Feats

For years Chase Abrams has lived a double life: By day a popular student at Sierra Canyon School who played football and enjoyed hanging out with friends, by night an intent student of film studies at Cal State Los Angeles who organized college film festivals and held his own intellectually and socially. Today, the energetic 18-year-old can finally take a breath.

reporting from washington The 6-foot-10 left-hander with perhaps the most menacing sneer and imposing mound presence in baseball history had to take a few exaggerated breaths to keep from breaking down Thursday night.

A month after Zac Sunderland, at 17, became the youngest person to sail around the world by himself, his younger sister has announced plans to try to break that record. Abby Sunderland, who will turn 16 in October, is hoping to embark on a nonstop, unassisted voyage in November aboard a 40-foot cruising vessel, and complete the trip in about six months. First, however, she will have to land a sponsor to help cover the $350,000 cost of the odyssey. "I've been wanting to do this since I was 13, and when I was 13 there was nobody doing this," she told the Associated Press.

It is one of the most famous sports photographs of the 1990s, the now-iconic image of U.S. soccer player Brandi Chastain on her knees, clenching her jersey in her right fist and exulting over the successful penalty kick that had just decided the 1999 Women's World Cup. Every picture tells a story, but the shot of Chastain tells several.

Vicki Stevens can't stop staring at the dot. She hops online first thing in the morning, and four more times a day to check on the little green circle, creeping with agonizing slowness across the digital map toward the Americas. "Everybody's always asking -- 'How far has the dot gone?' " Stevens said. The dot shows the plodding progress of a plywood vessel, akin to an oversized bathtub, that Stevens' friend Angela Madsen and a partner are rowing across the Atlantic.

His "100th" birthday party last year was covered by the BBC and his run in the London Marathon on Sunday is being touted by one of the country's best-known public relations firms. Pierre "Buster" Martin and his backers say that if he completes the race, he will be the oldest person to ever finish a marathon. The only problem: He may be no older than 94.

MIAMI -- Certain privileges come along with Ken Griffey's stature in baseball, like pep talks from Hall of Fame players. Griffey homered against Florida Marlins starter Mark Hendrickson on Monday night for his 600th home run in the Cincinnati Reds' 9-4 victory. He is only the sixth major league player to reach the milestone and did it after some encouraging words from two men ahead of him on the list. "I got a call about 10 days ago from Willie [Mays]," Griffey said.

The hardest part of learning the moves in Michael Jackson's legendary "Thriller" music video isn't the fancy footwork or the hip swivels. It's the iconic "claw swing." "You show your claws to the left, then swing down, show your claws to the right, and go back and forth. People get caught up on that a lot," says choreographer and dance instructor Ines Markeljevic. In 2006, after setting the first Guinness world record for largest "Thriller" dance -- Toronto, 62 people -- Markeljevic went global.

Zac Sunderland is alone on a sailboat off Indonesia, five months into a journey around the world, when he senses the worst kind of danger. Pirates! A large wooden vessel in the distance, rising and falling over the swells, is clearly on intercept course. It does not show on the radar. It flies no flags. Its crew doesn't respond to radio calls. Zac alters course, the pursuers do likewise. What's a 16-year-old to do? Zac isn't sure, so, with his heart racing, he dials home on the satellite phone.

Those seeking an even hotter spectacle may want to drop by New Year's Eve. That's the night motorcycle daredevil Robbie Knievel is preparing to jump more than 200 feet across the lagoon as the jets shoot fire and water skyward. Fox TV will broadcast the event live, beginning at 8 p.m., with the jump scheduled for 9 p.m. Knievel is expected to travel 100 mph during the feat, which is to begin on hotel property and end on the Strip.