LINEUP

DEPARTMENTS

4 Leading Off

10 Letters

12 Editor's Letter

17 Scorecard

Why we love to hate a Dream Team

26 Faces in the Crowd

29 Just My Type

The ideal job for the Red Sox' new manager

BY DAN PATRICK

32 Inside ...

College Basketball

The Rebels are runnin'

The NFL

Punt return revolution

Baseball

Why Bobby V matters

The NBA

Lockout postcards

College Football

Season awards

150 Point After

To whom should I hand the Heisman?

BY PHIL TAYLOR

FEATURES

50 SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

PAT SUMMITT

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI

Division I basketball's two winningest coaches have more in common than success

By Alexander Wolff

• THREE PAST WINNERS

68 PRO FOOTBALL

PATRIOTS DEFENSE

Despite a unit built with spare parts, New England is once again cruising to the playoffs

By Ben Reiter

74 SPECIAL REPORT

1986 BENGALS

A comprehensive survey of football's long-term effects on an entire NFL roster

By Peter King

86 | COLLEGE FOOTBALL

SO I WENT TO VEGAS

A trip to the only place where every game still counts

By Austin Murphy

92 | HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

HMONG IMMIGRANTS

One way to assimilate is to put on helmets and cleats

By Charles P. Pierce

100 | BASEBALL

BEST. NIGHT. EVER.

The games of Sept. 28, 2011, will live in ecstasy

By Lee Jenkins

112 | PRO HOCKEY

ALEX OVECHKIN

The superstar is trying to shed an ugly label

By Michael Farber

122 | BASKETBALL RECRUITING

WIZ KID

Coaches pay attention to 17-year-old Alex Kline

By Jim Gorant

WALTER IOOSS JR.

MY EDUCATION

Fifty years of shooting the biggest games and greatest athletes

BY WALTER IOOSS JR., WITH CHRIS BALLARD

P. 130

"What of the typical retired player who should still be young enough to enjoy his post-NFL life? How does he feel decades after his playing days are over?

—Peter King, in a special report on the 1986 Bengals

P. 74

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ON THE COVER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SIMON BRUTY; DAMIAN STROHMEYER (SUMMITT IN 1991); RICHARD MACKSON (KRZYZEWSKI IN '91)

PHOTO

DAVID E. KLUTHO (OVECHKIN)

SUPERSTAR SLUMP Alex Ovechkin's game has gone from dominant to dormant: He has just eight goals in 25 games.

PHOTO

WALTER IOOSS JR. (IOOSS)

PHOTO