USC running back Sultan McCullough didn't need to bash his head into any chairs to get fired up against Penn State.

Excerpted from the July 24 issue.

David Wells, with his league-best 15-2 record, provides the backbeat. Or maybe what Wells brings to the clubhouse and the mound can be described more aptly as a background electrical hum-sometimes annoying, sometimes comforting, always necessary.

Carlos Delgado, through media negligence or not, still needs an introduction. Wells, as everyone knows, can speak for himself.

Wells: I'm just happy that this time around is a lot better than my first time with the Blue Jays. The last time, that was just pitiful. They didn't care about my pitching, they just wanted me to look good in the lobby. Be a certain weight, do this, do that. I got to the point where I told them to f- off. I said, "I don't need to pitch here if that's what you want me to look like." I got fed up and started talking crap and being rude to them. You can only take it to a certain extent. They fined me and a couple other guys $100 for every pound we were overweight. At some point, it gets ridiculous. Whenever I got to the park, it was to the scales. They'd put the scales right in front of me. Back when I was in the minor leagues, they used to pack the scale around in the equipment bag and weigh me every day. What the hell is that? The best thing that ever happened to me was getting released by Toronto in 1993. This time around, Gord Ash has been great. He said, "We're going to leave you alone. You've been around long enough to know what has to be done." That's the way they treated me in New York, too. Everybody can say what they want about my physique, but I know what I'm doing. Here's the way I look at it: When you're pitching good, you're the skinniest man in the league. When you're pitching bad, you're the fattest.

On Sunday, June 25, in Toronto, after hitting a game-tying, two-run homer off Martinez in the seventh inning, Delgado sat in the dugout and did his best to ignore the commotion circling around him. He heard the shrieking cries and the pleading cheers, and his answer was no. There were 31,022 people in the stands, and the Blue Jays were heading for a series sweep, and still Delgado-who had just hit the ball 427 feet, off the glass wall of Windows restaurant-would not leave the dugout to take a bow. Pedro hadn't allowed a homer with a runner on base in 43 starts, and still the answer was no. The accomplishment, in his mind, did not merit the reward. But then catcher Alberto Castillo told him to get out there, and Wells stuck his head out of the dugout and waved as if he had done something. Slightly shamed, mostly amused, Delgado gave in. He poked his head out like a frightened gopher, gave a quick wave and went back to his seat. "Now, don't take me wrong," Delgado says. "I appreciated it, and it was awesome to get the recognition from the fans and my teammates. But let's look at it: All I did was tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. It wasn't like we won the World Series or anything like that. Here we are, facing the best pitcher in the game, and all we did was tie the game. We still have work to do. You know, this is June. This is June. We're not talking about September."

Delgado heads to the batting cage more than three hours before every game, intent on getting 40 or 50 good swings as a way of "getting my routine started." He missed it once this year, before a game against the Red Sox, because he was tired and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was going. (He got a hit.) Patience at the plate has become his greatest virtue. He stands there like an arrogant inspector, confident enough to wait for the one mistake he knows is coming. "I think nobody can get me out," he says. "I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to hit. If I get my pitch, I'm going to get a hack in. And if I don't get you this time, I'll get you next time. I'm not saying I'm better than anybody, but I am saying that nobody is better than me."

To read the rest of the story, get the July 24 issue of ESPN The Magazine.