In this week’s issue of SI, there’s a profile of NFL Commish Roger Goodell, plus a preview of Sunday’s Super Bowl. There’s plenty of other stuff as well. Check out what we have below.
Roger Goodell: How the Most Powerful Man in Sports Plans to Keep the NFL From Falling Apart
Complete Super Bowl Coverage: The Five Matchups That Will Shape the Course of the Big Game
Plus: Big Ben’s Redemption Is Far from Complete—Even with Another Super Bowl Ring
An Inside Look at What It’s Like to Get Dunked On by Blake Griffin
Brian Wilson: The Method Behind the Madness of San Francisco’s Postseason Hero
Isaiah Thomas: The Huskies Point Guard Thrives Under the Pressure of His Namesake
(NEW YORK – February 2, 2011) – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell graces the cover of the February 7, 2011, issue of Sports Illustrated—on newsstands today—with the billing Roger Goodell’s Moment: The NFL Commissioner is the Most Powerful Man in Sports, Presiding Over the Most Lucrative League in the World. His Job Right Now is to Stop It >From All Falling Apart. Goodell is the first pro sports league commissioner to be featured on the cover since Major League Baseball’s Peter Ueberroth on March 25, 1985.
NFL senior writer Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) says that Goodell will need to demonstrate his abilities both as a dealmaker and problem-solver when the league’s labor negotiations start to heat up following the Super Bowl. If anyone is equipped to deal with the drama that will unfold, it’s Goodell, who has embraced his dream job to the fullest. King writes (page 38): “By the time he was a junior [at Washington & Lee College], applying for a job at the Landmark [an off-campus bar], Goodell had figured out his career path. ‘When I asked him what he wanted to do with his life,’ says Tim Foil [the bar’s owner], ‘he said, I’m going to be the National Football League commissioner. Oh, O.K. Sure.’ ”
Such drive ran in sharp contrast to Goodell’s early childhood, when he showed such scant interest in his studies and performed so poorly in class that his mother, Jean, was certain he had a learning disability. That changed during his first semester at Washington & Lee, when he stunned his family by getting a 4.0 grade point average. As Goodell remembers: “My goal was to prove to my family I wasn’t a dummy. I learned in high school that I was going to have to outwork people. I remember running around the track, training for football, and a faster guy ran past me. I just figured, I can outlast him. If I work harder than him, I’ll beat him. And to this day I overprepare.”
Goodell’s initial foray into the administrative world of the NFL is proof of that. King continues: “While in a management-trainee program at J&L Steel in Pittsburgh, Goodell wrote 40 letters to NFL teams and to officials at league headquarters, chasing the dream. When NFL executive director Don Weiss responded with a vague, “Stop by if you’re ever in the area,” Goodell called immediately, said he was in the area and was told to come in the next morning. He drove through the night, seven hours from Pittsburgh, for the informal interview, and six months later he was offered a three-month internship in New York, clipping newspaper stories and performing other lowly media chores.”
To read the online version of The Man of the Hour, click here.
On the iPad/Galaxy: Peter King speaks with media writer Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) about his profile on Goodell and the Super Bowl for the Sports Illustrated Audio Podcast.
MORE SUPER BOWL PREVIEW COVERAGE
HEAD-TO-HEAD GAMES – JIM TROTTER
NFL senior writer Jim Trotter (@SI_JimTrotter) says these five Packers-Steelers matchups will help shape the course of Super Bowl XLV (page 54):QB Aaron Rodgers (Packers) vs. S Troy Polamalu (Steelers): “Accounting for Polamalu will be critical—he tied for second in the NFL with seven interceptions and is the only Steelers defender with authority to freelance within the scheme.”
DT B.J. Raji (Packers) vs. C Doug Legursky (Steelers): “Legursky has never started an NFL game at center and had exchange issues (including a fumbled snap) with Ben Roethlisberger against the Jets. Watch for Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers to blitz the A gap early to test Legursky.”
RT Bryan Bulaga (Packers) vs. OLB LaMarr Woodley (Steelers): “The 6′ 2″, 265-pound Woodley is strong and quick and understands how to use leverage against bigger pass blockers like Bulaga (6′ 5″, 314).”
