Yet another big talent is added, but this one will get the club back to the playoffs

This high-scoring bunch hopes to surprise by putting more emphasis on defense

If the Euro vet has a good leg to stand on, playoff hopes will be just as strong

A healthy big man is needed to balance the vaunted perimeter attack

It's what's up front--a high-scoring vet joining a young All-Star--that counts

The No. 1 pick of '05 is bigger and wiser, but he still has a lot to prove. Just ask him

New coach, new offense--but most likely similar results for this team in transition

NCAA champion will provide physical play. But wins? Later, Gator

A young club looks to a veteran guard who's not afraid to take the big shots

An inexperienced team has a lot of growing to do before it can contend again

No more setbacks for this favorite, which finally will be the last one standing

Only one man can push the champs to greater glory: their globe-trotting guard

An unhappy All-Star could upset the balance of a team that has designs on a title

A talented lineup that's ready for a deep playoff run will rely on a maturing star

At long last, from Argentina, comes a power forward who complements Yao

This point guard won't settle for second best--from himself or from his team

Starting anew as captain, this Jack vows to be as nimble as he was last spring

The recovery of their three-point shooter has them thinking postseason

Will their young center mature into the Kobe-approved player he needs to be?

A streaky guard becomes the key to the playoff hopes of a banged-up club

Top-to-bottom changes soothe a franchise player who wants to win--now

An odd choice of coaches won't stop the slide of this once-proud franchise

A wait-till-next-year club will start laying the foundation for the future

A new coach and two talented draft picks give hope to a team in transition

Becoming the next franchise icon is way too much to ask of this 22-year-old

For SI senior writer Jack McCallum, the NBA has evolved into a year-round beat

Special contributor Rob Fleder's work on The Basketball Book, a celebration of the game in words by SI writers and pictures by the greatest sports photographers, started with a review of the...

College Football Ohio State is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country—now comes the hard part • Florida quarterback Tim Tebow breaks out of the pack in the Heisman race

Place Holder

1 Florida's Tim Tebow is distancing himself from the crowded Heisman field. Not only is he the nation's top-rated passer (177.5), but he's also on pace to rush for 1,000 yards. Tebow would be the...

Blue Heaven With a toughened Eli Manning and a softened Tom Coughlin, the Giants vow there'll be no collapse this year

In 2005, his contract year, the Seahawks' Shaun Alexander scored 28 TDs and led the league in rushing, with 1,880 yards. This year, with his left hand wrapped in a cast, he hasn't crossed the goal...

Four years ago, when Rob Bironas was 25, he landed a placekicking job with the Charleston Swamp Foxes of af2, the second-tier indoor football league. A former kicker at Auburn and Georgia...

I just can't shake the idea that the Steelers are heading for a blue period. Against Denver on Sunday, I saw them outhustled and outhit by a team that had earned a reputation for softness....

Lost Cause

PERMIAN (Odessa, Texas) at ABILENE (Texas), Oct. 26

TWO-TIME RECORD HOLDER

1 NORTHWESTERN (Miami) 7--0 Faces big test against league rival Miami Central (7-0-1)

Two-Man Show Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon battled it out in the Subway 500, continuing their private chase for the Nextel Cup

1 Lost in the Chase hoopla on Sunday was a solid run by Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished eighth and even led nine laps. "It shows we're making improvements with the car and he's getting more...

A pair of horn-rimmed glasses marched up to me last week and said, "You're from denver, right? Why didn't you people put a roof on Coors Field? This World Series is going to be freezing!"

Environmental Impact

Can Nebraska hero Tom Osborne restore the Cornhuskers to glory?

ONCE A SUPERSTAR with Detroit, Grant Hill went to Orlando seven years ago, and his Magical career was badly compromised by five separate surgeries on his left ankle. One, in 2003, nearly killed...

WHO'S Hot

Which NFL quarterback is the easiest to intimidate?

Won By Kimi Räikkönen (below), his first Formula One driving title. The 28-year-old Finn won the season's final race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, on Sunday to leapfrog defending champion Fernando...

15--6 Margin by which South Africa beat defending champion England to win its second rugby World Cup.

BEFORE SHE left the house last Saturday, Denise McGee told her 75-year-old husband, Max, not to go up on the roof to clean off the leaves. It was sound advice, and Max treated it the same way he...

Employees of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs hatched a plan to use state high-speed supercomputers to buy World Series tickets online.

BRENT BARRY Spurs guard, on whether San Antonio can defend its NBA title: "The whole subject of repeating is already getting repetitive."

