CONTENTS

Alive, but Just Barely 14
Atlanta took the defending NBA champion Bullets to seven tough games before Big E and Bobby D took over
by Curry Kirkpatrick

No Longer Only Dome Sweet Home 18
Houston has blasted off to a big lead in the National League West while showing an untypical penchant for being A-OK on the road
by E.M. Swift

A Biggie Meet at Mac and Al's 22
There was a party and a protest when Mac Wilkins and Al Feuerbach invited some pals to throw their weight around
by Barry McDermott

The Great Bird Bash 30
A team of birders used a plane in a try for a new 24-hour sighting record, but, alas, the jet lagged and warblers lammed
by Clive Gammon

He's Every Inch a Decathnut 34
Figure filbert Frank Zarnowski serves as historian and mother hen to the ofttimes neglected decathlon corps
by Bil Gilbert

Good Lord of Golf 66
Thirty-five years ago he was Lord Byron, setting still unequaled records. Then, at 34, Byron Nelson quit to fulfill a dream
by Sarah Pileggi

The Departments

Scorecard 11
Movietalk 42
Baseball 47
Horse Racing 50
Bowling 54
Track & Field 59
For the Record 82
19th Hole 84

Credits on page 82

Cover photograph by Manny Millan

Next Week

A Cuban delegation of world-class track athletes is coming to the U.S. for the first time. Pat Putnam reports on the meet at UCLA in which Alberto Juantorena, Silvio Leonard and Alejandro Casañas will meet an array of swift Americans.

Those colorful, flamboyant characters of fact and legend, the oldtime poker players, are being challenged in Las Vegas and elsewhere by a new breed who will relieve you of a grand—or 10—at the turn of a card. Roger Dionne tells their story.