
##2000173 None of them stands above five feet or weighs more than 100 pounds , but all four dramatically assumed center stage during the 1992 Olympic Games . Two gymnasts : Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller . Two figure skaters : Midori Ito and Kristi Yamaguchi . Two powerful pepper pots who were favored to win gold medals and two elegant underdogs who outshone the stars when the spotlight was brightest . What were the effects on them of winning or losing ? How well did they cope after failing to live up to expectations -- nearly always the expectations of others ? And the flip side ? Is Olympic success all it 's cracked up to be intrinsically or financially ? Is an Olympic medal the yellow brick road to a dream come true ? When I had last seen two of these young athletes perform , and lose -- Zmeskal in Barcelona , Ito in Albertville -- a light appeared to have gone out in each of them . They seemed crushed by their defeats , mere shadows of the champions they had been . I wondered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is what I learned : The experience of competing in the Games is a greater prize than any medal , even a gold . It 's a greater prize than anything a gold medal might bring , since everything a gold medal brings -- endorsements , new friends , fame -- comes with strings attached . To have competed in the Games is a greater prize than losing is a disappointment , because with time the disappointment fades , while the memory of competing in the Olympics stays fresh and , quite possibly , improves . Yes , there are Olympic winners , but I believe there are no Olympic losers , hard as we in the media might try to find them . Maybe my view is too general ; maybe it was just these four athletes . Midori Ito had it the worst . Fifth in the ' 88 Olympics , world champion in 1989 , the first woman to perform a triple Axel jump in competition , Ito was Japan 's Dream Team at Albertville . No Japanese woman had ever won a gold medal in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1972 . The pressure on her to take home the gold was enormous . " I was the favorite , " says Ito , " and I knew the Japanese people expected a gold medal . " Expected ? Like one is expected to make the bed in the morning , expected to do one 's homework . The quest for the gold became not a labor of love but a chore for Ito . When she first arrived in Albertville , she was in the best shape of her life . Rival coaches were literally covering their eyes during her practices , so awesome were her jumps . But as the competition approached , Ito began to withdraw physically and emotionally . She began missing her triples . She stopped smiling . Normally chatty with Japanese team officials , she became uncharacteristically quiet and aloof . " As the competition was coming close , she got more and more nervous , " says her coach , Machiko Yamada . " So many Japanese people expecting medals . " Desperate , Yamada suggested that Ito replace her trademark triple Axel with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ short program . " After careful consideration , I agreed , " Ito says . But the pressure was such that even that conservative move backfired . Ito fell while attempting her triple Lutz , effectively ruining any hopes she had of winning the gold medal . It was a mistake Yamada had never seen Midori make , even in practice . " Sometimes she stumbles -- but fall , never , " the coach said afterward . " I could n't believe it . " Neither could many of the U.S. coaches who had followed Ito 's career . One of them burst into tears . Another said it broke her heart . Everyone knew the pressure Ito was under , and the shellacking she would now endure at home . Sure enough the headlines back in Japan read , MIDORI FAILS . Ito , her face blank to hide her embarrassment and her eyes red with tears , felt obliged to apologize to the people of Japan . The funny thing was , she never felt she owed herself an apology . " I was never disappointed for myself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Japan , " she says . " I have no regrets because I know I did my best -- all I could do . " Athletes understand defeat . They know they 're only human . But great athletes know how to leave a mistake behind , and while television and newspapers were playing up the story of Ito 's failure , replaying her fall , analyzing and second-guessing her decision to insert the triple Lutz , Ito put it behind her and went out and won the silver medal . In doing so , she provided one of the highlights of the Winter Games when she landed a triple Axel in the final minute of her long program , after falling on it earlier in the performance . It brought a joyful smile to her face , finally brought the fans to their feet and propelled her from fourth place to second . Ito has since said that landing that jump was as important to her as the medal . Not only was she the first woman to land it in competition , she was now the first to land @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was an accomplishment she did not feel obliged to share with all of Japan . It made her Games . " Of course I know some people are n't happy because they wanted me to win the gold medal . " she says . " But I 'm very proud of what I did . " Since Albertville , Ito has retired from amateur competition . She never expected to make her fortune from endorsements , since foreigners and cutesy Japanese starlets are the best vehicles for selling products in Japan Ito has made a cake commercial and a milk commercial , and she 's a spokesperson for Prince Hotels . She also skates in a Japanese ice show and , someday , would like to skate in professional competitions . " The feeling across the country is about 50-50 these days , " says Junko Hisada , a top official of the Japanese Skating Federation . " Half the people will always feel Ito failed , but the other half are proud of her . The people closest to her know all she had to go through . " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a TV commentator , covering everything from sumo wrestling to volleyball to the Summer Olympics . At Barcelona she had the opportunity to view the Olympics from the other side of the microphone . " I recognized in other athletes the pressure that I 'd felt , " she says , " especially in gymnastics . " Kristi Yamaguchi had a very different Olympic experience . The great trick for her was convincing herself she was the underdog , despite carrying the title of reigning world champion into the Games . Yamaguchi had upset an injured Ito at the 1991 worlds in Munich . The press was happy to oblige her underdog hankerings : Nearly everyone picked Ito to finish first in Albertville , Yamaguchi to finish second . And the modest 20-year-old from Fremont , Calif. , was mentally prepared to live with that result . The next Winter Games would be held in Norway in 1994 , just two years away , so Yamaguchi knew she would have one more shot at a gold medal , win or lose in ' 92 . Not burdened by high expectations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At her parents ' insistence she marched in the opening ceremonies although her figure skating competition would n't start for another 11 days . ( Meanwhile , Ito was training in Megeve , France . ) Yamaguchi stayed in the Olympic Village , went dancing with other athletes , but by the time the real partying began , it was time for her to focus on skating . " I remember thinking , This is n't fair , " she says . " I want to enjoy the Olympics too . " It was a wonderful attitude to have , and it translated onto the ice . Yamaguchi 's clearest memory from Albertville -- more vivid than having the gold medal placed around her neck -- came moments after she had finished her long program , when she was leaving the ice , waving to the crowd . The pressure , at last , was off . But . far from feeling relief , Yamaguchi experienced a sharp sense of loss . " I knew I 'd done well , and I was happy for that . But I remember thinking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You 've always dreamed of it , always , your whole life . I did n't want it to be over yet . " These athletes dream of the Olympics , not the gold medal . And for good reason , since with gold medals come headaches previously unimagined . In Yamaguchi 's case , after she returned home from Albertville , certain members of the business media predicted that because of her Japanese-American heritage she would never get the endorsement opportunities of previous U.S. figure skating gold medalists . At a time when Japan was being blamed for U.S. economic woes , the theorists opined , U.S. companies would shrink from an association with Yamaguchi . This was pure speculation , but it took on a life of its own . Yamaguchi , who had never felt the sting of discrimination , was suddenly being cited as a victim by prominent members of the Japanese-American community . " At first I thought , Oh well , I never expected to have endorsements , " says Yamaguchi . She had spent her whole life focused only on her skating . She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the money ; she frankly never had given it much thought . " But it kept coming up so often , " she says , " it began to upset me . " Post-Olympic endorsements were down for all athletes in 1992 , probably due to the sluggish economy . Still , Yamaguchi did pretty well . She signed lucrative deals with Hoechst Celanese Corporation , which makes acetate fabric for fashion designers , and DuraSoft contact lenses . She has had glamorous four-page spreads in Elle , Seventeen and Vogue , has made a TV commercial for DuraSoft and has done the national talk-show circuit . At times Yamaguchi felt her life was spinning out of her control . " I was pretty overwhelmed by the number of decisions I immediately had to make after the Olympics , " she says . " Before , there 'd been only one way : to reach my skating goals . Now there were all these different ways I could go . " Turn professional or stay amateur ? Remain near her coach , Christy Ness , in Edmonton or move back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sign this deal ? Or that one ? " Sometimes , when I was frustrated , I 'd think , Why did I have to win ? " she says . " I had one free weekend the entire summer . I thought , Is this what it 's going to be like the rest of my life ? My dream was to be in the Olympics . I never thought about afterward . " It was n't all a grind . Yamaguchi was part of the U.S. presidential delegation to Barcelona that was headed by Arnold Schwarzenegger . She flew over on Air Force One , traveled by motorcade and was accompanied by Secret Service men . She met fellow Olympian Prince Felipe of Spain . Met Magic . Danced with Spike Lee and Evander Holyfield . It was , all in all , a lot better treatment than she had gotten as a competing athlete . " My friends back home know I 've experienced a lot , but they treat me the same . " says Yamaguchi . " I 'm just an athlete . I do n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have other people fussing over your hair , pretending you 're a model for a day . I still feel I 'm the same old kid . and someone who still wants to be one . " In September , Yamaguchi decided to turn professional , which makes her ineligible to go for a third straight world championship in March . Under a new ruling that was passed by the International Skating Union this summer , however , she can apply for reinstatement as an amateur and try to qualify for a spot on the U.S. team for the 1994 Games in Lillehammer , Norway . She is n't committing on that for a while . " Any medal would have made people happy in ' 92 , " Yamaguchi says . " But in ' 94 it will be expected to be gold . I 've never had that kind of pressure on me before . " If any athlete 's head should have spun like a top following her Olympic performance , it was Shannon Miller 's . On a strong U.S. women 's gymnastics team . Miller came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ champion Kim Zmeskal . But Miller knew this was her Olympics too . " Other people may not have had high expectations for me in Barcelona , " she says , " but I had high expectations for myself . " It was the opposite situation from Ito 's . The American 's goals and expectations came from within . And Miller , a gymnastics Cinderella , met them . In the competition of her life , she outperformed every woman gymnast in the world save one , the Unified Team 's Tatyana Gutsu , and emerged as the most-decorated U.S. athlete at either of this year 's Summer or Winter Games , with two silvers and three bronze medals . What has changed in her life ? It might be easier to answer , What has n't ? Miller is a star now . During this fall 's 23-city tour by world and Olympic stars , a group that included such luminaries as Gutsu and Belorussia 's Svetlana Boginskaya , the 4 ' 8-1/2 " , 76-pound Miller received the loudest cheers . When the advance ticket sales were slow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do radio and newspaper interviews . Six months ago this slight , catlike waif could have paraded down New York 's Fifth Avenue in her leotard without drawing a second look . Then , suddenly , young men were sending her their photographs -- an envelope addressed SHANNON MILLER , OLYMPIC GYMNAST , EDMOND , OKLA. , would suffice -- or approaching her in hotel lobbies with a tentative " Are you who I think you are ? " The 15-year-old Miller puts her fan mail and gifts in boxes and files the return addresses in her home computer so she can answer her fans in due time . Quiet and unassuming , Miller smiles when asked if the sudden attention and celebrity have gone to her head . " I still go to public school , " she says . " I still work out , my coach Steve Nunno still yells at me in the gym . My brother and sister still pick on me , and I still pick on them . Many of my friends have known me since I was in the first grade , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never been accused of being big-headed . " An honors student at Edmond North Mid High , Miller last fall traveled for the first time with a tutor , so she could keep up with her 10th-grade courses : world history , algebra , biology , world literature , Spanish and computer literacy . And she 's saving money for college from the income she earned from the tour and from a Trivial Pursuit commercial she made . " I do n't have much time for homework , with all the training , but somehow I make the time , " she says . " I 've learned through gymnastics that you ca n't wait until the last minute . I do n't know if I 'd be making straight A 's if it were n't for the discipline I got from gymnastics . " When she speaks of the Olympics , Miller does n't mention her medals unless specifically asked . She likes to talk about the Village , the athletes ' beach and meeting the Dream Team . " It was everything I dreamed of and more , " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fun being there . I had n't planned to keep competing until ' 96 , but after the Olympics were over I did n't want to stop . It 's so much fun . " Miller loved all of it : the post-Olympic tour , the camaraderie , the audiences , the travel , the training . " We traveled in a huge bus that had a kitchen and two living rooms , " she says . " We were like a big family . I missed being with my own family , but I have the whole rest of my life to be with