In a clash of potent forces, the Boston Celtics jumped out to a 2-1 lead over the Houston Rockets in the NBA finals

If home is where the heart is, it's also where the heartless can be, as the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets have made abundantly clear this season. After three games of the NBA championship...

Given a golden opportunity with only two laps to go, Bobby Rahal spurted past the leader, Kevin Cogan, and triumphed at a record 170.722 mph

As Jim McKay aptly put it, ABC's new theme song last week was Back Home Again And Again And Again in Indiana. But after some back-room maneuvering to reschedule the race, TV's first live telecast...

Edwin Moses, winner of 94 straight 400 hurdles races, is fit again and ready to take on his challengers

After stopping Eddie Gregg, the long-AWOL Gerry Cooney insists that he's back on the right track

SI's publisher's office recently commissioned a national poll on sports-related issues. The poll, whose results were to be announced this week, was conducted by Lieberman Research Inc. of New York...

Scott Verplank won the NCAA title, but his OSU team was brought down

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CARDINALS?

PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Texas Ranger first baseman Pete O'Brien has youth (28), wealth ($300,000 a year) and strapping California good looks (blond hair, blue eyes). Although he doesn't get much recognition in a league...

For more than half a century until his death at 76 in 1982, Red Smith spent several hours of nearly every day alone in front of a typewriter. This poses a considerable problem for anyone writing...

The San Diego Sockers now have a fifth straight title from two leagues

Thanks largely to proselytizing by Roger Craig, the split-fingered fastball has become a big hit with pitchers—and a big miss with the hitters

The flags of North Dakota, by order of the governor, flew at half-staff on Dec. 19, the day they buried Roger Maris here in Fargo. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral suspended the Christmas...

BASEBALL—Arizona, down 7-0 after 6½ innings, rallied to defeat Maine 8-7 in the first round in the College World Series in Omaha. In other action, Loyola-Marymount upset Louisiana State 4-3,...

BECKY MILLERRIVERSIDE, CALIF.Miller, a Biola senior, became the first NAIA All-America in two different sports for four straight years. This year she averaged 24.4 points per game in basketball...

CHRIS AND MARTINASir:Your May 26 cover inset caption, "An Enduring Rivalry," might also have read "An Endearing Rivalry." Just when I thought that nothing new could be said about Chris Evert Lloyd...

AT MEXICO'S WORLD CUP: SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS

•George Raveling, USC's new basketball coach, recalling his rough-and-tumble youth in a ghetto in Washington, D.C.: "If you went to my school with two ears, it was obvious you were a transfer...