How it was for us in 2002

Four the Hard WayBrett Favre should win yet another MVP because he's had less to work with than the Raiders' Rich Gannon

TRADING E-MAIL WITH...NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue

Sometimes a quarterback, through sheer force of will, unites and rallies a team around him. The Titans' Steve McNair, battling injuries and playing with remarkable courage and intensity, did so...

Voluble freshman Dee Brown has the Illini off to a hot start

1. Mike Davis's meltdown was inexcusable. In charging onto the court to vehemently protest (incorrectly) a noncall against guard Bracey Wright and getting hit with two technicals when Indiana was...

For Ohio State to stand a chance in the Fiesta Bowl, three key defenders have to clamp down on the Canes

Inexperienced Tony Granato takes over the Avalanche intent on bringing fun and fire back to Denver

When teams talk trade with the Rangers, the player they often ask for is defenseman Dale Purinton, formerly a one-dimensional pugilist who has greatly improved his all-around game. Part of the...

For years "Miriam from Forest Hills" has been one of the great hockey callers in New York sports-talk radio. "Ya gotta beat that goaltender top shelf!" she'd insist. "Why don't these guys know that?"

When Columnist Steve Rushin travels the country, he reads the local papers and keeps an eye out for intriguing two-paragraph sports-related stories on, say, a man in Great Falls, Mont.,...

Lefthanded catcher Bruce McCall sees it as an honor and a privilege to travel back in time to 1952 if it means he can help the St. Louis Browns battle up Tom their last-place 1951 American League...

OCTOBER 18, 1976

Getting the PicturesKudos for running the Faces of the NFL (Dec. 9) portfolio. Walter Iooss Jr. is one of the greatest sports photographers of all time. Thank you, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, for...

LETTERS

On Christmas Eve 30 years ago, the day of his team's playoff game against the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins receiver Paul Warfield woke in a panic in his clockless home and dialed Time &...

In case you didn't get holiday greetings from a pro athlete, or a team, or even a league, we went through our mailbag and picked some of our favorites to share

Marion Jones is working with her sport's most notorious steroid advocate

SCOTT, LOUISIANA

21Straight Wednesday games the Nuggets have lost, dating to last season.

DiedOf prostate cancer before he could become the first to drive 500 mph in a wheel-driven car, Don Vesco, 63. Vesco (above) and his brother and chief mechanic, Rick, 56, were hoping to break that...

Sued

Boy, you can tell it's the holiday season. I saw Pat Riley at the NBA Store, trying to exchange his XXL fine for a medium.

The 6'3" former pro volleyball player (and occasional model) will conduct interviews for USA Network's upcoming PGA Tour Sunday, a live weekly one-hour show that debuts on Jan. 12.

DECEMBER 27-JANUARY 9

Awards Time

Gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes got an early Christmas present on Dec. 13 when she opened her e-mail and learned she'd been accepted into Harvard's class of '07. But though the school has...

Today show weatherman Al Roker has been named an honorary member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team.

EARL BOYKINSWarriors 5'5" guard, after the public-address system at the Arena in Oakland blared It's a Small World in honor of him: "Never play that again. It irritates me."

There is a place, boys and girls, where the sharks face off with the marlins, and the dolphins mix it up with the terrapins, and the devil rays are as good as everybody else. It's called the...

He grew up in Africa and didn't play hoops until 14, but Romain Sato has come a long way at Xavier

Detroit's Dave Lewis has made a seamless transition replacing storied Scotty Bowman behind the bench

Combining his favorite photos and memories, SI photographer Walter Iooss has created a work of art

Irony and humor underline arguments that religion made sports in America what it is today

Not blessed with big-time talent, Nuggets forward Ryan Bowen survives in the NBA on all-out desire

Rhi Jeffrey, DELRAY BEACH, FLA.SwimmingRhi, an Atlantic High junior, broke the oldest standing national high school swim record when she swam 1:45.49 in the 200-yard freestyle at the state 2A...

Year-End Quiz

HEAVY MEDALS: b. German athletes won 35 medals, including a competition-high 12 gold and 16 silver. The U.S. won 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze. Norway won the third most (24), followed by...

After a thrilling Super Bowl (no, that's not an oxymoron) and an Olympic fix, this year of Angels and steroids, Ty and Tiger, Lance and Serena, Yao and Hootie, had only just begun

Please note that this is a double issue. The next SI will be dated January 13.

Find every SI cover subject—from Eddie Mathews to Joey Harrington—online in our new, searchable covers database at cnnsi.com/si_online/covers.

To sign up for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED's free subscriber-only e-mail newsletter, go to http://sicustomerservice.com/siextra.

A cliché in sports is that there's always another game, but some losses stay with us forever. On these pages we remember the stars who passed on this year

With unerring insight and uncanny foresight, BRUCE MCCALL unveils the stories we're sure to see soon

Union DoozyMount Union's Dan Pugh goes over the pile for one of his four touchdowns in the Purple Raiders' 48-7 win over Trinity in the Division III championship game in Salem, Va., last Saturday....

A Dolphin flew, a tennis star morphed into Marilyn Monroe, and America gasped at a tiny Giant in jeopardy. Here, now, the year in startling images

Beauty power, courage: Sure, those things have their place in the sports pages—usually way ahead of the bizarre, moronic and embarrassing stories our writer has been clipping all year

The NBA

Swarming D's, among other things, have put the Lakers' season in peril

How puny are the Cavaliers' crowds? During a recent game against the Sonics a fan in Gund Arena's upper deck yelled "Hey, Gary!" while Gary Payton shot free throws. After shooting, Payton looked...