them . This is just a few weeks out of my life if you look at the big picture . " It is a big picture that will forever be colored by Barcelona . Kim Zmeskal has a standard answer when asked if she 's going to be in Atlanta in ' 96 . " I 'll be there , " she says . " In the stands . " Her situation in ' 92 was the American version of Ito 's . The reigning women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's best hope for gymnastics gold -- a Mary Lou Retton clone . Her coach , Bela Karolyi , former mentor of both Retton and Nadia Comaneci , told anyone who would listen that little Kimbo was , mentally , the athlete who was the strongest under pressure he had ever coached . And Kimbo herself ? She was convinced that the Olympics would be the best competition of her life . It was n't . Far from it . " At the Olympics , for the first time , I could feel people watching me , " she says . Like Ito , she fell on a move she could never recall even missing in practice , a cartwheel back handspring off the balance beam . Zmeskal was so surprised when she tumbled to the mat , she thought she might be dreaming . " I came off the podium thinking , That was n't the Olympics , " she says . " Because I 'd always imagined the Olympics would be the best meet of my whole life . And it was n't . I thought , The Olympics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Zmeskal knew better . Her mother , Clarice , who was sitting in the stands , would n't have been covering her eyes if the Olympics were starting tomorrow . " I was worried I 'd let everybody down , " says Zmeskal . " Bela . The team . The American people . How could I not ? The television camera was right in my face . " It was a face that showed shock , and that pained , frightened expression seldom left Zmeskal 's countenance for the rest of the competition . It was the look we had seen before , on Ito . One side effect : Without " the new Mary Lou " to write about , many American sportswriters took women 's gymnastics to task . The competitors , some argued , were too young ; they trained too hard ; they ate too little ; and they put their bodies through too much . Karolyi in particular came under fire . " It made me so mad , " says Zmeskal . " They do n't understand what we get out of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . Then when you get it , it 's the best feeling in the world . The best . We 're all in this sport because we love it . " Despite her defeat , Zmeskal 's memories of the Olympics are mostly good ones . She remembers walking into the therapy room and seeing Jennifer Capriati , a gold medal winner in tennis . Being waved onto the Dream Team bus by Larry Bird . Winning the team bronze medal . " The bronze medal was so cool , " she says . " That was the best night of the whole year . It was my best performance . " Great athletes do n't dwell on their mistakes . The media do . That 's why so many athletes shun talking to reporters after a loss . Which is not to say the mistakes are stricken from memory . " I 'm still having a hard time concentrating at school , " Zmeskal , an 11th-grader , says . " Every so often I think about what happened , how things could have been different . I wonder what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weird . So many people have said I did great at the Olympics , I almost think I did do great . It 's like they do n't know I did n't accomplish everything I wanted to this summer . I thought everyone would be more disappointed . " So life goes on . Zmeskal cut her training , from eight hours a day to two , so she could enjoy a relatively normal junior year at Westfield High School in Houston . All these years people had been telling her how much she was missing of life by training hour after hour in the gym . So this fall Zmeskal decided to find out . She took a driver 's education course and got her license . She went to some high school football games , jogged to stay in shape and braced herself for the overflow of thrilling , everyday activities that she had supposedly sacrificed for gymnastics . " After two weeks it was already boring , " she says . " I used to dream of the day when I could just flop on the living room @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ p.m . But now that I can do it , I 'm not interested . " Zmeskal is debating whether to stay in the sport another year so she can defend her world championship next April in Birmingham , England . " I 'm staying in shape so I can choose either way , " she says . " But a part of me says that maybe it 's time for me to do something else . I 'm an athletic person . I 've got to do something . " Zmeskal has thought of getting into diving , following the lead of former gymnast Phoebe Mills , who is on a diving scholarship at the University of Miami . But when her 13-year-old sister , Melissa , suggested Kim try out for the neighborhood swim team , Kim demurred . " I told her I would n't be any good at it , " she says . " My sister jumped down my throat and said , ' Is that the only reason you do anything ? Because you 're good at it ? ' I did n't even realize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Like all 16-year-olds , Zmeskal is going through a period of self-discovery . " I think I 'm going to be a very picky person , " she says . " I guess it 's because , as gymnasts , we were always worried about what other people were saying about us . We were always being judged . I find myself judging people the same way . People who do n't get good grades at school , it 's like , Well , why do n't you ? I ca n't help it . I had a B recently on an English paper . I was so used to getting A 's , I was really , really upset . My friend , who got a C , said to me , ' Are you going to cry ? Because if you 're going to cry , I 'm going to slap you . ' " So Zmeskal is learning to live with her imperfections . But -- and this is the wonderful thing about an Olympic-caliber athlete -- she has not learned to stop striving for perfection . Nor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the boxes of fan mail that clutter her family 's living room . " I 've learned you do n't have to win first place to win , " she says . " People have been so supportive , it 's almost like they feel it 's good that someone does n't always win . This has n't been bad for me at all , not winning a gold medal . It 's almost better . " <p> 
##2000174 With its gothic facade and wood-paneled interior , Duke 's Cameron Indoor Stadium looks enough like a university lecture hall that you might have thought the Michigan Wolverines had sauntered in for a class last Saturday night . Only to encounter a team of John Housemans . Without having done the reading . Mr. King , could you explain the rudiments of stopping Bobby Hurley ? Michigan guard Jimmy King had failed to stop Hurley , the Blue Devils ' point guard , twice before , first at home in Ann Arbor last Dec. 14 when Duke beat the Wolverines 88-85 and again in last April 's NCAA championship game when the Blue Devils triumphed 71-51 . Yet even after Hurley 's Most Outstanding Player performance at the Final Four , where Duke won its second straight national title , King pronounced Hurley 's play " average . " With 20 points , five assists and a single turnover in 40 minutes on Saturday , Hurley was superbly " average " once again . He handled the 79-68 victory as if it were in his pocket on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unlikely fellow who keeps posting you up ? He 's Thomas ( not to be confused with teammate Grant ) Hill , who on Saturday literally sprang for 21 points , most of them over Michigan guard Jalen Rose . Speak up , Mr. Rose ! " Hurley 's not underrated , " said Rose after the game . " How can a first-team All-America be underrated ? If you want to know who does n't get enough credit on that team , it 's Thomas Hill . " Gentlemen , quiet please . Such -- ahem -- sophomoric behavior ! If you have something to say , please share it with the rest of the class . Michigan 's Fabulous Five freshmen of a year ago are indeed sophomores now , and they have never not had something to say . As the two teams crossed paths in a tunnel at the Metrodome in Minneapolis before last spring 's NCAA championship game , a number of Wolverines taunted their counterparts from Duke with cries of " It 's payback time . " Again last week Michigan players Juwan Howard ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chris Webber ( " Jalen Rose is a better point guard than Bobby Hurley , " he said ) and Ray Jackson ( " Payback , " he said once more ) sounded the same promissory notes about a Wolverine victory . In the space of a year , however , the Blue Devils have now beaten Michigan in Ann Arbor , in Durham and on a neutral court , as well as both with Christian Laettner and without him . All this talk of " paybacks " is beginning to sound a lot like " the check 's in the mail . " Not since 1982 , when Ted Turner persuaded Georgetown and Virginia to showcase their respective stars , Patrick Ewing and Ralph Sampson , in front of his WTBS television cameras , had a regular-season game not carried by one of the major networks been quite so anticipated . But Raycom , the Charlotte-based syndicator that owned the rights to this contest , did n't feel it had gotten a strong enough bid from CBS for the game and in May decided instead to telecast it through its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arose . In September , Michigan declared Webber , Rose and reserve center Eric Riley ineligible shortly after discovering that they had accepted money for making an appearance in late August at a charity event where they judged a slam-dunk contest . It seemed possible that all three might be suspended for several games at the start of this season , including the date with Duke . That possibility spooked Raycom even more than it did Wolverine coach Steve Fisher ; some of the Raycom stations said they would carry the game only if Michigan was at full strength . As it happened , the NCAA reinstated Webber , Rose and Riley on Nov. 11 . Michigan escaped sanctions because its athletic administration had misinterpreted a vaguely worded rule and had erroneously assured the players that the payments were O.K. The NCAA 's unusually compassionate ruling -- that since the players had made restitution , they were free to play again -- meant the hype could begin again . Duke students began camping outside Cameron eight days before the game to lay claim to the approximately 2,500 standing room positions , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a campus record . ( Students were reportedly selling the rights to a spot in a tent for as much as $100 each , proving that while the greedy 1980s may be over elsewhere , they persist at Duke . ) All told , the game attracted 220 print and broadcast journalists , 50 photographers , eight NBA scouts and a Raycom network covering every media market from New York to Ottumwa , Iowa . " This game is at the magnitude of Virginia-Georgetown not because of two players , " said Blue Devil coach Mike Krzyzewski , " but because of two teams . And that 's better . " In the second half of its victory in Minneapolis , Duke had held the Wolverines to 20 points while scoring on its final dozen possessions . And even with Laettner and the redoubtable Brian Davis lost to graduation , this year 's Blue Devils still start two seniors and two juniors , which makes them a model of maturity compared to callow Michigan . " But just because you 're older does n't mean you 're better , " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good if a sophomore like David Falk wins the Heisman Trophy . " Of course Webber meant Marshall Faulk , the second-year San Diego State running back , and not Michael Jordan 's agent , David Falk -- but his Freudian slip suggests that not every one of the Wolverines ' super sophs will stay around to become a jazzy junior . The Fab Five figured to push the Blue Devils to the limit , though , even at Duke 's arena . But all of Michigan 's pregame loquacity seemed only to put more pressure on the Wolverines , while the Blue Devils were slyly deflecting it . " The one thing I like about this game is it 's the first time since when we played UNLV in ' 91 at the Final Four in Indianapolis that we 're supposed to lose , " said Grant Hill beforehand . " They have n't already beaten us twice . We 've beaten them twice . " In beating the Fab Five for the third time , the Blue Devils gave hints of how they will go about trying to win @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be no single offensive focus , no Laettner who can score both inside and out . No , this Duke team will look equally to four sources to score . It can post up such radically different inside players as the sinuous T. Hill , who stands 6 ' 5 " , or sophomore Cherokee Parks , the 6 ' 11 " son of Huntington Beach , Calif. , flower children , who 's beginning to blossom as the first classic back-to-the-basket center that Krzyzewski has had in Durham . Parks is newly confident after undergoing a sort of hazing process as Laettner 's understudy last season . His postgame comments were nearly as caustic as the Wolverines ' pregame rap : " There 's a difference between confidence and arrogance . That 's the stuff that bites you in the butt , right there . They talked a lot of trash before the game . We get to talk it after . Now they just look foolish . " The transcendently talented G. Hill shot a woeful 6 for 15 on Saturday , but he did cheer his coaches by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ characterized his game during stretches of last season . As for Hurley , well , who would have thought three years ago that he might turn out to be a better pro than his then fellow freshman Georgia Tech phenom Kenny Anderson ( now with the New Jersey Nets ) ? So long as Hurley is in the lineup to start the break and the Hills are there to finish it , Duke promises to be the best transition team south of D.C. and east of Little Rock . " It does n't come naturally to me to talk on the court , " Hurley said before the game , vowing not to get into trash-talk exchanges with Michigan . " When I have a spare moment , it 's usually to take a deep breath . " But midway through the first half , after making his second straight three-pointer , Hurley could n't help himself . " Nobody out here can check me ! " he yelled , to no one in particular . King , who was nearest to Hurley most of the evening , may or may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Crazies when , instructed by the referees and hoisted by teammates , he busily set about disentangling a loop of the net from the rim . " Basket Weaving 101 , " the Duke students chanted . The Duke players did n't have to waste their breath on trash . " This crowd , " said reserve swingman Marty Clark , " spoke for us . " Largely eclipsed in all of last week 's yapping was the relative silence between Krzyzewski and Bob Knight , the Indiana coach and Krzyzewski 's professional patron and mentor . Their estrangement has been the subject of much concerned whispering within the sport since last spring . Over the years Krzyzewski had grown weary of assumptions that he routinely reviews his game plans with the man who had coached him at Army , and last season he made a public point of saying that others have had an impact on his career too . For whatever reason , Knight chose to interpret this pronouncement