The legend goes that after an athlete appears on the cover of S.I. - the nation’s leading sports mag - his or her immediate fortune do a spin out.

A couple of cases in point:

* After Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was pictured on the 1974 NBA Preview Issue, his club, the Milwaukee Bucks, started the season 2-13 and Kareem got hurt.

* Two weeks after Rams’ quarterback Kurt Warner appeared on cover of the bi-weekly in 2000, he broke a finger and missed five games.

* Just days after the Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra popped up shirtless with rippled muscles on the cover in 2001, he ripped a tendon in his right wrist. He’s been sidelined with a litany of physical ailments ever since.

* And most notoriously, in 1962, a young race car driver by the name of Ricardo Rodriguez was pictured on the cover of SI next to the headline “Mexico’s Young Fireball.” Weeks later he was tragically killed in a fiery crash.

So far, Lincecum has dodged the bad luck. In his first start after appearing on newsstands nationwide, he beat the Cubs. And Lincecum was just named to the pitching staff of the National League All-Star Game roster.

We’ll keep his jinx status monitored. In the meantime if you doubt the S.I. curse, here’s how past Giants have fared after appearing on the cover.

Timmy, you might want to go back to playing “Grand Theft Auto.”

On September 24, 1966, the date of the S.I. issue that featured a photo of Giants ace Gaylord Perry – looking as if he was trying to catch a falling baby - the Giants were four games out of first place. The hot club would win six of their next final seven games. But the Dodgers kept pace, and won the NL pennant race by 1.5 games. The title of the cover piece? “The Anguish of the Pennant Race.” Truer words were never written.

Barry Bonds was featured on the cover of S.I. five times as a Giant. The articles through the publication of this cover piece, dated October 8, 2001, were all about Barry’s exploits in the batter’s box or his sour disposition. But nearly every thing published about the slugger after this cover piece had the words “Steroids” and “BALCO Barry” in the headlines.

Thirty-nine year old Willie Mays made history and the cover of S.I. in late July of 1970 after rapping his landmark 3,000th career hit. After the magazine hit the newsstand on July 27, 1970 Mays collected just two hits in his next 23 at-bats and failed to drive in a run.

Giants star pitcher Juan Marichal marked his only career SI cover appearance in an issue dated August 9, 1965 with the quizzical headline “Latin Conquest of the Big Leagues.” In his next game, Marichal beat the Pirates to improve to a fantastic 18-8. But three starts later, in a match-up against the Dodgers Sandy Koufax. a vicious on-field fight broke out, with Marichal bashing L.A. catcher John Roseboro over the head with a bat. Marical was promptly suspended and missed several starts, costing the Giants a shot at the pennant. The incident would shroud the rest Marichal career, delaying his entry into the Hall of Fame.

Popular Giant Matt Williams was at his career apex when he appeared on the June 5, 1995 issue of SI. Matty was leading the NL in home run and tied for the league in hits. Then, virtually the same day the mag appeared in mail boxes across the country, Williams fouled a pitch off his left big toe, and missed the next 10 weeks.

Chunky Giants ace Rick Reuschel had won nine of his past 10 decisions when SI put him on the cover with the header “A True Giant” on their issue dated July 10, 1989. Immediately the cover proved a rare instance of good luck when “Big Daddy” was named to start the All-Star Game. Then the first two batter’s Reuschel faced in the mid-summer classic – Bo Jackson and Wade Boggs – bashed titanic home runs.

For the first time in 22 seasons, the Giants started a season without the great Willie Mays in 1973. They got off to a fantastic start and were in first place at the end of April, prompting S.I. to place shortstop Chris Speier on the cover of their April 30, 1973 issue with the caption “Giant Among Giants.”

The Giants soon sank to the middle of the pack in the NL West. Within two season the cash-poor Giants had nearly relocated to Toronto. Another 16 seasons would pass before a Giant player (Reuschel) would appear on a Sports Illustrated cover.