With the Boss no longer in power, the Yankees are scrambling to fill the void

FOR ALL of the attention the Hope Solo affair got during last month's Women's World Cup (SI, Oct. 8), it wasn't the baffling decision to bench his goalkeeper and then boot her off the team when...

Jumping boxes helps NFL safety Adrian Wilson build power and speed

Good Wilson Wilson loads up on carbs and protein every Saturday afternoon before game days: He'll consume up to six bowls of pasta with marinara or Alfredo sauce between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Then, on...

A new biography of Charles Schulz shows the athletic leanings of the Peanuts gang

NEW POINT GUARD Mike Conley may not get the Grizzlies to the playoffs, but the rookie will have Memphis fans whistling Sweet Georgia Brown at some point this season. Over the summer Conley, 20,...

A neon hue is all the rage in Seattle

The comedian, 45, plays coach Lambeau Fields in the sports spoof The Comebacks

What to watch and watch for

Rishard Davis MAPLESVILLE, ALA. > Football Davis, a senior defensive end at Huntingdon College, had seven tackles, three sacks and a one-yard rushing touchdown in the Hawks' 30--12 win over...

To submit a candidate for Faces in the Crowd or to submit a video Face to Takkle.com, go to SI.com/faces.

SI PLAYERS, JULY 16, 2007 For followers of Hoover High, reality has proved far juicier than anything on TV. The Alabama football powerhouse that MTV tracked for its docudrama Two-a-Days has been...

The wait is finally over for the amazing Rockies, who, after enduring the longest-ever layoff between playoff series, face their most formidable opponent yet in the Red Sox. Behind Josh Beckett,...

Their regular-season records suggest a vast disparity, but the Rockies and the Red Sox share plenty of similarities

With a more relaxed coach Gary Pinkel loosening the reins, Missouri has a newfound swagger, scoring points in bunches and showing it can play a little defense too

Heavy Hitters

... Islanders left wing Chris Simon is horrid: a stick-swinging recidivist who drew a 25-game ban for slashing an opponent's face. So why do so many players—and his beloved coach—stand by him?

On the Fly

The NHL's longest suspensions

Like their brethren across the league, the Detroit Lions' practice squad players live in a world of blurred lines and constant uncertainty, one step removed from the NFL dream—or from football...

Peter King Challenge Pick the winners each week and compete for bragging rights and prizes.

In a span of 33 days this summer Celtics G.M. Danny Ainge pulled off two megadeals that reversed the course of his stumbling franchise, bringing together three All-Stars who have Boston thinking...

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers have gone down a rocky path of late, and a permanent separation could be in the cards (perhaps by the time you read this). SI retraces the Kobester's footsteps over the...

Skins Deep

The commissioner must take stronger measures to regain the public's trust after the Tim Donaghy debacle

Who's the best at every height? Pro, college, men and women all included. Is it Bird or Magic? Elgin or Oscar? Shaq or Wilt? Calvin Murphy or Sue Bird?

Who's getting hardware, who's getting dealt and what to keep an eye on this season

Basketball Jones

HOW THEY'LL FINISH

Get expanded versions of Enemy Lines from Ian Thomsen for every team.

Forget the All-Stars. Their season ultimately depends on a green point guard

The veteran core is recommitted--and relieved to see new juice on the bench

A breakout star at forward will try to become a nightmare matchup at guard

In fighting trim, an aging Shaq is out to show he's still able after a season of lows

A second-year guard works to prove that his playoff heroics were no fluke

I Think... By Peter King

These players will be among the first picked at their positions next year

Thinking of making a move? Run your proposal by other owners at SI.com/fantasy.

WE LIKE THE MATCHUP

WE DON'T LIKE THE MATCHUP

Tiger text files to inspire O'Meara

5

One course you'd play over and over

WHO: Mike Weir

It may seem as if every rising young golfer comes from somewhere else—particularly Australia or South Africa—but Uncle Sam's cupboard isn't bare. In addition to the promising young Americans who...

Are you following the Fall Series as closely as you did the FedEx Cup events?

Spelling out the steps Michelle Wie must take to succeed

by JAMES P.HERRE

Angel Cabrera wins a lusterless PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda

A Comeback by Mike Weir Underscored This Point: There's a Lot of Life in a Season Left for Dead

Residual Effect

A Connecticut pool powerhouse hasn't lost in 21 years

EVER SINCE he was auctioned to breeding-industry giant Coolmore Stud for a world-record $16 million in February 2006, the question has followed The Green Monkey: Was the modestly bred but...

Ken Regan made a name for himself as a boxing photographer in 1964, when he shot Cassius Clay's shocking defeat of Sonny Liston for SI. Since then Regan has captured the sport's greatest figures...