September 20, 1999 | Volume 91, Issue 11

Former skycap K.D. Williams now starts at linebacker for the Raiders

The Weirdest sight I saw on Sunday was Falcons backup quarterback Tony Graziani standing on the sideline, not warming up-even though he might have had to try to win the game against the Vikings....

Now this message for America's most famous athletes: Someday you may be invited to fly in the backseat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have-John Elway,...

When you looked to the heavens this past weekend while giving thanks for the season's first full slate of football games, you didn't see any puffy wisps of cloud spelling out college scores or NFL...

September 24, 1979

I'll explain Einstein's theory of relativity if you can explain how a story on roller coasters gets into a sports magazine.—VINCE LAMARCA, Oviedo, Fla.

Letters to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should include the name, address and home telephone number of the writer. They may be mailed to The Editor, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Time & Life Building, New York,...

DON'T MISS

7.2CBS's preliminary rating for last Saturday's U.S. Open women's final between Serena Williams and Martina Hingis—double the rating of the 1998 final (Hingis versus Lindsay Davenport).

Will people watch Battle Dome—premiering Saturday (syndicated) and featuring regular-folks contestants taking on 10 Battle Dome Warriors in events such as kickboxing while suspended in...

This favorite acronym for describing injury-riddled teams is getting lame from overuse

De La Hoya and Trinidad make an oddly perfect match

The Jets sputtered on takeoff. After Vinny Testaverde blew a tire coming off the runway, Bill Parcells encountered emergency quarterback turbulence and proceeded to coach without apparent genius....

3Pitches to the Padres' Phil Nevin with three outs in the seventh inning of a Sept. 9 game against Montreal.

Knockout coverage of the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad fight: an in-depth preview and prediction, round-by-round reports from ringside and postfight analysis.

Jim (Catfish) Hunter spent one of his last days on Earth with me—on the 20th anniversary of Thurman Munson's death, no less—and several times on that hot afternoon last month, in the presence of...

Spurned

STUBBORN SLUGGERThe Real Crash Davis

Young Talks Dirty

Each fall the Army Corps of Engineers releases billions of gallons of water from the Gauley River through valves in the Summersville Dam, turning the river into a 27-mile roller coaster. "It's the...

Detroit police caught a fan trying to steal a urinal from Tiger Stadium.

BRIAN MEADOWSMarlins pitcher, on making contact with a fourth-inning Randy Johnson fastball: "I started swinging in the second inning."

James Driscoll, Brookline, Mass.GolfDriscoll, 21, won the North-South Amateur championship 9 and 7 over John Pitt of Wilmington, N.C. A senior at Virginia, Driscoll, the 1995 New England Amateur...

Don Coryell drew up the plays that helped him become the only coach in football to win 100 games on both the college and pro levels. But 60 years ago, standing at a blackboard in his Seattle...

The costars of Hoop Dreams didn't make it to the NBA, but that's no tragedy

Tim Isaac is the first to bench-press 800 pounds

When the Ryder Cup tees off at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., on Sept. 24, Tiger Woods and his U.S. teammates will try to avenge two straight losses to Europe's top golfers. Get a grip on...

Truth be told, the game hasn't capitalized all that well on the home run chases

Anyone who's ever competed in crew has spent countless hours on an ergometer, a rowing machine made up of a vertical flywheel, a bicycle chain and a seat sliding along a central metal support. But...

Former Dallas backup Roman Turek is the new No. 1 netminder in St. Louis

The woeful play of its flagship franchise raises serious questions about MLS

A Clever Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery WardBy Bryan Di SalvatorePantheon Books, $27.50

In a rematch that fell far short of their titantic NFC title game, the Vikings took revenge on the Falcons—but didn't meet expectations

The pain of a knee injury and of seeing Tennessee thrive without him made Jamal Lewis, the Volunteers' stellar tailback, realize he's not invincible

Joltin' JoeReggie Jefferson uses a forceful argument—his left shoulder-to persuade Yankees catcher Joe Girardi to drop the ball on a play at the plate during a 4-1 Red Sox win on Sunday (page 90).

Over the past 12 seasons, the number of one-batter relief appearances has almost doubled—from 532 in 1987 to 978 last year. (Two expansions, in '93 and '98, helped swell the figures.) Through...

Early this century, the ideal pitcher was a man such as Walter Johnson, who, from 1907 through '27, threw a modern-day record 531 complete games. But almost inexorably, the mound has become more...

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

•Penn State (3-0) at Miami (2-0)Hurricane Floyd is lurking in the Atlantic. Will there be a repeat of last year, when Hurricane Georges forced the postponement of UCLA's visit to South Florida?...

Missouri sophomore Justin Smith is a monster at defensive end

NAME, POSITION, SCHOOLSKINNY

The end of this season will also mark the closing of the Astrodome, 3Com Park and Tiger Stadium, victims of baseball's capital-improvement drive. With the passing of those parks, these stadiums...

Sept. 11, 1999 Twins 7, Angels 0

Blue Jays assistant general manager Dave Stewart, a candidate for the Brewers' vacant general managership, has stopped talking to the media. Stewart, one of baseball's more loquacious executives,...

Jeff Fassero may match Togie Pittinger's historically bad 1903 season

In ChargeShowing some of his old college flair, Steve McNair rallied the Titans over the Bengals

1. IndispensableA year ago, who would have thought that the Jets would be taking Sunday's loss of injured quarterback Vinny Testaverde so hard? Coach Bill Parcells would be wise to pluck old hand...

Walker Cup ReversalSpankin' the Yanks

What do these players have in common?

Will Tom Watson dominate the Senior tour?

Joe Cheves, Morganton, N.C.Cheves, 81, shot an eight-under 64 on the 6,280-yard Mimosa Hills Golf and Country Club course in Morganton. A former head pro at Mimosa, Cheves has bettered his age at...

Much has been made of Europe's Ryder Cup rookies, but they don't hold the key to success

By altering the course, Ben Crenshaw has created a home field advantage

No More Walkover Cups

Tom Watson recently relived a golf moment frozen in time—and, now, captured in frosting. To celebrate Watson's 50th birthday, the organizers of a fund-raising skins game in Kansas City, Mo.,...

Since so many Ryder Cup players think they should be paid for their services, we decided to put a price on the value of this year's competitors to their teams, The players are listed in order of...