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Trae Young | Tua Tagovailoa | The LeBronnofLax +TheDefense&Stars&CTESolve+ TThe Defennse & Staars & CCTE Sollve ....of ofToTomorrow

NOVEMBER 19–26 , 2018 DOUBBLE ISSUE SI.COM |@ SINOW

ANDY REID IS CREATING FOOTBALL’S FUTURE IS LIVING IT

BY JENNY VRENTAS P. 40 PhotographPhotograph byby DAVIDAVIDDE. E.KLUTH KLUTHOO WE MAKE MORE HOLIDAY DELIVERIES TO MORE HOMES THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY, WITH ONE NOTABLE EXCEPTION.

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DEPARTMENTS SI TV P. 2 LEADING OFF P. 4 INBOX P. 10 SCORECARD P. 13 FACES IN THE CROWD P. 24 POINT AFTER P. 100

the

ANDY REID 40 How his innovations have reshaped NFL offenses ByJennyVrentas

A SCHEME TO SAVE THE D 47 Great minds think alike: taking on the scoring explosion By Conor Orr

QB EVOLUTION 52 Size and strength are out; mobility and accuracy are in ByJennyVrentas

TRAE YOUNG 56 Prototypical NBA sharpshooter, social media pro ByAndrewSharp

PROMISE KEEPERS 64 Six youngsters poised to lead the next wave ByJeremyFuchs

LACROSSE 72 Is a new pro league’s business plan the way to go? ByBenReiter

IT’S HARD TO REPEAT 78 The author discovered that he’s no soothsayer ByBenReiter

GARY PLUMMER 84 Can alternative therapies reverse cognitive decline? ByChrisBallard

A MOMENT LIKE THIS 94 Maybewe’dallenjoysportsmore if we lived in today ByTimLayden

THE CAVS 26 When dysfunction is the operating MASTER CHIEF principle By Rob Mahoney · An ode to Cleveland QBs bysteverushin Running back Kareem Hunt pounded out 71 yards as 9–1 BEST BUY Kansas City beat Arizona 26–14 to retain control of the AFC West. 32 BryceHarper,andthecraziesthot stove in years ByTomVerducci PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID E. KLUTHO NOW ON

Hope Chess

IF AMERICA’S descent into chess oblivion began with Bobby Fischer’s decline, then its ascent into a chess renaissance starts with Fabiano Caruana, who is the subject of the documentary Your Move on SI TV. While Fischer was bombastic and incendiary, the 26-year-old Caruana is soft-spoken and demure. While Fischer was anxious and suspicious—equally concerned with the knight encroaching on his king as with the cameras filming his every move—Caruana is laid back. Despite their differences, Caruana is attempting to do something no American has done since Fischer, in 1974. By HOW TO

winning the Candidates Tournament in Berlin in March, Caruana earned the right to play Magnus WATCH CLUB CHESS LOUIS SAINT OF /COURTESY OOTES LENNART Carlsen of Norway for the world championship in London. “Every chess player in the United States in some sense lives in [Fischer’s] shadow,” Caruana says. “But my chess can stand alone.” For classic The championship will be determined over 12 games at The College in Holborn, from Nov. 9 to 28. sports movies Carlsen, 27, became world champion in 2013 and defended his title in ’16. Caruana managed a draw in and TV the first two matches, but whether he upsets Carlsen is almost beside the point. His appearance at the shows, plus championship can galvanize the sport in the U.S. “Caruana has simply electrified American chess in a Crossover TV and other way that no one has in decades,” says Maurice Ashley, a U.S. grandmaster and noted chess commenta- compelling tor. “He’s telling all of the other players, Get on my back. You guys can keep growing, keep developing, original because we’re making a mark on the world stage.” —Jeremy Fuchs programming, go to SI.TV

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INSIDE THE LINES HERE IS a part of professional football that T holds little interest for fantasy players or statisticians. Analytics wizards pay it little mind as well. The few times the members of the overlooked group appear center screen during a game is when one has committed an infraction that undoes the spectacular feat of a player who does get attention all the time. Yet all this group does, on most fall Sundays, is determine the outcome of the actual football game. For the last few weeks we have trained our lenses on these stalwarts—NFL offensive linemen—who receive little credit, except of course from the running backs who would be poorer without them, the who depend on them for their safety and the coaches who count on them to deliver a victory week after week. PETERS PRINCIPLE No one, not even Eagles All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters, has stopped the Vikings’ Danielle 1 Hunter, whose 11 ⁄2 sacks rank second in the league.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROB TRINGALI LEADING OFF FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED

MIDDLE MUSH Broncos left guard Max Garcia (76) tried to stand tall against J.J. Watt (99) and Angelo Blackson (97), a combined 600 pounds of Texans defensive end.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMIE SCHWABEROW

LEADING OFF FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO STUDS With right tackle Bobby Massie (70), the NFC North– leading Bears have allowed their quarterbacks to be hit just 36 times, fourth fewest in the NFL.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID E. KLUTHO

BRADY VS. RODGERS It boggles my mind that sportswriters won’t stop conflating team success and individual greatness. We have a way to compare players: statistics. is head and shoulders above , both by traditional stats and advanced metrics. Si’s INBOX FOR NOVEMBER 5, 2018 will soon be able to bypass college and earn $125,000 as LEADING OFF was overwhelmed by aprofessional.The What a remarkable the poignancy of his G-League is good, old- photo of Andrew proseashedetailed fashioned American Benintendi’s catch the loyalty, resilience capitalism at its best! in the World Series in and passion of InIntime,itwillproveto time, it w front of Fenway Park’s Boston’s players and be the bestthingfor Green Monster. And their manager as they college bassketball since what a reminder that pursued greattness. the shot clock. Andy Benoit is right to the Orioles finished a They succeeded William McCarthy say there’s no debate: whopping 61 games beyond everyone’s Athens,Ga. it’s Rodgers who is behind the eventual expectations, as much better. champion Red Sox. did Verducci in THETOP 255 Brian Hofman That is a stunning documenting You mentiont that there Kanawha, Iowa commentary on the lack their are a “whopping six

of parity in major league magnificent teams”s from the POINT AFTER PAYAN/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK (BAZL GREGORY (BENINTENDI); TOWNSON WINSLOW baseball today. journey. SEC inntheTop20 Iunderstandthat (COVE W. MCDONOUGH JOHN (BRADY, RODGERS); IMAGES KERSEY/GETTY D. BRIAN Mark A. Weber Rick Lalor withouut noting that Lindsey Vonn is one of Indialantic, Fla. Glendora, Calif. thereareeanamazing the greatest athletes seven teamms from the we’ve seen over the past UNBREAKABLE FREED MARKEET ACC, includding three 15 years, but I still would Anyone who has Bravo to Charles intheTop88. Come on, have liked to hear much wondered why Red Sox P. Pierce for his theACCis the best more about her future Nation is so devoted succinct, hardd- basketball conference. plans in her retirement to its team need only hitting essay on The mediaa’s sudden announcement. read Tom Verducci’s the G-League,where devotion to the SEC Gary Dembs powerful story about 18-year-old basketball does not change that. Huntington Woods, the World Series. I stars like Darius Bazley Brian King, Tampa Mich. EY); R)

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’sfullname,addressand go to SICOVERS.COM The next edition of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED will [email protected] telephone number and may be be the December 3, 2018, issue. Look edited for clarity and space. Email: for it on newsstands and in your mailbox [email protected] beginning on November 28.

10 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19-26, 2018 THE PROTEIN TO HELP POWER THROUGH A GRUELING DAY OF FANTASY COACHING. ®/©2018 Tyson Foods, Inc. ®/©2018 Tyson

Keep it real. Keep it Tyson. BELFAST | FLORSHEIM.COM NEWSMAKERS P.15 A LIFE REMEMBERED P. 19 GAMEPLAN P.21 SI EATS P. 22 FACES IN THE CROWD P.24 SCORECARD

AST SATURDAY the known as the Woolsey Fire began L marquee outside Oaks charring a suburban hillside about EASING Christian School asked 10 miles northeast of the town. As for thoughts and prayers for the blaze—which had rapidly spread THE our thousand oaks community, across 85,000 acres—engulfed their without making clear which of the two tree-shrouded neighborhoods on PA IN local catastrophes it was referencing. Saturday, thousands of Thousand Three nights earlier a gunman Oaks’s 130,000 residents grieving SPORTS PROVIDE SOME entered the Borderline Bar and Grill from the mass shooting were forced RELIEF TO A CALIFORNIA on Rolling Oaks Drive and killed to flee their homes. COMMUNITY UNDER SIEGE 11 patrons and a Ventura County That same day Oaks Christian’s sheriff’s sergeant before taking his football team, undefeated and BY MICHAEL MCKNIGHT own life. Then, 15 hours later, the ranked No. 8 in the nation, was

EUGENE GARCIA/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCKEUGENE first flames of what would become on a southbound bus, headed to

NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 13 SCORECARD

itsSouthernSectionDivisionI huskyfromshoutingandbreathingdust. know if his house was still standing. quarterfinal matchup at JSerra The Woolsey Fire stretched about That was also the situation Catholic, in San Juan Capistrano. The 18 miles, from close to Simi Valley forabout75employeesofthe gamehadbeenpostponedadaydue all the way to coastal Malibu, home Rams, a total that included players tothewildfires,adelaythatallowed to dozens of famous athletes, active and coaches. The NFL team halftheLions’playerstohelptheir and retired—Brewers outfielder Ryan practicesjustfivemilesfromthe familiesevacuate.SeniorkickerGarth Braun, NBA legend Kevin Garnett siteoftheBorderlineshooting; Whitedescribedtheteam’sride.“It and surfing icon Laird Hamilton offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, was lot different vibe,” he told The among them. Former U.S. soccer star wholiveswithhiswifeandfour Orange County Register. “Our minds Eric Wynalda, now a Fox analyst, children near the bar, donated his were off of the game. Our minds were watchedonTVashisWestlake weekly paycheck (about $60,000) back at home. . . . We took a hard hit.” Village house burned. The same fate to the Ventura County Community The Lions rumbled down the 101 hadreportedlybefallenthehomeof Foundation (VCCF.org), which Freeway,pastayouthsoccerfieldin Royce Clayton, an MLB shortstop was providing financial relief and Encino, where kids played on fields for17seasonsandnowthebaseball othersupporttothefamiliesofthe consisting mostly of dirt. Games coach at Oaks Christian. deceased. The Rams’ practice site throughoutLosAngelesCounty,and The families of the Lions’ football is also only a few miles from the asfarawayasManhattanBeach, team arrived for the playoff game Woolsey Fire’s still advancing edge. hadbeencanceledduetopoorair Team owner Stan Kroenke has quality—but not these matches, vowed to cover any expenses despite the fires raging just down incurredbystaffersasaresultof the road. As the seven-year-olds the evacuation order. joyfully sprinted and dribbled, José Wildfires were raging across the Torres,directoroftheProject2000 state. The Camp Fire in Butte County, soccer program, explained that northofSacramento,hasbecomethe playing these games was important most destructive blaze in California tokidsandfamiliesalike.“AYSOis history. Traces of smoke wafted into recreation,”hesaid,“butthis the Golden 1 Center before Saturday is competition.” The latter, he added, night’s NBA game between the distractsasituplifts. Lakers and the Kings, creating a Andtheairwasn’tsobad,henoted, faint gray cloud that hovered near asthelastoftheday’ssunshine COURT COMFORT the ceiling. Raiders fans arriving illuminatedthefinalU-8match.Just Staff and students at Pierce College at Oakland Coliseum for Sunday’s seven miles west, at the Woodland did their best to help evacuees of kickoffagainsttheChargerswere the Woolsey Fire. HillscampusofPierceCollege, handed pollution masks. theRedCrosshadsetupthree Inaweekfullofwell-meaning evacuation shelters amid a smoky but insufficient sound bites, haze. Men’s volleyball coach Lance in Orange County, far from the fire Walker offered a summation of Walker arrived that morning ready and smoke, and were provided with the community outreach he had to drive his team to an offseason atailgatedinnerbytheparents witnessed and led with his own tournament in San Diego. When he oftheiropponentsasashowof soot-blackened hands. He attributed sawhisgymfilledwithcots,blankets hospitality and support. A titanic it to his former coach at Pierce, Ken and frightened evacuees, he nixed struggle then unfolded on the field. Stanley, for whom community service the trip. He and his players spent Oaks Christian and JSerra Catholic wasarequirement,notanoption. most of the next two days lugging traded the lead for the fifth and “One of things Coach Stanley told bottled water, bananas and snack final time with 18 seconds left, when us,” says Walker, now a 39-year-old bars between the shelters, as well Whitekickeda26-yardfieldgoal husband and father, “is that the asgivingridestoanyonewhoasked fora35–34victory.Whiteandhis rarestthingapersoncandois MCKNIGHT MICHAEL for one. “Some things are more family were among those who had to do his best all the time. important than us playing volleyball,” obeyed evacuation orders. He told a “This week, in this community, he said on Sunday, his voice made reporter after the game that he didn’t that has not been rare at all.” ±

14 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 NEWSMAKERS HOMETOWN HERO JOE MAUER: TWO CAREERS; ONE GREAT GUY

BY JOE SHEEHAN

OE MAUER had two careers. The first “ J ran from April 5, 2004, through Mauer Aug. 19, 2013. On that gorgeous August never got afternoon, Mauer was catching for the Twins when within a Ike Davis fouled a pitch off Mauer’s helmet. The ringing ball ricocheted with such force, it landed in the double of seats. Mauer finished the game, but it was the final a scandal. one he played that season, forced to the bench with or a first baseman, a superstar or an aging veteran, He married a concussion. His skills never recovered. Mauer was the same. In an era when the next a high At the time of the foul tip, Mauer was one of unpleasant surprise is a click away, it’s hard to school baseball’s best players, with six All-Star selections, invest in heroes. The jersey you buy today could be an MVP award and a career .323 batting average. burned by hundreds on YouTube tomorrow. classmate. He was an AL MVP candidate that season too, Mauer, though, was safe. He was T-bills and He did hitting .324. His induction into the Hall of Fame Volvos and your mother’s arms. A three-sport star local TV seemed assured; just five catchers in history had at Cretin–Derham Hall High in St. Paul, Mauer ads for ever put up more value through the age of 30. never got within a ringing double of a scandal. He milk, for We couldn’t have known it that afternoon, but married a high school classmate; they had twins. cryin’ out Mauer, who announced his retirement last week, He did local TV ads for milk, for cryin’ out loud. loud. saw his first career end that day. Because of the So maybe his first career will be honored with a risk of more concussions, he wouldn’t play catcher plaque in Cooperstown. We have five years to discuss anymore. In the spring of 2014, Mauer was a that. Today let’s remember Mauer as he was on his ” first baseman. He would play the next five seasons final at bat, on Sept. 30, slashing a double, standing at a diminished level, hitting .300 just once more. on second, ice-cold milk coursing through his veins, He never sniffed another All-Star Game. the Twins on their way to a win over the White Sox, What was consistent across the two careers, a crowd cheering, decked out in number 7 jerseys however, was Joe Mauer the person. As a catcher they’ll never have reason to put away. ±

FLYERSF MASCOT ∑ ALABAMA COACH GRITTYG RECEIVED “IT’S KIND OF LIKE HAVING NICK SABAN, on TWOT WRITE-IN A GREAT MEAL AND SMOKING the possibility of VOTESV IN THIS ACIGARETTE....YOUFEEL the Crimson Tide MONTH’SM ELECTION FULL AND COMFORTABLE, growing complacent FORF THE CAMDEN in November APOCALYPSE SIGN OF THE THEY SAID IT AND IT ALL LEADS TO COUNTYC (N.J.) because of their SHERIFF.S A NATURAL LETDOWN.” success. BRACE HEMMELGARN/MINNESOTA TWINS/GETTY HEMMELGARN/MINNESOTA BRACE IMAGES (MAUER); KYLE ROSS/ICON BRUTY (SABAN) SIMON (GRITTY); SPORTSWIRE/AP

NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 15

SCORECARD

A LIFE REMEMBERED N1977,Willie McCovey was I named the National League Comeback Player of the Year. WILLIE It was a fitting award, and not just becausehehadbouncedbackfroma terrible ’76 campaign to hit 28 homers MCCOVEY as a 38-year-old. The ’77 season also 1938–2018 sawMcCoveyliterallycome back—to San Francisco, the town where he had spent the first15yearsofhiscareer, PHOTOGRAPH BY winning the 1969 NL MVP JOHN IACONO Awardandhelpingthe Giants to the ’62 pennant. When McCovey was announced with the team’s starters on Opening Day upon hisreturn,theroar of the crowd lasted several minutes. The 6' 4", 200-pound lefty had a knack for putting good wood on the ball. “I’ve never seen a harder hitter,” his first manager with theGiants,BillRigney,oncesaid. McCovey joined Rigney’s team in the summerof1959,eightyearsafterWillie 1 Mays made his debut and just 1 ⁄2 years after the team moved from Coogan’s Bluff, meaning that to San Franciscans, McCovey was the first Giants star who was all theirs. His relationship with the team—save for that three-year exile with the Padres and the A’s—lasted until his death last week at age 80. When the Giants moved into AT&T Park in 2000, the portion of San Francisco Bay beyond the rightfield stands was unofficially dubbed McCovey Cove. “I think people there consider me a part of the city,” he said in 1978. “San Francisco is identified with certain things—the bridges, the fog, the cable cars. Without bragging, I feel I’ve gotten to the place where people are thinking of me along those lines.” —Mark Bechtel

NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 19 SCORECARD

EXTRA MUSTARD TURKEY TALK IFYOUWANTTOAVOIDABITTERPOLITICALDEBATEATTHETHANKSGIVING TABLE, TRY BRINGING THE CONVERSATION AROUND TO SPORTS INSTEAD. WE’RE HERE TO HELP MAKE CHANGING THE SUBJECT AS SMOOTH AS POSSIBLE BY DAN GARTLAND

Your brother’s Your nephew Chad: Everyone was talking about girlfriend, Claire: I’m how impressive the “blue wave” would be, but in increasingly concerned theenditwasactuallya“redwave”insomeofthe about information more consequential races. security and how You: True, Alabama remains unmatched, but you breaches can impact have to admit Michigan is still in prime position crucial outcomes. toqualifyfortheplayoff. You: If you think the Astros are the only ones stealing signs, SOKHT/ET MGS(UKY;GE ESN(ASTROS); (ALABAMA D. KEVIN LILES GREG NELSON (TURKEY); IMAGES ISTOCKPHOTO/GETTY Ihaveabridgeto Your gullible Aunt Sarah: Your idealistic sell you. They’re saying that people voted sister-in-law, Nancy: three, four or five times! It’s I think it’s important sickening. we listen to everyone and try to

You: That’s perfectly legal. Use HE (OREGON TAYLOR BALLANTYNE (SNYDER); VUICH FRED (MACHADO); #NBAVote to vote as many understand what the other side is saying. times as you want for your Your grandpa Rick, favorite NBA All-Stars. who spends too much You: Forget that! time on Facebook: Anyone who says The Fake News Media Jacob deGrom didn’t YourwingnutUncleDerek,who is driving me up the deserve the Cy Young believeseverythinghereadsonthe wall! cangetoutofmy Internet: Itrulybelievewe’reonthe You: Iknow!Between face. vergeofacivilwar. the You: Indeed we are! Oregon–Oregon coaching carousel and MLB hot stove, State, tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET. The (DEGROM); IMAGES W. JOHN MC ); MIKE ZARRILLI/GETTY Beavs can play spoiler on their home I don’t know what to LMET); CHAD MATTHEW CARLSON (OREGON STATE HELMET) (OREGON CARLSON MATTHEW CHAD LMET); field in Corvallis. believe anymore.

Your cousin Jack: OneofthemainproblemsIhavewith thewaythingsworkinthiscountryisthatpeoplearegiven lifetime appointments, which makes it impossible to hold them accountablefortheiractions.

You: You’re exactly right. It’s time for Bill Snyder to do the right DONOUGH thing and step aside at Kansas State.

20 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 SCORECARD

WATCH CHIEFS VS. RAMS GAMEPLAN: THE SMART FAN’S GUIDE TO RIGHT NOW Nov. 19, 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN This clash pits two of the NFL’s best teams and HITTING IMAGE two of the league’s most prolific quarterbacks. A BOOK OF STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHS TELLS THE There’s plenty of football STORY OF AMERICA’S NATIONAL PASTIME to be played this season, but don’t bet against a rematch in Super Bowl LIII.

READ

THE CIRCUIT: A TENNIS ODYSSEY by Rowan Ricardo Phillips, out Nov. 20 The poet and Paris Review sports columni recounts the historic 2017 season with characteristically beautiful prose and incisive analysis. It’s an appreciation that any ardent tennis fan will enjoy.

WATCH THE STORY OF BASEBALL IN 100 PHOTOGRAPHS THE MATCH: Edited by Kostya Kennedy, written by Bill Syken TIGER VS. PHIL No sport does nostalgia quite like baseball. But the rich history of Nov. 23, 3 p.m. ET on Pay-Per-View America’s national pastime isn’t just about sepia-toned sentimentality. Football isn’t the only That’s clear in The Story of Baseball in 100 Photographs, a new book sport on the menu over from SI that aims to capture baseball’s heritage—in all of its beauty the Thanksgiving holiday. and complexity—with 100 stunning images and their backstories. The While you’re on the couch collection features moments every baseball fan will recognize, from recovering from the Lou Gehrig bidding farewell at Yankee Stadium to Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair. previous day’s turkey But there are also the less-iconic photos that likewise weave the fabric of the game: binge, Tiger Woods and Ken Griffey Sr. posing with Junior (above), Steroid Era sluggers testifying to Congress Phil Mickelson will face off and, naturally, the Phillie Phanatic taunting an opponent. The result, a vivid portrait of with $9 million on the line. baseball, is a stirring tribute to the sport’s evolution and longevity.

NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 21 SCORECARD

EATS: FOOD. DRINK. CULTURE. SPORTS. EASY PICKINGS HOW NEW ORLEANS COVERS THE SPREAD ON THANKSGIVING

BY CONNOR GROSSMAN

NO DAY ON THE calendar unites sports and food like Thanksgiving. And no city embraces that union like New Orleans. The tailgating around Mercedes-Benz Stadium on game days is unmatched andthepartywillreallyragethisyear when first-place New Orleans hosts OYSTER DRESSING Atlanta on Thursday night. Who else A Thanksgiving staple for those who grew up along the Gulf Coast, oyster dressing but New Orleans native and celebrated resembles other stuffings but with a Louisiana twist: oysters and creole spices are chef Kelly English—a diehard Saints mixed with bread, onions, celery and bell pepper. English grew up in New Orleans, fan—could come up with a menu worthy and the dish was a fixture on his family’s holiday table. Like many from the area, the of this auspicious occasion. Englishes have their own recipe, handed down from generation to generation.

