In baseball terms, a no-hitter is a game in which, by definition, one team does not successfully reach base by means of a hit. It all sounds simple enough. Simple, perhaps, but still rare.

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FBFW: Consistency a prized commodity in fantasy

During an interview with the New Yorker's Avi Zenilman a few months ago, Bill Simmons, an ESPN columnist/author and a man who doubtless dashed off 3,000 words this morning before I managed to get the brown sugar and banana on my oatmeal, was asked about the paucity of great basketball books. See, when you write about the NBA, as Simmons does and I have done for many years, you are generally ...

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Jack McCallum: Rich season for basketball books (Sports Illustrated)

Excerpted from "The Art of the Beautiful Game: The Thinking Fan's Tour of the NBA", by Chris Ballard.

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Chris Ballard: Shaq's larger-than-life presence transcends the game (Sports Illustrated)

DANA POINT, Calif. -- Determined to overhaul and upgrade their skimpy starting rotation, the Yankees have made superstar free agent CC Sabathia their top winter target and, once baseball's quiet period expires, intend to offer him a contract to top the record $137.5 million that the Mets gave Johan Santana last year, according to people familiar with the Yankees' plans.

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Jon Heyman: Yankees make Sabathia top target (Sports Illustrated)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The notes fluttered from Chad Knaus' notebook last November just as Jimmie Johnson began his celebratory lap around Homestead-Miami Speedway. The duo had just won their second consecutive championship, but Knaus was more concerned with making sure his strategies didn't land in the hands of a rival.

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Still focused, Knaus finally close to record books (Sports Illustrated)