CB Sam Shields (Packers) vs. WR Mike Wallace (Steelers): “Shields, an undrafted rookie who played defense for only one year in college, has the speed to run with Wallace—but all it takes is one mental lapse or false step for Wallace to be running free to the end zone.”
WR Donald Driver (Packers) vs. CB Bryant McFadden (Steelers): “McFadden could be an attractive target because he’s nursing an abdominal injury and was victimized by these very Packers in last year’s playoffs, when he was with the Cardinals. Rodgers threw for 423 yards and four scores in that game.”
To read the online version of Head-to-Head Games, click here.
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: CHASTEN THE DREAM – DAMON HACK
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could win his third Super Bowl ring on Sunday. But as senior writer Damon Hack (@si_damonhack) points out, winning back the fans—many of whom still see Roethlisberger as an aloof, entitled superstar—remains a work in progress. Says George Whitfield Jr., a quarterback guru who worked out with Roethlisberger during his four-game suspension earlier this fall (page 48): “He doesn’t have the ability to [act out now]. That was stripped [by] his circumstance. Imagine if he did snap at somebody—that goes back into the community, one person becomes 10 people becomes 100 people, and it’s, ‘Oh, Roethlisberger’s a [jerk].’ ”To read the online version of Chasten the Dream, click here.
RUNNING QBS: RAMBLIN’ SCRAMBLIN’ MEN – PETER KING
Both Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger excel at making big plays on the run. NFL senior writer Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) says that whichever defense does the better job of stopping them will come out on top. King writes (page 52): “The threat of the run from this year’s Super Bowl quarterbacks makes the jobs of defensive coordinators Dom Capers of Green Bay and Dick LeBeau of Pittsburgh doubly difficult. Will they put a spy on Roethlisberger or Rodgers, who combined to rush 127 times for 620 drive-sustaining yards in the regular season and the playoffs? Or will they try to pen them in the pocket with disciplined rush lanes?”To read the online version of Ramblin’ Scramblin’ Men, click here.
iPAD/GALAXY ADDITIONS TO OUR SUPER BOWL PREVIEW COVERAGE
In addition to having the latest Super Bowl news at their fingertips, readers on the iPad or Galaxy from three former stars-turned-analysts: Boomer Esiason, Cris Collinsworth and Phil Simms. And for those readers with a hint of nostalgia, this week’s SI Digital Bonus features a gallery of all 44 covers memorializing the winner of the Super Bowl—the only sporting event that has commemorated its champion every year.
BLAKE GRIFFIN’S POSTER BOYS – CHRIS BALLARD
For all his high-flying theatrics, Clippers forward Blake Griffin has trouble describing what makes his dunks special. So senior writer Chris Ballard (@SI_ChrisBallard) ponders another, far more answerable, question: What does it feel like to get dunked on by Blake Griffin? Michigan guard Zach Novak—whom Griffin posterized during a second round NCAA tournament game in 2009—offers this anecdote (page 64): “When I get to the three-point line, I start thinking, Why am I doing this? I’m in foul trouble, I’m not going to get there, and he’s got this look in his eye like he’s going to abuse me. I step in late and start to fall back, kind of flop it, hoping to maybe get lucky and get the call. Next thing I know his feet are at my face.”Ballard reminds us that we should enjoy Griffin’s air show while it lasts: “What you are witnessing now from Griffin has an expiration date. Opponents are already beginning to play him more physically, trying to foul their way off a poster. And as Griffin gets older and his game evolves, he won’t need to dunk as often, having become more cautious, just as Stoudemire and Jordan and Barkley and countless other once-reckless dunkers did. Your window to see him at his primal best could be five years, it could be two. Who knows?”
To read the online version of Blake Griffin’s Poster Boys, click here.
On the iPad/Galaxy: Chris Ballard speaks with media writer Richard Deitsch about Blake Griffin’s rookie campaign—and what it means for the future of the franchise—on the Sports Illustrated Audio Podcast. Plus, check out video of five of Griffin’s victims by posterization: Novak, the Knicks’ Danilo Gallinari, San Antonio’s Manu Ginóbili and the Lakers’ D.J. Mbenga and Lamar Odom.
