Helmut and HelmetHelmut Oblinger of Austria, wearing well-aerated head gear, keeps his eyes on the gate in the men's kayak singles slalom finals at the Sydney Olympics. Oblinger finished fourth.

With a nose for the ballcarrier and an unwavering focus, inside linebacker Sam Cowart has emerged as the star of the Bills' unsung defense

Freshman quarterback Philip Rivers has kept North Carolina State rolling along with three last-gasp victories

In the battle for the last playoff spot, the Indians rely on Manny Ramirez, who talks softly but carries a big bat

With 112 RBIs in HO regular-season games through Sunday, Manny Ramirez was on course to become the seventh player (including Lou Gehrig, above) since 1900—and first since 1940—to drive in more...

BASEBALL

Rocking And FiringA mechanical adjustment by John Rocker could spell trouble for the Braves' playoff foes

No one is more surprised at the Giants' waltz to the National League West title than the San Francisco players themselves, most of whom were on the roster when the Giants missed the postseason in...

What Price Mediocrity?Drew Bledsoe isn't the player he once was, leaving New England to ponder his worth

The chiefs' Tony Gonzalez, who in Sunday's 23-22 win over the Broncos had the best day by a tight end in franchise history (10 catches, 127 yards and a score), credited rookie wideout Sylvester...

My Two CentsDolphins defensive end Trace Armstrong, who turns 35 next week, is the most underrated player in the league. A situational pass rusher, he leads the AFC in sacks, with 6½ and is on...

A week ago Tampa Bay figured to be a mortal lock over this Sunday's opponent, the Redskins. The Bucs were rampaging, averaging a gaudy 31 points a game to go with their crushing defense. All they...

Up and DirtyClemson is back among the elite, but did it get there by playing too rough?

•Washington (3-0)at Oregon (3-1)

Fresno State senior linebacker Tim Skipper wears number 51, not because Dick Butkus wore it but because Sam Mills did. The 5'9", 229-pound Mills ignored those who doubted he'd succeed in the NFL...

Two days after spraining his right knee in a Sept. 16 victory over Cal, Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner wore a T-shirt to a press conference that read, DON'T ASK! THE KNEE IS FINE! The knee was...

Minnesota's hard-hitting Karon Riley spares no one—including teammates

You try to interview Ian Thorpe. Sorry, he's in massage. You try to get time with Marion Jones. Sorry, she's in training. You try to get an audience with anybody from anywhere down to and...

DECEMBER 13, 1965

Any list of pass rushers that fails to include a single member of the Vikings' Purple People Eaters is woefully incomplete.—PATRICK ELIFRITZ, Wewoka, Okla.

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....

In an imaginary colloquy, NBC's top talents ponder why the Olympics are a ratings dud

Highlights

Joe Buck swears by him. So does Howie Long. James Brown, too. When Michael Weisman, then executive producer of NBC Sports, hired Bob Costas in 1980 to be an NFL studio host, he asked Costas how...

For adult jocks, a new site provides places and pals to play with

On Friday's Olympic coverage, NBC broadcast priceless shots of Amy Van Dyken of the U.S. shaking her head at Inge de Bruijn's 50-meter freestyle world record in a heat, but commentators Dan Hicks...

Making sense of NBC's tumbling Olympic ratings

1. Winter Olympics, Feb. 23, 1994, 45.7 million viewersFigure skating short program: Nancy versus Tonya, Part I

Allan Houston accepted so many condolences last week you'd have thought that he'd lost a loved one. In a way maybe he had, since the Knicks guard, who's in Sydney playing for the U.S. Olympic...

SPORT"Anything that's competitive and that requires discipline is a sport."—Angels infielder Mo Vaughn

7Active players with 400 or more home runs (Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro), the most ever.

IF YOU'VE SEEN SHAQ

Q If a Formula One car raced against a CART machine, which would win?

Billed•Orioles outfielder Albert Belle, by the Indians, for ruining the carpeting in the visitors' clubhouse during the teams' three-game series at Jacobs Field in early September. After several...

To follow Johann Olav Koss around Sydney for a day is to reawaken to the fact that not all superstar athletes are greedy boors. An IOC member, four-time speed skating gold medalist and SI's 1994...

What happens when you let a Playboy Playmate choose a starting quarterback? Let's just say that arm strength ends up counting for far less than a snazzy sports car. Earlier this year Browns...

Nike workers who handled Michael Johnson's custom-made 24-karat-gold-encrusted shoes had to wear white gloves so they wouldn't dull the shine.

GARY PAYTONU.S. Olympic basketball player, on the changed attitudes of Dream Team opponents: "These guys don't even ask for autographs anymore."

Even the players weren't much interested in the Triple A World Series in Vegas

Molded backpacks are designed to keep vulnerable contents snug and safe

Athletes and rap stars can't get enough of jeweler Jacob Arabo's garish designs

Chamique: On Family, Focus and Basketballby Chamique Holdsclaw with Jennifer FreyScribner, $18

A Grand Prix race drew crowds to Indy as Formula One returned to the United States

Flo Meiler, SHELBURNE, VT.Track and FieldMeiler, 66, a sales representative, broke a seven-year-old U.S. age-group record in the long jump by leaping 12'2½" to win the women's 65-and-over division...

Marion Jones's drive for five began brilliantly in the 100, then came news that her husband had failed a drug test

The surprisingly strong American swimmers got the biggest surprise of all when Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall Jr. won in a dead heat

As was true in that other Land of Oz, the most rewarding views in Sydney come when you pull off the masks and look behind the curtain

In the first Olympics to give a squat about women weightlifters, Tara Nott (right) won a gold medal and Cheryl Haworth a bronze for the U.S.

Go inside the NFL: Peter King gives you his exclusive online take on Sunday's action every Monday morning, and Dr. Z rates every team at cnnsi.com/football.

The women's all-around gymnastics competition was marred by a short horse and a failed drug test

To win the match sprint, Marty Nothstein of the U.S. first had to streak past the man who had beaten him for gold in Atlanta

Laura Wilkinson spun a Harry Potteresque tale while becoming the first U.S. woman since 1964 to win a platform diving gold

What separates beach volleyball from the rest of the Games is the good-time atmosphere, even when fierce competition breaks out

No worries? Hah! At the mountain biking venue the hazards ranged from mad magpies to alleged dinosaurs

A disputed goal gave Australia the gold medal, but the big winner was women's water polo

Team handball stars Camilla Andersen and Mia Hundvin are the first spouses ever to oppose each other in the Games

Everything's going the Jets' way as they beat the Buccaneers on the last-ditch heroics of the maligned Wayne Chrebet to run their record to 4-0

A supercharged diet has Larry Nelson feasting on the Senior tour, on which he has won three of his last four starts to make a late-season run at player of the year

•Hook 'EmJustin Leonard's 2½-year winless streak was nothing compared to his drought in Texas.

To be successful these days, a PGA Tour event must have three things: a title sponsor who puts up a big purse, good dates and Tiger Woods. The venerable Texas Open has none of the above, which...

The R&A'S decision to break ranks with the USGA and not test clubs for their springlike effect might seem like a big deal, but it actually amounts to nothing more than maintaining the status...

What do these players have in common?

Should golf be an Olympic sport?

SYNONYMS for a PRODIGY

Tom Stitt, Easton, Pa.Stitt, 57, a lawyer, won the championship of Easton's Northampton Country Club for the 13th time, including at least one title in each of the last five decades. Stitt, who...

My sister, Naree, and I aren't robots. We're a couple of 14-year-olds who love to play golf