Birds of YouthThe Orioles finally click with a younger, faster, lower-paid lineup

HOW BAD have the Cubs been? Their ERA of 5.31 through Sunday was the worst in club history by more than half a run....

Hooked UpThe Colts' young Manning-Harrison duo showed signs of greatness against San Diego

1. Identity CrisisEntering the season it seemed that Treadmills would have been a more appropriate new name for the Tennessee franchise than Titans. After all, when known as the Oilers, the club...

It's a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game, and we were told not to be surprised if it previewed this season's as well. Jets versus Broncos, showdown at Mile High Stadium, and folks at...

Chiefs wideout Derrick Alexander is finally emerging as a go-to guy

Breaking UpJeff Gordon's crew chief is moving on to greener pastures

Consecutive Winston Cup races that Terry Labonte has started, more than any other active NASCAR driver.

Low and High TideEven after a big win, up-and-down Alabama was awash in controversy

•Virginia (3-1) at Virginia Tech (3-0)The Hokies defense has scored 16 points, five less than the 21 it has allowed (and seven of those 21 came on a fake field goal). If Cavaliers tailback Thomas...

Strong safety Tyrone Carter is on track to set a record for tackles

From somewhere in that sky deliriously clogged with corks and hats and shirts and roar and glee came the best thing of all: a pair of dark, wraparound, screw-you sunglasses. That's how you knew...

I'm glad you reminded this Giants fan why my favorite member of the team is a 50-year-old man who hasn't played a game since 1986.—RYAN SULLIVAN, Fort McMurray, Alberta

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,...

May 14, 1984

DON'T MISS

6.3

If you thought baseball beat writers were fashion-challenged, fast-food-fueled, sleep-deprived hacks, think again. Buster Olney, who covers the Yankees for The New York Times and whose job is...

Johnny Miller's piercing analysis helped make The Ryder Cup riveting television

One of America's Olympic bosses was banned for blood doping

Deion Sanders is coming back this week. Colonel Sanders, who died in 1980, isn't. Neither is Barry Sanders, but his retirement looks more and more like a sabbatical. Barry's dad wants him back in...

$13,000Value of each U.S. golfer's Ryder Cup wardrobe, including those awful $160 shirts the team wore on Sunday.

For complete NHL team schedules, stats, rosters and scores, go to cnnsi.com/hockey. Plus, send your questions to Kostya Kennedy's NHL mailbag.

WILD-CARD WEIRDNESSDeath by Pedro

Slashed•The Dolphins' Dimitrius Underwood, who was found on a Lansing, Mich., street, bleeding from a neck wound that police say was self-inflicted. He had been jailed the previous night for...

The Swatch Wave Tour hit Florence with a 1,000-ton artificial wave in a huge tank that had surfers including pro Albert Liu (below) ripping the lip near the 15th-century cathedral Santa Maria del...

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers endorsed BYU linebacker Rob (Freight Train) Morris for the Butkus Award.

GREG HILLLions running back: "I'm not the next Barry Sanders. In fact, I won't even be the main G. Hill in this town."

While studying for his degree in architecture at Syracuse, David Rockwell spent a summer working for a Broadway lighting designer. That's when he realized the two disciplines could be fused into...

With FanCards, teams reward rooters for loyalty

Yahoo Serious?

Few will mourn when the last baseball game is played at Candlestick Park

The Halper collection auction was a grand slam

At the Triple A series, Vancouver's youth was too much for Charlotte's veterans

A Jerk on One End: Reflections of a Mediocre FishermanBy Robert HughesBallantine Books, $18.95

The wildest comeback in Ryder Cup history culminated in one unlikely putt that clinched a stunning victory for the U.S. team

Moving ViolationRickey Henderson of the Mets, who lost six games in a row last week to fall behind the Reds in the National League wild-card race, is tagged out at home by the Braves' Eddie Perez,...

With added power from the right side and his usual pop from the left, Atlanta's Chipper Jones has put on a clutch-hitting clinic worthy of an MVP

One of the keys to switch-hitter Chipper Jones's career-best season in '99 is his increased power and production from the right side of the plate. Here's a comparison of how Jones fared against...

Even after a loss to their former coach, Rick Neuheisel, spurned Colorado players were able to forgive and forget

Recuperated quarterback Brad Johnson single-handedly has turned his new team, the Redskins, into the NFL's No. 1 offensive power

The NFL's new K ball has kickers and punters fuming—and owning up to the extreme steps they used to take to doctor the pigskin and make it easier to boot

A growing number of black players are making their mark in a league that until recently has been known for its insensitivity

The eye-catching thing about Anson Carter, a Bruins right wing, is that he's a very good hockey player—for a man of any color

When only the superlative—like Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek—will do, here are SI's choices of the players, coaches and general managers to call on

In the annual nipping and tucking designed to showcase its splendid game—a campaign against hooking and holding here, more space behind the net there—the NHL has taken the ultimate step in hockey...

