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The Four Tops
Who'll be the last man standing? As Villanova's Dwayne Anderson, NorthCarolina's Ty Lawson, Connecticut's Kemba Walker and Michigan State's GoranSuton all prepare for their teams' Final Showdown in Detroit, check out SI.comfor full coverage of the games, including Luke Winn's At the Dance blog. Plus...
• Photo galleries of all the action
• Andy Staples's Daily Dispatches
OPENING DAY2009
SecondHelping?
Do Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies have what it takes to recapture their Octoberglory and win a second straight World Series? As Opening Day 2009 approaches,check out SI.com for everything you need to know about your favorite majorleague teams, including Jon Heyman's live reports from Sunday night'sBraves-Phillies season opener in Philadelphia, as well as Opening Day liveblogs from SI's baseball experts Tom Verducci, Ted Keith and Tim Marchman.
SETH DAVIS
Final Fourcast
This week SI.com and CBS basketball analyst Seth Davis gives his Final FourPreview, breaking down what to expect from the UNC-Villanova andUConn--Michigan State matchups and predicting who will play for thechampionship. Also, check out Davis's latest tournament columns, including alook at how Michigan State was able to oust top-ranked Louisville.
> CHECK ITALL OUT AT SI.COM/BONUS
SI VAULT
YOUR LINK TO SPORTS HISTORY
FROM SPORTSILLUSTRATED
APRIL 1, 1985
SI's GeorgePlimpton profiled mythical Mets phenom Sidd Finch, the peculiar andout-of-nowhere righty who fired baseballs at a stupefying 200 miles anhour.
FINCH'S entryinto the world of baseball occurred last July in Old Orchard Beach, Maine,where the Mets' AAA farm club, the Tidewater Tides, was in town. Bob Schaefer,the Tides' manager, remembers, "I was walking by a park when suddenly thisguy—nice-looking kid, clean-shaven, blue jeans, big boots—appears alongside. Ithink maybe he wants an autograph or to chat about the game, but no, hescrabbles around in a kind of knapsack, gets out a scuffed-up baseball and asmall, black leather fielder's mitt that looks like it came out of the back ofsome Little League kid's closet. This guy says to me, 'I have learned the artof the pitch' and points out a soda bottle on top of a fence post about thesame distance home plate is from the pitcher's rubber. He rears way back, comesaround and pops the ball at it. Out there on that fence post the soda bottleexplodes. It disintegrates like a rifle bullet hit it—just little specks ofvaporized glass in a puff."
Cover
PHOTOGRAPH BY WALTER IOOSS JR.; ERICK RASCO (BACKGROUND); PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BYSI IMAGING
INSET PHOTOS: AlTielemans (Wright); Keith Birmingham (Ramirez); Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images(Zambrano); John Cordes/Icon SMI (Morneau); Chris Livingston/Icon SMI(Crawford); Elsa/Getty Images (Pedroia)
For reprints ofSI covers visit SIcovers.com.
SI Extra
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PHOTO
AL TIELEMANS (ANDERSON)
WITHIN REACH Clockwise from top left: Anderson, Lawson, Suton, Walker.
PHOTO
BOB ROSATO (LAWSON)
[See caption above]
PHOTO
JOHN BIEVER (SUTON)
[See caption above]
PHOTO
JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (WALKER)
[See caption above]
PHOTO
CHUCK SOLOMON (ROLLINS)
PHOTO
JEFFREY R. STAAB/CBS (DAVIS)
PHOTO
LANE STEWART (FINCH)