PECAN PIE It’s not Thanksgiving without pie, and it’s not pie in New Orleans unless it’s pecan pie. (And FYI, as English staunchly maintains, it’s p'kännot 'pē,kan— which is something you might use to relieve yourself in the woods.) English’s take on the classicincludesa NEW ORLEANS MILK PUNCH touch of vinegar in the ThisbeverageisaCrescentCityclassic pie dough, and even a that provides the recommended daily splash of your favorite allowance of both calcium and bourbon. brown liquor. Kelly (3) FOCHT PULFER KAREN The French Quarter take on this is a dollops each slice with blend of milk, cinnamon, bourbon and a homemade version of simple syrup, shaken and poured over Cool Whip. ice. Sprinkle nutmeg over the top, and Forfullmenus,goto you’re officially part of Who Dat Nation. SI.com/Eats

22 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19-26, 2018 insurance and you could save.

geico.com | 1-800-947-AUTO | Local Oi ce

Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states, in all GEICO companies, or in all situations. Boat and PWC coverages are underwritten by GEICO Marine Insurance Company. Homeowners, renters and condo coverages are written through non-affi liated insurance companies and are secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc. Motorcycle and ATV coverages are underwritten by GEICO Indemnity Company. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, DC 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. © 2018 GEICO 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

BROOKLYN MAGGIE KORNELL HILLIARD MIA LEKO MAXIMUS GRIMES HUNTER KELKENBERG Soccer Swimming Football Tennis FieldHockey Louisville North Branford, Conn. Lafayette,Ind. Topeka, Kans. Clarence, N.Y. Hilliard, a junior Leko, a freshman at Maximus, a sophomore Brooklyn, a senior at Maggie, a junior forward at Spalding Dartmouth, took the at Hayden Catholic, beat forward at Clarence University, netted his 200-meter butterfly Jefferson High, passed Wichita Collegiate’s High, scored four third hat trick of the in 2:15.1 at the YMCA for 432 yards and Lauren Conrad 6–3, timesina6–1winover season in a 6–0 win Long Course National seven in 6–1forherfourth Amherst Central. It over Eureka. Through Championships a55–7victoryover Class4Atitleandled was her second game 18gamesheranks while competing for Logansport. He tossed her team to second with four goals and ninth in Division III in theCheshireY/Sea five first-half TDs place. Brooklyn, who nine points; through goals (18), eighth in Dog. She was also a forthethirdstraight finished her career 17 games she has points (43) and 10th in part of four winning week.Inhisfirst 78–2, has also won 30 goals and 73 points. shots on goal per game relays, leading her season as a starter, three state volleyball Last year Maggie led (2.78). Last season club to its third Maximus has thrown championships as the Red Devils with Hilliard had 15 goals consecutive national for 3,175 yards and asetter. 11 goals. and37points. championship. 46 scores in 10 games. OREYO EIS LM HNE) OREYO IASEHN(EKNEG;TN ENT (HILLIARD);COURTESY OF MELISSA BLUML (HUNTER); TONY BENNETT COURTESY OF GINA STEPHAN (KELKENBERG);

UPDATE SMIALO BRENDAN (GRIMES); STOVALL (LEKO); PEYTON AUSTIN DOUG Barnestorming It has been an eventful few years for Cayla Barnes, who appeared in Faces in the Crowd intheJan.30,2017,issueafterwinningthe best defenseman award at the Under-18 world championship. Barnes played five games at Boston College last fall, then withdrew from school tojointheU.S.nationalteamand,at18,wastheyoungestmember of the squad that took gold at PyeongChang. (She was +3.) After leadingtheU.S.toathree-gamesweepofCanadaattheU-22seriesin

Lake Placid, N.Y., Barnes returned to BC and got off to a blazing start, (UPDATE) IMAGES WSKI/AFP/GETTY scoring eight points in nine games. But then the 5' 1" Eastvale, Calif., native took another international detour: Last week she traveled to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, as part of the U.S. team at the Four Nations Cup,hersecondstraightyearontheroster. —J.F.

24 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018

SAME LAKE, R No, the most hapless team in Cleveland isn’t the Browns (who may have found a quarterback)—it’s the

WALL OF SHAME Behind (from left) Thompson, Love, Clarkson and Smith, the Cavs lost their first six games, the worst start ever for a team coming of a Finals appearance. BY ROB MAHONEY PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY R BRYCE WOOD e Cavaliers, who no longer have LEBRON JAMES to mask their franchise-wide dysfunction CLEVELAND’S MESS

THE CAVALIERS, not to be outdone by the Wizards, the Timberwolves—or even their neighbors, the NFL’s Browns (page 30)—have made dysfunction an operating principle. It’s not enough to be a bad basketball team. Cleveland is the sort of bad basketball team that re-signs a star player, Kevin Love, to a four-year, $120 million deal under the pretense of remaining competitive, then starts 1–11. It’s the sort of bad basketball team that fires its coach six games into the season only to be left, for a time, with no one in charge.

After Tyronn Lue was dismissed following an 0–6 start, winning—and anything resembling a solution. Every loss assistant Larry Drew refused to accept the interim role until seems perfectly in character. his contract was renegotiated. At his urging, the team report- OnNov.5theCavsledtheMagic100–97withcontrol edly offered a partial guarantee for next season—a parting of the ball and 23.0 seconds left but found a way to lose in gift in the event that Drew, like both of his predecessors, is regulation anyway, 102–100. unceremoniously axed. Drew’s insistence was an indictment At the time, that point total was the lowest the Cavs had

oftheficklewhimsthatseemtoguidetheCavs.Thisisthe allowedthisseason.Cleveland’sdefensive ratingof114.3is H (THOMPSON); TODAY SPORTS SOKOLOWSKI/USA E. JOHN SPREAD: PREVIOUS sortofoutfitthatmanagestobothalienateitsveteransand tied for the worst on record in NBA.com’s entire database, sell out its younger players; to irk long-tenured coaches to the which stretches back to 1996–97. By net rating, these Cavs point of litigation (63-year-old former assistant Jim Boylan have been the inverse of the 73-win Warriors—a walking

filed an age discrimination suit last week); to botch what blowout with little hope for improvement. ELLWOOD/NBAE/ GARRETT (SMITH); IMAGES MILLER/GETTY JASON seems to be every major decision for a month. This doesn’t look like the reigning four-time Eastern Con- ROM HERE the Arthur memes must seem so ference champion, a stable basketball team with a hole where quaint. There are certain costs of doing business LeBron James should be. Instead there’s a crater strewn with with LeBron James, beginning with his tendency to spareparts,noneofwhichseemtofunctionthesamewayas F stir the pot whenever he feels it necessary. During before. More than 70% of last season’s playoff minutes are his last stint in Cleveland, James sent barely coded messages accounted for on Cleveland’s roster. What’s missing is the (“Stop trying to find a way to FIT-OUT and just FIT-IN”) to All-Star power forward Kevin Love about his role, prodded the front office this way or that,

anddoledoutvague proverbsthat couldeasily STAR/ /TORONTO MADONIK RICK (LOVE); IMAGES FOSLIEN/GETTY ANNAH be interpreted as shots at Kyrie Irving—and then THE LEBRON EFFECT plausibly denied it all. (JAMES W. MCDONOUGH JOHN SPREAD: THIS (MURAL). IMAGES GETTY Adding the King has meant picking up about 15 wins the No player in the NBA has a more active hand in nextseason.Losinghimhasmeantcatastrophe crafting the messaging around his team, largely because everything LeBron says becomes news. WELCOME! BEFORE AFTER WINN DIFFERENTIALDIFFERENTIAL This can be inconvenient for a franchise to deal with on a daily basis, though it is undeniably de- 2003–04 CAVS 17–65 35–47 +188 served. What power James has made for himself. HEAT 47–35 58–24 +111 2010–11 Some came by playing, some by speaking, some by

NOVEMBER 19-26, 2018 2014–15 CAVS 33–49 53–29 +20 • exercising his free agency and more from using the 2018–19 LAKERS 35–47 7–6* +99** power of that choice to apply pressure. The weight FAREWELL of LeBron’s suggestion and the want to appease

him shaped four years of front-office business. (CLARKSON); IMAGES GETTY 2010–11 CAVS 61–21 19–63 –442 What logic there was behind those basketball RAOU ); JOHN 2014–15 HEAT 54–28 37–45 –17 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED decisions (the lucrative, long-term deals given to 2018–19 CAVS 50–32 1–11* –443** Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith, for example) X/AP (HILL) *Through Nov. 11 **projected total crumbled the moment he stepped out the door. 28 The gravity that surrounds LeBron can prove QUITE A CLIMB Hill has been a rare bright spot, but his last-second miss against Orlando underscored just how many obstacles the Cavs face in their quest for respectability. CLEVELAND’S MESS

tiresome to those in his immediate orbit. It also, in the caseoftheCavs,mayhavebeentheonlythingholdingthe franchise together. That much was obvious on the court— PASSING especially in the playoffs, where the team’s only means of staving off elimination was for James to play an active (NOT-SO) FANCY role in every phase of the offense—but it has also proved AN ODE TO THE 57 MEN WHO HAVE STARTED UNDER to be true in a larger, organizational sense. Zoom out and CENTER FOR THE BROWNS BY STEVE RUSHIN it’sawonderthatafranchisesocarelesslycyclingthrough coaches and general managers ever became a fixture in the Finals. Think of it as yet another skip pass from one of the was a helluva man game’s preeminent playmakers: championship validation And a helluva Cleveland QB. for a franchise that never developed a championship infra- When Otto Graham had shirts monogrammed, structure. One desperate moved followed another until, at The embroidery called him O.G. theendoflastseason,theCavshadeffectivelyboxedthem- selves in. There was nowhere to go but down and no one Of ten consecutive title games to blame. Yet when the time came to take their lumps and His magnificent Browns won seven. rebuild,theCavsbuckled.Theproductisarosterwithlittle Graham was a god in black-leather cleats to accomplish in the In Cleveland’s Municipal heaven. present or the future. The best of LeBron’s FivedozenquarterbackscameafterGraham— Cavs may have been Theevilofsomanylessers. adversarial, but with None of these men won a Super Bowl. theirbestplayercame Success wasn’t in the successors. explicit direction and a natural sense CLIFFORD LEWIS often looked clueless, of order. Cleveland gave coaches hives. wouldn’t be so inde- VITO PARILLI, whose nickname was Babe, cisive about whether Never cared for long Sunday drives. to lean on veterans orprospectsifJames “O’CONNELL,” Alexa will answer were still around, When facing this footballing query: because the answer “Name an obscure Cleveland quarterback.” TEEN ANGST would be self-evident. (“” is the answer from Siri.) Drew took some of his veterans There would be no aside and told them to lay of reason for the Cavs , before he was awesome, Sexton, reminding them, “Hey, to reportedly flake on Had a single start for the Browns. you were 19 at one point.” ahandshakeagree- NINOWSKI and RYAN ran onto the field ment made with Kyle When the P.A. played “Send in the Clowns.”

KorvertotradehimifLeBronleftandnocauseto(twice!) IMAGES IMAGES/GETTY DIAMOND SEXTON); AND (DREW DEJAK/AP TONY tell Smith he would be pulled from the rotation only to “GARY LANE” was sung by the Beatles. backtrack in a matter of days. There would be an entirely (Hang on, I’m told that Lane was Penny.) differentsortofpressureon19-year-oldrookiepointguard was still quite a Youngman CollinSexton,buthiseveryflawmightnotbeairedoutso When he threw the football like Henny. publicly by his teammates. NOVEMBER 19-26, 2018

• Jamesisnotacure-all—aswasmadeclearduringhis MICHAEL PHIPPS was like Gladys Knight’s Pips— eventfultimewiththeCavs,andhasbeensuggestedbya These men were the consummate backups. rockystartwiththeLakers.Someplayers,however,cast Facing fourth down, in orange and brown, such a long shadow as to give a bumbling franchise cover. Could cause anybody to crack up. OnecouldregardRocketsguardJamesHardenorBucks

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED forward Giannis Antetokounmpo as systems in themselves. BRIANSIPEwassurroundedbytripe LeBron is an even larger figure: an institution all his own, And was just offal.

one with the apparent capacity to disguise what the Cavs DAVID MAYS went to dental school when (RYAN) 30 have been. ± His day job caused people to ROFL. D. ANDERSON lasted four seasons. (It’s the name of a ritzy hotel.) B. QUINN was a god in South Bend but In Cleveland things didn’t go well.

KEN DORSEY had no paid endorsements For soft drinks, shampoos or bidets. GRADKOWSKI started a single game, Then he and the Browns parted ways.

PAUL MCDONALD evoked the fast food: COLT MCCOY, what a quarterback’s name! Burgers are easily sackable. And was briefly his home. CHRISTENSEN, DANIELSON, PAGEL, STROCK:TROCK: Over in Cannes, Jake’s name is “The Man,” The Browns were unquarterbackable. IIn Cleveland, alas, he’s DELHOMME.

BERNIE KOSAR tragically costarred AAncient philosopher Seneca In a drama entitled “The Drive.” Thought interesting thoughts in a toga. His arm and his hair, drama and flair, While of Cleveland For a time kept the fans’ hope alive. Got sacked near the old Cuyahoga.

PHILCOX, RYPIEN and TERRY (Bad) LUCCK— The Browns were no Garden of WEEDEN, Just more of the quarterback rabble. Though the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s nice. TOMCZAK put lots of points on the board—— JJ. CAMPBELL was exiled to Cincy. As a triple-word score in Scrabble. AAnd Cleveland waived twicee.

Does there exist some tall exorcist Please usher these men to the exits: Who can lead and can run and can throw? Messieurs KIZER and KESSLER and SHAWW. Who will have the Browns Super Bowl–bound? Please see HOYER out through the foyer. TESTAVERDE’s Italian for no. Then show in Miss Stella Artois.

ERIC ZEIER was not the right hire. Let us not dwell, on , He was fired, not fire-retardant. Who’s putting his life back in order. was the rare quarterback who Do wish him well, young Master Manziel, Could two-year lease an apartment. In his new job over the border.

TY DETMER like many before him, JOSH MCCOWN was a famed Cleveland Brownrown Heard Dawg Pounders baying like beagles. And DAVIS a man of obscurity. did win it all, though RG3 had a shredded right knee. He did it as coach of the Eagles. And soon had no job security. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SPORTS K. HOLCOMB was quickly unwelcome, O, where have you gone ? And WYNN saw a whole lot of losses. CanC you please bring us back Otto Graham? LUKE MCCOWN gained an anti-renownn OttoO has passed—a quarterback’s verb— While piling up incomplete tosses. AndA his ghost has remained on the lam. • A famous Garcia named Jerry TheT answer was not 2018 19-26, NOVEMBER Made a living by being deceased. NorN fifty-six men who came prior. Another GARCIA (named Jeffrey) TheT Browns need a man like their river Like an album was quickly released. WhomW Cleveland can watch catch on fire.

The Browns won a ring with TRENT DILLFER, TheT search for a savior continues. By then though those Browns were the Raavens. A needle somewhere in a hay field , in the blink of an eye, TheT Super Bowl’s too much to hope for 31

BETTMANN/GETTY (GRAHAM); IMAGES STROHMEYER DAMIAN (KOSAR); TIM WARNER/CSM LAURA (MANZIEL); HEALD (MAYFIELD) Was gone after just a few cave-ins. ButB how ’bout this guy ? THE MONSTER FREE-AGENT CLASS FOR WHICH CLUBS HAVE BEEN PLANNING AND SAVING IS FINALLY THAN EVER. ONE THING IS CLEAR: THE MARKET WILL REVOLVE AROUND POWER-HITTING OUTFIELDER

BY TOM VERDUCCI PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT BECK

THE BEST MONEY CAN BU HERE, AND SHIFTING DYNAMICS IN THE INDUSTRY WILL MAKE THIS YEAR’S HOT STOVE CRAZIER BRYCE HARPER, WHOSE COMBINATION OF TALENT AND YOUTH MAKES HIM . . .

NMITY IS the downside to being one of baseball’s most hyped players. I once asked Bryce Harper what it was like E bearing the contempt and derision of those irked by his renown. “I love the way people talk crap,” he said. “I hear it all the time. Overrated. You suck. I’ll just do something to shut them up.” He was 16 years old at the time. A high school sophomore. This world of hypercriticism, without the luxury of quietude, is the only world Harper has ever known. At 10 he was jumping on planes as a hired gun for travel tournaments. At 15 he was hitting home runs in front of scouts at the Area Code Games. At 16 he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. At 17 he was the No. 1pickinthe draft.At19hewas in thebig leagues.Now,at26 he is the most expensive asset ever to hit the free-agent market. Everything in his young life has geared Harper for this mo- ment, including when his family and his agent, Scott Boras, crafted the plan to get him out of Las Vegas High after just two years (obtaining a GED) and into a junior college to make him draft-eligible in 2010. Ofcourse,Harperwasrebukedfor making that choice, because, well, Who does he think he is? No matter that in 2003, 17-year-old double-bass player Edicson Ruiz was celebrated for becoming the second-youngest member of the famed Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been around since 1882. But a baseball prodigy bucking the system? Tsk, tsk. The Harpers’ plan seems even more prescient now that teams are valuing youth over experience. Getting the rightfielder on themarket at 26insteadof 27makesiteven morelikelyhe will receivearecord-breakingcontract.WhentheNationalsoffered Harper a 10-year, $300 million deal at the end of this season, it was the most extravagant window dressing since Fifth Avenue at Christmas. Both sides knew it was done out of obligation, with no chance of being accepted. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SPORTS THERE IS no arguingthatHarper is on a HallofFametrajectory. Only 11 players have hit more home runs through their age-25 season than Harper’s 184. Nine of them are in Cooperstown or going in (Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols • and Mike Trout) and two are not, either because of steroid use 2018 19–26, NOVEMBER (Alex Rodriguez) or a lapsed work ethic (Andruw Jones). These special players just don’t hit the free-agent market at this age—other than A-Rod, Harper’s closest comp in terms of leverage,who18yearsagobecamethebest-paidplayerby48% on average annual value and by 108% in total money. Harper is going to reap either the highest annual value ever 33 (beating $34.4 million, which went to 32-year-old free-agent Y pitcher Zack Greinke in 2015) or the most guaranteed money MLB FREE AGENCY

($325 million in the 13-year extension to Giancarlo Stanton, MASTER CUT who lacked the leverage of free agency) or both. The Dodgers, Harper’s violent stroke could cause Yankees and Giants all reset their competitive balance tax rate teams to hesitate before ofering the in anticipation of this market. The Phillies and the White Sox $300 million-plus deal he seeks. are improving and have cleared payroll for a franchise player. The Cardinals, Astros and Twins could be stealth suitors. pionship game with relief help from Washington remains in it—and may even be the favorite. Kevin Gausman, now of the Braves. Harper is the embodiment of how the game has changed. The shortstop was Manny Machado. Born of the burgeoning travel team culture, he played more “Team USA,” Harper said, explaining his gamesperyearasapreteenthanminorleaguersdo.He answer, “because you’re playing for your shortened baseball’s long learning curve with so many reps, country. There is no greater feeling.” but he also grew the streak of individualism that travel ball Harper grew up with a framed poster fosters. The goal is to be seen, to climb prospect lists, to ace of Mickey Mantle in his bedroom. He the measurables at showcases—to slather eye black around collects baseball jerseys, owning those your face like a ’70s rocker so that you stand out. of Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Derek Jeter, The next phase of Harper’s career will be to learn how to Mariano Rivera and Robinson Cano, to win. It’s not that he did not want to do that in D.C., but neither name a few. He seems aware of baseball he nor the team knew how; in the past seven years the Nats history but was never a big enough fan to watch much of the failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs. Harper World Series when he was a kid. “You’re going to laugh,” he never came close to signing an extension the way Trout did said. “I never really watched the World Series. I never watched with the Angels, Clayton Kershaw did with the Dodgers and the Red Sox series in ’04. I was like 12 years old.” Félix Hernández did with the Mariners, to name three of the Hiswife,Kayla,andhisparentsgetonhimaboutnotsav-

other most accomplished under-25 players of this generation. ing mementos from his career. His folks have his 2015 MVP (HARPER) IMAGES SHAW/GETTY EZRA (MACHADO); HAYES JEFF He was bound for free agency from the day he stepped on a trophy. He doesn’t know where the ball is from his first major major league field, and everybody knew it. league hit. “When you grow up, you want to do everything you can to make it to the big leagues,” he said. “And when AST YEAR I asked Harper when he had the most you get here, you want to do everything you can to win a fun playing baseball. His answer surprised me. He went back to 2009 when he was 16 and catchinng L for the USA Baseball 18-and-under team that woon the Pan American Junior Championships in Barquisimetto, Venezuela. The U.S. twice beat Cuba—which had won the previous seven titles—to take the gold medal. Jameson Taillon, now with the Pirates, pitched the chamm-

Harper vs. Machado MANNY FEST

e’ve been had a slower burn, with W headed for this a .294 OBP as a rookie moment since and half a season lost tto the two phenoms made right-knee surgery at 21. their debuts in 2012. Now, though, the two hit BryceHarperwouldtake the market as a couple of theNLRookieoftheYear the most desirable freee award that year with agents since Seitz met hisprecociouspower. Messersmith. 34 Manny Machado (right) Neither player is Starting Pitchers ARM’S LENGTH

he most highly rated free agents not T named Machado and Harper are starting pitchers—at a time when the importance of a starter is waning. One of the big stories of 2018 was the use of the “opener”, a sabermetrically savvy ploy that inserts a relief pitcher in the first frame and shifts a starter’s innings to later in the game. In the postseason the Brewers nearly won the NLCS despite using their starters an average of 1 just 3 ⁄3 innings, while the Red Sox took the World Series in part because manager Alex Cora used starters without regard for traditional roles. It’s now more likely that a position player will World Series and be a Hall of Fame player. But along that pitch in a game (65 times in 2018) than a starter ride, I just enjoy it with my teammates and my family.” will complete one (42). The 250-inning hurler is Last year Bryce and Kayla hired an interior decorator extinct (none since 2011), and the 200-inning for their home. Kayla sent Bryce a snapshot of a collection pitcher is on his way out as well. of pictures the decorator designed for a living room wall. What is a starting pitcher now “One of the pictures said something about baseball,” Harper worth? Patrick Corbin (right) is about said. “Kayla said, ‘What do you think?’ I go, ‘We need to to find out, as are Dallas Keuchel take down that baseball picture. I don’t want to go home and J.A. Happ. If starters aren’t and think about baseball.’ ” going to be workhorses anymore, what does that mean for their NAmoment that’s been in the works in the decade salaries? Remember that last sincce he got his GED, Harper can determine his value winter, a similar class of on thet open market. More will be written about his starters struggled to find flawsthanhisstrengths.Hestruckoutatacareer-w demand. The bidding on worst ratethisseason(24.3%)withacareer-lowcontacte these starters will tell us a rate (68.6%). In the playoffs he has been a .211 hitter. lot about the new market for