as a petition for divorce . At last spring 's Final Four , where Duke and Indiana played in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Knight to Krzyzewski that essentially said that if a divorce was what Krzyzewski wanted , a divorce was what he would get . Of course Krzyzewski wanted no such thing . It was n't until the moments immediately following the Blue Devils ' 81-78 win over the Hoosiers , in the aftermath of Knight 's well-publicized postgame brush-off of Krzyzewski , that Coach K finally read the letter . Its contents so undid him that he was unable to join his players at the press conference until he had a chance to compose himself . Then in late October , just before a coaches ' seminar in Greensboro , N.C. , Knight squeezed in a little golf with his new good buddy , North Carolina coach Dean Smith . He took in the Tar Heels ' football game against Georgia Tech from Smith 's private box . The coaching fraternity was soon abuzz . In an interview with ESPN 's Dick Schaap on Nov. 30 , Krzyzewski adroitly dodged a question about the matter . Last weekend he said , " My relationship with Coach Knight is like my relationship with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relationship with my wife . " But to get a fix on how Krzyzewski must feel watching Knight -- the man who had succored Krzyzewski through the death of his father back in 1969 -- pal around with the coach of one of Duke 's strongest challengers for this season 's ACC title , imagine how Knight would feel if Krzyzewski , passing through Bloomington , paid a courtesy call at , say , the Puerto Rican consul . Longtime Knight watchers figure this is just a mind game , probably cadged from Knight 's basic text , Sun-tzu 's The Art of War , and calculated to throw Krzyzewski off balance . Of course , being on the business end of a Knight psych job is a sort of compliment , and Krzyzewski certainly deserves kudos for being the only former Knight assistant to beat his old boss . Besides , is any program riding any higher than Duke 's right now ? The Blue Devils ' recruiting is always in order at least a year in advance . ( Joey Beard and Greg Newton , both 6 ' 10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already committed to Duke for next season . ) When the Blue Devils opened their season last week with a 110-62 victory over Canisius , each Golden Griffin starter made a detour to the Duke bench to shake Krzyzewski 's hand during the player introductions . Ted Koppel , Tom Brokaw , Calvin Hill , Doug Collins , Bobby Orr and Roger Staubach were among those in the overflow crowd on hand to watch Duke 's preseason scrimmage on Nov. 7 . ( Even if it was Parents ' Weekend and all of the aforementioned except Staubach have offspring at the school , that 's still pretty impressive . ) Loosen up , Coach K ; you 're looking awfully ... Wooden over there on the sideline . Like the Wizard of Westwood , Krzyzewski has become adept at coping with the drumbeat of questions about the pressure of repeating . All last season he emphasized that the Devils were n't defending a title already won but pursuing another . Now he just makes light of the question when it comes up . " I want to be sure I do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . " So how about this : I 'm scared . We 're never going to be able to handle the pressure . " In fact , he sincerely believes that there is no pressure , because his team is entirely reborn now that Laettner and Davis are gone . " Last year I scheduled us to lose in February in part , by arranging tough nonleague road games against LSU and UCLA , because I thought we might need a punch in the face before the tournament , " he says . " But to schedule like that you need unbelievable confidence in your players . This year 's team , I do n't know . There are too many new guys . " True to his West Point roots , he likens the coming season to a series of World War II campaigns . " I 've got four guys who 've been through Africa and Sicily and Italy , " he says . " But we 've got other guys who just hooked on as we crossed the border for the final assault . It 's an old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the gap will determine how good we 'll be . Do our old guys bring the new guys up to their level ? Or do the new guys bring our old guys down to that level where you 're more prone to make mistakes ? " The early indications are promising . And for Michigan , despite a surfeit of talking it -- and a conspicuous deficit of walking it -- Webber and Rose accepted losing to Duke with more grace than they had last spring . " All I said was I thought Jalen was the best point guard , " said Webber . " If you see Hurley , tell him it was just propaganda to make Jalen play better . Bobby 's a great point guard , but I believe in J. " And he added , " I like their crowd , to tell you the truth . They 're good , and they 'll tell you about it . They remind me a little bit of us . " Someone suggested to Hurley that the Wolverines , as they winged their way home , might peddle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that goes , Yeah , we may have lost , but we 're still the better players . " Are you kidding ? " Hurley said . " Sure they 'll think that , with their confidence . " Then he broke into a smile -- a winner 's smile -- at the notion . Hurley could afford to grin , for he had paid up . Talk , on the other hand , is cheap -- but even so , the tab the Wolverines are running is getting a mite expensive . <p> 
##2000175 Tuesday , June 9 , 1987 . Steamy , sultry , creaking , clamorous Boston Garden . Game 4 , NBA Finals . It is Year 26 of the great Boston Celtic-Los Angeles Laker rivalry . Woven into the tapestry of the confrontation between the teams is the thread of a long-running duel between two individuals , for this is also Year 9 of the Bird and Magic Show . Larry Bird , 6 ' 9 " , undeniably white . Earvin ( Magic ) Johnson , 6 ' 9 " , undeniably black . Does this matter ? Hell , yes . It is part of the fun . " It 's hard to look at a white man and see black , " Magic will say later , " but when I looked at Larry , that 's what I saw . I saw myself . " And what was it that Laker center Mychal Thompson said ? " Magic and Larry are the co-kings of this league . You might say they 're the salt and pepper of this league , because they spice it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ game . The Lakers lead the series two games to one . They have come from 16 points behind with 17 minutes to play and lead by one , 104-103 , with 29 seconds remaining . The Celtics have the ball . Bird is about to spice up this game . The ball goes from Dennis Johnson to Robert Parish to Danny Ainge and , finally , to Bird , who is stationed in the deep left corner . No sooner does the ball touch his hands than it is launched skyward . Swish . Three-pointer . Celtics lead 106-104 . " You 've got balls , taking that shot , " says Earl Strom , the referee who has seen it all and seen them all . " There are a lot of players in this league who play the game , but only a few who play in the final six minutes , " says Magic . " It 's a different game then . Shots that guys will take in the rest of the game , they wo n't take here . Only a few will . Larry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the buzzer . Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is fouled . He makes the first free throw , but when he misses the second , neither Parish nor Kevin McHale can control what might be the game-clinching rebound for Boston . The ball goes out of bounds . Los Angeles is alive with seven seconds left . It is Magic Johnson 's turn to spice up the game . Taking a pass , Magic drives from left to right across the lane , and now he is in the air 15 feet from the basket , where he is confronted by the Celtics ' hallowed Big Three -- Bird , McHale and Parish . He launches a 1955-style hook shot out of the Bob Houbregs playbook . The ball flies true and sweet and directly into the hole . Lakers lead 107-106 . But there are two seconds to play . After a timeout Boston inbounds the ball from near half court . Bird gets it in almost exactly the same spot as he did during the Celtics ' previous possession . The crowd roars . Bird cocks and fires . " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , " Bird will say later . " But I was sure it was on target . It was either short , long or in the hole . " It is ... a bit long . Lakers -- and Magic -- win . " The thing between us was that neither team could ever relax , " says Magic today . " You never felt the game was over . That night was a great example . Even after Larry missed , we were afraid to move . It was like ... we won ? With individuals like us , and with two cities going crazy -- not just two cities , but the world -- there will never be another rivalry like it again . " From Dec. 28 , 1979 , to Feb. 16 , 1992 , the Lakers and the Celtics played 45 games : 26 in the regular season and 19 in the playoffs . There were five games in which Bird played but Magic did n't , including one last season after Magic retired upon discovering that he was HIV-positive . There were two in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there was one game -- Feb. 19 , 1989 -- that was Magic-less and Bird-less , as will be all future Boston-Los Angeles games , both men having firmly called it quits before this season began . In the other 37 games -- 31 of which I was privileged to witness -- the Lakers beat the Celtics 22 times . The teams met three times for the NBA championship , and L.A. won twice . And so the ultimate bragging rights fall to Magic . Says Bird , " I can still see him in my head , coming up court , faking right , faking left , then pulling it back and laying it in . Still pisses me off . " Magic and Bird met in the summer of 1978 as teammates on a college all-star team that toured Europe . Each saw something of himself in the other , and the reason was simple : Passing was an obsession for them both . In March ' 79 they were thrown together again , in the most anticipated NCAA championship game ever , Michigan State and Magic versus Indiana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ basketball players in the country , though neither was very fast nor much of a leaper . Each was his team 's best thinker and source of inspiration , but there the similarities ended . Magic , from the big school famous for its sports teams , was outgoing and perpetually smiling , the media 's darling . Bird , from the little school with no reputation for athletics , was introverted and suspicious of the press . Magic seemed to be everybody 's friend ; Bird picked his friends carefully . Bird offered this pregame assessment : " Passing means so much in basketball . The way I look at it , I 'm a scorer and Johnson 's a passer . " Magic was more expansive : " I 'm a fan of Larry Bird 's , and I love to look at what he can do with the ball . Only thing is , I just ca n't get caught looking at him tonight . " With Magic being Magic and with the Spartans ' 2-3 zone harassing Bird into 7-for-21 shooting , Michigan State dominated the game @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ " I thought we 'd win , because we had n't lost all year , " Bird says now , " but after about 35 minutes I knew they had the better team . I 've never looked back on that game . The best team won . " The contest got the highest television ratings of any NCAA championship game -- before or after . With that as a backdrop , Magic took his act to Los Angeles and Bird went to Boston . In the pros theirs became a bicoastal rivalry , even a cultural rivalry . Magic became the embodiment of Showtime with his behind-the-back wizardry , his look-away passes and his million-dollar smile . In L.A. he was the right man in the right place at the right time . Bird became the favorite of knowledgeable Celtic fans mostly because of the effort he expended . Bostonians applauded him as much for diving to the floor as for dropping in three-pointers or throwing no-look passes . There was always the notion that he could have moonlighted as a middle linebacker . The two first met as professionals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 28 , 1979 . Each had already transformed his team . In their previous season the Celtics had won only 29 games , but by the time they arrived in L.A. with Bird , they 'd already won 28 . The Lakers , who had finished third in the Pacific Division the previous season , were only a game out of first with a 26-13 record . The Forum had been sold out for weeks . Each team had already filled arenas -- Boston , the San Diego Sports Arena ; L.A. , the Salt Palace , in Salt Lake City -- that were not ordinarily teeming with humanity . The Lakers won 123-105 , with Magic ( 23 points , eight rebounds , six assists ) prevailing in the statistical battle against Bird ( 16 , three , three ) . Not that they were one-on-one rivals -- then or ever . They were never directly matched up . Bird was a forward . Magic was a guard . They might occasionally meet as the result of a defensive switch , or cross paths if one of them was back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each other . " About the only time we talked on the floor was on a switch , " Bird says . " He 'd be on me , and I 'd say , ' Hey , I got a little one . ' " " Always , " confirms Magic . " He 'd say , ' Bring it here . I 've got this little one on me . ' " This was not Russell versus Chamberlain , a nose-to-nose , navel-to-navel war . Bird and Magic 's battle instead took on a can-you-top-this flavor . " He got me real good one time , " Magic says with a laugh . " I was back on a fast break , and somebody kicked the ball out to him , so I had to run to get Larry on the wing . Larry says , ' What are you running out here for ? You know it 's too late . ' And he buries it in my face . " During their first three seasons as pros , the rivalry was , in fact , a disappointment , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and later a sprained ankle kept him on the sidelines for three of his first five games against the Celtics , and he was a shell of himself in another , during which he limped around for 20 minutes . So it was that Magic was a spectator on Feb. 11 , 1981 , when Bird put on one of the best performances in Forum history . The Celtics looked like no-hopers before the game . They had lost in overtime the night before in Seattle and were delayed getting to L.A. , arriving at their hotel only five hours before tip-off . Moreover , Boston playmaker Tiny Archibald was out with a leg injury . Magic or no Magic , this one looked like a Laker lock . But Bird did n't think so . Says Magic , " Before the game Larry came over to me and said , ' Earvin ' -- he never calls me Magic -- ' sit back and enjoy the show . ' " Bird was transcendent . He had 36 points , 21 rebounds , five steals and three blocks . He made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fast breaks . And when it was over , Jerry West walked into the Celtic locker room and said admiringly , " Bird was always two thoughts ahead of everyone else . " At the beginning the rivalry between Bird and Magic was somewhat obscured by the fact that there was already a longstanding Boston-L.A. rivalry , going back to the days of Russell and Baylor , Havlicek and West . And there were other marquee players on the floor : Abdul-Jabbar , McHale , Parish , Jamaal Wilkes . There was