LINEUP

DEPARTMENTS

6 Leading Off

12 Letters

15 Scorecard

Growing old in the most unforgiving sport

24 Faces in the Crowd

26 Just My Type

John Calipari wants to reform the NCAA

BY DAN PATRICK

32 Inside ...

MLB

The Angels' windfall

College Sports

Big East migration

NFL

The Pack likes pressure

88 Point After

Somewhere the Cubs' Ron Santo is smiling

BY PHIL TAYLOR

FEATURES

40 | PRO FOOTBALL

THE BRONCOS

Clutch plays, stout defense and the will to believe

By Jim Trotter

46 | COLLEGE FOOTBALL

BOWLS PREVIEW

The hottest matchup is not the BCS title game

By Austin Murphy

• 34 BOWL GAME PREDICTIONS

58 | PRO BASKETBALL

MIKE BROWN

The Lakers' new coach has quite a long to-do list

By Lee Jenkins

66 | COLLEGE BASKETBALL

XAVIER-CINCINNATI

An ugly ending marred Tu Holloway's performance in the Crosstown Shootout

By Kelli Anderson

SPORTS MEDIA

THE 50 BEST MOMENTS OF 2011

Where sports and television, books, films (and more) clicked

P. 71

BILL COWHER

Happy at CBS, he says he's not thinking of coaching

By Joe Posnanski P. 82

"A lot of my game is keeping the chains moving, running for a first down, taking on a tackler and inspiring my teammates. Those aren't things you do in practice."

—Tim Tebow, Broncos quarterback

P. 40

ON THE COVER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER READ MILLER

PHOTO

AL TIELEMANS (TEBOW)

TEBOW TIME After a dramatic OT victory against the Bears, the quarterback (15) prayed with teammates and opponents.

PHOTO