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 LINEUP
JUNE 4 –11 , 2018
VOLUME 128 | NO. 12
L IGH T I T UP
He’s only 19, but it’s
already clear that
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s bat
is too big for Double A.

P ho t ogr aph b y
ERICK W. R A SCO NBA
T HE F IN A L S
38 East versus West: The league’s best
tip it off for the championship

T HE DR A F T BY ANDREW SHARP
44 Deandre Ayton, the 7-footer and likely No.1
pick, can do it all. (O.K., maybe not golf)

MLB
V L A D IMIR GUERRERO JR . BY JON TAYLER
54 Can the Blue Jays’ prospect live up to the hype
of his Hall of Fame name? (Answer: Yes)

oral history
PE T ER K ING BY T IM ROHAN
62 NFL stars and journalism colleagues reflect
on Mr. MMQB’s impact as he moves on from SI

U.S. OPEN PREVIEW

JUS T IN T HOM A S BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG
68 What did the world’s top golfer learn from his
teaching pro dad? Not what you think . . .

STANLEY CUP FINALS

C A P S V S . K NI GH T S BY ALEX PRE W I T T
74 Two Cup contenders, one architect: George
McPhee’s fingerprints are on both franchises

WORLD CUP PREVTIEW

CHOOSE YOUR S IDE

81 No U.S.? No problem. Adopt a new team
this summer: We rank all 32 World Cup
combatants based on rootability, star
power, the best hair and the best moves
SI HAS MULTIPLE COVERS THIS WEEK  82 I C E L A ND What’s not to love?
Photographs by Robert Beck (Mexico); Drew Gardner (England, 88 M E S S I A ND R O N A L D O Farewell tour
Egypt); Simon Bruty (Iceland); Icons by Davide Barco
90 ME X I C O America’s (Other) Team
96 E G Y P T The brilliant Mohamed Salah
108 D E C I S I O N ’ 1 8 Which team fits you?

F OO T B A L L BROS BY JACOB FELDMAN

110 How did England star Harry Kane get so good?
With a little help from Tom Brady—one more
sign that the NFL-soccer connection is strong

DEPARTMENTS SI TV P. 4 LEADING OFF P. 6 INBOX P. 1 2 SCORECARD P. 1 5 FACES IN THE CROWD P. 3 2 POINT AFTER P. 1 1 6
MONTH 00, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
NOW ON

HOW TO
WATCH
For classic
Adrenaline Russian sports movies
and TV shows,
plus Planet
THE 2018 World Cup kicks off on June 14, and Planet Fútbol has you covered—from previews of Fútbol TV
every group to the final whistle in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on July 15. SI.com will present and other
comprehensive coverage even before the competition, offering predictions and selecting rosters for compelling
all 32 nations. We’ll also take a look at Cup crazes like the Panini sticker obsession and delve into original
Cups past for a look at the careers of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Check out SI TV for our programming,
feature film on how tiny Iceland became a world power and for our weekly Planet Fútbol TV show, go to SI.TV
where SI mavens Grant Wahl (above, left) and Luis Miguel Echegaray (above, right) break down
the field and offer their expert analysis. Once play begins, Wahl and staff writer Brian Straus will
blast out daily episodes of the Planet Fútbol podcast from Russia, chewing over events and looking
ahead to what’s next. Wahl, Straus and international soccer expert Jonathan Wilson will provide
PL A N E T F U T B O L T V

authoritative on-site coverage of the world’s showpiece event on SI.com, and Planet Fútbol is your
source for the latest sights, sounds and news from Russia on Twitter and Instagram (@SI_Soccer).

4 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT
“HASHING”

HAD SOMETHING
TO DO WITH
POTATOES.
Read The Ledger, FORTUNE’s
destination for all things
cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Because there’s more at the
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FORTUNE.COM/NEWSLETTERS
LEADING OFF

READY
FOR THEIR
CLOSE-UPS
PHO T OGR A PHS BY KOH JIRO K INNO

HEN DO you know you’ve really made it to the NFL? Signing your
W contract? Spending your bonus? Singing your college fight song at
training camp? No. You know you’ve truly arrived in the league
when you first see yourself on a trading card. From May 17 to 20, 40 of
this year’s top draft picks gathered in Los Angeles for a series of seminars
called NFLPA Rookie Premiere. There, the rookies were schooled in dealing
with fans and making the most of marketing opportunities, and briefed on
managing their new wealth. They also posed, in their new jerseys, for their
first trading cards. Oh, and they also posed for SI.
SAM DARNOLD
round: 1 › team: JETS › position: QB

SAQUON BARKLEY ITO SMITH RONALD JONES II

round: 1 › team: GIANTS › position: RB round: 4 › team: FALCONS › position: RB round: 2 › team: BUCCANEERS › position: RB

ANTHONY MILLER HAYDEN HURST JAMES WASHINGTON

round: 2 › team: BEARS › position: WR round: 1 › team: RAVENS › position: TE round: 2 › team: STEELERS › position: WR
 BAKER
MAYFIELD
Selected with the
first overall pick,
the Oklahoma
quarterback and
Heisman winner
will wear No. 6 with
the Browns.
LEADING OFF FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED

SONY MICHEL DERRIUS GUICE DAESEAN HAMILTON MIKE WHITE

round: 1 › team: PATRIOTS › position: RB round: 2 › team: REDSKINS › position: RB round: 4 › team: BRONCOS › position: WR round: 5 › team: COWBOYS › position: QB

J’MON MOORE COURTLAND SUTTON D.J. MOORE

round: 4 › team: PACKERS › position: WR round: 2 › team: BRONCOS › position: WR round: 1 › team: PANTHERS › position: WR

JOSH ALLEN NYHEIM HINES

round: 1 › team: BILLS › position: QB round: 4 › team: COLTS › position: RB
 RASHAAD PENNY KYLE LAULETTA NICK CHUBB JALEEL SCOTT
round: 1 › team: SEAHAWKs › position: RB round: 4 › team: GIANTS › position: QB round: 2 › team: BROWNS › position: RB round: 4 › team: RAVENS › position: WR

MARK WALTON
round: 4 › team: BENGALS › position: RB

BRADLEY CHUBB MIKE GESICKI

round: 1 › team: BRONCOS › position: DE round: 2 › team: DOLPHINS › position: TE
LEADING OFF FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED

MARQUEZ VALDES-SCANTLING CALVIN RIDLEY

round: 5 › team: PACKERS › position: WR round: 1 › team: FALCONS › position: WR

MICHAEL GALLUP MASON RUDOLPH LAMAR JACKSON

round: 3 › team: COWBOYS › position: WR round: 3 › team: STEELERS › position: QB round: 1 › team: RAVENS › position: QB

KERRYON JOHNSON JAYLEN SAMUELS

round: 2 › team: LIONS › position: RB round: 5 › team: STEELERS › position: RB

KALEN BALLAGE ROYCE FREEMAN JOSH ROSEN

round: 4 › team: DOLPHINS › position: RB round: 3 › team: BRONCOS › position: RB round: 1 › team: CARDINALS › position: QB
 KEKE COUTEE DAURICE FOUNTAIN
round: 4 › team: TEXANS › position: WR round: 5 › team: COLTS › position: WR

TRE’QUAN SMITH
round: 3 › team: SAINTS › position: WR

D.J. CHARK DANTE PETTIS CHRISTIAN KIRK

round: 2 › team: JAGUARS › position: WR round: 2 › team: 49ERS › position: WR round: 2 › team: CARDINALS › position: WR
 THE LAST HUDDLE
This article made
me laugh, cry and
think about issues
beyond sports. As I
read, I felt for Dwight
Clark, but I was also
happy for him, that
he was able to have
a great moment
with teammates and
coaches who helped
make his NFL life.

INBOX FOR MAY 21, 2018 know how to feel about

Heimlich; I can only
Mike Bergeski
Greentown, Pa.

hope that he is a
PROSPECT AND PARIAH important for this story reformed person
Innocent or not, Luke to be intelligently told. with the sincerest
Heimlich placed himself Douglas J. Monaghan intentions.
in a precarious position Groton, Conn. Sara Nguyen
when he pleaded guilty New Haven, Conn.
to child molestation As a victim of childhood
against his niece. sexual abuse, I JURGEN
Ultimately his greatest began to read with KLINSMANN HAS
achievement shouldn’t a hardened opinion NO REGRETS POINT AFTER
be reaching the majors against Heimlich. The firing of Klinsmann The articles in this
but making things right But as I continued, betrayed the lunacy issue—from the cover
with his family. I had to reckon with of the U.S. Soccer story to Steve Rushin’s
William McCarthy the potential of true Federation. It was 25-year retrospective
Athens, Ga. rehabilitation. I would as if a run to the on Cheers to the

S A M F O R EN C I C H (H EIM L I C H); KO H J I R O K I N N O (K L I N S M A N N); J O H N W. M C D O N O U G H (COV ER)

hope that we’d all be round of 16 suddenly back-page column
Only those who deal afforded a second made everyone an by Chargers coach
with these cases chance if our life was expert. Klinsmann Anthony Lynn, who
understand the derailed at such a is right; it will take graduated from
subtleties, the gray young age. But I having a slew of UNLV last month, at
areas and the nuance also can’t help players in the best 49—remind me why
involved, but S.L. Price but think that leagues in Europe I subscribe. They
hit all the important Heimlich is for the U.S. to be offer glimpses into
points—juvenile justice, now coming a true World Cup the wide-reaching
privacy, victims’ rights, forward to contender on a influence of sports in
family trauma—with improve his regular basis. our lives.
clarity. Given this image as the MLB Jay Margolis Carol O’Neill
moment in time it was draft nears. I don’t Delray Beach, Fla. Cherry Hill, N.J.

For ad rates, an editorial Letters should include the To purchase reprints of SI covers, ON DECK
calendar or a media kit, email SI at writer’s full name, address and go to SICOVERS.COM The next edition of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED will
[email protected] telephone number and may be be the June 18, 2018, issue. Look for
edited for clarity and space. Email: it on newsstands and in your mailbox
[email protected] beginning on June 13.

12 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 Hole#6,BostonGolfClub.
PhotocourtesyofLarryLambrecht

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NEWSMAKERS P. 1 8 A LIFE REMEMBERED P. 2 0 HEROES P. 2 2 VAULT P. 2 6 SI EATS P.28 GAME PLAN P.30 FACES IN THE CROWD P. 3 2

SCORECARD
SHADOW
OF
DOUBTS
COULD A ROGUE FBI
AGENT DERAIL THE NCA A
CORRUPTION PROBE?

BY JA K E FISCHER A ND
L . JON W ER T HEIM
IL LUS T R AT IONS BY
T HE HE A DS OF S TAT E

HE CLIMACTIC scene
T started with a knock on
the door of an expansive
suite at the W Hotel in Manhattan’s
Times Square. It was last Sept. 25,
an unseasonably hot afternoon, and
Christian Dawkins entered the suite
prepared to talk business. Yet what he
thought would be a routine meeting
with investors for his fledgling sports
management agency ended with him
leaving the room in handcuffs, soon to
emerge as the central figure in one of
the most sensational scandals in the
history of college basketball.
The culminating moment of a years-
long investigation into corruption

JUNE 4, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 15

 SCORECARD

in the sport featured the requisite of money from the work of unpaid into sports and was interested in
elements of a true crime drama. athletes? Should NCAA violations also bankrolling Dawkins and LOYD.
Agents flashing badges. At least be considered federal crimes? According to sources familiar with
eight FBI heavies storming the room But the government’s entire case the FBI investigation, Dawkins met
with brandished guns. A defendant may rest on a much more fundamental DeAngelo on a yacht docked in Lower
caught off-guard and so emotionally question: What happened to the lead Manhattan shortly before draft night.
overheated—literally—that he stripped agent? They were joined by Sood as well as by
off his shirt. Yet one critical actor was For the first 18 years of his life, DeAngelo’s associate, Jill, who said she
missing. The lead FBI operative? He Christian Dawkins’s connection to had made her money in technology
was mysteriously absent. basketball was mostly indirect. His and was looking to insinuate
Following the sting Dawkins was father, Lou, was Draymond Green’s herself into the world of NBA player
charged with various federal crimes high school coach in Saginaw, Mich.,
including wire fraud, bribery and and the patriarch of a prep dynasty
money-laundering conspiracy. (He that claimed consecutive state
pleaded not guilty.) Within 24 hours championships in 2007 and ’08.
charges were leveled against 10 Dawkins’s younger brother Dorian, a
men—four college assistant coaches, five-star recruit, was poised to become
Adidas executives and an independent a star before collapsing on the court
financial adviser. At 6 a.m. the in June 2009 and dying from a series
morning after Dawkins’s arrest, of heart attacks. Christian’s basketball
Munish Sood, the financial adviser, bona fides were less impressive. A
was showering in his Princeton, N.J., junior college dropout, he didn’t have
home when federal agents showed much game. But as a team organizer
up. Sood’s wife answered the door and proprietor of a recruiting
and led a team of armed operatives rankings website, he made a name for
to her naked and unsuspecting himself on the AAU circuit through
husband. In Greenville, S.C., bureau savvy, hustle and force of personality.
trucks converged on the home of Merl By his early 20s Dawkins had joined
Code Jr., an Adidas contractor and the echelon of basketball “runners”—
former Clemson basketball player. the boots-on-the-ground recruiters for
Agents seized Code’s laptop before large agencies—and, almost single-
she led them upstairs to arrest her handedly, revitalized the floundering
husband. In Portland, federal agents business of his boss, Andy Miller.
stormed the home of James Gatto, Dawkins helped deliver 10 NBA first-
Adidas’s head of global marketing for round draft picks between ’15 and ’17
basketball. (These three also entered for Miller’s ASM Sports.
pleas of not guilty.) Last summer Dawkins, then 24,
The criminal cases stemming from was plump with connections but short management. DeAngelo expressed
this investigation will play out in of finances. Outside the auspices of enthusiasm for aligning with a rising
New York’s Southern District and are Miller’s business he had launched star in the agent world, nourishing
scheduled to go to trial this fall. They a fledgling sports management Dawkins’s ego and making it clear he
will raise the usual questions about the company, Live Out Your Dreams was willing to spend liberally.
ethics of the NCAA, the unseemliness (LOYD). Around the time of the Sources tell SI that in the course
of recruiting, the fraught landscape 2017 NBA Draft, he was introduced of conversation DeAngelo made a
of college sports. Should athletes who to Jeff DeAngelo. Marty Blazer, a number of strange requests. At one
generate millions for their schools be Pittsburgh-based financial adviser, had point he expressed his ambition for
paid? How can the government assert introduced the men by way of Sood, landing as many as 10 first-round NBA
federal fraud charges against coaches Dawkins’s partner in LOYD. DeAngelo, draft picks. Dawkins gently explained
when the “defrauded” parties are who claimed to have made his fortune that even the most prominent agents
the very schools making vast sums in real estate, said he wanted to get are especially lucky to land four or five

16 S P O R T S I L L U S T R A T E D | JUNE 4, 2018
such picks in a single class. Sources revealed that she was not a tech is, evidence favorable to the accused.
tell SI that DeAngelo also forcefully entrepreneur, but an undercover FBI In this case, when defense lawyers for
suggested that LOYD funnel funds to agent. Jeff DeAngelo was not a real some of the accused parties received
college coaches in hopes of winning estate magnate, but the case’s lead the government’s Brady disclosures,
favor with NBA-bound players who investigator. Dawkins was told his the document contained reference to
were potential clients. phone had been tapped for months, the man who went by Jeff DeAngelo.
Dawkins and his investor met again and hundreds of hours of calls were Referring to the agent by his true
the following month at the Adidas recorded. Blazer was not a benevolent name, the government conceded
Gauntlet in Las Vegas, a premier networker. According to the charging that the operation’s central figure
summer AAU event. They met in a documents, since 2014 he had been stood accused of misappropriating
luxury suite at the Cosmopolitan cooperating with federal agents in investigative funds earmarked for the
exchange for a reduced sentence in an operation and spending the money on
unrelated case, and he’d tipped off the gambling, food and beverages during
FBI to Dawkins as a window into the the probe. Reverse engineering
world of college basketball corruption. the dates, this alleged misconduct
Days prior to Dawkins’s sting, Blazer occurred during the July 2017 trip
pleaded guilty to securities fraud, to Las Vegas. Later, “DeAngelo”

“
While the
aggravated identity theft, making false
statements and documents and two
had not flown to visit his ill mother.
The undercover agent had actually
counts of wire fraud. been removed from the case due to
various c a ses
It was in Las Vegas that Dawkins, accusations about his own allegedly
have y e t t o
using cash provided by DeAngelo illegal activity.
go to trial, and Jill, had allegedly paid coaches, According to public documents,
the scandal including USC assistant Tony Bland, the lawyer for Gatto filed a motion
has already who received an envelope containing requesting specifics on this
endured its $13,000—a transaction later detailed agent and his alleged corruption.
share of in the criminal complaint. The “We asked the government for
convulsive charging U.S. attorneys alleged that additional information regarding
and str ange Dawkins, in handing over what was the circumstances of that
t wists. actually the government’s cash to misappropriation,” lawyer Michael
coaches, had violated NCAA rules and Schachter complained during a

” committed a series of federal crimes.

While the various cases have yet
to go to trial, the scandal has already
March pretrial oral argument. “The
government declined to provide
us with that information, rather
endured its share of convulsive and standing on their initial disclosure.”
strange twists. After allegations (Schachter’s request is pending with
that Adidas brokered payments to a the court. The U.S. Attorneys declined
hotel on July 29, continuing their Louisville recruit, coach Rick Pitino to comment to SI.)
discussions about how DeAngelo was fired by the school and then filed The FBI also declined to comment.
would underwrite Dawkins’s agency. suit against the university. A slate of The extent to which a potentially
Jill was present too. Weeks later college hoops stars were implicated in corrupt FBI agent may undercut
Dawkins was again to meet with his the scandal and accused of receiving the government’s case will be borne
investors, in Los Angeles. However, impermissible payments. Miller, out in the months to come. The
before the meeting Jill explained that Dawkins’s ex-employer, renounced irony is unmistakable: Might a
DeAngelo had abruptly left to take his NBA agent certification, but, case predicated on the seduction of
care of his ailing mother in Italy. Jill curiously, has not yet been charged. easy money and of misappropriated
would now be the point person. She Strangest of all: Under the so- funds, be undone by a rogue federal
wanted to get together in New York. called Brady rule, prosecutors are operative who, himself, could not
The fourth meeting marked required to disclose to the defense resist the same lure he was tasked
the endgame. At the W, “Jill” materially exculpatory evidence—that with exposing? ±

JUNE 4, 2018 | S P O R T S I L L U S T R A T E D 17
 SCORECARD

NEWSMAKERS

TRIPLE
THREAT
H E W O N ’ T E N D A D R O U G H T,
BUT JUSTIF Y CAN STILL
MAKE HISTORY
who did not run his first race until Feb. 18 of this
year, will attempt to become the sport’s 13th Triple
BY T IM L AY DEN Crown winner on June 9. It’s difficult to measure
PHO T OGR A PHS BY SIMON BRU T Y
“
It will be
buzz, but it will be fascinating to observe how
the lack of a long drought affects the excitement
around this Belmont. In ’73, Secretariat won the
fascinating first Triple Crown in 25 years; four years later,
MERICAN PHAROAH’S victory in the to observe Seattle Slew was very popular when he pulled off
A 2015 Belmont Stakes was one of the how the the same feat, but Slew ran in the vapor trail of
most significant horse races in history, l ack of Secretariat’s fame.
a wire-to-wire performance that produced the a long Justify will be favored to win the Belmont, but
first Triple Crown in 37 years. Belmont Park drought it’s perilous to declare a win certain or even likely.
trembled in celebration and relief that day, as the affects While he has already done remarkable things, like

ERIK A G O L D RIN G / FIL MM AG I C /G E T T Y IM AG E S (A P O C A LY PSE); T ED S . WA RREN /A P/SH U T T ERS TO C K

sport finally ended the drought that had come to e xcitement dominate in Kentucky, Justify struggled to the line
define its most visible events. Thirteen times in around this in Baltimore, finishing less than a combined length
the years after Affirmed won the Triple Crown in Belmont. in front of three others. His trainer, Bob Baffert,
1978, a horse had come to Belmont having won the likened the performance to American Pharoah’s
Kentucky Derby and the Preakness; 13 times that Derby, a race he won despite lacking his best speed.
horse did not win the Belmont.
The drought was not just a burden; it was also a
” Pharoah got better after that. Baffert says Justify
will get better too.
reliable narrative. Even as the Belmont often ended Two weeks before the Belmont, with the field still
with failure, it created more anticipation for the in flux, Justify’s majority owner, WinStar Farm,
next attempt, and the attempt after that. The roar pulled the fast-closing Audible, third-place finisher
that was loosed as American Pharoah crossed the at the Derby and a credible challenger to Justify,
finish was the product of nearly four decades of from the 11⁄2 -mile race. It was a decision expected
anticipation. It was a remarkable day, when history to divide the racing community.
was not only made, but also alive. What should not be in dispute is how remarkable
The Triple Crown was not on the line at the two winning three races in five weeks remains. It would
ensuing Belmonts, in 2016 and ’17. But this year it be a mistake to conflate the volume of the buzz
is, as Justify, a strapping and precocious 3-year-old with the accomplishment of the deed. ±
SIGN OF THE
APOCALYPSE

THEY SAID IT

A GOOGLE SEARCH OF “ I H AV E ∑ BARTOLO

*NSYNC TEMPORARILY COLON, the
REVEALED THE BARITONE A LOT OF 5' 11", 285-pound
MEMBER AS SHAQUILLE B I G B E L LY, Rangers pitcher,
O’NEAL INSTEAD OF after a 102-mph
JOEY FATONE. O’NEAL
SO I CAN comebacker nailed
IS OF COURSE A TENOR. TA K E I T. ” him in the abdomen.

18 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

EXPLORING PLANET FÚTBOL : ICELAND
SI Senior Writer Grant Wahl hits the road to discover how
Iceland became the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup

Watch at SI.TV

BECAUSE YOU
LOVE SPORTS

©2018 Time Inc. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a trademark of Time Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
 SCORECARD

N HALLOWEEN 1959, with undefeated Louisiana State But, oh, what a playing career it was. Cannon led
O trailing undefeated Ole Miss 3–0 on an electric night the Tigers to the 1958 national title, and his Halloween
on the Bayou, Billy Cannon dropped back deep in heroics—which included tackling Ole Miss sophomore
his own territory to field a Rebels’ punt. The kick bounced, quarterback Doug Elmore a yard short of the end
and Cannon picked it up at the 11-yard line. Tigers coach Paul zone on the game’s final down—played a big part in his
Dietzel had a rule against fielding punts inside the 15, but winning the Heisman Trophy in ’59. Cannon played for
Cannon took off with the ball anyway, emerging from a pack the Houston Oilers and was named MVP of the first
of would-be tacklers to scamper the last 60 yards untouched two AFL championship games, and he later appeared
for the most famous touchdown in LSU history. in Super Bowl II with the Oakland Raiders.
Cannon was never one to adhere to rules. His first brush But nothing would top that magical punt return. On
with the law came when he was in high school in Baton Rouge; the sideline afterwards, Cannon—who became the dentist
he and some pals tried to extort some men whom they had at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1995, a position he
seen with prostitutes. And after his playing career, Cannon—a held until his death on May 20—was photographed taking
dentist who ran into money problems—served time at a federal oxygen. “That’s my career at LSU,” he said years later.
prison in Texas for his part in a counterfeiting operation. “Deep breathing.” —Mark Bechtel

A LIFE REMEMBERED

BILLY
CANNON
1937–2018

M A RV IN E . N E W M A N

20 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 SCORECARD

MODERN DAY HEROES

BACK TO
SCHOOL
NF L A L UM A A RON M AY BIN IS
SHAPING STUDENTS’ LIVES

BY JACK DICK E Y

N JANUARY, when Aaron Maybin posted ARTISTIC online for space heaters, winter clothes and other
I a Twitter video calling attention to young FREEDOM supplies, but the school system’s problems remain
students and their teacher shivering After playing immense. “We have very few computers, lead in
without heat at Matthew A. Henson Elementary for the Bills the drinking fountains, rat infestations, asbestos
School in West Baltimore, the former NFL and the leaks. . . .” And then there are the stresses on his
defensive end knew the subject better than most. Jets, Maybin students at home. “Until you really are sitting at
He was the teacher, and those were his students. returned to a table with the kid who’s telling you how he saw
Through his foundation, Project Mayhem, Baltimore to his father get murdered by a police officer and has
which he launched in 2009 after he was drafted give back to his a mother struggling with drug addiction, or the
hometown.
11th overall, Maybin has brought arts education kid who’s being physically and sexually abused

BA RBA R A H A D D O C K TAY LO R / BA LT IM O RE SUN / T N S /G E T T Y IM AG E S (M AY BIN); L AUREN BURKE /G E T T Y IM AG E S (M O N E Y ); DAVID E. K LU T H O (G OA LIE)

and accompanying donations to all corners of but can’t leave because he has siblings that he feels
Baltimore, and after retiring in 2014, he devoted responsible for, you can’t know what that’s like.”
himself entirely to art and activism. This school So Maybin does his best to connect with his
year, he has taught creative arts and literacy three pupils, to learn from them. “I’m as demanding as
days a week to pre-K through fifth-grade students. any teacher in this building,” he says, “but I want
Maybin’s video helped raise more than $80,000 my classroom to be an oasis for them.” ±

Going All In
If the Golden Knights win the Stanley
500–1
Westgate’s
$10 million
Salerno’s high-
Cup, expect all of Las Vegas to preseason end estimate for
celebrate—especially gamblers. With odds for total sportsbook
initial expectations low, bookmakers Vegas to win losses if the Golden
gave the expansion franchise long odds. the Stanley Knights beat the
That could lead to big payouts, but it’s Cup. Triple- Capitals to win
not all bad for sportsbooks. “It’s created
a ton of hockey fans who now will wager
on every game,” says Vegas bookmaker
digit odds were
standard for
the nascent
$5,000
Your winnings if you
the Stanley Cup.
“It’s really been a
fun ride—if there
and USFantasy president Vic Salerno. franchise. placed a $10 bet on is going to be
“Hopefully over the years we’ll make the Golden Knights that pain, that’s
that back and more.” Either way, winning the Cup at going to help,” the
Vegas wins. —Stanley Kay 500-to-1 odds. bookmaker says.

22 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 Presented by

SCORECARD

FIRE IT UP
Get your
EDGE: GEAR. TECH. FITNESS. muscles going
with these hip
stretches from

MO BETTER Bamba’s trainer.

