Detroit Free Press

This is his first hockey game. He is very excited. He hands his ticket to the attendant at Joe Louis Arena, who hands it back and looks up, and up, and up."Aren't you . . .?" the attendant asks."Wayne Gretzky?" says John Salley.

NEW YORK -- So much promise. That has always been the rock around Aaron Krickstein's neck. When he first showed those powerful ground strokes, when he turned pro at age 16, when he started losing and his ranking dropped like an anchor. "So much promise," the people sighed. No wonder he used to speak with his head down in his chest. Have three words ever weighed so heavily? Do you remember 1983? It was here, at the U.S. Open, that Krickstein, then an amateur, showed the world that promise.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- It was the biggest moment of his baseball life, he was about to pitch the bottom of the ninth, lead his teammates to the promised land of the World Series, and there he was -- sitting in the dugout, his head back, his eyes closed."What were you doing?" someone asked Orel Hershiser."I was singing hymns," he said.Oh.

NEW YORK -- She was flat on her back in the middle of center court, her eyes squeezed shut in glory, as if she had to lie down to absorb what she'd just accomplished.7-6, 1-6, 7-6.Mandlikova beats Navratilova.Incredible.What a match! What a spectacular match! A showdown that was never supposed to be. Everyone knows that just as dessert comes at the end of the meal, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd come at the end of a women's tennis tournament.Chris vs. Martina, punch after punch, rematch after rematch, Ali and Frazier in tennis dress.

NEW YORK -- She was flat on her back in the middle of center court, her eyes squeezed shut in glory, as if she had to lie down to absorb what she'd just accomplished.7-6, 1-6, 7-6.Mandlikova beats Navratilova.Incredible.What a match! What a spectacular match! A showdown that was never supposed to be. Everyone knows that just as dessert comes at the end of the meal, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd come at the end of a women's tennis tournament.Chris vs. Martina, punch after punch, rematch after rematch, Ali and Frazier in tennis dress.