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FEATURES

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

36 Colin Kaepernick

The electrifying 49ers QB is one game from the Super Bowl, and nobody doubts he belongs with the big boys anymore

BY AUSTIN MURPHY

Matt Ryan's first playoff win

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

42 Joe Flacco

Make room for the Ravens' unflappable leader in the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks

BY PETER KING

Keys to the title matchups

BASEBALL

50 Book Excerpt

The seeds of the Red Sox' 2011 collapse had been planted long before by a front office that was obsessed with image

BY TERRY FRANCONA AND DAN SHAUGHNESSY

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

56 Nathan Noble

Can a 29-year-old combat veteran who was discovered on YouTube make it as a placekicker at Wyoming?

BY JUSTIN HECKERT

PRO BASKETBALL

62 Carmelo Anthony

He's the NBA's most divisive player, but there's no arguing with his results—yet

BY CHRIS BALLARD

DEPARTMENTS

4 SI Digital

6 The Mail

8 Leading Off

14 Scorecard

Was Junior Seau's death a tipping point?

22 Faces in the Crowd

25 Just My Type

Rodney Harrison's Super Bowl picks

BY DAN PATRICK

28 NHL Preview

Everything you need to know before the frantic 48-game schedule begins—starting with who will hoist the Cup

70 Point After

The influence of anxiety

BY PHIL TAYLOR

SI HAS REGIONAL COVERS THIS WEEK

Photographs by John W. McDonough (Kaepernick); Peter Read Miller (Flacco); Bill Wippert/NHLI/Getty Images (Crosby); Ralph Freso/Getty Images (Harbaugh)

PHOTO

CLAY PATRICK MCBRIDE (ANTHONY)

MELO'S MOMENT Carmelo Anthony has been performing like a franchise player—and he has the Knicks sitting pretty in the playoff picture.

TWO PHOTOS