A TEAM IS TRAINING MO BAMBA—

A ND T H AT ’S JUS T FOR T HE DR A F T

BY JA MIE LIS A N T I KNEELING

HIP FLEXOR
STRETCH
Kneel on a mat.
HANKS TO HIS 7-foot frame, insane 7' 10" Extend opposite
T wingspan and a freshman season at Texas leg back and
in which he swatted away everything near press instep
of foot to the
the rim, Mo Bamba is a unique physical specimen. His
floor. Push
otherworldly build and defensive acumen have made him hips forward to
a top prospect, but as the June 21 draft approaches, the stretch.
20-year-old center is working hard to develop a new look.
The transformation requires a team of experts: skills
trainer Drew Hanlen to fine-tune shooting mechanics
and post moves; fitness guru Amoila Cesar to add
strength; physical therapist Rory Cordial to prevent
injuries; and personal chef Avery Pursell to fuel Bamba’s
engine. Bamba spends nearly eight hours a day, six days
a week on his new regimen.
“Up until this point, he’s been supertalented but
hasn’t got the results he’s capable of,” says Hanlen. “If
he has the ability to score and make plays and improve FORWARD LEG
his strength, he’ll be supervaluable when you add in HIP SWING
the defense he already brings to the table.” Hold on to a wall
or pole. With one
As a template for reshaping Bamba’s game, Hanlen
leg stationary,
uses lessons learned from two of his other clients: swing the other
the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum for shooting mechanics and leg forward
the 76ers’ Joel Embiid for offensive playmaking, and back while
particularly off ball screens. maintaining
In the gym, Cesar’s focus is to help Bamba bulk posture and a
up and reach his goal of 230 to 235 pounds—he taut core.
weighed 226 pounds with 6.2% body fat at the
combine in May—while still improving agility
and strength. Cesar emphasizes hip mobility
J O E R O B B IN S /G E T T Y IM AG E S; M A R T IN L A K SM A N (3)

(sidebar) and the eccentric phase of exercises

(when muscles lengthen) so Bamba can
pop off the ground more quickly.
It’s all about building a better Bamba.
SIDE
STRETCH
Says Cesar, “If anyone was watching
Lie on your
him throughout college, there is going to left side. Bend
be a notable difference just by the way right knee and
he looks.” ± pull right heel
back, toward
the glute. Draw
24 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018 belly button in
toward spine.
 SCORECARD FROM THE
PAGES OF SI

down a waiter at a Michelin-rated restaurant

outside Le Mans for serving him a traditional
trout meunière. “I mean, this here fish has still
got its head on, and I ain’t going to eat no fish
laying there looking so damn sorrowful at me MAY 25, 1981
every time I take a bite of him,” Foyt said. “Crashes are
A recurring theme in Foyt’s career—and SI’s the percussion
coverage of it—was his frequent flirtation with section of
racing. But
death. In 1965, Bob Ottum reported on a crash
through almost
during practice at Indy. One of Foyt’s rear tires 30 years of
snapped off the axle and rolled up over his competition,
shoulder and across the crown of his helmet. A.J. Foyt has
Oil was everywhere. “I thought to myself, Well, come to be
this car is going to catch on fire for sure, but America’s,
one thing it ain’t going to burn up is old A.J.” and perhaps
the world’s,
He bailed out of the still-spinning car, threw a greatest race
bandanna around his jaw and proceeded to put driver ever.
his car on the pole two weeks later. Other names
A 1981 story by Ottum recounted a wreck always arise:
from a NASCAR race in the 1960s, when Foyt five-time
lost his brakes and went over an embankment. world driving
VAULT Asked how badly he was hurt, Foyt responded,
champion
Juan Manuel
“So bad that I couldn’t enjoy the nurses.” Fangio, Jimmy

PULSE OF Since that first Indy run, Foyt, 83, has

hardly changed, at least not as much as many
Clark, Stirling
Moss, Richard

RACING
men after 60 years. His forearms are still the Petty, but the
size of canned hams, he’s still the toughest inescapable
s.o.b. you’ll come across, and he’s still defying fact remains
W H AT IF SOMEONE L IK E that, while they
death regularly. In March, Foyt survived a
were stunning
A . J . F O Y T W E R E D R I V IN G T O D AY ? killer-bee attack. For the second time. He’s also in their talents,
been trapped under a bulldozer, set upon by they were
a water moccasin and survived heart surgery. specialists.
Journalist Robin Miller recently made up shirts Nobody else has
BY M A R K B E C H T E L that depicted Foyt gripping Death in a headlock won as much in
with the caption foyt 83, grim reaper 0. such a variety
of equipment as
What has changed is racing—especially Foyt has. If that
open-wheel. When Foyt won the second of his critter’s got
N MAY 30, 1958, 23-year-old four Indy 500s, in 1964, half a million fans paid wheels, as they
O Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. made his around four bucks each to watch the race on say in racing,
Indianapolis 500 debut. He started closed-circuit TV. Last year ratings for the race, ol’ A.J. can
on the outside of row 4, and after spinning out once appointment viewing, hit an all-time low. drive it.”
—Bob Ottum
on the 148th lap, he finished 16th, a result that There has been much self-examination about
didn’t merit mention in Sports Illustrated. what racing needs, and just about everything
In the intervening six decades, though, has been tried. (See: NASCAR’s continual,
A.J. Foyt’s exploits—often larger-than-life, infuriating tinkering with its playoff system.)
occasionally to the point of beggaring belief— But there is one place to start: the driver’s seat.
have been well documented in these pages. Six decades ago a sponsor pleaded with Foyt
There was the time Foyt beat an accusation to grant SI an interview, saying it would make
that he had punched another driver on the him famous. Foyt’s response: “Aw, bulls---. You
NEIL L EIF ER

grounds that if he had hit the guy, “he would’ve want to know what will make me famous?”
torn his head off.” And the time Foyt dressed And then he pointed to his right foot. ±

26 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 SCORECARD

EATS: FOOD. DRINK. CULTURE. SPORTS.

ROAST OF THE TOWN

A PIR AT ES HURL ER CHRONICL ES L IFE ON T HE RO A D,
O NE F R E S HLY B R E W E D C U P O F C O F F E E AT A T IME
BY JEREM Y FUCHS

JAMESON TAILLON admits JAVA JAMESON’S TOP FIVE First, he’ll note if the baristas are
it: He’s a coffee snob. Big making pour-overs, single-serve
time. Don’t try shoving cups made by pouring hot water over
some hours-old clubhouse brew in his 1. BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE, Oakland freshly ground beans in a filter. And
face. (“It’s just not good,” he says.) No, Founded in 2002, the Bay-area then he’ll quiz the people working the
the 26-year-old Pirates righthanded roaster, which focuses on single- counter: What’s the best thing you’ve
origin beans, has expanded to
pitcher wants nothing but the best in got? Do you roast the beans here? What
nearly every major city in the U.S.,
his cup of joe. and has eight outposts in Japan. region is this brew from?
Taillon, who grew up outside of Taillon, who prefers pour-over
Houston, started drinking coffee 2. BLUEPRINT COFFEE, St. Louis coffee from South America, usually
regularly while pitching in Double A Featuring many far-out blends, black (though occasionally with a
Altoona (Pa.) as a way to beat the this specialty shop holds barista splash of cream), even teamed up
cold. Now he is constantly trying to competitions and free tastings. with his favorite Pittsburgh shop,
find the best coffee shop in each city 3. COLECTIVO, Milwaukee
Commonplace, to make a roast.
he visits. Chatting up baristas, he Enjoy a cup at the bar while It’s called the Lending Hearts
discovered so much about coffee and watching them roast beans Blend, benefiting the charity that
local shops that he decided to share by hand on two vintage helps pediatric cancer. It’s an issue
what he learned. roasters at their important to him—Taillon had, and
So Taillon started a blog, Humboldt Boulevard beat, testicular cancer last year.
location.
PR O B RE W.CO (6); D ERIK H A MILT O N /A P/SHU T T ERS TO C K (TAIL LO N)

ProBrew.co, in which he chronicles So yes, Taillon is a coffee snob.

his favorites across the country. Along 4. IPSENTO, Chicago He makes pour-overs in the
with a picture of his hand holding the In addition to offering clubhouse, for goodness’
cup, he offers a quick description. (His seasonal blends and sake. But he’s open-
entry after visiting Swing’s Coffee in craft beers, they also hold minded. When a
Washington, D.C.: What blew my mind classes on coffee history. reporter confesses to
was the “poursteady” machine that drinking a Dunkin’
5. ELIXR COFFEE,
poured my cup of coffee. Going to need Donuts Honey Vanilla
Philadelphia
one for future home ASAP.) His method One of their employees latte that morning, Taillon
for finding the next mind-blowing cup recently took home second reserves his judgment. “If
starts with Yelp and Instagram. Then place at the U.S. Barista you like it, man, who’s to
he digs into the store. Championships. say otherwise?” ±

28 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 SCORECARD

GAME PLAN: THE SMART FAN’S GUIDE TO RIGHT NOW

ELEVENTH LISTEN

FLAMINGO & KOVAL

HEAVEN by Bobby Feeno

Cowboys receiver Cole
Beasley’s rap album, The
WHO CAN OVERTHROW Autobiography, might be
T HE K ING OF C L AY ? the talk of the NFL at the
NO ONE moment, but we’re still
loving the excellent musical
debut of Bobby Feeno,
aka Arian Foster.

WATCH

FRENCH OPEN
May 27–June 10
Tennis Channel and NBC
You can try to
convince yourself FOLLOW
that someone not
named Rafael Nadal FIFA 68TH CONGRESS
has a shot to win in June 13, 6:30 a.m. ET
Paris this year: that Get up early and check
rising star Alexander in with @GrantWahl, SI’s
Zverev’s time has soccer maven, live from
come; that 2016 Moscow, as the host of
champ Novak Djokovic the 2026 World Cup is
has one more in him; announced: Morocco, or
that clay-court maven a joint bid by Canada,
Dominic Thiem is Mexico and the U.S.
ready to win his first
Slam. But Nadal, a
10-time champ who
owns a staggering
79–2 career mark at
Roland Garros, arrives
playing perhaps the
best tennis of his M AT T E O C I A M B EL L I / N U RPH O T O/G E T T Y IM AG E S (N A DA L); M A R T IN L A K SM A N (2)

career, even at 32. In

May, he set a record,
WATCH
winning 50 straight
THE BACHELORETTE
sets on clay, and after
Mondays at 8 p.m., ABC
taking the title in
Courtship and sports
Rome, his third of the
collide when 28 fellas—
season, he wrested
including a onetime
the No. 1 ranking
Harlem Globetrotter, a
from Roger Federer. If
former Indianapolis
anyone else takes this
Colt and a Pro Football
year’s French, it will
Focus analyst—vie for
be an astounding feat
the heart of 28-year-old
on clay.
publicist Becca Kufrin
of Minnesota.

30 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 SCORECARD
NOMINATE NOW
To submit a candidate for Faces in the
Crowd, email [email protected]
For more on outstanding amateur
athletes, follow @SI_Faces on Twitter.

FACES IN THE CROWD Edited by JEREMY FUCHS

MARGARET LONCKI KENMARKIS MEEKS ASHLEY PRANGE SERGIO FIGUEROA BROOKE ADAMS
Golf Track and Field Softball VELEZ Distance Running
Paradise Valley, Ariz. Canton, Miss. New Palestine, Ind. Volleyball Randolph, N.Y.
San Juan
Loncki, a senior at Kenmarkis, a junior at Ashley, a senior Adams, 29, the
Claremont McKenna Mississippi School for shortstop at New Figueroa Velez, a 6' 3" assistant principal
playing for the the Deaf, won three Palestine High, went senior outside hitter at Southwestern
Claremont-Mudd- gold medals at the 4 for 4 with two at Springfield (Mass.) Elementary and
Scripps team, sank a state Class 1A/3A/5A home runs and eight College, had a match- High, ran the Tokyo
15-foot par putt on track championships. RBIs in a 16–2 win high 13 kills, along Marathon in 2:58:31.
the second playoff He won the 110-meter over Zionsville. Last with seven digs and She is believed to be
hole to beat Williams hurdles (15.60) and season she set state two aces, to help beat the youngest woman
and clinch the NCAA the high jump (6' 4"), single-season records Stevens 3–0 in the to finish the six majors
Division III title. Earlier and then anchored the for home runs (21) Division III final. The (including Berlin,
that day she carded 4 … 100 relay (45.22). and RBIs (67), leading D-III player of the year, Boston, Chicago,
a six-over 79 to take Also a running back, he the Dragons to the he led the Pride with London and New York),
the individual title by rushed for 1,036 yards Class 3A title. Ashley 265 kills, 539 assists and in all but one she
three strokes. and 20 TDs last fall. will play at Ohio State. and 356 points. broke three hours.

M AT T H E W F EN T O N (LO N C KI); H O L LY REI C H L E (M EEK S); A N D RE W SMI T H (PR A N G E); SPRIN G FIEL D CO L L E G E AT H L E T I C S
UPDATE

(FI G U ER OA V EL E Z); IN T ERS TAT E S T U D I OS (A DA M S); MIN A S PA N AG I O TA KIS /G E T T Y IM AG E S (U PDAT E)

All-Around Mastery
Yul Moldauer, a junior at Oklahoma who made Faces in the
Crowd (March 27, 2017) after winning the all-around at the
American Cup, dominated collegiate gymnastics this year. He
won 25 event titles and five conference championships. And after
successfully defending his American Cup title this year—the 21-year-
old is the first gymnast to win that event in back-to-back years since
Olympic medalist Jonathan Horton—he turned in a memorable
performance at the NCAA championships in Chicago in April.
Moldauer, from Arvada, Colo., won four individual titles—on floor,
vault and parallel bars and in all-around—helping the Sooners
to their fourth straight national championship. He was also second
on rings and pommel horse. He now has seven career national
titles, tied for the most in NCAA history. —J.F.

32 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 0–60 IN 4.7 SECONDS

2018 Stinger GT2 with optional features shown. Some features may vary. Preliminary performance estimates determined by Kia for Stinger GT rear-wheel drive using Launch Control and factory-equipped with 19-inch wheels. Stinger
GTs that are factory-equipped with 18-inch wheels are limited to 130 mph top speed (e.g., installation of 19-inch wheels will not increase the top speed). Actual results may vary depending on options, driving conditions, driving habits,
and your vehicle’s condition. Verification of these results should not be attempted. Always drive safely and obey all traffic laws.
And with a top speed of l67 mph, it makes its presence felt everywhere.
 WITH THE MOST TURBULENT SEASON OF HIS CAREER BEHIND HIM
LEBRON JAMES FOUND A SENSE OF NORMALCY BY DOING WHAT HE

BY
LEE JENKINS

Photograph by
ERICK W. RASCO
AND AN UNCERTAIN SUMMER LURKING AHEAD,
DOES EVERY JUNE: BOOKING A TRIP TO THE FINALS

STREAKING ON
James blew by Morris (a
self-proclaimed LeBron
stopper) and Boston,
winning Game 7 in a building
where the Celtics hadn’t
lost in 10 postseason
games this year.

39
 In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against
Boston, James had 46 points in 46 minutes, and by the
second quarter of Game 7 he looked spent. He stumbled
on drives. He slacked on D. He grabbed his shorts and
steadied his breaths. At 33, James recognizes how and
when to dispense limited fuel, preserving
precious reserves for defining moments:
´ ENTOMBED IN ICE, LeBron James looked up from the block on Terry Rozier, the horse-collar
his chair in the visiting locker room at TD Garden late from Marcus Morris, the full-court outlet
to George Hill, snatched out of the Love
Sunday night, legs numb and lids heavy. “I could fall playbook. James’s friends and family, who
asleep,” he said, “right here.” He was drained from 48 typically view conference crowns as party
minutes, from six weeks, from eight years, depending favors, celebrated the silver ball with un-
on how you look at it. He called home via FaceTime and characteristic enthusiasm. This was not
the Pacers in 2014 or the Hawks in ’15 or
checked in with the kids, listening to their giddy voices
the Raptors in ’16. The Celtics employed
through his headphones. The last time he fell short of arguably five of the six best players on the
the NBA Finals, LeBron Jr. was five and Bryce Maximus court, and still that wasn’t enough. Boston
was two. Now, Bronny is mulling college scholarships, scored just 79 points against the 29th-rated
Bryce is approaching middle school and they have a defense in the league.
So Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum, 20, will
sister named Zhuri. The James children, along with watch LeBron James in the Finals, which
the rest of a generation, can scarcely remember a time he’s done every year since he was 13. James
when their father was not in the Finals. has lorded over the East for the equivalent

2007 Spurs 4, Cavs 0 2011 Mavericks 4, Heat 2 2012 Heat 4, Thunder 1 2013 Heat 4, Spurs 3 2014 Spurs 4, Heat 1 2015 War

He does not always win, of course, but he always shows: of two presidential terms. Someday, presumably, it will
in Miami and Cleveland, Dallas and San Antonio, Oakland be Tatum’s turn or Joel Embiid’s. But for now, James is
and Oakland again, his presence as much a June tradition back in his customary place, adding to a Finals scrapbook
as graduation ceremonies and summer kickoffs. This that swells every June. There are good memories and
was the year to finally dismiss him by Memorial Day. galling ones, with no blank pages in between.
NBA CONFERENCE FINALS

BOB ROSATO (’07); GREG NELSON (’11, ’ 14, ’ 15, ’ 16, ’ 17);

Kyrie Irving was traded. Kevin Love was concussed. In June 2011 “Does it bother you that so many people are
February, about half the roster was overhauled, though happy to see you fail?”
not necessarily improved. James was due an extended James sat atop a podium at AmericanAirlines Arena
offseason. What transpired was the opposite. Eleven times in Miami, 11 months after taking his talents south, and
JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (’ 12, ’ 13)

in the playoff gantlet he logged more than 40 minutes. forced an insincere smile. “All the people rooting for
Seven times he scored more than 40 points. Three times me to fail have to wake up and have the same life they
he put up triple doubles. Twice he sank buzzer beaters, in- had when they woke up today,” James replied. “And I’m
cluding that preposterous across-his-body runner against going to continue to live the way I want to live.” Then
Toronto, which has become a new hallmark. he rode back to his house in Coconut Grove and didn’t

40 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 emerge for two weeks, listening to Barry White on his
iPod dock and watching the Cooking Channel. “It was
like, ‘So we’re going to make a turkey burger gourmet
today, and LeBron James failed!’ ” he cracked. This was
not how he wanted to live. He grew a beard so thick he
reminded himself of Tom Hanks in Castaway.
The Mavericks had toppled the Heat with a sagging
defense that forced James into midrange jumpers, and
when he studied the tapes, he saw himself hesitating.
“It’s the pressure of not wanting to let your teammates
down,” he said. “I feel awful in that locker room because
I could have done something more.”
June 2012 “If someone came to you right now and told
you, ‘If you don’t win tonight, you won’t see your fam-
ily again,’ how would you play?” James asked the Heat
before Game 5 against the Thunder. “Approach this
game like your family is in danger. How bad do you
want to see your family again?”
He captured his first title with a team that revolution-
ized NBA offense, installing Chris Bosh as a small-ball
center who could shoot from outside, opening newfound
driving lanes for James. After Miami throttled Oklahoma
City, James found 23-year-old Kevin Durant. “I told him
he’s unbelievable,” James said. “I told him he shouldn’t

NINE LIVES to workload and stress, re-

Thanks to a sublime porting a nightmare about
first three rounds in confet t i fa l ling on Tim
which he averaged Duncan’s head instead of
34.0 points, his. The Spurs deployed
9.2 boards and a similar defense as the
8.8 assists per Maver ick s, w it h K awhi
game, James is back
in the Finals for Leonard playing off James
the eighth straight and two helpers waiting
year—and ninth behind. “They’re begging
overall since his first him to take that 16-footer,”
appearance, as a a Miami coach said.
22-year-old in 2007. James queued up video of
riors 4, Cavs 2 2016 Cavs 4, Warriors 3 2017 Warriors 4, Cavs 1
himself draining midrange
jumpers the previous sum-
feel any regrets. I hope it’s us and them every year.” mer. “Why would you abandon this thing that’s helped
Two days later James sat on the terrace at the Ritz make you what you are,” James pondered. “Stop second-
Carlton in Coconut Grove with Bronny and Bryce. “It guessing yourself.” With 33 seconds remaining in Game 7
just finally hit me,” he texted childhood friend and and the Heat ahead by two, James bounded around a
business manager Maverick Carter that morning. “I’m screen from Mario Chalmers and buried a 19-footer over
NBA CONFERENCE FINALS

a champion.” As James scolded the boys for dipping Leonard from the left elbow. “It was an M.J. moment,”
chicken fingers in maple syrup, a crowd formed inside James said, the 1998 Finals fresh on his mind, having
the Ritz for a Jewish wedding. He posed with the couple screened the replay in his San Antonio hotel room. “It
for a picture. They were all getting rings. was an L.J. moment.”
M A D D IE M E Y ER /G E T T Y IM AG E S

June 2013 Do everything to help the team, no matter what June 2014 “This is going to be your league in a little while.”
the cost. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra drew up a contract That’s what Duncan told James after his first Finals in
for every player, and James used the formal version of ’07, when the Spurs swept the Cavs. Duncan was right,
his two autographs to sign his pact. but before James could reel off a string of titles the way
Through the playoffs he dropped 10 pounds due Jordan did, San Antonio found a new way to halt him.

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 41

 Leonard was again the primary defender on James,
only he took a much more aggressive tack this time.
Leonard crowded James, limiting his headlong drives,
and the Spurs switched pick-and-rolls to stay in front of
him. Bothered by Leonard’s length and activity, James
cracked the 30-point threshold only twice in five games.
As the Spurs rejoiced, the Heat exhaled. After three years
of high drama an era was ending. Less than a month
later, James returned to Cleveland.
“Painful,” he said of the Finals defeats. “But then
some days go by, and you refocus, and you start to think,
Maybe I can get there again.”
June 2015 “How ’bout that confetti tonight?” James
grumbled on the night the Cavaliers won the Eastern
Conference. He maintains that confetti should only fall
after the Finals. “Dude,” then general manager David
Griffin replied, “we won the East!”
Love was injured, and after one game at Oracle Arena,
so was Irving. James was a compelling solo act (the
first player to lead both Finals participants in points,
rebounds and assists) but ultimately an unsuccessful
one. After Game 6 he sat alone at his corner locker for
45 minutes in an undershirt and shorts, towel over his
shoulders. When he finally left Quicken Loans Arena,
he walked down a hallway polluted by champagne,
past a room where the Warriors posed with the Larry
O’Brien Trophy.
“LeBron tells everyone he’s gotten to the point where
you give it your best effort, and if you don’t win, it is what
it is,” Griffin said. “I think that’s bulls---. I think he was
consumed by that trophy in a way that was probably not
healthy, and when he didn’t get it, I don’t think he was
the same person for a while.”

14 13 12 11 10 9
N BA DR A FT
NUGGETS CLIPPERS CLIPPERS HORNETS 76ERS KNICKS

LOTTERY
SHAI ROBERT COLLIN KEVIN MILES MIKAL
GILGEOUS- WILLIAMS SEXTON KNOX BRIDGES BRIDGES
ALEXANDER C, Texas A&M PG, Alabama F, Kentucky SF, Michigan St. SF, Villanova
PG, Kentucky

LOWDOW He could be
a nice fit as
a 6' 6" swing
At 6' 9" and
240 pounds,
he is a natural
rim-runner
He appeared
selfish at
times, and his
shot selection
In his first pick
as GM, Mitch
Kupchak won’t
get a star but
The 6' 7"
sophomore
has the
makings of
His ability to
space the
floor and
guard multiple
HOW THE TOP 14 guard, but
Denver may
who could help
fill the void
was suspect,
but the 6' 2"
a raw 6' 9",
215-pound
a versatile,
high-energy
positions
makes him a
PICKS WILL package this in the middle freshman is a combo glue guy. safe bet, but
if DeAndre natural scorer forward who Questions he’s at best
SHAKE OUT pick for an
immediate Jordan leaves with potential can become a remain about a secondary
BY JEREMY WOO impact. Los Angeles. as a leader. building block. his shooting. scorer.

42 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 WINNER TAKE ALL June 2016 “There’s a light June 2017 “LeBron was larger than life,” Durant said. “I
With the East finals still shining,” James told his was just taller.”
knotted at three wife after the Cavaliers fell Five years had passed since James embraced Durant in
apiece, James behind 3–1, and he texted Miami and finally they readied for a rematch, Curry in
dropped 46 on the the team from his phone place of Russell Westbrook and Klay Thompson instead
C’s and had a crucial w it h t he Larr y O’Brien of James Harden. Before the series, Durant reviewed six
block of Rozier as
Trophy screensaver. “We years of matchups with James, and in the last minute
he won his sixth-
straight Game 7. have to go to Golden State of Game 3, he unleashed the dagger over James’s out-
for Game 5 and we have to stretched left arm. Durant and Curry had lost a champi-
come home any way,” he onship apiece to James, but together they leveled him in
wrote. “So why not come home and play a Game 6?” five games, and Irving asked out of Cleveland soon after.
James scored 41 in each of those games, and as he left Which brings James to June 2018, the end of the
the Q for one last trip west, he asked an associate, “Can most trying season of his career, filled with injury and
you imagine if we pull this off?” At 3 a.m. after Game 7, tragedy, illness and upheaval. Love missed two months

IT’S JUNE 2018, THE END OF THE MOST TRYING SEASON ´

OF JAMES’S CAREER, FILLED WITH INJURY,
TRAGEDY AND UPHEAVAL. BUT THE CAVALIERS ARE ALIVE.

while the Cavs sprayed champagne at the Wynn hotel in with a broken hand. Lue missed two weeks for a leave
Las Vegas, James sat over a Margherita pizza in a lobby of absence. Kyle Korver buried his brother. Six players
restaurant and tried to deconstruct history: his block were shipped out at the trading deadline, and four were
on Andre Iguodala, Love’s stop on Steph Curry, Irving’s brought in. Results of the deals were mixed, but the
three. That’s what everybody saw. What they didn’t see Cavaliers are alive, thanks to the one guy they were
was James on the bench, when coach Tyronn Lue called able to keep.
the play for Irving, telling his excitable teammates, “Chill James will be an unrestricted free agent this sum-
the f--- out, and let’s get a bucket.” They did both. mer, and every basketball city with a few billboards is
ERI C K W. R A S CO

“This was bigger for me than the first and the second,” begging for his attention. That will be the story of July.
James said of his previous titles, “because of everything But this is June, and wherever he winds up, the Finals
it represents. This is what I dreamed.” are always home. ±

8 7 6 5 4 3 2

>
CAVALIERS BULLS MAGIC MAVERICKS GRIZZLIES HAWKS KINGS
TRAE MICHAEL WENDELL MOHAMED MARVIN JAREN LUKA
YOUNG PORTER JR. CARTER BAMBA BAGLEY III JACKSON DONČIĆ
PG, Oklahoma SF, Missouri PF, Duke C, Texas PF, Duke C, Michigan State G, Real Madrid
TURN
He has range, A big-time At 6' 10" and With a 7' 9" A rebounder At 6' 11", he is The MVP THE
creativity off scorer, he 260 pounds, wingspan and who can raw but does of the PAGE
the dribble will have to he has great 9' 6" standing create have the skills Euroleague FOR
and flair. For a show well hands and can reach, he baskets and of a modern Final Four at THE
team needing in workouts play inside- has high-end eventually big: He can age 19, the NO. 1
outside help, after back out. Though defensive could stretch shoot from 6' 8" Slovenian PICK
the 6' 2" surgery he’s not a potential—and the floor, he deep, defend playmaker
freshman shortened leaper, he’s a a rudimentary will provide in space will fit nicely
is the best his freshman bankable pick offensive steady double and protect alongside
option. season. with upside. game. doubles. the rim. De’Aaron Fox.

