Contents

20 A California Split for Openers
Kicking off an intrastate World Series both zany and zestful, Oakland and Los Angeles traded 3-2 victories

26 Ohio State May Be No. 1...
But don't tell Michigan. Both the Wolverines and the Buckeyes scored convincing victories to remain undefeated

30 I'll Always Be Outspoken
So says Frank Robinson, big-league baseball's first black manager, in a first-person appraisal of his role

Hockey 1974/1975

40 The sport is bigger, knottier and potentially rougher
42 Scouting reports assess the NHL and WHA teams

56 The Eagle and His Fat Flock
NHL player czar Alan Eagleson has elevated his men from semi-serfdom to enviable affluence

98 Once Upon a Time
...long, long ago a giant snake that rattled slithered across the land and cast a spell on man and child

The departments

14 Scorecard
73 Radio/TV
74 College Football
82 Golf
89 Pro Football
92 Bodybuilding
113 For the Record
114 19th Hole

Credits on page 113

Cover photographs by Walter Iooss Jr. and Fred Kaplan

PHOTO

20

PHOTO

26

PHOTO

30

ILLUSTRATION

40

PHOTO

56

ILLUSTRATION

98

Next week

Same fight, new date. Once again, Ali and Foreman count down toward their encounter in Africa. Has George grown fat in idleness? Is Muhammad bored? Is it raining?

Pro Basketball starts out with its two best centers on the sidelines but otherwise the game is in good shape, with a new team in the NBA and the ABA improved financially. Scouting reports look at plausible new contenders for divisional honors, and John Underwood provides a look at one fact of life that hasn't changed over the years—the Celtics' matchless John Havlicek.