JENNIFER STEWART/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (CORBIN) Rememmber, though, that Harper had an all-time great baseball players. —Joe Sheehan

without risk,k however. top 10 in MVP voting some notable on-field just getting older? And Harper is not clearly three times (losing out controversies, too, from Even with these deservingoof the bigger on a chance for a fourth throwing his bat at caveats, both players payday.Despites all his this year because of a Josh Donaldson in 2014 offer such huge promise, talent, Harperp has only midseason trade) and can to kicking the ankle of they will reap huge one top 10 MVP finish. play a Gold Glove third Milwaukee’s Jesús Aguilar rewards, and probably Ifateamisgoingm to base or a respectable in this year’s NLCS. in the modern way, with shell out $3300 million for shortstop. Machado has Forget “hustle.” Machado contracts that include the face of the franchise also averaged 159 games has averaged 159 games opt-out clauses. We for the nextdecade, they over the last four years, a season for the last waited six years for them should take a long look though the tax on that four years. Machado’s to become free agents; at Machadoo’s record of level of reliability is some judgment in high-stress we won’t have to wait six performance,c which is occasional downshifting situations, though, more for them to hit the more compelling: He between home and raises the question: market again. has cracked the first base. He has had Is Machado maturing or —J.S. MLB FREE AGENCY

season in 2015, becoming only the sixth player to lead the LMOST A decade ago, I found a 16-year-old kid league with at least 42 homers and a .460 OBP. The next year who was in love with playing baseball and com- he banged his right shoulder sliding into a base and played peting, who knew he was extremely talented and half the season in so much pain that he could not do any A dared to be great. Back then I compared him to upper-body weight training. After starting 2016 at 230 pounds, LeBron James, not because he was as gifted as James was in he ended it at 195, the lightest he had been since his rookie basketball, but because, like James, he had professional skills season ground him down to 185. His numbers cratered. asahighschooler—whichisevenrarerinbaseball.Sogood Afterawinterofrecovery,hestarted’17backat230pounds so early was Harper that if he had been allowed to enter the andwasonhiswaytowinanotherMVP.ButinAugust majorleaguedraftasasophomore,severalclubexecutives he hyperextended his left knee when he slipped on a wet told me, he would have gone in one of the top two picks. base and missed five weeks. Last year Harper hit .214 in Whatwasstrikingwashowwellpreparedheseemedtobe the first 96 games—exposing what happens when his high- to take on the baseball world, both physically and emotionally. maintenancestrokeisoffbyevenasmidge—butrecovered WhenIaskedhimabouthisgoals,hesaidinafirmvoice witha.300/.434/.538secondhalf.Ifthereisanyworryabout without hesitation, “Be in the Hall of Fame. Play in Yankee how Harper will hold up during the back end of a contact Stadium. Play in the pinstripes. Be considered the greatest covering10yearsormore,itrelatestothatferocious,whip- player who ever lived. I can’t wait.” like swing. Harper relies on fast-twitch movements that are At26,anagewhenrealitystartstoscrubsomeoftheshim- impressive now but can decline with age. Andd because hheehits hits mermeroffourdreams,Harperhasreachedacrossroads off our dreams with so much head and body movement, hei spronetopull- in his very public baseball life. Like Rodriguez, he is ingoffpitches.In2018hehitonly.200onffastballsa way. likely to join the tteam that offers him the most money. Like so many lefthanded power hitters, Haarper has Itwillbetheculmination of a decade not just of been harmed by the proliferation of highly caalibrated hard work but also of establishing his value. defenses. Over the past three years, shifts against Once hee signs, assuming the deal covers Harper have tripled, costing him 51 points off his 10 years oormore,Harpernolongerhasto batting average on balls in play up the midddleand concern hiimself with what he’s worth. He can pulled. Maybe the most important stat onH arper just go playy baseball. And that will allow him istheonereflectingtherespecthereceiveddfrom to better chasethefeelinghehasbeenchasing opposingpitchersthisyear,evenashestrugggled.The since he was a 16-year-old in Venezuela: to be average hitter sees 51% of deliveries out off the strike zone. achampioon, the most fun anybody can have Harper faced 59% out of the zone, the most in the majors. onabaseball field. ±

Veteran Hitters alsowithavastpoolof 23-year-olds who may not be as good as you but will MARKET SWING certainly make 5% of your projected salaries over he MLB aware that players peak in So if you’re a former thenextfewseasons. T compensation their mid-to-late 20s, so MVP like 33-year-old third Already one free structure is that when most of them baseman Josh Donaldson agent, 29-year-old built around service reach free agency, they (above) or outfielder Diamondbacks third time:Onceaplayerhas are already past their Andrew McCutchen (32), baseman Eduardo FRANK JANSKY/ICON SPORTSWIRE/GETTY IMAGES FRANK JANSKY/ICON SPORTSWIRE/GETTY established himself over primes.Ifteamscanpay or a World Series MVP Escobar, chose to re-sign six big league seasons he the minimum salary for like first baseman Steven just to stay out of that has the freedom to test comparable performance Pearce (35), free agency muck. No matter what the open market. Well, and capture a young is no longer the reward it happensatthetopofthe after two generations of player’s potential upside, once was for a successful market, these veteran free agency, front offices it makes little sense to career.Instead,it’sa position players are going are taking a dimmer view offeradealforafree time of grave uncertainty. to find free agency a of proven talent and track agentwho,inhis30s,is You’re competing not brutal slog, this year and 36 records. They are well mostly downside risk. just with one another but for years to come. —J.S. THE WOR L D’S HIGHEST RATED BOURBON. 2016 interr national Wine AND Spirit Competition.

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T H E

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 39 NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018

THE FUTURE? Oh, boy. Let us tell you about it. It’s all about A.I. It’s e-sports and micro betting. Wearables. Virtual reality. Augmented reality. 3-D. 4-D! And the startups: LiveLike, Fathom, WHOOP and Whomp. StatMuse, BoxSk0r, Jackpocket and Shaboopy. And most of those are real! The future is new- look stadiums. No. No new stadiums. No. No stadiums, period! . Underground football. Zero football at all because it’s too damn hot to play outside! ¶ O.K., breathe. Remember, man-versus-lion death matches were a sport not too long ago. So, first: Look how far we’ve come! But also: Given how far we’ve come, how can the next thing possibly be surprising? Bob Ryan used to write about a winner-take-all basketball game between earthlings and alien invaders. Now, does that really sound so far off? Which leaves us to ponder the ISSUE sporting future a bit more pragmatically. What follows is the future as we can see it. Mostly. No alien all-star games. Not yet. ≥ the

YES, by JENNY VRENTAS

photographs by DAVID E. KLUTHO IS THE FACE OF THE FUTURE

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO ATRICK MAHOMES, TYREEK LL AND TRAVIS KELCE, THE 1 CHIEFS—AND THE WHOLE FL, REALLY—OWE A DEBT OF TITUDE TO THE OFFENSIVE NOVATIONS OF A FORWARD- (AND BACKWARD-) LOOKING 60-YEAR-OLD: ANDY REID

41 Coachesonbothsidelinesfoughtbacksmirks.Nagyhad done it: He’d finally called Lollipop. This was a single first down in a game that meant next to nothing, but Lollipop represented something bigger: Regardless of who actually called the play, here was Andy Reid reimagining how offense is played in the NFL. He was connecting the present to the future. Really, it was a simple play, made confusing for the defense by a ridiculous presnap motion. And it had been lifted from the college ranks. (Specifically: the presnap chaos practiced in 2017 by LSU Matt Canada.) Both the play’s name and the formation, Weezy Right, were a nod to Louisiana-born rapper Lil Wayne. The first time the Chiefs installed Lollipop, quality control coaches queued up that chart-topping 2008 Weezy track in the meeting room. The music might not have been Reid’s style, but, as is his way, he embraced it.

› TO WATCH Kansas City’s offense in 2018 is to par- ticipate in a sort of shell game, striving to keep track of movements as objects are deftly rearranged in front of you. Reid’s Chiefs send someone in presnap motion more FOR THE entire 2017 season there was one play that Andy often than they don’t. And through Week 8 they’d sent three Reid’s Chiefs practiced every Friday. That’s the day for or more players in motion 15 times, more than any other goallinework,andthegoallineiswherethisplaywas teamintheleague.Theirtwomostdangerouspasscatchers, designed to shine, taking advantage of the defense’s confu- Hill and tight end Travis Kelce, dart all over the formation, sion to carve out a window of open space in a compact area. creating for quarterback Patrick Mahomes endless possibili- Before the snap, one receiver sprinted across the formation. ties for where to go with the football. Then he did it again. Then, comically, a third time. Each time he passed behind the quarterback, who was under center, the receiver faked as if he was taking a LIL WAYNE’S “LOLLIPOP” MAY NOT handoff—butthisplaywasnot intended HAVE BEEN REID’S STYLE, BUT, AS for him. Instead, after the motion man’s IS HIS WAY, HE EMBRACED IT. third trip across the field, the QB would take the snap and dump off a little pass to a running back in the flat, in the opposite direction. This—is this where the present › PAT: ANSWER Coaches still joke that Tyreek Hill logged at least 10 miles meets the future? It’s a time warp Reid had the on these motions alone. But for all the practice reps, Hill’s from three yards and a cloud of dust, system already; hard work never paid off. The Chiefs never ran the play in but, shrugs Reid, “I don’t know if I’m Mahomes (with a game. It stayed on the call sheet, unused. on the forefront of anything.” The his 31 TDs so Flash forward to August 2018. Matt Nagy was standing on stats suggest he’s being coy. The 9–1 far) is just the the opposite sideline. A Kansas City assistant of five years, Chiefs are scoring at a clip—4.4 touch- guy to pull it of. and the coordinator who’d overseen all of Hill’s back-and- downs per game—matched by only forth-and-back-agains, Nagy was now the Bears’ head coach, two other teams in the modern era, and as he faced off in the preseason against his old mentor, across 16 games: ’s 2013 Broncos and Tom Reid, he saw an opportunity. Midway through the fourth Brady’s ’07 Patriots. By the midpoint of this season, Mahomes quarter, on a third-and-three with his team up 24–13, Nagy had tossed 26 TDs; only two other NFL QBs have ever topped dialed it up: Garrett Johnson, a Chicago rookie, streaked 25 in the first half of a season, and we’ve already mentioned across the formation one, two, three times, and amid all their hallowed names here. the misdirection, quarterback Tyler Bray tossed the ball to So where did this all come from? NFL coaches tend to be fullback Michael Burton for a 10-yard gain. late adopters of schematic trends—in part because pro talent levels are so even, unlike in college, where overmatched des- peration spurs innovation; and in part because NFL coaching 42 leashes are the shortest, which discourages risk-taking. But 13 years ago Reid saw the need to adapt—to bend his ways SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 and borrow from others—in order to succeed. This was in

February 2005, and Reid’s Eagles were playing the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. Philadelphia spent the two weeks before that game preparing to pass-protect against New England’s 3–4 front—but then Bill Belichick’s team came out with four down linemen. Two defensive players plugged the A gaps all night and Reid’s QB, Donovan McNabb, taking almost all of his snaps under center, was something of a sitting duck. The Eagles, and a battered McNabb, lost 24–21. Now fast-forward to today:Mahomestakes80%ofhis snaps out of the shotgun. The West Coast system has been the foundation of Reid’s offense ever since he began his NFL coaching career as an assistant on ’s Packers staff in the early 1990s. But as Reid transitioned later from McNabb to , the › REID RIGHT most talented dual-threat QB of his time, An innovator the coach recognized the possibilities of since his days in adding to that base the spread concepts he Green Bay with saw trickling up through the high school Favre and Philly and college ranks—formations and motions with McNabb, that stretch the field horizontally, creating more permutations to befuddle a defense. Reid scours the Reid had learned an important lesson landscape today about the power of space back in 1986, to find plays like when he was the O-line coach at North- He-Man, executed ern Arizona under coordinator Brad Chil- beautifully (right) dress. The Lumberjacks’ freshman QB back by Hunt. then, Greg Wyatt, was struggling against the blitz, so NAU moved to a spread look, reasoning that if the defense had to cover five players across Alex Smith; then he dug back into Smith’s college tape from the field, some heat would be lifted off the QB. And that it Utah, where Smith ran Urban Meyer’s spread-option offense did. The Lumberjacks went 7–4, their first winning season before Tim Tebow ever did, including the zone-read plays that in seven years, and when Wyatt finished the year with I-AA would be the precursor to run-pass options (or RPOs). Nagy freshman records for attempts and completions, it cemented remembers walking into Reid’s office on Monday mornings another lesson: Do what works for your QB. and watching the whiteboard fill up with ideas, inspiring the Reid’s vision, though, didn’t really blossom until he came nickname “A Beautiful Mind.” to Kansas City in 2013. Back in Philly he had control of the Then, on opening night in 2017, Reid’s Chiefs roughed up Eagles’ personnel, but he didn’t want that burden with the the defending Super Bowl–champion Patriots with an offense Chiefs; he preferred to spend his time ironing out every nuance that looked like nothing the league had ever seen. oftheoffenseratherthansearchingforaplayertoreplace someone who’d gotten injured on Sunday. And so down the hill from Arrowhead Stadium he set up an R&D unit for offensive › KAREEM HUNT scurried up the right hash marks en football, scouring film and tinkering with new play designs. route to a 78-yard catch, and NFL defenses He hired Childress as a spread-game analyst (Childress would still haven’t quite caught up. This was the play that flipped sort the Pro Football Focus database for every NFL play run that game against New England two Septembers ago, when out of an empty formation, looking for anything worth pilfer- Kansas City scored the most points (42) and gained the most ing) and Chris Ault, the former Nevada coach, to coach K.C. yards (537) ever against a Bill Belichick–coached team. The in the pistol offense he popularized with Colin Kaepernick, Chiefshadfloodedtheshort(right)sideofthefieldwithfour replete with options and misdirections. players.TyreekHillranfromlefttorighton afly-sweepmo- Reid would later tell his successor in Philadelphia, Chip Kelly tion, pulling down the deep defender, and three other Chiefs (now at UCLA), that Kelly was the one who opened up the sprinted downfield on vertical routes: Travis Kelce went on NFL’soffensiveimagination—but,concurrently,that’sexactly the diagonal, and receiver Albert Wilson sprinted up the what Reid and his staff were doing in Kansas City. A month sideline while Hunt arced out of the backfield. That left Patri-

afterReidjoinedtheChiefs,hetradedfor49ersquarterback ots defensive end Cassius Marsh to try in vain to peel off the AP/SHUTTERSTOCK (HUNT) line of scrimmage and chase Hunt up the seam. In the end, it all worked exactly as the Chiefs staff had seen it play out 44 before...on North Dakota State’s film. Kansas City wasn’t planning on drafting a QB in 2016, but SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 Reid and his offensive staff always study and grade the top REID

the

It’s not just coaches like Nagy, Belichick, Sean McVay (in L.A.) and Sean Payton (New Orleans) who check the Chiefs’ film each week to see what Reid is up to. When a reporter prefacedaquestioninthelead-uptothe Nov. 4 Browns-Chiefs game by guessing that Baker Mayfield hadn’t found much time to watch K.C.’s offense on film, the Cleveland QB jumped in: “Oh, I have been able to,” he said. “It’s a thing of art.”

› AS A YOUNG assistant in Green Bay, Reid would often bringnewideastohisfellowcoaches. Alas, they were loyal to the gospel of the West Coast offense, a rhythm-based passing system in which a QB takes snaps under center and works through progressions. (Reid once persuaded Holmgren to let try the shotgun, but that experiment ended after one snap went flying over Favre’s head in a Saturday walk-through). When Reid pushed a new idea, “Holmgren’s patanswer,and[thenPackersassistant]JonGruden’spat answer,” reports Childress, “was, ‘Yeah, that looks like a good play—but you know what? I don’t know that play. When you get your own offense, you go ahead and feel free to put that in.’ ” But, Childress says, “that’s not Andy.” Todayabigpart of the job for K.C. quarterbacks coach and for passing-game analyst Joe Bley- maier is to scour the college ranks for plays their coach might consider. AndReiddoesn’t care who or where these plays come from. The offen- sive principle to which he is most loyal is simple: He’ll do anything forafirstdown. prospectsatthatpositioneachyearanyway.That’swhenthey The 2016 Chiefs traveled in November to play the Panthers sawayoungquarterbacknamedCarsonWentzhitthisplay in Charlotte, and after checking into their hotel on Saturday again and again for big gains against the likes of Northern afternoon, several coaches caught a glimpse of a game be- Illinois and Weber State. Yup, Reid says unapologetically, tween unranked Pitt and No. 3 Clemson. As they watched, “wewerestudyingCarsonandkindofsnuckthatone[from itwasmorethanjusttheunfoldingupset that caught their them].” (The Bison called this play He-Man because the eyes—theyweresuckedinbythemisdirection tactics discom- H-back worked into the seam up the field; the Chiefs call it bobulating Clemson’s defense. That was the first time they All-GoSpecialHalfbackSeam.) noticed Canada, who back then was Pitt’s OC. Such is the football circle of life: The Patriots used a varia- “The plays in our playbook could be from any year, any- tion of this play the following week for a 24-yard completion where,” says receiver Chris Conley. “They just seamlessly come to James White in a win against the Saints. As did the Rams, together. There’s this conglomeration of good plays [Reid] has afewweekslater,ona53-yardToddGurleyTDagainstthe accumulated over time. That’s what makes up this offense.” Cowboys.AndwhenDrewBreesbroketheNFL’sall-time passing yards record in Week 5 this season with a 62-yard touchdown, he did it on a similar concept: A player moves 45 horizontallytodrawdownthesecondary,whilethreevertical SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018

JOHN IACONO (MCNABB); TODD WARSHAW/GETTY IMAGES (WITH FAVRE) routes develop downfield. REID As the Chiefs have continued to build their offense around principles familiar the to their players from the college ranks, it has been easier to put them in posi- tions to thrive. Hill is a perfect jet-sweep runner. Hunt can zip down the field on the seam route. Kelce and Hill are It’s notfar-fetchedtosaythatReidhasspentmuchofthe among the most moved-around players last decade preparing for Mahomes’s arrival. The marriage of intheleague attheirrespectiveposi- QB and coach is such a perfect union, bubbling in offensive tions, lining up tight, out wide, in the fertility, that Washington State coach Mike Leach, himself slot and in the backfield. Collectively well-versedintheartofscoringpoints,muses,“There’s these tasks are the underpinnings of the times you wonder if [their pairing] should even be legal.” spread systems these chess-piece players For Reid, 2018 is just the next step in a progression he’s learned at Oklahoma State (Hill), Toledo been working at for some time now. “We looked at some of (Hunt) and (Kelce). thecollegestuff,wegotitgrowingandincorporateditinto “It’saneattransitionweareinright what we do,” he says plainly, modestly. “And then Patrick now with these offenses,” says Nagy, came in, and you just keep growing.” who today is teaching his own young Even that’s an oversimplification. For years NFL coaches quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky, the sys- have groused about the glaring holes that exist in the games tem he had a hand in developing with of players coming from college spread offenses. But, especially Reid. “Everything comes full circle—and when it comes to QBs, Reid’s perception was different. He before you know it, down the road, I’m focused onwhatMahomesgainedfromthrowingtheball sure teams will be running the wish- 1,349 timesinTexasTech’sAirRaidsystemratherthanon bone again.” the fact that the QB rarely took snaps under center. Coaches Perhaps it’s not so surprising that could teachhimthat.AndwhilemuchofwhattheChiefsrun Reid—at60theNFL’sfourth-oldest todaywasalreadyinplacebeforetheydraftedMahomesat coach—is at the front of the current No.10 in 2017—QBandcoachhavesharedafewlaughsover offensive revolution when you consider the fact that some people think they’re running a straight it this way: What we’re seeing on the Texas Tech Air Raid—Mahomes does say he got Reid to install field today is the product of many dif- two of his favorite college plays: one concept K.C. has run a ferent eras. The Chiefs’ playbook even few times to Kelce, and another that Reid has yet to unveil. includes one scheme from a 1970s veer offense. It’s a pitch trap, a bit of a tricky concept in which the quarterback fakes a pitch to the back on one side while a guard pulls to execute a trap block in that direction. Everyone flows one way, but then the QB whirls around to face the opposite direction and gives the ball to the other back on an inside handoff. Reid learned that one at John Marshall High in Los Angeles, where he played on the offensive line. His fellow Chiefs coaches laughed when he first installed the play, but Reid always knows when to call it, and they say it always works. “I said this at the beginning of the year and people looked at me askew,” says K.C.’s right tackle, Mitchell Schwartz, “butalot of whatwedo, therootsarein the ’60s and ’70s and ’80s. The game was more constricted back then, so you had to find ways to create good matchups. Now you add the space to it, and. . . .” Schwartz trails off here, but we’ll fin- 46 ish his sentence for him: And you get what we’re seeing on the field now—the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 future of NFL offenses.± FFU

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RANCH-STYLE HOUSES ofredandtanbrickborderGrand by View University, nestled into a leafy neighborhood a few CONOR minutes outside Des Moines. The morning quiet is sporadi- ORR callybrokenbyalertPomeranianssprintingthroughdoggy doorstobarkatunfamiliarfacesheadingtoclassonthe campus where, upon a whiteboard inside the athletic depart- A SCHEME ment’s facilities, you might find the dry-erase scribblings of defensive football’s future. TO SAVE ThisisthreedaysbeforeanOctobergameagainstPeru (Neb.) State College, and Travis Johansen, the GVU Vikings’ DEFENSES 35-year-olddefensivecoordinator,hashisopponent’sper- sonnelgroupingslaidoutinfrontofhimintheformoffour neat diagrams. Grand View won the NAIA title in 2013, the year Johansen arrived, and his defense has been among the nation’s dozen best every full season since. At this level, offensive play-callers are either padding their As points come in unprecedented waves, NFL résumésbytryingtoputupasmanypointsaspossible...or defensive minds search in unexpected places they’re utilizing some obscure, decades-old offense as a means › of survival. Teams change offenses on a whim, sometimes with hopes of sparking the counter-revolution appearing at games with nothing they’ve shown on film.

