Woody and a Rose Bowl in the rain

PASADENA, Calif. — You know the song: “It Never Rains in Southern California — It Pours.” Written by a guy named Albert Hammond about not being able to find work in the movie business.

Could have been about the 1955 Rose Bowl game.

No question, the weather this time of year in SoCal is spectacular. For the most part, it’s blue skies. Chamber of Commerce stuff.

But as the lyrics of another song go, into each life (and region) some rain must fall — the “region” line is my own personal addition, because it was raining here on Thursday as far as the eye could see.

That was also the case more than 60 years ago for the event with the copyrighted nickname, “Grandaddy of Them All.”

The label was created by the good people around here because they believed the Rose Bowl, in a way responsible for the multitude of postseason college football matchups, was being pushed out of the headlines by lesser games.

But on that New Year’s Day, that afternoon in ’55, the Rose Bowl received attention it never wanted.

For the first time since 1934 and the last time ever — not counting some fourth-quarter heavy mist in 1996 — it rained on the Rose Bowl.

What a literal mess on the field. What a virtual stink caused by Woody Hayes.

He was a grumpy, demanding, un-merry old soul who coached Ohio State — which, interestingly enough, will play Utah on Saturday in the 2022 Rose Bowl.

In ’55 Hayes and Ohio State would beat USC, 20-7, but Woody was displeased because the Trojan band had been allowed to march at halftime on turf already soggy, thereby transforming the Buckeye attack to three yards and a clod of mud.

That was only one of the controversies for what, you should excuse the term, became a quagmire of a game.

USC shouldn’t even have played. UCLA not only was the No. 1 team in the land in the UPI poll but also the undefeated champion of the Pacific Coast Conference, from which the West Coast team in the Bowl normally would be chosen.

But the PCC had a no-repeat rule. UCLA had played (and lost to) Michigan State in the 1954 Rose Bowl. Thus USC got the call.

That game was our first formal introduction to Woody, who the late Jim Murray once said was graceless in victory, graceless in defeat. Hayes once punched Los Angeles Times photographer Art Rogers when Rogers, doing his job, aimed a camera at Hayes.

My job at the Rose Bowl, before I became a journalist, was to peddle programs. The first Rose Bowl game I worked, 1954, I ended up with $10 and, because the goal posts were made of wood and people could swarm the field, a few memorable slivers. I was in high school and thrilled.

But one year later, everything was different. Before that 1955 game, the heavens opened up around 10:30 in the morning. I was unprepared. So was everyone else.

The usual 100,000 tickets had been sold (at $15 each, if I recall), but attendance was around 89,000. As I slogged through the stadium trying to sell before the game started, a spectator stopped me and asked if I wanted to buy a ticket for 25 cents. No thanks.

I was wearing one of those high school letterman-type jackets, blue with fake leather sleeves over a required white dress shirt.

By the time I left, the shirt was blue from the jacket color leaking. I had earned $1.25. Happy New Year. Glub.

John Madden was different because he was ordinary

So here was this sports columnist sitting in a lineup of cars trying to get to the Bay Bridge toll plaza. And three lanes to his right, there’s a guy repeatedly honking his horn for apparently no reason.

The columnist finally looks over, and it’s John Madden, waving and laughing. He had seen me as we drove west from Oakland to San Francisco. No pretension, just joy.

Madden, who died Tuesday at 85, was special because he was ordinary, at least away from the field, a size extra-large blend of curiosity and commentary.

He knew the game of football, winning Super Bowl XI as coach of the Oakland Raiders. He also understood the game of life: Be friendly as much as possible.

He was born in Minnesota but virtually was a Northern Californian, growing up in Daly City, graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and eventually ending up in the East Bay community of Pleasanton — where, in the manner of the pioneers, he grabbed vacant fields that quickly enough became valuable property.

John could be demanding. There are stories about his impatience with others in broadcasting. Yet most of all, in person or behind a microphone, he made you feel good.

I was the Raiders beat man for the San Francisco Chronicle for a while in the early 1970s, and he didn’t always like what I wrote — which didn’t make him unusual in the profession.

What did make him unusual was the way he responded. Some coaches claim they never read the papers. Madden would come at me after practice, waving the Chron sports page.

Then he would sit me down and explain what was wrong, so I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. An education. 

In those days, the Raiders took the writers on their charters for road trips, the better for the papers to save travel expenses. As soon as the flight was in the air and the seat belt sign was off, Madden would stand up and march to the front or rear of the aircraft.

As we learned, Madden disliked flying. After he left Cal Poly, a football team charter crashed in 1960. Numerous players, friends of Madden, died. The accident haunted him.

He also was claustrophobic, feeling trapped in a silver capsule, and as soon as he left the Raiders for broadcasting, Madden switched first to a train and then a bus — the Madden Cruiser.

He was adept at describing the quarterback draw — his signature remark after a big gain was empathic and brief: “Boom.”

He fit in everywhere and with everyone, working TV with Pat Summerall and then Al Michaels; getting off the bus at stops in various places and dining and chatting with the locals.

His daily show on the San Francisco radio station KCBS offered Madden at his eclectic best, moving from sports to food to weather to geography.

