51.   Defending national champion Oklahoma uses slightly fewer players.

52.   Davis Love returned to Sahalee as defending champion and his friend, Seattle native Fred Couples,returned to his roots.

53.   Defending champion Avalanche come to town with two major injuries, to Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg.

54.   Defending champion, we salute you.

55.   Defending SBC champion Jim Colbert has no problem with the new format.

56.   Defending series champion Butch Gilliland of Anaheim, who has struggled so far this year, won the event and moved up into eighth place.

57.   Defending Sprint champion Red finished last and was pulled up right after the finish by jockey Corey Nakatani.

58.   Doubts permeated the dugout, eyes bulged in astonishment and the players wondered how long before they would perform like defending World Series champions.

59.   Eight days later, the same can be said for the Giants, defending champions of the NFC East.

60.   Even with the improvements in New England and Colorado, defending champion San Jose, Chicago and the Galaxy should compete for the championship again.