illustration by TAVIS COBURN JAMIE SCHWABEROW/GETTY IMAGES is uninterested is in play- To understand the war on de- on war the understand To kind of exchange that’s become that’s exchange of kind offenses as new-age common trickle up fromthe lower levels. The hope among defenses is that the will counter-revolution emerge from similar obscurity. make it harder and more costly to costly more and harder it make —most notably—most Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma— OH,YOUGUYS... fense, though, must one first understand the ways in which football has changed, multiple on fronts: physically, emo- tionallyandlegislatively.Accordingtocoachesacrossall levels, these are the rocks that have accumulated to form avalanche: an have successfully married the effectiveness of option football option of effectiveness the married successfully have Raidwith Air a systems. Even pass-happy with quarterback a minimalwho’s run threat, teams have figured that out by they all thin, defenses spreading and space open utilizing a) battle receiversa) in tight deliver coverage downfield; b) warning shots to receivers running free across the middle; combat the myriadc) legal offensive screens used to pick defensive players in man hit coverage; the d) or quarterback. ing defense—or is perhaps just more interested in playing more just perhaps is ing defense—or offense. Coaches are finding harder it to convince players to get excited menial about tasks like washing an out offensive tackle or engaging multiple linemen to free up a linebacker. › Play-callers › The so-called Madden generation › Recent changes › rule › Army’s amorphous defense nearly offpulled an upset of Oklahoma. NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 • 48 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SPORTS Even in the pros, rattled defensive coordinators and posi- At the highest levels the of sport, offensive records are in The evolution of offensive football—and the chaos has it “So, yeah,” says Johansen, leaning back in a chair behind chair a in back leaning Johansen, says yeah,” “So, tion coaches know they’re falling behind. Johansen used to share notes with at least nearby one NFL coaching staff, the perilthankstoschemesthatpreyonestablisheddefensive principles in order to conflict defenders and create easier reads quarterbacks. for an approach It’s born, in part, from theincreasedinfluenceofpotentcollegeoffenses.“Thegame is being changed says Drinkall. forever,” in the “We’re eye ofthestormastwosidesoftheballfightitout.Whocan to evolve?” continue circles,despitethe factthathe isn’tmuchofanoperatorat factthathe wrought—hasforcedJohansentodevelopsomecreativetactics and philosophies that have amplified his name in coaching circles,despitethe clinics networking or events. Ask Matt Drinkall, architect cur- is that offense Kansas Wesleyan high-powered the of rently averaging 56.3 points per game—good only for third in NAIA—if any there’s coach who could maybe slow down his offense, and he gives name: one Johansen. his desk, a bitch.” “it’s need to do is conflict one defender who has both run and pass responsibilities. If the defender commits to the run, throw the slant into the spot he vacated. Or vice versa. the After years of marinating at the lower rungs of football, this offensive revolution has finally trickled up to the NFL; it is no longer taboo for coaches to borrow from these systems. Nine weeks into this season, the league was on pace for more points (48.1) and touchdowns (5.5) per game than in any when,inreality,it’sabalancedrunDthatswapsoutslot postmerger season. That, says Packers defensive coordinator corners for safeties who can assist against the ground game, Mike Pettine, is “stressful.” “As a defensive staff, this is our like smaller linebackers. In other words: “position-less foot- livelihood. We [watch] these offenses each week and we’re ball,” says Johansen, who pulls up one concept, circles his like, ‘All right, here we go again.’ ” (When presented with the safety and notes, “he’s anything from a defensive end to [a scenario that offenses be even more refined a decade from DB] playing Cover-0 in the slot.” now, Pettine’soutlookforthefutureofdefenseisn’toptimistic. Those linebackers and defensive backs whom offenses are “Hopefully,” he says, “I’m sitting on a beach somewhere with trying to manipulate with RPOs? Johansen teaches each one a cigar in one hand and a margarita in the other.”) to treat the receiver in front of him like a sparring partner in Between his stint as coach of the Browns, which ended a boxing ring. And he structures his defense, at times, with in 2015, and his landing in Green Bay last winter, Pettine just three down linemen, each with the responsibility of spent his downtime at the hips of major college defensive widening the tackle box to prevent breakaway runs. Johan- coordinators. Greg Schiano at Ohio State. Dave Aranda at sen is, in his words, “reinventing the defense” every week. LSU. It is perhaps why he’s so often name-checked as a coach There’s a tinge of desperation to Johansen’s tinkerings, like those of a commander whose bat- talion is under constant siege. Talk to enough defensive coordinators and you’ll “EVERYONE IS A BLITZER,” noticethatmanyrefertotheirunitsas SAYS BATEMAN. “[THE OFFENSE some kind of overmatched rebel outfit. Appropriately, one of the most resource- WILL] START BLOCKING GUYS ful defensive generals works at the U.S. THAT AREN’T EVEN RUSHING.” Military Academy at West Point. Jay Bateman stunned the college foot- ball world in September when his game who has made progress toward combatting the run-pass planhelpedArmytakethenNo.5Oklahomatoovertime, options (RPOs) that typify today’s offensive innovations. despite an overwhelming disadvantage in personnel. But to Pettine prefers that his Packers stay out of zone coverages; those in the know, Bateman’s prowess as a defensive coordina- he avoids putting players in situations where they have both tor was old news. Last offseason a parade of coaches traveled a gap responsibility in the run game and a zone to defend up the Hudson River to study the Black Knights’ tactics. in the pass, even if man coverage leaves them susceptible Bateman’s philosophy, like Johansen’s at Grand View, to picks and rubs; and he tends to rush players from non- requires the mastery of only a few simple concepts. Those traditional positions. He relies on Green Bay’s support staff are then folded into the weekly game plan and adjusted after for self-scouting each week, making sure his alignments don’t input from players. Film cut-ups are texted to each cadet’s tip his hand, and he spends hours rearranging theoretical phone on Monday, with the requirement that he reply to troops like an obsessive Risk player. Bateman with two unique observations. “You’re much better off,” says Pettine, “being proactive The one constant week-to-week: “Everyone is a blitzer,” than reactive—especially reactive at halftime after you’ve says Bateman. “A kid is a defensive end—well, now he’s a been gutted and you’re wondering what happened.” linebacker, orastrong safety.How doesaquarterback de- clare him? [Their offense will] start blocking guys that aren’t even rushing, and not block guys who are.” From this, Army › WHAT HAVE all those trips to college campuses employssixdifferentblitzes,butBatemanrunsthemoutof turned up? At Grand View, Johansen’s approach is dozensofpersonnelpackages,whichhesaysforcesoffensive rooted in simplicity. He uses a micro playbook, about two coordinators to spend twice the normal time in preparation. pages long, that changes each week. Instead of forcing his Bateman says the biggest concern he’s heard from visiting entire working theory upon his defense, he arms players NFL coaches about this kind of multiplicity is that it requires with only a few fundamental techniques that they’ll need immense brain power from the safeties in charge of lining ev- for the upcoming game—simple maneuvers they’ll rep over and over during practice. Keeping things simple allows the defense to stay flexible. 49 Against RPO-based teams, for example, his Vikings may SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 appear in what looks like a dime front (six defensive backs) rethinking football’s training JUST camp drills, sports will change the as climates change.

DUH › HOW FAST does the wheel of change spin? In 2003 the FACTS NFL rejected a Super Bowl eryone up and from the corners memoriz- Eight so-obvious-it-has-to- ad promoting Las Vegas ing the coverages. Bateman’s solution is to happen visions of the near future as a resort destination, so have his defense operate as a collection of toxic were the city’s ties to grouped special forces. They use one-word gambling. As early as next calls, the first letter of which pertains to fall an NFL franchise—the a specific position group, alerting players Raiders—will join the NHL’s as to who is blitzing. Linebackers, for ex- by L. JON WERTHEIM Golden Knights, various Pac-12 ample, might be assigned an S-word—so if tourneys and the fastest- the call is “spider,” linebackers are going growing league, the UFC, in after the QB. The other groups know what › NEVER MIND that a ball Vegas. That boom traces coverage or technique to play when the hitting the foul pole is fair. evolving views on gambling. linebackers blitz. The most confounding thing Given the rise of sports Players then have all week in practice in baseball is this: Thanks to betting, a growing young to work on just a few moves, or tech- boxes superimposed to show population, an agreeable niques relevant to the upcoming game the strike zone, fans watching climate and all those hotel plan.Thenosetackle,forexample,might on TV know instantly whether rooms, Sin City will become be told: Center kill, gap control, cross left apitchisaballorastrike,but the new gravitational center and cross right; and he’ll have all week to thehomeplateumpisleftto for American sports. focus on those instructions. The result? relyonhissuperb—butnot An amorphous defense with the most unerring—judgment. MLB’s › THE PGA TOUR may yet realistic chance to match the targeted recent embrace of instant wait for the Tiger Effect to explosiveness of modern offenses. Defen- replay has been a success; take, but the WTA is already sive backs with their hands in the dirt. the minimal disruption for seeing the impact of the Linemen floating in coverage, scattering reviewing a call is outweighed Williams sisters. Including the quarterback’s progression. by the satisfaction of Venus and Serena—still going “The days of a defensive player drop- accuracy. Look for baseball strong at 38 and 37—six ping back into a spot, the quarterback to rely on technology to African-American women SPORTSWI (FEDERER); ALVAREZ/AFP/GETTY NIELL/ICON IMAGES MUNOZ CHAZ EDUARDO throwing it and [the defender] breaking call pitches, prompting the sitinthetop100,notleast on the ball are over,” says Bateman. “If inevitable question: Are 2017 U.S. Open champ Sloane oneofmyguysdrawsupsomethinglike officials, with their capacity Stephens. The best American that,Itellhim,We ain’t doing that.” for human error, necessary junior prospect, 14-year- at all in sports? old CORI (COCO) GAUFF,is black; so is Whitney Osuigwe, › DALLAS WHITAKER,aformer › WHEN ROGER FEDERER lost who at 16 is No. 15 in the Rutgers grad assistant, heads up in the fourth round of the international junior rankings. an undefeated Somerville (N.J.) High 2018U.S.Open,yes,ithada2018 And tennis’s current star- program that averages 47.2 points per bit to do with the formidability in-ascent, Naomi Osaka, is game.At25,he’soneoftheyoungest of hissfoe.Butthe37-year-old the daughter of a Japanese head coaches in New Jersey high was rreally done in by humidity mother and Haitian father school history. He’s also one of the sooppressivep that he needed who employed what they most confident. to geet his breathing under called “the Williams blueprint.”

“I don’t understand why people aren’t controlt after the match. It As more and more minority (CURRY) (GAUFF); IMAGES NELSON GREG RE/GETTY running this stuff every play,” he says was bothadispiritingdefeat women make an impact, this of his offense, a hybrid of principals de- and a glimpse into the trend will continue. rived from Oklahoma, Washington State ffuture. As the planet and Chip Kelly–era Oregon playbooks. wwarms, it will impact us › WHILE RULING in 1984 all,nnot least those who tax that the NCAA was acting their bodies in increasingly as an illegal cartel when it 50 extreme conditions. Whether bannedschoolsfromcutting it’s moving the 2022 Qatar their own TV deals, Supreme SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 WorlddCuptothefallor Court Justice John Paul Stevens slipped in this line: payments to his contract is up in twist: Days before Max “In order to preserve the players and side 2022. (He’ll be 34.) The Holloway, 26, was to defend character and quality of the deals with sneakerr Warriors’ guard is one his featherweight belt ‘product,’ athletes must companies. In the of dozens of pros poised last July, he experienced not be paid.” Those last future, a right- tto have made nine figures flashing vision and slurred five words have been an thinking court will in their careers, rich to speech. The official reason effective line of defense in reverse Stevens thhe point of absurdity. Yet his tussle with Brian Ortega preserving college sports and rule that free thhere’s a sensible purchase was canceled: concussion- amateurism. But that was market trumps available to those with like symptoms. Holloway 34 years ago, before D-I free labor. thhis sort of wealth: a team. has not fought since. programs grossed hundreds Loook for a spate of today’s Football, of course, has of million of dollars apiece › FOR ALL his stars to be like Mike and been reassessed by so and defensive coordinators endorsement buuyamajority interest in many fans after revelations started making $2.5 million lucre, Michael afranchise, f just as Jordan about the high incidence per year. Amid this new Jordan earned haas done with the Hornets. of head injury. And CTE is commerce, the idea of only $90.2M in Thhe NBA owners’ meeting of so common in boxing that enforced amateurism is salary for his entire tomorrow will resemble the its specific variant has beyond offensive; it’s such NBA career. Compare that NBA All-Star Game of today. its own name, dementia a distortion that, as any to STEPH CURRY, who not pugilistica. While sports Econ101 student knows, the only makes $42M annually › THE UFC has always had and head injuries collide, so market will seek to correct in endorsements, but a problem with injured far, the UFC has bobbed and itself. Right now, that comes who will also have earned fighters pulling out of cards. weaved to avoid getting hit. in the form of clandestine $258M in salary when But this one came with a The outfit is only 25 years old, so data is limited. But given the nature of a sport whose vernacular includes smashing and obliterating, MMA will have to confront the issue, well, head on.

MATT: What’s your prediction on the three-man broadcast booth? ALEX: Yeahhh, I see them dying a merciful death. MATT: Why’s that? ALEX: They’re like a conference call: They feel forced. Unnatural. You’re straining to be heard, but also straining to include everyone. Lots of dead air, or awkward inter— MATT: —awkward interruptions, you’re saying— ALEX: —right. So much so that it distracts from the actual game. [Pregnant pause.] MATT: You agree, Jessica? JESSICA: Agree with— MATT: —this notion that the three-man booth will, or must, die. JESSICA: Yeah. Though I’m focusing on the man part as much as the three part.... ± the

Three years ago, though, Somerville by JENNY VRENTAS was in the midst of a 25-game winless streak. After the 2014 season, Jeff Vander- beek, the former Devils owner and Lehm- NEW BODY an Brothers VP, took a job as the co-head coach at his old school. It was a rescue DOES IT mission. Vanderbeek stacked his staff with young, forward-thinking coaches who could expose the antiquated defensive BETTER minds of Jersey football. He handed the program off to Whitaker last summer. Somerville doesn’t have a literal play- book, just core concepts. Things run flu- ently on a language of three- or four-word Not tall enough to play QB in the NFL? calls. To keep the kids’ attentions, players Think again! Offensive schemes will value are sometimes allowed to name plays. › (One recent example: “Fetty Wap,” after mobility and accuracy more and more the Jersey-born rapper.) At a Friday practice in autumn the pace is frantic. In passing drills, each rep features at least four QBs so that every receiver catches a ball. In the 11 v. 11 portion, offensive linemen do up-downs after each snap, instead of blocking—a conditioning technique that sprinkles high-intensity cardio into the installation period. Receivers who run routes over a certain length on a given play bail out at the sideline, tagging in another player, like a line shift in hockey. A drone hovers above this all, its camera capturing every moment. For defensive coordinators, the footage amounts to a horror film. The sequel could be scarier. On the same evening, Somerville’s peewee pro- gram begins a workout on a small prac- tice space behind the high school field, tiny huffs and puffs escaping from too- large helmets as they go through drills. TUA TAGOVAILOA has started for less than a full season “They’re running the same offense as the of college football, and he’s more than a year away from high school,” Vanderbeek says of the chil- being eligible for the NFL draft. But already, NFL fans dren, some as young as six. “Same plays.” aresalivatingatthepossibilityofhiswearingtheirteam’s Vanderbeek smiles at the kids, at the uniform: tua in 2020. chaos he’s ensured for years to come. If The Alabama quarterback has been as unstoppable this someone is going to find a way to stop season as he was during his coming-out party in the second this, they better do it quickly. ± half of the Tide’s 26–23 national-title victory over Georgia lastJanuary.Despite a naggingknee injury,he’s litup fields across the SEC, throwing deep posts with the same 52 ease as RPO slants, while logging just two .

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 He also happens to be short—by NFL quarterback stan- [defenses are] able to get to the QB; you’ve gotta be able to dards, that is. Tagovailoa is listed as 6' 1" on Alabama’s move and extend plays and just make things happen.” website, but NFL scouts would be surprised if he measures For years, two main factors have been used to assess a more than 6 feet. And there’s a good chance that whichever quarterback’s pro potential: Does he stand tall in the pocket teampicksfirstin2020willsay,Sowhat? and can he make the “NFL throw,” such as the deep out? That would not have happened a decade ago, but NFL But as offenses have changed across all levels of football, franchise quarterbacks don’t look like they used to. Just ask teams have adapted their QB criteria, both out of necessity 5 Baker Mayfield, the 6' ⁄8 " QB drafted No. 1 by the Browns and because the spread formations and concepts now being last April. “The old-school frame of mind is to find your 6' 5" embraced in the league render height less critical. quarterback to stand in the pocket and throw the ball, but The 6-foot and the 5' 11" , who the game is changing,” Mayfield says. “Guys are a lot faster; have both won Super Bowls, have gone a long way toward

illustration by SINELAB the

changing perceptions. For both, size affected when they were drafted—Brees went in the second round in 2001, Wilson in the third in ’12. The fact that Mayfield was drafted first in ’18 indicates a shifting paradigm. The Browns deemed there was less risk in taking a small quarterback at No. 1 than in passing on him. “The history of the NFL is simple: You get overdrafted if you fit the traditional look, and you get underdrafted if you don’t,” says , the 6' 4" NFL first-round quarterback who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2000. “Baker was the league, finally, saying: You don’t have to look the part. He made it O.K. for talent evaluators to fight for guys like that.” These guys include Tagovailoa—and Penn State’s Trace McSorley (6 feet), Washington State’s Gardner Minshew (6' 2") and Mayfield’s successor at Oklahoma, Kyler Murray (5' 11"). Dilfer, head coach for the passing camp for the nation’s top high school quar- › SELLING SHORT talk about 265- to 270-pound offensive terbacks, is in a perfect spot to see the future Scouts are salivating linemen—30 to 40 pounds smaller than of the position. According to him, 90% of the over the skills of the most blockers today. currentPower5startingquarterbacks,and diminutive Tagovailoa. , who runs ProScout, Inc., 11 of the last 12 Heisman winners who played a service used by several NFL teams, sets QB, have gone through the Elite 11 program. parameters for each position based not Dilfer sees the next wave of NFL QBs four or five years before on all players in the league but rather on those currently they even get to the league. performing well. Giddings uses a color-coded rating sys- WhileNFLevaluatorshavelongcovetedpowerandstat- tem—blue represents the best of the best; red, solid starters; ure in quarterbacks, Dilfer asserts that what matters more purple, players you can win with; and so on. He groups the is twitch and precision—in other words, moving quickly, players at each position who are playing at a purple level thinkingquicklyandgettingtheballtotherightplace.The or better, and then calculates the height, weight and speed NFL game used to be played in a tight scrum around the parameters into which 90% of them fall. Based on these line of scrimmage, but the spread revolution has stretched criteria, Mayfield, who is taller than both Brees and Wilson, the field with single backs, detached tight ends and receiv- wouldn’t have been considered a height outlier. ers lining up in wide splits, opening up the throwing lanes. None of this is to say that teams aren’t looking for another Says Jim Nagy, former longtime NFL scout and now the 6'5",237-poundCarsonWentz.JustinHerbert,the6'6" executive director of the , “We’re shifting more OregonQB,figurestobeselectednearthetopofthe2019 to athleticism, and away from size. Instead of fighting it, the draft. But of course no one factor is determinative. Mayfield league is saying: At some point we’ve gotta give in a little.” went No. 1 because he was exceptional in the areas that Dilfer NFL teams use height, weight and speed measurements described—his quick release, quick eyes, great feet and tre- to try to quantify talent. The many coaches and GMs around mendous accuracy. Then there is his proven competitive spirit. the league who are Bill Parcells disciples cite his famous The same figures to be true for Tagovailoa. Nagy was adage, “Make one exception, and the next thing you know, working as a Southeast-area scout for the Seahawks when you have a team full of them.” But which players are the Alabama was recruiting Tagovailoa out of Hawaii, and the exceptions? Scouting manuals in the 1980s, for example, scout recalls members of their staff telling him, “He reminds us of your guy,” referring to Wilson. “People still have their doubts,” Mayfield says. “But we’ve KEVIN D. LILES 54 had guys like Drew Brees and Russell Wilson to help pave the way, to maybe keep an open mind. All we can do is allow SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 those other guys to get a fair chance.” ± THE S WATCH AND UMM IT NOW TE ER FA O , F E T ’7 A 8 H

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› READY TO SOAR › by by photograph KEVIN D. LILES PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PREMEDIA S.I. After an up-and-down an After Oklahoma, at season has givenYoung Hawks fans a reason feel good to their prospects.about TRAE YOUNG IS THE PROTOTYPICAL WEAPON FOR TOMORROW’S NBA: A STEELY-EYED SNIPER

the

WITH NO CONSCIENCE ABOUT HOISTING 30-FOOTERS— BUT THOUGHTFUL ENOUGH TO NAVIGATE

THE HAZARDS THAT COME WITH STARRING IN A LEAGUE DOMINATED BY SOCIAL MEDIA

THREAT current coach, explains, “He’s a small guy. It’s even more special when you see someone normal able to dominate.” Now, one year after his life changed forever, he’s in the NBA. “I grew up in Oklahoma,” Young says of his new reality. “I’dgoto Thundergames.Evengottosee ChrisPaul,when the Hornets came to Oklahoma City for a little bit. So I’ve seen NBA guys, and how they are when they leave the locker room.Dressedin thenicestclothes.Drivingaroundthecity in Lamborghinis. Two years ago I was just another high school kid. Now to be around those types of people every day, it’s surreal. But I mean, I knew I was supposed to be here.” It’s only right that Young would arrive to the NBA at pre- cisely this moment. His name is Trae, after all, and basketball is in the middle of a three-point revolution that gets a little wilder each year. NBA teams are taking threes in historic numbers (31.4 attempts per game, up from 22.4 five years ago),and they areaveraging4.4morepointspergame than last year. Likewise, while the NBA’s future will be anchored by freakishly gifted unicorns like Ben Simmons and Giannis Antetokounmpo, a player like Young is a reminder that even “normal” players of the next generation will be bending the game into shapes that were once inconceivable. WHEN TRAE YOUNG found out he would be in Sports Illustrated’s Future Issue, appearing alongside Patrick Mahomes, his eyes got wide. “Mahomes has been ballin’,” › YOUNG’S STORY OFF the court encompasses its own Young said. Then the Hawks’ rookie point guard answered a lessons on the future. He arrived at Oklahoma heavily handful of questions about how a 20-year-old sees the world. recruited but largely ignored by NBA scouts. He began the His favorite app is Snapchat. He uses Twitter to get his news. 2017–18 season 55th on SI’s NBA Draft Big Board. After just He doesn’t trust self-driving cars, but he’d be fine watching an six weeks he had become the latest prospect to hypnotize the entire season of basketball strictly in virtual reality. He thinks sport. Two years before there had been Simmons, the next that in 20 years the pace of the NBA will be even faster, with year there was Lonzo, and last season there was Young. even more threes, taken from increasingly further behind His highlights dominated the Internet. Oscar Robertson the three-point line. “There will also be more females in this reached out to express his admiration. Young was welcomed league,” Young said. “Referees, coaches. You’ll see the first on stage at a Lil Wayne concert. His idol, Steve Nash, texted female head coach. Some things you wouldn’t even think of.” to say he was a fan. Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook of- At the moment he watches film on an iPhone, not the team- fered public approvals. In December, Young saw that LeBron issued iPad. He thinks eventually there could be games live-broadcast on Twitch. As for watching games in 2018, friends and family watched his college games on “HE’S A SMALL GUY,” SAYS PIERCE. national TV, but for now most of them watch “IT’S EVEN MORE SPECIAL WHEN YOU online. The lottery-bound Hawks are not quite ready for TNT. “We’re gonna get it SEE SOMEONE NORMAL DOMINATE.” there,” Young promised. Younghasbeenfamousforseveralyears. In high school there was an assistant coach assigned to help James had taken to Instagram to post a picture of the two of ward off selfie-seekers at games, and when Young was a 6' 2" them from the previous summer. James captioned the photo: freshman point guard at Oklahoma, the whole world learned “Keep going young [king emoji]!! Don’t stop fam!!” his name.“He gotoff toa reallygoodstart,”says Sooners “I was trippin’,” Young says. “And that was the day before coach Lon Kruger. “Then the next few weeks were better. Christmas. I’m like, ‘Man, LeBron should be posting pictures Then the next few weeks, better. He was 5 or 10 feet outside with his family right now.’ But instead he posted this picture the [three-point] line and he was still shooting at a 45% clip with me. It’s crazy. It was pretty cool, though.” throughthosefirstsixweeks.”AndasLloydPierce,Young’s Soon afterward, things took a turn. “I was getting a lot of good things,” Young remembers of last season’s social media notifications. “Then I would see a lot of bad things. Like, JOHN W. MCDONOUGH 58 ‘Man I’m tired of hearing about Trae Young. This is getting annoying. They’re showing his stats during other games.’ ” SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 Opponents began to double-team Young, jumpers stopped › BURBANK SHOT Against the Lakers on Nov. 11, Young attempted eight threes and made four—including a 28- and a 29-footer. falling, and both he and his teammates struggled to adjust. After starting 12–1 “EVERYBODY GETS COMPARED TO and being ranked No. 4 in January, Okla- homa finished the year with an 8–10 SOMEBODY,” YOUNG SAYS OF THE record in the Big 12 and barely made CURRY TALK. “BUT RIGHT NOW the NCAA tournament. “Trae Young is I’M DEFINITELY NOT STEPH.” overrated” became as ubiquitous as his highlights had been. “When one person says it,” Young says, “a lot of people start saying it.” draft-night takes are not aging well. Atlanta will probably lose Some of that skepticism continued through the draft. Young between50and60games,buttherehavebeenglimmersof had been compared to Curry throughout the mainstream a much brighter future. Full-court passes here, deep threes media, and in fairness, the similarities in head-splitting shot there, wide-open looks that will eventually fall. Both Donˇci´c profiles are unmistakable: Through his first 13 NBA games, and Young have been impressive. If their futures are equally Younghoisted15shotsfromatleast30feet(makingsix),while bright, the edge goes to the team that also got a likely-lottery Curry is 6 for 13. The problem is that Curry is one of the best pick out of the deal. players of all time. Any 19-year-old would pale in comparison. “I wasn’t mad,” Young says. “Everybody gets compared to somebody. But right now, I’m definitely not Steph.” › YOUNG OPENED HIS pro career by shooting 23% Young arrived with the Hawks after the Mavericks gave through Atlanta’s first three summer league games, them a future first-round pick to move from number five to all losses. He shot 12.5% from three-point range. “He struggled three. As part of the deal, Atlanta passed on the chance to shooting,” Pierce says. “He didn’t struggle. He didn’t make acquire Slovenian phenom Luka Donˇcic ´ to rebuild around shots that he usually makes. Floaters, threes, none of it was Younginstead.SomepunditswonderedwhethertheHawks falling. His shot creation was unbelievable. Instantly, I said, were doing this in hopes that Young could sell tickets. Oth- ‘Five years from now, we’re going to have free agents dying ers wondered if Atlanta was launching its own version of to get to Atlanta.’ That’s what I got out of those first few Philadelphia’s Process. It was rare to find anyone outside games: God, how many shots did that kid create?” Atlanta who believed the Hawks actually made the right call. The predominant reaction to Young’s early days in the “The thing with Luka,” Young says, “he’s a great player. I regular season, in which he has scored 18.5 points per game

don’t understand why it can’t work out for both situations. and dished out 8.2 assists, has been that people tune in to 1 SPORTS LYNCH/FOX KEVIN I hear [Atlanta made a mistake] all the time. Luka’s a great watch a shooter and come away rhapsodizing about a passer. dude, and I think he’s going to be a really good player. But at “Those wraparound passes,” Pierce says. “Left hand, right the same time, I’m going to be a better player. Just because hand. It’s unreal. You don’t see a lot of guys wrap around ofmyabilitytostretchthefloor,getothersinvolved, I think the [defender’s] body and throw passes to someone on the I’llI ll be better. ” One month into the NBA seaseason, some of those other side of the perimeter.”

