March 17, 1986

It's said that if a ref or ump can get through a game without being noticed, he has done a good job. Perhaps the same should apply to a parent.—PATRICK DILLON, Hamilton, N.J.

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, 135 West 50th Street, New York, N.Y....

Highlights

CBS aired the latest round of the Coaches vs. Candor Classic during the waning moments of last Saturday's NCAA Midwest Regional final. When Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy went bonkers and got...

According to ESPN: The Uncensored History (Taylor Publishing Co., $24.95), which is being published on April 5, Bristol University is—or at least used to be—one helluva party school. "It was not...

A new Web video service will wedge its way into the coverage at Augusta National

Golf on NBCThe preliminary Nielsen rating for Sunday's final round of the Players Championship was 5.6, outpointing CBS's NCAA men's basketball regional final (North Carolina versus Tulsa), which...

Golf on ABCLast Saturday's third round of the LPGA's Nabisco Championship, featuring an amazing 68 by 13-year-old Aree Wongluekiet, got a barely detectable 0.8 Nielsen.

Imagine the possibilities if Phil Jackson began to distribute volumes in even greater volume

A long-ago interview with Knight was too touchy for this reporter

Sergei Fedorov's attempted floral crosscheck of his rival-in-love didn't work when Anna Kournikova remained engaged to the Panthers' Pavel Bure despite Fedorov's gift of 240 roses. But since...

34441Zip code for Hernando, Fla., (now 34442) requested by a crusading Boston baseball fan.

Last Orbit For Venus?Venus Williams's rumored retirement may just be more goofing by tennis's fun family

Stashed•A Joe DiMaggio autographed baseball, housed in a small display case, in the goody baskets given to award presenters on Oscar night.

The recent fluctuations of the stock market have nothing on the life of former Cowboys linebacker Thomas (Hollywood) Henderson, who was back in the news in Texas last week.

Iron Miked

King County, Wash., still needs to collect $206 million in taxes for the Seattle Kingdome, which was imploded on Sunday.

JOSE CANSECODevil Rays DH, on his recently opened Canseco Financial Group, a mortgage and investments firm: "I love this. It's like gambling."

For complete major league rosters, team schedules and career stats on every player, plus the latest news and analysis from SI's Tom Verducci, go to cnnsi.com/baseball.

Minnesota's upstart women battled back twice to win the national title

From captain Yossarian to Corporal Klinger, Hollywood always seems to send its military deserters to sea in rubber rafts that inflate with the yank of a cord. Sure, it's funny to watch someone...

CCNY won the NIT and NCAA crowns in 1950, a year before falling to scandal

Olympic hopefuls get drilled at Bela Karolyi's Texas ranch

With three world records, breaststroker Ed Moses was a commanding figure at the NCAAs

RED SMITH ON BASEBALLIvan R. Dee, $24.95

The writer never knew the beloved and successful coach who became his father

Drew Bigda, Stamford, Conn.HockeyDrew, a junior forward at Westhill High, scored a natural hat trick in just 57 seconds in the first period and later added another goal and two assists in a 7-2...

If the worth of scouts can be measured by their real estate in Cooperstown, some baseball legends have every right to be offended. The scouts' exhibit—tucked away in a corner of the Baseball Hall...

Smashmouth play that seemed fit for the gridiron propelled Florida, Michigan State, North Carolina and Wisconsin to the Final Four

We asked coaches and assistants who had to prepare game plans against the Final Four teams to give us scouting reports—anonymously, if they wished—on the strengths and weaknesses they saw in the...

The first item in Tennessee's scouting report before the South Regional semifinal said this: "Limit Brendan Haywood's touches." When the Tar Heels' 7-foot center gets the ball in the low post,...

Be patient, for this will be a game of relatively few possessions—and be prudent, as each will loom large. But at the same time, as two Big Ten assistants point out, open looks are so rare, and...

"They want to make it a 94-foot game, so if you make them defend six or seven passes each time in your half-court offense, their legs won't be as good in the press or in their shots," says one SEC...

