September 09, 2002 | Volume 97, Issue 10

Texas TussleThe Texans and the Cowboys (Choosing Sides, Aug. 19)? A team that has won five games in each of the last two seasons and a team that probably won't win five games total in the next two...

LETTERS

A great many tennis fans at the U.S. Open wear tennis shirts and shorts and shoes, sure, but also wristbands, on the evident assumption that an umpire, seated high in his canopied lifeguard chair,...

Augusta National has dug in its heels and opened its wallet in a battle to keep women out of the club. Can the Masters go on as usual?

Should the PGA allow a major to be played at a club that excludes women?

When Neil Parry said he'd be back on the football field, he meant it

BIG-HEADED ATHLETES

$29,000Price of the nine-carat Harry Winston diamond bracelet Serena Williams wore during her matches at the U.S. Open.

Who's deciding which sports will be dropped from the Olympics?

Why you should know her nameIso, 31, the Pittsburgh Steelers' new assistant trainer, is the NFL's first full-time female trainer. The Tokyo native interned with the Steelers during training camp...

ChargedWith two counts of stalking tennis player Serena Williams, Albrecht Stromeyer, a 34-year-old Frankfurt native who was taken into custody last Saturday in Queens, N.Y., after a police...

Good to be here. Anybody looking to buy unused strike jokes? Priced to go, like Scott Rolen.

The 40-year-old, New Jersey-born rocker whose band headlines the "NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square" concert this week talks about his beloved Giants—and his passion for football

SEPTEMBER 6-12

•Tennis Channel, Anyone?•Really Big Screen TV•Yao Speaks

Because he appreciates good grooming, Lennox Lewis had his nails done on Aug. 28 at Fulton Nails in lower Manhattan, and because he likes to keep up with the local gossip, the heavyweight champ...

This is one bedridden family. At the Fifth Annual Delray Beach (Fla.) Bed Race, the defending champion Siska clan lived up to its reputation as the Pettys of the sport by beating 15 other teams....

A Hollywood production company is trying to cast 7'5" Yao Ming opposite 2'8" Verne (Mini-Me) Troyer of Austin Powers fame in a movie.

JENNIFER CAPRIATIThe tennis star, when asked if she wanted to say something to President Bush about the importance of changing the Title IX legislation: "I have no idea what Title IX is. Sorry."

The Bears will find out this year if their home field advantage extends 150 miles south of Chicago

The four new NFL stadiums that open this season are loaded with cool amenities and design features. Here are the best of the bunch

More and more NHL teams are bringing in head coaches with little experience in the league

High-flying NBA-bound guard Emanuel Ginobili had Argentina shooting for an upset of the U.S.

Legends of the Fall

Gregg Norton, GREENSBURG, PA.Tough Cop CompetitionNorton, 32, won the "toughest cop alive" competition at the International Law Enforcement Games in Ottawa. The contest consisted of a 5K run, shot...

MARATHON MAN: c. Offensive lineman Jackie Slater played for 20 seasons, all with the Rams. He was with Los Angeles from 1976 to '94 before moving with the team to St. Louis for the '95 season.

Everyone knows Alex Rodriguez is baseball's highest-paid player, but unless you're a die-hard fan of last-place Texas, you might not realize he's the best player in the game

Alex Rodriguez entered September as the major league leader in home runs (48) and RBIs (120), and a serious candidate for AL MVP. Since the award was first presented in 1931, only one MVP, Cal...

Baseball's last-minute labor deal was made possible by Donald Fehr's willingness to break with the past

The Buccaneers' Jon Gruden has all the qualities of the perfect NFL coach: He's tireless, hypercritical and, occasionally, scary as hell

The U.S. Open may soon say farewell to two great champions, Monica Seles and Pete Sampras

Success already spoiled Rich Beem once, but his post-PGA celebration last week in El Paso showed how far he's come since then

With a cast that resembled the champion Lakers of the 1980s—and a Showtime Coach to lead them—the Sparks seized a second straight WNBA title

Sandy Koufax overcame bigotry and constant, searing pain to become the greatest pitcher of his time, but his finest moment came on the day he refused to take the mound in the World Series

The NFL

Tennis, anyone? For complete coverage of the U.S. Open, including live scores and L. Jon Wertheim's daily dispatches from courtside, go to cnnsi.com/tennis.

Quittin' Time?Finding it harder than ever to leave Mississippi each year, Brett Favre is starting to seriously ponder retirement

Bowing to NFL pressure, the Jets have decided not to hire 78-year-old Tony Veteri, a former NFL official, as the team's instant-replay adviser (SI, Sept. 2). Veteri would have communicated with...

I guarantee that there won't be a repeat of the following when New England and Pittsburgh meet on Monday night in a rematch of last season's AFC finalists:

Fixin' to RollIts confidence restored, Jeff Gordon's crew is aiming the 24 juggernaut at the points title

Two for the ShowVirginia Tech has leaped into the national championship picture on the strength of its dynamic tailback tandem

$2.35 million

Florida RG Jonathon Colon versus Miami DE Jerome McDougle

A's AblazeThe torrid bat of Miguel Tejada has fueled Oakland's red-hot streak

Who is helped (or hurt) the most by the new labor deal?

StreakersPitcher Tim Hudson (15) leads the A's in a celebration of Miguel Tejada's three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth against the Twins on Sunday. This victory gave Oakland 18...

A sailor must navigate the Bermuda Triangle. A climber must scale Half Dome. A fat man must conquer page 3 at Denny's.