SPORTS WEREN’T Alvin Toffler’s thing, really. The EE › businessman and author (Future Shock, 1970) was busy predicting stuff like cloning, genetic engineering and the rise of the Internet. But the advising firm he GE left behind after his death in 2016, Toffler Associates, is full of ball- and bat-minded thinkers who enjoy pondering the what ifs of sports. What if robots? What if A.I.? What if sharks with laser beams? Hans Davies—Dutchman, soccer fan and Toffler thinker— offers a glimpse at a futurist’s watercooler talk. by KKELVIIN C. BIAS On the changing virtual reality allows the spectator and definition of sports: you to play any the paid sportsman I would expect that sport you want, as much as they in 20 to 25 years however you want are You are now the everyone can join to play it. Sports will athlete yourself. a league because become less about Imagine a world YOUNG

the

yearnotjustbecauseofbasicmath(threeismorethantwo) and evolved skill sets, but also because of the tactical benefit of space. A team with shooters all over the arc can reframe the terms of engagement and change the geometry of offense. The farther out those threats go, the more ground defenses › PASSING MUSTER have to cover, and the easier Young is averaging offense becomes. 8.2 assists per game, a Explains Pierce, “We have a mark only seven rookies shot, we call it the swag shot. have surpassed. If you’re coming down on the break and the guy’s backped- aling and you’re in rhythm, “That’s my favorite thing,” Young says. “I love hearing raise up and shoot. Does it have to be at half-court? I hope people talk about my passing.” not.Becausewecangetthatshotanytimewewant.Sothe Shooting will still be crucial, of course. The jumper is the swag shot is not to be abused.” key that unlocks everything else. That’s true for any player, Threes are a means to an end, not the end itself. NBA teams but particularly this one. Walking around a locker room, may be launching a record number of threes, but they are also Young could easily be mistaken for the little brother of a attempting the highest percentage of shots inside the paint player. At just 6' 2", he needs to hit jumpers to create space (48.8%) since 1997. “The challenge,” Pierce says, “is when to for the rest of his game to flourish. The Hawks need that, too. make decisions. They go under [a screen]? Shoot it. They go “I like threes,” Pierce says, “but I love the rim. When you over and the big is back? Pull up and shoot it. You get in the can pull a defense farther out, that paint is open. It changes paint and you’re at the rim? Finish it. But lots of other times [in everything. When you have guys who can open the paint up, the paint]? Kick outs. You see a defense help? Swing it. [Trae it’s going to challenge the defense. Just the threat of being is] in position to make those reads often. We’re just educat- able to shoot out there allows us to slash and roll to the rim.” ing him in how to read so he can make the right decisions.”

CHRIS KEANE CHRIS NBA teams launch three-pointers in record numbers every So far, the education is more entertaining than expected. In

where you don’t need are fallible creatures. than it is to pay for muscles or bones. want to see where to pay for the NFL’s As folks start relying aticket.Thenwhat ...Ontheexistenceof we’re headed with product because you veryheavilyonA.I., do you do with that games, period: Sports technology, look at strap on your virtual you’ll see [attention space? ...Onchanging will always be here. what happened to reality helmet and return to] the role values: What do we We need sports, horses when the you’re in the game. the human being honor as human that competitive Industrial Revolution . . . On sports and plays. ...Onstadiums: beings in the future? spirit. The question came in. Maybe Fox artificial intelligence: I can imagine a Athleticism? Or simply becomes, is just ahead of its [Lakers coach] Luke future not so far something different? Where do we get time and there will Walton can crunch down the road where If you look at the them? Remember: be an RFL—the Robot all the numbers he stadiums are empty. growth of e-sports, A thousand-odd Football League—and wants [with A.I.], but It becomes cheaper [those players] are years ago, sport was the rest of us are in the end he’s going to have my kid stay not running, jumping. gladiators fighting going to play flag to have to make at home and put They’re not risking lions. ...OnFox’ship- football. Maybe it’s decisions [with that on the holographic concussion or long- shaking, ball-spiking Division I versus data]. And humans goggles and gloves term damage to their NFL robot: If you Division Robot. ± YOUNG successful he becomes. He’s more detached from those con- versations now; he learned that he can’t stay on social media the after the wins and then expect to ignore it after losses. “There are going to be good days,” he said. “There are going to be bad days. You need to know how to handle it.” This conversation came the night before Zion Williamson’s nationally televised debut for Duke against Kentucky. “It’s going to be crazy,” Young said of the year in Zion. “But there’s his third NBA game, Young became the first player since Steph going to be a time, I’m telling you, there’s going to be a team Curry in 2010toputupatleast35pointsand11assists—astat that goes zone and just makes him shoot the whole game. line only seven rookies in history have achieved. A finished And he’s going to have a game where he’s like 2 for 12. And product is years away, but as Atlanta surrounds Young with people are going to say, ‘Pffft, he’s not that good.’ When re- even more shooting on the other end of his passing, it’s not ally [it’s because] they’re just playing zone the whole game. hard to imagine this team as one of the best shows in the “Zion, there are going to be times he’s going to get backlash. league. As Charlotte’s Kemba Walker said of Young after an But he’s ultimately going to be great. Same with [Duke’s] R.J. early November matchup, “He’s good, man. He’s a stud. To be [Barrett]. It’s going to be this same cycle.” a one-and-done guy, doing this his first year in the league, he has it. He has it. He’s gonna be a special player.”

FOX (LISA SIMPSON, BART SIMPSON); ELIZABETH MORRIS/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK/GETTY IMAGES (PARKS AND REC); NBC/ › AS FOR THE other half of this story—new media (BLADE RUNNER); MOVIESTORE/SHUTTERSTOCK (THE 6TH DAY); BARRY WETCHER/WARNER BROS./KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK pressures and how any teenage phenom stays sane— there are a few different perspectives to consider. First, 58-year-old Dominique Wilkins sounded almost competitive when asked about Young’s overnight popularity. “Just imagine · The Simpsons, if I had social media back when I played,” he said. “How big “Lisa the Greek” 1992 we would’ve been? And we were big! We were big. But man. The Bills will lose the upcoming Super I don’t know if there’s a word they’d have found for us.” Bowl—an outcome the cartoon forecasstt Pressedonwhetherinternationalnamerecognitionwould before SB XXVI, XXVII and XXVIII have beenhealthyforan18-year-oldWilkins,hewasalmost offended: “Arrrrghhhhh. It would’ve been great. No question! I would’ve welcomed it.” WRINKLES All of that was half-serious, but it’s instructive. Implicit in Nique’s answer is that the attention paid to young superstars is reflectiveofasportthatisperfectlysuitedtoownthemodern IN TIME media landscape. Basketball highlights dominate the Internet, How good is Hollywood at predicting the future in sports? We assessed its bravest attempts, based on the boldness and individual stars resonate online more than athletes in any accuracy of the forecast. —JACOB FELDMAN other American sport, and everyone involved will ultimately be wealthier and more famous as a result. For a player like Wilkins, the modern era is worlds better than the tape-delay NBA he watched growing up. Hawks veteran Vince Carter, who has earned more than $180 million in 21 seasons but never had to watch his career · be deconstructed daily on Twitter, is more circumspect. “I can’t imagine,”hesaidwhenaskedaboutcomingofagein today’s climate. “Not just for me, but think MJ and all the stars backthen.EvenKobe.Whatwoulditbelikeiftherewas the social media thing? I have an idea obviously, because you seeit....Idon’tknow.Icanonlygivesomuchadvice.”(The · lessons go both ways: Young recently taught Carter how to copy-and-paste Instagrams into the team group chat.) The 6th Day 2000 For his part, Young is matter-of-fact. Last year prepared By 2015 the XFL him for an NBA climate that will only get wilder the more will be wildly Blade Runner 1982 popular, with Come 2019, chess one player inking 62 will be played over a $300 million the phone lifetime contract SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 ACCURATE MOST LEAST TO

LEAST TO MOST BOLD Thatcycleisn’ttotally newtoanyonewho, for example, He’sjustanundersizedpointguardtryingtohelprejuvenate followed the rise of LeBron nearly two decades ago. The a franchise that hasn’t been nationally relevant in somewhere difference is that once-in-a-generation LeBron madness is between four and 40 years, depending on your definition of now becoming an annual tradition. As the Internet devours relevant. Before he made it here or to SportsCenter last year, basketball news at every level, today’s young stars are fawned the new Hawks point guard was at the Norman, Okla., YMCA over, they are sought after, and their upside becomes a talking working out at 6 a.m. every day before high school. After point throughout the entire sport. Then, usually, it becomes classesandpractices, he’dreturn tothecourt.Mostdays cooler to explain why they’re not as special as everyone thinks. he’dbe there withhis dad,Rayford,whoplayedbasketballat And because most of this happens when players are 18 and Texas Tech and then professionally in Europe. While his dad 19, growing pains are inevitable. Criticisms are validated, was traveling all over Europe, the point guard watched NBA flaws are magnified. Then, somewhere much further down games with his grandfather, also Rayford, who had played the line, everyone moves onto a new argument. Pundits relax. junior college basketball. That’s how he fell in love with the Players become basketball stories again, not trending topics. sport, playing one-on-one in his grandfather’s living room. The first month in Atlanta has been like a reintroduction for “That’s my first name too,” Young said. “I’m the third anyone who might have forgotten to be wildly curious about Rayford.” Trae Young. At the moment, he’s not overrated or underrated. And that’s why his middle name is Trae. ±

PHOTOFEST (QUANTUM LEAP); AMBLIN/UNIVERSAL/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK (BACK TO THE FUTURE II); TRACY BENNETT/RED HOUR/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK (DODGEBALL, 2); LADD COMPANY/WARNER BROS./KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK (I AM LEGEND); NEW LINE CINEMA (THE BLOOD OF HEROES); UNITED ARTISTS/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK (ROLLERBALL); TRI-STAR/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK (THE RUNNING MAN); NEW WORLD/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK (DEATH RACE 2000)

2010: · The Year We · Make Contact 1984 Parks Beijing will host and Reec,, · Quantum Leap, the ’08 Olympics “Ron&Jammy” 2015 “All-Americans” 1990 TheTh Simpsons,Si (according to a poster The Cubs will win the The Steelers will play in “Boy Meets Curl” in the background) 2016 World Series the 1996 Super Bowl 2010 The U.S. will beat Sweden Baaack to the · Dodgeball 20 4 at the Winter Fuuture II 1989 In the not- Olympics to win TheThTeC e Cubs u will so-distant future curling gold wp Miami” in the ESPN will have 20151 World Series seven-plus spinoff networks, includingg the Ocho

· · The Blood · Rollerball of Heroes 1989 1975 IAmLegendI m e n 2007222 In the future, football By 2018, Thee Patriotsa r s will (“Jugger”) will resemble ultraviolent Roller beata thet e Gia ants gladiatorial combat; Derby will be big; 23– 7 in the ’09 pigskins will be replaced owners will fight Superp r Bowlo with dog skulls individualism

The Running Man 1987 Death Race 2000 1975 By 2017, criminal justice In the new millennium, will be meted out on costumed drivers a violent American in cross-country races Gladiators–like sports will score by plowing · · game show down pedestrians The No. 2 recruit in the country, Jordan, who grew up idolizing Pat Summitt, will play for Tennessee next season. Horston has one goal: “I want to win a national championship.” She also is set on fulfilling her dream of making it to the WNBA.

› IN THE YEAR 2030 Jordan, who has a 4.0 GPA in high school, plans to have accomplished plenty by the time she’s in her 30s. “I want to win multiple national championships,” she says. “I want to be an All-America. I want to play in an Olympics, win a gold medal. photograph by SIMON BRUTY

KEEPERS › TOMORROW championship. a state to route en assists 4.5 rebounds points, and 5.8 18.1 College, sheEarly averaged at Columbus Africentric MVP. season, as Last a junior tournament named was and medal a gold to team under-17 USA the led she where Belarus, in Cup World FIBA the at shone guard senior the summer This › TODAY COLUMBUS, OHIO 17 HORSTON JORDAN › o er addcds ocome to decades) (and years for lines stat and headlines age—will dominate each at best the of best youngsters—the six these that expect to reason every there’s and peers, their above shoulders and head already They’re by JEREMY FUCHS AKSHAY BHATIA 16 WAKE FOREST, N.C.

› TODAY Akshay, a junior at Penn Foster High, an online school, is putting together quite a résumé: He’s won the Junior PGA Championship (twice), the Junior Invitational and the AJGA Polo Junior Classic. At last year’s Junior PGA he broke Pat Perez’s 24-year scoring record, and this year he became the tournament’s first back-to-back winner. In October, Akshay was named the AJGA Player of the Year, an award that has been given to Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods.

› TOMORROW Akshay is aiming to be on the pro tour by 2020. He’s looking forward to going head-to- head with the best. “It’d be pretty cool to play with Brooks Koepka,” he says.

› IN THE YEAR 2030 Akshay’s goal is simple: “To be the No. 1 player in the world.” photograph by ROBERT LEVERONE TAMARI DAVIS 15 GAINESVILLE, FLA.

› TODAY At the Class 3A Florida state championships in May, Tamari set a world record for 15-year-olds, finishing the 200 meters in 22.48.

› TOMORROW Tamari plans to make a mark at the Tokyo Games in 2020. “I want to be the youngest sprinter in the final or on the medal stand,” she says.

› IN THE YEAR 2030 Tamari has her sights set on Florence Griffith- Joyner’s 30-year-old records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. “No one’s been close,” she says. “If I get it, that would be amazing.”

photograph by JEFFERY A. SALTER

CLAIRE TUGGLE 14 CLOVIS, CALIF.

›TODAY At the Junior National Championships in August, Claire swam the second-fastest 200-meter freestyle ever in the 13–14 age group, just behind Missy Franklin’s record.

› TOMORROW A freshman at Clovis North High with dreams of swimming at Stanford, Claire will turn 16 less than a month before the 2020 Tokyo Games.

›INTHEYEAR2030 Claire hopes to compete in three Olympics by then and plans to be done swimming by the time she’s 30. photograph by ROBERT BECK

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SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 the

JAYLON MCKENZIE 13 BELLEVILLE, ILL.

›TODAY An eighth-grader at Central Junior High, Jaylon—who plays running back, receiver and defensive back—drew national attention when he caught five passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns to help the East team to a victory at the NFL’s 8th Grade All-American Game in Canton, Ohio, in August. Last year, Jaylon rushed for 1,546 yards and 21 TDs for his youth football team, the East St. Louis Jr. Flyers. (A broken collarbone has limited his workload this season.)

› TOMORROW Asked what he wants to accomplish, Jaylon says, “Make the NFL.” He hopes to follow in the footsteps of Titans cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, a star at USC, who is also from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville and also played both ways. But before Jaylon takes on the NFL, he has to go to high school.

›INTHEYEAR2030 Jaylon expects to be playing in the NFL. His dream? To be a star in L.A.— for the Rams or the Chargers.

photograph by DAVID E. KLUTHO

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SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 receiver for the Falcons; and his father, Jeffery ELIJIA Barney, was an all-conference shortstop at BARNEY Grambling State. › TOMORROW 12 Last July, Grambling offered Elijia a scholarship. GULFPORT, MISS. He looks forward to following in his dad’s footsteps (though he wouldn’t necessarily say no if another school came knocking). ›TODAY The legend of the 5' 8", 163-pound corner infielder who ›INTHEYEAR2030 hits towering home runs is already growing. Playing for Elijia also plays football and basketball, but the Green Wave travel team last summer, Elijia went his dream is to suit up for the Dodgers. That deep 18 times in just 58 at bats; at the USSSA Global could be as a pitcher—he threw a no-hitter last World Series he hit five homers in 14 at bats. The season—but it’s more likely to be as a slugger. As seventh-grader at Central Middle School comes from Elijia puts it, “Everyone loves the home run ball.” a long line of athletic luminaries. Elijia’s great-great- uncle Lem Barney was an NFL Hall of Fame cornerback; Photograph by his grandfather Milton Barney Sr. played wide JEFFERY A. SALTER OF TH SPORT

› RABIL ROUSER The “million dollar man” is looking to share the wealth in his burgeoning sport. OF THE LEAGUE

LACROSSE PLAYERS talk about Paul Rabil in the same way that basketball players speak › of LeBron James: as a mold-breaker, one whose unprecedented athletic gifts promise new levels of success and stardom. “He’s bigger, faster, stronger,” says Kyle Harrison, Rabil’s former teammate at Johns Hopkins and himself one of the game’s greatest play- ers. “Smarter. More efficient. Someone at his size within our sport, it was the first time it had all come together.” The 6' 4", 220-pound Rabil won two national champion- ships at Hopkins, in 2005 and ’07, and was the No. 1 pick in the ’08 Major League Lacrosse draft. And he became the LeBron of MLL: In 2013, Bloomberg.com touted him as lacrosse’s million dollar man. (Of course, the LeBron of Lax was earning as much, in total, as the LeBron of Hoops takes in on and off the court every four days or so.) Only a small fraction of Rabil’s haul came from his MLL contract.He madejust$6,000asarookiemidfielderwith the Boston Cannons, so he took a job at a commercial real by BEN REITER estate company in Washington, D.C. He quit after nine months illustration by when he signed a sponsorship deal with Under Armour, but . TTMMENT ththhfdhilfihlfien he ffound hhimsellf with a lot of time on hi hihds handdss. MLLL

FRUSTRATED BY BUSINESS AS USUAL (AND PALTRY PAYCHECKS), LACROSSE’S GREATEST PRO LAUNCHED A STARTUP. WILL PAUL RABIL’S BARNSTORMING, PLAYER- CENTRIC CIRCUIT SERVE AS A TEMPLATE FOR OTHERS?

ADAM HUNGER/GETTY IMAGES up a lax stick in 2017, a 35% increase over just five years. “I remember being on flights with my stick head attached to the my backpack and people would ask me, What is that?” Rabil says. “Is that a version of jai alai? They didn’t know what lacrosse was. That never happens anymore.” Yet even as Rabil was earning a pair of MVP awards and two titles as a pro, he says “the peak of stardom remains teams practice on Fridays—sometimes in public parks—and the Final Four”—the NCAA championship that draws tens have games on Saturdays, and that’s about it. “The rest of the of thousands of fans over Memorial Day weekend. “I won a week,”saysthe32-year-oldRabil,“isjustfigurings---out.” national title in front of 50,000 people at Lincoln Financial What Rabil figured out was how to make a living from pro Field [in Philadelphia],” says Harrison. “The next week I’m lacrosse. He viewed himself as a startup. “I began building playing on a back field at Rutgers in front of 400.” a media company, essentially,” he says. Rabil produced in- Last season average attendance in the nine-team MLL structionalvideos andvlogsonFacebook,Twitter,YouTube was 3,619, the lowest since 2003, and the average salary and Instagram, gaining nearly 650,000 combined followers. was $8,000, forcing players who hadn’t been able to repli- That drew a half-dozen more sponsors, from Red Bull to Polk cate Rabil’s bootstrapping to hold down other jobs. In May Audio to Snap Fitness. He launched a business that conducts defenseman Ryan Flanagan—a teammate of Rabil’s with the clinicsandcamps,aswellasapodcast,Suiting Up,inwhich New York Lizards—was fined a game check by the league for he interviews athletes, executives and entertainers. With his tweeting that the visitors’ locker room in Boca Raton, Fla., older brother, Mike, a former defensive tackle at Dartmouth, was a tent with no showers, and that the postgame spread he founded Rabil Ventures, which invests in other startups. consisted of pizza and beer. In short, Rabil became the bearded face of lacrosse—one Finally, after 11 seasons in MLL—during which he became whose contacts include Bill Belichick, Steph Curry, the all-time scoring leader—Rabil decided Steve Nash and founders across Silicon Valley—and he’d had enough. Last month he announced proved that it was possible to turn a niche sport into › SWEAT EQUITY the formation of his own circuit: the Premier a lucrative business platform. Rabil hopes to Lacrosse League, which will begin play next Meanwhile, lacrosse was moving beyond its coastal, turn lacrosse June 1. The PLL’s leadership also includes prep school confines. According to the Sports & Fitness into a whole Mike Rabil, along with the 35-year-old Har- Industry Association, 2.2 million Americans picked new ball game. rison and the 26-year-old two-time MLL MVP Tom Schreiber, and it is backed by major ven- ture capitalists—the Raine Group, Chernin Group, CAA and Blum Capital. For Paul Rabil, it represents more than just the chance to further professionalize the sport he loves. “This is an open canvas to reimagine how team sports leagues should be,” he says.

