Contents

16 A Dandy in the Dome
In the season's best basketball game, before its largest audience, Houston beat UCLA in the Astrodome

20 Neck and Neck at Kitzbühel
With Killy back on form and strong Austrian and Swiss competition, the Olympics shape up as anybody's race

22 Bold Bourkey for John Misha
An 18-year-old figure skater from Montana gave warning that the U.S. is a team to watch at Grenoble

24 Make No Mistakes About It
Pro scouts are turning more and more to computers to winnow top draft choices and plot strategy

36 A Boat To Go Places
Unlike most motorboats, the sturdy "Passagemaker" is happiest in mid-ocean

42 Ultimate Triumph at Melbourne
Overcoming training mishaps and bureaucratic delay, Ron Delany sweeps to his biggest victory. Last of a series

60 The Mouth of the South
The last word in Carolina is Bill Currie, who spices sportscasts with quotes from classics and classic quotes

The departments

10 Scorecard
52 People
54 Golf
56 Track & Field
71 For the Record
72 Basketball's Week
74 19th Hole

Credits on page 71

Cover photograph by James Drake

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Next week

The Winter Olympics at Grenoble begin on Feb. 6. In a special 27-page section, 11 of which are in color, the Games are previewed, the teams profiled and the medalists picked.

Dear Pete: Tex Maule writes an open letter to the commissioner of professional football. The game will become a bore, he says, unless Rozelle acts to restore parity among teams.

Evel Knievel says he is no daredevil, so his plan to jump the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle should be considered routine. Gil Rogin writes of a highflying, hard-crashing man.