There is no clinically proven hair of the dog or other magic potion for the dread Stanley Cup hangover, that bloated feeling of success and complacency that afflicts so many champions. But last...

Brett Hull scored the game-winning goal In II of the 60 games In which he played last season. That was the highest percentage (18.3%) of game-winners by any player who suited up for at least 10...

Imagine if Nicklas Lidstrom had left Detroit. Imagine if he had spurned millions of U.S. dollars and the glitz of the NHL for the safety, the school systems and the silver snowfalls of his native...

Last season, the Red Wings led the NHL with 2,622 shots on goal. Detroit converted just 9.3% of those shots, the 16th-best percentage in the league, but its 245 goals were third best.

One morning in training camp Avalanche right wing Adam Deadmarsh was marveling at his improved shooting. The previous day, in a variation of the old Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a...

The Bruins sent shock waves through the NHL this off-season when they made the unprecedented move of refusing to accept a salary arbitrator's decision. General manager Harry Sinden and his bosses...

1998-99 Calder Trophy winner Chris Drury had just 44 points, the lowest total for a rookie of the year since 1966-67, when Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr had 41.

Byron Dafoe had 10 shutouts last season to become just the third goaltender since 1976-77 with a double-digit total. The other two: Martin Brodeur (1996-97, '97-98) and Dominik Hasek ('97-98).

Dominik Hasek has turned the Sabres' season into one long farewell tour with his lollapalooza of an announcement on July 30 in Prague that he is retiring after 1999-2000. In a misguided attempt to...

Blues captain Chris Pronger was in midseason form during one of the team's voluntary scrimmages in late August. After 90 minutes of exhausting four-on-four hockey with only eight players per team,...

Last year winger Miroslav Satan became the first Sabre to lead the team in scoring in back-to-back seasons since Dale Hawerchuk in 1990-91 and '91-92.

Blues captain Chris Pronger (30 minutes, 37 seconds over 67 games) was the only NHL player to average more than 30 minutes of ice time per game last season.

Devils Coach Robbie Ftorek had just finished guiding his talented club through a spirited scrimmage one morning last month. He sat in a warm room off the rink, still wearing his skates, peering...

To be optimistic about the Sharks this season, you just have to look at what's missing from last year. There are no 12-hour flights to Japan to start the regular season, no holdouts and no Gary...

Since World War II no goaltender with 200 or more wins has a better career goals-against average than Martin Brodeur's 2.19.

The eight-year-old Sharks and the one-year old Predators are the only NHL teams never to have finished a season with a winning record. Twice—in 1993-94 and last year—San Jose has finished two wins...

Observers at the Flyers' training camp in Peterborough, Ont., were struck by the team's fitness. Right wing Mark Recchi was fully recovered from the concussion he sustained last season, defenseman...

Captain Alexei Yashin is AWOL in Switzerland, demanding a new contract or a trade. This, of course, isn't the first time Yashin has vanished. In Buffalo's first-round playoff sweep of favored...

The Flyers topped the league with 2,967 face-off wins last season, led by Rod Brind'Amour's 1,001. Philly also led the league in percentage of face-offs won (55.35).

Ottawa was the league's least penalized team last season. The Senators had the fewest fighting penalties (14), fewest total penalties (394) and fewest penalty minutes (892).

When Judge Bernard Markovitz finished presiding over the bankruptcy court proceedings that led to the approval of Mario Lemieux's purchase of the Penguins on Sept. 3, he reflected on Lemieux's...

The coyotes' locker room had become such a haven for malcontents last month that the sight of a black snake was only fitting. When it slithered into the equipment room one morning during training...

Center Martin Straka increased his production from 0.56 points per game in 1997-98 to 1.04 per game last year, the biggest increase by anyone who played at least 60 games in each of the last two...

The Coyotes were the only team last season whose top three scorers (Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet) each had at least 100 penalty minutes.

When Teemu Selanne arrived at training camp in early September, he looked around and saw something he hadn't seen in four seasons with the Mighty Ducks: help. Over the past two years Selanne and...

While Goaltender Curtis Joseph spent a quiet off-season riding horses with his three kids on his new homestead in King City, Ontario, the Maple Leafs' front office was undergoing a frantic...

Over the last three seasons only Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr has averaged more points per game (1.47) than Anaheim's Teemu Selanne (1.336) and Paul Kariya (1.335). Those three were the only NHL...

Defenseman Alexander Karpotsev had a league-leading +39 last season (including +1 in two games he played with the Rangers), which was +13 more than any of his Toronto teammates.

Call them the Strangers. New York will begin the season with a 23-man roster that could include as many as 10 new players. The Big Apple turnover is a dramatic, expensive effort to reshape the...

If the Rangers fail to make the postseason in 1999-2000, it will mark the first time since 1965-66 that the Blueshirts have missed the playoffs three straight seasons.

The Grunting coming out of the Capitals practice facility these days is a far more pleasant sound to Washington fans than the cries of "Ouch!" that echoed throughout last season. In 1998-99 the...