Once, relating to rivers, Madden said he was uncertain about the word “confluence,” as to the linking of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers to form the Ohio River in Pittsburgh. “So, that’s a confluence,” he repeated, having as much fun as the listeners.

John Robinson was Madden’s pal from their days as kids and teenagers in Daly City. They were both football people — Robinson became head coach at USC and later the Rams.

“We’d go to an ice cream store,” Madden remembered of their boyhood. “I’d buy a cone, and he’d always take a bite; to stop him I’d lick the whole thing, but John Robinson would eat it anyway. He was different.”

So was John Madden. John, that will be me honking in salute the next time I cross the Bay Bridge.

Is Garoppolo just another Steve DeBerg?

An individual who has followed the 49ers for years has an idea about Jimmy Garoppolo: “He reminds me of Steve DeBerg,” said the individual.

For those unfamiliar with DeBerg, that’s not exactly high praise. Or complete disparagement.

DeBerg had a lengthy career in the NFL, three years of which (1978-80) he spent with the 49ers at the start of the Bill Walsh era, which began in 1979.

The Niners would move the ball, and then in a critical situation DeBerg would be intercepted. He invariably made the big mistake.

As Garoppolo did Thursday night when San Francisco couldn’t hold on to a 10-0 halftime lead and was beaten 20-17 by the Tennessee Titans. 

Jimmy G threw a couple of interceptions, one from Tennessee’s 8-yard line in the first period, and also missed an open man in the end zone in the second half. And while the defense, the Niners’ strength, could be faulted, the quarterback’s failures were inescapable.

“I thought we should have been up more, that was for sure,” was the assessment of head coach Kyle Shanahan. “I thought we could have got three scores with those drives. We didn’t.”

Not with Garoppolo missing receivers or, worst of all, throwing when nobody was open and no worse than a field goal assured — unless the other team gets the ball.

Which it did to halt two of the chances.

So maybe it’s unfair in a team sport in which offense, defense and special teams are involved. But one man has the ball and decides what he’s going to do with it.

“We were rolling early on,” said Garoppolo, “and in the middle just kind of got a little sluggish. It’s tough when you let a win like this slip away.”   

Tougher when literally you throw it away.

Turnovers are killers at every level of football. The Niners had two, the interceptions, the Titans zero.

The Niners are 8-7 this season and still in the wild-card chase. But they are 1-6 when Garoppolo throws at least one interception, as opposed to 7-0 when he doesn’t have one.

Jimmy G was the quarterback for a Niners team in a Super Bowl, something DeBerg was unable to accomplish. Yet the Patriots traded Garoppolo to San Francisco when he seemed to be the heir apparent to Tom Brady.

One wonders if Patriots coach Bill Belichick sensed a deficiency.

The future of Garoppolo’s career with the Niners is a mystery. The Niners traded three first-round selections to Miami for the right to make the pick in April that brought them quarterback Trey Lance.

Shanahan and his staff determined Garoppolo this year would be more efficient than a rookie, no matter how qualified and regarded Lance might be.

That followed the Bill Walsh philosophy. He suffered through the DeBerg seasons while Joe Montana was getting acclimated and confident.

A week ago, Garoppolo was exactly what he needed to be, the Niners winning at Cincinnati. Four days later, he was a quarterback who put his team in distress.

This Sunday, San Francisco has a bye, a time perhaps to reflect and second-guess. The season continues with a home game against the woeful Texans and then one at L.A. against the Rams.  

The presumption is Garoppolo will start at quarterback in both. And that he’ll play well enough to get his team to the postseason.

Then probably, Trey Lance takes over.

But who knows how good Lance might be — the next Tom Brady or the next Jimmy Garoppolo, who was supposed to take over for Brady but never did?

Tour surrenders AT&T golf to Saudi event

So the PGA Tour surrendered, although no one involved would use that term. Maybe “gave in to reality” is more accurate.

Realized the big names always get their way, so why not give them what they want and avoid a conflict in what was once called the gentleman’s game.

The winners, among others, are Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and the Saudi International tournament.

The losers are the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, CBS television and the restaurants and shops on the Monterey Peninsula.

The AT&T, which started as the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, has been around for more than 80 years. It’s a traditional stop on Tour. But tradition has no chance when matched against oil sheiks.

They created a tournament that the Asian Tour chose to endorse after the former European Tour (it’s been re-named the DP World Tour) stepped away. It is held at Royal Greens Golf Club near Jeddah and offers a huge purse and appearance fees.

That both events are to be staged in the first week in February makes for a difficult situation. Let’s go to the past tense — made for a difficult situation.

When a Tour player wants to enter an event opposite one on the Tour schedule, he must receive approval — and agree to stipulations for the future.  

On Monday, Saudi officials sent a media release mentioning they had commitments from 11 major champions. Golf Digest asked who would blink first. We found out quickly enough.

It was the Tour. When the AT&T does get underway, they should put white flags in the cups.

Yes, I know the players are “independent contractors” and go where the money is, and I also know that in personality-driven sports such as golf (Tiger Woods, Mickelson) and tennis (Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams) the stars have leverage.

