Feasting on The Opposition

HE HAS toiled in NFL Europe, spent nearly two years on the Bengals' bench and last season went three-up, 13-down in Detroit. But take a look at 6'2", 220-pound quarterback Jon Kitna now. At 35 he...

WHO'S Hot

Who is the friendliest player in the NFL?

THE 1936 OLYMPICS provided one of the most dramatic performances in the history of the Games: Jesse Owens's four-gold-medal haul in Adolf Hitler's Berlin. But it also featured what New York Times...

Retired After testing positive for cocaine, Martina Hingis (below). The 27-year-old failed a drug test administered at Wimbledon, where she lost in the third round. Hingis vehemently denied using...

8:23:52 Time it took Perry Romanowski, 38, to run a 50-mile ultramarathon in Chicago while juggling three balls, a world record for "joggling."

Three Maryland high school football players received minor cuts from an opposing player who allegedly carried a concealed blade during postgame handshakes.

REGGIE BUSH Saints running back, on what coach Sean Payton means when he tells players to "not eat the cheese" served by the media when the team does especially well: "It's just staying focused...

Bidding farewell to the Orange Bowl

Dennis Miller on his new sports show

THE WOMAN who came in first in Sunday's New York Marathon, Paula Radcliffe, got $170,000. The woman who came in 34,193rd got a kiss from Tom Cruise. O.K., so it was Katie Holmes (below). Cruise...

A mentor, a mentee and their rented ferns

What to watch and watch for

Evan Munsing WYOMISSING, PA. > Field Hockey Munsing, a second-year center midfielder at the London School of Economics, is one of the first Americans to be elected captain of an English field...

The Patriots marked the season's halfway point by blowing past the Colts late in their showdown to remain perfect. Now it looks as if the Pats have a clear run at history—until the decade's most...

Pursuing Perfection

Personnel chiefs Scott Pioli and Bill Polian are behind the success in New England and Indy

Who's going to Glendale? How senior writer Damon Hack sees the race to face the AFC's best

Senior writer Jim Trotter lays out the playoff picture—with one sure thing in the bunch

Five disparate personalities, five enormous talents, one peerless unit: how New England's linebacking corps personifies the Patriot Way

Dream Team

Phenomenal Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson leads the way as Dr. Z's first-string takes shape

He may be a 19-year-old beanpole who lives with his mom, but Sonics rookie Kevin Durant quickly showed that he could handle the spotlight and score like a vet

Round(ball) Table

SI's Chris Mannix solicited nominations for the biggest surprises of the season's first week—and chipped in with a pick of his own

The rest of the nation might be at a loss for words to explain Kansas' first 9--0 start in 99 years, but not do-it-all cornerstone Aqib Talib, who'll tell you all day long that he saw a big year...

Grudge Matches

If undefeated Ohio State or Kansas stumbles, it will fall into the cluster of one-loss teams fighting for a berth in the BCS title game. (The only other unbeaten, Hawaii, has virtually no chance...

In a year's time a new management trio has transformed a rock-bottom team into a winner—and a hot ticket—in St. Louis

Power Play Find out where the Blues stand in this week's NHL power rankings.

Olympic Sports An exhilarating win at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials is overshadowed by a shocking death • Paula Radcliffe makes a resounding comeback • U.S. boxers end world championship drought

Bitter Victory

Between the birth of her daughter, Isla, in January and a stress fracture in her lower back in May, Paula Radcliffe had not raced a marathon in over two years. It took the British world-record...

U.S. fighters end title drought

Late Bloomers

1 Arkansas's Darren McFadden could break the recent trend of Heisman winners coming from BCS teams. The Hogs may be just 6--3, but McFadden wowed voters with his SEC-record 323-yard rushing...

Boston - Illustrated We know, we know—four weeks in a row. Thanks to world titles, megadeals and unbeaten seasons, teams from Boston have taken over SI's last four covers (inset), and in yet...

Shifting Gears

1 Jimmie Johnson (right) continued his rootin'-tootin' Chase run on Sunday with his third straight win and now leads teammate Jeff Gordon in the standings by 30 points. If there's hope for...

Flameproof

BUFFALO (Wyo.) at JACKSON HOLE (Wyo.), Nov. 10

REDMEN ROLL Smith Center (Kans.) opened the Class 2-1A playoffs on Oct. 30 by scoring a national high school record 72 first-quarter points in an 83--0 win over Plainville. Four days later the...

1 NORTHWESTERN (Miami) 9--0 Will cruise to regular season finish vs. 1--8 Jackson (Miami)

It Isn't Just A Game

WE DON'T LIKE THE MATCHUP

Derek Anderson heads the list of '07's top surprises—nasty or nice

Get feedback from other owners on your proposed deals at SI.com/fantasy.

If we knew then: Two SI experts construct the best and worst possible 2007 drafts

Bold, yes, but our second-half outlook may not be fantastical

WE LIKE THE MATCHUP

Ill will and sour stomachs in Asia

$785,180

A rolling layout with great pedigree on the banks of Lake Erie

WHO: Stephen Ames

In case you missed it, a leadership change is coming to the USGA

by JAMES P. HERRE

Calendar girl Natalie Gulbis is rebranding herself as a competitor

The 2007 PGA Tour Season Wraps Up With a Stephen Ames Victory—and a Final Litany of Winners and Losers

Nine weeks after the Tour Championship and the conclusion of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the Children's Miracle Network Classic in Orlando officially brought to an end a season of unprecedented change...

Returning to his hometown, Bayonne, the author marvels at the incongruity of an ultraexclusive golf club sharing a zip code with a city that's best known as a punch line