The Lineup
DEPARTMENTS ...
4 Leading Off
12 Letters
No indifference to Broadway Joe
14 Catching Up With ...
17 Air and Space
Five days, 10 Olympic events, one sore butt
by Steve Rushin
21 Scorecard
• Baseball cap gross-out
• Tennis's tough-love coach
• Please, no: Bowe to fight again
• Sarah Hughes wants a date
35 Faces in the Crowd
110 The Life of Reilly
Michael Phelps, you can dry off now. Really
by Rick Reilly
INSIDE...
103 Baseball
• Twins southpaw dominates • Dodgers bullpen struggles
106 The NFL
• Steelers rookie QB pays off
108 College Football
• Tailback will carry Badgers
2004 OLYMPICS
38 Fast Company
Justin Gatlin won one of the swiftest 100 meters in history
by Tim Layden
44 Fall and Rise
With a huge comeback, Paul Hamm took gymnastics gold
by E.M. Swift
48 The Pepper Pot
Feisty gymnast Carly Patterson avenged her loss in the worlds
by E.M. Swift
50 On Top of the World
No question: The U.S. softball team is the greatest of all time
by Michael Farber
54 Flag Jumper
A Cuban nation-hopper competes for Sudan
by S.L. Price
58 Break Out the Bubbly
Michael Phelps's finest stroke may have been an act of kindness
by Kelli Anderson
62 Going Out with a Bang
The U.S. women's soccer team gave retiring stars a shot at gold
by Grant Wahl
69 Zone Pressed
Rabid Olympic journalists jostle across a no-man's land
by Richard Hoffer
Plus • Shot put (page 43)
• Men's basketball (page 47)
• Team handball (page 57)
• Eight-man rowing (page 61)
• Cycling time trial (page 65)
• Women's wrestling (page 66)
BASEBALL
74 The Quiet Warrior
Vladimir Guerrero only wants to talk about his large family
by Esmeralda Santiago
TENNIS
82 Jimbo
Thirty years after igniting tennis, Jimmy Connors is still a renegade
by Alexander Wolff
COVER
PHOTOGRAPH BY AL TIELEMANS
INSET PHOTOS: JOHN BIEVER (TRACK); PETER READ MILLER (PATTERSON); HEINZ KLUETMEIER (COUGHLIN); SIMON BRUTY (BEARD); TIMO JAAKONAHO/LEHTIKUVA/WIREIMAGE.COM (RHODE); LYNN JOHNSON (ZAGUNIS)
 
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COLOR PHOTO
JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (TOP)
ME FIRST
Justin Gatlin leads the pack.
COLOR PHOTO
PHIL ELLSWORTH (BACKGROUND EXTENDED BY SI IMAGING)
 
ANGEL FOOD
Anaheim's Vladimir Guerrero bites on a pitch (page 74).