› IF LACROSSE is the sport of the future, then Rabil intends the PLL to represent the league of the future. But what would the NFL or the NBA or MLB look like if it were launched today? Rabil has some ideas. › Geographic fluidity. The PLL will consist of six teams with rosters of 28 players each, but none will have a home. Rather, for 14 weekends this summer (which will include an All-Star Game and a championship), the whole league will barnstorm through 12 major cities, play- ing in two of them twice—a tour-based model that is standard for individual sports (golf,

tennis, MMA). The league will coordinate WWW.REDBULLCONTENTPOOL.COM travel, housing and practice sites; teammates won’t need to live in or near the same city. “Major League Baseball, say, was built on 74 thecoreprincipleoffansgrowingupandlivinginone market for their entire lives,” says Rabil. “There was no SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 nationalradio,notelevision.Itwashyperlocalized.That’s E-sports Drone 9,370 racing THE 19,400 TREND Soccer ZONE 1,070,000

“Kickboxing.Sport Lacrosse of the future.” 862 So opined Say Anything’s Hockey Lloyd Dobler, famously, 1,060 30 years ago. What’s Basketball changed since then? 1,600 Plenty, says the Internet. Here’s how people are talking about the next big thing, based on Google hits* Kickball 67 Football 3,040 Baseball 2,000 Flag football 53

*Based on searches for “sport of the future” + “sport name”

not the world anymore. By going tour-based, overnight matter: PLL games will be covered by seven to 10 cameras, you’re a national league. And fans can choose the teams and some players will wear helmet cams and microphones. they support either by their favorite player, or by the coach, “We’ve heard enough feedback that it’s tough to watch la- or by the branding we create.” crosse with just three cameras because you can’t follow the The tour-based model is also intended to solve a problem ball,” Rabil says. “We’re going to change that.” facedbyanystartupleague:venues.WhileMLLisforced The league will also leverage tech to address what has been to design its schedule around the availability of stadiums of asignificantdrawbackinlacrosse:thekeepingofstatistics. disparate capacities and quality—the Denver Machine usually “Lacrosse has fumbled around stats—errors in accounting fillsaboutone-tenthofthe76,125seatsatBroncosStadium forground balls, assists,”saysRabil. “We’re going to solve at Mile High, while the Lizards drew 4,701 last season to that.” Rabil believes this will not only improve the fan ex- Hofstra’s11,929-seatJamesM.ShuartStadium—thePLL will periencebutwill also allowtheleague toenter the highly be able to rent more appropriate stadiums one weekend at profitable realms of fantasy and gambling. “We’re going to atime,andfocusallitsresourcesonbuildingafestival-like work with casinos and sports betting platforms early,” he atmosphere around the three games it will play there. The says. “But for [casinos] to get comfortable with it, they have leaguehasyettoannounceitsdestinations,butitisfocus- to be able to predict the consistency of our statistics. We have ingonMajorLeagueSoccerstadiums,whichmostlyhave to prove that in year one.” around 20,000 seats and tend to be less than two decades old. › Players first. A central component of pro sports leagues is › Reaching modern consumers. In recent years MLL’s missing from the PLL: owners, whose interests are often op- games have been primarily available on the digital Lax Sports posed to those of their players. “It’s a players-first mentality,” Network,butthePLLhasalreadysignedadealwithNBC, says Schreiber. “Hearing players out and treating them much which will broadcast 17 games on NBC Sports Network, better.” That means paying them more—minimum salaries stream20onNBCSportsGoldserviceandairtwoon its main network. “That partnership is really important,” Rabil says. “If the game isn’t on broadcast television, people will 75 continuetosayit’snotarealsport.”Atatimewhensports SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19 26, 2018

GRACIE/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK areconsumedonscreensofallsizes,productionvalues also for players to use, but it will also operate a full-time studio that will churn out other player-centric content—docuseries, the reality shows—so that they can increase their exposure and supplement their salaries, as Rabil has. Will the sport’s players—who are a more diverse and progressive group than the shopworn LaxBro stereotype suggests—be allowed to express themselves politically, will be $25,000, or $19,000 more than MLL’s in 2018—giving even during the national anthem? “Of course,” says Rabil. them equity in the league on a vesting schedule and providing “Athletes’ having the courage to speak up for something them health benefits, which MLL does not. they believe in is something we want to get behind. We are It also means that players will be encouraged to build their with our players.” personal brands, sometimesovertheirteams’or theleague’s. “People follow players now,”saysSchreiber.“They’renot followingLeBronJamesbecauseheplayedforCleveland.”In › RABIL HAS been embedded in tech and media circles fact, while James is now a media magnate whose Instagram forsolongthathisspeechisnowpepperedwithSilicon following of 44.4 million is nearly seven times more than Valley buzzwords: endemic, ideation, best in class, mission either of his two most recent teams’, the Cavaliers and the critical. But he persuasively contends that his new venture Lakers, his account features virtually no clips of him playing is mostly driven by a desire to spread the gospel of a sport basketball—thosearethepropertyoftheNBA,meaningits he took up as a 12-year-old in Gaithersburg, Md. “It’s got the owners. The PLL will not only open-source its highlights contact of football, the agility and speed of basketball, the

assume during the years Olson and Lax didn’t start before they reach the big with entrepreneurs, though. POOL leagues—if they reach the They took their idea to a big leagues. different field—literally. HAUL Pando Pooling is a startup Just as MLB teams pool a Sports is a risky business—especially for prospects—so two entrepreneurs headquartered in Palo third of their revenue to from Stanford are developing a new way to spread the wealth Alto, Calif. The company’s support smaller-market founders, Charlie Olson and teams, Olson and Lax saw Eric Lax, met in 2015 at an opportunity to give Stanford’s Graduate School young baseball players of Business where they more security. As with by JACK DICKEY dreamed up an endeavor entrepreneurs, only a small that would support set of players go on to earn illustration by RICH KELLY people in high-volatility fortunes; many talented, careers—entrepreneurs, driven players leave with EXCEPT FOR modestly when they’re primarily. (Pando is Latin little. (Less than 25% of the steady drafted and in the few for “I spread out,” and first-round draft picks play › ascent of years after that. Windfalls also refers to a colony more than three years in salaries, there’s don’t come until a talented of aspen trees, whose the majors.) Unlike tech been hardly any change player reaches free agency roots intertwine to make founders, though, players over the last decade or or, preemptively, receives a massive underground are paid at regular intervals. two in the way teams a contract extension or an network.) What if, they Here’s Pando’s pitch: A pay their athletes. New arbitration deal. wondered, a large enough young player contributes a CBAs and shifting market This model has been group of entrepreneurs fixed share of his salary to conditions have created sustained because it has pooled shares of their his pool after he receives wrinkles here and there— made the very best players earnings, ensuring that at least $1.6 million in MLB opt-outs, performance very rich. But what happens each entrepreneur stood earnings. There is more than bonuses, franchise tags to the players who never less chance of going bust? one pool, but every member and the related holdouts— receive a big payday? Now In theory this would allow in each pool must agree but the basic formula there is a way for them to entrepreneurs to take more on every other poolmate, persists. Teams pay players shed some of the risk they risks in pursuing their ideas. and Pando takes 10% of hand-eye coordination of baseball and hockey, the endurance of soccer,” he says. “It’s got everything.” What it hasn’t had—until now, Rabil hopes—is a way for players to maximize their potential as professionals. “I want to see what the lacrosse athlete in his prime looks like when he’s a full-time pro,” says Harrison. “What does that guy look like at 28 years old? We don’t know. Paul probably was the closest thing to it, and he was running around all over the place doing all his projects.” In the midst oflaunching hisgrandproject, Rabilintends to remain a star player; he sometimes begins his daily two- hour training sessions at 10:30 p.m., often in the gym of hisBrooklynapartmentbuildingaftera day packedwith travel and meetings. On Oct. 22, the day of the PLL’s official announcement, Rabil sat next to his brother at yet another conference table, in a shared workspace in midtown Manhattan—the league’s temporary headquarters until it sets up permanent shop in Los Angeles. Its early employees, including Harrison and Schreiber, issued reports on the progress they’d made in

each pool. Pando recruits who pitched this season players through agents, for the Rays’ Double A financial advisers and affiliate in Montgomery, players who have already Ala., signed with Pando signed with the company; in the spring and is still Olson says he has 150 looking to be matched members so far. Once a into a pool. He double- player is on board, Pando majored in business then tries to match him and economics at UNC, with a handful of similar so he may have a special players to form a pool. interest in seeing if this Take the 2002 draft; new kind of marketplace nine college pitchers were takes off. “The odds drafted in the sixth round. are against minor Only two reached salary leaguers making it,” he arbitration, but one, righty says. “Essentially they’re reliever Pat Neshek, will trying to help you de-risk have made $44 million your career.” in his career by the time Olson hopes the pool his latest deal expires. approach catches on Had Neshek chipped 5% widely enough in baseball to 10% of that into a pool, that Pando can move into he’d still be a very wealthy other high-volatility fields. man, and his poolmates, Their first expansion is whose dreams did not turn into football. For now, out as his did, would have the company is small, made six figures each. (A running on seed money, player’s contribution is with any major baseball capped at $20 million.) proceeds years away. It’s Benton Moss, a a long shot. But at least 25-year-old righthander they know that. their assigned departments: legal, mar- keting, media. The 18-year-old MLL, whose owners include Jake Steinfeld (of Body by Jake) and Jim Davis (owner and chairman of New Balance), have tried to counter the upstart league; in September it preemptively announced a 51% increase in its salary cap, and the addition of two games to each team’s schedule. Still, says MLL commissioner Sandy Brown, “a ris- ing tide lifts all boats. Our view is that we’re interested in the promotion of the sport, and that ultimately is going to be the arbiter of success for us all. Anything that happens that is going to expose the game to more people, that’s a good thing.” Brown took the job nine months ago andsoonfoundhimselfdealingwithsud- denly thin rosters. The PLL has already signed 152 players—more than 90% of them from MLL—including most of the biggest stars: 10 winners of the Tewaara- tonTrophy(lacrosse’sequivalentofthe Heisman), 86 All-Americas and 25 mem- bers of the national team. (In the winter, many players will continue to compete intheindoorNationalLacrosseLeague, whose schedule won’t overlap with the PLL’s.)SaysFlanaganofthenewleague, “People are excited about the compensa- tion, but at least 80% of it is that we want to be part of something special, and we’re CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES absolutelygoingtofollowPaulbecause ofallthesuccesshe’shad.Guyslookup tohimaton.” One of the PLL’s employees, tapping away on his laptop, interrupted the pro- ceedings.“Wearearevenuebusiness!” he exclaimed, looking up. “Just crossed $300 on our merch store.” Much, of course, could go wrong. It might turn out that there simply is no by BEN REITER appreciable appetite for the professional version of the fastest sport on grass—or forplayerswhoarenotnamedPaulRabil, no matter how they are packaged or em- TELL ME powered. A lack of success could lead its players-first ethos to be overwhelmed by ANOTHER the wishes of PLL’s investors, who might then become like most team owners, ob- ONE! sessed with returns on their capital. For the moment, though, it felt as if thefuturehadjustarrived. ± After a certain World Series prediction play soothsayer to fans, gamblers and › that the old sports adage is true: It’s 78

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 the

Usually, sportswriters’ predictions are met with only ridicule, and this was certainly the case, at first, for the one we made on the cover of the June 30, 2014, issue, with my byline attached. The Astros were coming off the worst three-year stretch for any major league team in half a century—they were called the Lastros or the Disastros—and yet we envisioned a better, and highly specific, future for them. your 2017 world series champs, read the cover line, to the right of an image of George Springer swinging the bat. Almost nobody agreed, even in Houston. Especially there, actually. It was “more of an attention-grabbing, perhaps even tongue-in- cheek projection than a prediction,” sniffed the Houston Chronicle. Then, on Nov. 1, 2017, José Altuve threw to Yuli Gurriel to clinch the Astros’ first World Series title in their 56-year history. And, suddenly, I was a sportswriter who knew what I was talking about. Overthenextmonth or so, Ispokewith more than 60 media outlets, not just across the country but in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom too. A newspaper in Zimbabwe even wrote, the prediction made good.Pristinecopies THE MAN in the thick glasses and Astros hat meekly ap- of the original three-year-old issue of SI started selling for proached me at a bookstore in Houston. By last July, I’d spent more than $1,000 on eBay. On ESPN, Bob Ley and Jeremy seven months fielding questions from all sorts of people Schapp gave me a nickname: Astrodamus. about the future. Who will win the World Series in 2020? I was often asked how much money I’d wagered on the pre- (The Yankees, I’m afraid.) What stock should I buy? (That diction. Sadly, the answer was none, although I was pleased of the online retailer named after a certain South American to learn that a good number of people had: Las Vegas sports river, I suppose.) What are the Mega Millions numbers? (I bookssustainedarecord$11.4millionlossonbaseballin wish I knew.) November 2017. The best part about the outcome was that it “When will I have a child?” the man in the Astros cap shifted focus from the prediction itself to the reasons we made asked. Those previous queries had always been posed at least it in the first place. I had spent a year negotiating access to half-jokingly, and I thought the man’s question had been, the Houston front office—promising only that I’d approach too. I laughed. He didn’t. He kept peering at me through his an organization that had become a punch line without any lenses,expectantly.“Myunderstandingisthatit’slargely preconceptions—and in the cover story, I explained and up to you,” I said. He smiled. I signed his copy of my book— wrestledwiththenovelstrategiestheclubwaspursuingto Astroball: The New Way to Win It All—and we shook hands. rise from the cellar. It had always been more than a hot take. “Good luck,” I called after him. Of course, the Astros’ accomplishment belongs to the Astros, to the players and to the executives who had assem- bled theteam.Their titlewastheresultoftheiropen- came true, an SI writer was asked to mindedness and hard work, from the way they had pushed would-be parents, and he discovered far beyond Moneyball to develop a process that relied not just on data and algorithms, but also on the power of human hard to repeat observation. It had come from their realization that positive the

results were not a matter of man or machine, but of man plus machine. All I had done was identify the promise in what the Astros were up to. There was another element to the prediction’s success, inherent in any prediction that comes true. Sig Mejdal is a former blackjack dealer and NASA scientist who became the Astros’ Director of Decision Sciences—one of the peo- ple, along with general manager Jeff Luhnow and others, whoenvisionedandexecutedHouston’sman-plus-machine philosophy. “The future is weirder than we imagine,” Mejdal says in Astroball. “The future is a lot weirder than we can imagine.Ifyouthinkyou’vegotitfiguredout,justwait.You will be wrong.” That’s because of a factor for which even someone like Sig will never be able to ac- › WELL-COVERED count: luck. When SI’s 2014 On Nov. 2, 2017, some friends prediction came true of mine who work in finance in 2017, word spread reached out to me with identical around the world. two-part messages: First, con- gratulations on your prediction; (JETER); WARSHAW/ALLSPORT/GETTY TODD (HE IMAGES HATE ME) second, never make another one. They had seen many people Boston leftfielder Andrew Benintendi. Houston lost. That intheirindustry—likethefewwhocalledthestockmarket sameweek,Amazon’sstock,whichhadsoaredfrom$1,100 SOLOMON (COVER); CHUCK IMAGES JR/GETTY GREULE OTTO crash of 2008—damage their reputations when they were the previous Nov. 1 to more than $2,000, fell to $1,770. And never right about anything again. IboughtaMegaMillionsticket,withthechancetowin It was too late for me. The previous evening, I had doubled morethanabilliondollars.Imatchedonenumber(thanks down,writingastoryinwhichIpredictedthattheAstros to Quickpick) and won two bucks. wouldrepeataschampions.Bymostmetrics,the2018Astros My career as a clairvoyant was over. Still, I had learned were better than the ’17 champions. In fact, by regular-season something:Whilenoonecanseethefuture,youhavea run ratio—runs scored against runs allowed—they were the much better shot if you’re diligent and unbiased. But whether fifth-best team since World War II. But then, in the ALCS, you’retryingtowinaWorldSeries—orpredictwhoisgoing they ran into the similarly improved Red Sox, as well as a to win a World Series—or conceive a child, you still need a dubiouscallbyumpireJoeWestandagame-savingdiveby bitofluck. ±

COMING SOON-ISH No need for a crystal ball. All this stuff will

September NFLkicksoff100thseason January XFL relauncches ›

2019 2020 2021

January February Septeemb ber FebFbruary September January Jets celebrate Alliance of Derek Jeter › NFLLCBA MLS at elite world level 50th anniversary becommes exppires host first regular- (or so predicted commish of Super Bowl III league launches Hall-eligible season NFL game Don Garber in ’13) SHOT-CALLERS SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s staff of skilled swamis was instructed: Predict the sporting future . . . in just five words

› ROBERT KLEMKO Senior writer EA Sports presents McVay 45 PRESIDENT DWAYNE › DAN GREENE Staff writer College: Olympic pay model, finally › CONNOR GROSSMAN Assoc. producer THEROCKJOHNSON NFL stadiums host MLS instead JIMMY TRAINA Writer-producer › STANLEY KAY News director Washington’s NFL team changes name › BEN BASKIN Staff writer › CHARLOTTE WILDER Senior writer › DANIEL RAPAPORT Writer-producer World Cup 2026: USA wins Gritty eats all the Flyers Drake named new NBA › CHRIS BALLARD Senior writer › MITCH GOLDICH Associate producer commissioner Becky Hammon, Few athletes have specific › KEVIN KERR Copy editor NBA-champion coach positions 2025, winless Patriots › ADAM DUERSON Asst. managing editor › JOAN NIESEN Staff writer seek identity E-sports drop “E”; just “sports” Tiger wins major in 2019 › JAMIE LISANTI Special projects ed. › HANK HERSCH Special contributor › MATT GAGNE Special contributor Marathon world record set, Football banned; Olympics canceled due EYER/GETTY IMAGES AND AL PEREIRA/ 1:58:47 soccer sweeps U.S. to WWIII ETTY IMAGES (JOHNSON); JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES DS); SIMON BRUTY (SABAN) › JENNY VRENTAS Senior writer › MARK BECHTEL Managing ed., SI Kids › ALEX PREWITT Senior writer Belichick’s granddaughter Cleveland fans experience Leafs end Canada’s wins Super Bowl disappointment again drought . . . sometime › TIM LAYDEN Senior writer › GREG BISHOP Senior writer › MARK MCCLUSKY Digital ed., SI Group Permanent home for the Patriots win Super Bowl LIII Mayfield, Super Bowl LV MVP Olympics › SAM BRIEF Intern › RYAN HUNT Managing editor, SI.com › CONOR ORR Staff writer LeBron retires as Next stop for Pulisic: Liverpool Trump ruins all sports forever Cleveland Cavalier › BEN REITER Senior writer › JAKE FISCHER Associate producer RoboUmps: Future of plate Celtics win 2019 NBA Finals enforcement TOM BRADY: JETS › MICHAEL ROSENBERG Senior writer › ALBERT CHEN Staff writer STARTING QUARTERBACK LeBron runs against Betting everywhere; (MCVAY); COURTESY(MCVAY); OF HKS, INC. (STADIUM); E. DAVID KLUTHO (WOO GETTY IMAGES (BRADY); LEBRECHTMEDIA AND EVIN DIETSCH/POOL/G PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRYCE JOHNSON); WOOD (BRADY, MCVAY, MADDIE M MATT DOLLINGER Asst. managing editor, SI.com President Goodell NFL still reigns

happen—you just haven’t thought about it yet January Nick Saban’s Alabama megacontract expires › July LeBron James becomes a free agent at age 37

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February June December SB LVI played in Rams’ LeBron James Jr. Tiger Woods (as-of-yet unfinished) graduates from becomes eligible L.A. Stadium > high school for senior tour bail on her game, so when she did reach the qualifying LET ME semis, which fell on their big day, he wasn’t surprised CHECK MY that she wanted to play. She would wake up at CALENDAR . . . 6 a.m., have one glass of In a profession where plotting the future is fundamental, champagne before heading picking a big day can be an especially big headache to the court, then wear long sleeves in 97º heat to avoid tan lines. (She won.) And though she was a tad late to the afternoon ceremony, Vickery understood. Even by JACOB FELDMAN by their games. Vickery on the one day you’ll never had waited to introduce forget, the game still illustration by RICH KELLY himself to Rodionova comes first. until she was coming off Athletes love the ARINA a victory in 2012, and he’d cliché about taking it › Rodionova and timed his wedding proposal one day at a time, but Ty Vickery were to the Kremlin Cup, when their occupation actually in love. That she would be back in her requires a constant focus they knew. If only getting native Russia. Later, when on the future. Sleep is married were so simple. it came time to pick a date, tightly mapped out, meals out one day to tie the knot? As a pro tennis player, they realized that the can be predicted weeks Impossible, it often turns Rodionova, 28, competed week before Christmas in ahead, and each bench out. Tiffany Cook left the around the globe from Melbourne would work . . . press fits into a schema fickle world of concert December through October. kind of. Vickery would have stretching into the beyond. management for high-end

The 28-year-old Vickery, to get the O.K. to leave Competitors obsess over wedding planning 15 years ROBERT BECK (HAWK); RONALD C. MODRA (RIPKEN) meanwhile, reported to camp, and Rodionova would details so they can be ago, only to find her new camp with his Australian need to withdraw from comfortable with chaos. line of work much more Rules Football team, the Australian Open wild-card Come to think of it, maybe complicated. Today she Richmond Tigers, each qualifiers if she hadn’t all-stars would make good serves mainly NFL players, November. That hardly left already been eliminated wedding planners (even but she refuses to take time to tie the knot, to say when Dec. 19, 2015, rolled if they do make difficult on more than 10 a year. nothing of a honeymoon. around. clients). With such tightly Potential free agents, like But the two were used Honestly, Vickery never regimented schedules, how Cowboys D-end DeMarcus to a relationship governed expected his fiancée to hard could it be to carve Lawrence, present the

August September September Tom Brady Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. Earliest anyone can break CalRipken’s turns 50 (Serena Williams’s daughter) iron man record. (Active conssecutive turns 14, pro-eligible in tennis gamesleaderFreddyGalviswwill be 42)

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July February MMay September April Red Sox pay last Jon Gruden’s TTony Hawk Bobby Orr’s WrestleMania 50 of deferred Manny Raiders deeal qqualifies for name pushed Ramírez money expires SSocial Security off Stanley Cup active skaters and just a destination event, with 12-week offseason—almost guests texting to say, “Wish all in the wedding-friendly you were here!” summer months—a prime Then there’s soccer, with date can induce a bit of a its dual demands of club scrum. Rangers defenseman and country creating year- Kevin Shattenkirk, for round calendar havoc. As he example, ended up having to rose through the Premier share his special day with League ranks and landed a teammate Jesper Fast this spot on England’s national summer: Part of the squad team, striker Jamie Vardy celebrated Shattenkirk in postponed his wedding Long Island while another three times before settling unit joined Fast in Greece. for a Wednesday. Elsewhere, MLB’s February-to- a surprise run by Wales October grind presents in the 2016 Euro forced its own difficulties. Want midfielder Joe Ledley to a warm wedding in the push back his own nuptials, Northern Hemisphere? You’ll and defender Chris Gunter have to take some risks, as Skyped in to make a speech Justin Verlander and Kate at his brother’s ceremony. Upton did in scheduling their Things worked out a union for Nov. 4 in Italy last bit more smoothly for most trouble, she says, athletes who don’t know year. As long as Verlander Rodionova, who savored because they tend to want how big their next contract wasn’t playing in a World a postvictory ice bath a date after their futures might be. There are, she Series Game 7, the timing and then rushed to a are decided in the spring, says, “a lot of challenges.” would work fine . . . but, of makeup appointment. and they don’t know their For hockey players, part course, the couple ended The only competition on May/June calendars early of the strugglecomes up missingpart of their anyone’s mind the night enough to claim those in coordinating with of her nuptials was a prime months. Cook books teammmates: With700-plus drinking battle between venue visits into bye weeks, European tennis players reschedules tastings based and Australian footballers. on playoff scenarios and And in the end, she got the alters guest lists after ultimate wedding gift: “I unforeseen trades. She’ll had half a day for the first even plan two ceremonies time in my life when I didn’t

MATTHEW STOCKMAN/ALLSPORT/GETTYMATTHEW (BONILLA); IMAGES ISTOCKPHOTO/GETTY (ALI) LEIFER IMAGES NEIL (MONEY); at different prices for care about tennis.” ±

January World celebrates Muhammad Ali’s 100th birthday

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July April Mets cut last annual $1.19M Clark County (Nev.) finally check to Bobby Bonilla, whom square on bonds used to they released in 2000 finance Raiders’ stadium the › AND THE ART OF BRAIN MAINTENANCE A 15-YEAR PRO LINEBACKER WHO SAYS HE SUFFERED AT LEAST 2,000 CONCUSSIONS, GARY PLUMMER TURNED TO ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES AS HE FELT HIS MIND SLIPPING AWAY. CAN OTHER STRUGGLING FORMER PLAYERS USE HIM AS AN EXAMPLE TO REVERSE COGNITIVE DECLINE?

by CHRIS BALLARD

photographs by JOHN W. MCDONOUGH

› FULL BLOOM “Having concussions isn’t the end of life,” says Plummer, 58. “There’s still fulfillment. There’s still the ability to find joy and happiness.”