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 43

FIRST
ARIZONA’S AFFABLE 7' 1" CENTER CAN DO IT ALL (WELL,

THINGS
WANTS YOU KNOW ONE THING: HIS HOMETOWN SUNS SH

FIRST
 1
DEANDRE
AYTON
IF A TEAM of basketball sci-
entists were asked to build the
perfect big man in a laboratory,
the finished product would look
a lot like DeAndre Ayton. The
problem, on a Wednesday night
in the middle of May, is that the
7' 1", 250-pound Ayton is nowhere
near a basketball hoop. “Golf is a
strange game,” he says.
Ay ton has already sprayed
ground balls all over a Topgolf in
Scottsdale, Ariz., but he refuses to
give up. He just watched his 41-year-old trainer, Rasheed
Hazzard, swing calmly, almost in slow motion, and loft
several beautiful iron shots. “But you got the old-man
swing,” Ayton tells him. “No swag.”
Standing in the corner stall on the lower level, Ayton
licks his index finger and whirls it around his head.
EXCEPT MAYBE GOLF), AND HE “Always check the wind,” the 19-year-old says. Then
he begins his backswing, contorting his 7' 5" wing-
span around a driver that’s at least six inches too short,
annnnnd . . . another shank. Ayton cackles with delight.
BY ANDREW SHARP
This is part of the DeAndre Ayton experience. His
Photographs by NILS NILSEN teammate at Arizona, Rawle Alkins, says, “When the
situation is down or quiet, he’ll loosen everyone up.
Laugh, crack jokes. There’s never a bad time with him.”
Wildcats assistant Lorenzo Romar predicts that one day
OULD MAKE HIM THE TOP PICK Ayton will be on Inside the NBA. His mom, Andrea, calls
him both a comedian and an entertainer.
After another round of scuffs and slices, Ayton finally
turns to the group of friends behind him, looks around
at the corner stall and shakes his head. “It’s a weird
angle,” he decides.

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 45

 OLF FAILURES aside, life-changing athletic it’s making the whole table laugh. Then, when Anissa

G success is closer than ever for Ayton. He is hit-

ting balls just 24 hours after attending the NBA
draft lottery in Chicago, where the Suns landed
the top pick. That means there’s a good chance that
Ayton will stay in Arizona after a high school career that
successfully steals one of the desserts, he sprawls across
the table trying to take it back. As long as everyone else
is having a good time, so is he.
But if he’s talking about the journey that brought him
to where he is now, a more guarded side emerges. Ayton
finished in Scottsdale and his single season of college was raised in the Bahamas until he was 12. He remains
basketball in Tucson. intensely proud of his homeland, and people there are
Ayton was at the lottery and says that his visit to proud of him too. Mychal Thompson, the Bahamian big
Chicago wasn’t exactly fun—he was very busy—but that man who was drafted No. 1 in 1978 and whose son Klay
it couldn’t have gone any better. His hometown team is plays for the Warriors, says, “I watched every Arizona
choosing first, he aced his on-camera appearances and, game I could this year. It’s thrilling, man. I feel like I’ve
in between, he mingled with everyone from fellow draft got another son in the NBA.”
prospects to team executives to commissioner Adam It was everything that came after the Bahamas that
Silver. “He was just telling me how great this league is,” complicated Ayton’s story. “Home,” he says, “I was per-
Ayton says of Silver. “And how, as much as everybody fect. I was home. I don’t even want to talk about AAU.
wants to win and be competitive, you’ll never find a AAU was a bunch of s---. When I stepped foot in the
league so close. Everyone knows each other. Everyone United States, my life became a job.”
works with each other off the court. And a lot of these After landing on the radar of scouts at the 2011 Jeff
dudes are signed to the same agencies too.” Rodgers Camp in Nassau, Ayton was offered the chance
The most dramatic story line before the June 21 draft to come to the U.S. by a couple of coaches. His mother
will center on Ayton and 6' 6" Slovenian guard Luka and his stepfather, Alvin, decided that it was the right
Dončić, 19, his competition to be the top pick. And funny thing to do. Basketball aside, it was a chance at a free
enough, they are, in fact, with the same agency, BDA education. So he moved to San Diego as a 6' 5" 12-year-
Sports Management. The two prospects even share a old. Less than two years later he was 6' 10" and christened
publicist, Alyson, who has been a go-between since the the best eighth-grade player in the country.
draft process began. Dončić followed Ayton on Instagram “It felt normal,” Ayton says, “until I grew up and real-
hours after the lottery ended, then Ayton followed back, ized I never really had a childhood. It was just basketball
then each excitedly texted Alyson. The two teens have and business. Never went to Disneyland or any of that.
exchanged a few messages, wishing each Kids used to tell me about it, and I’d have
other good luck. “We’re just respectful to lie and say, ‘Yeah, I went.’ But I never
right now,” Ayton says. ONE-YEAR WONDER never knew any of that.”
Ayton set a school record with
But for all the diplomacy and the jokes, For the next few years Ayton lived with
24 double doubles and led the
Ayton is direct when it’s time to talk Wildcats to 27 wins and the three different host families and spent
about his place in the draft. “No one’s Pac-12 regular-season and most weekends traveling the grassroots
built like me,” he says. “I play 110% on conference championships. hoops circuit. “Sometimes I’d go a month
both ends of the floor.” And does he care without talking to my mother,” he says.
where he goes? “Most definitely No. 1,” he “You’re [in the gym] going 8 a.m. to 7
says. “Not changing my mind. I worked p.m. It was like a job.”
too hard for that. I worked my ass off.” A ndrea moved to Phoeni x when
DeAndre was 16, bringing him from
HERE ARE a few different ver- San Diego and things began to normal-

T sions of Ayton, and which one you ize. Looking back now, DeAndre says he
E T H A N M I L L E R / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; J O H N W. M C D O N O U G H (AC T I O N)

get depends on what you’re talk- had become entitled, a bully who was
ing about. If the topic is basketball, resentful of the people around him. “I
he says all the right things. If the topic was lucky,” he says. “My mom came and
is life off the court, he will crack jokes knocked some sense into my head. Like,
about himself and everyone around ‘Yo—that’s not gonna work.’ ”
DEANDRE AY TON

him. He becomes the guy who orders For his junior and senior seasons,
two desserts—a massive brownie sun- Ayton enrolled at Hillcrest Prep, an elite
dae and a Snickers pie—at lunch and basketball academy in Scottsdale. He
then refuses to share with his girlfriend, thrived, earning All-America honors and
Anissa, for two reasons. First, because finishing his career as a top five recruit.
he’s flirting with her, and also because And then there was college.

46 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 OST CASUAL sports fans first learned Ayton’s

M name during coverage of the FBI investigation

that has rocked college basketball over the past
nine months. On Feb. 23, ESPN alleged that
Wildcats coach Sean Miller had been caught on tape by
the FBI offering $100,000 to an employee of an agent for
Ayton’s services. And while ESPN’s story has not held
up—Ayton and his family have denied any involvement,
the timeline has been debunked and there have been no
findings of wrongdoing—the allegation still stings. “The
exposure I wanted in college wasn’t the exposure I got,”
Ayton says. “Me and my family did not expect that. It was
bad.” (Miller has said he expects to be fully “vindicated.”)
Alkins recalls that the team was playing NBA2K when
alerts flashed across each player’s phone telling them
that Ayton had been implicated in the scandal. Ayton
looked down in shock. A few minutes later managers
knocked on the door and brought him to meet with
coaches. The team was scheduled to play at Oregon the
next day. Since none of the ESPN allegations had been
confirmed by NCAA investigators, the school decided
that Ayton would suit up—but Miller would not be on
the sideline. “If he coached that game right after the
news broke, he felt like the environment would’ve been
just too crazy,” says Alkins.
The environment was plenty crazy anyway. As Ayton
recounts the evening, he gets animated: “I came out
there for warmups, and I saw this little guy with this
microphone. And I’m running and running [through
the tunnel], doing my pregame workout, and he’s like,
Here he comes! The whole gym booed me.” He cups his
hands around his mouth to imitate the fans, some of
whom were dressed as FBI agents. “Hun-dred thou-sand!
Da-da-da-da-da. Hun-dred thous-and!”
Ayton finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds, along
with four blocks. He played 44 of 45 minutes, and while
the Wildcats lost in overtime, Ayton says that those 48
hours, surrounded by headlines and chants and fake FBI
agents, were the closest he’s ever felt to his teammates.
“We ended up losing,” Alkins says, “but it wasn’t one
of those feelings where we were disappointed. We were
just happy to play hard together. It was like a movie.”
Romar, who coached Arizona that night, says, “I’ve
never been more impressed by a player that age on a
basketball court. To have his name thrown around in
regards to something he didn’t do, it really shook him.
But to rally from that. . . . ”
Ayton finished the season averaging 20.1 points and 11.6
DEANDRE AY TON

rebounds. After that Oregon game, the team bounced back

to secure the Pac-12 regular-season title and dominate the
conference tournament. Arizona was upset in the first round
of the NCAA tournament—“Buffalo had some dogs,” Ayton
says ruefully—but the final month of that season wasn’t the
disaster it could’ve been. And then it was time for the NBA.

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 47

 ACK AT lunch, Ayton is looking at his phone when

B he says to no one in particular, “You saw Michael

Porter Jr. say he was the best player in the draft?”
A few seconds later, Ayton looks up to the rest of
the table and tilts his head. “What draft is he in?”
Ayton will likely go first or second on June 21. From
a physical standpoint, he checks every box imaginable.
He’s nimble enough to guard on the perimeter, he’s tall
enough to meet anyone at the rim, and offensively he’s
got a combination of skill and power that makes him
like a new-age David Robinson. His shooting extends
to the three-point line.
Fran Fraschilla, an ESPN commentator and draft ex-

´ “YOU GOT DUDES LIKE JOEL EMBIID, ANTHONY DAVIS, ALL THESE
7-FOOTERS, DOING EVERYTHING. WE CAN GRAB THE BOARD, TAKE
IT DOWN THE FLOOR AND SCORE. THERE’S NO STOPPING US.”

pert specializing in international hoops, says if he had to WEIGHTING GAME

choose between Dončić and Ayton he’d be “flummoxed.” For a behind-the-
scenes look at
He leans toward Ayton for now. He recalls a 25-point,
DeAndre Ayton as
16-rebound performance in a win at Arizona State. “I’ve he prepares for the
watched a lot of basketball over my 59 years,” Fraschilla draft, go to SI.TV.
says. “He was breathtaking. There was one play—he
blocked the shot at one end, his teammate came up with it
and [Ayton] ran by me at courtside. It was like the Coors Rockets in the playoffs, and Houston center Clint Capela’s
freight train. I almost got a frost on me.” value was cut in half against the Warriors.
If there’s any room for skepticism, it usually starts Fraschilla thinks that the awkward fit at Arizona may
with Ayton’s defense and his ability to protect the rim. eventually work in Ayton’s favor. “He was forced to defend
He blocked 2.3 shots per 40 minutes—fewer than any wing players and guards,” he says. “I think it did him
of the past three big men taken No. 1 (Karl-Anthony wonders. He can move his feet extremely well on the
Towns, Anthony Davis, Greg Oden). Because of that, perimeter. He’s not going to be a guy you have to cover up
some advanced metrics put his D on par with the likes of in late-clock or emergency switch situations. He’s going
Jahlil Okafor’s. Arizona did, however, have an incumbent to be able to hold his own against electric guards and
DEANDRE AY TON

center in Dusan Ristic, so Ayton played out of position, do a reasonably good job keeping them out of the lane.”
which skewed his block numbers. Ayton brushes aside the small ball question: “Small
There’s also the question of whether, in a league in- ball? What is small ball? I play basketball. I play center,
creasingly dominated by small ball and versatile wings, and if you haven’t watched me play, I’m not a regular big
a team should even use the top pick on a big man. Jazz man. I can move my feet. Not saying I can stop anyone
7-footer Rudy Gobert was played off the court by the out there who’s in front of me, but trust me, I can really

48 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 be a problem on the perimeter guarding somebody. I can report, “I gained 60K in one night. The whole world knew
switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolv- me as the college athlete that took [money]. That’s how
ing. You got dudes like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, all this world works. They love negativity.
these 7-footers, doing everything. They’re unstoppable. “In college I really couldn’t say nothing. Coach Miller
We can grab the board, take it down the floor and then was like, ‘Keep a low profile. Don’t worry about that stuff.’
score just as well. There’s no stopping us.” But now? Oh, yeah. Wait till I start really getting some
Those comparisons may not be as outrageous as they money in my pocket. I’ll say a few things. Pay that fine.”
seem. In the same way that Towns became twice as dan- But then he breaks character—“No, I’m playing”—and a
gerous once he moved out of Kentucky’s low post, Ayton few minutes later he’s bragging that he can sing. He tells
stands to benefit from the freedom of the spacier NBA. a story about the Bahamas. He was in church performing
And he has a history of improving. Romar notes that a solo next to his sister when he spotted a friend in the
Ayton hadn’t lifted weights before college. “Within two back—“I was tall, so I could see the whole audience”—and
weeks you could see a change,” Romar says. Alkins echoes burst out laughing. “My mom gave me the whooping
the point: “He can get quicker. And of a lifetime,” he recalls. “That was
I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts the end of my singing career. But I
coming off screens, pick-and-roll. FORE-SHADOWING can sing.”
That’s something to think about. Ayton’s massive wingspan doesn’t do So, obviously, someone challenges
him much good on the links, but it has
He’s kind of like that Giannis, KD him to sing on the spot. He refuses.
NBA scouts drooling at his potential at
type. Whoever’s training him, if both ends of the court. What about the national anthem
they get his handle right, he can next year? “Chill, chill, chill,” he
play like a guard.” says. “I’m not Victor Oladipo.”
Singing anthems or not, Ayton
FF THE court, as he’s said, the player will be fine for the next

O Ayton was forced to grow

up faster than almost all of
his peers. But there are still
times when it’s clear he’s 19 years
old. And strangely, it’s in the mo-
decade. The hope for Ayton the per-
son is that the NBA will allow him
to be himself and enjoy this. He is
the rare 19-year-old for whom life as
a professional athlete might actually
ments when he strains to sound be easier. The next level will come
like a hardened, serious adult that without AAU tournaments and host
his youth becomes most apparent. families. There will be no NCAA in-
The day after the golf outing, a vestigations and more floor spacing
minor social media controversy than ever. The more comfortable he
flares up. A website that special- becomes, the less he’ll have to worry
izes in search-engine optimiza- about the world’s negativity.
tion publishes a guide to DeAndre For no w, t he r e ’s ju s t b a s-
Ayton. The introduction fuses two ketba l l a nd workout s. At t he
unrelated quotes in a way that sug- end of lunch, af ter the Snick-
gests he hated his childhood on the ers pie and the brownie sundae,
Bahamas. And eventually that new, context-free quote neither of which Ay ton came close to finishing,
makes its way to the people of the island nation. Hazzard slides over a scouting report from his time with
“I saw that,” Mychal Thompson says later. “He knows the Knicks. Ayton’s eyes get big as he looks over several
what’s in his heart. Everybody who knows him knows pages of stats and plays. “This is like an exam,” he says.
how proud he is of his country. Anybody who tried to His trainer tells him that an NBA scouting report will
frame it that way is just trying to bring him down.” have all the information he needs. “You may have three
All day in Phoenix, though, Ayton hears from people pages of diagrams,” Hazzard says. “All the different calls,
back home. He’s stressed. He huddles with his publicist the variations of what they run, and the pick-and-roll
and issues a statement: “It’s upsetting. . . . I have never coverages you’ll use. And like you said about an exam?
DEANDRE AY TON

said one disparaging thing about the place that continues The exam is the game.”
to give me nothing but love and support.” “This is the cheat sheet,” Ayton says.
The whole episode reopens wounds, and his guard “Exactly,” Hazzard nods.
comes up again. At lunch Ayton is talking about the “And at the end of the day,” his trainer adds, “if you
nature of the media, using his Instagram following as forget the coverage, just be athletic and big, and go block
an example. “I had 30K,” he says, and after the ESPN some s---. It’s still a simple game.” ±

50 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

THE HALL OF FAME NAME,
THE VIOLENT SWING,
THE LEGENDARY POWER:
IT ALL LOOKS STRIKINGLY FAMILIAR. BUT CAN
BLUE JAYS PROSPECT VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR.—
BASEBALL’S MOST HERALDED TEENAGER SINCE
BRYCE HARPER—LIVE UP TO THE HYPE? B Y JON TAYLER

THE
COMING OF AGE
The youngest player
in the Eastern League,
Guerrero, 19, hit
.427 with nine home
runs over his first 42
games with Double A
New Hampshire.

Photographs by
ERICK W. RASCO
 BEFORE THE question is even all out, New Hampshire Fisher Cats
manager John Schneider is laughing. On a mid-May afternoon in Hart-

´ ford, the genial skipper of the Toronto Blue Jays’ Double A affiliate is
in the process of being asked to weigh in on the season his 19-year-old
third baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is having. His answer is some-
where between an impressed chuckle and a nervous giggle. This is the
common response when even seasoned baseball men discuss a player
who is so clearly superior to his peers that he makes the game look like
MLB The Show with the difficulty turned all the way down, or like Mike
Trout’s suiting up in a Little League game. It’s joy mixed with disbelief,
like you just found a winning lottery ticket on the street.
Schneider laughs because, really, how else can you react to what
Guerrero is doing? Every game brings another three- or four-hit outing,
another thunderclap homer, another vapor trail of a line drive. The Eng-
lish language, it seems, can’t describe how good and exciting Vlad Jr. is.
“He’s doing O.K.,” Schneider says, but then he laughs again, amused
at the understatement. In two months of the 2018 season, he’s raised
the already high expectations for him—no easy feat for the progeny of
Vlad Sr., who racked up 449 career home runs and is one of the greatest
hitters the Dominican Republic ever produced.
The stats from Vlad Jr.’s first season in Double A inspire spit takes.
Through 42 games, the 6' 1", 200-pound phenom is hitting .427/.479/.707
with nine home runs, 46 runs batted in and more walks (18) than strike-
outs (17). He’s done this as the youngest player in the entire Eastern
League, five years younger than the league’s average player. He is the
most heralded teenage prospect since Bryce Harper, and is seemingly
as sure a thing to be a superstar.
“He’s made the hardest thing in sports look easy,” says one veteran
scout. “There’s a lot of wow factor.”
“I’m not sure where the ceiling is, but it’s exciting to think about,”
says Blue Jays director of player development Gil Kim.
“He’s the best I’ve ever seen, hands down,” says Schneider, who
has been managing in the minors for 10 years. Last season Schneider
managed Guerrero with Toronto’s High A team in Dunedin, Fla., and
 watched him hit .385/.483/.646 with six homers in 27 VL AD TO
games. He so thoroughly demolished the opposition
THE BONE
that it was an easy decision to advance him to Double A Junior stole
for 2018. That much tougher league hasn’t been any the show at his
harder to figure out. father’s final
Guerrero breaks pitchers and social media alike with game in Montreal,
his colossal home runs. Schneider recalls a blast against in 2003 (left), and
Trenton in early April in subfreezing temperatures—a has been stealing
scenes with the
missile (off another big league son: José Mesa Jr.) that
Fisher Cats too.
cut through the cold air and landed 420 feet away in
centerfield, part of a six-RBI game. Against Bingham-
ton on May 3, he sent a knuckleball out of the park to
left with a crack of the bat that sounded like someone
pounding a rock with a hammer. Later that week he
hit two homers against Portland; the second cleared
the wall in left and a small patio beyond it before car-
oming off the fifth-floor windows of the hotel next to NDEED, THE future of baseball looks a lot like its past.
New Hampshire’s stadium—at least 430 feet away and
50 feet off the ground.
But Guerrero’s most dramatic shot came before
the season even started. He joined the Blue Jays in
late March for a two-game exhibition series against
I Watching Vlad Jr. taking his hacks in a batting
cage, it’s easy to see the connection. Like his father,
Vlad the Younger boasts a whiplike swing, violent,
slashing follow-through and lethal bat speed. He has
the same ability to generate hard contact to all fields,
VL ADIMIR GUERRERO JR.

the Cardinals in Montreal, his birthplace (he and his routinely lacing balls with an exit velocity of 100 mph
mother moved to the Dominican Republic when he was or more. There is one critical difference, however. Un-
a young child) and his father’s old stomping grounds. like his father, Junior rarely chases pitches outside the
After going hitless in the opener, Guerrero launched strike zone, exhibiting discipline far beyond both his
a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth for a 1–0 years and his genetic predilection.
victory. For the 25,816 in attendance, it was a liv- Over a 16-year career spent mostly with the Expos
PAU L C HI A SS O N /A P

ing flashback: number 27, circling the bases after a and the Angels, Vlad Sr. tortured opposing pitchers by
titanic blast, sending the fans home happy just like connecting with everything inside and outside the strike
days long ago. zone, hitting .318 for his career. Those accomplishments

56 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 BABY BOOMERS
Of the 10 best players in baseball (measured by Wins
Above Replacement), half are 25 or younger. When he’s
called up to the Show, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will join a crop
of phenoms, some of whom aren’t old enough to drink the
champagne in a winning clubhouse. Here are the best of
the bunch, and whom they’ll most resemble by 2023.
—Emma Baccellieri

RONALD ACUÑA OF, Braves Age: 20

The best prospect in the minors before
being called up in late April, the five-tool
talent has lived up to the hype and played
excellent leftfield too.
In five years he’ll be . . . Andruw Jones

plus his 2004 AL MVP award, nine All-Star nods and

status as one of the game’s most feared hitters, added OZZIE ALBIES 2B, Braves Age: 21
up to a Hall of Fame election in January. He became When he entered the majors, he was
the first hitter from the Dominican Republic to make regarded as a speedy prospect with a slick
it to Cooperstown (and only the third Dominican ever, glove who’d hit for average. He’s still all of
joining pitchers Juan Marichal and Pedro Martínez). that—and hitting for big-time power too.
There are other notable differences between father and In five years he’ll be . . . José Altuve
son. While Vlad Sr. was tall and lithe, his son is shorter
and thicker, especially in the waist and legs; Junior’s
frame is closer to burly sluggers Miguel Cabrera or RAFAEL DEVERS 3B, Red Sox Age: 21
David Ortiz than to his father’s. While Vlad Sr. patrolled The old man of this crew (by seven weeks)
rightfield, Vlad Jr. is trying to make a go of it at third he’s on pace for 30 homers, and is showing
base, and though he inherited his father’s howitzer of that his explosive first month in the bigs
an arm, the rest of his defense is a shakier bet. In the (last July) was no fluke.
same game, he’ll rush a throw to first and toss wide of In five years he’ll be . . . Justin Turner
second on a potential double play, and he’ll also make
(F R O M TO P) A N DY LYO N S /G E T T Y IM AG E S; A L E X T R AU T WI G / M L B PH O T OS /G E T T Y IM AG E S;

a nice, difficult charging play on a soft grounder up the

R O B ER T B E C K ; PAT RI C K M C D ERM O T T/G E T T Y IM AG E S; JIM M C IS A AC /G E T T Y IM AG E S

line. The tools, while not developed, are there. JUAN SOTO OF, Nationals Age: 19
“We’ve seen strides on defense,” Kim says. “The The youngest player in the majors, he hit
instincts, vision, hands and arm strength translate to a home run in his first start, becoming
a solid defender at third base.” the youngest to go deep since Jurickson
Of course, when you crush the baseball the way Profar in 2012.
Guerrero does, any defensive shortcomings are easier In five years he’ll be . . . Matt Holliday
to swallow. Asked if Guerrero could hit in the majors
right now, Schneider says yes, noting that scouts have
dropped an 80—the highest possible grade—on his GLEYBER TORRES 2B, Yankees Age: 21
hit tool (not to mention an equally crazy 70 on his raw In the last 50 years, only 14 hitters 21 or under
power). “He was born to hit,” Schneider adds. A veteran have posted 5.0 WAR seasons. Acuña, Albies
scout agrees: “He’s so advanced as a young hitter, like and Torres (eight homers in his first month)
Manny [Ramírez] was. He’d more than hold his own.” are all on pace to do so.
He may be making a name for himself, but still, wher- In five years he’ll be . . . Dustin Pedroia

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 57

 ever Vlad Jr. goes, the shadow TRADE OF
of his father follows. On a re- THE TOOLS
cent road trip to Harrisburg, Guerrero’s
the team bus drove by an ad on struggles at third
an LED billboard that blared could force a
vlad junior is coming to move to DH in the
harrisburg with a picture big leagues, but
of him and his dad, side-by- his shortcomings
with the glove are
side. It’s a degree of promotion easier to swallow
bestowed on few in the East- considering his
ern League (save Binghamton’s skills with the bat.
Tim Tebow), but the attention
doesn’t affect Guerero much.
“He’s done a really good
job of making his own way and being his own dude,”
Schneider says. “Obviously it’s not easy to deal with, but
he’s doing great with it.”
In fact Guerrero Jr. doesn’t seem pressured by the
association with his Hall of Fame dad at all. Asked
during spring training what he thinks of his father’s
accomplishments, he replied in Spanish, “It inspires
me to keep working to keep getting better and put up
the same numbers he did.” Exactly the same? “I don’t
want to put up better numbers than him, or less,” he
says. “I want to put up exactly what he did.”
That’s a lofty goal for any player, bloodlines be damned.
But this is the future Vlad Jr. has envisioned since he was

´ “HE DOES SOMETHING EVERY DAY THAT MAKES YOU

SMILE OR GO, THIS DUDE IS PRETTY SPECIAL,”
SAYS SCHNEIDER, WHO MANAGED HIM LAST SEASON TOO.

six, when he first decided he wanted to play profession- Ortiz, Cabrera, Adrián Beltré (the player he most wants
ally. From then, he was tutored in the Dominican by his to be like, aside from his dad). His godfathers are two
uncle, former big leaguer Wilton Guerrero. By age 13, he of his father’s Expos teammates: Martínez and Andrés
was digging in against 18- and 19-year-old pitchers—and Galarraga. The latter was responsible for one of Vlad Jr.’s
clobbering them. “I wasn’t scared, because they threw favorite memories. During his father’s final game in
the ball and I hit it,” he says nonchalantly. Kim says he Montreal, in 2003, “when they made the third out, my
remembers attending a tryout for older prospects held by dad came out [onto the field], and Andrés said to me, ‘Go
Wilton in the D.R. and watching Guerrero, then 12, steal with him.’ So I followed him out there,” Vlad Jr. says. The
the show by launching several balls almost out of the park. crowd roared as the pudgy four-year-old in the Expos
As Guerrero grew, so did his reputation. Videos of uniform trotted out behind his father, and both tipped
VL ADIMIR GUERRERO JR.

him launching moonshots at age 14 and 15 lit up the their caps to the fans in the Olympic Stadium outfield.
Internet. As a 16-year-old, in 2015, he ranked fourth on Fifteen years later Guerrero is still surrounded by
MLB.com’s list of the top 30 international prospects, and baseball past. His teammates on the Fisher Cats include
several teams vied to sign him, including the Athletics, top 10 prospect Bo Bichette, son of former Rockies slugger
the Nationals and the Royals, he says. But Toronto landed Dante, and Cavan Biggio, who also has a Hall of Fame dad
him in a deal with a signing bonus of $3.9 million. (longtime Astros second baseman Craig). The three have
Baseball—and his father’s fame—have shaped Guer- formed an imposing top of the order in New Hampshire.
rero’s life. When asked whom he remembers from his “It’s a luxury having those guys,” he says. “I literally get
childhood, he lists a who’s who of Latin superstars: to write Bichette-Biggio-Guerrero in my lineup.”