Raze the RoofThe Kingdome in Seattle, the erstwhile unhappy home of the Mariners, the Seahawks and the SuperSonics, goes up in dust on Sunday with a little help from more than 4,450 pounds of...

In his final season Jeff Hornacek is still lifting the Jazz with the kind of good old-fashioned shooting that's rarely seen these days

BASEBALL

High FivesAt bargain-basement prices, some Rule 5 pickups bring teams a major league boost

How did the Devil Rays, whose attendance dropped by 31% last year, afford their off-season spending spree? The four free agents they signed, plus four players on the team who got new contracts,...

Lenny BruisedThe Hawks are a mess, and the cleanup may begin with the firing of coach Lenny Wilkens

While everyone harps on how critical Sean Elliott's outside shooting will be to the Spurs in the playoffs, San Antonio players are more excited about what he'll do for them on the other end of the...

Will Perdue returned to Chicago to play, but mostly he's warming the bench

The Good FightWith the Rose Bowl within their reach, the upstart Illini put themselves in a must-win situation

Dare DevilsEast-leading New Jersey took a gamble and fired coach Robbie Ftorek

ED BELFOURG STARSAfter leading Dallas to the Cup last year, he's having another superb season. But he could be plagued by his recent arrest for assault, during which he allegedly offered cops a $1...

One of the better moves at the trade deadline was made by Panthers general manager Bryan Murray, who obtained reliable two-way center Mike Sillinger from the Lightning for center Ryan Johnson and...

The Nutt family cast off on a three-year globe-circling adventure that will change their lives and, they're sure, bring them closer together

Dogged for years by a hellish reputation, Jim Edmonds is finally out of Anaheim and hoping the outfield grass is greener in St. Louis

The Red Wings are again pinning their Stanley Cup hopes on a band of rejuvenated graybeard defensemen

Tiger Woods has pared down his life so that he can focus on golf—and he's dominating the game like no player before him

To win an Olympic gold medal, would you:

Unlike some of his fellow Tour pros, who seemed resigned to defeat, Hal Sutton couldn't wait to knock off Tiger Woods at the Players Championship

A look at Tiger Woods's golf genealogy reveals how he got so good

Woods's father, Earl, says his son first struck a golf ball when he was only nine months old. Tiger has been working to improve his swing ever since. Here are the key moments in the development of...

•Give 'em Hal!Hal Sutton showed how to be a hero: Stand up to Tiger instead of rolling over for him.

Those closest to Jack Nicklaus expect him to pull off at least one more miracle before he bows out of the majors

Take our Standard Augusta Test and measure your mastery of Masters minutiae

15-11They ought to name a bridge after you

YEARS BEFORE ROSA PARKS REFUSED TO TAKE A SEAT IN THE BACK OF A BUS, A SMALL GROUP OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN GOLFERS STRUCK A BLOW FOR RACIAL JUSTICE BY DEMANDING TO PLAY A SEGREGATED MUNICIPAL COURSE...

The Trouble with SergioGrowing Pains

The Ryder Cup wound is still fresh. The players, wives and caddies are good at hiding animosity, but there's bad blood between the sides. The Euros believe what happened on the 17th green at the...

What do these players have in common?

Should the Players Championship be upgraded to a major championship?

SYNONYMS for a YIPPED PUTTBlank out, cashmere insert, focal distonia, ginsburg, gin stab, go blind, Hoched, rush of s— to the heart, tentative prod, tremor, the wave, the wish, vapors, whiskey...

Nicholas Bollini, Yorba Linda, Calif.Nicholas, 16, birdied the second hole of a playoff against Kenji Murayama of Guadalajara to win his second consecutive Mexican National Junior Championship, at...

There's only one thing that would make my trip to the Masters more special than usual

Once an art, caddying has become an easy job

These are my favorite tournaments to cover. I selected these events for the things I value most: atmosphere, player access, walkability of the course and nearby amenities.

The grand pooh-bah has some words for the wise about the Masters telecast

Karrie Webb's second straight victory in a major came with an added attraction: the Wongluekiet twins