The past is prologue in Edmonton. The new coach is Kevin Lowe, one of his assistants is Craig MacTavish, the backup goaltender is Bill Ranford, and the pesky forward in training camp trying to...

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar (13 power-play goals, 10 assists) was the only NHL player last season with as many as 10 power-play goals and as few as 10 assists.

The Oilers had the worst home overtime record in the NHL last year (0-4-5). On the road, however, Edmonton tied for the league lead with three overtime wins.

For two long years, as Carolina coach Paul Maurice made the 160-mile round-trip commute between Raleigh and Greensboro for Hurricanes "home" games, he lamented that several NHL teams made shorter...

The hiring of anonymous rookie coach Andy Murray to replace Hall of Famer Larry Robinson is a curious case of casting, especially by Hollywood's standards. Just how low-profile is the new king of...

The Hurricanes raised their point total by 12 last season despite winning just one more game than they had in 1997-98. That's because Carolina went from a league-low eight ties in '97-98 to 18...

The Kings' seven shutouts last season (four by Jamie Storr and three by Stephane Fiset) were their most since 1976-77, when Rogie Vachon blanked the opposition eight times.

The Canadiens' Stanley Cup parade used to follow, in the memorable words of a 1970s press release from the Montreal mayor's office, "the usual route." But now there is hardly a discernible path...

Who knew that Grant Fuhr would one day be the source of inspiration, rather than humiliation, for the Flames? Fuhr, who spent the better part of his 18-year goaltending career shutting down...

Montreal was one of two teams without an overtime goal last year. The Canadiens went 0-4-11 in the extra session. The Canucks were also scoreless in overtime, going 0-1-12.

In his 18-year career with five teams, Calgary's Grant Fuhr has allowed more goals to the Flames (234) than to any other NHL team. Fuhr's 60 decisions (28-20-12) against Calgary is also the most...

So what do Canucks fans have to look forward to this season? Vancouver's only star is aging, injury-prone center Mark Messier, whose uninspired play has contributed to consecutive last-place...

Last year Vancouver became the first team in NHL history to have as many as eight players score multiple shorthanded goals in a season; nine Canucks did so.

What would you do if you were the general manager of a talent-starved, small-market franchise that scored a paltry 190 goals in its inaugural season? Predators general manager David Poile sent his...

As a first-year expansion team last season, the Predators won 28 games, including at least one victory against each of the 12 other Western Conference teams.

It's hard to imagine things getting much worse for the Islanders. In the past year this forlorn franchise, which has had one winning season in the last 11 and is suffering through the NHL's...

When Don Waddell, the general manager of the expansion Thrashers, was a 16-year-old growing up in Detroit, his mother, Jacqueline, phoned him one morning to tell him she had left her car on the...

Though he played in only 23 games last year, left wing Gino Odjick led the Islanders with 133 penalty minutes. That's 5.8 per game, a higher average than any other NHL player (minimum five games).

Here's some encouraging news for the first-year Thrashers: Only one of the NHL's last four expansion franchises (the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93) finished with the league's worst record in its...

A bad move here, a missed putt there, and what could have been a comeback by the Americans never got off the ground

NBC's Johnny Miller got the ball rolling by immediately second-guessing Crenshaw's decision to substitute Leonard for Maggert as Sutton's partner in four-ball: "My hunch is that Justin should go...

A single-minded U.S. team came out hot against the Euros, and the rout was on

Make mine a double. NBC commentator and former European captain Bernard Gallacher as the U.S. closed in on victory: "I was just talking to Mark James's wife, and she asked if we had any gin up here."

Put off by the boorish U.S. squad—and charmed by the gracious Europeans-one member of the Country Club found himself cheering against the red, white and blue

It Was a Thing of Beauty

Francis Ouimet's Old HouseCaddie's Shack

At last week's Westin Texas Open at LaCantera Golf Club in San Antonio, Nick Faldo vowed to keep his mind on the tournament he was in, not the one he wasn't. He failed. Having shot himself out of...

Should the Presidents Cup, as Jack Nicklaus suggests, be a qualifier for the Ryder Cup?

The duo of Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik went 3-0-1 in Europe's loss, becoming one of the top tandems in Ryder Cup history. Here are the top 10 one-week pairs teams going into last week.

Joe Moberg, Gladstone, Mich.Moberg, 45, a pipe fitter, beat 4,882 other contestants in 51 flights at the World Amateur Handicap Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C. A 14 handicapper, Moberg won the...

Writing my memoirs exorcised some demons but not in the way that I had expected

The final Ryder Cup of the century guarantees a big future for the event

Led by a precocious kid and three salty veterans, the Europeans put a sleepwalking U.S. team in a deep hole

Did the U.S. players come out tight? Who wouldn't after hearing Crenshaw say this on NBC: "It's extremely important that people know what we're playing for. We're playing for our souls."