58 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

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 Having three second-generation prospects is mostly
ENERGIZE coincidence, but Kim and Schneider say that they think
having been around big leaguers since childhood helps
WITH NATURAL CAFFEINE young players survive a season’s ups and downs. “They
FROM GREEN TEA
handle themselves like they’re 25, 30 years old,” says
Schneider. “When you talk to [Guerrero], it’s like talking
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EMERGEN-C O FAR, Vlad Jr. has made it look preposterously

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S simple—and like a lot of fun. As he took batting
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face. “He does something every day that makes you smile
and vitamin C or go, this dude is pretty special.” Schneider says.
Earlier that day, as the team
prepared for its game against
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Guerrero sent the Internet into
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personal Instagram account
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and posted a shot of himself

standing in Terminal 4 of New
York’s John F. Kennedy Inter-
national Airport with a suitcase
and a smile. There was no cap-
tion, but his followers didn’t
need one: The next day, the
Blue Jays were set to face the
Mets in Queens—a quick cab
ride from JFK.
As his fans went bananas over
Guerrero’s apparent announce-
FACE OF ment of his call-up, Schneider’s phone began to light up
THE FUTURE with texts from people in Triple A Buffalo, reporters and
Guerrero is even his team’s own media relations director. Was it hap-
one of three pening? Was Vlad Jr. heading to the majors?
prospects If so, that was news to Schneider, because with him
with famous in the visitors’ clubhouse at Dunkin’ Donuts Park was
baseball dads Guerrero, set to start at third and bat third in that night’s
on the Fisher Fisher Cats’ lineup. Baseball’s wunderkind had pranked
Cats roster,
but none may the world with a photo from a trip he had taken to the
be in Double A Dominican Republic last December.
for long. “I asked, what are you doing?” Schneider says. “He
said, I just posted a picture and it happened to be at an
airport with a suitcase.”
Guerrero ended up deleting the post, but Schneider
loved it. Like his booming home runs and absurd days
at the plate (Vlad Jr. finished the three-game series in
Hartford by going 4 for 5 with a homer, two doubles and
a stolen base), Vlad Jr.’s antics provoke laughter. That is,
unless you’re an opposing pitcher, wishing that Guerrero
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 A KING’S T
HE STAKED OUT DOUGHNUT SHOPS TO TALK TO PARCELLS,
GOT BEHIND THE SCENES WITH FAVRE AND MANNING
AND COUNTLESS OTHERS, AND CREATED A DISTINCTIVE
PRESENCE THAT BECAME APPOINTMENT NFL READING.
AS PETER KING MOVES ON FROM SI AFTER 29 YEARS,
FOOTBALL’S BIGGEST STARS AND HIS JOURNALISM
COLLEAGUES REFLECT ON HIS IMPACT ON THE GAME,
THE PROFESSION AND THEIR LIVES

EVERY MORNING
QUARTERBACK
Early on, King earned
the nickname
Relentless from Bill
Parcells, and it’s that
drive that helped
push him to the top
of his profession.

62 S P O R T S I L L U S T R A T E D | M A Y 7, 2 0 1 8
ALE In the spring of 1980, less than a year out of college, Peter King took a
job as a cub sports reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. A couple years
earlier, King had sat for a head shot. In it King is wearing a plaid shirt,
bulky glasses and a massive afro. His expression is part smile and
part grimace, as if he can’t wait for this to be over. He has places to go,
people to talk to, stories to write. “You can see how eager and enthused
he was,” says Mark Purdy, an Enquirer columnist at the time. “What
that mug shot says to me is, Let’s go.”
King went, all right. At the Enquirer he began covering the Bengals
in 1984, and then he moved to Newsday in New York on the Giants
BY TIM ROHAN beat. Throughout that time he was getting inside the game by talking
to its most prominent figures, past, present and future—and building a
reputation as a go-getter. Bill Parcells gave him a nickname: Relentless.
Photograph by
Peter King: “Every day in the summer of ’84, it was two-a-day practices
for the Bengals. At least half the days I stood next to Paul Brown [Ben-
TAYLOR BALLANTYNE
gals team president and legendary former coach of the Browns]. That
was such an incredible learning experience—picking the brain of Paul
Brown. One day I said to him—we’re in the middle of nowhere Ohio,
it’s 89° with 80% humidity every day, we’re standing out there for four
hours every day—I said, ‘How do you do this every day? Doesn’t this
ever get to you? The tedium or the heat?’ And he got really angry. He
said, ‘Young man, this is our lifeblood!’ ”
Mark Purdy: “You’re around Paul Brown, who was one of the inventors
of modern pro football. He invented the face mask, for chrissakes!”
 Bill Parcells, former Giants coach: “He was eager and very on the ground with this job. There’s 19 papers that cover
interested in the subject matter. Quite interested in the this team every day. I’m a competitive guy, and I want
nuances of organizations and how they’re run. Then the to be good at this.’ He just walked out.”
player acquisition and strategic elements of the game. Bill Parcells: “I was a creature of habit, especially if we
Then, I think more so, he was interested in the person- were winning. I wasn’t tempting fate. So I would go
alities, this game for maladjusted people. . . . You could to the same places, and I’d take the same route to the
throw him in that maladjusted category as well.” stadium. He would know where I was going to be, and
Peter King: “Every day I would show up at [Giants] camp once in a while, he would show up there.”
at 7:15 a.m. in the coffee room. All the assistant coaches— Bob Glauber, Newsday : “Peter was driven. He would meet
Ron Erhardt, Belichick, all the coaches—would come Parcells at his doughnut shop at six in the morning!”
through, get coffee, maybe read the Daily News, and then Bill Parcells: “He knew I got to work early, and he would
go to work. Parcells would come in and give me these be outside the gate at the parking entrance under Giants
looks and not say anything. By the fourth day he just said Stadium. He’d be waiting there.”
to me, ‘Who the [expletive] are you?’ I just said, I met Tim Layden, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: “The first time I met
you the other day, I’m Peter King, I work for Newsday. Peter, he was in the press room at Giants Stadium, talk-
And he said, ‘I know that, but what are you doing here ing on two phones at the same time. One in each hand.”
[this early]?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m just trying to get my feet Peter King: “In those days there weren’t a lot of people

´
“YOU CAN SEE HOW EAGER AND ENTHUSED HE WAS,” SAYS
MARK PURDY, AN EARLY MENTOR AT THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER.
“WHAT THAT MUG SHOT SAYS TO ME IS, LET’S GO.”

who covered the [entire league] as a beat. I soon realized

I could call the p.r. guy of the Bears, and he would get
me Buddy Ryan on the phone.”

T H E C I N C I N N AT I E N Q U I R E R ; CO V E R S (L E F T T O R I G H T ): R O N A L D C . M O D R A ; J O H N I ACO N O ; V. J . L O V E R O A N D J I M G U N D ; B I L L
Adam Schefter, former Broncos beat writer: “I remember him
telling me one time, every week he had a goal to call five
different people—people he hadn’t spoken to.”
Peter King: “I rode in the car with Parcells after he won
his first Super Bowl. It was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
The Giants’ hotel was in Orange County, and Parcells had
to be at a press conference the next morning at 8:30. He
F R A K E S ; L O U C A P O Z Z O L A ; WA LT E R I O O S S J R . ; H E I N Z K L U E T M E I E R ; J O H N B I E V E R
was going to be alone in the car with this security guy
for 20 or 30 minutes. I asked him [if I could ride along].
“He was so excited. The NFL security guy, Charlie Jack-
son, was driving. I was sitting in the front seat, Parcells
was in the back, and he’s asking, ‘Charlie, was Ditka as
excited as I am? Was Ditka this excited last year?’ He just
couldn’t get over it—he had just won the Super Bowl.”

ING HAD a knack for such stories, for taking

K readers to places they’d never been. That caught

PETER KING

the eye of Sports Illustrated. In June 1989,

managing editor Mark Mulvoy hired King to bol-
ster the magazine’s NFL coverage.
Mulvoy wanted him to write a column called Inside

64 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 with Peter. You could tell him things off the record, and
it would stay that way.”
Boomer Esiason, former NFL quarterback: “Every coach in the
NFL would allow him in their office. Every coach in the
NFL would allow him in their draft room. Every coach
in the NFL would allow him to go out to practice. Why?
Because he has the most valuable asset any reporter
could acquire, and that is the absolute unabashed trust
from the subject that he is covering.”
Steve Young, Hall of Fame quarterback: “Not all writers love
the game. They cover it, but they don’t love it. And I
think Peter’s love of the game came
through. Players felt that. You can
HIGH
feel when somebody cares about
PROFILE the game. The questions are way
King has had
dozens of SI more interesting and thoughtful.”
cover stories Peter King: “After John Elway’s
(selections last game, I was in a helicopter
across top) with him and [Broncos coach
on the likes of Mike] Shanahan, going from their
Favre, Manziel hotel in Fort Lauderdale to a press
and Manning.
conference in Miami the morning
after [Super Bowl XXXIII]. You
could just tell that Elway was going to retire. I always
tried to get somewhere after a game with somebody
who really mattered. If I could.”

the NFL—three to four pages at the back of the maga- N 1997, Steve Robinson, managing editor of
zine, with notes and nuggets from around the league.
But his role gradually expanded as he proved he could
I CNNSI.com, asked King if he would write a column
for the site—spill his notebook and write whatever
P H O T O S (F R O M T O P): J O H N B I E V E R ; T O D D R O S E N B E R G ; N E I L H O R N S B Y/ P R O F O O T B A L L F O C U S . CO V E R S (L E F T T O R I G H T ):

get access to pretty much anyone in the NFL. he had leftover from his Inside the NFL column.
Mark Mulvoy: “Peter’s real strength was insightful report- Thus Monday Morning Quarterback was born.
ing. His Rolodex in those days was unmatched. He knew Steve Robinson: “A lot of people’s first reaction was, ‘Oh,
everybody. He knew the owners. He could tell us what c’mon, nobody is ever going to read this much.’ But they
G A R Y B O G D O N ; B O B R O S AT O (2); A L T I E L E M A N S ; R O B T R I N G A L I / S P O R T S C H R O M E / G E T T Y I M A G E S

the hell was going on in the inner workings of football.” did! And they do! It wasn’t writerly in the sense of a
Brett Favre, Hall of Fame quarterback: “I played 20 years, and finished story for the magazine. But that’s not what the
I want to say 15 of them, Peter was part of it, to the point Web is about. It’s not about dotting all of the i’s and
where, I want to say, he was just like family. It was not crossing the t’s and making sure you don’t have any
uncommon for Peter to come to town and just come dangling participles. It’s about creating a recognizable
over to our house. He took naps right there in the lounge voice that people warm to and go to. Because they have
chair in our living room. He’d take his shoes off, and an awful lot of choices.”
he’d have on socks with holes in them. We’d either ride Sean Payton, Saints coach: “Growing up, we didn’t have
to the stadium together, or two nights before the game access to all the NFL highlights. We got that on Mon-
we’d go to eat, him and me and my youngest daughter, day night at halftime, and Howard Cosell would cover
Breleigh. We’d ride around and tell stories and listen to the week in football. When you were younger, it was a
music. He was working, and I had a tendency sometimes school night, so it was, ‘You can stay up for the halftime
to forget that. I think that’s what makes a good media highlights, and then you’re going to bed.’ And then
PETER KING

person—you almost tend to forget they’re working. Peter eventually we had ESPN, and Chris Berman would cover
had that way about him.” the games, and he’d bring together the week in football.
Peyton Manning, five-time NFL MVP: “I don’t know if the term Peter did the same thing in his column. He brought you
off the record exists much anymore, but it certainly did what’s going on in the last week in the NFL.”

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 65

 Mike Silver, former SI NFL writer: “He also understood the
first-person element of the Internet. ‘You know what?
I’m going to write about my daughter’s field hockey
games. F--- it.’ All the things we were taught not to do
at journalism school and Sports Illustrated.”
Peyton Manning: “He would take these training camp tours
every summer. He’d go see a number of camps, and then
he would come to Indianapolis or
Denver, and he and I would go sit on
a golf cart or a bench. After he would
LET’S TALK
King’s most
interview me about how camp was valuable asset
going or that season’s expectations, has been
it would be my turn to interview him the trust his
about all the places he’d been. He subjects,
wasn’t revealing any private infor- including the
mation, but it was a great way for me game’s biggest
names, have
to keep up with all that was going
in him.
on around the league.”
Adam Schefter: “I can’t tell you how
many times I’m reading the column and I’m going, ‘God-
dam, he’s out in front on this.’ Or: ‘He knew this detailed
explanation on that.’ ”
Mike Florio, founder of Pro Football Talk: “I don’t know how you
could [write that column] for 17 straight weeks in-season,
for all the information that comes out of the games. To talk to him. Bill Belichick won’t talk to [Peter]. He’s still
have a sense of what’s interesting, to talk to the right mad at him about Spygate from 2007.”
people, to take it all and distill it into 8,000 words that are Mike Silver: “I just think, if you try to do something on
mostly written on the fly? It’s really an impressive task.” that scale—wrap your arms around the league and its
history and its legacy, every week—you’re going to have
S THE column took off, King’s profile grew. In people think you’ve become this, or you didn’t do that well

A 2009 he received the Dick McCann Memorial

Award from the Pro Football Writers of America,
joining the “writer’s wing” of the Hall of Fame.
enough, or you should’ve been more true to this. I just
hope that none of that [criticism] lasts. He did something
momentous and novel and uncharted, and he did it at an

P H O T O S (F R O M T O P): L E B R E C H T M E D I A ; T O D D R O S E N B E R G ; CO U R T E S Y O F G I S E L L E B U N D C H E N . CO V E R S
In 2010 he was named Sportswriter of the Year by the insanely high level, and he almost never stopped.”
National Sports Media Association, the first of three
such awards. Readers naturally gravitated to King when Y 2013, King had long established himself as one
there was a big NFL story, and in those instances he
would try to take the reader behind the scenes as much
as possible. In some cases critics said King was too close
to his subjects, or too close to the league office.
Mike Florio: “There’s a certain balance that you have to
B of the country’s preeminent football writers—and
it was time for something new. Paul Fichtenbaum,
Time Inc. Sports Group editor at the time, offered
to build a website around King, dedicated to football
24/7: The MMQB. King could hire a team of writers and
(L E F T T O R I G H T ): S I M O N B R U T Y; M I C H A E L O ’ N E I L L ; S I M O N B R U T Y; F R E D V U I C H

strike if you want true access. If you want to be in a posi- editors, direct the coverage and be in complete control.
tion where you can get this coach, that GM, that owner Paul Fichtenbaum: “He wanted to creatively challenge
on the phone—you have to have a willingness to . . . I himself. It was important for him to do something that
don’t necessarily want to say ‘compromise,’ because I was different and new, that he could shape.”
NFL PETER KING

don’t mean it in a pejorative way, but you have to know Ed Werder, longtime NFL reporter: “I thought it was something
how to rein in how far you’re willing to go to criticize that I might like to get involved in, and he pretty much
someone actively in the sport you’re covering. Otherwise, told me right away that he wasn’t hiring all of his friends,
they’re going to tell you to go to hell when you try to get that he had a different vision for it. He was going to
them on the phone. I think Peter balances that as well as use it to create opportunities for journalists he thought
anyone. He still is critical—there are people who won’t deserved a bigger platform.”

66 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 /ĨzŽƵWƵƌĐŚĂƐĞĚWƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ
ŽŶƚĂŝŶŝŶŐdĞƐƚŽĨĞŶΠ͕zŽƵDĂLJ
ZĞĐĞŝǀĞĞŶĞĮƚƐ &ƌŽŵ ĂWƌŽƉŽƐĞĚ
ůĂƐƐĐƟŽŶ ^ĞƩůĞŵĞŶƚ
tŚĂƚŝƐƚŚŝƐĂďŽƵƚ͍
A proposed class action Settlement has been reached concerning
Testofen® Products. The lawsuit claims that clinical studies do not
support the marketing claims associated with products containing
Chris Stone, Editor in Chief, Sports Illustrated Group: “He had an Testofen®. As part of the Settlement, Gencor Nutrients, Inc.;
idea, if we’re going to build something truly different, we PharmaFreak Holdings, Inc.; Force Factor, LLC; Dreambrands, Inc.;
need to think about bringing in truly different voices.” General Nutrition Centers, Inc.; General Nutrition Corporation; GNC
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Jenny Vrentas, senior writer, SI/The MMQB: “When Peter started Digital, LLC; and Prevention LLC d/b/a Naturade (“Defendants”) have
The MMQB in the spring of 2013, he gave us one assign- agreed to change certain marketing terms to ensure they are properly
ment going in: brainstorm 10 ideas that no one has ever supported. Defendants deny any wrongdoing. Instead the parties
agreed to settle in order to avoid the expense and risks of continuing
done before. That’s a daunting task, given that no sport
the lawsuit.
in America is covered as thoroughly as the NFL. But
that was Peter’s vision for The MMQB: to be different. tŚŽŝƐĂůĂƐƐDĞŵďĞƌ͍
You may be a Class Member if you bought Testofen® Products or
“On the flight home from an off-site retreat, he told
received a Trial Offer between January 1, 2010 and May 14, 2018, (in
me how important it was to him to have more women the U.S., for personal use and not resale). Testofen® Products, include,
and more people of color on staff. You could take that but are not limited to: Troxyphen, Troxyphen Elite, Ageless Male
two ways. No one wants to be hired because of their containing Testofen, Test X180, Test X180 Alpha, Test X180 Ignite,
Stack Factor 2 With Test X180, High T, High T Senior, High T Black,
gender or race. But that’s not what Peter was saying. High T Caffeine Free, Mdrive, Mdrive Elite, Test Freak, PMD N- TEST
He was saying that he was a white male, working in a 600, PMD Flex Stack, PMD Platinum Test 600, AMP Test 1700, NO2
predominantly white and male industry, and once he Red Test, Ultra T Gold, Nugenix, Vitali-T-Aid, Vitali-T-Aid Energy,
got the chance to hire a staff, he wanted to change that.” and Testoril.

tŚĂƚĂƌĞƚŚĞĞŶĞĮƚƐ͍
ING IS leaving Sports Illustrated on June 1, The Settlement provides cash payments between $1.99 and $14.52.

K 2018—29 years to the day since Mulvoy hired him.

King turns 61 in June. He wants to cut back on his
work, spend more time with his family and step
aside so the young writers he hired at The MMQB can
flourish without him casting a shadow. He will continue
Speciically, Settlement Class Members may elect a payment of
$1.99 per Household for Subclass Number 1 Claims, or $5.26 per
Household for Subclass Number 2 Claims, or $5.26 per Household
for Subclass Number 3 Claims, or $7.26 per Unit for a maximum of
two Units or $14.52 per Household for Subclass Number 4 Claims.
Settlement Class Members may receive less money depending on
a number of factors including how many Valid Claims are actually
writing his column with NBC Sports. submitted. Complete information is found on the Settlement website at
Mark Mulvoy: “At Sports Illustrated in the ’70s, Dan www.RobbinsSettlement.com.
Jenkins was the marquee talent. And then you had Frank tŚĂƚĂƌĞŵLJZŝŐŚƚƐ͍
Deford in his prime. Then Rick Reilly, he was the face To receive a payment, you must submit a Claim Form, either online
of SI. But clearly, since the turn of the century, it’s been or by mail by September 28, 2018. You may exclude yourself from the
Peter with his Monday Morning Quarterback Settlement and keep your right to sue Defendants about the claims in
this case, but you will receive no payment. Your exclusion request
column. You’re talking about a guy, for 15 years or so, must be postmarked on or before July 30, 2018. If you do not agree
he’s been the face [of Sports Illustrated].” with the terms of the Settlement, you may ile an Objection. Your
Chris Stone: “I really believe he is one of the five most Objection must be iled with the Clerk of the Court and received by the
important figures in SI history. Peter almost alone kind SettlementAdministrator, Class Counsel, and counsel for Defendants by
July 30, 2018. If you do nothing, you will not receive a payment, you
of ushered Sports Illustrated into the digital era, will be bound by all decisions of the Court, and you will have no right
with his willingness to embrace digital. He didn’t just to sue later for the Claims released by the Settlement. Complete
say, ‘I’m going to be part of the Internet.’ He created instructions on how to ile a claim, opt-out and object can be found on
the Settlement website.
something that was an Internet media phenomenon.”
COV E R S (L EF T T O R I G H T ): B O B R O S AT O ; M I C H A E L O ’ N E I L L ; R O B E R T B E C K (2)

Adam Schefter: “Peter would be on the Mount Rushmore The Court will hold a Fairness Hearing in the Cole County Circuit
Court, in the courtroom of the Honorable Jon E. Beetem, 301 E. High
of football writers.” Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101, on August 29, 2018 at 9:00 a.m.,
Peyton Manning: “When you think of Sports Illus- to decide whether to approve the Settlement and an Attorneys’ Fees
trated you think of Peter King. I know I do. It’ll be and Expense Award of up to $600,000.00 and $2,500.00 per Plaintiff as
the Incentive Awards. The motion for fees and expenses will be posted
hard to not see Peter King and Sports Illustrated on the website below after they are iled. You may hire your own lawyer
tied in one.” ± to appear in Court if you desire. Payments will be made to Settlement
Class Members only if the Court approves the Settlement and all appeals
are resolved. Please be patient.
For an extended version of this story, with This is only a summary. For more information, please visit
more anecdotes and reminiscences from www.RobbinsSettlement.com, or contact the Settlement
Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, other NFL Administrator at 1 (844) 412-1944 or by writing to Robbins v.
stars, SI staffers and Peter King himself, Gencor Nutrients, Inc., c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box
go to SI.com/Peter-King-history 8077, Philadelphia, PA 19101-8077.

www.RobbinsSettlement.com
1 (844) 412-1944
U.S. OPEN
PREVIEW

HIGH HEEL
Thomas’s dad never
worried about
form—including the
foot lift—as long as
he liked how Justin
was hitting the ball.

