The Lineup

GOLF
40 Crowd Pleaser
With a magical pitch, Phil Mickelson won his second major championship and rewarded his frenzied fans by Alan Shipnuck

BASEBALL
46 The Next Generation
A crop of talented 25-and-under players promises an era of superior skills
by Tom Verducci

HOCKEY
52 The Biggest Deal
Philadelphia Flyers G.M. Bob Clarke landed the incomparable Peter Forsberg
by Michael Farber

TRACK AND FIELD
54 Watch This
A youthful U.S. team dominated the world championships in Finland
by Tim Layden

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
60 Meet Mr. Humble
Chastened by his NFL flop, a kinder, gentler (for now) Steve Spurrier is trying to make South Carolina a power
by Karl Taro Greenfeld

Departments

4 Leading Off

12 Catching Up With ...

15 Letters

17 Air and Space
He's not ready for some pro football--one man's disregard for the NFL by Steve Rushin

18 Scorecard
• Rough-riding in Texas with W.
• The cruelest cuts in sports
• TO paints himself into a corner

29 Faces in the Crowd

33 Players

76 Life of Reilly
This week's Sign of the Apocalypse: a prominent SI columnist gets his own trading card by Rick Reilly

Inside ...

72 The NFL
• Cautious optimism in Cleveland

74 Baseball
• Seattle's Felix Hernandez, teen ace

Cover
PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT BECK
INSET PHOTO: Walter Iooss Jr.

SI Extra
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SI.com has training camp covered, with news and analysis from NFL experts Peter King, Dr. Z, Don Banks, Jeffri Chadiha and Michael Silver plus SI photo galleries, at SI.com/nfl.

COLOR PHOTO

JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (RODRIGUEZ)

WINGING IT

The Angels' Francisco Rodriguez is the closer on SI's All-25-and-Under Team (page 46).

COLOR PHOTO

BOB ROSATO (SPURRIER)