BRIAN WILSON: THREE QUARTERS NUTS – L. JON WERTHEIM
For all the talk that he’s a little out there, Giants closer Brian Wilson is more pragmatic than you think. As senior writer L. Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim) points out, he is hardly a clubhouse disruption, especially compared with Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, Gilbert Arenas and some of sports’ other colorful characters. Unlike them, Wilson is frequently hailed as a model teammate. As he describes it (page 60): “Of course I want to say hello to you. You’re my leftfielder. If we’re on bad terms, you’re not going to dive into the fence for me. But if you’re like, That guy has my back, says hello, plays cards with me, you say to yourself, I’m going to see what this wall feels like.”Wilson also figures that he’s pigeonholed by the sports culture in which different automatically equals odd. As he tells Wertheim: “Anything a tiny bit quirky and next thing you know [here he switches to newscaster voice], He was born to cavemen and descended from Zeus…. Maybe I don’t care what people think. I’m not following the norm, nor am I trying to be different. You can’t be completely nuts. You can only be, like, three quarters nuts.”
To read the online version of Three Quarters Nuts, click here.
On the iPad/Galaxy: If you’ve only seen Brian Wilson pitch, you’re in for a treat with these four videos of the Giants closer: his introduction of “The Machine” to the world; a memorable appearance on Lopez Tonight in full sailor regalia; rendering the normally verbose Jim Rome speechless; and a hilarious ad for the soon-to-be released MLB2K11.
WASHINGTON’S ISAIAH THOMAS: THE NAME OF THE GAME – PABLO S. TORRE
Even an extra “a” in his first name didn’t stop Washington point guard Isaiah Thomas from being mocked with “We hate your dad!” chants by hecklers at his high school games or from search engines asking, “Did you mean: Isiah Thomas?” No matter: the 5′ 9″ junior has become the driving force for a Pac-10 power. Reporter Pablo S. Torre (@SIPabloTorre) writes (page 56): “Thomas has turned mistaken identity into a point of pride. ‘It’s an honor to be named after someone like [Isiah],’ says Isaiah, who was averaging 17.1 points and a Pac-10–best 5.8 assists per game through week’s end for the 20th-ranked Huskies. ‘It was weird at first, but I’m used to it now. I’m trying to do what he did on the court.’ In fact, one of the junior’s ‘most special’ memories consists of just five words from the first conversation he had with his namesake, not long before the first of Washington’s two (soon to be three) straight tournament runs. ‘Isaiah,’ said Isiah, ‘I’m your biggest fan.’ ”To read the online version of The Name of the Game, click here.
On the iPad/Galaxy: Torre spoke with former NBA star and current Florida International coach Isiah Thomas about the pro prospects of his namesake and mentee in Seattle as well as his new direction in Miami.
SCORECARD: FULL COURT PRESS TO FIGHT CANCER – KELLI ANDERSON
If you want to see the flip side of college basketball’s seediness, senior writer Kelli Anderson points to the coaches’ joint fight against cancer as Exhibit A, explaining (page 16): “There are reasons college basketball coaches make great messengers in the cancer battle. They are born motivators. They have smart phones full of contacts and most of them are prominent in their communities. ‘College basketball lends itself directly to our philosophy of keeping this fight personal,’ says Nick Valvano, brother of Jim and CEO of the V Foundation. ‘Who is more personal to the community than the basketball coach, whether people want to hang him or put him on a pedestal?’ ”To read the online version of Full Court Press to Fight Cancer, click here.
On the iPad/Galaxy: Jimmy V’s courageous fight with cancer started to gain traction when Gary Smith profiled the former NC State coach in the Jan. 11, 1993, issue—a story called As Time Runs Out, which iPad/Galaxy readers
POINT AFTER: TWEET NOTHINGS – JOE POSNANSKI
On Twitter, senior writer Joe Posnanski (@JPosnanski) relishes how easy it is to live in an athlete’s world (page 74): “Today is a day with limitless possibility. Lots of my friends think so. Two-time NBA All-Star guard Baron Davis paraphrases John Wooden: ‘The people who turn out best are those people who make the best out of the way things turn out.’ Hear, hear! Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is thrilled with his players’ energy at practice. Two-time major champion and Mr. Grip It and Rip It himself John Daly adds his own bit of inspiration: ‘Just drinking my diet coke & enjoying my smoke trying to decide on my pants pattern today,’ he says. He adds an LOL on the end in case anyone might have taken this bit of news a little too somberly.”To read the online version of Tweet Nothings, click here.
And that’s it.
