RealClearSports: Tradition No Longer Matters at Rose Bowl

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

PASADENA, Calif. -- Hey, Gramps. Or maybe you would prefer Granddaddy, because that's the way you're always referred to in Rose Bowl literature, as "the Granddaddy of Them All."

Love you -- I'd have to, or I wouldn't have dropped by 57 straight times, planning to make it 58 Friday -- but you're becoming virtually unrecognizable.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: 49ers franchise at a crossroads

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Jed York is talking again. This time he makes sense, although that may not be enough to make immediate progress.

No wild-hare predictions, like that absurd statement back in October when the 49ers were 0-5 they would win the division, a fanciful thought which made Jed seem out of touch.




Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Finer Points of Coaching Elude Singletary

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- He wanted winners. He said as much. A billboard along the freeway near the Candlestick off-ramp with his image reiterated the proclamation. Mike Singletary was a man of little pretense.

Also, unfortunately, of little coaching experience.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Raiders Playing It by the (E-mail) Letters

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Jason Campbell is the quarterback the Washington Redskins traded to the Oakland Raiders so he wouldn't sit on the bench behind Donovan McNabb, who has been told to sit on the bench behind Rex Grossman, who was unwanted by the Chicago Bears even though he helped them get to a Super Bowl.

You still with us? Is McNabb still with the Skins? Campbell very much still is with the Raiders, who with two games left in the season still are in the chase for the playoffs.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Keith Smart enjoying life at the top

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He remembers the spoon being tossed into the metal sink at 4:30 a.m. Keith Smart’s father had finished his coffee and was leaving for work in Baton Rouge, La. Another day had begun, and for a boy, so had an understanding of what life was all about.


Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Nevada's Kaepernick Battles Obscurity

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- One pro scouting report called him "intriguing,'' which after the numbers, fabulous, and the general lack of national recognition, irritating, is possibly the best way to describe Colin Kaepernick.

He's a quarterback as well known for running as passing. He plays in a town, Reno, as well known for its slogan -- "The Biggest Little City in the World'' -- divorces and gambling, as its sports.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: No Weeping for Feller, a Man of His Time

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

An era is almost closed. Stan Musial remains, thankfully, a link to our past. But Joe DiMaggio is gone. Ted Williams is gone. Now Bob Feller is gone. Most of the greats I knew as a kid, if only through sports pages and radio, have taken their leave.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: A lot on the line for Niners personnel

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It’s been decided. Alex Smith will not be playing for the 49ers next season unless he’s playing for the 49ers next season. Mike Singletary is going to be replaced as coach unless he’s retained as coach. Anything else you need?

“This is a game for madmen,” said the great Vince Lombardi. “In football, we’re all mad.” Are we ever.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Favre Leaves Us Grasping for Perspective

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Steve Young, as always, made the intelligent assessment. How, asked Young, a Hall of Fame quarterback himself, do we use the word "perspective" when analyzing what Brett Favre has accomplished?

"People ask me to put this in perspective,'' Young said on ESPN, talking about the end of Favre's consecutive starts streak at 297. "But there's no perspective. This is uncharted territory.''

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Last Hurrah for 49ers' Alex Smith?

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Peyton Manning again looked like a quarterback who should have been the first pick in an NFL draft. Which he was, reassuring to those who believe teams know what they are doing.

Or, no less significantly, the quarterback they select knows what he is doing.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Woods making progress despite loss

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

There was a considerable amount of gloating about Tiger Woods squandering a lead down the stretch in his own tournament, the Chevron World Challenge, the “See, I told you he can’t win anymore” crowd gleefully reminding, “See, I told you he can’t win anymore.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Meredith: Brilliant Star of a Bygone Era

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

There was a certain eeriness to the fact Don Meredith would die hours before a Monday Night Football contest. Also a certain poignancy.

Meredith better than anyone understood the contention of the late commissioner Pete Rozelle that at its essence the NFL is nothing but entertainment.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Singletary keeps 49ers fans guessing

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The coach still is the coach, and why not? It wouldn’t do any good to get rid of Mike Singletary at this point. He has a sense of purpose, and at times a sense of humor. You go after him, and he’s right back at you, admirable even if his record is not.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

Global Golf Post: Chevron Event Has Special Meaning for McDowell

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- It was at the Chevron World Challenge a year ago that Graeme McDowell was given a chance to jump-start his career, and, as noted by his journeys and his successes -- a U.S. Open champion is forever -- he has no plans on stopping.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post

Global Golf Post: Tiger's Progress Gives Golf Its Groove Back

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- This is what matters: Golf again has its spirit, its soul, its attraction. Golf again has its niche in the sports pages, its place on the television screens. Golf again has Tiger Woods, stepping beyond the past and into the future.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post

RealClearSports: USC Wins But Doesn't Sell

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

PASADENA, Calif. -- This is Hollywood territory, been-there-done-that country. All they're interested in around here is box office.

Tradition is for Peoria. Or Lincoln. You better put something on the plate -- or, more specifically, on the field -- if you want to sell tickets.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Tiger Looks 'Ominously Good'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Mark Stevens, the PGA Tour official, unintentionally summed it up. "Welcome back, Tiger,'' was Stevens' greeting as Woods sat down in the interview room.

Yes, welcome back to golf without agony, to a place atop a leaderboard, to a feeling that the pain and doubt of the last year had been overcome. At last.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Uribe's departure just part of game

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

There’s no crying in baseball. No permanence either. Wonder if those Dodger fans will get the hang of saying “Ooo-reebay”? Wonder if there’s any sort of chant that can be created out of “Tay-ha-dah”?

We blinked, and it’s all changed.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Tiger Longs to Begin Next Chapter

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The year that wasn't is coming to an end for Tiger Woods with many of the same questions, plenty of the same answers and on one side at least, his, a longing for separation as well as forgiveness.

When near the end of a media conference which provided more commentary than insight -- hardly unexpected under the circumstances -- local sportscaster Jim Hill asked sympathetically, "Are you tired of, or is it ...'' Tiger cut him off in mid-sentence.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: America Slipping in Schools and Sports

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

On a quintessential American holiday, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wrote of a now quintessential American problem, our decline in global competition.

The emphasis was academics. How half of the winners of Rhodes Scholarships, America's top grads, either were from other countries or the offspring of recent immigrants, students with last names such as Kang, Tauqeer, Alekeyeva and Nadathur.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010