.

"The injuries started popping up when the C405 aluminum alloy came out as the bat standard in 1996—brain damage, broken jaws, teeth knocked out," says Bill Thurston, rules editor of the NCAA baseball rules committee for the last 15 years. "We really became concerned that pitchers couldn't defend themselves against the rockets being hit off these bats."

With these safety concerns—not to mention outrageous scores—in mind, the rules committee and others have been pushing for a "woodlike" standard to slow the speeds of balls coming off aluminum bats (SCORECARD, Jan. 12, 1998, et seq.). Metal bats have larger sweet spots; concentrate their weight closer to the hands; and have more give, creating a so-called trampoline effect, which increases the initial velocity of the ball. As a result state-of-the-art aluminum bats can propel a ball considerably faster than 110 mph, whereas balls hit by wood bats average about 92 and rarely exceed 96.