Most of '86

MOST SADDENING Two days after being drafted No. 1 by the Celtics -- his "dream within a dream" -- Maryland Basketball Star Len Bias died in a rush of cocaine. Academic deficiencies came out then, and Coach Lefty Driesell resigned.

MOST STIRRING The master Jack Nicklaus and the thoroughbred Bill Shoemaker triumphed at 46 at Augusta and at 54 at Churchill Downs. Both wept, neither alone.

MOST ENDURING An American who dreams like a Frenchman, Greg LeMond, became the first non-European ever to win the 23-day Tour de France.

MOST DASHING Diego Armando Maradona, Argentina's "Little Onion," made the World Cup his own. His penultimate goal, against England, climaxed a broken- field run worthy of Gale Sayers.

MOST TROUBLING Infielder Ray Knight, symbol of New York Mets comebacks, will not come back next year. Cash was his problem. Pitcher Dwight Gooden's problem is undetermined after a brawl with Tampa police.

MOST PERPLEXING Not one American had enough Grand Prix points to be among the eight master tennis players invited to the last men's tournament of the season. Only four Yanks rank in the top 25.

MOST SOLARPLEXING Boxing is as twisted as ever, but a young heavyweight named Mike Tyson, 20, appears to be in the process of straightening everybody out.

MOST BANKRUPTING Hoping for $1.7 billion in its anti-trust suit against the N.F.L., the U.S.F.L. won $3 instead. Expecting to make $20 million at his Moscow Goodwill Games, Ted Turner lost $26 million.

MOST SPIRIT SINKING Already, starchy Newport, R.I., is stiffening itself to wait until at least 1995 before playing host again to the America's Cup. Even if the Cup is recaptured by one of the two surviving U.S. boats (Stars & Stripes out of San Diego and USA out of San Francisco), neither skipper is likely to choose the East Coast home of the swells for the next trip down to the sea.

MOST YAWNING Only 38 of 374 interruptions from N.F.L. replay booths have been sustained. Pro football has replaced marathon dancing in the hearts of insomniacs.