HE’S THE WORLD

JUSTIN THOMAS
DRIVES AND VEL
PRO FATHER. INS
MORE IMPORTAN
HOW TO BE A WEL
BY
MICHAEL
ROSENBERG
Photograph by
GREGORY SHAMUS
GETTY IMAGES
 KENNY LOFTON had played point guard in the Final Four
’S NO. 1 PLAYER AT 25, BUT and made six All-Star teams when he took on Michael Jordan.
CAN’T ATTRIBUTE HIS HUGE It was the first week of May 2008. Lofton, Jordan and a half-
dozen other friends were in Louisville for a bit of gambling
VET TOUCH TO HIS TEACHING and golf before attending the Kentucky Derby. But of course,
a bit of gambling and golf is never enough for Jordan.
TEAD, HE LEARNED SOMETHING With seven holes left MJ started a new skins game. He ges-
tured toward the kid who had been caddying for him—“this
T FROM HIS FOLKS: little dude,” Lofton recalls. “He’s, like, 100 pounds soaking wet.”
Jordan said, “I got Little Man. We’ll take whoever wants us.”
L-ADJUSTED PHENOM Sides were taken and bets were made. Jordan promised to
cover Little Man’s losses. Lofton thought, Man, we’re going to
take all of Michael’s money, finally. Then he watched Little Man
walk toward the back tees. Jordan’s opponents told the kid it
was O.K.: “You don’t have to hit from back there.” Little Man
waved them off and crushed his first drive.
Jordan may have known what Lofton didn’t: Little Man’s
name was Justin Thomas, and he was one of the best young
golfers in the country. But Thomas knew what Jordan couldn’t:
Playing seven holes with Jordan’s money on the line, and His
Airness watching every shot, was fun. Days after turning 15,
Thomas birdied four of the seven holes. Lofton says, “I ended
up losing 300 or 400 dollars. And Michael wasn’t doing jack.”
Thomas has spent the ensuing decade shrinking the bridge
from adolescence to adulthood. His parents opened a 529
college savings plan when he was at St. Xavier High in Louis-
ville, made one deposit and realized they would never need it.
He got a full ride to Alabama, won the Fred Haskins Award

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 69

 as national player of the year as a freshman, led the shot, but he never mutters anything to himself to help
Crimson Tide to a national championship as a sopho- him hit a good one. He never breathes deeply to settle
more and then turned pro. himself. He cannot remember a single shot he mishit
Thomas shot a 59 on the PGA Tour (at Waialae Coun- because he was nervous.
try Club) at 23. He earned his first major title, last year’s
PGA, at 24. He also won seven other tournaments, the OLF FANS generally know two facts about Justin
FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour and PGA of America Player
of the Year awards, and $9.9 million in 2017. Right
now he is sitting in a golf cart at The Bear’s Club in
Jupiter, Fla., driving toward his first practice session
since rising to No. 1 in the World Ranking. He stops
G Thomas’s childhood in Goshen, Ky. One is that
he is a country-club kid. The other is that his
dad, PGA of America teaching professional Mike
Thomas, taught him the game. Combine them, and you
have the backstory equivalent of a pushed drive: It sounds
at the practice putting green to say hello to somebody. solid but ends up way off.
“What’s up, M?” Thomas says. Thomas grew up in a country club in the way that a
He hugs Michael Jordan, who is standing on the green pastor’s child grows up in a church. His parents were not
with his usual three appendages: a golf club, a cigar and members at Harmony Landing. Mike worked 90-hour
Ahmad Rashad. Thomas chats with Jordan for a few weeks as the teaching pro. Members consoled Mike and
minutes, then slips back into the cart. He drives to an his wife, Jani, after she had a miscarriage and hosted
outbuilding where The Bear’s Club stores bags for each Jani’s baby shower when she became pregnant again,
member who’s a touring pro. Thomas lifts his person- with Justin. Jani would set him down in his carrier on
alized bag out of its cubby (“For a while, I was next to the pro shop floor while she worked the counter, check-
Nicklaus,” he says) and drives up to the practice area. ing people in or doing payroll by hand. One group of
Thomas pulls out a wedge and
starts hitting cut shots into the
right-to-left wind. He has not held “JUSTIN WASN’T AFRAID TO SUCCEED,”
a club in three days and is sur-
prised at how well he is hitting: MIKE SAYS. “A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE.
“Usually your touches or feels are THEY LIKE IT BACK IN FOURTH PLACE.
off. You look up and that ball is not
exactly in that same window you’re JUSTIN, HE WAS PISSED WHEN HE WAS SECOND.
used to.” THAT’S STUFF YOU CAN’T TEACH.”
Golf is largely a game of mental
discipline. Patience: Early in his
career, Thomas would go for almost women who had a regular nine-hole game
every pin, even when his game would argue about who got to give baby
wasn’t quite right, and it cost him. Justin a bottle.
Focus: In March, at the WGC-Dell Harmony Landing is not a stuffy club.
Technologies Match Play, Thomas There are no tee times. For years there were
would have become No. 1 in the no ball-washers. The club does not much
world if he beat Bubba Watson, care if you go out in a sixsome. (This is
and he let it affect his play. (“That why Jordan liked it.) There are no caddies.
was terrible. I was so mad. I still (This is why Mike asked Justin to caddie for
am.”) Nerves: Even the best golf- MJ—nobody had dibs on the assignment.)
ers succumb to them occasionally. Mike is the only teacher that Justin ever
Rory McIlroy admitted he “unrav- had, but saying he built young Justin’s
eled” in the final round of the 2011 swing is a bit like giving a piano tuner
Masters. Jordan Spieth said that “I credit for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
didn’t take that extra deep breath” before his devastat- Mike was the son of a teaching pro himself, and while
ing quadruple bogey on number 12 at the 2016 Masters. he always loved the game, he did not always enjoy it.
JUSTIN THOMAS

Tiger Woods has battled 1st-tee jitters. Mike’s dad, Paul, was hard on himself, and so was Mike.
WA RREN L I T T L E /G E T T Y IM AG E S

And you, Justin? Have you ever played poorly because At times he would stand over shots in tournaments with
you were nervous? the worst possible swing thought: I suck.
He looks down and thinks hard for 13 seconds before At ages three and four, Justin held the club cross-
saying, almost apologetically, “Nothing really stands handed. Mike didn’t correct him; eventually Justin cor-
out.” Thomas will go on a 30-second rant after a bad rected himself. Once in a while Mike and Justin would

70 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 mix things up by throwing the ball from the tee instead HAPPY DAYS answered, then would go
of hitting it. Anything to keep it fun. Thomas (with back to work. Finally, late in
Mike gave Justin bits of advice, but he was wary of over- phone) celebrated Justin’s high school career,
instructing. Then one day when Justin was six or seven, with fellow pros he asked the simplest ques-
(from left) Smylie
he walked into Mike’s office and said, “Watch this. I can tion: “Dad, can we have a
Kaufman, Jordan
hit fades and draws.” Mike was stunned. They walked Spieth and Rickie lesson?” They had never
to the range, and Justin did it. Mike asked, “How did Fowler at Kaufman’s had a full-on, 45-minute
you learn to do that?” Justin said, “I just figured it out.’ ” wedding, and the PGA session at the range.
Mike started to see that Justin had more natural talent championship title Members wou ld say,
than he ever had, but Justin also had something just as with Mike (opposite). “He’s going to play on
vital: “He wasn’t afraid to succeed. A lot of people are. Tour!” And Mike would
They like it back in fourth or fifth place. It’s comfortable. calmly reply, “He may not
Justin, he was pissed when he was second. That’s stuff play golf in a year.” That was O.K. with the Thomases.
you just can’t teach.” Mike and Jani had no grand plan, which is how their
Justin was always small for his age, but he compensated son became the rarest of American sporting creatures:
with a wide backswing, a polished short game and a cre- a well-adjusted phenom.
ative mind. At eight he won a 12-and-under junior PGA Justin would drub his opponents by day and ask them
event. Pretty soon he was traveling to as many tourna- to join his family for dinner that night. He skipped school
ments as his parents could afford. Mike joked that they to compete in tournaments but didn’t brag about win-
had only one child because “the good Lord said, ‘You only ning them. His buddies at St. Xavier knew he played a
get one, because this is going to be an expensive one.’ ” lot of golf, but they didn’t think much about it because
When Justin was nine, he announced that he was he so rarely discussed it. Shortly after his junior year,
ready for the next step in his golf life. Thomas told them he had to leave town. “I’m playing in
“Dad,” he said, “I really want to get a coach.” an event.” Well, he said that a lot. They did not realize it
Mike was not quite sure how to explain this to him, was a PGA Tour event until they saw him on TV.
JUSTIN THOMAS

but he tried: “You’ve got one. That’s me.” In his first round at the 2009 Wyndham Champion-
Justin said, “No, I want a real coach.” ship, Thomas shot a 65; he became the third-youngest
Mike tried again: “I’m a real coach.” player in Tour history to make the cut . . . and still, his
H E AT H ER D U R H A M

Maybe Justin was confused because Mike did so little friends did not know the full story. One buddy, Redmon
actual coaching. When Justin wanted Mike to look at Lair, says, “We really truly didn’t know how good he
his swing, he did; when Justin had a question, Mike was until it punched us in the face when he went pro.”

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 71

 T THE Bear’s Club, Thomas holds his Titleist with a double-digit handicap- T WO MASTERS

A driver, built exactly to his specifications, whatever

those are. Thomas doesn’t know even what kind
of shafts he has in his irons. Asked how much
the shafts weigh, he looks at the driver and says, “This
one is 60. It says it.” (It does say 60, but it is actually
per while Justin hit balls on
the other end of the range.
Mike’s brilliance is that he is
essentially the same teacher
for both of them. With ama-
Thomas doesn’t
obsess over his
equipment like his
friend Tiger, with
whom he played a
practice round at
68 grams.) Thomas may be the PGA Tour’s best golfer, teurs, he says, “I might see Augusta in April.
but he would be its worst equipment rep. four or five things I don’t like.
“It drives Tiger absolutely insane that I don’t know I’m going to give you the one
anything about my clubs,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Look, dude: you need the most.” Mike writes the rest down on a
I don’t care. I get fitted and Titleist says these are the card that he keeps in his office, to be addressed after
best numbers, and they fly the best, and I use them and the first problem is solved.
I play well with them. So what’s the big deal?’” Mike says he has lost students who are engineers or
Thomas cannot imagine hitting a bad shot and won- accountants by day because “their whole life is detail.
dering if his shaft-weight is off. When he struggles, he When I’m not giving them enough detail, they’re not
naturally gravitates toward the simplest possible solu- happy.” But his approach has been perfect for his son.
tion. When he was hitting too many drives off the toe of Young Justin developed a habit of pulling his right heel
the club, he colored in some of the scoring lines on his off the ground at the beginning of his downswing.
driver with a Sharpie, at the suggestion of a Titleist rep. Mike just told him, “That doesn’t bother me. You’re
It suited his eye better. Problem solved. When he hits hitting it great.’ ”
too many errant shots, he switches divot tools. When Mike does not believe in a model swing; indeed, his
he misses too many putts, he switches ball markers. core belief is that there is no model swing. Justin has

JORDAN SPIETH HENRIK STENSON

OPEN MINDED His putting has been awful—he The 42-year-old Swede
With a field of 156 set to tee of at ranks 175th on the PGA Tour is first on the Tour in both
the 118th U.S. Open on June 14 at from inside 10 feet—but his driving accuracy and greens
Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, all-around game makes him a in regulation. Sounds like a
N.Y., here are five players to watch favorite at every major. winning recipe.

(Asked if it’s really the ball marker’s job to make putts, thrived partly because he was not taught to chase perfec-
he laughs and says, “Yeah, it is!”) tion. He just tries to hit the ball where he wants it to go.
The foundation of his swing is his belief in it. When he He has never undergone a full swing change.
has a lead, he does not fret about protecting it; he tries “There’s things in my swing that get bad that we try to
to increase it. Thomas says, “You are better off being change, but we can’t just remorph everything and start
really confident in the wrong club than being tentative from scratch,” Justin says, as he hits another short iron.
with the right club.” On the 71st hole of the PGA at Quail “Want to grab some food? The food here is so good.”
Hollow, with a lake between him and the green and a
two-stroke lead, Thomas told caddie Jimmy Johnson, “I VER LUNCH Thomas says he wants to try deep-
know the yardage says 6-iron, but I’m pumped up.” He

O sea diving and spearfishing, but then admits he

KO H JIR O K IN N O (SPIE T H , F OW L ER); DAV ID

hit a 7-iron to within 15 feet and made birdie. Thomas is only says he wants to try deep-sea diving and
C A N N O N /G E T T Y IM AG E S (S T EN S O N)
JUSTIN THOMAS

an uncommonly long hitter, especially for somebody who spearfishing: “Then I think, I have to go get my
weighs 160 pounds. Since turning pro, he has refined his diving license, I think I’ll stay inside today.” He adds bluntly,
wedge play and (thanks to a tip from Nicklaus) learned “I don’t have a hobby.”
to play it safer on his days when he is not hitting it great, In truth, he spends a lot of his free time GOAT-herding:
turning 76s into 72s and keeping him in contention. golf rounds or boat trips with Jordan, practice rounds at
At a recent practice session in Kentucky, Mike worked Augusta with Tom Brady, frequent rounds at Medalist Golf

72 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 “I assume it’s in the kitchen.” He had never looked for
it. This was when he learned he had no microwave. His
explanation: “I finish what I eat. I’m not a leftover guy.
I mean business when I eat dinner.”
He has two roommates, fellow pros (and former Ala-
bama golfers) Bud Cauley and Tom Lovelady. (Thomas’s
girlfriend, Jillian Wisniewski, lives in Chicago.) He now
has a microwave—his cousin Taylor Britton bought him
one for Christmas—and he also has a minifridge stocked
with Coors Light, his favorite beer.
He is not a competition junkie like Jordan. He is not
motivated by slights, real or perceived, like Jordan and
Brady. He did not have a father selling the world his des-
tiny like Tiger. He has no recollection of the first time he
beat his father on the course, which baffles him: “That’s
what everybody remembers, the first time they beat their
dad.” He probably forgot because it meant so little to him.
One of the first things Mike Thomas did when his son
hit it big was downgrade his office. He now works in a
windowless room filled with Foot-Joys and golf balls.
He still gives lessons for $65 to $80 for nonmembers—
comically low prices for the coach of the No. 1 player

PHIL MICKELSON RORY MCILROY RICKIE FOWLER

Lefty has a record six second- Other than his runaway win He has finished in the top
place finishes at the Open at Congressional in 2011, five of three of the last four
and is playing well enough— his U.S. Open history is not majors, closing with 67s in
even at 47—to complete the great. But the links-style the last two. Fowler says he’s
career Grand Slam. layout should suit his game. ready to win one. He’s right.

Club with Woods. Press him about his celebrity friends, in the world. He and Jani live in the same house where
and he will rattle them off: Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala, Justin grew up. Jani still does part-time work for a health-
Kid Rock, Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler, several insurance sales agent. These are not people who are
Pittsburgh Penguins. Justin Timberlake recently saw looking to change their lives.
Thomas during a concert and pretended to putt on stage. Justin made that bridge between adolescence and
SP O R T S WIRE /G E T T Y IM AG E S (MI C K EL S O N); R O B ER T B E C K (M C IL R OY )

In December, Thomas played Trump International adulthood so small that sometimes he forgets which
JA MIE S Q U IRE /G E T T Y IM AG E S ( T O P); DAV ID R OSEN B LU M / I CO N

Golf Club in West Palm Beach with his dad and Presi- side of it he is on. When he travels to majors, he rents a
dent Trump. (Thomas says, “It doesn’t matter my political house for his high school buddies. When he goes to dinner
views, who I like or dislike: If a president ever asks me with his parents in Kentucky, he finds himself waiting
to do anything, I’m going to say yes.”) And in the final for them to pick up the check. He is forever their kid.
minute of a recent NBA playoff game, with the Cavaliers Over Mother’s Day weekend, Thomas saw a picture of
JUSTIN THOMAS

clinging to a three-point lead, Cleveland guard J.R. Smith himself beginning his downswing. His right heel was up
spotted Thomas courtside and made the motion of a golf in the air. He never did fix that. He winced when he saw
swing. Smith was on the court at the time. the photo: “What the hell am I doing? It’s just terrible
Thomas connects with celebrities but doesn’t act like looking.” But that weekend he moved up to No. 1 in the
one. Thomas had lived in his house for months when world, proof of what a boy can do when his parents give
somebody asked where the microwave was. His response: him the freedom to let his feet leave the ground. ±

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 73

 TH
S TA N L
FIN

THE UNLIKELY CONFERENCE CHAMPIO

AND THE CURSED CAPITALS—HAVE ONE THING
BY ALEX
HE
EY CUP
ALS

S.

NS—THE EXPANSION GOLDEN KNIGHTS

IN COMMON: THE MAN WHO BUILT BOTH TEAMS
PREWITT
 wrong on every shift. At least that’s how this one’s wired.”
Except next to nothing has gone wrong for the Golden
Knights so far. As the clock ticks toward zero on the TV,
the broadcast cuts to the visiting management booth
in Winnipeg, where McPhee is wrapping assistant GM
Kelly McCrimmon in a can-you-believe-it? embrace. After
running away with the Pacific Division, Vegas opened
its inaugural postseason with a tidy sweep of the Kings,
followed by a six-game win against the Sharks before
THE RESTAURANT erupts into a cheer when George dispatching the Jets. All three series ended with stingy
McPhee arrives for lunch. “Yeah, all three people,” he defensive performances on the road, anchored by goalie
says, modest but wrong. Fans bedecked in black and gold and Conn Smythe favorite Marc-André Fleury (.947 play-
offer congratulatory handshakes as he walks by their off save percentage entering the finals). Now just one team
tables at MacKenzie River Pizza. Some early birds along separates the Knights from hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup.
the bar applaud. An elderly gentleman and his grand- Clearly, the hockey gods have a sense of humor.
son ask for a photo. McPhee leans in close and smiles. Over lunch, McPhee calls up a text from Brian
Celebrity sightings are plenty common in Las Vegas, MacLellan—a childhood friend from Guelph, Ont., a
but for the moment no one is more famous than the college teammate at Bowling Green and the successor to
general manager of the local hockey team. his last head front-office job . . . as general manager of the
It’s some 16 hours after the expansion Golden Capitals. congrats on getting to the stanley cup
Knights secured the Western Conference title with a finals, MacLellan wrote. amazing accomplishment.
2–1 victory in Game 5 over Winnipeg, At the time of MacLellan’s message,
adding another chapter to the unlike- Washington was trailing the Light-
liest success story in North American ning three games to two in the East,
sports history. Settling into a high-top but the hands of fate—specifically
seat at the eatery in the team’s prac- Alex Ovechkin’s wicked one-timer
tice facility, McPhee asks a waitress and goalie Braden Holtby’s flytrap
to turn a TV to the NHL Network, glove—soon went to work. Two nights
which is replaying the clincher. Be- later the Capitals shut out Tampa for
tween bites of chicken chili, McPhee the second-straight game, securing
keeps stealing long looks at the action, their first finals appearance since
as though he needs reassurance that McPhee’s debut season in 1997–98.
his team actually won, that, he says, The Vegas-Washington matchup
“it all doesn’t turn to dust.” includes a tasty blend of juicy story
At 59, McPhee remains the pragmat- lines. The fast and furious Golden
ic mind who interned on Wall Street Knights against the skilled and steely
for two off-seasons while playing for Capitals. Nate Schmidt is anchoring
the Rangers in the 1980s, studied law
at Rutgers upon retiring from pro
hockey and clerked for a judge on the “THERE’S NOT A GUY IN HOCKEY THAT’S NOT CHE
U.S. Court of International Trade. Now “IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT HE’S MAKING
he spends summers on Martha’s Vine-
yard, Mass., where he attends lectures
on topics ranging from marine robotics to the biophilia Vegas’s blue line after MacLellan left him exposed in the
PAT RI C K M C D ER M O T T/ N H L I /G E T T Y I M AG E S (OV E C H K I N);
B OW L IN G G REEN S TAT E U NI V ERSI T Y. P RE V I O US SPRE A D :

hypothesis to island tree growth. “Something stimu- expansion draft last June. Fleury is aiming for a third
lating,” he says. “It’s not like you go to the beach all straight Cup—though this time without Sidney Crosby and
E T H A N MIL L ER /G E T T Y IM AG E S (M C PH EE); DA R C Y

day.” During the season he prefers to decompress with the Penguins. In one corner, a sadomasochistic sports city
STANLEY CUP FINALS

F I N L E Y/ N H L I /G E T T Y I M AG E S (F L EU RY )

breezier texts including John Grisham novels. Restless nursing one of the nation’s longest title drought; in the
after flying home the night before, he dug into the late other, a neon land defined by winning and losing without
Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee’s autobiography at any pro sports past at all. And what do both teams have in
around 3 a.m. “In the pressure of the playoffs, if I’m common? The same soft-spoken, craggy-knuckled architect
going to read something, it has to be really light and who crafted their respective foundations.
help me fall asleep,” says McPhee. “As a manager you’re Ladies and gentlemen, for the 2018 Stanley Cup: It’s
always thinking about the worst thing that can go McPhee vs. McPhee.

76 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 ALL THE RIGHT MOVES
McPhee, who drafted Kuznetsov (92),
took Schmidt (88) to Vegas, vexing
his collegemate and successor in D.C.,
MacLellan (opposite, left).

S HE would in the desert two decades later, McPhee Of course, lottery luck helped too. One of McPhee’s

A delivered instant success to the District in 1997–98.

Before this spring, those Capitals were the only
team in franchise history to advance beyond the
second round of the playoffs. (They won the Eastern Con-
ference too, but were swept by Detroit in the finals.) “It
early introductions to the superhuman powers of Alex
Ovechkin took place during the 2005–06 season, when
the No. 1 overall pick was living with the McPhee family
as a rookie. An avid cyclist, the GM invited Ovechkin
along for a 20-mile ride along the Potomac River. McPhee
felt much more dramatic, more of a surprise than this, awoke early, ate a healthy breakfast and stretched. Five
because Washington had never really gone anywhere in minutes until their scheduled departure, Ovechkin
the playoffs,” says McPhee. “Twenty years ago, it was, Are rolled out of bed, chugged a Coke and then smoked his
we fluking our way? This year doesn’t feel like a fluke.” new boss up every hill.
Saddled by burdensome contracts and a cupboard McPhee cultivated relationships with others too. Col-
barren of prospects heading into the 2004–05 lockout, leagues recall how one of his first acts in Washington
Washington ownership settled on the long-term strategy involved removing a glass door that separated hockey
operations from other departments. On the ice, McPhee
drafted center Nicklas Backstrom in 2006, two years
ERING FOR GEORGE,” SAYS BURKE, after Ovechkin; Holtby and power-play quarterback John
US ALL LOOK SILLY.” Carlson in ’08; dynamic defenseman Dmitry Orlov in
’09; and electric center Evgeny Kuznetsov in ’10. “They
get to be like your kids if you’ve been with them long
of, as MacLellan says, “blowing it up.” They traded away enough,” McPhee says, and indeed any player needing
their biggest names, including Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra somewhere to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas was
and Sergei Gonchar in ’04. Rebuilding from rubble is invited to sup with George and his wife, Leah.
PAT RI C K SMI T H /G E T T Y IM AG E S (K UZN E T S OV )

STANLEY CUP FINALS

never easy in the salary-cap era—ask Edmonton, Buffalo But year after year the Capitals came up short.
E T H A N MIL L ER /G E T T Y IM AG E S (S C H MIDT );

and Arizona—and Washington endured three straight Four coaches cycled through town in McPhee’s final
sub-30-win seasons. Still, the seeds McPhee planted dur- nine seasons in the Beltway, not to mention a revolv-
ing those fallow years are bearing fruit; of the 20 men ing door of rightwingers deployed alongside Ovech-
who dressed for Game 7 against Tampa, half were drafted kin and Backstrom. Patience finally ran out following
while McPhee oversaw the front office. “That’s a huge the second season under coach Adam Oates, 2013–14,
feather in his cap,” MacLellan says. “It’s a hard thing to when the team missed the playoffs and was still reel-
do to clean it out like that and start from scratch.” ing from McPhee’s trade of rising star Filip Forsberg

JUNE 4 , 2018 | SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED 77

 BY GEORGE ...
for—shield thine eyes again, as an adviser to Islanders GM
Caps fans—Martin freakin’ Erat. Garth Snow. But he itched for
MacLellan soon found himself more, interviewing for two NHL
in an “awkward” transition: pro- GM jobs that ultimately went
moted from assistant GM to re- to other candidates. “While it’s
place the lifelong friend who had nice to have time to regroup,
recruited him to join Washing- there’s still this angst that you
ton’s pro scouting staff in 2000. feel,” McPhee says. “You won-
“[McPhee] just spent 17 years in
an organization, doing a really
good job, and had one hiccup,
and his life is changing,” MacLel-
13
Number of current Caps
der, Will I get back in? Will I
get another chance? And all you
want is a chance.”
It is the same competitiveness
acquired by McPhee
lan says. But all signs indicate that defined McPhee’s playing
during his tenure in D.C.,
that it was the right decision. career. “He was scary tough
including 2004 No. 1 pick
Whether through bargain sign- for a little guy,” says longtime
Ovechkin (above).
ings (defenseman Matt Niskanen hockey executive Brian Burke.
for $5.75 million annually, winger “He weighed about 170 pounds,
Brett Connolly for $1.5 million) or
trade acquisitions (forwards T.J.
Oshie and Lars Eller), MacLellan
deserves credit for bringing the
62.1
Percentage of goals
and he fought ever ybody.”
Though skilled enough to win
the 1982 Hobey Baker Award
as a senior forward at Bowling
scored—41 of 66 in
Caps to the brink, even if McPhee the first three rounds Green, the 5' 9", 170-pound
paved the way. of the ’18 playoffs—by McPhee did what was neces-
T housands of miles away, McPhee’s acquisitions. sary to survive in the NHL,
McPhee still maintains close even if that meant brawling
ties to Washington. He picked with heavyweights like Phila-
up former Capitals, Schmidt and delphia’s 6' 5", 225-pound Dave
center Cody Eakin, at the expan- Brown. “I remember that clear
sion draft; hired goalie coach as a bell,” says former Rang-
Dave Prior, cap specialist Andrew ers winger and now agent Jeff
Lugerner, scouts Vojtech Kucera and Wil Nichol, and Jackson. “Everyone on the bench going, Oh, George,
longtime executive assistant Katy Boettinger, who left what are you doing, you dummy? Leave that guy alone.”
her job as an English teacher in Tampa to reunite with “Oh, my god, [he] could take a punch, he could give a
the band. No hard feelings exist between McPhee and punch,” says Flames VP of hockey operations Don Ma-

MI T C H EL L L AY TO N /G E T T Y IM AG E S (OV E C H KIN A N D M C PH EE); PAT RI C K M C D ERM O T T/ N H L I /G E T T Y IM AG E S (OV E C H KIN)

MacLellan either; they had dinner during the annual loney, another New York teammate. “He was fearless.”
GM meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., in March. And when McPhee never seemed to know he was overmatched.
Ovechkin played in his 1,000th game on April 1, McPhee His players in Vegas seem to be the same way. All cast-
was quick to fire off a congratulatory text. McPhee chuck- aways from other clubs, they feel slighted enough to
les upon rereading his old houseguest’s reply: dub their group text chat The Golden Misfits. A tight-
tnx!!!!! time fly knit roster that regroups swifter and forechecks faster
than any other team, the cast is littered with motivated
HE FROZEN pond was nestled past a thicket of standouts from winger Jonathan Marchessault (team-high

T branches and brush, only visible through an opening

in the canopy overhead. Located less than 10 blocks
from the McPhee home in Ann Arbor, Mich., where
the family had moved to support son, Graham, 19, while he
was part of the U.S. national team development program,
18 playoff points) to tough guy Ryan Reaves, a deadline
acquisition from Pittsburgh, whose tip-in won Game 5
against Winnipeg. “This team fits George and his per-
sonality,” Maloney says. “Maybe not the biggest names
or the flashiest players, but they’re relentless.”
STANLEY CUP FINALS

the outdoor rink became a sanctuary during George’s If McPhee built Washington through draft picks
two-year hiatus between GM jobs. He and 12-year-old and patience, the Golden Knights hit the jackpot on
daughter Adelaide, youngest of his and Leah’s three chil- the first pull of the lever. The success has been a boon
dren (the oldest, Grayson, is 22), would grab their toques for television ratings—the Vegas-Winnipeg series was
and sticks and skate for hours unbothered. NBC Sports’s highest-rated Western Conference finals
McPhee stayed around the game, managing Team Can- not involving Chicago since 2002—and bittersweet for
ada to world championships in 2015 and ’16 and working sportsbooks; oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro estimates they

78 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED | JUNE 4 , 2018

 lose between $20,000 and $30,000 at the South Point
Casino every time the Golden Knights win. Each morn-
ing hundreds of fans flock to the team’s practice facility
and wait in line just to enter the store.
The team has come a long way since its first hockey
operations meeting. Over Labor Day weekend in 2016, staff
members posed for a group photo wearing golf shirts with
the name of owner Bill Foley’s cattle company because the Need to
plan the
team had neither a logo nor a name. “There’s not a guy
in hockey that’s not cheering for George right now,” says
Burke, “in spite of the fact that he’s making us all look silly.”
Indeed, consider the deals McPhee brokered leading
into the expansion draft last June: Vegas was gifted a
second-round pick from Pittsburgh to take Fleury. The
Panthers traded Reilly Smith (16 points this postseason)
after Vegas selected Marchessault (eight goals). They
got Alex Tuch (six goals) for choosing Erik Haula (seven
points) from the Wild and two draft picks (a first- and
second-rounder) from Columbus in exchange for William
Karlsson (team-high 78 points in the regular season)
and the bloated contract of the essentially retired David
Clarkson. And still, McPhee has 18 players under contract

iÌ
œâˆt
for 2018–19 with nearly $20 million of cap space left.
“He’s laid the foundation on both teams,” says Schmidt,
who signed with Washington after his junior season at
Minnesota in April 2013.
“Maybe ours [in Vegas] /…i›£v>“ˆÞ
materialized a little bit œÀ}>˜ˆâˆ˜}>««
faster. But he still had
the same type of concept
behind it.”
Both McPhee and the
Capitals are in better plac-
es since their breakup, but
it’s hard to leave 17 years
altogether in the past.
McPhee still feels pangs
J EF F V I N N I C K / N H L I /G E T T Y I M AG E S (F L EU RY ); J EF F B O T TA RI / N H L I /G E T T Y I M AG E S (M A R C H E SS AU LT )

³ Óä£n-Փ“iÀ
6
watching Washington; he
tapes their playoff games
so he knows the result
beforehand. But he’ll now Number of Golden Knights
*>˜˜iÀ*Àˆ˜Ì>LiÃ]
be watching both of his that McPhee acquired vÀii܈̅
œâˆt
teams live. And no matter outside of the expansion
where he looks, he can feel draft (through trades or
some degree of ownership waiver claims).
over what he sees. But, of

27.9
course, there is no mis-
taking which side he sits
on now; only under one
scenario will his name be Percentage of goals
etched on the Cup. “He’s scored—12 of 43 in the
a misfit too,” Schmidt says. first three rounds—by
“We’re The Golden Misfits those players, including
together.” ± five game-winners.

