Lineup

44 | BASEBALL

Mariano Rivera

Armed with avirtually unhittable pitch whose wicked movement he can't explain, the bestcloser in history leads the Yankees into the postseason

By Tom Verducci

52 | PROFOOTBALL

Retooling thePatriots

Ever improvisingand fine-tuning, Bill Belichick tries to mold a hodgepodge of rookies andveterans into a formidable team. Don't bet against him

By Damon Hack

56 | COLLEGEFOOTBALL

CincinnatiBearcats

With a breathlessno-huddle offense led by late-blooming quarterback Tony Pike, the undefeatedBearcats are dark-horse contenders for the national title

By Albert Chen

60 | PROBASKETBALL

Chris Andersen

The most popularman in Denver may be the Nuggets' swooping, pouncing, heavily tattooed forward,who can't leave home without drawing a crowd

By L. JonWertheim

64 | HOCKEY

NHL Preview

The Original Sixteams are still the league's bedrock, and five of them should make theplayoffs

By MichaelFarber

• Scouting reports,division winners, Stanley Cup pick

Departments

4 Leading Off

12 Letters

16 Scorecard

• Productivewhiffer

• Women huntgators

28 Just My Type

Ray Lewis onRavens' D, Hurricanes' QB

by Dan Patrick

30 Faces in theCrowd

32 Inside ...

• The NFL

Pump-fakemasters

• FantasyFootball

Free-agentbargains

• CollegeFootball

The MAC's Tebow

• NASCAR

Chase all butover?

• Boxing

Vitali Klitschko'sway

86 The Vault

'67 Red Soxpennant

90 Point After

Why Tiger won'tbeat

Jack's majorsrecord

by SelenaRoberts

Montreal's Maurice"Rocket" Richard (in 1955) was an Original Six star.

ON THE COVERPhotograph by Walter Iooss Jr.

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DAVID BIER STUDIOS (RICHARD)

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