85 IN EARLY MAY, Gary Plummer, the former Chargers and 49ers linebacker, drove to see a neurologist in Carlsbad, Calif., to learn just how badly football had screwed up his brain. Sitting in the office, the 58-year-old steeled himself. A year earlier he had taken the first part of the NFL’s Baseline Assessment Program (BAP) neuropsychological exam. For six hours he answered questions and clicked through problems and puzzles on a computer: letter-number sequencing, matrix “Thelongerthetestwenton,thestupiderIfelt.”Afterward reasoning, geography. Some questions reminded him of the thepsychologisttoldPlummerhesufferedfrommajorneuro- SAT. If a train leaves Boston at 10 a.m. . . . Intermittently the cognitive disorder due to repetitive traumatic brain injury. doctor would ask him to repeat back a series of nouns—say, “The early stages of dementia,” says Plummer. hammer, red, Wednesday, policeman. Once, Plummer would Theoretically, his condition should have worsened in the have breezed through such an exam. As he was quick to tell years since, making his story depressingly similar to so many people, he had gotten into Cal on academic merit, not because other former players’. And yet, entering the neurologist’s of- of football. He read dozens of books a year, rotating among ficethisMay,Plummerfeltcautiouslyoptimistic.Confident, classics, nonfiction and mysteries. He had long taken pride even. He believed his efforts were about to pay off. in subverting the stereotype of the dumb jock. But 15 seasons of pro football had taken a toll. In the decade after his 1998 retirement, Plummer began to notice changes. › INCREASINGLY, research links head trauma to Theheadachesthatplaguedhimasaplayer didn’tabate but Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, in addition to chronic instead worsened, lasting hours and sometimes days. “Like a traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease spikebeingdrivenbehindmyrightear,”hesays.Loudnoises inwhichaproteincalledtauslowlykillsoffbraincells.Still, agitated him. So did bright lights. Eventually, he became much of the science about head trauma remains frustratingly anxious and depressed. He rarely slept more than an hour murky; CTE, for instance, can’t be diagnosed in the living. or two at a time. He couldn’t concentrate long enough to Even the definitions of “concussion” and “cognitive impair- read, so he began listening to audiobooks. He relied on his ment” change every couple of years. One fact seems exceed- wife, Corey, to remember details and manage his schedule. ingly clear, though: The more hits you take to the head, the When, in 2014, he finally saw a clinical psychologist for more dangerous it is. an assessment of his mental health, Plummer struggled to Plummer estimates he suffered between 2,000 and 4,000 answer basic questions. “I felt like a f------moron,” he says. concussions, if you include the least severe, or Grade One. He knows some will scoff at this number but suggests they do the math, factoring not only the hundreds of games he PETER READ MILLER 86 played but all the full-contact practices, scrimmages and preseason tussles. From an early age, Plummer—undersized, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 unexceptional by most physical measures—repeatedly beat PLUMMER

the

middle digit. There was no time to worry about the consequences. Be- sides, wasn’t that what the helmet was for—to protect you? When thefirstreportsdetailingthe dangers of concussions appeared in the 1990s, Plummer scoffed at them, just as league officials did. (“Concus- sions are part of the profession, an occupational risk,” Elliot Pellman, Jets team doctor and later league- appointed chair of the NFL’s mild traumatic brain injury committee, told Sports Illustrated in 1994.) Same for the seminar that Plummer’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, persuaded him to attend. “It was very progressive of Leigh, but of course I didn’t know it at the time,” says Plummer. “As line- backerswe werelike,‘Thisisn’tforus. This is for those p------on the other side of the ball.’ ” In retrospect Plummer is embar- theodds.Anall-state guardatMission San JoseHighin › HEADSTRONG rassed by how he acted: “I begrudg- Fremont, Calif., he received no Division I offers. George Plummer ingly sat in the meeting, and it was a Seifert, then a Stanford assistant, was interested until he believed that panel of about eight people that were sawPlummerinpersonanddeemedhim“toosmalltoplay concussions experts from around the country. They Pac-10 football.” So Plummer went to community college in only happened were neuroscientists, academics and Ohlone, Calif., and, two years later, walked on at Berkeley when “you surgeons. I’ll never forget when the as a 6' 2", 220-pound nosetackle. Undrafted by the NFL, he were knocked guy gave the definition of concussions. played three seasons with the Oakland Invaders of the USFL. out, dude.” I’d never heard of a Grade One or When the league folded, he got a tryout with the Chargers in Grade Two concussion. A concussion 1986. By midseason he was their starting linebacker. best is when you get knocked out, dude, player nobody ever really wanted, read the headline end of story.” Then the doctors told the players that seeing of a Los Angeles Times profile. stars counted as a concussion, and that if you experience the Plummer had grown up lower-middle class. He recalls sensation you need to think about sitting out a week. “I literally watching his father, a policeman, descend into agoraphobia. jumped out of my chair and said, ‘As a middle linebacker, if I Plummer was determined to live a different life, to turn fear didn’t have five to 10 of those a game, I didn’t play that week,’ ” to his advantage. So he used it as fuel in the NFL, believing Plummer recalls. “I was flabbergasted that he was suggesting every game would be his last. He spent nights in his $70,000 that me, a tough guy, would sit out. Are you kidding me?” homegym,theonewithsquatracksandhipsleds,running Instead, Plummer told the media that “pain is acceptable 18 mph on a custom-built treadmill until he threw up. A to me.” He took pride in playing with two six-inch pins in nutrition-science major at Cal, he tracked every bite of food his right thumb, on having a knee scoped on a Tuesday and in a computer program, calibrating vitamins and complex lining up on Sunday. Game days, he took Toradol, a potent carbs. On the field, he played on the brink of madness, try- anti-inflammatory that temporarily masked the pain. The ing to win every drill and intimidate every opponent, always rest of the week, he ingested Percodan and Indocin until they willing to “grab a handful of nut sack” at the bottom of the pile if it meant gaining an edge. When a trainer called him over after a collision, raising a hand to ask how many fingers 87 Plummer saw, he would ignore the dizziness or nausea or SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 tingling in his arm. “This many,” he’d bark back, raising a PLUMMER linebacker mentoring the rookie. Each had a prodigious work ethic, and they delighted in lighting up opposing running the backs, in being the baddest dudes on the field. Seau came over for dinners at Plummer’s house— “Junebug,” his fam- ily called him—and the pair volunteered at a local charity, the Bates Street Community Resource Center. Gregarious, handsome and successful, Seau was the kind of guy who had gave him ulcers, at which point he ramped up to Prednisone, hundreds of best friends. To most, his seemed a charmed life. a steroid that can trigger fits of aggressive behavior. During “Mr. San Diego,” as Plummer puts it. But after retiring in Janu- those years Plummer wasn’t always the best husband, or ary 2010, Seau began his own descent: a domestic-violence father to his four kids—he realizes that now—but he never accusation, heavy drinking and gambling, a car crash that some slacked as a football player. And back then, that’s what seemed thought to be a suicide attempt. Plummer spent less time with to matter the most. his friend; when he did, Seau was surrounded by unfamiliar In the end Plummer played in 243 professional games faces. Says Plummer, “It was like he was a different person.” (48 under Seifert in San Francisco, the ultimate vindica- Now, as Plummer sat on the bike, tears rolling down his tion)and earned aSuperBowl ring forthe 1994 season. He cheeks, he thought back to the last time he had seen Seau, at underwent15surgeriesduringhiscareer,andsaysheknew a charity golf event a couple of weeks earlier. Though smiling better than to take the 49ers’ offer of $200,000 rather than and slapping everyone on the back as usual, Seau seemed continuing health coverage. Left-hip replacement followed, off. Vacant. Plummer pulled him aside. then eight more postcareer operations. He had always as- “You good, man?” he recalls asking. sumed his body would break down; that was price of play- “Yeah, I’m good. I’m good,” Seau said, smiling. ing. What he didn’t expect—what none of his teammates “No, dude, what I’m asking you is, are you good?” foresaw—wastheother toll.Bodiescan be repaired; brains can’t.

AS HIS HEADACHES BECAME › IN RETROSPECT, Plummer’s LESS FREQUENT AND INTENSE, descent was so gradual he barely noticed it at first. Always a great quote, PLUMMER FELT LIKE HIS MIND he gotajob asa49ers radio analystin WAS CLICKING AGAIN. 1998. Obsessive about staying in shape, he biked 10,000 miles a year, lifted and played backyard hoops with his two sons. Step by step, though, Seau had wrapped a thick arm around his friend, looked him his world began to fray. In 2005 he and his first wife endured in the eye, and assured him he was. Plummer had bought it. a rough divorce. He experienced bouts of anger and depres- Andnowthis.Plummerfeltastirofemotions:guilt,fear, sion.Chronicsleepdeprivation.Darkthoughts.Who would despair, anger. Within minutes of the news breaking, old miss me if I weren’t here? Would anyone give a s---? In 2011 he friends and teammates began to call. As a player, Plum- married Corey Stein, who works in human resources and mer had been the guy who had your back, who gave it to wasaChargerscheerleader. Having seenfootball’s brutality you straight. “An awesome teammate,” says Ken Norton Jr., up close, she worried about her husband, and remembers the former San Francisco linebacker. “He made everyone waking up in the middle of the night, finding him gone from around him better.” Now, these men looked to Plummer for bed, at which point, sweating, she feared the worst. The next consolation, for perspective. “Bro, is this going to happen to morning she would beg him to see a therapist. But each time, us?”askedSteveYoung,theex-Ninersquarterback.Plummer Gary waved her off. There was nothing to worry about, he’d tried to explain away the tragedy. Junior had so much else say. This stuff was just a phase. It would pass. going on. The suicide wasn’t about football. And, at the time, And then, says Corey, “Everything changed.” this seemed plausible; it wasn’t until nine months later that Plummer was at home on the morning of May 2, 2012, doctors would discover Seau suffered from advanced CTE, peddling on a recumbent bike and watching TV, when the causing parts of his brain to waste away and triggering a news report flashed on the screen: Chargers legend Junior Seau potential range of symptoms, from aggression to emotional had been found dead in his home of a self-inflicted gunshot instability to memory loss. wound to the chest. Thereporterscallednext.Asalways,Plummerwascan- Plummer and Seau had met at San Diego’s training camp in did.Hecried onairand,inanerawhenitwas rare,spoke 1990. The two quickly became workout partners, the veteran about the prevalence of depression among former players, acknowledging Seau’s struggles and his own. When Corey returnedfromworkshefoundherhusbandstillonthephone, 88 pacing, doing one interview after another: San Francisco, San Diego, Boston. She knew the questions would never stop, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 and that Gary would keep answering them. She worried that he was ignoring the warning signs in his own life, that his knew exactly what Junior was thinking: ‘I don’t want to hurt path was too similar to Seau’s. Eventually, she walked over anyone. I just don’t want this foreign brain. This isn’t me.’ ” and yanked the phone out of his hand. No more interviews Plummer understood he needed to do something, but what? today, she said. Then, carrying two beers, she led him to He continuedtherapy,ifreluctantly. Hetriedyogaafter their backyard to sit in silence. hearingiteasedanxiety.Butsquattingalongsidefitwomen The next morning she booked him a same-day therapist whoeffortlesslybenttheirbodies,hefeltembarrassedand appointment; not to be assessed, but just to talk. “You’re clumsy. Meditation proved equally frustrating. He couldn’t going,” she told him. “I just can’t have you be next.” still his thoughts for five seconds, let alone a minute. “I don’t This time he didn’t fight it. know whoallof itwasforatthatpoint,”hesays.“Getting Corey off my back or because I knew what was good for me.” His efforts were scattershot. He Googled “brain help” › IT WAS hard at first. In 2012, public awareness about and “getting over anxiety.” He downloaded the Babbel app the danger of concussions remained relatively limited. after reading that learning a language can help create new It would be another year until League of Denial came out (a synaptic connections, only to give up after a few weeks. He book in which Plummer appears, recounting the meeting with bought a guitar that plugged into his computer, hoping to Steinberg) and three more until the movie Concussion. learn to play, but found his fingers—broken and dislocated Like many former players at the time, Plummer felt “al- so many times—fumbled at the task. most guilty about complaining.” They were wealthy athletes. The previous year, while doing radio work for the Pac-12 Who were they to whine? “I can’t tell you how many phone network, he’d blanked out on the air—for three to seven seconds, calls I got from relatives and friends asking the same thing he’s told. Now, at Corey’s urging, he stopped working to focus after Junior died: ‘What the f---? That guy had the world by on his health. Fortunately he had the financial resources to do the balls. What did he kill himself for?’ ” Plummer says. “I so. Forever fearing his next season would be his last, Plum- mer had spent his NFL summers working in landscaping and construction with his brother, eventually learning enough to buy apartment buildings and condos and oversee their renova- tions. (As a player he earned about $7.5 million.) Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, filed by former players and family members, was proceeding. The sides settled in 2013, with the league providing $765 million to retired players shown to be suffering cognitive or neural impairment. (In April ’16 the amount was revised to $1 bil- lion.) As the news spread, Plummer spoke to dozens of former teammates. Many felt deceived by a league that promoted violence without worrying about the repercussions. Others were confused by the settlement’s bewildering red tape, which could be navigated with the help of 300 FAQs. What are we supposed to do? Who are we supposed to call? In December 2014, at the urging of his lawyer, John Lorentz, Plummersaw aclinicalpsychologistforapreemptiveas- sessment and received that first, chilling diagnosis: major neurocognitive disorder. Plummer was scared but also re- lieved; he wasn’t imagining things. HebeganhavingtheinevitablediscussionswithCorey. Whathappenswhenthisprogresses?Wasshepreparedto care for him? She had already gone part-time at her job in order to be around more. Plummer had increasing anxiety around social situations, plans and travel. Corey took to doing his packing and managing his schedule, only telling him about an event in the days just before and only making commitments that could be broken. At the same time Plummer built up his regimen. He stuck with the yoga, encouraged when his headache disappeared for a few minutes during savasana, the final resting pose. › NEW WAY FORWARD Plummer aims for 1,000 reps in his battery 89 of nightly exercises. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 PLUMMER izer, redolent of lavender, which helps him sleep. (Plummer is a big proponent of essential oils.) Here, in his upstairs the steam shower, the 10 pennies he moves and stacks as he does his midnight exercises—dips, squats, step-ups, side bends, 15-pound curls, shrugs, one-leg balancing—aiming for 1,000 reps in 120° heat as his waterproof stereo plays new-age music (which he has also embraced along with clas- He listened to The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and sical). Here’s the vape pen he began using after hearing that tried to embrace the concepts it espouses, including that cannabidiol helped with depression, and, in the kitchen, the happiness is determined by one’s state of mind, not external MMF Hydro powdered supplement he drinks for “improved factors. He tailored his diet and workout schedule for brain brain cognition.” To maintain a weight of around 250 pounds health. After Young told him about music therapy and how heusesaSodaStream,addingahintofjuicetoeachglass it provided stress relief, Plummer read up on it, learning from one of the dozen-plus fruit trees in his yard. As he tells how soldiers with PTSD had found succor through classical old football stories about “motherf------” opponents and be- music. He listened to Mozart, Bach and the Swiss harpist coming a “fleshbomb” when he launched into ball-carriers, Andreas Vollenweider, eventually installing Sonos speakers the veins on his forehead rise and his body tenses and you throughout his property. At the urging of his therapist, he can feel the old intensity, like heat rising off him. says he tried to “stop competing at everything and work on Over lunch, he and Corey recount the process of trying just being”—but damn, was that hard. “It’s to navigate the tests associated with the not like a light switch,” Plummer says. “I’d NFL settlement, and getting benefits, with beenatoughguyfor38years.Whenyou’re the attendant forms and emails and law- done playing, you don’t suddenly go back yers.“Tobehonest,it’sallsoconfusing,” to who you were when you were seven.” says Corey. “They tell us one thing, then Most of all, though, Plummer gardened. another. I can’t keep it straight. And they After the divorce, he had taken it up out giveyouaslittleinformationaspossible. of spite, to prove he could do a better job The communication could not be poorer, than his ex-wife. Now he tried to enjoy less inviting or welcoming for anyone to the process, tending to his sprawling want to participate.” It makes one wonder backyard for four or more hours a day, how bewildering the process must be for weeding, planting and hand-watering the former players who live alone, without the blossoms of nasturtium and bougainvillea, benefit of a Cal education or a spouse with theclumpsofbrilliantpencilcacti,and a background in the game, especially those towers of vegetables. He felt that it helped, with significant cognitive impairment. marginally at least. The way Plummer To qualify for compensation requires figured it, if he tried 20 tactics and each › BATTLE SCARS completing a dizzying number of steps, onehelpedjustalittlebit,well,thatmight Plummer required including two paired exams: the first from add up to something larger, right? 15 surgeries as a player and a neuropsychologist (which Plummer took nine more in retirement, in 2017), then a second from a neurolo- including a hip replacement. gist (the one he took last May). An NFL- › IT’S 10 A.M. on a late April day, approved neurologist then weights each andPlummeriswearingafloppy test and arrives at a conclusion, dividing sun hat and watering the flowers in the front yard of his former players into one of four categories: no cognitive im- two-story house in Scripps Ranch, an upscale community pairment, minimal cognitive impairment (known as Level 1), ofwindingroadsandeucalyptusgrovesaboutahalf-hour moderate cognitive impairment (Level 1.5, which qualifies drive north of San Diego. Even though it’s 72°, Plummer’s for monetary damages) and severe impairment (Level 2, white athletic shirt is soaked with sweat. His dog, Teddy, an significant monetary damages). 11-year-old Shiba Inu, sticks close. Plummer has come to believe that his regimen is making Plummer heads into his house, gait strong despite all the a difference not only in his life, but also in the health of his procedures. Though missing hisfamiliarmulletandmus- brain. Whereas he felt lost during his 2014 assessment, he tache, he still looks like a football player: fit, top-heavy torso, came away optimistic after taking the first part of the BAP, in thick neck, telltale scars visible below his shorts. ’17.Itwaslikehismindwasclickingagain.Continuedprog- Over the course of two days, Plummer shows me the life ress in the ensuing year had only encouraged him. Headaches OTTO GREULE JR/GETTY IMAGES JR/GETTY GREULE OTTO he now leads. Here, next to his bed, is the essential oil vapor- became less frequent, less intense. Last April, he had even read a book, The Call of the Wild, for the first time in who knows how long. Friends who are doctors were telling him 90 that he seemed fine, as far as they could tell. And, if this was true, it suggested something unusual, if not unprecedented: SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 thatPlummerhadnotonlyfounda waytomanageand DRUG OF CHOICE Researchers are taking a fresh approach to CTE—and that could spell relief for future generations

by JENNY VRENTAS illustration by SINELAB

AT THE Lieber CTE is not a hopeless of impulse control. and there is not a full › Institute endpoint. “The prevailing Lieber is working to understanding of how for Brain view is that this is a death develop a drug to mitigate repeated trauma may lead Development, in Baltimore, sentence, that you can’t these symptoms. The end to long-term brain damage. when Daniel Weinberger do anything about it,” says result wouldn’t cure CTE; “But the fact is these inquires about the Weinberger, the institute’s the idea is to help people neuropsychiatric problems weekend’s NFL games, director and CEO. “Which is with damaged brains are real,” says Kari Stover, he’s not interested completely lacking in any function more normally. a Lieber spokesperson, in the scores or the effort and any will to think This approach is similar to “and we need to do more standings. What he asks otherwise.” one involving a Parkinson’s to improve the lives of is, “Did anybody have a Since abnormal drug that works by people living with [them].” concussion?” tau deposits were increasing the levels of Lieber plans to submit Those hits to the posthumously discovered the neurotransmitter an investigational new head, and the troubling in the brain of former dopamine in the brain’s drug application to the consequences that Steelers center Mike prefrontal cortex and FDA next year, in hopes football players experience Webster, in 2002, the hippocampus. In that case of beginning a clinical years later, are driving the letters C, T and E have dopamine amps up the trial in 2019. Their drug Lieber Institute to develop become the three circuits that play a role in is just one idea, but it’s a treatment for the long- most feared in football. memory, decision-making part of a bigger concept: term effects of chronic Researchers have linked and behavioral control. a brighter future for traumatic encephalopathy. the disorder to memory CTE cannot yet be people struggling with the The goal: A future in which loss, mood swings and lack diagnosed in the living, lingering effects of CTE. ± PLUMMER and gloom. That having concussions isn’t the end of life. There’s still fulfillment. There’s still the ability to find joy the and happiness.”