Family Organizer
 75<1(:
(635(662
61,&.(56
-(5.
SnickersBoldFlavors.com

© 2018 Mars or Affiliates

 presents

RU
20 SSI
18 A

W ORLD
P
CUP
R E
W

E I
WHO TO V
BELGIUM The stars! GERMANY The role models!
NIGERIA The kits! DENMARK The fans!
COSTA RICA The keeper! URUGUAY The antiheroes!

FOLLOW? DENIAL,
ANGER, EDITED BY
BARGAINING, ADAM
DUERSON
DEPRESSION . . .
Have you reached acceptance when it
comes to the U.S.’s absence from the upcoming
World Cup in Russia? (Hidden upside for the
hardcores: Raise your hand if you really wanted to spend
your summer months in Yekaterinburg or Nizhny Novgorod.
Thought so.) If you’ve moved on, then it’s time to find another team to
focus your good juju on this June and July. We’ve ranked all 32 squads based
on rootability, profiling the stars (hello, Mo Salah!) and exploring the debates
(Mexico, the real Team America—discuss) that will define the tournament. Whether it’s
a good story (who doesn’t love Iceland?), good hair (France’s Paul Pogba, Morocco’s Hervé
Renard) or good moves (England’s Jesse Lingard) that you crave, this World Cup has a team for you.

81
PAGE
 Photograph by
Simon Bruty

BY GRANT WAHL

BIRKIR
BJARNASON EMIL HANNES THÓR
Midfielder HALLFREDSSON HALLDÓRSSON
Hometown: Midfielder Goalkeeper
Akureyri Hometown: Hometown:
(pop: 18,800) Hafnarfjödur Reykjavík
Club: Aston Villa (pop: 28,184) (pop: 126,100)
(English Club: Udinese Club: Randers
Championship) (Italian Serie A) (Danish Superliga)
82

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 WORLD CUP
PREVIEW

JÓHANN BERG
GUDMUNDSSON Because . . .

SKOL!
Midfielder
Hometown:
Reykjavík
(pop: 126,100)
Club: Burnley
(English Premier
League)

SEVEN YEARS ago, when he put his den-

tistry career to the side and became a coach
for Iceland, Heimir Hallgrímsson began a
tradition that continues to this day. Two hours before
every men’s national team home game, Hallgrímsson
(who’s now the head coach) arrives at Ölver, a popular
soccer bar near Laugardalsvöllur national stadium in
Reykjavík. He climbs a wooden stage in front of the
members of Tólfan—the 12th Man, Iceland’s raucous
supporters group—and asks for the doors to be locked,
with no media allowed, nor any sharing of photos,
video or information on social media.
Then he attaches his laptop to a video projector and
proceeds to do something that would be unimaginable
with any other national team coach on the planet,
much less one whose team has reached the World
Cup for the first time and will meet Lionel Messi’s
Argentina in its first game on June 16: He tells the
fans which 11 players will be in his starting lineup,
which formation he will use and all the secret details
WORLD CUP PREVIEW

of his gameplan. Árni Thór Gunnarsson, a Tólfan

member who travels to home and away games, says
his favorite part is when Hallgrímsson shows the fans
his motivational hype video, the same one the play-
ers see, which sends everyone into a drum-beating,
chant-singing paroxysm of pure Viking energy.
When Heimir—pronounced HEY-mir; everyone’s
on a first-name basis in Iceland—began his pregame
chalk talks in 2012, a time when Iceland was ranked
No. 104 in the world, only seven fans showed up. These
days, with Iceland at No. 22 and coming off a magical
Euro 2016 quarterfinal run that included eliminating
England, as many as 700 squeeze into the room. Never
has the trust been violated. “For seven years I’ve done
it now, and nothing—I repeat, nothing—has leaked on
social media, even though the information they are
getting is quite huge and is probably sellable,” Heimir
says. “It wouldn’t be possible unless it’s a community
that trusts each other like here.”
It’s also a savvy move. If Iceland gets a bad result—a
rare occurrence these days—then at least the fans can
judge the pregame strategy as opposed to just play-
ing Monday morning centerback. “I think you gain
“We have great strength in how few
respect and trust by being open and honest,” Heimir
says. “We always say to the supporters how we are
we are,” says Iceland’s technical director.
planning to play. When you do that, you’re judged just “Because we are so few, we treat everyone well.”
on what you’re trying to achieve. It’s the same with
the media here. We like to be really honest with the
media. Then you get criticized for the right reasons.”
Wearing a stylish long-tailed navy coat, Heimir, 50,
has blond eyebrows that dance when he smiles—and, included European rivals Croatia, Turkey and Ukraine.
it should be noted, immaculate teeth. He hails from Meanwhile, the United States failed to qualify as a
Vestmannaeyjar, a town of 5,000 on a windswept vol- country of 325 million from one of the world’s easiest
canic island a ferry ride from Iceland’s southern coast. regions. There are many reasons for Iceland’s rise, but
Everyone on the island knows Heimir and his story; one of the most common explanations you hear from
the fry cook at your lunch place is liable to tell you the authors of that success is the virtue of smallness.
that he was his dentist and youth soccer coach just a “We have great strength in how few we are,” says
few years ago. A former amateur player, Heimir also Arnar Bill Gunnarsson, the technical director for the
coached the youth (17 years), women’s (five years) and Iceland federation. “It’s easy to organize the game.
men’s teams (five years) at ÍBV, his local club, which The culture is really good. Because we are so few, we
may have the most picturesque stadium location—next treat everyone very well. For example, kids at the age
to a massive jagged rock formation—of any team in of 10, they would have—both boys and girls—three
the world. Heimir still keeps the office in town from training sessions a week on an artificial pitch with a
his previous occupation. “I just do it now and again qualified coach, and everyone gets the same service.”
to keep my fingers and brain working in dentistry,” Adds Heimir, “We try to use it to our benefit, our
he says with a laugh. “It’s good to take time off foot- size. One thing is our youth development. It’s easy
ball for some time and do something different. Some to implement changes around a small country. The
coaches play golf. I do dentistry.” connection between the coaches is quite good. When
PAU L G IL H A M /G E T T Y IM AG E S

With a population of just under 350,000, about the a new thing comes, it quickly spreads around. You
size of metropolitan Peoria, Iceland is the smallest know this guy is doing it, this girl is doing it, so I’m
nation ever to qualify for the men’s World Cup. In going to do that too. We kind of push each other step
one of the globe’s toughest confederations, UEFA, by step. It’s easy when you have close connection lines
it won a brutally difficult qualifying group that also between people. You know the supporters, some of
84

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 say it’s a question of quality, not quantity. When we
actually succeed in something like that, it unifies
the whole nation. When we beat England, it was an
out-of-body experience for a huge part of the country.
When they came back from the Euro—you should see
the pictures. It was a beautiful summer day. I believe
most of the nation was there doing the Viking Clap.”
The Viking Clap may be the most breathtaking,
eerie chant in global sports, a ritual that combines
cool visuals (players and thousands of fans clapping
their outstretched hands in unison) and thumping
audio (a double drumbeat and the sound of HOOH!
when hands meet). It may seem like a decades-old
tradition, but it isn’t. “The first time we did it was
at the [2016] Euros, to be fair,” says winger Jóhann
Gudmundsson. “It’s nice to have something, a bond
with the fans and something special that the whole
HAPPY, world seems to know. It’s part of our identity.”
AND THEY In terms of Iceland’s playing identity, Heimir says
KNOW IT
he preaches to his players that he wants to be the
A win over best in Europe in six areas out of 10 “instead of being
England
semi-good in 10 out of 10.” Heimir asks the team
in 2016 had
Iceland’s to be the most organized, the best defending, the
fans best on set pieces and the team with the most spirit.
doing the “Even though we have less ball possession, we’re not
Viking Clap. bothered about that,” he adds. “Even though we have
fewer successive passes than the opponent, we’re not
bothered about that. We focus on what we would like
to be the best in, and that is kind of our identity.”
That’s not to say Iceland is without skill. The team’s
them personally. Maybe you’re related to them. And best player, midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, who’s an inju-
they know each other. Of course, it has its disadvan- ry concern heading into the World Cup, was bought by
tages to have small numbers of people, but you can Everton from Swansea City last summer for £45 mil-
use so many things to your benefit, and you should lion ($58 million). But even if Sigurdsson’s knee keeps
always try to use your strengths.” him out, Iceland will still be dangerous. “It’s really
hard to break us down, and then we have the quality
HÓRA ARNÓRSDÓTTIR, a television per-

T
going forward,” says forward Birkir Bjarnason. “We
sonality on the Icelandic national broadcast- can keep the ball, we score goals, we rarely concede
ing service (RÚV), is a bit like the Barbara goals.” Gudmundsson argues that Iceland can play
Walters of Iceland, except that Arnórsdóttir in different styles depending on the opponent. “We
ran for president in 2012 (she finished second), is know that sometimes we’ve got to kick it long and
raising three children and still plays rec soccer twice fight for the second ball against good teams that keep
a week (“holy time” she calls it) after competing in the ball and press you really well,” he says. “Against
the sport at the elite club level as a teenager. When teams where we believe we can keep the ball, we do
asked what the success of Icelandic soccer has meant that as well. We’ve got this good, mixed style of play.”
culturally to the country, Arnórsdóttir describes a What’s more, Iceland’s success has been repeatable
F OTO O L IMPIK / NURPH OTO/G E T T Y IM AG E S

phenomenon that’s far bigger, at least in relative terms, and not just a one-off. After reaching the World Cup
than the Super Bowl is in the United States. “I don’t qualifying playoff in 2013 (and losing to Croatia),
think someone that comes from a big country can Iceland had a run of positive results to qualify for the
ever understand the significance of it,” she says. “It’s Euro for the first time. Then it reached new heights
huge. Enormous. Icelanders—our character is that in France and again in qualifying for Russia 2018,
we have this mixture of megalomania and minority this time with Heimir as the sole head coach after
complex, because we are so small and so few, but we the departure of co-head coach Lars Lagerbäck, a
85

JUNE 4 , 2018 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED

WORLD CUP PREVIEW

Swede. “This was one of the most pleasing things, son, who is five and has just started playing football,
that the Euros wasn’t a fluke,” says Arnar Bill. “For goes to his first training session, and it’s really orga-
me, that’s a really big thing. It shows how good the nized. It’s fun. He learns the discipline and how to
team is and how the organization is good. Hopefully behave in a session, and he loves the game. When
we can continue doing things like that.” you love the game, you go outside and play football
How did Iceland get so good? Through a combina- outside of the organized training sessions, because
tion of factors that include both infrastructure invest- no one becomes a really good player only training
ment and changes to the senior national team itself: three times a week with your club. You have to be on
• FACILITIES. If you drive around Iceland, it’s the streets playing football.”
impossible to miss the giant publicly funded sports Still, Arnar Bill cautions, it’s important in Iceland
structures—indoor halls, they’re called—that have for kids not to specialize too early. He says it’s normal
sprouted up like mushrooms in the tundra. Some of for children to have three soccer practices a week,
them, like the one in Akureyri (pop. 18,800, making three gymnastics practices and perhaps one swim-
it Iceland’s fourth-largest city), have full-size soccer
fields for the local club and community. (It’s not un-
common to see senior citizens there in mall-walking ON THE ROAD
mode.) The country’s first indoor hall was built 18 For an exclusive
years ago; now there are 13. “Facilities are obviously documentary on
Grant Wahl’s trip
very important for us,” says Arnar Bill, the techni-
through soccer-mad
cal director. “Football actually became a whole-year Iceland, go to SI.TV
sport just in the year 2000. Then, we didn’t play in the
winter because we didn’t have the facilities.”
• FUNDING. In the U.S.’s multibillion-dollar youth
sports business, one of the biggest problems is the
pay-to-play system that prices out large numbers of
potential soccer players, many of them minorities.
Iceland has the benefit of a high standard of living,
plus sports is seen as a public good that helps keep
kids from getting involved in alcohol, tobacco or drugs.
As Arnar Bill notes, municipalities build the indoor
halls and own them, but then they give them to the
local clubs. If the clubs don’t have to pay for the fa-
cilities, then the charges aren’t passed on to families.
“This is different than most of the other Scandinavian ming lesson. What results is a culture that loves sports,
countries, where most of the clubs have difficulties whether it’s soccer, team handball or power-lifting.
just to run their facilities,” Arnar Bill says. “And the • EQUALITY. Iceland’s soccer rise is happening
municipalities pay a part of the fee that the kids have on the women’s side, too. The national team won
to pay to the clubs. Let’s say it costs about $500 a year a Women’s World Cup qualifier last October on the
to play football in Iceland. The municipalities will pay road against Germany, the Olympic champion, and
$200 and the parents will pay $300, so they really Iceland is in a position to reach its first Cup next year
encourage the parents to send their kids to sports.” in France. If you visit the club Selfoss, about an hour
• COACHING. In the U.S., soccer and other youth outside Reykjavík, you’ll see the men’s and women’s
sports are often coached by volunteer parents who first teams training next to each other at the same
know little about what they’re doing. That’s not the time. Thóra, the TV news host, says things are “not
case in Iceland, which has seen its numbers of coaches totally equal” between the genders yet, but the gap is
who have become licensed—a process that takes at smaller than in other countries. “I have a girl, she’s
least a year—skyrocket since 2000. As Heimir says, “it five turning six, and she started playing,” Thora
doesn’t matter if you come from a small community says. “She’s going to have the same good trainers,
in the Westfjords. You have a UEFA A or UEFA B the same amount of practice at the same good times
license coach who is taking care of your kids.” All as the boys. I’m not raising a second-class player
NI C K MIDWI G /SI

the coaches in Iceland are paid professionals. There because she’s a girl.”
are no volunteers, including parents. Arnar Bill, who • PROFESSIONALISM. Speak to the national team
supervises coaching for the entire country, says, “My players themselves, and they’ll be quick to credit
86

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 Lagerbäck (who has coached Sweden and Nigeria
PANAMA
at World Cups) for changing the culture of the team
from the days when it was ranked in the 100s. “It
just started when Heimir and Lars took over,” says
defender Ragnar Sigurdsson. “They had some good
ideas on how to play on the pitch and how to behave
off the pitch. They completely changed this team from
being not that good to really good and a professional
team.” Lagerbäck, who came aboard in 2011, got the
federation to start using charter flights for games in
Europe. He also issued the players a code of “guid-
ing stars” (Lagerbäck didn’t like the word rules) so
they would take ownership of the team. Those have
continued after Heimir, who considers Lagerbäck his
mentor, took over the team on his own.
• TALENT. Even with all the structural support,
Iceland wouldn’t have sustained its winning form
in recent years without a supremely skilled group
of players. “This is a golden generation,” says Arnar
Bill. “The players still have four or five years in them,
good years. After they retire, there will be other
players, and football will go on. But in football there
are always ups and downs. For some nations, like
Germany, mainly ups. But for smaller nations, there’s
going to be ups and downs, and hopefully the ups
will be longer than before.”

I
N THE near term, Iceland’s World Cup group
will present a monumental challenge. Argen-
tina, a two-time world champion, has loads
of talent from the top European leagues, to
say nothing of Messi, the premier player of his genera- A QUICK history
tion. Croatia possesses one of the tournament’s top
Because . . . lesson. It’s Oct. 15,
midfields, with stars Luka Modriç, Ivan Rakitiç and SAINT ZUSI 2013, the last day
Ivan Perisiç. And Nigeria, an African powerhouse, of the CONCACAF
has a young, emerging outfit that’s one of its best hexagonal qualifiers before the World Cup in
teams in years. But Heimir thinks tiny Iceland has a Brazil. Graham Zusi, an American winger of
chance, and he’s hoping that Americans will choose to average skill and far-far-above-average hair,
root for his team since they don’t have one in Russia. buries a stoppage-time equalizer away at
“Definitely,” he says. “We need the numbers. All Panama, sending the Panamanians crumpling
Americans like a story like this. It’s an underdog to the turf in tears; Zusi’s goal means
story, a Cinderella story. You go in to meet the big they’re out. Across Mexico, meanwhile, El Tri
guns, the Argentines that normally win the World supporters erupt in euphoria and canonize
Cup, and you go in there for the first time coming Zusi; thanks to his strike, they’re in. (Americans
from a country of 330,000 people. I think it’s an shrug; already qualified.) So, you could say
American story. Even if it’s 1% of Americans who we owe Panama some love. Oh, and there’s
JACO B K U P F ER M A N /C S M /SH U T T ERS T O C K

support Iceland, that’s still more than we have, so this: The U.S. blitzed Panama 4–0 in the
we are open for applications for support!” teams’ last hex meeting before the Russia
The most famous dentist in world soccer can’t help World Cup. If Los Canaleros (led by Sounders
but shake his head. A few years ago he was coach- centerback Román Torres) win it all, then
ing youth soccer. Two years ago his team took down by the transitive property the U.S. has
England and tied the eventual champion, Portugal. championship cred too. Kinda. In any case:
Now the world awaits. ± Go, red-white-and-blue! —ADAM DUERSON
 3

ARGENTINA
&
PORTUGAL
4
Because. . .
MESSI AND
RONALDO

IT IS A measure of their historic quality that Argen- Messi has come closer. In 2014, his team took Ger-
tina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo many to extra time in the final, only to fall on Mario
have been widely acknowledged as the world’s two Götze’s late winner. And now it is a lasting image
best soccer players every single year going back to of that tournament: Messi gazing at the World Cup
2008. (The last person, other than them, to win the trophy as he walked past it afterward, so tantaliz-
Ballon d’Or: Brazil’s Kaká. That feels like eons ago.) ingly close that he could have touched it. Ronaldo
Such staying power atop the planet’s most popu- reached the semifinals as a young pup, in ’06, but
lar sport is nothing short of miraculous, especially unlike Messi he has at least won a major trophy with
considering the ferocity of modern defenders, the Portugal after its unlikely triumph at Euro 2016.
IL LUS T R AT I O N BY DAV ID E BA R CO

temptations of becoming satisfied, and the despera- By the day of the final in Moscow, Messi will be
tion of rivals trying to unseat them. They share one 31; Ronaldo will be 33. It is possible that they could
blemish though: Neither has won a World Cup, and hang on until ’22, though Messi has indicated this
Russia 2018 provides their last real chance at the will be his swan song. He has already retired once
(kinda, sorta) height of their powers. Perhaps their from the national team (temporarily, after defeat
last chance, period. in the ’16 Copa América final), and his disdain for
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SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 the beleaguered Argentine federation is legendary.
While Ronaldo stays in marvelous physical condi-
tion, which may allow him to play in a fifth World
Cup at 37, he has already lost one step on the field Because. . .
and is sure to lose more. In ’22, he is less likely to be COACH HERVÉ
starting for Portugal than he is for David Beckham’s RENARD
MLS team in Miami. Sure, maybe your friend
So enjoy them now. Let’s see if Messi can put the is suddenly interested in
Albiceleste on his shoulders and will it to victory, the Atlas Lions because
just as he did with a hat trick in a must-win final of their upbeat tempo Because. . .
YOU LOVE THE EPL
World Cup qualifier, in Ecuador. Let’s see if Ronaldo and stout defense (one
can re-create Euro ’16 and spearhead a surprising goal conceded in eight If you support one of
championship run by taking “survive and advance” African qualifiers). Or England’s big six clubs,
to the extreme again. For Messi, a World Cup victory maybe it’s because their you probably have a
would put to rest nearly every question about his coach, Hervé Renard, soft spot for Roberto
legacy: He would be viewed as the greatest player of has the looks of a ’90s Martinez’s side. With
all time. For Ronaldo, it would at least put him in that Guess model: chiseled Kevin De Bruyne
conversation. Neither outcome will be easy, though. jaw, chest revealed by (Manchester City), Eden
Argentina has been the world’s most underachieving an excess of unfastened Hazard (Chelsea), Romelu
national team; it last won a major title in 1993. And buttons, and long Jaime Lukaku (Man United) and
Portugal has no other player even remotely approach- Lannister locks through Vincent Kompany (City),
ing Ronaldo’s talent level. which he’s constantly plus a raft of others,
The end is nigh for these enduring superstars who running his hands. Profile Belgium could very well
have sat astride the sport for so long. In time, perhaps aside, the French-born feature more big EPL
sooner rather than later, players like Brazil’s Neymar 49-year-old has tactical names than England
and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (page 96) will overtake chops worthy of your itself. The Red Devils
them. But because we have a soft spot for our memory- attention: He has led two may have lost some
makers in their waning years, it will be impossible teams to the Africa Cup fans Stateside after
not to root for Messi and Ronaldo in Russia. —G.W. of Nations title. —A.D. ousting the U.S. in Brazil,
but it’s been a long four
years. It’ll be easy to
forget that blow with so
many familiar Saturday-
morning superstars to
get behind. —S.K.

WHETHER LINGARD is starting or coming off the bench, the

IM AG E S (REN A RD); M AT T HE W PE T ERS / M A N U T D/G E T T Y IM AG E S (L IN GA RD, 3);

Manchester United revelation will energize England’s midfield—and

his celebrations have an ebullience all their own. Lingard’s eight
DAV ID R O G ERS /G E T T Y IM AG E S (D E B RU Y N E); FA D EL SEN N A /A F P/G E T T Y

goals in this breakout Premier League season meant eight performances,

each more entertaining than the last: He did the Milly Rock and mimed a
crazy flute-playing jig, he made a nod to Black Panther and to Young Thug’s
RI C H A RD L EE / B PI /SHU T T ERS TO C K (L IN GA RD IN B LUE)

ENGLAND
“Mink Flow.” If Lingard, 25, plays as he’s shown he can, England will be the
top choice of pop-culture-devouring millennials. —STANLEY KAY

Because. . .
JESSE LINGARD’S
GOT MOVES
BY BRI AN
STRAUS
Illustration by
Davide Barco

WORLD CUP
PREVIEW
ICO
one day before El Tri faced Iceland in a Bay Area
friendly. “They feel love for their land and for the
Mexican national team,” he said in Spanish. But the
word he used for land, tierra, refers to more than the
square mileage enclosed by a border or the prevailing
bureaucracy; a nation is just as much about tradition
and shared memory. Sports can be incredibly effective
at tapping into the reservoir of what Hernández called
sentimentalismo: Red Sox Nation and Raider Nation
don’t exactly have seats on the U.N. Security Council,
but everyone understands what they represent.
Because their sentimentalismo is real and undying,
Mexico fans show up time and again in the U.S., in
some cities you would expect and others—Charlotte,
Nashville, Seattle—you might not. That connection is
only deepening this spring as their team prepares for a
World Cup that its main rival will miss. El Tri, in fact,
are an integral part of American soccer—so much so
that since the start of 2010, Mexico has played more
Because . . . than twice as many times on U.S. soil as on its own.
That’s an astonishing, unique and counterintuitive bit

SURPRISE!
of trivia that speaks to the power of national identity
as well as to the raw popularity of the team that binds
a diaspora. The Mexican national soccer team may be

THEY REP the most broadly popular sports outfit in the States.

