Tag: Writing

Shaquille O’Neal

Written on June 1, 2008.

Visualize Victory… The truly great see victory before the game begins Given all the changes that have occurred recently it may seem like it happened forever ago, but in reality only two years have passed since this scene played out at the NBA finals. As his 7-foot-1, 325-pound frame would suggest, Shaquille O’Neal is as dominant a player as the NBA has ever seen. In 2006, four years after O’Neal...

Brett Favre

Written on May 1, 2008.

Ice In Their Veins… They are risk-takers and don’t fear making a mistake. It was third and seven. Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers were on the Minnesota 16-yard line and threatening to score. As the play clock wound down, the veteran quarterback read the defense and changed the call on the field at the last possible second. Then came the snap. Farve dropped back and, ever the gunslinger, fired cleanly...

Pat Summitt

Written on April 1, 2008.

What off-season… The truly great are always working towards the next game… The goal is what’s ahead, and there’s always something ahead. Tennessee’s Pat Summitt is no stranger to hard work. In fact, it’s the only kind of work the legendary head coach has known over her 34-year career. Growing up on a farm with three older brothers and a father who didn’t take no for an answer,...

Swen Nater

Written on December 1, 2007.

Rubbing Elbows… The truly great understand the value of association. A community college basketball coach was getting his car fixed by a local mechanic. As he walked into the garage he noticed the guy under his car had his head sticking out one side of the car and his feet hanging out the other. That moment led to a life-changing discussion and a powerful lesson in Greatness. As I sat with legendary UCLA basketball...

Paying The Price

Written on June 20, 2005.

The end of the road comes for a figure in a recruiting scandal that refuses to die When rookie free agent Albert Means was cut by the Houston Texans last month, it likely signaled the end of his unremarkable football career. Once the most promising high school defensive lineman in the country, he’ll be remembered for being at the heart of a recruiting scandal that left one booster headed to prison, two schools...

End Of The Run?

Written on December 13, 2004.

Victor Conte’s allegation that Marion Jones was a drug cheat could bring her down — but she’s ready to fight back Olympic champion Marion Jones has been called Golden Girl and the World’s Fastest Woman, but during an interview with ABC’s 20/20 broadcast last Friday, Victor Conte Jr., the man at the center of America’s biggest doping scandal, called her a fraud.

Under The Gun

Written on March 29, 2004.

Battling the clock, wretched facilities and random violence, Iraq’s new Olympic committee races to build a team for Athens It was after midnight, and what lay ahead was a 14-hour ride across the desert of western Iraq. Still, the passengers on the decrepit bus were beaming. The Iraqi soccer team, fresh from a 4-0 victory over Oman in an Olympic qualifying round on March 3, was headed home to Baghdad.

Q&A: George W. Bush

Written on September 29, 2003.

The President discusses Aggies and Horns, his Rangers days and his sports idol President George W. Bush has been a Texas sports fan since he was a young child. He grew up in the West Texas town of Midland, where his family moved from Connecticut when he was two. The former governor and onetime managing partner of the Texas Rangers recalls his excitement at seeing the first issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED at a friend’s...

Psst… Wanna Buy Some Clubs?

Written on May 26, 2003.

Golfers spend millions a year on counterfeits and knockoffs. To find out how this burgeoning industry works, we went right to the source: southern China The trap, months in the planning, had been laid. The quarry, a beautiful Chinese businesswoman named Lily Wan, had taken the bait. The sting, code-named Operation Tiger Lily, a joint venture of Callaway Golf investigators and the Orange County ( Fla.) sheriff’s...