December 20, 2010 Table Of Contents
LEADING OFF
Inside: THE WEEK IN SPORTS
By learning to control his speed, UConn point guard Kemba Walker has lifted the Huskies back into the top 10
By Matt Gagne
By Seth Davis
Offenses love it when opponents choose man-on-man coverage over zone in goal-to-go situations
By Jim Trotter
By Peter King
Three days after Urban Meyer resigned, Florida replaced him with the right man, Texas's Will Muschamp
By Andy Staples
After a brief period of financial restraint, clubs are giving huge—and long—contracts to aging players
By Tom Verducci
WES WELKER
It takes an audacious imagination for a 5'9" football castoff to view himself as an NFL difference-maker. But Patriots receiver Wes Welker has always envisioned the world as it might be, turning possibilities—no matter how unlikely—into reality
By Charles P. Pierce
By Damon Hack
PRO BASKETBALL
By Lee Jenkins
HOCKEY
When it comes to trash-talking, this is the NHL's top five
The Phillips Family
His death was the fine print in an August plane crash that killed a former U.S. senator, but Bill Phillips left behind a legacy as massive as the man himself, including three Division I-A football-playing sons—brothers who banded together to honor a life lived in full
Point After
Departments
Will sportswriting software lead to a robotic Red Smith?
By Steve Rushin
Powered by the passion of Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter just may be the best boxing film ever
The real Micky Ward weighs in
By Chris Mannix
LOOKING AHEAD 2011: TELEVISION
By Ryan Hatch
By Ryan Hatch
New services are providing a never-ending stream of live-action sports
By Ben Reiter
Laura Hillenbrand expands her own world through her subjects' stories
By Tim Layden
A numbers dispute between labor and the league bodes ill for the NBA in 2011
By Chris Mannix
Edited by Alexandra Fenwick
By Dan Greene
By Dan Patrick