THE U.S.,TOO L
IKE SO many of his countrymen, Javier
Hernández, the star striker for the Mexican
squad heading to Russia, has family in the
U.S. His aunt lives in San Francisco. The
30-year-old who goes by Chicharito is a footballing
icon, the leading scorer in El Tri history and a man
THE MAN they call El Matador signed au- who has played for some of the world’s biggest clubs.
tographs and posed for selfies. Luis Hernán- As he sat in a conference room inside his team’s hotel
dez greeted fans who could recall every one in San Jose—abutting the Plaza de César Chávez—a
of his 35 goals for Mexico and some who hadn’t been couple dozen fans gathered in the courtyard below,
born when the forward retired in 2004. A couple hoping to glimpse one of their heroes walking across
hundred supporters turned out to celebrate a national the second-floor skyway.
icon, many wearing green or carrying props—a replica It was common for Mexican players of El Matador’s
World Cup trophy, an oversized cutout of Hernández’s generation to spend most or all of their pro careers
smiling face. . . . They waited for El Matador outside at home; the soccer culture was insular. But Chich-
a Wells Fargo bank adjacent to a San Jose strip mall, arito’s national team is full of players from European
yards from a Ross Dress for Less and 500 miles north leagues or MLS—men who speak English, who are
of the Mexican border, at the intersection of two na- citizens of a shrinking world. For Chicharito, stag-
tions that often run in parallel, one just as authentic ing national-team matches in the U.S. makes sense.
and American as the other. “Why not? We are neighbors,” he said earnestly,
Hernández tried to explain the crowd of Mexican- tapping on a table for emphasis. “We’ve been close
Americans gathered on a Thursday afternoon in March, since the beginning of the world.”
At the end of that week in San Jose, El Tri defeated
Iceland before nearly 69,000 fans at Levi’s Stadium.
Chicharito & Co. then left for Dallas, where more than
79,000 attended a loss to Croatia. Combined U.S. TV
viewership for those two exhibitions on Fox (which has
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JUNE 4 , 2018 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED

WORLD CUP PREVIEW

been paying to broadcast Mexico games in English since

2016) and Univision exceeded 4.5 million. The next two
most-watched games that week were Liga MX affairs.
A U.S.-Paraguay friendly ranked fifth, at 925,000.
The atmosphere and attention in the U.S. is such
that Mexico’s coach, Juan Carlos Osorio—a Colombian
who graduated from Southern Connecticut State and
managed the Chicago Fire and the New York Red
Bulls—believes these American-soil friendlies help pre-
pare his players for a World Cup. For El Tri exhibition
matches in Mexico, he says, “the crowds are very low
and there is no football environment.” But an engaged
throng of 70,000 is a good way to test the nerves. of the border.) SUM pays the Mexican federation an
It’s also lucrative. There’s been a cultural and eco- appearance fee and in turn gets to sell sponsorships
nomic awakening in the U.S., where an increasing num- and tickets; fans flock in from an average of 30 states
ber of brands have embraced the power of the Latino and participate in tailgates, parties and promotional
and Mexican-American markets. El Tri’s 2018 U.S. events like El Matador’s at the bank. A pregame walk
tour has 15 corporate sponsors, each hoping to reach a through the parking lots surrounding Levi’s Stadium
greater portion of a country that has the second-largest in March was testament to SUM’s research: They were
Spanish-speaking population on the planet. According filled with green jerseys and unaccented English.
to Census Bureau data, in 2016 there were more than At many games, Sergio Tristan is one of those fans.
36 million U.S. residents who identified as Mexican His parents arrived from San Luis Potosí during the
or Mexican-American. That’s more than 11% of the immigration boom that began in the 1970s. Those
country—and according to Soccer United Marketing, families crossed the border, settled in tight-knit com-
there are that many, or more, El Tri fans in the U.S. munities, maintained native traditions and labored
“One of the biggest misconceptions,” though, says to give their children a better life. Born and raised in
SUM senior vice president Camilo Durana, “is that Austin, Tristan is now a Texas graduate, a lawyer at
[this Mexican] fan base is only first generation [im- a government agency and a U.S. Army veteran—an
migrants]. In reality, we find that only 28% are first El Tri fan with a Bronze Star. He’s had his patriotic
generation, and 72% are second generation or higher. credentials challenged, he says, but he insists there’s
A lot of our fans are bilingual, bicultural and, in many nothing wrong with loving two nations in a world of
cases, English-preferred.” fluid cultures and permeable walls. In 2013, Tristan

O M A R V E GA / L AT IN CO N T EN T/G E T T Y IM AG E S
Our fans? Well, yes. Because SUM, which is part founded Pancho Villa’s Army, a supporters club for
and parcel of MLS, is in business with the Mexican U.S.-based Mexico fans that has 5,000-plus members.
federation (FMF). Since 2003, SUM and the FMF have PVA travels the country and the world—there will
worked together to stage roughly five friendly matches be roughly 80 of them in Russia—to support El Tri.
per year across the U.S. (Add in official tournaments “We are dipped in both cultures—we eat burg-
such as the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which is also pro- ers the same way we eat tacos; our education is in
moted by SUM and played in the U.S., and you get English, and we consume our media in English—but
that crazy stat about the number of El Tri games north we’re also Mexican,” Tristan says. “Mexico games

THINGS HE’S had Batman and Pokemon loves blond.) Here’s or Eden Hazard in
shaved into his head: logos, the words DAB hoping the 25-year-old transition—brings his
FRANCE a lightning bolt, and EQUAL and his Pogba—a brick wall hairdresser to Russia,
Because . . . a musical note, a nickname, POGBOO. of a midfielder who’s and that every game
PAUL POGBA’S question mark, a star, He’s gone orange, blue, capable of steamrolling (every half?) has
KILLER COIFS a leopard print, the red and blond. (He a Raheem Sterling its own ’do. —A.D.
 together, arms linked, for a photo before their World
Cup qualifier in Columbus, Ohio. It was an emotional
display of common bonds—“You need to separate that
we are human beings,” Chicharito says—sparked by a
FaceTime call from U.S. midfielders Michael Bradley
and Jermaine Jones to Jones’s future L.A. Galaxy team-
mate, Mexican forward Giovani dos Santos.
“Everybody wants to talk about ‘We need a soc-
Cheering for a foreign national cer culture,’ ” says Bradley, the U.S. captain. “Well,

team in your own country is guess what? Part of our soccer culture is that there
are millions of people across our country who come
quintessentially American. from other places, and these people have strong ties to
other teams. That’s us. That’s unique. And I don’t think
that’s anything anyone should be up in arms about.”
In other words, cheering for a foreign national team
aren’t just soccer games. [They’re] a moment in time BEST in your own country is quintessentially American.
where we can be proud of our culture and surround SHOT No one expects staunch U.S. fans to don green-and-
ourselves with our language, food and music, and In November, red lucha libre masks and wave Mexican flags this
hang out with people just like us.” Christian summer, but those same diehards understand the
The communities Tristan’s parents and their peers Pulisic reason that their team hosts qualifiers against Mexico
(10) and
PAUL VERNON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; POGBA (FROM LEFT): MICHAEL REGAN/GETTY IMAGES; JOHN PETERS/MAN UTD/

built, he says, have mostly bled into the American fab- in a small stadium in central Ohio. You may not be
ric. Sundays scheduled around church, barbecues and Chicharito a Mexico fan, but you probably have neighbors or
battled on
GETTY IMAGES; MATTHEW PETERS/MAN UTD/GETTY IMAGES (2); GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

televised Mexican league matches are now the stuff coworkers who are. And at the World Cup, El Tri
the pitch,
of wistful memory. But when Mexico plays, there’s a but the will be something very close to this country’s team.
chance to reconnect. For a couple of hours whenever teams were FMF general secretary Guillermo Cantú played in
El Tri take the field, those Sundays are relived. “It’s a picture a few of those rough-and-tumble U.S.-Mexico games
really our final link to where we come from,” Tristan of unity. of the early 1990s. He was born in Torreón, then went
says, “and to the identity our parents gave us.” to high school in Massachusetts. After trying to lead
El Tri to the trophy in Russia, he’ll continue to work

T
HAT’S A powerful thing. By now you’ve on the joint bid to bring the tournament to the U.S.,
heard the stories of dual-national players, Mexico and Canada in 2026. The photogenic moment
often American-born, facing the difficult de- in Columbus left him in tears.
cision between playing for the U.S. or Mexico. “We’ve come a long way since [I played],” Cantú
Familiarity and fusion have added unexpected wrinkles says. “We’ve learned a lot of things. We respect each
to the on-field rivalry. The battle for hearts, minds and other. But that’s what happens when you actually
points now plays out on increasingly equal footing, and meet people and have a conversation.”
sometimes this parity leads to unexpected expressions This summer, he notes, presents an opportunity for
of unity. In November 2016, three days after the election strengthening the U.S.-Mexico relationship. “There
of an American president who was promising to build a will be many, many green shirts,” Cantú says. “Just
U.S.-Mexico border wall, the two national teams posed follow them. If you don’t like the party. . . .” ±
 11 & 12
WORLD CUP PREVIEW

TUNISIA & SAUDI ARABIA

Because . . .
YOU HAVE A HEART
Love an underdog? The England; and they’re tied
Carthage Eagles of for the bigget long shot

10 Tunisia—a stupendous
nickname from a
continent that has
sobriquets in spades—are
in Vegas: 1,000 to 1. The
Green Falcons of Saudi
Arabia are winless in
their last 10 at this
on an 11-game World Cup stage (5–29); they’re on
winless streak their third coach since
(outscored 5–16 on qualifying ended; and

BRAZIL
aggregate); they’re in a they face the same odds.
group with two shoo-ins Consider either team a
to advance, Belgium and sympathy vote. —A.D.

13
Australian and U.S.
Because . . . soccer have much in
common. One difference:
NAMES CAN BE FUN! AUSTRALIA Tim Cahill. There’s no
Because . . . American icon like the
ON MAY 14 a soccer coach who goes by Chee-Chee REDOUBTABLE relentless 38-year-old
announced the 23 players who would make up his TIM CAHILL forward, who’s set to
traveling team, including Marky, Paulie and Fer- play in a fourth World
die. These might sound like members of a pee- A former British Cup. Cahill has starred in
wee squad, or perhaps characters in a script for colony that prefers England and in MLS, but
Bugsy Malone II, but in reality they’re players on the a peculiar brand of he’s the face, heart and
venerable Seleção—Brazil’s World Cup team—which football, and where the all-time leading scorer
will venture to Russia in search of a record sixth soccer conversation for the Socceroos,
trophy. The coach’s nickname isn’t actually spelled is about structure or who continue to count
Chee-Chee; that’s just how Tite (born Adenor Leo- identity as much as the on their Sydney-born
nardo Bacchi) is pronounced in Portuguese. And those score—sound familiar? talisman. —B.S.
three players’ handles, in their native tongue, are,
respectively, Marquinhos, Paulinho and Fernandinho.
As for their full names? Most Brazilians don’t
know—or care. Brazil is an informal country in
which even the most august citizen is addressed in
the manner of Dr. Phil: first name or nickname only.

14
The country’s former president, who was recently
jailed for corruption, is known universally as Lula GROWING up
(a nickname for his baptismal Luiz), which inciden- in Lima in the
tally means squid. And what’s true for politicians 1980s, I was
goes double for athletes. Brazil didn’t invent sports never allowed to stay up
monikers, but no other country has stamped them past my bedtime—except
on uniforms as enthusiastically. In fact the official when Peru played. My

PERU
players list signed by Tite was headed not by the father ( right), a man not
word for name but by the word Brazilians use for known for demonstrating
nickname: apelido. affection, would give me
This spring I went to a Brazilian pro soccer match a sip of his beer and we’d
just to see He-Man, a forward on the Belo Horizonte sing the national anthem,
club América who has the fair hair and sturdy jaw of Because . . . wear white-and-red and
his Masters of the Universe alter ego. I also watched YOU BELIEVE IN chant “Arriba, Peru!” as
a game involving the Rio de Janeiro team Vasco da FAIRY TALES we watched in the living
94

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 whose first names, in a peculiarly Brazilian tradi-
tion, are phonetically spelled or otherwise mangled
versions of English or German names: keepers Alis-
son and Ederson, defender Fagner, midfielder Wil-
lian and, my favorite, a striker named Taison.
Then things get a bit complicated. Any enterprise that
relies on first names runs into the problem of repetition.
Thus players with common first names add a middle
name to distinguish themselves, even as it serves to
confuse: defender Filipe Luís (last name: Kasmirski),
midfielder Philippe Coutinho (Correia), forwards Doug-
las Costa (de Souza) and Roberto Firminio (Barbosa de
Oliveira). . . . There’s only one Neymar of note in world
football, but Brazil’s biggest star gallantly adds “Jr.” to
his jersey, as if his father hadn’t long ago hung up his
cleats. Finally, the Seleção will field a few players who
go old-school and use only their surnames: defender
Gama so I could check out Pikachu, who morphs as Geromel and the midfielder known as Casemiro, whose
rapidly as his Pokémon namesake from defender to birth name is, bafflingly, spelled Casimiro.
attacker. Neither of these cartoon characters made Meanwhile, left home and dreaming of Qatar 2022
M AT T KIN G /G E T T Y IM AG E S (C A HIL L); IL LUS T R AT I O N DAVID E

the 2018 Seleção, but the ’14 team had a forward are players with marvelous mononyms, from Nenê
BA R CO ; CO U R T E S Y O F LU IS MI G U EL E C H E GA R AY (PERU)

named Hulk, and in 1994 Brazil won the cup with a and Sassá to Dedé and Dodô, from Weverton and
captain called Dunga, the Portuguese name for the Deyverson to Uendel and Uilson. Finally, wish-
Walt Disney character he most resembles: Dopey, of ing upon a star down in the second division of the
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. São Paulo state league is a midfielder whose first
This year’s team is nonetheless awash in name, Valdisney, is a tribute to the man who gave the
mononyms—besides nicknames, first names. There’s world Dopey and the beautiful game Dunga. Off the
goalkeeper Cássio, defenders Danilo and Marcelo, pitch, those names are pure expressions of national
and midfielder Fred (though not that Fred, the identity. But between the nets, they’re the lyrics to the
World Cup 2014 flameout). Then there are players artful music of Brazilian football. —CHRIS HUNT

room, all testing my and tenacity cost them, are also none of the players (including renewed the players’
mother’s patience. I so his stories were my egos that diminished pacy winger Edison confidence. My father
was too young, though, only connection to our discipline in the Flores and defensive passed away in 2009,
to know or appreciate country’s heyday. My past—just a group of stalwart Renato Tapia) but with Peru’s return
the glory days, when father’s memories, to young, eager, gifted that manager Ricardo to the World Cup for
La Blanquirroja me, were nothing but Gareca seems to have the first time since
advanced through a fairy tale. The squad rid of all fears. For 1982, and on the
the group stage in ’78 headed to Russia, years, especially during heels of 12 straight
and ’82. The teams I however, represents the ’90s, Peru exuded undefeated games,
cheered for with my a new chapter. Unlike an air of inferiority, I have a new sense
dad (and, really, the other South American crumbling under of hope, a belief even
teams since then) were nations, Peru is anxiety on and off that fairy tales can
rich with talent, but a not blessed with the field. But Gareca, come true. —LUIS
lack of commitment superstars, but there with his lockdown D, MIGUEL ECHEGARAY
 EGY
15
 Photograph by
Drew Gardner

BY GRANT WAHL
SALAH
PT
Because . . .

MOHAMED

97
SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED
JUNE 4 , 2018
 About the only person who isn’t stunned by this rise
is Salah, who says he could see it coming as a teenager
on a modest Egyptian club, Arab Contractors, owned
by a construction company. “I’ve always had the vision,
so I’m not surprising myself,” he explains in English
on an unseasonably warm spring day in northwest
England. “I’m happy about what I’m doing. I need to
work to do it again and again and again. I work on
my weaknesses and try to improve all the time—in
the gym alone after training, before training. . . . If
you recall, the number [of goals]
this year is [more] than last year,
and last year was [more] than the
year before. Every year I feel I’ve
improved. That’s the most impor-
tant thing for me.”

Surprises, by and large, Watching Salah in full flight on

the ball, cutting in from the right
wing toward the goal, is a study
almost never occur at soccer’s highest levels anymore. A
coterie of the richest eight European clubs invariably hoards in the expansion of time—he’s
like the only person in the room
the most important titles. The same two men, Lionel Messi
who has figured out that you can
and Cristiano Ronaldo, have been the sport’s preeminent listen to the podcast at 1.5x speed
players for 11 years and counting (page 88). Just eight and still understand everything
nations have won the men’s World Cup, and three of them— perfectly. Salah glides past defend-
Brazil, Germany and Italy—have combined to raise 13 of ers plodding along at 1.0x speed,
the 20 trophies. Yet the hegemony of the 1% only makes and even when they converge on
that very rare surprise even sweeter, an affirmation of our him in the box, he weaves between
their thick bodies and holds the
tightly held belief that in sports, everyone has a chance.
ball on his merciless left foot lon-
ger than anyone would think pos-
sible (or wise—scoring chances
can dissolve in an instant) before
unleashing a surgical strike into
the net. Salah’s shots are more like
injections: repeatable, reliable and
That’s why Leicester City’s run to the 2015–16 an inescapable source of pain. If you lay off him out-
English Premier League title (at 5,000-to-1 odds) side the box, though, he’ll simply conjure a leftfooted
was so soul-stirring. And it helps explain the global bender into the top corner. So mesmerizing is Salah
embrace of Mohamed Salah, the genial 25-year-old with his left foot (like Messi, like Diego Maradona), it
forward who propelled Egypt to its first World Cup scarcely matters that his right is benign by comparison.
since 1990. When Salah joined Liverpool from Roma Neil Atkinson, host of the Anfield Wrap podcast
last summer, most observers expected he would out- and the unofficial mayor of Liverpool, observes that
perform his first Premier League stint with Chelsea, LFC supporters began approaching each home game
when he scored just two goals across 20 games in 2014 this season as though they were already ahead 1–0
and ’15. But not even the most starry-eyed Scouser at kickoff—the likelihood of Salah scoring was that
ISL A M SA F WAT/ N URPH OTO/G E T T Y IM AG E S

could have predicted that the so-called Egyptian high. (Indeed, Salah found the net in 19 of his 24
King would more than double his previous season home starts across all competitions.) “The main
high with a league-record 32 goals, spearhead the way he’s been so impressive is how calm and poised
Reds’ unlikely run to the UEFA Champions League he is,” says Atkinson. “The ball falls to him and he
final and thrust himself past dozens of better-known acts as though he’s got all the time in the world, just
aspirants into the debate, with Messi and Ronaldo, this supernatural calm he exudes to do the hardest
over who is the world’s best player today. thing in football. He makes goalkeepers look tiny
98

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 WORLD CUP PREVIEW
and the goal look huge. The thing I’ve become almost it’s a different feeling. I’m not saying that you don’t
obsessed with is the number of times he shoots and feel something when you play for Liverpool—you can
the goalkeeper doesn’t dive—without [Salah] even see I do. But to take your own country to the World
kicking it that hard. Because he’s putting it in a place Cup, the feeling is different.”
where the goalkeeper knows, ‘Yeah, I can’t get it.’ Egyptians adore Salah. They’ve painted his smiling
And that’s crazy to watch.” face on murals, entered him as a write-in vote in the
Ask Salah to name the best goal of his career, and recent presidential election, and hailed his financial
he includes strikes this season against Everton (in support for public services and charities in Nagrig,
which he clowned two men in the box and curled his his hometown four hours northwest of Cairo. For
shot between two more) and Tottenham (in which he five years, Salah says, the outpouring of countrymen
found space among four defenders in the box with who see him in public has been so overwhelming
three leftfooted touches, then fired a stoppage-time that he occasionally grows concerned for his own
winner). But inquire about his most important goal, safety. “When I go to Egypt, I stay at home; I don’t
and Salah goes another direction: his stoppage-time like to go out,” he says. “But the day we qualified
MO:
penalty (after another Salah score earlier in the game) for the World Cup, the hotel was open, so everyone
MONEY
against Congo last October in Alexandria—a goal that could go in. There were so many people, I had to
sent the Pharaohs to the World Cup for the first time Salah slotted run from this room to that room, jump from here
in two goals
since before Salah was born. “Everyone is looking against to there. The people wanted to celebrate, but they
at you; you have to score,” he says. “They celebrate Congo to wanted to celebrate with us.”
even before you shoot. But I know that no one else clinch a spot Even then, the leading African scorer in World Cup
can take it. When you play for your home country, in Russia. qualification handled the pressure with the same
aplomb he showed on that decisive
spot kick. Says Los Angeles FC’s Omar
Gaber, Salah’s Pharaohs teammate
and one of his closest friends, who
was there that night, “I have never
seen him nervous.”

T
HE YOUNG Egyptian tal-
ent and the American coach
formed a bond from the
start. The year was 2012.
Egypt’s domestic league had been
suspended after the Port Said Stadium
massacre, which saw 72 people killed,
and Bob Bradley—the former U.S.
coach who’d taken over the Pharaohs—
began organizing regular games and
training camps to keep his players
sharp. Among those charges was a
19-year-old Salah, who had already
starred for the U-20 team under Brad-
ley’s assistant Diaa El Sayed. “From the
first day when you got Salah in there,
you realized how special he was,” says
Bradley, who now coaches Gaber at
LAFC. “So explosive, so quick. Still
raw, but smart. And he was so hungry
to get better. He wanted to work on
his finishing. When you showed him
things in training, the next day you’d
see him doing it without even thinking
about it. Salah is a special guy.”
99

JUNE 4 , 2018 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED

WORLD CUP PREVIEW

The admiration is mutual. “[Bradley] and Captain there, Luciano Spalletti, who responded to Salah
Diaa were like my fathers in a football way,” Salah differently than Mourinho did. “He was unbeliev-
says. “[Bradley] helped me a lot, inside and outside able,” Salah says. “I love him as a man. He made the
the field. Everyone loves him in Egypt.” Even though difference for me in my life because he worked with
they are now separated by eight time zones, Salah me every day after training. Even if we were tired, he
and Bradley still communicate regularly. said, ‘O.K., if you want to do something, come and ask
To hear Salah tell the story, his own father, also me.’ And every day I asked him. I was always doing
named Mohamed, played a central role in the most finishing with him.” Spalletti was always demanding
pivotal moment of his career. When he was 14, Salah more, including improvement in Salah’s upper-body
began making regular eight-hour round-trips from fitness and in his ball protection in tight spaces.
Nagrig to Cairo so he could train with the Arab Con- All of which is to say that Salah’s great leap at
tractors’ U-15 team—but after a year things weren’t RED HOT Liverpool has not happened overnight, even if the
going too well. “The moment that changed my life?” Salah’s environment under coach Jürgen Klopp has helped
Salah tees it up. “I was on the bench for two months. celebration create the right conditions. Salah adjusted quickly
I told my father I can’t go four hours every day and be captivated to Klopp’s high-pressing style, which seeks to create
Liverpool
on the bench. I was crying. He said, ‘Listen, everyone supporters— chaos and cause turnovers in dangerous positions.
who became a big name after a long time, he suf- and inspired What’s more, the whole of Liverpool’s front three—
fered a lot [first]. It’s not going to be easy. Just keep them Salah, Roberto Firmino (of Brazil) and Sadio Mané
focused, train hard and I’m sure you will play again into song. (Senegal)—has been far more than the sum of its
and be great.’ That’s a moment that I still parts. Firmino, in particular, is the ideal
remember, in his car at six in the morn- team-first centerforward. “Sometimes
ing. After a short period I started playing he goes and defends in my place, maybe
again, and everything has worked out.” multiple times [a game],” says Salah,
(Asked whether he has ever shared the who’s then freed to take risks and put
importance of that conversation with his himself in front of the goal. Klopp’s most
father, Salah pauses and shakes his head. significant attribute, though, Salah says,
“No,” he says finally. “No, I haven’t.”) is his approach to the sport: “He knows
There were plenty of other milestones how to work with players mentally. On
in Salah’s soccer journey. The time the field you can see that; he makes the
when one coach, citing the 16-year-old difference for everyone.”
Salah’s underdeveloped body strength, And as Salah’s goals piled up this
moved him from left back to the front season, you could hear a chant (sung to
line. (“From then,” he recalls, “I started the tune of the 1990s Britpop hit “Good
playing on the right wing and scoring Enough,” by the band Dodgy) radiating
goals.”) Or when Zamalek, one of Egypt’s from the Anfield stands:
biggest clubs, chose not to sign Salah at
age 19 and he moved instead to Basel, in Mo Sa-la-la-la-lah,
Switzerland, a week later. (“If I signed Mo Sa-la-la-la-lah
for Zamalek, I wouldn’t be here now,” If he’s good enough for you,
he says, suggesting a young Salah would he’s good enough for me.
have settled permanently at one of his If he scores another few,
country’s top clubs.) Or when Salah then I’ll be Muslim too.
moved to Italy at 22—first to Fiorentina, If he’s good enough for you,
then to Roma—which restored his confi- he’s good enough for me.
dence and his career after a year in pur- Sitting in the mosque,
gatory at Chelsea under José Mourinho. that’s where I wanna be!
Salah credits two more North Ameri- Mo Sa-la-la-la-lah,
cans at Roma—head performance coach Mo Sa-la-la-la-lah
PAU L EL L I S /A F P/G E T T Y IM AG E S

Ed Lippie, an upstate New Yorker, and

director of performance Darcy Norman, At a time when Britain is fighting rising
a Canadian—with making him stronger Islamophobia, the outpouring of affection
in the gym. But he saves some of his for an Egyptian-national superstar who is
most glowing comments for his manager proud and public about his Muslim faith
100

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

 has been edifying. In England, youth soccer players of asks. A follow-up question about being welcomed
all backgrounds can be found commemorating their in Liverpool at a time of rising nationalism is also
goals as Salah does, raising their hands skyward and interrupted. “He’s a footballer,” Issa says. “We just
kneeling prostrate in sujud on the field. talk about football—not about skin color or racism
Atkinson, the Anfield Wrap host, wonders if there’s or Trump, or any of that stuff.” (Perhaps it’s best
something about the city of Liverpool that has influ- not to assume anything these days, in a compli-
enced the response to Salah. “Nationalism in all its cated world. Issa’s social media channels contain
forms is on the rise [in England], and it’s unpleasant,” several supportive references to President Trump, an
Atkinson says. “I think Liverpool’s unique charac- ally of Sisi’s.)
ter has helped. Salah and Mané clearly reflect their For now, Salah is trying to keep things as simple
[Muslim] faith on the pitch, and that’s now something as possible. His challenge in Russia will be to carry
that’s respected—and, in fact, celebrated. It’s not just his transcendent form from the Reds to the Pha-
because Salah kicks it in the goal; it’s that Liverpool raohs. Group A is workable, with one talent-filled
is a port city that sees itself as different in the context team (Uruguay) and the two lowest-ranked squads
of the rest of the United Kingdom.” in the tournament (host Russia and Saudi Arabia).
For his part, Salah calls his supporters’ song “We’ll give everything for the country,” Salah says.
“something special,” but given the sensitive cli- “We will protect each other. We love each other, and
mate around the world, he is hyperaware of what that will help us on the field. I’m sure we are going
he says publicly and how it is received back home. to do something special. Egypt play a different way
Mohamed Aboutreika, his once-beloved former Egypt than Liverpool—but in both ways I have to score.”
teammate and the nation’s greatest player before Salah’s ambitions aren’t complicated. Asked if he
Salah, has been accused of supporting the Muslim wants to be viewed as the world’s best player, he says,
Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization that “If you just see yourself as, ‘O.K., I play football for
briefly held power after the Egyptian revolution fun,’ if you don’t have a vision for what you want to do,
of 2011, only be to be deposed by current president it’s better to stay at home.” More important, though,
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Today Aboutreika lives in exile, he adds, are team goals: “I want to win everything
his name having been placed on a terror list by the in football. I want to win Champions League. I want
CO U R T E S Y O F NIK E (2)

Cairo Criminal Court. to win the Premier League. If I can win the World
Even a benign question about the meaning of Cup, I would be very happy.”
Salah’s public bow is cut off by his agent, Ramy Abbas Egypt winning the World Cup? Surprises like that
Issa. “No, no, why are you talking about that?” Issa never happen at soccer’s highest levels. Right? ±

CROATIA NIGERIA
Because . . . Because . . .
ŠAHOVNICA CHIC REGAL EAGLES

I n an era of blackouts if its jersey looks good Nigeria may lack Croatia’s had unique markings
and whiteouts and with jeans. Instead, it heraldic history, but the reminiscent of traditional
monochromatic kit asserts national pride Super Eagles are every tribal patterns. This
conformity (we’re with an unmistakable bit as committed to summer’s unis, too, are an
looking at you, FIFA and five-centuries-old symbol. making a statement. In homage, an electric zig-zag
MLS), the šahovnica —or Croatia will be styling its maiden World Cup, pattern that’ll stand out
checkerboard—stands again, especially with U.S.A. ’94, Nigeria made in a bland sea of all-white
out. Croatia doesn’t worry Luka Modrić and Ivan the second round wearing and all-red. Personality
about fashion trends or Rakitić in checkers. —B.S. eye-catching kits that goes a long way. —B.S.
WORLD CUP PREVIEW

SPAIN 19
GERMANY
Because . . .
THEY’RE THE FUTURE YOU IMAGINE
Supporting this particular juggernaut may not come
naturally, but there’s so much to admire here. German
Because . . .
soccer is what American soccer strives to be, from its
THE KIDS! modern stadiums and forward-thinking academies to
Julen Lopetegui appears the connections clubs forge with their communities and national federation.
to have learned from the Bundesliga teams welcome U.S. teenagers like Christian Pulisic and Weston
mistakes of his coaching McKennie, and they produce talent at a prodigious rate. (At most, nine
predecessor, Vicente del players from their 2014 squad will play in Russia.) And Die Mannschaft
Bosque, who won it all in delivers high-octane, enjoyable soccer. In each of the past three World Cups,
2010—and then brought a Germany has been the highest-scoring team. —B.S.
nearly identical (meaning:
four years older) team to
Brazil, where Chile and the
Netherlands outmuscled
SENEGAL
La Roja by a combined 7–1.
Because . . .
Lopetegui is working with a
healthier mix of experience
(Andrés Iniesta: Would you
20 LE JOOLA
Aliou Cissé was Senegal’s captain back in 2002 when
guess he’s over or under 40 the World Cup–debutant Lions of Teranga stunned the
years old?) and ridiculous defending champ, France, 1–0, then went on a thrilling run
young talent, most notably to the quarterfinals. But Cissé’s joy was
the Real Madrid duo of short-lived: Weeks later a dozen of his family members died in
Marco Asensio, 22, and the Le Joola ferry disaster off the coast of Gambia. “As we say
Isco, 26. As attackers in our country, often happiness is followed by sadness,” the
go, these two offer much grief-stricken midfielder said that fall. Now Cissé has coached
support to their target Senegal back to the big stage after a 16-year absence and,
man—whoever that is; with the scoring punch of Liverpool’s Sadio Mané, he’s hoping
they’re likely to rotate—but to bring more happiness to his homeland. —B.S.
what makes them really
special is their ability to
cover so much ground
in providing defensive POLAND
backup. Which helps when Because . . .
your centerbacks, Gerard
Piqué and Sergio Ramos,
played a combined 4,925
21 YONKERS, BABY!
Among the U.S.’s 20th-century Polish diaspora (at
club minutes this season. least for a few years) was a professional soccer player
—L.M.E. named Adam Nawalka. A midfielder for Poland’s 1978
World Cup team, which topped its first-round group
but was bounced in a second-round group that included eventual champ
Argentina, Nawalka spent the tail end of his playing days, in the late ’80s,
with the Polish–American Eagles, a semipro outfit in Yonkers, just north of
New York City. Nawalka helped the Eagles win the ’87 National Amateur Cup
in St. Louis, and now, at 60, he manages Poland’s national team. He’ll have
his own cheering section on the eastern shore of the Hudson River. —S.K.

