The Lineup
Departments
6 Leading Off
13 Letters
14 Catching Up With...
17 Air and Space
Your ticket doesn't entitle you to be a foul-mouthed jerk by Steve Rushin
18 Scorecard
• The Britannica: sports bible?
• Buyout specialist buys out IMG
• Jamal Lewis faces jail time
35 Faces in the Crowd
37 Players
92 The Life of Reilly
Peeling off the pounds with Nebraska's biggest fan by Rick Reilly
Inside...
84 The NFL
• Unbeaten Falcons rule NFC South
• Texans' Carr in driver's seat
88 College Football
• Northwestern shocks Ohio State
90 The WNBA
• Sun's title hopes ride on Whalen
91 Boxing
• Tito shuts up Managua Madman
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
46 The Oklahoma Kid
Adrian Peterson has the unbeaten Sooners running wild. Can Texas stop him?
by Austin Murphy
BASEBALL
54 Swinging Away
After an MVP-caliber year, Gary Sheffield takes his cuts at Pedro, Barry and Ichiro
by Tom Verducci
PRO FOOTBALL
60 Painful Reality
Have oversized, ultrafast players pushed their bodies beyond the breaking point?
by Peter King
MOTOR SPORTS
64 Here Comes Junior
After a win at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads the Chase for the Nextel Cup
by Lars Anderson
PRO FOOTBALL
66 It's All in His Mind
Despite cerebral palsy, Doug Blevins has made himself into an astute kicking coach
by Karl Taro Greenfeld
72 Five Outs Away A year ago the Cubs and Red Sox came that close to the World Series, but it all blew up
by Tom Verducci
Cover
COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN BIEVER
INSET PHOTOS: Michael O'Neill (Sheffield); Al Tielemans (Clemens); Robert B. Stanton/Wireimage.com (Garner) COVER FLAP: Terry Reinna/AP (Earnhardt); Simon Bruty (Georgia)
SI Extra
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COLOR PHOTO
MICHAEL O'NEILL/BACKGROUND EXTENDED BY SI IMAGING
THROWIN' MY WAY?
Gary Sheffield leads the Yankees into the postseason (page 54).
COLOR PHOTO