also the Lakers ' Michael Cooper , a player Bird respected second only to Magic . " No one guarded me better than Michael Cooper , " he says . The Lakers won the NBA championship in 1980 . Then the Celtics won it by defeating the Houston Rockets in the Finals in ' 81 . L.A. won again in ' 82 and lost in the Finals to the Philadelphia 76ers in ' 83 . So it was n't until ' 84 , Bird and Magic 's fifth season in the league , that the Celtic-Laker rivalry returned to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occurred one year into the commissionership of David Stern , and it was a marketing dream for a league on the rise . " When you have the Number 1 and 2 teams meeting in a championship , that 's terrific , " said Stern . " And when you have the tradition of Boston and L.A. and the great stars these two teams have , it 's almost more than we should be permitted to hope for . " Laker coach Pat Riley had often dismissed regular-season games as " meaningless " because their outcomes so often turned on the vagaries of schedule , travel and injuries . True enough , but Celtic and Laker players and coaches acknowledged that each working day they checked out how the rival on the other coast had done the night before . " I only meant that nothing happening between us in the regular season affected the playoffs , " says Riley . " Believe me , I would grab the paper in the morning and see how they did . I 'd say , ' Ah , Indiana got ' em last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come out each year , " says Magic , " I 'd grab it and circle the Boston games . To me it was The Two and the other 80 . During the season I 'd check out Larry 's line first thing . If he had a triple double , I knew what I 'd want that night . But what would get me would be his big ones -- say , when he had 20 rebounds . I 'd say , ' I 'd better get me 20 assists tonight . ' " " The first thing I would do every morning during the season , " Bird says , " was look at the box scores to see what Magic did . I did n't care about anything else . " In the 1984 NBA Finals , Bird checked out Magic up close for seven exhilarating afternoons and nights in what would be one of Bird 's sweetest triumphs . What a strange and wonderful series it was . The Lakers won the opener 115-109 at Boston Garden , and Bird was a shaken man when the game @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I 've seen since I 've been in the league , " he said . " We 're a good running team , but we 're not as good as they are . " L.A. should have won Game 2 . The Lakers were leading by two points late in the fourth quarter when Celtic Gerald Henderson stole an errant pass by L.A. 's James Worthy and scored to tie the game . Magic inexplicably dribbled out the last eight seconds of regulation time , and Boston prevailed 124-121 in overtime . In Game 3 , at the Forum , the Lakers destroyed the Celtics 137-104 , with Magic getting 21 assists , and set off an explosion in Bird 's head . " We played like sissies , " he fumed . Asked what was needed to change things , Bird said , " Twelve heart transplants . " Bird did the surgery for Game 4 , which remains one of his favorites . Trailing by five with less than a minute to go in regulation , Boston forced the game into overtime , aided by a stolen Magic pass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tied at 123 in OT , Bird posted up Cooper . " I turned to shoot and Cooper fell down , " Bird recalls . " Then Magic came running at me , and I said to myself , ' Oh , -- . ' " Bird put a little extra arc on his shot , and the ball swished cleanly for the game-winner to tie the series . Basketball was never meant to be played in 97 deg heat , but that was the temperature in the un-air-conditioned Garden when the series shifted back to Boston on the night of June 8 . The atmosphere was so stifling that the Lakers brought their own supply of oxygen . Referee Hugh Evans left the game at the half , suffering from dehydration . Forward M.L. Carr cooled his Celtic teammates with a small battery-operated fan . " It was the most bizarre game of my career , " says Riley . " Surreal . If I ever felt like I was in hell , that was it . " But Bird thought the conditions were ideal . " Hell , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used to play in conditions like that back home all summer . The heat just loosened me up . " Bird loosened up for 34 points and 17 rebounds as Boston won 121-103 . The Lakers tied the series at home in Game 6 . And so , in the last 2-2-1-1-1 series format in NBA history , everyone packed up and flew 3,000 miles back to Boston for Game 7 . " It was the strangest pregame I ever remember , " says Bird . " M.L. Carr was walking around with goggles on . Danny Ainge had a stethoscope . He walked up to each of us to see if we had a heart . Cedric Maxwell just said , ' Jump on my back , boys . It 's my turn . ' We were so loose . I think if we had lost , Red ( Auerbach ) would have killed us . " Maxwell delivered on his promise , scoring 24 points and stealing the headlines as Boston won 111-102 . Bird and Magic were now tied in head-to-head championship confrontations . They would never be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was assuming more and more of the offensive burden for the Lakers . In 1984-85 he scored 37 points to outdo Bird 's 33 as the Lakers won the second L.A.-Boston meeting of the season 117-111 . That was a prelude to the Finals rematch in the spring . The Celtics won the first game of that series 148-114 , but the humbled Lakers rallied around their captain , Abdul-Jabbar , to win Game 2 , in Boston . After the teams split Games 3 and 4 , Kareem had 36 points and Magic contributed 26 points and 17 assists as L.A. took control of the playoffs with a 120-111 victory at the Forum . The Lakers regained the championship in Boston , beating the Celtics 111-100 with series MVP Abdul-Jabbar scoring 29 and Magic turning in a triple double of 14 points , 10 rebounds and 14 assists . The next season was a triumph for Bird and a frustration for Magic . Boston had 67 regular-season victories and then won the championship by defeating Houston in six games . Bird was now even with Magic where it counted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years in the league . The Lakers had been upset by the Rockets in the Western Conference finals , and Riley speculated aloud that perhaps Los Angeles fans should start lowering their sights . That judgment turned out to be premature , for the 1986-87 Lakers turned out to be one of the best teams of all time . Magic , unquestionably the league 's best player , won the first of his three MVP awards . " For overall contributions , nobody else was close , " said Bird . He would know ; he had three regular-season MVP titles of his own . Among Magic 's sweet triumphs in the 1986-87 season was the victory that snapped a 38-game Celtic winning streak at Boston Garden . Even more spectacular was a February meeting between the two teams in Los Angeles . Entering the game , the Celtics and the Lakers had identical records ( 37-12 ) . L.A. rallied from a 17-point third-quarter deficit behind Magic 's heroics ( 39 points , seven rebounds and 10 assists ) to sweep the season series . " I do n't remember @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I remember that one . I can still see Magic coming out of a spin for a key three-point play and then running by our bench with a big grin . " The Lakers were prohibitive favorites in the 1987 Finals , both because they were so good and because the Celtics were plagued by injuries and lacked depth . And , indeed , it turned out to be a Magic show from start to finish . He began with 29 points and 13 assists in L.A. 's opening-game victory and followed that with 22 points and 20 assists as the Lakers went up 2-0 . He added 32 points in Game 3 , even though the Celtics pulled out a victory . Then came that epic fourth game . The hook shot that won the game was Magic 's newest trick . He had been working on it with Abdul-Jabbar and called it his " junior , junior skyhook . " One of the hallmarks of the Magic-Bird rivalry was the way each expanded his game over the years . Magic added a hook and lengthened the range on his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ players not to shoot a jumper -- to three-point land . Bird became a far better post-up player and perfected his lefthand dribble . The college performances of Magic and Bird that had seemed so extraordinary were almost primitive by comparison . Boston , playing on pride , salvaged the fifth game and sent the teams back to L.A. , where Magic capped off his year with 16 points and 19 assists as the Lakers won the title in six games . " He 's the best player in the game , " said Riley , and no one could argue , least of all Bird , the New England regional president of the Magic Johnson Fan Club . " Magic plays basketball the way you should play the game , " he said . " He 's the greatest all-around team player in basketball . " The two would never meet at the summit again . L.A. successfully defended its title in 1988 against the Detroit Pistons , while Boston began a slow decline . But there was one more dazzling duel . In Boston Garden on Dec. 12 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eight rebounds and nine assists , and led the Celtics to a 114-113 edge with two seconds left . That was just enough time for Magic to take an inbounds pass and sink an off-the-wrong-foot , 22-foot banker to win the game . " I must say , they gave him the right nickname , " said Abdul-Jabbar . For the rivalry , though , that was the beginning of the end . A series of injuries began to rob Bird of his greatness . He missed virtually all of 1988-89 while recuperating from heel surgery , and he tasted only one more victory in direct competition with Magic . On Feb. 15 , 1991 , Bird put together a modest triple double ( 11-11-11 ) in the Forum as the Celtics beat the Lakers 98-85 . The next time the two would be on the playing floor together would be as 1992 Olympic teammates . " People who saw our games against each other saw some of the best basketball ever played , " Magic says . " That 's why the Olympics meant so much to me . I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to happen meant more to me than anything else I 've ever done . " Their spiritual bond had become unbreakable . Each could do things only the other could truly appreciate . " It 's what Michael Jordan is missing now , " Magic says . " He knows he has no one to measure himself against . Larry and I always had each other . Athletes live to get so up that they ca n't sleep for two or three days before a competition . Nobody did that to me except Larry Bird . The only time in my life I 've ever been scared about a game was the NCAA final and those Celtic games . After God and my father , I respect Larry Bird more than anyone . " Bird says , " I have always looked up to him because he knows how to win . I 've always put him a step ahead of me . But we think the same way about basketball . " " Maybe it 's appropriate that they go out together after all , " says Riley . " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were just smarter than the other players in the league . Spiritually . Mentally . I think of four words to describe them : Respect . Dignity . Integrity . Trust . That 's over and above the skills . " Those skills are preserved on videotape for all time . Bird with an arcing step-back jumper a foot behind the three-point line . Magic driving the lane and leaving a perfect drop pass for Abdul-Jabbar . Bird , in the air for a jumper , suddenly snapping off a bullet past one defender 's ear and another 's flailing hand and hitting McHale underneath the basket for an easy two . Magic snatching a rebound in traffic and going coast to coast , splitting the final two defenders as only he could . They were the only members of an exclusive fraternity . " We were n't about stats , " says Magic . " We were about winning . " <p> 
##2000177 America 's most renowned single-handed offshore sailor , Michael Plant of Jamestown , R.I. , had been lost at sea for 32 days when his 60-foot racing yacht , Coyote , was spotted on Sunday morning -- the day that Plant had originally intended to begin a nonstop race around the world . The sighting was made by a Greek-owned tanker , Protank Orinoco , 460 nautical miles north of the Azores , four days after the U.S. Coast Guard had suspended an air search for Plant that had covered some 200,000 square miles . It was one of the broadest rescue missions ever in the North Atlantic . With each passing day the likelihood of finding Plant alive diminished . When it was spotted , Coyote was capsized , drifting upside down in eight-foot seas . There was no sign of Plant . Coyote 's mast , plunging 85 feet into the cold waters , was still rigged with sails . The boat 's hull was still intact ; its twin rudders , apparently , were operational . The carbon-fiber keel was there . But the 8,400-pound @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the keel was useless for keeping the boat upright in a strong wind . Coyote , without the weight of the keel bulb , was unable to right itself once it overturned ; it became a death trap . In plain language , the boat broke . The fate of Plant , whose 42nd birthday was last Saturday , was still undetermined as SI went to press Monday night . It is possible no one will ever know . Was he still on board ? Had he holed up in one of Coyote 's five watertight compartments , in total darkness , somehow staying alive for as long as four weeks by using the boat 's hand-held watermaker that turns seawater into freshwater ? Was he adrift at sea somewhere in a life raft ? Had he been lost forever at sea when the Coyote capsized ? Coast Guard efforts to reach the overturned vessel were impeded by the remote location in which it was found and by heavy seas and low cloud cover . But Plant 's family has remained hopeful . " Knowing Michael and the way he 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tom , from his home in Gaithersburg , Md. , " we believe he could still be in the boat and have found an air pocket . He would still have food on board , and he could have poked a hole in the hull . " But the U.S. Coast Guard was not so optimistic . " If he 's aboard the vessel , we 're of the opinion he 's no longer alive , " said Coast Guard Petty Officer Matt Giltner , who was helping to coordinate the search . " We 're looking for a life raft . " Plant had sailed around the world alone three times , so it was with no special concern that he left New York Harbor on Oct. 16 bound for Les Sables d'Olonne , France . That was the starting point of the Vendee Globe Challenge , a nonstop single-handed round-the-world race , in which Plant was expected to be the only American among the 18 entrants . He had sailed in the race before . In 1989-90 he completed the 24,000-mile route in 134 days , and this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off that American record . Top Gun is what the French call Plant , because of his passion for sailing in wild winds and heavy seas . The registration deadline for the 1992 Vendee was midnight , Oct. 30 , in Les Sables d'Olonne , meaning Plant had left himself two weeks to get there from New York , a very fast crossing . It would give him a chance to test the new $650,000 boat , with its lightweight fiberglass-coated foam-core