DAVID R AMOS/GE T T Y IMAGE S (IS CO); KIM JAE-HWAN /AFP/GE T T Y IMAGE S (CISSE); L AURENCE GRIFFITHS/GE T T Y IMAGE S (NAVA S)
COSTA
RICA
Because . . .
KEYLOR NAVAS IS
A REAL KEEPER

THE SINGLE moment that most influenced the reaching the Champions League final each time. At
U.S.’s failure to qualify for World Cup 2018 came in 6' 1", Navas isn’t tall for a keeper, but he has a veteran’s
the second half of Costa Rica’s stunning 2–0 victory sense of positioning, breathtaking explosiveness and
over the Yanks in Harrison, N.J., last September. With the reflexes to catch flies with chopsticks. When he
Los Ticos leading the CONCACAF hexagonal qualifier jets from Madrid to join his national team, he moves
1–0, U.S. midfielder Christian Pulisic unspooled a low from one of the sport’s greatest heavyweights to one
shot from 12 yards out that seemed destined for the of its biggest underdogs—and still that hasn’t kept
net, especially when it took a wicked deflection off a him from achieving with Costa Rica. The surprise of
defender. But in a blink goalkeeper Keylor Navas World Cup 2014, Los Ticos won a group that included
reacted to the sudden change of direction, jabbing three former champions (Uruguay, England and
his right hand upward as he lay prone on the ground, Italy) and made a stirring run to the quarterfinals.

22
pawing away the impending equalizer. It was one Costa Rica’s group challenge is almost as large this
of the greatest saves ever by a U.S. opponent, and it time around—Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia—and, once
changed the course of American soccer history. again, few pundits are picking Los Ticos to advance.
Such feats have become commonplace for Navas, But we’ve seen enough of Navas by now to know
31, who over the last three seasons has climbed to the that with him in goal, what might seem at first to
summit of the sport as the starter at Real Madrid, be a sure thing can turn out to be a stunner. —G.W.

23
RARE IS the country haven’t been enough Rodríguez—before Radamel Falcao, missed
that throws a full-on for Los Cafeteros to bowing to Brazil 2–1. the ’14 World Cup with
open-top bus parade crack South America’s For the rest of the world, an ACL tear; now he’s
through the capital elite. In 2014 they finally that violent match back, and coming off
COLOMBIA for a World Cup reached their first left a sour taste. In a 24-goal season with
Because . . . quarterfinalist. But quarterfinal—beguiling Colombia it whet the AS Monaco. Want an
THEY’VE GOT such is soccer’s state fans with the scoring appetite. James is now entertaining underdog
UNFINISHED in Colombia, where prowess of 22-year-old in his prime. The team’s with upside? Celebrate
BUSINESS decades of devotion breakout star James leading marksman, Colombia. —B.S.
105

JUNE 4 , 2018 SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED

 URUGUAY DENMARK
Because . . .
DANISH SUPPORTERS
Because . . . ARE SO DAMN NICE
THEY PACK A PUNCH Love soccer but hate flare-launching, beer-
unruly fans? Welcome smashing hooligans.
to life as a roligan. Why will this matter?
THIS IS TH E Mike Tyson of South American
The movement, which Consider: The Red-
fútbol, and not just because of scandalous striker
draws its name from Whites have winnable
Luis Suárez, who was red-carded at South Africa
the Danish rolig, games against Peru
2010 for an intentional handball and banned at Brazil
meaning peaceful, is and Australia before
’14 for biting an opponent. Óscar Tabárez, the longest-
the nation’s answer a crucial round-ender
tenured national coach in Russia ’18, is content to
to hooliganism. against heavyweight
keep his guard up, relying on the central wall from
Roligans copiously France in Moscow . . .
Atlético Madrid: Diego Godin (who’s been here be-
imbibe but engage which is a mere
fore) and José Giménez (who’ll be here again; he’s a
in cheerful revelry, two-hour flight from
stud). But given the slightest opening, La Celeste will
not the violence Copenhagen. Rolig,
punch back with big, brazen swings. Suárez is the left
and destruction of baby, rolig! —S.K.
glove; Edinson Cavani is the right. Tyson famously
said, “I just want to conquer people and their souls,”
and Uruguay can give that impression when their
counter is working, as it did in three-goal whippings
of Colombia and Chile in qualifiers. (Comparatively,
Group A’s Russia and Saudi Arabia are Peter McNee-
leys.) Tabárez has revamped his midfield with the
likes of Juventus’s Rodrigo Bentancur, but his team
otherwise has a larger-than-usual core of returning
(but not yet over-the-hill) stars from the semifinal

25
team of ’10. You can almost hear them echoing an-
other Tyson proclamation: “As long as we persevere
and endure, we can get anything we want.” —L.M.E.

26 SWITZERLAND
Because . . .
JULY 15!

In 2010, Rafael Nadal

took the Wimbledon
case) could be epically
cool for the Swiss.
IL LUS T R AT I O N BY DAV ID E BA R CO ; G E O R G I L I COVSKI / EPA /SH U T T ERS T O C K (DA NISH FA N S)

title seven days before Roger Federer will be a

his home country, favorite at Wimbledon,
Spain, won the World and while his native
Cup in South Africa, Switzerland is much
but this year the less likely to win the
events’ finals actually World Cup—Vegas has
coincide. And what’s ’em 100 to 1—no one
bad for eyeball-hungry thought Federer would
broadcasters (ESPN still be winning Grand
and Fox Sports, in this Slams at 36. —S.K.
 Because . . .
JAPAN THE YATAGARASU

Japan’s mascot, the three- some higher power. Yeah, about advancing past the round of 16,
27 legged raven (no, not the
three- eyed raven; that’s Game of
that. . . . The Samurai Blue barely
topped their group in Asian
and they head to Russia lacking
an established star in Europe.
Thrones), is supposed to suggest qualifying (the weakest region They’ll need all the Yatagarasu’s
the guidance and support of in the world), they’re 0 for 5 in help they can get. —A.D.

Because . . .
SERBIA CAPTAIN KOLAROV

Looking for a hard-nosed leader defender—whose crisp crosses Coming to Town” after requesting
28 who can have a bit of fun with
cultural stereotyping? Aleksandar
will feed Fulham’s Aleksandar
Mitrović in Russia—recorded
a “dark” backdrop with “maybe
a couple of wolves.” (YouTube it:
Kolarov is your man. While at Man a Christmas video in which he Kolarov Christmas.) Now there’s an
City in 2013 the attack-minded sternly read “Santa Claus Is inspirational figure. —B.S.

Because . . .
SOUTH KOREA THEY’VE GOT SOMETHING EXTRA ON THE LINE

Here’s the task facing FIFA’s No. 1 Germany (oof) on June 27. 21-month military duty (as the
29 61st-ranked team: a must-win
game against No. 23 Sweden,
And here’s the opportunity: If the
Taegeuk Warriors make a deep
government has done after some
Olympic, Asian Games and World
on June 18 (doable); then No. 15 run, there’s a good chance players Cup successes) in one of the
Mexico on June 23 (less so); then will be absolved of mandatory planet’s hot spots. —A.D.

Because . . .
SWEDEN YOU LOVE WATCHING THE SPOTLIGHT SHIFT

Carson Wentz was the larger- Gabriel was the larger-than-life idea. Ibra’s retirement opens
30 than-life leader of the Eagles,
then he tore an ACL and a bunch
leader of Genesis, then he went
solo and his sidemen carried the
the door for some less-spotlight-
needy Swedes to thrive, as
of unheralded pros carried the group to a bunch of hits. Zlatan they did in scoring 27 goals in
team to a Super Bowl win. Peter Ibrahimović was—oh, you get the UEFA qualifying. —A.D.

Because . . .
IRAN EVERY GAME’S A COMING-OUT PARTY

Soccer in one of the world’s based players to the World Cup. the Eredivisie with 21 goals in
31 oldest civilizations is evolving—
and finally we can watch it
In 2006, seven. This year they
have 14 men based abroad. The
’17–18. He’s fast, dynamic, speaks
fluent English and, at 24, has the
happen. In 1998, insular Iran most exciting: AZ Alkmaar winger potential to lead Team Melli out
brought only three foreign- Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who led of the shadows. —B.S.

Because . . .
RUSSIA THEIR PARTY IS EVERYONE’S PARTY

In 2010, host South Africa fielded Same thing in ’14: Host Brazil team is in terrible form, with just
32 one of the weakest teams, but
the tourney still had the feel of a
embraced the hope; when it fell
hard in the semis, locals seemed
one win in its last eight games.
One reason to believe the Stoli
big, buoyant party . . . until Bafana ready for the whole damn thing to will keep flowing: Russia’s group
Bafana was ousted in round 1. be over. Vladimir Putin’s favorite is the weakest in memory. —A.D.
 40 A
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HMMM. . . WAIT SURE, RED-WHITE-AND-BLUE,
JUST ONE DAMN WHY UH, NO
SECOND—ARE NOT? RIGHT?
YOU VLADIMIR
PUTIN!?

10
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YEAH—AND, LOOK,
I FEEL REAL BAD
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LARSSON,
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SW THIS WAY: WE’LL GIVE
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KOUYATE, SIGN ME UP
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Still searching for your soul mates in this tournament? Jump into SI’s
find-a-team flow chart and we’ll match you with your ideal USMNT stand-in
Odds according to Sky Bet

Illustration by Davide Barco

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HELL NO.
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 WORLD CUP
PREVIEW

A surprising number of NFL players will be everyone wrong—it was a similar

situation to myself.”
glued to every match in Russia, rooting on He was soon posting photos of
athletes who have become fast friends. himself wearing Patriots gear on
social media and spending hours
Then when the NFL kicks of this fall, soccer playing Madden with his soon-to-
be brother-in-law, Tom Goodland,
stars the world over will return the favor a huge NFL fan who helped teach
Kane the rules of the game. The
English football star has since be-
IT WAS almost 3 a.m. in England, and come such an American football junkie that he and
Harry Kane couldn’t rise from his couch— his fiancée, Kate, have a dog named Brady. (If her
couldn’t even lift his head from his hands. Instagram post “Hate Sundays #redzone” is any
This was three years ago, long before he was poised to indication, Kate is not quite as big a fan.)
carry the weight of English expectations as the team’s Kane is far from the only soccer star who has fallen
youngest World Cup captain. On Feb. 1, 2015, Kane for the NFL, and thanks in part to social media and the
was struck immobile in his living room by the same popularity of online gaming, the bromance is mutual.
thought every other Patriots fan had: The Seahawks are While former Bears coach Mike Ditka famously said,
going to hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch, and there’s “If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t
nothing New England can do. Super Bowl XLIX is over. have given us arms,” NFL locker rooms are now full
Two years earlier Kane had been struggling to find of players using those arms to play one of the world’s
playing time in England’s second tier and doubted top-selling video games, FIFA, which Electronic
his own future as a soccer player. Searching YouTube Arts created in 1993 after the success of Madden.
for inspiration he found The Brady 6, a documentary
about Tom Brady’s rise from sixth-round draft pick
to all-time great quarterback. “I fell in love with
the story,” Kane says, “What he had to do to prove

SPORT S ILLUS TR ATED JUNE 4 , 2018

110
 BY JACOB
FELDMAN
Photographs by
Jonathan Ferrey (Suh)
and Drew Gardner (Kane)

JERSEY BOYS
Suh (far left) and
Kane show their
cross-football
allegiances to
Nigeria and
the Patriots.
WORLD CUP PREVIEW

In Green Bay the offensive linemen commandeer a who wore a Rodgers

rec room for their two-on-two FIFA battles. Though jersey to a Vikings-
Aaron Rodgers doesn’t play often, he holds his own, Browns game last
tackle David Bakhtiari says, because “honestly, Aaron s e a s on . I n 2 016 ,
is good at everything he does.” Ravens linemen Jer- French midfielder
maine Eluemunor and Ronnie Stanley, along with Paul Pogba—a good
wideout Chris Moore, team up online, each controlling friend of Norman’s—
a custom-made player on a shared Pro Club account. got to see his first
Eluemunor, a tackle from England who fell for the NFL game when the
NFL when he watched the first London Series game, Redskins played the Bengals at Wembley Stadium.
in 2007, always plays as a midfielder to better control This summer, after the World Cup, soccer clubs
the action. In Washington, cornerback Josh Norman from five European countries will play 16 matches
has been known to charge challengers $200. “You across the U.S. as part of the International Champions
can’t come from the bottom and expect to play the top Cup. Last year Real Madrid and FC Barcelona drew
guy,” he said last November. Receivers Jarvis Landry 66,000 in Miami. Watching Barça’s 3–2 win at Hard
(Browns) and Odell Beckham Jr. (Giants) have been Rock Stadium, Landry became an even bigger fan.
fans of Real Madrid since before they were teammates “The skill set is on a different level,” he says. “You
at LSU in 2011. Both had the same favorite player, can’t imagine what these guys make look easy.”

C A M ER A SP O R T/G E T T Y IM AG E S (N E Y M A R); R O D RI G O B U EN D I A /A F P/G E T T Y IM AG E S (M E SSI)

Cristiano Ronaldo, and battled for the right to compete After tight end Coby Fleener griped to The New York

G E T T Y IM AG E S (K A N T E); K H A L ED D E S O U KI /A F P/G E T T Y IM AG E S (S A L A H); R O B N E W EL L /

as Real. They, like many other NFL players, say that Times that quarterback Andrew Luck “talks about

P OWER SP O R T IM AG E S /G E T T Y IM AG E S (D E G E A); B O RIS S T REUB EL /G E T T Y IM AG E S

(KIM MI C H , R A M OS , M A R C ELO); S T EFA N M AT ZK E /S A M PI C S /CO RB IS /G E T T Y IM AG E S
(H U M M EL S); V I IM AG E S /G E T T Y IM AG E S (D E B RU Y N E , R O N A L D O); J E A N C AT U F F E /
vying in FIFA has increased their interest in—and soccer more than some of his teammates would like,”
respect for—the other kind of football. Luck and Fleener went to see Liverpool play at West
Ham. The 2–1 LFC victory muted Fleener’s complaints

F
OR 20 YEARS U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard about locker-room fútbol talk. “Watching something
has watched the two footballs move closer in person, you realize how incredible it is,” says Luck,
as he played for teams in the States and the who spent much of his childhood in England and
U.K. “It’s incredible to see the mutual re- Germany. “When you see a guy kick the ball 60 yards
spect that has grown,” says Howard, who has a James and place it perfectly on the left knee of a sprinting
Harrison Steelers jersey hanging in his Memphis left back, it’s much easier to appreciate.”
home. Over the last 11 years the NFL has hosted 21 Kane has made several tours of the U.S. with Totten-
games in London soccer stadiums, with three more ham Hotspur. In 2014 he and several teammates
set for October. These matchups have drawn fans such worked out with the Seahawks at their training facility,
as Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begović, Austrian de- an experience Kane has called “a dream come true.”
fender David Alaba and English keeper Jack Butland, Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright, who didn’t have much

BY AVI CREDITOR DEFENSE

ULTIMATE
WORLD CUP
GK SPAIN RB GERMANY CB GERMANY CB SPAIN LB BRAZIL

DAVID DE GEA JOSHUA KIMMICH MATS HUMMELS SERGIO RAMOS MARCELO

Manchester Pep Guardiola He’s dangerous A penchant for No fullback
United’s keeper shaped the going forward cards? Yes, but in the world

XI led the EPL in

clean sheets
(18) and in
absurd saves
(countless).
versatile
Bayern star—
now he’s
blossomed into
a top talent.
and on set
pieces, all while
neutralizing
a foe’s top
threat.
also for expert
marking and
for popping
up with clutch
goals.
has the Real
Madrid star’s
attacking skill
and ability on
the ball.
 flew to England in January but the Swedish striker,
then with Man United, was an injury scratch. Still,
Bakhtiari was awed by how Anfield Stadium rocked as
thousands of fans chanted in unison. After Ibra joined
the Los Angeles Galaxy in March, Bakhtiari attend-
ed a match and asked for a postgame introduction.
Bakhtiari expected a brief meet-and-greet; instead,
the two chatted for nearly an hour. Ibrahimović has
not been to an NFL game, but Bakhtiari is confident
“A couple of years ago, teammates he has earned the Swede’s allegiance. “I’m going to
go ahead and say it: We got him,” Bakhtiari says.
never would have been talking about “Zlatan is a Packers fan.”
With the U.S. not in the field at the World Cup, soc-
[the Super Bowl],” Taitague says. cer fans across the NFL will have divided allegiances.
Landry will be rooting for Portugal because of Ron-
“It’s cool to see.” aldo. Luck has decided to back Mexico, even though
he’s always rooted against El Tri when they face the
USMNT. Norman and Stanley will be among the
C H RIS C A RL S O N /A P/SHU T T ERS TO C K (S UH); M AT T HE W A SH T O N /A M A /G E T T Y IM AG E S (K A N E)

success booting a soccer ball in spite of the tutoring BEST FOOT Americans attending matches in Russia, but they’ll be
provided by Tottenham, was equally thrilled to inter- FORWARD rooting for their friends—Norman backing Pogba and
act with the soccer stars. “To meet guys I play with Kane (left) France, Stanley supporting Boateng’s German side.
on the video game, it was real fun,” he said. (Kane calls training

S
has remained a Pats fan, despite his time in Seattle. with the OCCER WAS my first love,” says Rams
To his delight, the Seahawks failed to give Lynch the Seahawks nosetackle Ndamukong Suh, “and I think
ball at the end of Super Bowl XLIX, and lost 28–24.) a “dream it will always be that way.” Suh’s father
come true”;
Players also develop relationships on their own Suh says
played semipro in Germany while studying
time. Kane exchanges texts with Pats wideout Julian soccer is his to become a mechanical engineer; his older sister spent
Edelman; Belgian goalie Thibault Courtois struck up “first love.” a year on Cameroon’s national team as a midfielder.
a friendship with defensive end Chris Long after hear- While other NFL players fell for soccer only recently,
ing the two-time Super Bowl winner was a Chelsea Suh has been hooked since 1994, when he watched
fan; and Stanley connected with German defender Cameroon play a World Cup game in the U.S. Cam-
Jerome Boateng through their shared agency, Roc eroon didn’t qualify this year, so Suh has adopted
Nation. Bakhtiari, meanwhile, has worked hard to Nigeria, because it’s an African nation and because
meet his favorite player, Zlatan Ibrahimović. He it has accepted refugees from its southern neighbor.

MIDFIELD FORWARDS

AM BELGIUM DM FRANCE AM EGYPT F BRAZIL F PORTUGAL F ARGENTINA

KEVIN DE BRUYNE N’GOLO KANTE MOHAMED SALAH NEYMAR CRISTIANO LIONEL MESSI
The attacking The Chelsea Liverpool’s The electric RONALDO Ho hum:
spark for Man dynamo linchpin set PSG wiz has At 33, he another 45-goal
City’s epic covers acres an EPL record unfinished remains lethal year for Barça
season had of space and is for a 38-game business after as a finisher. after single-
12 goals, 21 always up for season with an injury- He can still handedly sealing
assists in all a ball-winning 32 goals. He’s shortened ’14 find that top Argentina’s
competitions. tackle. for real. WC at home. gear if needed. WC berth.
WORLD CUP PREVIEW

A contingent of U.S. players who compete in Germa- reviewed highlights to understand how Philadelphia
ny has helped popularize the other football with their quarterback Nick Foles pulled off that fourth-and-
Bundesliga teammates. Weston McKennie (Schalke) goal trick play. As Kane rooted for Brady from Eng-
and Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) set aside land, so did 19-year-old Florian Krüger in Germany.
their club rivalry to have a Super Bowl party last Janu- “He is like an idol for me,” the Schalke forward says.
ary, along with Schalke junior player Nick Taitague. Krüger (a Rams fan) and Weiner (a Giants fan) spent
Schalke junior keeper Timon Weiner hosted a party for the next several months obsessing over mock drafts,
the German group, complete with mounds of chicken keeping Taitague up to date with the latest rumors.
wings and cookies from Subway. “A couple of years The Super Bowl will never match the World Cup
ago, teammates never would have been talking about for global attention, no matter how many games the
[the Super Bowl],” Taitague says. “It’s cool to see.” NFL plays on other continents. But after the Cup is
The group stayed up past 5 a.m. to watch the awarded on July 15, the bonds between professional
Eagles’ 41–33 win over the Patriots. The next day football and soccer players will continue to grow. And
the players debated Malcolm Butler’s benching and FIFA 19 should be out in September. ±

PAT RIK S T O L L A R Z /A F P/G E T T Y IM AG E S

ROUND OF 16 ROUND OF 16
1A URUGUAY 1B SPAIN
vs vs
2B PORTUGAL 2A RUSSIA
SPAIN
URUGUAY SPAIN
QUARTERFINAL vs vs QUARTERFINAL
FRANCE CROATIA
ROUND OF 16 ROUND OF 16
1C FRANCE 1D CROATIA
vs vs
2D ICELAND 2C DENMARK
FINAL
URUGUAY BELGIUM SPAIN
SEMIFINAL vs vs vs SEMIFINAL
BELGIUM GERMANY
SPAIN
ROUND OF 16 ROUND OF 16
1E BRAZIL 1F GERMANY
vs vs
2F MEXICO 2E SWITZERLAND

MEXICO GERMANY
QUARTERFINAL vs vs QUARTERFINAL
BELGIUM ENGLAND
THIRD-PLACE GAME
ROUND OF 16 ROUND OF 16
1G BELGIUM GERMANY 1H COLOMBIA
vs over vs
2H SENEGAL URUGUAY 2G ENGLAND

THE SPANIARDS win their emerging front line (Marco Asensio, Isco, stinker every five games) and Uruguay.
second World Cup in three cycles Diego Costa). Their ball control wears out Ultimately, the teamwide strength
by relying on an experienced core defending champ Germany in the semis of Spain prevails in a tournament of
balancing solid D (goalkeeper David and then, in the final, Belgium, which surprises over the individual stardom
De Gea; centerbacks Sergio Ramos and outlasts a slew of talented teams in the of Brazil’s Neymar, Portugal’s Cristiano
Gerard Piqué), a masterly midfield (Sergio Red Devils’ half of the draw: Brazil (upset Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi
Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Thiago) and an by Mexico), France (which has at least one (out in the group stage). —G.W.
POINT AFTER

POSITION BATTLE If somebody

[on the
T HE NF L NO W RE QUIRE S P L AY E RS T O S TA ND F OR
T HE N AT ION A L A N T HEM—OR FA CE F INES. BU T
Jets] takes
T HE NE W R U L E O NLY IN T E N S IF IE D T HE L E A G UE ’ S a knee, that
DEB AT E O V ER PAT RIO T ISM A ND F REE SPEECH fine will be
borne by the
organization,
What NFL owners did today was thwart the players’ constitutional rights to express by me, not
themselves and use our platform to draw attention to social injustices like racial the players.
inequality in our country. Everyone loses when voices get stifled. — CHRISTOPHER
While I disagree with this decision, I will not let it silence me or stop me from fighting. JOHNSON
— MALCOLM JENKINS E AGLES SAFE T Y JE TS CHAIRMAN

“Appropriate respect for flag

and anthem” implies that This is fear of a diminished bottom line. It’s also fear of a president turning his
guys were being disrespectful base against a corporation. This is not patriotism . . . . These owners don’t love
towards it. Which is an opinion. America more than the players demonstrating and taking real action to improve it.
— CHRIS LONG E AGLES DEFENSIVE END
Most people who believe that
ignore the responses from the
players and more importantly
why men chose to protest.
— TORREY SMITH
PANTHERS RECEIVER I’ll be out there standing.
— DAK PRESCOT T COWBOYS QUARTERBACK If the team
says, ‘This is what
we’re doing,’ and
ownership [does too],
I can speak
you either deal with it or
for myself: I’ll be out
I believe in standing for the flag. To me, the you’re probably going to
there, standing for the
flag represents the ideas and the ideals that get cut. . . . You have to
anthem. When it comes
make us America. I also believe in the freedoms adhere to the rules and if
to the team policy, that’s
the flag represents and that people can speak not, they’ll find a way to
something as a team
for themselves. I know this: Our players get you up out of there.
we’ll have to get into.
respect the flag and what it represents. RAMON FOSTER
— MAT T PARADIS
— JOHN HARBAUGH RAVENS COACH STEELERS GUARD
BRONCOS CENTER

I was proud of my team last year. They stood for the

There are still plenty
M A R C I O J OSE S A N C H E Z /A P/SH U T T ERS T O C K (K A EPERNI C K);

anthem. I think it’s important that we stand for the

of ways to use our anthem. I think it’s important that we represent our
voice and platform.
TO N Y AV EL A R /A P/SHU T T ERS TO C K (SHERM A N)

country the right way, the flag the right way.

— RICHARD SHERMAN 49ERS CORNERBACK — MIKE ZIMMER VIKINGS COACH

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 PUT TWO & TWO
TOGETHER
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