Best of '87

BEST TACK After retrieving the America's Cup from Australia, San Diego Yachtsman Dennis Conner had barely exhaled before New Zealand found a loophole in the old deed and issued a new challenge in an outsized maxiboat.

BEST DOUBLE PLAY Shades of all-around Athlete Jim Thorpe: Bo Jackson, who plays baseball for the Kansas City Royals and football for the Los Angeles Raiders, hit a 466-ft. homer and ran for a 91-yd. touchdown.

BEST STRATEGIST Railing against college basketball's three-point rule even as he mastered the strategy required for the 19-ft. 9-in. shot, Indiana Coach Bobby Knight led his third team to the national title in twelve years.

BEST COMEBACK Returning to the ring against everyone's wishes, Sugar Ray Leonard protected his repaired retina long enough to restore his crown in a startling upset of Middleweight Champion Marvin Hagler.

BEST TRACK RECORDS Racing toward the 1988 Olympics, Canadian Sprinter Ben Johnson and American Heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee dazzled at the Rome world track-and-field championships by winning their events. After 122 consecutive victories, U.S. Superstar Edwin Moses lost in the 400-meter hurdles.

BEST SCUFF/SNUFF JOB Minnesota Pitcher Joe Niekro was caught with an emery board on the mound at the height of baseball's season-long tempest over scuffed balls and corked bats. A meaner illegal substance, cocaine, stymied Mets Pitcher Dwight Gooden.

BEST DRIVER Rewarded for a life of grace, Puerto Rico's Chi Chi Rodriguez, 52, won seven tournaments and $509,145 on golf's senior tour.

BEST NET GAIN Rubbing out more than the competition, stoical Czechoslovak Tennis Ace Ivan Lendl at last learned to smile.

BEST SIDELINE ACT Replacing striking football players for three curious weeks, dreamers donned uniforms for their days in the sun, taking over the N.F.L. long enough to gain a financial stake in the playoff payoffs.

BEST LESSON LEARNED Forty years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line, Los Angeles Dodgers Executive Al Campanis raised cries of racism by saying on ABC's Nightline that black players "may not have some of the necessities" to manage baseball teams, either on the field or in the front office.