But they built their reputations and bank accounts in tournaments that enabled them to learn and improve. And earn.

The AT&T may offer celebrities and wonderful courses deep in the forest or along the bay, but it’s golf competition, and you want the top players, the ones who drive up attendance and TV ratings as well as drive a ball 330 yards down a fairway.

Long ago, when I tended to write about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, even if they weren’t on the leader board or in the field, a golf official suggested I focus on the little-known players, to let people know who they were.

But that infamous headline, “Unknown wins Crosby,” will get only shrugs. ESPN, for better or worse, figured it out: Names are more important than games.

It didn’t matter that Tiger before the accident was 10 shots behind. To ESPN he was the story, often the only story.

You know that over the weekend Woods and his 12-year-old son, Charlie, played in the PNC father-son tournament. There were stories and videos from here to St. Andrews. Wow!

Tiger hasn’t been in the ATT for a while, but Mickelson and Dustin Johnson not only were there but more than once finished first. This coming February, however, they’ll be in Saudi Arabia.

The longtime tournament director of the AT&T, Steve John, has to be diplomatic and measured in any criticism. He’s not going to whine about players he hopes will be back in coming years.

"We are still focused on the many highlights of our tournament week," John told James Raia in the Monterey Herald. "We will be messaging that we will eclipse the $200 million milestone in supporting deserving non-profits in and around our community."

“We have received overwhelming community support from fans showing how eager they are to see their favorite celebrities.”

Good, but Phil Mickelson or Dustin Johnson wouldn’t hurt. In fact, they would help.

Justin Thomas ‘friggin’ blown away’ by Tiger’s round.

He played 18, and one of the men who was with him, a friend and a critic—as well as a major champion, Justin Thomas had this to say about the return of Tiger Woods; “I was friggin ‘blown away.”

If that borders on the obscene, well what Woods has done borders on the amazing.

Ten months ago surgeons were inserting a rod into his right leg and attaching his right foot to his ankle with pins and screws.

Ten months ago after that rollover auto accident a sheriff’s deputy in Southern California said Tiger was lucky he’s alive. 

Ten months ago the question was whether Woods would walk normally again, never stand and swing a golf club

But Saturday Tiger walked and played golf and awed Thomas along with most of us.

Sure he rode the course in a cart, but when he stepped out to hit a ball it was without a limp or without hesitation

It wasn’t the Masters. Wasn’t even  a normal PGA Tour tournament, but rather the PNC Championship, an annual  father-son (or for the Korda family, father-daughter) event at the Ritz-Carlton course in Orlando, Fla.

Two rounds, scramble format (each person hits and then the decision is made which ball to play. Entrants from 86-years old (Gary Player, teamed with grandson, Jordan) to 11 years old.

Thomas and his dad, Mike a teaching pro with a bad back, are defending champions, but everyone involved knows the idea is to have a good time. And usually nothing else is important.

Except this time. Except when Woods, who hadn’t played in competition for 263 days, makes –well, Peter Jacobsen said he wouldn’t describe it as a comeback although that’s exactly what it is.

So you don’t particularly care about golf. And you’ve been on Tiger ever since those escapades with the women. No matter, Woods remains transcendent, up there in the sporting galaxy with Tom Brady, Steph Curry, LeBron James and  Bill Belichick.

Tiger again played with his son, Charlie, who now is 12, has a swing much like his father—not from Tiger’s instruction but from Charlie’s replication—and loves to practice.

The Woods team is at a best-ball 10-under (Stewart and Reagan  Cink are 13—13 under but the only story really is Tiger. “Welcome to the most anticipated 36 holes in golf,” Dan Hicks told the Golf Channel audience at the start of a telecast which subsequently was switched to NBC. 

An exaggeration, indeed, but quite acceptable knowing the circumstances., Hicks later said tournament sponsors probably could have sold 20,000 tickets, but there wasn’t room on what basically is a resort course.

The man is not merely a sports figure, he’s a 21st  century version of a Greek tragedy whose struggles have only magnified his presence.

Praise him—as most do—or belittle him, you can’t ignore him. His past sins? America has forgiven others guilty of worse  transgretions. Woods will be 46 the end of December, the age of respectability.

After the round Woods—as any parent—talked more about his son than himself, explaining when questioned that Charlie tends to emulate all the moves of his father. But those were acquired, not taught. “I’m his father,” said Woods, “not his coach.”

One learns by practicing. “The grind of the game,” said Tiger, “from Hogan to Trevino to me.”

Lee Trevino, playing the PNG with one of his offspring], won two U.S. Opens and two British Opens. He’s now 82.

As we know, Tiger has won 15 majors, the last one the 2019 Masters, a surprise—as would be  any Tour victory, now,  major or not.

“He made some quality golf shots out there,” Thomas said about the round Saturday. I’m happy for him,”

So is all of golf. A Tiger revival would be just what the game needs.

Steph brings out the best in sports

This was sport at its best, a record, respect, appreciation, sharing. It was perfect timing in an imperfect world.

This was as good as it gets on the night Steph Curry got a place in history, along with an outpouring of praise from those who perhaps best understand what he has accomplished: others who play basketball at the highest level.

