Lineup

FEATURES

COLLEGEFOOTBALL

52 In the Nick ofTime
Nick Saban leads a great revival at 'Bama
By Rick Bragg

BASEBALL

60 Blasts fromthe Past
Boston's Big Papi fends off Yankees dread
By Tom Verducci

U.S. OPENPREVIEW

64 CourtlyRivals
Get ready for Federer-Nadal XIV
By L. Jon Wertheim

2008 OLYMPICS

68 Just theBeginning
Former high school phenom Alan Webb aims at gold in the 1,500 meters at theworlds, but Beijing beckons
By Tim Layden

HIGH SCHOOLFOOTBALL

72 The Son AlsoShines
Riley Dodge will try to lead Southlake Carroll to yet another Texas 5A title
By Kelli Anderson

•SI's Top 10teams, 5 players to watch

NEW ORLEANS

Two YearsAfter
KATRINA

Sports played aspecial role early in the recovery, but beyond the Superdome, in thedepopulated Lower Ninth Ward, there's a great need to get at-risk youth back inplay
by Alexander Wolff P. 80

Departments

10 LeadingOff

18 Letters

21 Players
• Perils of preseason college polls
• QB finds paradise at Hawaii
• Michael Vick cops a plea
• Pacman Jones's new career
•Beach volleyball players pair off
• Resurrecting the Champ reviewed

38 Faces in theCrowd

98 Life ofReilly
Par-2s! Mandatory cussing! A swoosh-shaped 13th hole! Tiger designs a golfcourse by Rick Reilly

Inside...

94 OlympicSports
• U.S. gymnastics' new queen
•Hamm twins make comeback

95 NFL
• Falcons give Harrington last shot

96 NASCAR
•Era of superpowers dawns
•Hendrick-Gibbs rivalry by stats

Cover
PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB ROSATO

INSET PHOTO: JohnBiever

SI Extra
To sign up for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S free subscriber-only e-mail newsletter goto sicustomerservice.com/siextra

NOW ON SI.COM

› › › SPORTS INREAL TIME. ALL THE TIME. ALL FREE. CUSTOMIZED ACCESS TO ANY FOUR OF YOURFAVORITE TEAMS. HD-QUALITY PHOTOS. STREAMING VIDEO. THE BEST NEWS AND ANALYSISON THE WEB

PHOTO GALLERY

››NFL PRESEASONSTARS

››SEE PRESEASONSTUDS, SUCH AS RB ADRIAN PETERSON, AT SI.COM/NFLPRE

FEATUREDCOLUMNS

PETER KING

›Drawing ABlank
Here's why Falcons owner Arthur Blank gets my sympathy: He did everything forMichael Vick and got kicked in the groin. "It hurts," says Blank."I'm very distressed."
> Read more of this column at SI.com/king.

JON HEYMAN

›Awards Watch
To decipher the competition for the AL Cy Young—Josh Beckett leads—you'd need adartboard and 10 darts. See all my AL awards picks.
> Read more of this column at SI.com/heyman.

TRAFFICREPORT

›MOST VIEWED
1. Wrestler Brian Adams found dead
2.Top 20 CFB games to watch
3. Peter King's MMQB

›OUR PICKS
1. CFB postcards from camp
2.Grant Wahl: David Beckham takes N.Y.C.
3. Ian Thomsen catches up with former Celtics great Bill Russell

THE GREATDEBATE

FanNation

NFL vs. CollegeFootball

›SI.com's StewartMandel and Andrew Perloff go head-to-head on which is better, NCAA orprofessional football. Follow their live blogs.

›Weigh in withyour thoughts or challenge Mandel or Perloff to a Throwdown atfannation.com.
PEYTON MANNING

my SI
DOWNLOAD FREE
Pick your teams and get news from across the Web and photos on your desktop atSI.com/mySI.

EXTRA MUSTARD
ON CAMPUS
FANTASY PLUS
SI PHOTOS
SWIMSUIT
VIDEO
FANNATION
SI KIDS
TNT
NBC SPORTS

PHOTO

DAMIAN STROHMEYER (RED SOX)

 60KONICHIWA, PAPI-SAN

Red Sox relief pitcher Hideki Okajima (right) greets teammate David Ortizwithappropriate respect before a home game.

PHOTO

LYNN JOHNSON (HELMET)

PHOTO

NICK LAHAM/GETTY IMAGES (PETTERSON)

TWO PHOTOS

MEL LEVINE (KING, HEYMAN)

PHOTO

JIMMY CRIBB/WIREIMAGE.COM (BLANK)

PHOTO

WINSLOW TOWNSON/AP (BECKETT)

PHOTO

WWE/AP (ADAMS)

PHOTO

GARY HERSHORN/REUTERS (BECKHAM)

PHOTO

PETER READ MILLER (MANNING)

ILLUSTRATION