CONTENTS

It Was Sum Game! 22
Charles White's running, plus the fast figuring of a USC accounting whiz added up to something less than No. 1 for Alabama
by John Underwood

One for the Road Is Rodgers 26
Bill Rodgers found the Diet Pepsi 10,000-meter national AAU championship hit the spot. It was his 17th straight road race win
by Sarah Pileggi

There's No Wiz Like Show Biz 28
Bill Popfinger needed more than a little luck to drive Happy Escort to a win in the Little Brown Jug—and he got it
by Douglas S. Looney

Officially, It Was Pittsburgh 30
Aided by & controversial call by the officials, the undefeated Steelers scored early in sudden death to beat Cleveland
by Dan Jenkins

His Old Self Is on the Shelf 38
Reggie Smith, who once had baseball's least savory reputation, has become a peacemaker and the Dodgers' best player
by Ron Fimrite

A Date with Nemesis 44
Striped bass in the rips off Nantucket met theirs when two angling companions set forth with a barber at the helm
by Clive Gammon

Bravo, Mario! 88
Mario Andretti experienced both triumph and tragedy in becoming the second American to win the world driving title
by Robert F. Jones

The Departments

Scorecard 9
Movietalk 54
Baseball 63
College Football 71
Boxing 79
Soccer 84
For the Record 103
19th Hole 104

Credits on page 103

Cover photograph by Heinz Kluetmeier

Next Week

The world series that precedes the World Series is golf's, in which two dozen pros—including Jack Nicklaus, who almost scratched to attend a high school football game—compete at Firestone in Akron for $300,000. Dan Jenkins reveals all.

Arms and the man we sing as Terry Todd reports on the sport of arm wrestling and on 50-year-old, bespectacled lumber yard worker Al Turner, who, having won the national, Canadian and world pro championships, is indisputably The Man.