Tweets from so many, including LeBron James.

Curry literally was moved to tears as he considered what he had achieved, even though breaking the NBA record for career 3-point baskets had reached the point of inevitability.

He knew he was going to do it. We knew he was going to do it. He did it Tuesday night on arguably the game’s grandest stage, Madison Square Garden in New York City.

If you can make it there, the lyrics tell us, you can make it anywhere.

What Curry made at the 7:33 mark of the first quarter of the Warriors 105-96 win over the Knicks was the 3-pointer that would surpass Ray Allen’s mark of 2,973.

Before the game ended, among his total 22 points, Curry would make three more 3s, adding to a number that will grow as long as Steph keeps playing and shooting — and the contract for the 33-year-old lasts another three and a half seasons.

“I hope to push the record a long way,” said Curry.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, an excellent long-range gunner long ago, admiring the post-game celebrations, again reminded how much Steph had affected basketball.

“There were 82 3-pointers taken (Tuesday),” Kerr said. “So, on a night when he broke the record, the sum of both teams’ 3-point attempts was kind of a testament to Steph’s impact on the league.

“It’s a different game now, obviously. But Steph made it a different game.”

After Reggie Miller, who was broadcasting the game for TBS, and Allen, who was in the building, made their contributions, Reggie holding the record until Allen grabbed it.

The two were thrilled to be part of an evening that in a way was as much theirs as Steph’s.

“Reggie came up to Boston to cheer me on,” said Allen, who was with the Celtics. “As Steph got closer to the record, I told myself I had to find a way to be there.”

So he was, along with Curry’s parents — his father, Dell, played in the NBA — a few coaches and friends, and a Garden crowd of 19,000, some of which paid prices inflated by the importance of the event.

“When I came in the league,” said Curry, as a matter of fact and not pretension, ”I watched things like this happening. Now 11 years later, I’m the one.”

Indeed, the one who has brought attention to the Bay Area as well as himself. In an activity too full of bitterness and criticism, egotism unfettered, Curry seems universally loved.

He plays basketball beautifully and joyfully. As well as successfully.

“He’s great at the one skill every player wants to be great at,” Tim Legler, a very competent shooter himself, said on ESPN. “Steph has redefined shooting. The things he does to get open are incredibly difficult. He makes it look easy.”

Although Kerr thought he had prepared himself for the basket that would make Steph the record holder, he was awed by the reaction after it took place.

“The moment was spectacular,” Kerr said. “The aftermath was more emotional than I expected it to be. It was just an outpouring of love and appreciation for Steph from seemingly everyone in the building. Beautiful, beautiful.“

As are the gifts that ESPN reported Curry gave long-time teammates Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala for their support — Rolex watches.

Time pieces from a man whose play is timeless.

Down the stretch, Garoppolo performed like Montana

Agreed, he’s not Joe Montana. But the way Jimmy Garoppolo performed down the stretch Sunday, completing passes, leading the Niners from behind in overtime to a victory, was — dare we say — very reminiscent of Joe.

Jimmy G. won a game the San Francisco 49ers very much needed, a game it seemed they had let slip away and then wrenched back from the Cincinnati Bengals on the road.

He wasn’t alone. Joe Montana wasn’t alone. Tom Brady isn’t alone. John Elway wasn’t alone. Football is a team game, and a game of ebbs and flows, when the opportunity must be grabbed or it will lay groaning as a painful memory.

The memory of the Niners’ 26-23 victory on Sunday touches back to the good old days of comebacks and championships, of making the right calls and the right plays.

That in the great scheme of this NFL season the game may turn out to be insignificant doesn’t matter. When the oft-criticized Garoppolo had to get a win, he got it, in conjunction with Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa and Brandon Aiyuk — and certainly and demonstratively, the amazing George Kittle.

There, late in the afternoon at Cincinnati, were the erratic Niners, failing to take the game when Robbie Gould’s 43-yard field goal try at the end of regulation was wide; quickly behind, 23-20, when the Bengals made their own 3-pointer; pulling it out when, with virtually no time remaining, Aiyuk shoved the ball over the goal line as he flew into space.

It wasn’t beautiful, but it was successful. The saying in golf is applicable, “It ain’t how, it’s how many.” There’s no judging of form, just a display of the final score.

As a relieved Niners coach, Kyle Shanahan, conceded. 

Garoppolo botched things a week ago against Seattle, and there were other games when he couldn’t bring it home (even after the win, San Francisco is just 7-6, although very much a wild card possibility). 

This time with plenty of assistance from the offensive line, the receivers and the game plan, Garoppolo hit one pass after another. Or handed off to Samuel or Jeff Wilson. There was a sense of purpose and feeling of confidence.

“We kept saying that we’ve been in this situation before,” Garoppolo explained about the drive. “No one blinked. Guys knew that we had been here before, and we’ve done this before.”

True, but until you do it correctly, pulling out a game that seemingly was lost, it’s just rehearsal.

“We’ve just got to do this game,” said Garoppolo.

They did in no small part due to Kittle, the tight end who snares passes, batters potential tacklers and just generally makes the 49ers formidable and fearsome.

