LINEUP

DEPARTMENTS

4 Leading Off

10 Letters

15 Scorecard

Could relegation work for U.S. sports?

23 Just My Type

C.J. Wilson on returning to the ALCS

BY DAN PATRICK

24 Faces in the Crowd

26 Inside ...

NFL

Making do with McNabb

College Football

Behind the Huskies' rise

College Basketball

Surprise commitments

Golf

Still searching for a star

76 Point After

East Coast bias? That's up for debate

BY PHIL TAYLOR

FEATURES

AL DAVIS 1929--2011

The Raiders' patriarch will be remembered as one of the pillars of the modern NFL

By Richard Hoffer P. 38

46 NASCAR

JIMMIE JOHNSON

Mr. Five-Time won at Kansas to get closer to Cup number 6

By Lars Anderson

52 BASEBALL

CENTRAL CASTING

The playoffs have been hijacked by middle-class teams

By Albert Chen

58 COLLEGE FOOTBALL

DOMINIQUE WHALEY

Oklahoma's leading rusher is still paying his own way

By Pablo S. Torre

KELLY JACK SWIFT

THE INVISIBLE FASTBALL

An accomplishment we'll never see again

By Chris Ballard and Owen Good P. 66

"Yes, that was Whaley, the junior whose photo isn't even in the 2011 team media guide, gaining 132 yards and a touchdown to help keep Oklahoma on track for the BCS title game.

—Pablo S. Torre on Sooners walk-on running back Dominique Whaley (right)

P. 58

Please Recycle This Magazine Remove Inserts or Samples Before Recycling

ON THE COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY NIGEL KINRADE

PHOTO

JOHN BIEVER (PUJOLS)

SHADOW BALL The Cardinals' Albert Pujols loomed large in Game 1 of the NLCS, but he was 1 for 4 in a loss to the Brewers.

PHOTO

DAVID E. KLUTHO (WHALEY)

PHOTO

PETER READ MILLER (DAVIS)

PHOTO