hull , on the open seas under racing conditions . Built by Concordia Custom Yachts , Inc. , in South Dartmouth , Mass. , Coyote had n't been launched until Sept. 10 , six months behind Plant 's original schedule . " It was a brand-new boat , untested , " Tom Plant said , before the capsized yacht was found . " It needed more sea trial . Michael had been harried the last several weeks . He had to put the boat in the water , do a practice run on it from Newport , R.I. , to Norfolk , Va. and do the whole campaign himself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ biggest problem was he did n't have any money , " said Dan Neri , president of Shore Sails , Inc. , in Portsmouth , R.I. , a friend of Plant 's whose firm made the sails for Coyote . " Mike spent the last two weeks running around looking for sponsors . He had about six billion details left to do . Every boat keeps a list of things to buy and do before it leaves port . I asked him how he was doing on the list . He told me , ' It 's so long now , I 've lost the beginning of it . ' When you sail around the world three times by yourself , maybe you treat things a little more lightly than you or I would . To him , sailing across the Atlantic was just a delivery . " But Plant had reason to be apprehensive about the seaworthiness of his boat . Just 2-1/2 weeks before leaving New York , he had pulled the mast out of Coyote in order to have it reinforced ; a day sail off Newport in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mast 's sections . " Mike did say he was concerned he had n't gotten to know the boat , " said a friend , David Stevens , a writer who is working on a book about Plant . " He knew better than anyone the ocean 's power . He was not an arrogant sailor . " By all accounts Coyote , which was designed by Newport naval architect Rodger Martin , was scintillatingly fast , able to reach a speed of 25 knots . It had a plumb bow , a broad , 19-foot beam and 50% more sail area -- 4,700 square feet downwind -- than Plant 's previous round-the-world boat , Duracell . Yet at 21,500 pounds , it was lighter than Duracell by 5,000 pounds , a differential that Plant estimated would enable Coyote to go 12% faster . " Every time I was out on that boat , at some point everyone would just start laughing , " said Neri . " It was that fast . It was a radical design , by far the fastest 60-foot monohull ever launched in this country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the race . " Plant had never won a round-the-world single-handed race . He had finished first in the 1986-87 BOC Challenge in Class II ( boats 40-50 feet in length ) , sailing Airco Distributor , a yacht he had built in his own backyard . And he was fourth in Class I in the ' 90-91 BOC race in Duracell . He had proved he had the savvy and endurance to circumnavigate the globe single-handed . In Coyote , Plant wanted to prove he had the stuff to outsail the heavily funded French . Soon after he left New York Harbor , however , Coyote apparently began giving Plant trouble . He lost all electrical power on or about Oct. 19 , his fourth day at sea . This is surmised because Plant made a series of phone calls from the boat on Sunday , Oct. 18 , and made no mention of a loss of power . " He left several messages on my answering machine , " Stevens said , " and in one of them he said he was having some trouble steering the boat in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nose , and he described it as ' god-awful . ' I think he used the word laboring . " No one heard from Plant again until Oct. 21 , when he raised a passing freighter , SKS Trader , via his battery-operated 12-volt VHF radio , which has a range of about 14 miles . Plant was almost one third of the way across the Atlantic , 940 miles from New York , 360 miles due south of St. John 's , Newfoundland , and some 1,300 miles from the spot where Coyote was eventually found . " I have no power , but I 'm working on the problem , " Plant told the freighter 's Russian captain , who spoke passable English . Plant did not ask the captain for a weather report or the position of any vessels that lay ahead . He ended the transmission with this request : " Tell Helen not to worry . " Helen Davis , 43 , is Plant 's fiancee . That was the last direct communication anyone had with Plant . Sailing the Coyote without electrical power would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be in constant danger at night of being hit by a tanker . To avert such a disaster , he would have had to stay awake all night and take catnaps during the day . Without weather reports Plant was prey to the terrible whims of nature , and October is hurricane season in the North Atlantic . Without a functioning autopilot , it would be next to impossible for him to sail the boat while sleeping . Coyote was too fast to just lash down the wheel and go below to rest . But Plant was resourceful . He had sailed through hurricanes before . He had survived capsizing in 45-foot seas in the Indian Ocean during the 1986-87 BOC , when the Airco Distributor was able to right itself . He had repaired a broken mast , fixed a busted generator , repaired a hole in his hull after a collision with another vessel off Cape Town during the ' 90-91 BOC . And he had had numerous close calls with icebergs . Plant had practiced wilderness survival skills since he was 14 , when he was part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became an Outward Bound instructor . Having grown up in the affluent Minneapolis suburb of Wayzata , Plant had learned to sail small boats on Lake Minnetonka and later captained larger vessels while delivering yachts in the Great Lakes , the Caribbean and the Mediterranean . He was always independent and self-reliant . After dropping out of Colorado Mountain College , Plant had hiked alone through South America , trekking for nine months between Colombia and Patagonia . He loved adventure as much as sailing . As recently as last summer he was making plans to climb Alaska 's Mount McKinley with Stevens . " I 'm not quite sure where his adventurer 's blood came from , " his mother , Mary Plant , said from her home in Wayzata . " Ancestral genes , I guess . " Plant was working as a house builder in Newport in 1983 when he saw a film on a round-the-world race that introduced him to what would become his life 's work . " I walked out of the theater , " he once explained , " and it was like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looked back . " He enjoyed the solitude of single-handed ocean racing . " He hated having people on his boat , " recalled Neri . " At first when we did n't hear from him , I told Helen , ' That 's probably the good news . It means he 's back in his racing mode . ' " It was n't until Plant was a week overdue at Les Sables d'Olonne that his friends really began to worry . On Nov. 6 the U.S. Coast Guard put out an alert asking vessels in the Atlantic to keep a lookout for Coyote . No sightings were reported . If Plant were truly in trouble , his friends knew , he would have activated his battery-powered Raytheon 406 Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon ( EPIRB ) , a device which , once every 50 seconds , transmits a coded signal to a network of satellites . A ground station then picks up the satellite signal and relays the information to the nearest control center , in this case to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) in Suitland , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ determine two things : the identity of the vessel that sent the distress signal and the exact location of the vessel , provided the satellite has received at least four transmission bursts . NOAA then notifies the U.S. Coast Guard , and a search and rescue mission can be deployed . But the Coast Guard received no such notification from NOAA , nor was it notified of an unidentified distress signal from a 406 EPIRB . In Plant 's haste to depart , his friends discovered , he had neglected to register his EPIRB with NOAA . It may have cost him his life . On Nov. 11 , Stevens was finally able to track down Plant 's EPIRB identification number from the beacon 's manufacturer . Armed with this new information , both NOAA and Canadian Coast Guard officials ran the number through their tracking computers . What they found made Stevens 's heart sink . Seventeen days earlier , on the night of Oct. 27 , Plant 's EPIRB had sent out a brief distress signal -- three weak transmission bursts -- that had been picked up in Goose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were found by NOAA when they reviewed their satellite data . Nothing more was heard from Plant 's EPIRB . Because the transmission was so brief , and because the EPIRB number was n't registered , both American and Canadian control centers failed to respond to the distress signal . " The family feels , " said Tom Plant , " that for NOAA to receive a 406-type EPIRB , which carries an ID number , and then to drop it without making any attempt to contact anyone is unacceptable . " The question remained , however : Why had Coyote 's EPIRB gone dead ? The most likely alternatives were these : Plant had shut it off manually ; the device had malfunctioned ; or the EPIRB , and the boat , had sunk . Stevens analyzed : " A very short signal from a brand-new Raytheon EPIRB in the middle of the night -- that 's the signal from a run-over vessel . " But there were other possibilities , equally ominous . Tropical storm Frances may have been in Plant 's general vicinity the night of Oct. 27 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gale . The boat might have hit a submerged object and capsized . It could have been dismasted , and the broken mast , caught in a network of rigging , slammed like a battering ram against the hull by the raging sea . Using the three bursts received by the Goose Bay ground station to fix the location , Canada 's control center estimated that the EPIRB had been activated some 300 miles due south of Plant 's last known location , a site that made little sense to anyone -- unless Plant had aborted his crossing and had decided to sail for Bermuda . Still , that was where the air search began Nov. 13 . Four C-130 aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard , two P-3 aircraft from the U.S. Navy , plus two Canadian C-130s searched the Atlantic for six days , eventually expanding the hunt to include a site 500 miles north of the Azores in the hopes that Plant was proceeding toward France under jury rig . The search was suspended the evening of Nov. 18 . Three days later , working with data provided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Mass. , Plant 's family convinced the Coast Guard that their fix on the location had been erroneous and that they were searching in the wrong place . On Nov. 20 the order was made to resume the search , weather permitting , in a location northeast of the Azores . " We know Michael 's out there , " said Tom Plant . " We 're tremendously hopeful . If I were to select anyone to get through this , it would be him . But what are the chances of no one seeing him ? I just do n't know . That 's what 's so frustrating . " When the boat was found on Sunday , capsized , it became clear why no one had spotted Coyote for almost a month . Overturned , the hull 's black bottom and keel blended perfectly with the waters of the North Atlantic , making it extraordinarily difficult to spot from the air . " Finding the boat has answered some questions , and has given us a whole new set of questions to puzzle over , " said Darryl @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who as of Monday was still waiting in Les Sables d'Olonne . " Nobody here has lost any hope . " <p> 
##2000655 All pheasant hunters have felt the frustration of pursuing a bird that refuses to fly . But here are some tricks you can use to launch these gaudy gamebirds -- without having to deploy an army of hunters . I 'd barely walked into one end of the cover when I saw them . The three cock pheasants had already stepped from the other side of the draw . They paced about for a while , heads upright and tails held arrogantly at half-mast . Rather than duck back into the shelter of the brush-choked drainage , the trio did what pheasants do best -- they ran . With heads and tails clamped close to the ground , they crossed a two-track farm trail , looking like feathered armadillos as they entered a long strip of prairie grass . As it often does when I see running ringnecks , my mind turned to the Texan . I met the man and hunted with his " pointas " on the second day of his first pheasant hunt . Born and raised with the gentlemanly patience of bobwhite quail , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pheasants . " These damn birds wo n't give my dogs a chance , " he half-screamed , the veins rising in his face like pipelines across the tundra . " How in the hell are you supposed to hunt birds that do n't play fair -- they , they , they , RUN ! " Anyone who was raised in pheasant country can tell you pheasants are born to run . We see them running just days from the egg , fist-sized fuzzballs sprinting over and around dirt clods and grass clumps . And anyone who has sunk his teeth into the tendon and gristle-filled leg of a cooked autumn rooster knows that the bird 's running is a trait that intensifies with age . At one time or another , running pheasants have frustrated all who have hunted them . Many hunters head home in defeat . Others , those who are consistently successful , play the game by the ringneck 's rules -- with deception and ingenuity . I and my hunting companions , renowned gun-fitter Michael Murphy and Chris Dorsey , author of Pheasant Days , moved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coursings of the pair of retrievers that quartered in front of us . Talk was nonexistent . A maze of fresh pheasant tracks in the snow told the story well enough . Birds were running in the bluestem , buffalo and switch grasses , somewhere between us and the two orange specks that stood as blockers at the end of the field . Things began to happen when we were close enough to make out the faces of our blockers . The first rooster to flush tried to fly between the two , and one of the hunters , I 'm not sure which , cleanly folded the bird . Sensing the trap , several cockbirds wisely made side exits out of range of the walkers and blockers . Most of the birds , however , turned from runners to sitters , and the real excitement began . Scent filling their noses , the two retrievers thrashed their tails wildly as they plunged into the last 25 yards of cover . One second the sky was empty . The next it was full of pheasants . I responded with my usual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then rebounding to drop a crossing rooster . Turning , I got to see how it should be done when Dorsey dropped a clean double . The other three shooters had connected also . As my golden retriever , Mysti , and Murphy 's Lab , Tasha , gleaned the area for the half-dozen downed birds and any late risers , I scanned the cover we 'd walked . Some of the pheasants had trotted a quarter-mile before falling into a perfect trap . But such setups do n't just happen . Those who successfully hunt pheasants , whether a red fox using its quickness or a sportsman with his shotgun , rely heavily on stealth and surprise . Over the years I 've watched thousands of pheasants flush from the