“That dude is the one Shanahan describe as a violent blocker and violent receiver” Aiyuk said of Kittle. “Not a bad combination. That dude is special.“

Kittle would just as soon hit possible defenders as catch a football, a trend coaches find perfect for a tight end, not that George shies away from getting a ball in his hands.

Against the Bengals, Kittle caught 13 passes for 151 yards, a touchdown and two first downs on third-down situations. “When you have a guy like him, you lean on him,” said Garoppolo.

If you didn’t, you’d better get a new job. Back when the Niners had Jerry Rice, and failed to target him, John Madden would growl, “He’s your best weapon. He needs the ball.”

What the 49ers needed was this victory, achieved in part because Cincy fumbled away two first-quarter punts and in part because Jimmy Garoppolo did what a 49er quarterback is expected to do.

Win the game the way Joe Montana used to do.

Steph lets his shots do the talking

Steph Curry was missing. Not with his shots. From the scene.

This was on Wednesday night, and as we all know — especially the guys at ESPN, who control our sports perceptions — only two people count in the NBA: Steph and that LeBron James guy.

LeBron, after helping the Lakers beat the Celtics, stood at a microphone and said, “I just like the way we competed tonight on both sides of the ball. A lot of intensity.”

Nothing to be etched in stone, but at least more than we heard from Curry.

Which was nothing.

Maybe Steph was trying to allow his teammates to get the attention after a 104-94 win over the troubled Portland Trail Blazers. Or maybe he was just weary from answering questions about the record he’s about to break.

You know the one, the lifetime total for 3-point baskets. For another few hours — or if Curry is off when the Warriors begin their road trip at Philly on Saturday, another few days — that record is 2,973, held by Ray Allen, who retired after the 2012-13 season.

Should we be excited about Steph’s quest? Indeed. He now is only nine threes short of tying Allen.

But unless the NBA is going to shut down tomorrow, Curry’s record is going to grow and grow. And grow. 

He has miles to go and many shots to make. The man is 33, and assuming he plays two seasons after this one — hey, LeBron will be 37 in a couple of weeks and he’s still rolling — Steph ought to put the record not only out of reach but beyond our imagination. He might hit another 200 of those long-range shots.

Not that teammate Draymond Green believes Curry will retain the record, once he sets it.

“Most people, especially in the analytical department, didn't think Steph Curry shot enough threes,” Green told NBC Bay Area Sports. 

“To this day, they still don't think Steph Curry shoots enough threes. That just goes to show you where the game is going and why his record will be broken probably within five to six years of him playing the game."

Who knows? What everyone does know is Curry helped remake the sport. Kids who wanted to dunk now just as often want to score from beyond the arc, which in the NBA is painted at 23 feet 9 inches.

"It totally changed the way the game is played,” said Green, “just by the way Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have been playing the game all this time.”

What Curry should be celebrated for is his accuracy and consistency. Along with his showmanship. Dribbling two basketballs in practice and connecting on those 35-foot baskets in pre-game warmups are fan favorites.

The eternal saying is that basketball is a team game, and while that’s true — hit the open man, switch while caught behind a screen on defense — it’s the individuals who make the game the joy it is.

The movie industry figured out a century ago that stars sold tickets. You didn’t need Shakespeare if Marilyn Monroe or Humphrey Bogart were on the marquee. In the NBA, what matters is who’s on the court — LeBron or Kevin Durant or, yes, Steph Curry.

As much as we love to watch them, others love to play with them — in effect sharing their success as well as adding to it. The other Warriors are well aware of the chase, at Chase Center and other locations, of a record.

“The vibe is still good,” said the Warriors’ Otto Porter Jr. “We are trying to figure out how to win playing Warriors basketball. We are trying to get good looks cutting off him. Steph is playmaking whether he is on or off the ball.”

Mostly when he shoots, he is on target.

Warriors soldier on after loss to Spurs

SAN FRANCISCO — They’re at it again Monday night. No time to rue. No time to relax. “This is how the NBA works,” said Steve Kerr.

He went through it as a player. Now he’s going through it as coach of the Warriors.

An impressive victory over the Suns on Friday night; a gloomy loss to San Antonio despite a comeback Saturday night; a day off Sunday for what little rest is possible, and here come the Orlando Magic, a third game in four nights.

Maybe Steph Curry will have recovered. “It looked to me like fatigue,” Kerr said of Curry missing 21 of his 28 shots. Probably the Warriors won’t fall behind by 22 points. We’ll find out out soon enough.

What we should have known is the season is destined to be a grind, although it’s doubtful there will be many games like Saturday night’s at Chase Center, when the Dubs were out of it, then worked back into it and took a 5-point lead before losing to the Spurs, 112-107.

Kerr couldn’t say much except he was proud of his team. “We’ve got a bunch of competitors,” was the affirmation.

But isn’t everybody in the NBA — except the Oklahoma City Thunder, who lost a game last week by a record 73 points?

Highly paid athletes may stumble, but they don’t quit. 

It was a rigorous weekend for the Dubs, beginning with an important victory over a Suns team that had won 18 straight.

