LINEUP

FEATURES

MLB PLAYOFFS

34 Worldly Series

For the small-market October party crashers, the key to getting to the postseason was going global in the search for out-of-this-world talent

BY ALBERT CHEN

PRO FOOTBALL

40 Lost Boys of Troy

The swaggering USC Trojans of 2005 were destined to produce a string of NFL greats. Funny how that worked out

BY AUSTIN MURPHY

PRO FOOTBALL

46 Philip Rivers

The San Diego QB's numbers put him among the game's best, but these days the stat that matters most is wins in the postseason

BY JIM TROTTER

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

50 Ohio University

Nebraska castoff Frank Solich has turned a once hapless team into a potential BCS buster

BY LARS ANDERSON

The Boogeying Bobcat Band

56 Hoops Comes Home

The borough that has spawned countless legends—and legendary characters—finally has an NBA team

BY RICK TELANDER

DEPARTMENTS

4 SI Digital

6 Leading Off

12 The Mail

15 Scorecard

Stopping flopping

23 Faces in the Crowd

24 Just My Type

Joe Flacco: elite QB?

BY DAN PATRICK

26 Inside ...

BASEBALL

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | NFL

68 Point After

The playoffs ain't brain surgery

BY BRANDON MCCARTHY

ON THE COVER: Illustration by Chris Ede; photograph by Michael J. LeBrecht II/1Deuce3 Photography

PHOTO

DAVID E. KLUTHO (WERTH)

NATIONALS TREASURE Rightfielder Jayson Werth robbed the Cardinals' Daniel Descalso in the sixth inning as Washington took Game 1 of the NLDS 3--2.

PHOTO