PRO BASKETBALL—Paced by David Thompson's 31 points, Denver beat San Diego 130-121 for its seventh straight victory. The streak enabled the Nuggets to take over first place in the Midwest Division...

26, 27—Buck Miller (top), Tony Tomsic72—courtesy CBS74—Richard Mackson78—Richard Mackson82—Pat Maxwell Sports Picture86, 89—Manny Millan107—J. Pat Carter-Baltimore Sunpapers (1)

PAUL STECKSUMMIT, N.J.

PLAYOFFSSir:Your coverage of the college basketball playoffs (March 19 et seq.) has been outstanding. And the quality of basketball being played is better than ever. It's really a shame that the...

OPENING TO THE EAST

•Bill Walsh, the San Francisco 49ers' pass-conscious coach, on teams that run a lot: "Our turnovers are downfield. Their turnovers are at the line of scrimmage."

Lake Placid is proud of its $49 million Olympic Village, later to become a prison, but many countries insist it's a jail already, and have elected not to be penned in

After stumbling much of the season, the Portland Trail Blazers have found their stride. With their walking wounded back and rookies Mychal Thompson and Ron Brewer chipping in, they could be a...

As Ohio State starts spring football practice this week, two things are new: the head coach and his open-door policy

And for big money, too, as dope smugglers make high-speed runs in a deadly new game of hide-and-seek

This is baseball's Golden Age. Indeed, there is impressive evidence to suggest that the old game's grip on the American sensibility has never been firmer, its future never brighter. A sport that...

Pittsburgh has had swashbucklers at the plate dating back to 1883, when Edward Swartwood won the first of its record 23 batting championships. And the tradition is far from dead, as Dave Parker's...

Though a play at the plate almost cost Dave Parker half his face, he has lost none of his cheek. He backs up his preposterous words with potent deeds

Last season the weak were stronger; this year the strong are weaker, so the cause of equality will again be served. Since 1973 the Dodgers and the Reds have exchanged first-and second-place...

From the lowest clubhouse boy to the very highest front-office poo-bah, everyone in baseball agrees that the Phillies are a team on the verge—but no one is exactly sure what Philadelphia is on the...

The odds couple of Keith Taft, a devout, straight-arrow Baptist, and Ken Uston, a high-living ex-stockbroker, blackjacked Las Vegas casinos for a small fortune with the help of a nifty little...

Boston's Jim Rice, whose 46 home runs and 139 RBIs led the majors last year, is another of the new millionaires, but it is best not to question him about it

It has become familiar enough to qualify as ritual. For three seasons now the American League West has served as Kansas City's freeway to the playoffs. And for more than two years California and...

Here they come, streaking out of history: the 1977 Reds, the 1973 Pirates, the 1965, 1959 and 1954 Yankees, the 1954 Dodgers, the 1925 Giants, the 1917 Red Sox, the 1910 Tigers, the 1909 Cubs....

This may prove to be more in the nature of an epitaph than an encomium. The White Shadow, CBS television's hour-long weekly series about a basketball team in a seedy ghetto high school, has...

Flying Paster was in the winner's circle again at Santa Anita last weekend, having rebounded from a puzzling loss to win the Derby by an impressive 6½ lengths

Jack Renner wears a Ben Hogan-style cap and is the baby of the pro tour. He also has the Hogan-sized notion that he could be the best golfer in the world someday

Buffalo Bob, BMOC at Croaker College in Sacramento, rolls onto his well-muscled back and grabs a barbell. He reels off a set of bench presses, then hurls his bulk at the overhead bar and does a...

The recently christened hill at the world championship didn't slow John Treacy

Now that the pro hockey leagues are definitely going to merge, NHL teams are drooling over all the young stars of the soon-to-be-defunct Birmingham Bulls

On his way back to the bigs last season, the author found today's players aren't like the ones he met his first time up. They're looser and lazier and prefer pot to potables