The slap shot, fired from just over the blue line by college hockey's leading scorer, illuminated the red light in a nearly empty arena. The bewildered goaltender reached back to retrieve the...

My good friend Foster. The trouble he has gotten me into over the years. One adventure started innocently enough, with a postcard: "I am in my favorite city," he wrote, "riding the ferry across...

I miss the stumble but what I see is the cameraman, whom I've hired at absurd expense to cover my son's high school invitational cross-country meet, rolling, as if in slow motion, down a gentle...

4—Lane Stewart26, 27—Heinz Kluetmeier28, 29—Walter Iooss Jr. (2), Richard Mackson34—George Tiedemann (left), John Iacono35—John Iacono (left), Manny Millan36—Manny Millan39—John Iacono49—Carl...

PRO BASKETBALL—Three straight wins by red-hot Denver lifted the Nuggets to within half a game of first place in the Midwest Division, behind struggling San Antonio, which was winless in four...

KIM ECKRICHDARIEN, CONN.Eckrich, a freshman at Williams, led the Ephwomen to the NCAA Division III swimming title with wins in the 50-, 100-and 200-yard breast-stroke and the 100 and 200 IM. She...

NORTH CAROLINA, PAST AND PRESENTSir:Thank you for the wonderful article on the University of North Carolina's 1956-57 championship basketball team (A Team That Was Blessed, March 29). As a...

When James (Jumbo) Elliott, Villanova's splendid track coach, died of a heart attack on March 22, 1981, he left a singular void in the world of sport. Like Red Smith, who died less than a year...

SPORTS AGENTS: RAISING ETHICAL QUESTIONS THAT RUN FROM A (ARMAS) TO Z (ZADORA)

•The Rev. Timothy S. Healy, president of Georgetown, asked why his school's basketball success seemed to cause more excitement in other parts of Washington than in the fashionable community in...

A little nudge from Jockey Jeffrey Fell sent Timely Writer (far left) charging past Star Gallant (center) to win the Florida Derby and solidify his position as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby

"Power food" and a powerful psych propelled Berkeley's gutsy crew to a win at San Diego

You put Sally Little in the rich Dinah Shore and have her shoot a final round 64

Once again Philadelphia has terrific players and a superb record, but probably not enough muscle to win an NBA title

Suddenly last summer Senior Editor Larry Keith decided it was time to create some new statistics for relief pitching. "There's a plethora of batting data," Keith said to himself. "Teams now keep...

An effort to modernize baseball's outdated organizational machinery could have far-reaching effects both on and off the playing field

Anguished by the dissolution of his marriage and nettled by scoffers at his ideals, Steve Garvey soldiers on

At one point this spring, the A's suited up 102 players, coaches and instructors in their Phoenix training camp. Their clubhouse looked like a subway station, the outfield like a cattle ranch. But...

They've got the names, all right—Jackson, Carew, Lynn, Baylor, Burleson, Grich.... You name 'em, they've got 'em. What the Angels don't have is time, because age, that most relentless of pursuers,...

Tom Paciorek adjusted his Army helmet and, in his best Patton voice, told the camera, "Come out for Helmet Day. You can tell everyone you were there for the Big One." Paciorek also donned pith,...

Catcher Jim Sundberg says of his Rangers, "It seems like we have always done just enough to lose." True. Four times since 1974, including 1981, Texas has been runner-up in its division. Al Oliver,...

Remember the Royals? They finished first in the AL West by 14 games two years ago and embarrassed the Yankees in the championship series, only to fall to the Phillies in the World Series. Last...

The Mariners began every spring training session by dancing like loose-limbed marionettes on the outfield grass at Tempe Stadium. The frolicking was part of the aerobic exercising prescribed by...

The Minnesota Twins are noteworthy in many respects. Not one player on their spring training roster was in his 30s. They have the lowest average salary ($90,000) and the highest average ticket...

On a gray March morning, as the grounds crew tried to burn the infield dry at Sun City Stadium, the Milwaukee Brewer pitching staff worked out on the rain-drenched outfield grass. Between sprints,...

Paul Krichell was a catcher whose major league career with the St. Louis Browns consisted of 85 games in 1911 and 1912. Cy Slapnicka was a righthander who, in 1918, got his only major league win....

Bill Bergesch, the Yankees' vice-president of baseball operations, was considering an inquiry as to whether George's Team has too much talent. "It's a problem," he says. "But like the guy says,...

Sparky Anderson completed his tax forms, put them in an envelope, licked the flap and talked about moving the Tigers into a higher bracket. "This is the best club since I've been manager," said...

"I'll bet you don't remember Paul Fix," Cleveland Manager Dave Garcia was saying. "He was in probably 95 percent of John Wayne's movies. And how about Nat Pendleton? He was educated at Columbia...

In the Miami Stadium clubhouse, Oriole Manager Earl Weaver was complaining about his arthritis and assessing his team's chances. "This spring is no different from the others," he said. "It's the...

Last year, while their fans were mourning the loss of Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and Rick Burleson, cursing their fate and invoking the ghost of Tom Yawkey, the Red Sox were quietly finishing 2½...

Cyanocitta cristata is a showy, noisy bluebird with a crest. The baseball club that honors this fine feathered friend hasn't shown anything, much less a crest, in five years in Toronto.

Ron Cey, who became a folk hero when he took a Goose Gossage fastball on the side of his head in the World Series and came back in the next game to get two hits and the game-winning RBI, was...

The newest addition to the Astros is The Hill, a large wooden structure at their spring training facility that inclines at a 38-degree angle for more than 30 feet. Running up and down it is...

These couldn't have been the Cincinnati Reds. For one thing, they were dressed in green. For another, George Foster was in blue, orange and white, the colors of the Mets. In the Reds' outfield...

"It's about time for us to do something," Braves Leftfielder Dale Murphy said recently. "We had a chance last year, but then something happened."

A young man in Yuma, a pile of beer cans at his feet, booed lustily as San Diego Shortstop Garry Templeton stepped into the batter's box. No stranger to such a greeting, Templeton responded by...

The 1982 Giants pose more questions than Barbara Walters. To mention just a few: Who's pitching? Will balls hit to the right side of the infield, where 37-year-old Reggie Smith and 38-year-old Joe...

He's 56 and his career average was only .237 in 80 games, but he just might tip the balance of power in the NL East. In his eight seasons as the Philadelphia batting coach, Billy DeMars turned the...

Now that understated Pat Corrales has replaced acid-tongued Dallas Green as manager, an aura of brotherly love has returned to Philadelphia. So, in concert with the times, let's say some nice...

Oh, that New York, New York hyperbole. Ever since the Mets picked up George Foster in February, they've been claiming to be a contender. A dismal spring training did little to stem the enthusiasm,...

Without so much as a single player who hit 20 home runs or won more than 10 games, St. Louis had the third-best record in the major leagues last season. "That Whitey Herzog," said baseball men of...

Sounds of spring:

"The only person I recognize around here," says Ferguson Jenkins, a Cub pitcher for the first time since 1973, "is Yosh Kawano." How true. Kawano, who was the team's clubhouse man before Mrs....

SI's comprehensive rating system proves there's more to judging relief pitchers than just counting their wins and saves

On the mound or in the salon, Joe Sambito of the Houston Astros leaves 'em high and dry almost every time

In sport, the great paper chase began with Babe, and baseball has remained No. 1 on the pen parade