December 11, 2006 Table Of Contents
SI Bonus Section: SI Fantasy Plus
You've worked too hard to blow it now. Time to hunker down and study key matchups, game-by-game and player-by-player, for three make-or-break weeks
Compiled by Gene Menez, David Sabino and Jason Steinthal
WE LIKE THE MATCHUP
By David Sabino
DON'T LIKE THE MATCHUP
By Adam Duerson
Boxing
Super welterweight Oscar De La Hoya has applied his golden touch to land development, boxing promotion and newspaper publishing, but he's still set for another big payday in the ring
From the Editor
The amazing story of Dwyane Wade
Air and Space
SI Players: Life On And Off The Field
RAVENS QUARTERBACK
As told to Nunyo Demasio
The Questions with Shaun Phillips
Chargers Linebacker
Hard lessons for Giants end Mathias Kiwanuka
Kicking with a Game on the Line
Before he heads to USC, a fiery California QB tries to lead his team to the state title
Somalian runners get a new start in Minnesota
By Bill Syken
Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year: Dwyane Wade
Is there an athlete with more positive energy than the 24-year-old guard? He pulled the Heat out of a deep playoff hole, helped put the shine back on a tarnished league and lifted his mom out of her own personal hell
By S.L. Price
Pro Football
In two months, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has gone from a buried backup to the NFL's best-rated passer and its brightest new light
By Tim Layden
While the Cowboys steam toward the postseason, their NFC East rivals, the Giants, are desperately trying to right their ship
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Even before UCLA stunned USC, heightening the championship matchup debate, the BCS was as problematic as ever. SI offers an eight-team tournament with rebuttals to arguments against it
By Phil Taylor
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Putting his Olympic volleyball ambitions on hold, Arizona freshman Chase Budinger is focusing on hoops for the first time--and wowing the likes of Michael Jordan
By Grant Wahl
College Basketball
Flashy freshman guard Greivis Vasquez has an uncanny ability to come off the bench--and to the rescue--for surging Maryland
By Luke Winn
SKIING
Nine months after letting down the U.S. team at the Winter Olympics--and appearing not to care--Bode Miller is fit, fast and focused on winning World Cup races
By Tim Layden
HOCKEY
No U.S.-born forward can match the career of Dallas center Mike Modano, who is doggedly leading the Stars even after being stripped of his captaincy
Inside
By Ian Thomsen
By Ian Thomsen
JASON TAYLOR A Fight to The Finish
By Peter King
Pierre McGuire's In the Crease
Life of Reilly
By Rick Reilly
Departments
A new bio of Gene Tunney brings a fresh appreciation to the career of an often maligned champion
George and Coby Karl have shared a lot on and off the court, including having won a battle with cancer
By Chris Mannix
Film cameras trailing, three ultramarathoners are running the Sahara, from one side of Africa to the other
By Bill Syken
Under the leadership of a disciplinarian coach, once-woeful Notre Dame has become a national contender
By Rick Lipsey
Lefty O'Doul died in 1969, but that hasn't stopped one loyal fan from trying to get him into Cooperstown
By Ron Fimrite
Once Mark McGwire was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, but a steroids backlash, and his refusal to "talk about the past," have turned him into an outcast
By Tom Verducci
High-tech spying is wrong, but baseball still has no rule against it
The windowless Kronk, home to Detroit's best and moistest fighters, has shut its doors
The No. 2 tennis player in the world in the 1980s became Sister Andrea, an Anglican Dominican nun, in September
What to watch and watch for
By Chris Mannix
By Adam Duerson