middle of cover because they 've seen or heard the blockers moving into position . But the pheasants in the prairie grass patch on this Kansas hunt had no such warning . The blockers had circled widely , and had come in quietly and out of sight . Had they the opportunity , the blockers would have used natural cover @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or a bush to break their outline while they waited . Because the ground was flat and covered with nothing but a waist-high carpet of grass , they stood statue-still and silent where the cover met a mowed path . Sometimes , however , the very end of the field is n't the best place to post a blocker . Pheasants will quite often flush where a cover makes a change in direction . For example , one of my favorite opening-day coverts is a meandering creek bottom . My hunting partner Mark Grinter learned long ago that the birds would streak along just inside the cover then flush at the corners where the covert made a bend . Through the years , he 's taken many limits by sneaking into position at such curves . Walkers need to show similar fore-thought and determination . The quickest way to ruin a good pheasant drive is to flush the birds out of range . In the best of situations , the walkers should enter a cover unseen and should work it with a minimum of noise . Loud talking or unnecessary shots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the best of plans . And trying to pin down running pheasants is one case where more is n't always better . It seems like eight hunters make 10 times the commotion of four . A total of five guns is close to my maximum . A trio of hunters can work most covers well using two walkers moving towards a single blocker . A pair of coordinated gunners can be a deadly duo by working narrow covers such as treelines , ditches and the like . The standard walker/blocker tactic can work well , as can having both hunters moving towards each other . ( Remember , safety must be the primary concern when using blockers on a pheasant hunt . No matter how tempting , no straightforward shot should ever be taken because the bird could be in line with the blocker . ) Even a solo hunter can outmaneuver running pheasants by using a variety of ploys . One is to simply stay with them until they hold . A single hunter hustling to stay behind a good dog can eventually catch up with a surprising number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wonders as well . Not far from my central Kansas home lie the remains of an old railroad line . The rails and the ties are long gone , leaving a berm of brush , vines and weeds that runs between a field of corn stubble and a cattle feed lot . The dense cover and the abundance of grain make it a natural favorite for the long-tailed birds . But the clean , straight edges of the narrow covert , and the farmer 's request that I hunt only by myself , allowed two dozen or so pheasants to run ahead and flush out of range on my first try . Round two would be different . After some scheming , I came up with a plan that a friend dubbed " Operation Feathered Storm . " One cold and sunny morning , I brazenly parked at the end of the corn-stubble field . With the motor of my Bronco running , I committed every major sin a hunter can make as he enters a cover . I slammed my door , accidentally hit the horn , loudly talked of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . Confident that I 'd telegraphed my position to every pheasant in the cover , I got back in the truck and quietly made an end-around drive and parked 150 yards from the western end of the cover . This time Mysti and I exited the Bronco quietly and sneaked toward the field . Reaching the top of the berm , I instantly knew that the ruse had worked . Two cockbirds were within 100 yards and running fast -- away from the decoy commotion to the east and right at me ! One bird flushed and flew out of range , while the other dove into the depths of a nearby tangle . Mysti was just seconds behind him , ferreting out his trail in the brush while I opted for the easy walking of the gravel berm . About 25 yards away , Mysti rooted the pheasant from a clump of weeds . The shot was easy . The only thing that kept me from a quick limit of four birds was a comedy of errors . Roosters flew dead-on into the sun , I hurried a shot and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bird . All in all , I managed to down a pair of roosters out of six opportunities . Without the deception I may never have had a single chance . Though there is no way to figure out what 's going on in the pea-size brain of a rooster pheasant , you can often predict the situations in which pheasants are most likely to run , and when the birds will be more likely to hold . Weather can be a major factor . Fill the sky with clouds , cover the ground with snow and drop the temperature to well below freezing , and the birds that sprinted like antelope when it was warm will probably hold as tight as stones . Let the weather turn to sunny and 70 deg , however , and the birds will probably become as footloose as fraternity brothers on spring break . The cover that the birds are keeping can be a determining factor as well . Long , linear covers like row crop fields and shelterbelts are as conducive to running pheasants as an open highway is to speeding Porsches . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thicket even a snake would struggle through , there are dense covers where the birds are more likely to hold . Hunting such an area can make for tough , laborious walking , but it is quite often worth the effort . We continued to play a game of chase with the Kansas pheasants the rest of the morning and into the afternoon . The later it got , the more skittish the birds became . They could simply run too easily in the grass and the draws . " We ca n't stop them from running , " said J.R . Dienst , the owner of the land we were hunting . " But I do have some places where it 'll be a little tougher for them -- and for us . " We quickly cruised some of Dienst 's 30,000 plus acres of managed habitat looking for one last field of the day . Dienst finally led us to " the jungle . " During the summer and the early fall the vast field of cane created by the federal government 's Conservation Reserve Program had stood higher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of snows , ice storms and the constant pounding of the wind had the field knee-high at the highest by early January . " They have everything they need here , " said Dienst . " There are tons of food and plenty of cover . Hopefully the cover is thick enough near the ground that they 'll have to slow down a little . Even if they do run , we 'll be able to keep up and the open green wheat fields around us should hold them tight at the end . " We started at the southwestern end , moving in a 100-yard swath eastward toward a blocker . The first pass drew only a few hen flushes . We turned west again and took a new chunk from the field . Half-way through that pass Mysti hit pay dirt , pushing five roosters and as many hens into the sky from a tangle of cane . Amazingly , all five cockbirds fell . Fifty yards away , Murphy 's Lab flushed a long-spurred two-year-old that we 'd already walked past . The dog 's owner connected on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ field , moving from east to west while gradually creeping northward with each pass . The combination of a setting sun and sore muscles forced us to quit a single bird short of our collective limit of 20 cockbirds . All five hunters were overjoyed with the day . Dienst was even more ecstatic with the promise of the next day . " Believe me , " he said , " for every bird that 's flushed another two or three have been pushing north on us . We 'll get on them tomorrow morning before they have a chance to scatter . " We were back at " the jungle " early the next morning , starting exactly where we 'd left off . The first rooster of the morning flushed five minutes into the hunt . It was an omen of things to come . The farther we progressed to the north , the tougher the walking became . A month of northerly winds had been stacking tumbleweeds into the northern third of the field . The tumbleweeds looked like a mass of cockleburs stuck in a setter 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hunters who had to high step their way through the tangles . The pheasants were keeping us too busy . Pheasants tired of the constant pressure rose out of range . Enough abandoned their running game and tried to sit tight , only to be flushed by one of the trio of dogs . Finally we found ourselves heading into the final corner of the field . Pheasant tracks littered the ground . Fifty yards from where the blocker stood , birds began flushing like popcorn . It started with a single flush , seconds later a pair rose , then a feathered melee erupted . Shouts of " rooster , rooster , rooster , " came from every direction while our eyes searched the sky in front of us , trying to separate the gaudy cockbirds from the drab hens . Within seconds , someone was yelling " No more , we 're limited ! " But the birds we 'd herded to the northeastern corner of the field were rising long after that last shell had been unloaded . Mysti flushed another rooster as she came trotting back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rooster when she passed a small tuft of wheat 20 yards from the cane . No doubt the bird was still trying to do what he was born to do -- run -- even in the shoe-top high wheat . The other four hunters were jabbering like children who 'd just demolished a mountain of Christmas packages . Talk was of good shots , bad shots , great dog work and , of course , the hundreds ( yes , hundreds ! ) of pheasants we 'd seen . But my mind again turned to the red-faced Texan who 'd thrown every unprintable word imaginable at pheasants . " You bet they run , " I thought as I took the last bird from Mysti . " And they do n't play fair . I would n't have it any other way . Success is at its sweetest when it 's earned . " <p> 
##2000656 As communist icons fall and the iron curtain is lifted , western sportsmen are now exploring " new " Russia 's treasured salmon streams . Inside a howling Russian MI-8 helicopter , foam earplugs screwed into my head , it is difficult to sort out the kaleidoscopic changes of the past 48 hours . Our party of nine anglers has flown from the United States to St. Petersburg to Kirovsk , and we are now engaged in the final 1-1/2-hour leg to base camp . Our target , the Ponoi River , rests just north of the Arctic Circle on Russia 's Kola Peninsula . Not coincidentally , the area is home to the world 's fastest Atlantic salmon fishing . Nothing stirs in the chopper except the little Russian spaniel across from me -- it is about to drop through the lap of its owner , a former Russian official under the previous regime , who has fallen asleep on the shoulder of our translator , Natalya . Needless to say , Natalya is not at all pleased about it . The spaniel scrabbles with its front @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's lap . " Dog thinks its old man 's dead , " quips fellow angler Jake Jordan who , like me , is suffering from a 38-hour sleepless stretch , followed by a scant five hours of slumber last night . In truth , we could have slept after the transatlantic flight , but who would miss the chance to see -- even fleetingly -- the treasures of St. Petersburg ? It was also July Fourth , and outside the city in the wooded , gently rolling , deciduous and pine-covered country , an association of young Russian anglers and hunters had laid out a feast for us . In a small clearing near the woods , tent flies were strung drum tight . Samovars of black tea steamed in a soft intermittent rain . The kabob was of wild boar , the ever-present bottles of vodka helped ease the misty chill , and through our translators it was quickly evident that American and Russian sportsmen speak the same language . But now , aboard the helicopter , my reminiscence is disturbed by a screeching sound that sends a sudden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no deadly equipment failure but Norman Hyams priming the fussy reeds of his bagpipes , carried all this way to celebrate the close of each day 's fishing glory . We hope there is reason for celebration on this trip . The plan is to base ourselves on the fish-rich Ponoi River , first visited three years ago by rod maker Gary Loomis and his Finnish partner , Eero Petersson , who have returned on this expedition . Each day we will fly to new rivers . We will use a smaller MI-2 helicopter that holds four anglers , guide and the pilot . We might find a mother lode of fish -- or nothing . But as a hedge against total failure we have the Ponoi itself , where fish abound . We will settle in the river 's upper camp , 185 miles from the mouth of the river . The lower camp , 60 miles from the sea , is the " numbers " camp , where anglers go when bent on taking Atlantic salmon in mind-boggling quantities . The upper camp is used as the jumping-off point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a base for fishing this area of the Ponoi . The chopper thwacks over birches and willows near the riverbank to a clearing surrounded by stunted pines . It whines down to blessed silence while we unscrew our earplugs . Camp is perfect : roomy , bright wall tents with wood floors , a large dining tent , a banya -- Russian sauna -- and a shower house with endless hot water . But it is the foot trail along the little Pacha tributary leading to the Ponoi that we flock to . Eighteen-foot aluminum boats with 20 or 40-hp motors are nosed onto the coble beach and are used to reach the river beats . Tonight we wade the Home Pool , spreading out in a steady current that is stronger than it first appears . After 15 minutes , and within casting range of someone , a fish missiles through the surface , then crashes heavily on its side . Soon other fish roll and leap . The mood intesifies ; you can see it in everyone 's attitude and casting . Shortly there are cries of dismay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moment as the line tightens , before the hook pulls free . At 10:30 that night , the sky as bright as a late New England afternoon in this land of endless summer sun , angler Roberto Sacconi hooks up . The fish instantly tears line and backing from his experimental STH reel before taking to the air . The Argentine angler is shouting in English , mainly . The hook continues to hold , and in time Sacconi is removing the fly and telling the bright , 10-pound , fresh-run salmon how beutiful it is . When we finally sleep , it is not full nightfall . And once the initial impulse for rest is satisfied , the ever-lingering brightness wakes us . I find myself wandering around camp at 4 a.m. with a cuckoo bird singing behind the tent . Out schedule is ambitious . We will fish rivers such as the Purnach , a major 65-mile-long Ponoe River tributary , and the smaller Bab'ya with its barrier falls , clear pools and stacked fish . Some of our group will soar downriver to intercept salmon coming in from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the south , then fly northwest to the river of giant salmon , the Yokanga ( written lokanga on most Rusian maps ) . The Yokanga seems designed for large salmon , a river of deep swift pools , wild rushes of white water , innumerable