July 9, 2012 Table Of Contents
SI.com
LEADING OFF
THE MAIL
EDITOR'S LETTER
Inside: THE WEEK IN SPORTS
The sudden rise of rookies Bryce Harper and Mike Trout characterize a season dominated by the new
By Tom Verducci
Considered title contenders, both Detroit and Philadelphia are below .500. Which is more likely to turn around its season?
By Joe Sheehan
By Albert Chen
Several in-their-prime stars have curiously struggled through the season's first half, but three have had a particularly rough go of it. SI asked three anonymous pro scouts to diagnose what has ailed these players and to offer a prognosis
By Ben Reiter
A transcendent 4--0 victory over Italy in the Euro 2012 final stamped La Roja as the most accomplished side in history
By Grant Wahl
Brian Baker's run in the first week of Wimbledon was just one example of a big trend in men's tennis: Age is actually in a player's favor
By S.L. Price
Anthony Davis, whose defense has been compared to Bill Russell's, entered last Thursday's draft as the Franchise Player, a title that was reaffirmed when the Hornets chose the willowy 6'10" forward from Kentucky with the first pick. What tags are other prospects wearing?
By Chris Mannix
Former Cup champ Matt Kenseth hasn't lost a step, so why is he walking away from his longtime team?
With nine races to go before the start of the Chase, racing's hottest issues are coming into focus
Tiger Woods again showed that he's good enough to win PGA Tour events, but how will he hold up at quirky Royal Lytham?
By Jim Gorant
SPORT AND ACTIVISM
Why Don't More Athletes Take a Stand?
By Gary Smith
Where Are They Now?
13TH ANNUAL Where Are They Now?
He was the most punishing runner of his generation. But there was a price to pay, addiction to overcome, a child's illness to face down. Yeah, the Tyler Rose has seen a thing or two
By Lee Jenkins
Before the Thunder there was Reign Man and his Sonics. Shawn Kemp's NBA career was clouded—but a return to Seattle, believe it or not, brightened things up
Worshipping at the Church of Baseball
In his first big league outing, John Paciorek had three hits, two walks, four runs scored and three RBIs. He never played in the majors again
By Ted Keith
The former Penn State rushing star is still playing football—sort of—eight years after his only appearance in an NFL game
By Matt Gagne
Team USA's star goalie in the 1992 Olympics summoned a near shutout in his one game in the NHL, then disappeared into the minors
By Matt Gagne
Though he played in only one NBA game, the former NCAA title-winning point guard has had a rich postbasketball life
By Matt Gagne
From the depths of loss and horror in a Nazi death camp, Ben Helfgott made himself into an Olympian and helped lift his fellow survivors to lives of meaning and connection
The four-time Olympic gold medalist is soaring even higher now that he's put some troubles behind him and taken up a new hobby: the trapeze
Bill Mikkelson's brief NHL career left him with one of the sport's worst stat lines—but the numbers don't begin to take the full measure of the man
A shaper of Hall of Famers and a victim of circumstance—basketball's statistical "biggest loser" is anything but that today
For one successful team of baseball-playing Texas teens, the guy carrying the clipboard sure knows a lot about losing
By Dan Greene
The former NBA center set a record for futility from the charity stripe, but he's since made a greater mark with his charity work
Reggie Jackson is 66 now, possessed of the sort of serenity and humility he never seemed to have as a player. But in many ways Mr. October remains the straw that stirs the drink
By Phil Taylor
Call it Where Are They Now: The Prequel, in which SI travels 10 years into the future and looks back at how the stars of tomorrow got their start today. Dizzying, to be sure, but so is the potential of the eight teenagers-to-watch profiled on these pages. Read on, and someday soon you will be able to say that you knew them when.
He's written 23 books, hosted a TV show and been mistaken for the Mick. But, as always, it's best to let the former SI writer (and current contributor) tell the story himself
By ROY BLOUNT JR.
POINT AFTER
By Phil Taylor
Departments
The powers that be in college football finally agreed on a framework for a playoff, and—thankfully—the game may never be the same
Leaked e-mails suggest it's time to rethink Joe Paterno's role in the Sandusky scandal
A piercing mockumentary makes a five-ring circus of Olympic organizing efforts
By Ben Reiter
By Dan Patrick
Edited by Alexandra Fenwick