Author:
SI Staff

20 Oklahoma Stampede
As poor Oregon (68-3) will testify, the Sooners and their Wishbone offense may be more impressive than last year

24 Just Call Him Shubert Ali
Muhammad came out clowning, and then it was curtains for poor old Floyd Patterson

26 Tender Bird in a Hot Skillet
As the Orioles fought off despair, their steadiest hitter proved to be young Bobby Grich

28 Canadians in Hockeyland
Russia, that is, where 3 million play and the best of them beat Team Canada again—then lost a thriller

36 How to Succeed While Scared
Air racing terrified him, Gunther Balz said, but somewhere over Nevada he broke the fright barrier

42 Woodstock on Wheels
The U.S. Grand Prix will spotlight speed in a folksy setting—and Emerson Fittipaldi, the new champion

56 'There Is a Disease in Sports Now...'
Former pro basketball star Tom Meschery writes of the abuses and corruption he perceives in the game today

80 Ye Gods! What's Up!
A leisurely afternoon hike in the foothills of Fujiyama turns into a nightmare for a trapped businessman

The departments

17 Scorecard
64 People
66 College Football
70 Pro Football
76 Harness Racing
93 Baseball
94 For the Record
98 19th Hole

Credits on page 94

Cover photograph by James Drake

PHOTO

ILLUSTRATION

Next week

Already embattled, hockey begins with a covey of nouveaux riches players, an expanded NHL, a new WHA and legal turmoil over jumpers from the former to the latter.

Baseball nears the last of the ninth: William Leggett previews the playoff showdown between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, while Ron Fimrite limns Oakland's Charlie O.

Tall tales have been told for half a century about the skill and skulduggery of an old gambler named Titanic Thompson. Now the man himself recounts his sporting life.

October 02, 1972