splits and side channels . We feel a bit disconcerted flying its course . On many maps the area remains encircled in red , a closed military zone sometimes called the circle of death , and for good reason . Nearby on the Barents seacoast is Severomorsk , headquarters of the Russian nuclear submarine fleet , and at the river 's mouth itself at Gremikha there is a repair facility for those craft . But , of course , we are holding permits that allow us to be here . Thoughts of war machines vanish as our little chopper soars over a stretch of white water to a rocky beach and touches down . Our guide Sergey is out , keeping low , fitting stones the size of boccie balls under the skids , while the pilot , Sasha , jiggles the helicopter like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out -- Gary Loomis , his brother Bob , Sacconi and me . The river is all splits and channels with one main island in its center . In a large pool a huge fish rises on Gary Loomis ' second cast , turns and follows downstream , finally nudging the fly with its nose . We shout when the strike should occur . The fish chooses not to eat . Finally , Loomis ' tube fly is gently sipped as it swings through the current . The heavy salmon turns and immediately goes deep . It could be a remarkable fish , but we will never know . In a moment the hook pulls free . Our hearts sink . And then a lesser fish -- in size alone -- consumes the fly and is successfully landed ; we put its weight at 15 pounds . Meanwhile , at the tail of the island where the Yokanga rejoins itself , Roberto has hooked and lost two grand salmon that bolted down a gradient so steep it looks like a ski slope . The angler was lucky to hold 10 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is time to go . Fish of great size are obviously here , but there are fewer than expected . Soon it is apparent why . Flying over a ruz , or river narrowing , we see the net . Live , dying and dead salmon are entangled within it -- they are food for the military . We learn , however , that the harvest is quite limited . This is early July , and the greatest salmon concentrations here are reportedly late in this month and in August . In August , Loomis-sponsored personnel will return to the area and find that the net is out . The river will be full of huge fish , half of them in the 25 to 35-pound range . The anglers will find this so encouraging that a lease for exclusive fishing rights to the river will be signed for 1993 with a net-free agreement in place . Though most angler-caught salmon are released , some are eaten and there has been concern over reports of nuclear submarine waste northeast of the Kola . No one yet knows the ocean feeding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least a few salmon from the area have been taken to Helsinki for testing and have been clean of contaminants . So far , our exploring has produced good fishing in fascinating waters , but now I am impatient to fish the Ponoi . With air temperature in the 40s to 50s , the weather overcast or rainy , bright wet flies on large hooks are most productive . But friend Jake Jordan remembers how last year , in warmer weather , salmon fought to intercept his green Bombers . Besides classic patterns , Ponoi fish eat steelhead and Pacific salmon flies , as well as other nameless concoctions . With these fish , it seems necessary to pause longer before hook setting than in North America 's Maritimes . We quickly find that the Ponoi remains the undisputed queen of the Kola Peninsula ; on the best days there 's the possibility of hooking 10 fish or more . Far too soon , it is over for us . Hopefully , however , this is only the start of sport-fishing expansion in a land none of us ever dreamed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I think of an evening when angler Eric Redman took a surprised and pleased Russian fisheries minister to the river for casting instruction . " The kind of thing we should have been doing with one another the past 40 years , " Redman said . I think of the warm Russian people who were happy to share their country and time with us . I am still incredulous of weekly catch rates on the Ponoi for 16 to 18 anglers -- catches of 500 to 800 fish . But for most of us fortunate enough to have fished here , there are memories far more precious than such statistics . I remember the strains of Hyams ' bagpipes drifting across the river valley at sundown , and one or two of our group slipping quietly from camp to cast the Home Pool in the clean light of morning . I think especially of a particular fish encountered while wading one day with Stan Barer : a fish that jolted my shoulder before launching a series of jumps that took it across the river , then upstream . Suddenly other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of them , a rod 's length away , soared head-high , fixing on me for an instant with its wild eye . Somehow , throughout this aerial display , the hook held . I briefly cradled the silvery-bright , lavender-touched creature I had come halfway around the world to catch -- and would again . In a heartbeat . THE NEWEST OF NEW RUSSIA While recent sportfishing has focused on western Russia 's Atlantic salmon , Alaska lodge owner Tony Sarp has quietly assembled a new joint venture in eastern Russia 's Kamchatka Peninsula , just a short jump across the Bering Sea from Alaska . Fishing on the Zhupanova River and its tributaries is now under exclusive lease by Sarp . A unique strain of sea-run rainbows exist there that , unlike our steelhead , remain in salt water for only one to three months . The fish average 10 pounds , are rarely taken under five pounds , and many 15-pounders are caught . And the catch rate is incredible . Anglers are also likely to find sea-run Dolly Varden and a unique char known as the Kundzha @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all types of the Pacific salmon . Six trips were scheduled in 1992 , and 12 are set for 1993 from May 6 through October . Trips usually last for 10 days , with anglers staying in a lodge formerly used by elite Soviet hunting parties . There are daily helicopter fly-outs to sections of the main river and tributaries where fishing is done by wading or from powerboats or inflatables . Scale samples show that the sea-run rainbows do not spawn until approximately eight years of age , thus a total release policy on the species is enforced , and fishing is with flies only . For information , contact Kamchatka Fishing Adventures , 2825 90th SE , Everett , WA 98208 ( 206-337-0326 ) . <p> 
##2000657 Did you know that some of today 's most wonderfully accurate rifle barrels are being rifled by a process almost identical to the one in use when Columbus discovered America ? History books do n't tell us the time , the place or even the name of the wizard who first cut spiraling grooves into the walls of a gun barrel , but we do know that it happened about 500 years ago -- probably somewhere in the Austrian Empire -- and we also have a pretty clear description of how that rifling was cut . What is not so clear , however , is why it was cut . Who knew that if a bullet spins around its forward axis it will be more accurate than one that does n't ? Gyroscopic ability was known then ; after all , people had been spinning tops thousands of years before . So we can suppose that some clever gunsmith made the mental leap of linking bullets with tops . Earliest written records , however , obviously set down by the Great Granddaddy of all gun writers , tell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by mischievous devils riding bullets and causing them to go crooked . By making the balls spin , the devils were thrown off and the bullets flew true . Among the reasons why we have such a clear description of how early barrels were rifled is that the tools and machinery used to cut rifling grooves have survived . Back during my college days I earned tuition and bread by making replicas of " Kentucky " -style long rifles . Once or twice I tried rifling a four-foot-long barrel using a hand-powered tool that had been built at least a century before . Basically , as I pulled the tool handle , I dragged a single cutting blade that made a single , thin scratch of a cut through the barrel . The blade was fastened to a rod , which was attached to a screw-like rifling guide that turned the cutter . Those barrels had seven grooves , and it took about 100 passes of the blade to cut each groove to full depth . Because each pull of the tool handle required two steps back and two forward , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rifling a single barrel . This is one reason I decided it was wiser to buy barrels already rifled . The other reason was that my barrels were n't very accurate . ( Maybe the devils got in ' em . ) Since that time , I 've visited dozens of tool and firearms museums the world over , and I never cease being amazed at the similarities between antique rifling machines . No matter where they were made , or during which era , their mode of operation is basically the same . Most amazing of all , though , are the similarities between the machinery being used to cut rifling today and that of centuries ago . Today 's machinery is bigger , of course , built of heavy steel , powered by motors and automatically indexed so that the cutting blade or hook passes from one groove to the next without being hand set ; but still the grooves are being cut one thin slice at a time . Gunsmiths who were rifling barrels when Columbus set sail would probably recognize a modern machine for exactly what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a " modern " machine for cutting rifling . Virtually all major gunmakers have abandoned the time-consuming cut-rifling process in favor of faster methods . If you own a rifle made before World War II , you can be sure that the rifling got there by the cut method . After 1960 , virtually all production-grade rifles were rifled by another process : button or hammer forging . The years in between were a time of transition for the gun industry . As the cut process was abandoned by government arsenals and commercial industry , the surplus machinery -- some of which dated back to World War I or even earlier -- was bought up by individual craftsmen who rebuilt or modified it for their own use . Thus , the tradition of actually cutting rifling into the walls of a barrel continued . In light of more modern and faster ways of rifling barrels , this may seem archaic ; but do n't argue with the results . There are those who claim that cut rifling is still the most accurate , and they back up their claims with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cut rifling , as was Jack O'Connor 's favorite barrelmaker , Bill Sukalle . By the time I arrived on the shooting scene , Bill Atkinson of the old A &M; Gun Works was cutting rifling that set world records for accuracy . Today , barrelmakers Tom Houghton ( H &H; Precision ) , Boots Obermeyer , Paul Marquart , John Krieger , Mark Chanlynn ( Rocky Mountain Rifle Works ) , to name a few , still rifle barrels by the cut system . If you keep up with championship-level shooting at Camp Perry and the ultra-accurate game of benchrest , you will see some of these names in the winning-equipment listings on a regular basis . Interestingly , rifling can be cut with such dimensional precision that barrels rifled this way are still preferred for most ballistic laboratory testing . There are four basic methods of rifling currently in widespread use : the cut method I 've just talked about , the button and hammer forging processes , which I 'll discuss later , and the broaching technique . You wo n't hear of broached rifling in connection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a 20mm cannon , but it is the most often used rifling system for centerfire handguns . Basically , a broach is a tool with multiple cutting edges that completely cuts all the rifling grooves at one time . It is extremely fast , and if the broach is properly sharpened , the method produces excellent results . The poor accuracy of some handguns can usually be traced to causes other than the guns ' broached barrels . The time it takes to broach-rifle a handgun barrel is about the same as it takes to read this sentence . The concept of button rifling is simplicity itself , but in actual practice the process is somewhat complex . After the bar of barrel steel is drilled and then reamed to a smooth , uniform size , a super-hard button is inserted and either pushed or pulled through the length of the bore . The tight-fitting button is ringed with ridges that press into the wall of the bore , forming the customary spiraling grooves of rifling . As the button is forced through the bore , it does not actually cut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the walls of the bore . Some barrelmakers dimension their buttons so that the total volume of displaced steel is pushed outward , whereas others allow for the displaced metal to flow laterally and be molded into part of the lands . As you would imagine , it takes a lot of power to force a button through an undersize hole in a bar of barrel steel . That is why the job requires hefty hydraulic presses delivering tons of pressure . Depending on the equipment , a button 's journey through a bore will take about three to six minutes . Some barrelmakers use a system that guides the rate of turn of the button as it passes through the bore , whereas others allow the button to float , or turn freely , following the trail made by the angle of its own lands and grooves . The rate of twist of this system is established simply by the angle at which the grooves are cut on the button . When the button emerges it leaves a slick , fully rifled bore ; but depending on the barrelmaker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the button shoulders its way through the resisting steel it leaves a wake of stresses in the barrel that , if not controlled , can do some very ugly things to accuracy . This is why some makers , but not all , heat treat their barrels to remove these internal forces , leaving the barrel docile and ready for turning to shape and final fitting . The crowning touch on some button-rifled barrels is a final hand-lapping , which erases the surface etching left by some button-lubricating methods ( especially with stainless steel , which further explains why custom stainless barrels are more expensive ) and further refines internal dimensions and finish . Accuracy notwithstanding , the appeal of button rifling to the mass manufacturer was speed . Not only was the speedy thrust of a button much faster than the time consuming cut system , but it speeded other processes , as well . It meant that the time spent reaming and polishing a drilled hole prior to rifling could be minimized because the button tended to iron out tool marks and flatten dimensional irregularities , making the finished @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ button process was adopted by a large percentage of gunmakers the world over . In fact , the button process became so successful and widely used that it looked like it was here to stay . But even in an industry as plodding and hidebound as gun making there is always someone looking for faster , easier and cheaper ways to make things . That faster way of making barrels is what has come to be known as hammer forging . The " hammer forging " way of rifling