› IT ALL sounded so reassuring. But is it even possible from a medical standpoint—to reverse dementia? mitigate his symptoms, but that he had also gotten better. Could this be a fluke, a placebo effect, wishful thinking? In person, he makes a convincing case, speaking with Robert Stern is a clinical neuroscientist at Boston Uni- a true believer’s zeal as he espouses neuroplasticity—the versity School of Medicine and a leading expert on CTE ability of the brain to reorganize itself and form new neural and Alzheimer’s. He explains that dementia isn’t an ill- connections—and a life unmoored from football. He talks ness or a disease but rather aboutgoingtoViennaandlisteningtoMozartinaconcert a syndrome, making it an im- hall, the first time he had seen an orchestra. He says he “cries precise diagnosis. If you have › BETTER TOGETHER likeababy”whenhelistenstomemoirsaboutmortality enough cognitive impairment Plummer and his wife, such as The Bright Hour. Sure, the old Gary still flares up— to interfere with your daily Corey, share a guarded “you should see him doing the dishes sometimes, when I’m life, then you have demen- optimism about his like, just chill out,” Corey says of her husband’s full-throttle tia—but of course this de- future health. approach—but it’s a process. “You have to learn how to be a pends on what you do in your completely different human being,” he says. daily life. Even the phrase Plummer tries to explain this to old teammates, or to coaches neurocognitive impairment, who call asking him to join their staffs. There’s more to life, he which is used as a classifica- tells them. “As a football player, you’re taught to never show tion in the NFL suit, is new, pain, and you become hardened,” he says. “This diagnosis and it doesn’t match with has given me the opportunity to discover things about myself the accepted text of the field, and life that I never knew existed before. Love at a different The Diagnostic and Statistical level and appreciation at a different level. It’s almost freakish Manual of Mental Disorders, how much I enjoy flowers and the beauty of them.” fifth edition. In addition, Stern says, the NFL’s designations As heartened as he is, he stresses that his progress was don’t make sense: Level 1 is analogous to mild cognitive “very slow” and “very, very hard” and that he often wanted impairment, but Level 1.5, which is the first level that can to quit. That what works for him might not work for others. be compensated, “is actually a pretty significant amount That everyone has to find his own combination until he figures of dementia” and “such a person might not be able to live out what works. But what do you have to lose? At this point independently.” Stern was so perturbed by this all-or-nothing Plummer has watched more than a dozen teammates and classification system that he filed an affidavit in the case. friends die, each time wondering how much football might So, did Plummer ever suffer from dementia? That depends have hastened their demise. With each passing month comes onthe doctorwhosawhim.Didhe sufferthousandsof con- another sobering reminder. The day before my visit, he had cussions? That depends on how you define a concussion, for returned from an end-of-life celebration in Montana for old there is no objective diagnosis. Still, Stern says, “Whether friend and 49ers teammate Dwight Clark, who would pass Gary had 2,000 concussions or 20, he was a linebacker for away from ALS within two months. “With that perspective, many years and got his head hit thousands and thousands of we couldn’t give a s--- if we get any money from the lawsuit,” times where, even if it would not be diagnosed as a concus- says Corey. “You just want to stay healthy.” sion, it would definitely be considered subconcussive impact Plummer’s wish is that his story can provide a glimmer of where the brain is still getting the same kind of jolting.” hope, or maybe a road map for others. “I just want people Asforreversingtheprocess, that’s where,as Stern puts to know that this stuff is real,” he says as he walks his dog. it,“Theresearchgetsmorewishy-washy.”SaysAlisaGean, “Because it’s not just happening to professional football play- a neuroradiologist at UCSF who knows Plummer and has ers. Anyone who’s experienced PTSD, go get help. Toughness followed his progress, “That’s the holy grail: regression. was a great character trait while I was getting paid for it, but Can we regress these injuries? Or is it just maintenance? no one’s paying me to be tough anymore. What a fool I’d be I hope for Gary’s sake he’s right, but we don’t know.” As to think that going to my grave it says, ‘Here lies one of the Stern explains, it’s one thing to reduce anxiety and stress toughest guys ever. Congrat-u-f------lations. Your toughness so someone can focus more, another to improve blood flow led to your demise.’ ” to the brain, still another to slow a disease. He ticks off the Hepauses.“IguessIwantpeopletoknowitisn’talldoom most valuable strategies for those suffering from cognitive decline: yoga, losing weight, exercising, eating a Mediter- ranean diet, reducing hypertension, controlling diabetes, 92 eliminating sleep apnea. Also muddying the issue is the fact that dementia can be caused by plenty of factors unrelated to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 head trauma, including clinical depression and Alzheimer’s. days, in the last two weeks and in the last two months. An hour later, like a morbid version of The Newlywed Game, Plummer is asked to recall details of the same events. Nearly threeanxiousmonthspass.Finally,onthemorning of July 26, Plummer receives the results via email. “It’s of- ficial,” he texts. “I do not suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s or any other neurocognitive disease.” Heis relieved. Corey iselated.Theydonot lingeronthe particulars of the 23-page report, which includes a diagnosis of clinical depression and notes that Plummer performed “within the moderately-to-severely impaired range” on learn- ing and memory. All that matters to Plummer is the verdict: He does not even qualify for Level 1. Which means he has his brain back. At least for now. HeandCoreydon’tknowwhatcomesnextbutsaythey are ready. Theirs is a guarded optimism. “Like everything in life, as long as things are working for you and you’re happy and you’re healthy, you’ll con- tinue,” says Corey. “And we know that’s “TOUGHNESS WAS A GREAT probably going to change. When that hap- CHARACTER TRAIT” IN THE NFL, pens, we’ll talk about it and we’ll adapt however we need to.” She pauses. “It’s pend- PLUMMER SAYS, “BUT NO ONE’S ing for all of us that something’s going to PAYING ME TO BE TOUGH ANYMORE.” change. That’s life.” For now, Plummer is sticking with the plan. He recently spoke to a judicial Regardless, both doctors are impressed by Plummer. “The conference about traumatic brain injury. He’s on the ad- message is: Any of us, with or without a brain disease, would visory board of a pharmaceutical startup with National likely function better and have improved overall cognitive Institute of Health funding that’s trying to create drugs functioning if we did everything that Gary’s doing,” says to treat synapse loss. At home, he still gets headaches, Stern. “I don’t think this is a placebo effect. Regardless of but only for around 15 minutes at a time. He aims to get what may or may not be happening in his brain, he’s done 15,000 steps a day in his garden, naps every afternoon so many important things for his brain health that if he was and does his 120° steam workout at midnight. The din on the cusp of cognitive impairment, he may have improved of the neighbor’s leaf blowers no longer sends him run- it to the point where he’s functioning a whole lot better, and ning inside. we could all learn from it.” He and Corey realize how lucky they are. To have the Stern pauses. “But there’s one important caveat,” he adds. financial freedom to tailor their lives around Plummer’s “Itis stillentirelypossible that Garyhas CTE,givenwhat health. To make plans but always maintain the ability to opt the potential risk is for a professional football player at his out. To not need the money from the settlement. To be able to age having played linebacker. The problem is, we don’t know live in the moment, or at least try to. And maybe this is the exactly what symptoms are caused by CTE until there may heartbreaking reality we’ve reached when it comes to former be real significant symptoms.” Like Alzheimer’s, he explains, NFL players: that the mere idea of not having dementia in CTE can take as long as 20 years to manifest itself, and as of your 50s is something to celebrate. yet there’s no way to diagnose it in the living, though Stern Plummer prefers to see the glass half full. What other is one of a handful of researchers working on it. choice does he have? Sometimes he heads out into the garden And if Plummer does have CTE? “Sadly, at this point there at night, to walk and think. From his house, on a bluff, you isn’tanythingthatcanstopitorreverseitordramatically can see out to the Pacific Ocean. The city lights are distant, slow it down,” Stern says. “If he has indeed lost brain tissue and the night envelops him. He’ll lie down on the grass and from a neurodegenerative process, there’s no way to get that stare up at the stars and, for a moment, feel at peace. Gone brain tissue back.” is the thumping of his headaches, and the churning of his mind, and the worrying over his future. If he’s lucky, he might even fall asleep. ± › IN MAY, Plummer takes the second test. While he sitsforapsychiatrist,Coreyspeakswithaneurologist, who asks lifestyle queries: How is Gary about hygiene? Can 93 he drive? Does he get lost? Next come specifics: Describe SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 something the two of you have done together in the last two

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the Y’ALL

› AS PUMPED AS FANS GET ABOUT A DUKE FRESHMAN WHO DROPS 28 POINTS IN HIS DEBUT OR THE SLINGING 11-YEAR- OLD SON-OF-A-HEISMAN-WINNER, THERE’S SOMETHING THEY LOVE EVEN BETTER: IMAGINING WHAT by TIM LAYDEN COMES NEXT. MAYBE WE’D ALL ENJOY illustration by RICH KELLY SPORTS MORE IF WE LIVED IN TODAY ON ELECTION NIGHT in Indianapolis, Duke’s Zion Wil- liamson, a 6' 7", 285-pound freshman guard-forward-wing- post-something-everything around whom there has already formed a significant (and deserved) mythology, did remarkable things in a season-opening rout of Kentucky. He threw down thunderous dunks, found open teammates with sharp passes, rebounded powerfully, dribbled › GUESS OF HONOR adroitly and, in all, looked like Williamson (right), the best college hoops player in after his killer game the country since Anthony Davis, against Kentucky, or maybe even before that. It was inspires the type of a fabulous show, worthy of every dreams that once lifted accolade thrown its way. But, of (from left) Franklin, course, it was not enough just to Webb and Spieth. praise Williamson. There must also be projection. Over the course of this one game—coinciding with reports tion, a runaway train of presumption and hope.) The point on much more important events across the U.S.—viewers and here: Zion Williamson hadn’t stopped sweating, and already social media users (read: everybody) were transported first the sports fans of America had transported him into near to April 2019, with predictions that Duke will not only win and distant futures, imagining his world domination and the national championship but also do so with an unbeaten the joy it would bring. Every bit of this might turn out to be record. And from April then to June, when Williamson will accurate—and won’t that be fun?—but it’s beside the point. be the first pick in the draft. And then from this June to the This issue of Sports Illustrated is devoted to the following June, when he will lead his NBA team to the playoffs future, an appropriate endeavor given that sports fans are a and maybe a title, and then to the June after that and the June twitchy, impatient populace reluctant to relish any capital-S, afterthat: athreepeat byage 22andWho’s LeBron anyway? capital-M Sports Moment for more than a heartbeat or two. If and My God, have we ever seen anything like this? (O.K., maybe something is great now, we ask: How much greater might it few people took it that far, but it was all headed in that direc- be tomorrow, or the day after that? If an athlete is great now, weimagine:Howgreatmightheorshebeoverthecourseof

a career—and how great will that be? If a team is great now: DAVID KLUTHO E. 96 Can it stay together long enough to be great next year and the following year? Can it be a dynasty? The sports world is SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 in a breathless hurry to leave now behind in pursuit of later. ItwasESPN,inasliceofbrandingwisdom,thatpopular- ized the phrase instant classic for a game that immediately appears to have historical significance. It’s a grossly misap- the plied title, but the subtext is accurate: Once a moment has passed, consign it to history and use a term like classic, whichevokes plaques inCooperstownandbustsin Can- ton. If it’s over, it’s old. Look ahead—the further the better. And this is not all wrong. The future is a place of infinite after a circuitous journey that included a stop at El Camino promise and wonder. But by persistently pondering it, we community college in Torrance, Calif. distort the present. Sometimes, even more aggressively, we project greatness There is an expression in the mental health community: upon young athletes and, with that, pile the hopes and future tripping. It is almost universally employed with a nega- dreams of entire sports across their unready shoulders. tive connotation, referring to someone who’s anxious and Consider Jordan Spieth. In April 2015, when Spieth was 21, unhealthy because he or she is unnaturally worried about he won the Masters. Two months later it was the U.S. Open. what the future might bring. Sports fans are not (all) worried Thesewerethrillingvictories,andSpiethlookedlikeanex- about what comes next, but they are generally obsessed with ceptionally talented player. But that wasn’t enough. Shortly it, often in wildly optimistic ways. They are future tripping, after those two wins, fans began calculating how soon seemingly, every day. This issue of SI is itself a 100-page Spieth would achieve what the injured and disgraced (back future trip. then) Tiger Woods had not: breaking Jack Nicklaus’s record ThisishappeningintheNBA(amongmany,manyother of 18 career major victories. And more. Surely Spieth was places) with the aforementioned Anthony Davis, a 6' 10" cen- the new Woods, the young player with the game to restore terwhowill beacovetedfreeagentattheend ofthecurrent TV ratings to their Tiger-driven highs of the early 2000s. season . . . which is barely one-eighth over. Davis, 25, has Three years later Spieth remains very good at golf. But he proved immensely talented and versatile, and he will make has won only one major after that roaring start. A bonus here: some other team an instant championship contender (even Since expectations were so quickly cranked up in 2015, and if he doesn’t do that with his current employer, the Pelicans). since Spieth has slowed since—because, you know, sustained Hence, countless NBA fans and media types have placed success is difficult for even the best players—this all allows this incipient season and the Davis Derby in adjacent tabs, for another type of projection: When will Spieth be back? to watch throughout the year. In effect, they are equating an Consider, too, Mary Cain. In 2013, when she was 17, Cain actual ongoing campaign—real games, real division races and, ran very fast in some very big races at distances from 800 presumably, another real championship by the dynastic and to 3,000 meters, prompting the track and field community evolutionary Warriors (or maybe not, which would be even to become very excited, not just about these actual perfor- more exciting)—with the potential signing of a superstar after mances but about the possibility that she would continue the season, a process of rampant speculation that is unfolding to run faster and faster and someday win Olympic medals in sterile offices, with no spectators or ear-splitting music. and world championships and, because of her joyful youth, Because: the future. help elevate track to its past glory. Or something. All of this was in play because Cain was young. But then she suffered frequent injuries and switched coaches and training loca- › THIS ACT of divining and dreaming is attached to tions; to this day she is fighting to regain the form that led teams and institutions but most commonly to athletes, to all the excitement. (SI, obviously, has been complicit in for whom we cannot resist building careers based on tiny all this hype, and I take credit/blame for an enthusiastic samples. A few weeks ago Fox Sports collegefootballwriterBruceFeldman tweeted (in good humor)that Cole Lein- art, the 5' 7", 11-year-old son of 2004 winner , “hasahugearm...shockedthatLane Kiffin and FAU haven’t offered him.” Minutes later Kiffin tweeted that he had, in fact, offered Cole a scholarship, lead- ingtheelderLeinarttoclarify:Kiffin was “obviously joking.” Doesn’t matter. Cole is now on the clock. This was all reminiscent of the story LIKE SO MANY OTHERS, WEBB WAS of David Sills V, whom Kiffin (then at SADDLED WITH EXPECTATIONS AND USC) offered a scholarship in 2010, when Sillswas13.EightyearslaterSillsisa THEN PUNISHED LATER FOR FAILING

ROBERT BECK (FRANKLIN); BILL FRAKES (WEBB); SIMON BRUTY (SPIETH) SIMON (WEBB); FRAKES BILL (FRANKLIN); BECK ROBERT solidreceiveratWestVirginia,butonly TO LIVE UP TO HIS PRECOCITY. THE the FUTURE IS WIDE story about Cain in that summer of 2013, which also pointed out the real possibility of burnout and unmet expectations.) OPEN Those who write and tweet and think about track and field Since 1999 alone, SI has applied the phrase “the future andotherOlympicsportsareespeciallyunwillingtoremain of”tosomebodyorsomething152times.Asin:ThatPat in the presentwiththeiryoungstars,inpartbecausethelife Mahomes, he’s the future of football. (Sure, why not?) Or: That Kawhi Leonard, he’s the future of the Spurs. (Cringe.) blood of those competitions—track, swimming, gymnastics, Here’salookathowoften we’ve used those words by skiing—is individual greatness, which attracts attention and sport, and how appt—or inapt—they’ve been. invites comparison across multiple Olympic cycles. If a young sprinter looks anything like the next Usain Bolt or Allyson Felix,ifayoungswimmerlooksanythinglikethenextMichael Phelps orKatieLedecky,heorshewillbeexpectedtocarrya lot of water for a lot of years. This happened to Missy Franklin, who at 17 won four golds and one bronze in swimming at the by DAN FALKENHEIIM 2012 Olympics,andwhowasexpectedtokeepaccumulat- ing medals for at least another eight years. She, too, battled injuries, and she has never won another Olympic individual medal (she won a gold for swimming morning heats in a relay at the ’16 Games), despite trying very hard and enduring her struggles with exceptional dignity. Baseball There is another consequence of looking too deeply to- ward the future: Athletes are robbed of unalloyed joy in the 29 present. CaindidnotstaythefaceofAmericanwomen’s middle-distancerunning,butshewasheldinthatregardfor a brief time, and that is no small thing. Yet it was undercut [BRYYCE] HARPERR, by the immediate expectation of even greater performances in the future. Likewise for Franklin, who won not only those THEENO.1PICK OF Olympic medals in 2012 but a total of eight world cham- THE 2010 DRAFT BY pionships in ’13 and ’15, a towering career résumé that is THEE NATIONALS, nevertheless demeaned because she didn’t do even more IS THHEFUTURE OF after flashing talent so fast, so young. Alan Webb shattered ASEBALL.... JimRyun’shighschoolrecordforthemilein’01,andhewas —AUG. 1, 2011 expected to then accumulate a pile of medals and records. He ultimately broke the American mark for the mile, but he did not win any Olympic or world championship medals; thus, he is considered by many in the track universe to have been a failure, an absurdly unfair measurement based strictly on his accomplishments at a young age. Like so many others, he was saddled with expectations and then punished later for failingtoliveuptohisprecocity. Of course, there are athletes, too, who get proclaimed great at a young age and just keep getting better. LeBron James was declared the chosen one on the cover of SI › THE NBA andNFLdrafts,andtheworldofcollege when he was 17, and he’s spent the next 16 years living up recruiting, are institutionalized projection factories SEAM IMAGES/AP JANES/FOUR (HARPER) MIKE to—and exceeding—that proclamation. But there are far in which pro franchises and D-I programs use sophisticated more athletes who fall short of mandated greatness than guesswork to measure the viability of athletes based largely there are who achieve it. on their performance at lower levels. It’s a system that leads to the Patriots stumbling upon Tom Brady in the sixth round and riding him to two decades of leaguewide dominance. 98 Yet despite the vast uncertainty of drafts and recruiting, fan bases treat them as if they are games, with concrete out- SPORTS ILLUSTRATED• NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 comes. In some cases, more than games. It is foundational “LAST FRIDAY NIGHT THE FUTURE OF U.S. SWIMMING Golf [NATALIE COUGHLIN] 23 TIM S Soccer DISSECTED A PLATEFUL OF “If you had stumbled into the Olympics CHICKENCORDONBLEU....” snooker room . . . last week, you 3 TIMES 5 TIMES —APRIL 1, 2002 would never have imagined you were looking at the future of the European Ryder Cup team. England’s “The future of “The future of the Hockey Ian Poulter andJustinRose....” Major League Soccer depends Tampa Bay [Lightning] 4 times —MAY 7, 2001 franchise rests on the almost entirely on narrow shouldersshould of one mysterious the 6' 4", 195-pound Football man. Denver- [Vincent] Lecavalier.” based billionaire —JAN. 18,, 1999 34 Phil Anschutz—Saint Phil to American TIMES soccer fans. . . .” —DEC. 3, 2001 Tennis COACH MIKE MUNCHAK MUST 9 TIMES RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO BENCH [JAKE LOCKER] FOR MATT “Did [Andy Roddick]c ] HASSELBECK. HASSELBECK IS 37; really win the U.S. Open LOCKER IS THE FUTURE, GROWING in September and upgrade —FEB. 11, 2013 his billing from thefuture PAINS AND ALL. of American tennisto its present?” —NOV. 1010, 2003 Basketball 24 TIMES “The director yells that the cameras are “And on they go [Eddy ready to roll and the stars are needed Curry and Tyson on the set, and suddenly here they come, Chandler], gleefully the six young men who hold the future rattling off analogies, of NASCAR in their hands . . . Kurt Busch, the future of the Bulls Auto Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jimmie still rooted squarely racing Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman.” in the present.” 7 TIMEST —FEB. 16, 2004 —OCT. 28, 2002

future tripping in which grades are assigned and winners wrong on draft day or signing day, you can only be wrong and losers declared based on the selections made from a much later, when those original predictions are lost in the podium or the letters of intent signed by athletes. These are fog of time. There is no present here, only the future. alluring moments for fans obsessed with the future because But this is the thing about the future: It will arrive. This there are no consequences; they are foundational What’s is a certainty. It will arrive wrapped in mystery, uncertainty, next? moments in which there is no now. There is only some poised to bring laughter or tears. It will arrive in forms often vague, distant later in which a draftee or recruit becomes a vastly different from our expectations. Zion Williamson will do star. Or the best ever. Or a bust. amazing things for many years—or, unexpectedly, he will not. The appeal is easy to see: Drafting and recruiting represent Watch him now. Watch everything now. And perhaps, on occa-

SIMON BRUTY (COUGHLIN); STUART FRANKLIN/GETTY IMAGES STUART BRUTY (COUGHLIN); SIMON JASON MILLER/GETTY(POULTER); IMAGES DAVE (LOCKER); MARTIN/AP (EARNHARDT JR.); OTTO GREULE JR/GETTY IMAGES TROTMAN/NBAE/GETTY NOREN (CHANDLER); (CURRY) IMAGES the ultimate big tent, and everyone is welcome. You can’t be sion, don’t squint quite so hard in search of what’s to come. ± Seabiscuit. In many ways he seemed As I came to find out much later, my like he could almost be one of my two strongest advocates ended up uncles. I trusted him. He seemed to being guys who I had great respect have the same kind of passion for the for. Will McDonough was a Boston game and appreciation for the history boy, and as you know, that is a tribal of the game that I had. And in many community, so he pounded the table ways he saw something in me that— for me. And the other advocate quite frankly—at that time I don’t was “Uncle Paul.” One vote could POINT AFTER know that I saw myself. determine enshrinement. Their When the story first came out, I passionate belief in me obviously was a little uncomfortable, because influenced other voters who GUARDIAN when you let someone inside your respected their knowledge of the family, you’re not sure how it’s game. If my path doesn’t cross those OF THE going to turn out. And then it hits two gentlemen, who knows? the cover of Sports Illustrated. Paul’s football knowledge was GAME I don’t know that someone on incredible. He had an appreciation the outside looking in could particularly for line play and all its AFOOTBALLHALLOF have done a better job than Paul nuance. He had a vision in his mind FAMER REMEMBERS A did capturing the essence of my of how the game was supposed to be SPORTS MEDIA GIANT background. People still reference played, and anything short of that it, whether I’m walking somewhere was unacceptable. in a city, or I’m at a stadium or Even back in the ’80s, he was just in a hotel: “I remember that unique among sportswriters. Let’s BY HOWIE LONG Sports Illustrated story back say you’re sitting at your locker and in 1985. Incredible story.” Paul and I there’s a pool of reporters in front will forever be linked because of that, of you after a game. Paul would just and that led to us having a kinship— stand out. He was in black and white, Paul Zimmerman, who covered the even if it was an unspoken one. and the rest of them were in color. NFL for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED for On the exterior, Paul was kind of As a broadcaster, I’ve always 29 years, died on Nov. 1 at age 86. One thecurmudgeonly sportswriter,an X’s taken the approach that I want to be of Dr. Z’s most memorable stories, The and O’s guy. “The game! The game! I informed. I want to understand. It’s Long Way Up, ran in the July 22, 1985, don’t know where it’s going!” It’s like easy to mail it in and throw a take out issue. It was a profile of future Hall my Uncle Billy. He’s the last living there. With Paul, I felt like, if he was of Fame defensive end Howie Long, uncle of the four giving you an opinion telling the story of his upbringing in who were featured on something, the Charlestown section of Boston, in the story. He’s a he understood it where he was raised largely by his four very loving person, and he’d done his uncles and his grandmother. but he’s not someone research and had who shows that. watched the film. S A YOUNG guy, 24 going When Hall of I’ve always taken A on 25, that was the first Fame voters decide that approach. I don’t time I had let someone who is inducted, believe in beating into my extended family. We gave it’s a really difficult people up just for the Paul the kind of access we hadn’t process. Players sake of grabbing a given anyone—and haven’t given have to have an headline. Paul never anyone since. advocate in the did that. He was one

Paul was a throwback to another room, and it’s of the voices that BIEVER JOHN era of football writer. He was a guy typically their own was the conscience you could easily see in the movie local beat writer. of the sport. ±

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