“We don’t have to win it,” Kerr said in response to a question about that necessary victory. “It’s an 82-game season, and we didn’t have to win (Friday) night. It’s the body of work that counts.”

If you’re looking for perspective, that is. Still, it’s each individual game that matters, against the particular opponent or in the standings. And when the time comes in spring for the playoffs.

The psychology of success — or failure — is not to be overlooked. You beat a team often enough, and you’ll know you can do it in the postseason. So will they. 

The elephant missing from this room, certainly, is Klay Thompson, who may return in a couple weeks from the consecutive leg and foot injuries that have kept in from NBA competition since June 2019.

He not only scores, he enables Curry to score and plays outstanding defense. Or did. Surely the thought of a healthy, helpful Thompson allows Kerr a degree of serenity.

Yet even without Klay and with an understandably weary Steph (he was 7-of-28 for 27 points Saturday), the Warriors have gone 19-4.

“There are nights when things are stacked against you, in terms of the schedule,” Kerr pointed out, referring to back-to-back games that involved the Suns against the Warriors and then, a night later, the Warriors against the Spurs.

“When Phoenix played us (Friday), they probably got in (to San Francisco) around 3 a.m. That’s all part of being in the league. It’s going through scheduling stuff and trying to find the energy to win. (Saturday) it looked to me like our whole team, not just Steph, was a step behind. We’ll bounce back.”

Before the season, the question was whether the Warriors had a chance against the Lakers, but L.A. has been without LeBron James for numerous games, either because of a groin injury or Covid-19 protocol.

James will turn 37 at the end of the month (Curry is 33), and his age may be an issue. The Lakers do have Anthony Davis, Carmelo Anthony, and Russell Westbrook, each an all-star.

Yet it’s the Suns, NBA finalists a year ago, who figure to be the team the Warriors must beat.

Assuming they don’t beat themselves, as almost happened Saturday night.

A courageous stand by women’s tennis

You know the line about putting your money where your mouth is. When the words stop and the action begins. When it gets down to courage instead of talk.

The leaders of women’s tennis displayed that courage. Stood up for one of their own — and other women who never have picked up a racquet.

Announced they were suspending all tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, because of the disappearance from public life of former Grand Slam and Olympic doubles champion Peng Shuai.

The suspension will cost the Women’s Tennis Association hundreds of millions of dollars. It comes only two months before the Winter Olympics are to be held in China.

Yet after numerous requests to contact Peng had been ignored, the WTA, to its credit, did what the NBA or International Olympic Committee either could not or would not do.

It made an individual more important than a barrelful of dollars.

Two years ago Daryl Morey, then general manager of the Houston Rockets and now president of the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted support of those marching against the Communist repression in Hong Kong.

The Chinese government responded angrily, threatening to end NBA telecasts in China, which earn the league millions. The NBA apologized. Never again would someone involved with the league mention anything about democracy.

The situation with Peng Shuai is different literally but virtually the same, an authoritarian government reminding the world of its power.

The WTA tried unsuccessfully to speak directly to Peng after her accusations in social media. Finally, in a move that surprised some, it came on strong.

Peng had been seen on iPhone screens — including a video conference with the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach — but not in person.

Bring her forth, said Steve Simon, chief executive of the WTA. Or else. The “or else” proved to be huge.

“I very much regret it has come to this point,” Simon said in a statement Wednesday. “The tennis community in China and Hong Kong are full of great people with whom we have worked for many years. They should be proud of their achievements, hospitality and success.

“However, unless China takes the steps we have asked for we cannot put our players and staff at risk by holding events in China. China’s leaders have left the WTA no choice.”

The suspicion is that China’s leaders didn’t really care when it comes down to protecting their interests.

Over the years, we’ve heard how sport helps develop relationships with other counties. But you better play by their rules if you want to have a chance in the game.

The story reads like one of those “me too” situations, except in China it seems less an issue of helping the victim than protecting the guilty.

In a free society, it would be tabloid stuff, scandalous. But as you have concluded, China is not a free society. 

Peng, 35, accused Zhang Gaol, 75, a former vice premier of China, of sexually assaulting her at his home three years ago. She also said she had an on-and-off consensual relationship with him. Then she disappeared.

When people in tennis wanted to know her whereabouts and her condition, China’s state-owned broadcast network came up with a story that Peng claimed she didn’t make the accusations.

“Hello, everyone, this is Peng Shuai,” the voice said, adding there had been no sexual assault. “I’m not missing, nor am I unsafe. I’ve been resting at home, and everything is fine. Thank you for caring about me.”

Skeptical? So too were Steve Simon and most everybody in tennis. Simon said he wants a full, fair and transparent investigation into Peng Shuai’s claims, “without censorship.”

Whether or not Peng Shuai is missing, for sure women’s tournaments in China will be.

Death of a Masters legend

Did Cliff Roberts literally say that no black man would play in the Masters golf tournament as long as he were chairman of Augusta National Golf Club?

That was the rumor in the press room in the late 1960s and early 70s. After all, hadn’t the qualifying standards been adjusted again and again, seemingly to exclude Charlie Sifford or Pete Brown?