barrels was brought to the attention of American shooters by no less a promoter than Roy Weatherby . Back in the late 1950s , when he introduced his Mark V rifle , one of Weatherby 's promotional gambits was that his German-made rifles were fitted with barrels made by a revolutionary process known as hammer forging . With the process also known at the time as roto-forging and cold swaging , I 'm inclined to suspect that the name " hammer forging " was coined by Weatherby himself . It certainly bears the stamp of his " he-man " marketing genius , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the process . Here 's how it works : Imagine that you have a piece of modeling clay about the size and shape of a doughnut . Put this doughnut over a finger and begin to kneed and squeeze the clay until it forms a tube covering the length of the finger . Now withdraw your finger , and you 'll get a pretty good idea of how hammer-forged barrels are made -- not only have the external shape and dimensions been transformed , but the hole inside is a reverse image of your finger . Had , in fact , your finger been shaped in the form of reverse rifling , that image would have been transmitted to the clay . Now that you have the idea of how it works , simply picture a thick tube of steel being squeezed over a mandrel shaped like reverse rifling . When the mandrel is withdrawn , the inside of the tube is fully rifled . Hammer forging can do a lot more than just form rifling , because as the rifling is being formed , the barrel 's external contour can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as it comes from the machine is n't round and smooth , but rather , patterned with the imprints of hundreds of machine strokes . Most manufacturers final-turn the barrel 's outside surface to traditional smooth roundness , but when the new-era Mannlicher rifles were introduced back in the late 1960s , the manufacturer opted not to remove the hammer forging signature from its barrels . Not only does this save money , but also the swirling , faceted-pattern barrel finish has become something of a trademark of modern Mannlicher sporting rifles . Now you know how the unusual pattern gets there . And by the way , the giant Austrian firm of Steyr , maker of Mannlicher guns , is also a leading manufacturer of hammer-forging machinery . So who uses hammer-forged barrels and how good are they ? Remington , Ruger , Weatherby and Winchester use hammer-forged barrels for all or part of their centerfire and rimfire rifle barrel production ; and in Europe the process is used by virtually all high-production major gunmakers . The best hammer-forged barrels are very accurate indeed . If you own a tack-driving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of its accuracy to the hammer-forged barrel . I 've also found these barrels able to retain their accurate qualities for some time , upholding the claim that hammer-forging surface hardens a rifle 's bore and reduces the rate of erosion . So where do we go from here ? What are the frontiers of barrel-making technology ? There are several . One is an electro-chemical process that has the potential of cutting and finishing steel with molecular precision and smoothness . And , of course , laser machining also has potential . Or will steel itself become obsolete , rendering also obsolete everything we think we know about building better barrels ? Ceramic technology is the buzzword of modern industry , being suggested -- and already used -- for everything from spaceships to train rails . A ceramic barrel , or a ceramic coating , would greatly reduce -- or even eliminate -- erosion and the other afflictions to which steel is heir . Imagine a barrel that would wear forever , never rusting or needing cleaning . We need not look too far into the future to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the present it is still mighty satisfying to own a beautifully rifled barrel and to marvel at the way those lands and grooves make it possible to reach out and touch a deer or elk . As the late Bill Bowman said in 1955 about his new varmint rig , " It 's got one of them new Douglas barrels that will kill a groundhog farther than I can point . " <p> 
##2000658 When Dr. Wendell Belfield first started in veterinary practice 30 years ago , a migrant worker brought him a dog with distemper . Belfield thought that the dog was too far gone to cure , so he recommended putting it to sleep . The migrant worker looked at him in utter disbelief . " You 're the doctor , " he said . " I brought my dog to you to fix him ! And now you want to kill him ? " You have to meet Wendell Belfield to understand how profoundly this experience influenced this man of such intrinsic kindness . And that was just the beginning . Time and time again the drugs of choice were not working or not working well enough on his patients . Either that , or the drugs ' side effects were intolerable . Belfield was curing most animals , but it was the minority that he did n't cure -- or that suffered too much or too long -- that troubled his conscience . He took to racing over to the county hospital library during lunch hours . He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might provide alternative cures for animals . Belfield was looking for innovative approaches . That meant he quickly learned that he could n't give all of his attention to the more popular and " safe " conservative journals . He realized that by the time leading-edge studies were proven often enough to be published by conservative journals , he might be too old to practice . The smaller journals were current . With the consent of his patients ' owners , he could prove or disprove these new findings himself . It hurt his income , of course , as he would n't charge when learning , but he found himself successful with things that most of his colleagues would n't try until decades later . One of the first experiments was with vitamin E. Belfield learned that E strengthens an animal 's uterus and helps it contract . Today , most births under Belfield 's care are routine . The few Caesarean operations he performs are on animals belonging to new clients . Vitamin C was discovered in 1928 and produced commercially about 10 years later . Belfield first learned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who had faced the 1940s polio epidemic without vaccine or cure . Klenna had tried large doses of C and saved quite a few people . When he wrote about it , the conservative journals refused to publish his paper . Belfield read it in a nutritional journal and met the innovative man in 1978 . Equally innovative , Belfield tried massive intravenous doses of C on dogs with high fevers . It was difficult to establish effective doses , as there was nothing in the literature . But Belfield persisted . And it eventually worked -- without the side effects of drugs . Encouraged , Belfield tried vitamin C as a distemper cure . By this time he was aware of the high doses necessary , and he was using the sodium ascorbate form of C ( as opposed to ascorbic acid ) exclusively . He was making his own injectable C fresh daily from crystals because the commercially available intravenous C contains sodium bisulphate ( a preservative that can cause nerve problems , if given in large quantities ) . At a dosage of one-half gram twice daily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . " That was the subject of my first paper back in 1967 , " Belfield told me . " Larry , unless you 're the only one on the planet saying this thing , you do n't know how lonely it can be . I was excited about my discovery and wanted to share it . I wanted to make it easier for the dogs . I thought others would be eager to try it . Instead , I was the laughing stock of the profession . " At one point in my work with vitamin C , a Cornell University professor said to me , ' Come on , Belfield , tell me the truth . That stuff does n't work , does it ! ' He did n't try it . He did n't ask about my experience . He just knew it could n't work , if it was n't thought up at a university . " Angrily , Belfield told his wife , Marlene , that if he had it to do over he 'd kill his curiosity and go for the money like everybody else @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stand the heat , he should get out of the kitchen . He did n't , of course . In fact , he went on to use the distemper dose of C to cure parvo . Not long before we talked , a woman had brought to Belfield a dog that she 'd taken to the emergency clinic . The dog had the parvo virus , and the woman had been told to take the animal to her regular veterinarian . " What will you do , " she 'd asked Belfield , " put it to sleep ? " " No , we 'll get it well . " " I was told they do n't get well from this . " " This one will , " Belfield had said ; and three days later the dog was fine . Belfield gives no fluids -- nothing to stop vomiting -- just the massive doses of intravenous C. He administers the doses with a large syringe , and does it slowly ( otherwise , alarge " plug " of liquid C in the veins would briefly knock the dog out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first . Diarrhea ends the next day . " On the third day -- four , at most , " Belfield said , " they leave here running . " Belfield has also successfully used vitamin C in the prevention of hip dysplasia . I reported that in my April 1988 column ( " Dysplasia 's End " ) . A whole class of veterinary students going for their master 's degrees wrote to me to explain why this would n't work . One student would not trust data 13 years old . I wondered if she believed in the law of gravity , or if only veterinary truth had a shelf life . I wondered , too , how many of these students would go straight from college to teaching -- with no experience -- already " knowing " what would not work . But Belfield said that the better reverberations from my article have n't yet ended . Lots of people -- a few veterinarians included -- are demanding that someone give this method serious investigation . Prove it or disprove it ; but at least try it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I hope to address progress on this in the near future . Though Belfield has done some marvelous things with vitamin C , he is not simply a C freak . He is , however , heavily into nutrition , because he has discovered so many benefits that can be achieved without side effects . He has used B complex to cure seizures . He treats liver and kidney problems with antioxidants -- and this is today 's big one . Again , it started way back in the ' 50s , but conservative journals ' resistance to nutritional cures and preventions delayed public understanding for about 35 years . At the time , Dr. Harmon , a researcher at the University of Nebraska , identified " free radicals , " which are molecules formed by body enzymes trying to deal with foreign and toxic substances . The new molecules -- or free radicals -- are highly unstable because they possess extra electrons . ( Molecules are more stable when electrons are paired . ) So these free radicals run around trying to steal electrons from molecules in body cells . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the liver or kidneys , fat spheres protecting the organ cells are penetrated . The fat goes rancid , and the organs die . So does the animal . Not all toxins and their resulting free radicals behave alike . The now-banned industrial cleaner carbon tetrachloride has been well-researched . Its free radicals enter the molecule core , or nucleus , stealing from -- and thereby altering -- the genetic material of the cell . This upsets normal cell division . The resulting rampant growth is cancer . Free radicals from chemicals , and sometimes from foods , are also responsible for hypersensitivity of the body . These are allergies causing coat problems and endless scratching in dogs . They eventually become more and more prevalent and baffling , as do the cancers and liver and kidney failures . The reason , says Belfield , is that these are not natural diseases . They are environmental diseases caused by environmental toxins . Marlene Belfield says that her husband and veterinary medicine are the perfect marriage -- so pure that she 'd never try to break them up . Imagine how Belfield @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he knows about environmental diseases , yet must use an antibiotic to exact a cure . Antibiotics are just one of the toxins that must be removed from the body by the liver and kidneys . Kindness suddenly becomes a two-edged sword . The truth is , our dogs are exposed to a multitude of chemicals daily . We let our dogs live with us in houses built and furnished with materials loaded with formaldehyde . We further treat our dogs with tobacco smoke , and let them absorb lawn chemicals through their skin and from licking their paws . If we really love our dogs , we take them for rides in the car -- their lungs helping ours remove acetaldehyde , acrolein and formaldehyde from the smog . We kindly kill roundworms , tapeworms , hookworms and whipworms by shoving insecticides down our dogs ' throats . Another insecticide prevents heartworm . Poisons are dusted on , sprayed on , buckled on , bathed on and poured on to control fleas . Dog foods contain the preservatives BHA ( butylated hydroxyanicole ) and BHT ( butylated hydroxytoluene ) ethoxyquin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rendered as meat and bone meal are sprinkled with charcoal dust or chemically denatured to prohibit their entry into human foods . These are just more chemicals that can cause allergies in some dogs . Fortunately , there is a defense system in place . Free radical electron theft is called oxidation . ( For comparison , iron oxidation is rust . ) And an army of antioxidants works to protect body cells from free radical molecules . The soldiers are vitamins A ( or the safer beta-carotene ) C and E ; enzymes such as glutathione peroxide , superoxide dismutase ( S.O.D. ) and catalase ; and the minerals selenium , manganese and zinc , which promote those enzymes . N.R. DiLuzio demonstrated the power of antioxidants in his 1967 carbon tetrachloride studies . Ninety percent of the rats fed high doses of the chemical died . A second group that was fed the same high dose but that was first given vitamin E survived . Unfortunately , however , the body defense that could probably handle each toxin by itself is being overwhelmed in many dogs by sheer numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cautiously and sparingly , and to feed premium or home-cooked foods . But even Belfield ca n't avoid using the antibiotics . His solution is to supplement with the antioxidant vitamins and minerals . Better dog foods do claim to be " complete and balanced , " and their makers usually oppose supplementation ; but it should be noted that these food formulas are intended for normal , healthy dogs . Sick dogs or dogs overwhelmed by environmental toxins may need greater fortification . And because toxins are routine today , Belfield advises routinely supplementing diets with doses of antioxidants that effectively protect dogs . " Most of my practice is now routine , too , " Belfield said . " I see little of those terrible chronic and baffling diseases among the dogs owned by clients who follow my nutritional advice . " For more information on Dr. Gelfield 's program , contact him at Box 32232 , San Jose , CA 95152 . <p> 