The cover curse

Bar bet: Who's been on the front of S.I. more times, Ernie Grunfeld or Reggie Miller?

Published May 12, 2008 9:05AM (EDT)

TNT announcers Marv Albert and Reggie Miller had some fun Sunday night with the fact that they appear in the background behind Chris Paul and Tony Parker on the cover of the current Sports Illustrated. They're at the table with the blue cloth under Paul's right arm in the photo. That's Albert standing in the blue shirt, the head of the seated, leaning Miller in front of him.

Miller joked that he was now afraid of the famous Sports Illustrated cover curse, figuring something terrible would befall them this week. Albert asked Miller if he'd ever been on the cover and Miller said no.

That surprised me, but a quick check of the highly addictive S.I. Vault bears him out. Miller has been mentioned in the magazine 107 times, from a college "Player of the Week" citation in February 1986 to a "For the Record" note last August that he was being wooed to come out of retirement by the Boston Celtics. But no covers.

You could probably win some bar bets with that one. Who's been on the cover of Sports Illustrated more: Ernie Grunfeld or Reggie Miller? Rumeal Robinson or Reggie Miller? Joseph Cameron Alston or Reggie Miller?

Joseph Cameron Alston? Badminton.


By King Kaufman

King Kaufman is a senior writer for Salon. You can e-mail him at king at salon dot com. Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr

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