RealClearSports: Oakland Teams Find There's No There There

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. – She didn’t mean what we thought she meant. Gertrude Stein’s infamous quote about this town, “There is no there there,’’ was misinterpreted. The intent of teams that, like Stein, called Oakland home is well understood, however.

They can’t wait to get out.

Stein, the poet, author and art collector...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: It all comes down to one game for the Oakland Raiders

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Oh, those Raiders. So many penalties. “After the flags, guys come up to me on the sidelines, and say, that’s what happens when you play for the Raiders,”  mused quarterback Carson Palmer.

Oh those Raiders, blown out by Green Bay, giving up a late lead to Detroit, ranked fourth-worst in the NFL in total defense.

Oh those Raiders...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: This year's San Francisco 49ers reminiscent of 1981 team

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

What’s made this 49ers season, this delightful journey, even more fulfilling is no one saw this coming. In a way, it’s similar to 1981, the year that changed the way the Bay Area, really the entire country, judged the franchise.

There were no expectations back then, other than the fact that somehow the Niners wouldn’t win. But as we know, they did win, and San Francisco, beside itself with joy, celebrated as it never did again. The first time never can be repeated.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: As Coach, Jackson's View Different Now

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. — This was classic NBA, the near catchup, which keeps some fans in the arena and, more importantly, keeps others from turning off the TV.

A year ago, Mark Jackson, ESPN announcer, would have been thrilled as a lead of 19 points was reduced to five. "I would have embraced it and had about 10 catchphrases locked and loaded,'' Jackson said.

Now, Mark Jackson, Golden State Warriors coach, was properly concerned.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Disgrace, Disillusionment Infect World of Sports

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Our world, the world of fun and games, is once more a world of shame, of a coach who failed to tell the truth, of a sports columnist accused of abusing young children, of an English soccer ace facing criminal charges for an alleged racial slur.

Another headline, another disillusionment, another question of what next?

One week Jerry Sandusky of Penn State, a few days later Bernie Fine of Syracuse...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Uphill battle awaits Golden State Warriors

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

They are the NBA’s mystery team, led by a coach who never has coached, constructed upon two guards with divergent problems, and opening with games that may get them in headlines and perhaps into a hole from which the Warriors can’t escape.

Their past is haunting, 16 seasons of the past 17 unable to make the playoffs. Their future is promising, if the words of Mark Jackson — a man of many words as a TV commentator before switching jobs — are to be believed.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: When big plays are needed, Raiders are unable to deliver

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The Raiders had the game, and then they didn’t.

“We let it slip,” Raiders safety Tyvon Branch said.

They had the game, then the Detroit Lions had it.

“We can’t finish,” said Oakland coach Hue Jackson. “To say I’m disappointed is an understatement.”


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: When Lights Come on, It's 49ers Football

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Let's skip the obvious and refuse to describe the performance as lights out, because literally at Candlestick Park on Monday night, they did go out - twice - in a power outage.

Let's not skip the obvious: The San Francisco 49ers are a very good football team, and they proved it by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, another very good football team, 20-3.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Good News in Sports? Tim Tebow

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

He’s cured cancer? He’s overthrown the Castro government? He’s solved the Euro crisis? He hasn’t? You mean all Tim Tebow has done is play football, and maybe knelt down a few times?

And because of that he’s despised by one segment of society and idolized by another? And ESPN keeps talking about him and showing him for hours on end? Amazing. Understandable.

He’s easier on the conscience than Penn State...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: San Francisco 49ers aren't catching breaks these days

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Jim Harbaugh was talking about criticism, conceding when the 49ers lose, there will be second-guessing.

“The whys for what happened,” he calls it. The worry is not what happened, but what didn’t happen, with the 49ers unable to get a victory.

“They’re the hunted now,” Harbaugh said of his Niners, after winning the division...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Warriors Take $7 Million Chance on Brown

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It’s only $7 million, and it’s only for a year. And they already had been stiffed by Tyson Chandler and lost out on DeAndre Jordan. And in the NBA someone has to be listed at center, so the Golden State Warriors signed Kwame Brown.

