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The article examines the attitudes of San Francisco Bay area baseball fans towards Barry Bonds as he approaches Hank Aaron's career home run record of 755. Opinions are mixed and complex. Everyone quoted acknowledges Bonds' ability, but his reported use of performance enhancing drugs and difficult personality are also issues. In general, older fans hold the most unfavorable opinions of Bonds. Bonds is presented as a lonely figure, which may or may not be by choice.

This article presents a profile of Los Angeles Clipper forward, Elton Brand. The Clippers who have had only one winning season in 25 years and who were once described as the worst sports franchise in all of professional sports are currently off to their best start since 1976. Elton Brand is the leader of the team and, along with Sam Cassell and Cuttino Mobley has led the team ahead of cross-town rival the LA Lakers.

This article focuses on the unexpectedly impressive performance of Michael Redd in the National Basketball Association All-Star Game. It's two p.m. on Friday of All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. On one side of a cavernous ballroom, reporters crowd three deep around the tables of Shaquille O' Neal and Kobe Bryant, pressing forward as if stageside at a Springsteen concert, tape recorders held aloft. Amid the chaos, there is a pocket of serenity in the back of the room, where Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Redd, a first-time All-Star, is sitting patiently at his table, wearing a blue button-down shirt, jeans, white sneakers and--no doubt breaking a clause in the Players Association contract--not a single piece of jewelry. Redd's confidence was on display on Sunday in the East's 136-132 loss. Though he was the last player to get in the game, he managed to hoist 12 shots in 15 minutes, hitting three three-pointers and scoring 13 points.

This article discusses the first round playoff series between the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks, in which the Sacramento Kings were victorious. It is an NBA axiom that teams play better at home, especially under the increased pressure of the playoffs. But no team in this postseason is quite as bipolar as the Dallas Mavericks, who went a franchise-record 36-5 at American Airlines Center and 16-25 on the road during the regular season. Perhaps sometime before Game 4 on Monday, Rick Adelman sneaked his team into American Airlines Center and made like Norman Dale, the coach in Hoosiers who had his small-town players measure the distance between the free throw line and rim of a big-city arena to reassure them about the immutability of court dimensions. Or perhaps that's what Dallas coach Don Nelson should have done, as his team, which led the league in free throw shooting, hit only 20 of 33 from the line in a 94-92 loss.That left the Mavs in the unenviable position of having to take two games at Arco to advance to the second round. The crowd at American Airlines Center isn't quite as loud--the cowbell-clanging fans at Arco are closer to the court, and there are few corporations in Sacramento to fill the prime seats with sedate execs--but Mavericks rooters don't lack for enthusiasm.

This article predicts that the Sacramento Kings will finish first in the National Basketball League in the 2003-04 season and offers analysis of players. As much of a jokester as the 21-year-old Gerald Wallace may be, he is serious about earning meaningful minutes and living up to the Kings' expectations. During three years of mostly spot duty, he has shown flashes of brilliance, especially on defense and in transition. Mike Bibby is a pass-first guy, and Bobby Jackson usually isn't, but Jackson is the toughest player on the team. An opposing team's scout sizes up the Kings. Projected starting lineup. INSETS: ENEMY LINES;PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP.

In this age of inflated expectations, what if, for once, we did believe the hype? What if the image brokers were right seven years ago when they anointed a skinny high school senior with a shorn head as the next big thing? That's exactly what's happened in the case of Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, which helps explain why Portland Trail Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks could honestly say last Friday that Portland's defense on Bryant "was pretty good overall," even though he'd exploded for 40 points in a 92-84 Lakers victory. At week's end Bryant had scored 40 or more in nine straight games and 35 or more in 13 straight, a run eclipsed only by Wilt Chamberlain. The numbers are astounding: During those 13 games Bryant averaged 42.4 points, shooting 48.7% from the field and 45.5% from beyond the arc. After a 106-101 win over the Seattle SuperSonics on Sunday, in which Kobe scored 41, L.A. was 30-25 and in the seventh spot in the Western Conference, having gone 11-2 since coach Phil Jackson asked Bryant to be more aggressive. The story behind the 24-year-old Bryant's ascent from skinny teen to MVP candidate is one that LeBron James and other heavily hyped phenoms would be wise to heed.

This article presents information about Arthur Webb, a 67-year-old ultramarathoner who has run the Badwater Ultramarathon for 12 straight years. Webb's background as a child from a broken home and foster homes is presented together with descriptions of his ultramarathon training and some of his racing experiences. The Badwater Marathon is a 135-mile race that passes through Death Valley in California to Mount Whitney.

The article focuses on Dale Webster, a surfer who has surfed in the waters of Bodega Bay, California every day from 1976-2008. Webster has lived in poverty and worked a series of low-income, temporary jobs in order to pursue his obsession with surfing, which has brought him no reward but a certain amount of fame among other surfers. His wife Kaye has been diagnosed with terminal myeloma, which may end Webster's streak.

This article presents three statements about college basketball teams. Mississippi State is the best team in the SEC. USC needs an attitude adjustment. Coach Henry Bibby has to wonder which team is going to show up each night: the one that upset Arizona on Jan. 15 or the one that has dropped three straight since to fall to 8-9. Providence is for real.

Profiles Golden State Warriors center Adonal Foyle. Foyle's interest in poetry; Masters degree that Foyle is attempting to earn in sports psychology; Biographical and statistical information; Sport that Foyle did not start playing until he was 16-years-old;Student activism group Democracy Matters that Foyle established; Chapters in U.S. universities that Democracy Matters has.

Focuses on the television and radio sportscasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, who call the San Francisco Giants' Major League Baseball games in the San Francisco, California area. How the broadcast team began; Reputation the two had while players with the Giants; Appeal of the two.

Profiles former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Tom Tolbert, who is a San Francisco, California sports radio host. Popularity of his radio show 'The Razor and Mr. T,' on KNBR radio; Details on his career in the NBA and how he became involved with talk radio.

Profiles former San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig, who appeared on the January 28, 1985 cover of 'Sports Illustrated' magazine. Results of his appearance in a newspaper underwear advertisement; His career as a California team running back; The athletic inclinations of his children.