Sports Strategy

Offensive linemen love it, game officials tend to hate it and some high school athletic associations are plotting to stop it. The A-11 offense has created such a stir since its creation last year that it might as well be known as the A-!! offense. It is a formation in which any of a team's 11 players could become eligible to catch a pass, leading to mass confusion among defensive players, their coaches, fans and, well, just about everyone.

Denver Nuggets Coach George Karl and Memphis Coach John Calipari believe in Vance Walberg and are running up big scores and winning plenty of basketball games using his system. Using guidance from Walberg and tips from watching his practices, Karl's team is 22-20 and in playoff contention. And Calipari's Conference USA leader is 17-3 and ranked No. 11 in the nation.

Tiger Woods just won his third British Open and his 11th major title by basically shoving his driver to the bottom of his bag, but that strategy probably won't cut it at next month's PGA Championship at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club. The PGA of America has set up Medinah as the longest course in the history of major championship golf -- 7,561 yards -- and chances are good that drivers, not just the one belonging to Woods, are going to get plenty of work.

From his home in Springville, Utah, Billy Casper is keeping a close eye on Tiger Woods. Even though Woods is in Medinah, Ill., for the PGA Championship, he's still within arm's reach of Casper, and not only because Woods has 50 victories on the PGA Tour and Casper is one ahead at 51. "He'll win 100 before he's through," said Casper, the 75-year-old Hall of Fame player born in San Diego.

A month ago, Steve Sampson was sitting in the coffee shop of a San Diego hotel, sliding packets of sugar around on the table, enthusiastically showing a reporter the wonderful flexibility of the 3-6-1 formation. The Cobi Jones packet dropped back here, the Ernie Stewart packet circled around over there, and just like that, the U.S. penalty area was clogged with seven defenders. Then the Claudio Reyna packet moved this way, the Frankie Hejduk packet went that way and--voila!

Every day, there are more messages on Bill Carmody's voice mail--high school coaches, college coaches, junior high coaches--all of them in search of a magic offense. "People will call and say, 'We're just like you. We don't have any good players. Can I have your offense?' " said Carmody, a longtime assistant who took over at Princeton two seasons ago from Pete Carril, the disheveled genius of back-door cuts whose team felled a giant--defending national champion UCLA--in the 1996 NCAA tournament.