But Lee Elder qualified just after the ’74 Masters ended, and at a function weeks later in New York, where the ’74 U.S. Open was scheduled, Roberts and Elder embraced while others stood and cheered.

It was as if a burden had been lifted. For Roberts. For Elder. For golf. For the Masters.

Elder, who died Monday at 87, would make history when he teed off in the ’75 Masters, even though he would not make the cut — something he accomplished three times — of the six he played.

A quiet, persistent individual, basically a self-taught golfer, Elder won several times on Tour and the Champions Tour. 

He was the legacy of men like Ted Rhodes, who in the 1940s and 50s overcame restrictions that now would be illegal as well as immoral.

Until 1959, the PGA of America, which ran the weekly tournaments, had a Caucasians-only clause in its charter. When two black pros were allowed to enter the Richmond Open — Richmond, Calif., near Oakland, not Richmond, Va. — an official came on the course and forced them to leave.

Elder knew. He also knew he had to play on the United Golf Tour, where in effect black golfers had their own league until they qualified for the PGA.

And he knew as he traveled from event to event there were places he couldn’t stay or couldn’t eat. It was the Jackie Robinson story a decade later.

It worked out well. Elder and his first wife, Rose, settled in the suburbs of Washington D.C., where a local Oldsmobile dealer became a sponsor and friend, and where some of the nation’s political leaders joined him for a round or two.

The 1976 PGA Championship was held at Congressional Country Club, and Rose and Lee Elder threw a party for contestants, a few media and at least one person who played an occasional round with Lee, President Gerald Ford.

Dave Stockton finished first, the second of his two PGA Championship victories. Elder obviously was also very much a winner.

You could say that by the time Lee played that first Masters, at age 45, time had passed him by, that he was cheated out of his best chance to win, but there was no whining.

There was just appreciation.

The days of struggling and threats from fans who sought to keep the status quo were in the past. There were black fans. The Masters would have an African-American champion, maybe the greatest golfer ever, Tiger Woods. Elder was in attendance when Woods stunned the world with his record-breaking first win in 1997.

How fortunate for the Masters and the game that the current Augusta chairman, Fred Ridley, a former U,S. amateur champ, chose this year’s Masters for Lee to be an honorary starter.

Lee joined Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to hit the traditional early-morning tee shots that begin the round. He already was a hero to the Augusta employees, many of whom are black. Now he was a legend.

The only shame was that Clifford Roberts, who died years earlier, wasn’t there to see it.

No trombone, but for Cal a win over Stanford

STANFORD — The band wasn’t on the field. But the football was. Or jn the other team’s hands after an interception.

This was the 124th Big Game, which was great and historic, if you’re interested in that stuff. But for the sporting world — especially for those beyond the bay — there only will be one memorable game.

That would be the one in 1982, when Cal won on that miraculous (poorly officiated, the Stanford people will argue) multi-lateral kickoff return, when announcer Joe Starkey gave what seems is the most incongruous call ever in college football: “The band is on the field!”

In this year’s matchup, there was nothing quite as interesting or debatable — did the knee of one Cal returner touch the ground before the end of the kickoff return that gave the Bears the 25-20 win?

Nothing that would get ESPN, which normally doesn’t pay attention to what happens out here in the West, to show rerun after rerun.

This Big Game, which Cal won 41-11 on a cool Saturday before 49,265 at Stanford Stadium, wasn’t quite that compelling. Or controversial.

Or even competitive. But how could it be? How could anything be?

At the end of that run, Cal’s Kevin Moen crashed into Stanford band member Gary Tyrrell, who along others in his group had marched onto field to celebrate.

Before the kickoff, Tyrrell was despised by Stanford types, who believed his presence in the end zone was a reflection of imperfection.

But over the years attitudes changed, even if the score didn’t.

Now a financial consultant, Tyrrell lives in Half Moon Bay and is involved with the Stanford program. “Rivals, and kindred spirits. Honor the game. Beat Cal,” he tweeted prior to Stanford failing to beat Cal.

The trombone is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

John Elway was the Stanford quarterback in that 1982 Big Game. The defeat cost him and the Cardinal a chance for the Rose Bowl. Tyrrell, meanwhile, got over the game quickly enough, doing public appearances with Moen, the guy who knocked him and his trombone for a loop.

“In getting to know Gary, I have found him to be a nice, diligent, normal guy,” said Moen, now a real estate broker in Rolling Hills Estates.

Elway needed years to forgive. At last he mellowed, after leading the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl victories, and conceded to Jackie Kretzman in a piece for Stanford Alumni Magazine, “It gets funnier as the years go along.”

There was nothing humorous for the referee, Charles Moffett, who was chased down by an outraged Paul Wiggin, the Stanford coach. But after conferring with the other officials, Moffett ruled that the TD counted.

“You would have thought I had started World War III,” said Moffett.

What “The Play” started was a sort of cottage industry. Cal would sell a gold T-shirt on which a diagram of the runners’ route and the final score was printed. The shirt has become a collectors’ item and still is sold.

Yes, I was there. Yes, I still have the T-shirt.

