The Lineup
DEPARTMENTS
10 Leading Off
18 Letters
BCS just can't be bashed enough
20 Catching Up With...
25 Air and Space
Coaches aren't fired. They're let go. That's nicer, isn't it?
by Steve Rushin
27 Scorecard
--Jay Williams vows to return
--Ravens' Modell says nevermore
--Pros will skirt ephedra ban
--Robert Plant gets third degree
38 Faces in the Crowd
94 The Life of Reilly
Call me Kissinger. I negotiated a USC-LSU title game
by Rick Reilly
SI'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY
40 Drawn by Huskies
Two highly ranked basketball teams are Connecticut's No. 1 sports
attraction
by Michael Bamberger
INSIDE...
86 The NBA
--Isiah rebuilds the Knicks
88 College Basketball
--Saint Joseph's: pass, press, win
92 Hockey
--U.S. goalie shines at world juniors
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
50 Splitsville
A winner-take-half formula forced USC and LSU to share the
national crown
--The Trojans sacked Michigan in the Rose Bowl
by Austin Murphy
--The Tigers' D held off Oklahoma in the Sugar
by Tim Layden
--If LSU met USC...
--SI's All-Bowl Team
PRO BASKETBALL
58 Save the Blazers?
That may be too much to ask of Portland's 22-year-old megatalent,
Zach Randolph
by Ian Thomsen
NFL PLAYOFFS
62 Do You Believe...?
Behind the inspired play of Brett Favre, the Packers continued
their magical run
by Peter King
--The Colts' Peyton Manning got off the playoff schneid
--A no-name Titans defender helped silence the Ravens
--Panthers wideout Steve Smith torched the Cowboys
--Dr. Z's forecast for Round 2
BOOK EXCERPT
72 Rose's Confession
"I did bet on baseball," the banished Hit King concedes in his
new autobiography, My Prison Without Bars
by Pete Rose with Rick Hill
THREE COVERS THIS WEEK
Extraordinary news weeks call for unique actions. Pete Rose's
admission that he bet on baseball cried out for SI's cover, but
college football's co-champs, USC and LSU, also merited special
attention. So, while Rose is on all of our covers, the Trojans
get the big picture in California and the Tigers in Louisiana and
Mississippi.
COVER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY WALTER IOOSS JR. (PETE ROSE); ROBERT BECK (USC);
AL TIELEMANS (LSU)
COVER FLAP PHOTO: BOB CHILD/AP
SI EXTRA
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SI.com
For more on Pete Rose, including Tom Verducci's analysis, SI's
original coverage of Rose's 1989 gambling investigation and fans'
reaction, go to si.com/baseball.
COLOR PHOTO: PETER READ MILLER FOUR SCORE Green Bay's Brett Favre celebrates a TD pass againstSeattle (page 62).
COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR. (PETE ROSE) NATIONAL
COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK (USC) CALIFORNIA
COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS (LSU) LOUISIANA