BEST SPORTS STORIES 1977

This year's anthology features Olympic medalists (Nadia, Dorothy, ""Prince Valiant with muscles""), superstars (Jabbar, Ali, Fidrych, Evert), special events (getting a Super Bowl ticket at cost), and some lesser-known spectators--Dallas bookies, Forest Hills' ""polarized, predatory"" fans, and two golf freaks who, after ten years of saving up for the Masters, accidentally launder their credentials and retreat to a motel TV. Best News-Coverage Story: the decision following the Ali-Norton fight, viewed and rued by the Washington Post's Shirley Povich, Best News-Feature Story: Ren'ee Richards' transsexual quandary, construed by Newsday's Jane Gross; Best Magazine Story (and our favorite): the Brooklyn HS basketball championship, Mark Jacobson's bounding replay (""Canarsie's all over the place. They hover like air pollution"") which snakes through neighborhood tensions as well. Also-rans include zany tales from a little League umpire, Greg Hoffman's plucky spoof (Our Lady of Pity vs. Our Lady of Perpetual Motion), the streamlined Steelers at Super Bowl X, and the Flyers' assault on the Soviet Central Army hockey team.