The NFL with Paul Attner; Warming Relations for a Cool Game; Getting Punchy; Women’s College Basketball; Crashing the Borders; Letters; Remembering George Best and More with Charlie Pierce; Sierra Leone Amputee Soccer

Remembering a remarkable night upon which, however briefly, the impulse toward brotherhood — represented in part by a game of soccer — prevailed over our inclination to slaughter one another.

Baseball Cracks Down On Speed; Shaun Assael; Fine The Owners!; “Roll with It”; Crossman on NASCAR; The Humpy 500!; Down Under in Arizona; Amphetamines and More with Charlie Pierce; “America on the Ropes”

As the title suggests, Wayne A. Rozen’s “America on the Ropes,” which is concerned with the 1910 fight between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries, has a good deal to say about the country in which the bout occurred.

The institutionalized excuse for amphetamines in baseball has been that no player can prepare for 162 games without artificial ingredients. The obvious response to that contention, unless you’re interested in making as much money as possible, would be to shorten the season.

Basketball Preview with Pat Forde; Hornets in Oklahoma; A Lopsided Game; MLS Cup; Dominican Soccer and HIV; George Weah Update; Terrell Owens and More with Charlie Pierce; “Operation Yao Ming”

In “Operation Yao Ming,” Brook Larmer characterizes the center of the Houston Rockets as “part of the first Chinese generation in forty years that could entertain visions of personal ambition and success.”

On the eve of Major League Soccer’s 10th championship game, Bill wonders if it stacks up against the other major sports.

College Football with Dan Wetzel; Knicks Opening Day; Dance Faster!; Jaunt in the Joint; Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun; Saints and More with Charlie Pierce; Letters; Curling Calendar

I’ve always been a sucker for candor, and it doesn’t get more candid than the acknowledgement Bode Miller offers in the prologue to the book he allegedly co- wrote: “I’m not even going to read this book.”