The Warriors, indeed, had a center, Andris Biedrins. Been with them the past few years while he attempted not to foul out and to make free throws, rarely succeeding in either category.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Rodgers still breaking hearts of NFL fans in the Bay Area

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The question arose again on an afternoon when the Niners once more had trouble scoring touchdowns and the Raiders simply had trouble playing football: What if San Francisco had selected Aaron Rodgers with the first pick in the 2005 NFL draft?

Growing up in Chico, playing for Cal — where he once completed 23 straight passes against USC — Rodgers was a 49er fan. That the 49ers — specifically coach Mike Nolan — chose Alex Smith and Rodgers slipped to 24th, taken by Green Bay, always may haunt San Francisco.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Pujols Will Make Angels Resonate in Hollywood

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They've always been the other team, the outsiders, for 50 years, their entire existence. They changed ballparks, changed logos, changed names.

They played in Dodger Stadium, calling it Chavez Ravine, and now they play in the suburbs, calling themselves the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which is as absurd as saying the New York Yankees of Long Island.

When they weren't anonymous, they were the punch line of jokes...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Niners need extra push in red zone

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

So the Niners are less than perfect in the red zone, which is football newspeak to describe when a team is within the opponent’s 20-yard line. And they rank 24th in the NFL in offense. Yet, only one team has a better record, so what’s the problem?


That they get field goals instead of touchdowns? When the other team doesn’t score, as the St. Louis Rams didn’t score Sunday, at the moment, that’s only a trifle. Now when they face the Packers ...





Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Call It the 'Bowl Complaint Series'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

And from the sort-of-great Northwest comes the word. “Everybody is just tired of the system.’’ That was Chris Petersen, Boise State coach, the system meaning the Bowl Championship Series, which should be called the Bowl Complaint Series.

Everybody? An exaggeration by Mr. Peterson, who if he doesn’t like the status quo could have accepted the position reportedly offered him by UCLA, which is having as much trouble finding a new football coach as it did scoring points against USC.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

Global Golf Post: Tiger Gets The Buzz Back

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA — Golf is whole again, and let us ignore what the skeptics and doubters might say. They'll argue that when Tiger Woods finally ended the silence, at last gave that full-voiced shout of victory on an 18th green, it came not in The Masters or U.S. Open, or even in a regular full-field PGA Tour event, but in what amounts to his own invitational, the Chevron World Challenge.

But a tournament is a tournament...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods ends 2-year drought with win

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The putt went in, and the cap came off. For the first time in two years, Tiger Woods had won a golf tournament, and he celebrated with first pumps, a wave of his hat and a smile that for golf had been too long unseen.

Woods came from a shot behind Zach Johnson with birdies on the final two holes Sunday to take the $5-million Chevron World Challenge, a charity event which benefits his Tiger Woods Foundation and surely was beneficial to the host.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods struggles in wind, trails by one

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Sherwood Country Club is cut into the rocky foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, fairways running up hillsides and down canyons, where Saturday afternoon, the wind gusted and swirled and tossed Tiger Woods for a loop.

Woods' three-shot lead entering the third round of the $5-million Chevron World Challenge was blown away, and he fell to second, a shot behind Zach Johnson.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: Tiger Still the Only Golfer Who Matters

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Let’s not fool ourselves. In golf, there’s Tiger Woods, and there’s everyone else.

Not specifically on the scoreboard, because as is obvious from the results, Rory McIlroy and Charles Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley can damn well play, and win.

But in our minds. In our attention to the game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Is it time for Golden State Warriors fans to believe again?

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The promises are out there, from a chain of command which seems very commanding, from a new head coach who acts very demanding.

This is the season, we are told, when fans of the Warriors, the most persistent, most loyal fans in sports, receive their payback.

Sixteen years out of 17, the Warriors have missed the playoffs...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company