It was one of those sporting events that remind people in a stadium never to leave until the game is over. Which the late, great Art Rosenbaum, at the time sports editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, did unfortunately.

Stanford had kicked a field goal to go in front, and there were only seconds remaining.

But Cal took the subsequent kickoff, and every time it appeared a Bears runner would get tackled he flipped the ball backward or sideways until Moen crossed the goal — winning the game and denting a trombone.

Oh, if only that could have happened this time.

Steph’s ‘greatest show in basketball’

JJ Redick knew how to shoot a basketball. He made 2,000 3-pointers in his NBA career. But Redick doesn’t know how Steph Curry shoots it.

“He’s tapped into a higher level of consciousness,” Redick said of Curry. “Right now, Steph’s the greatest show in basketball.”

Redick was speaking Tuesday night on Scott Van Pelt’s ESPN show. Curry had scored 37, made nine 3-pointers in a Warriors romp over the Nets.

He got 40 on Thursday night when the Warriors, once trailing by 13, outscored Cleveland by a remarkable 36-8 in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cavaliers, 104-89.

The Warriors have been stopped only twice in 15 games.

The question asked of Redick, who in September retired after 14 seasons in the NBA, was how do you stop Curry?

Basically, you don’t.

“He’s gotten stronger,” said Redick. “He can shoot every which way. And he’s not just a shooter. He’s got imagination, daring. He can go right, left, dribble right, left. He can play physical, off the ball.

“He’s like no other player of my generation.”

A generation that for the 37-year-old Redick includes LeBron James, arguably the best in the NBA.

When Michael Jordan was the man of the game and the time, he virtually owned every arena he entered, from New York to L.A.

The people might have been Knicks fans or Lakers fans — or Warriors fans — but most of all they were MJ fans.

Now? “It’s him and LeBron,” Redick, a Duke grad who should know better, said ungrammatically about Curry and James.

We’ve heard it. We’ve seen it. When Curry’s lighting them up, hitting from the corners, from way beyond the arc, the crowd becomes as much of the story as the shots.

Dunks are thrilling, but except for a rare few of us, unattainable. “But we’ve all shot a basketball,” said Van Pelt. We can identify with Curry’s accomplishment.

If really all we can do is marvel at it.

Redick was one of the sport’s top long-distance shooters. Which makes him appreciate Curry’s brilliance.

Curry again had nine 3-pointers on Thursday, the 38th time he’s made nine or more in a game. “You know how many times I had nine?” Redick said as a matter of comparison. “One.”

When he played, beginning at Duke, Redick was feisty, combative — and unpopular, the focus of booing and derision.

But what the public thought of Redick is not reflected in what he thinks of other players. There is no jealousy, just honesty.

“He plays with joy,” said Redick. “It’s infectious to everyone in the arena except the opposing team.”

They used to say that about Magic Johnson who, while others scowled or frowned or gasped, played with a smile, as if he were happy to be there.

Curry is living the good life, off court as well as on. He has a great family. He’s at the forefront in support of various charitable programs.

He’s been on three NBA championship teams, and it’s beginning to look like he may well be part of another.

“You see the way his teammates respond when he’s going well,” said Redick. “I never got to play with him, but I assume it must be a lot of fun.”

It is, for teammates, spectators, and the community.

Redick alluded to a popular tavern game. “Watching him,” said Redick, “is like having a perfect buzz and making the last shot in beer pong.”

He remembered a few seasons back when Klay Thompson was in the Warriors’ lineup, and he or Curry or both were unguarded and making one three after another.

Thompson, injured since the playoffs of 2019, finally is supposed to return in a month or two.

“Back two, three years ago,” Redick reminded, “they had the most open looks on threes in the NBA. The scary thing is when Klay comes back, they’ll have more.

“Shooting begets shooting.”

As only a shooter would know.

Niners go back to who they are

The man on ESPN sounded as baffled as he was impressed: “They did not look like this last week.” He meant the 49ers, of course,

And to that observation we add, nor any week in the last year.

The Niners had gone 390 days since a win at Levi’s Stadium, their home. Then they played their patsies, the Los Angeles Rams.

We modify the cliché — let’s make it “on any given Monday.” On this Monday, the 49ers gave it to the Rams, winning 31-10, ending a streak of eight straight losses at Levi’s and continuing a streak of wins over the Rams, now six. 

There was a lot in print and on TV the past few days about the Rams, Hollywood’s team if you will, mostly for acquiring that receiver with the flair, flash and catchy name, Odell Beckham Jr., a.k.a. OBJ (yes, too many initials, but that’s our world). Headline stuff. OBJ, we were told, was the final piece in the puzzle, the guy who was going to get the Rams to the coming Super Bowl — which conveniently will be played at the Rams’ $5 billion SoFi Stadium.

OBJ may indeed help get the Rams to the NFL Championship, but he couldn’t do much about getting L.A. out of the pit in which he and the Rams found themselves in against San Francisco.

There are 60 minutes in a game. On Monday night, the Niners had the ball 39 minutes 3 seconds of those 60.

Hang on to the ball, pick off a couple of Rams passes (both by Jimmy Ward, one of which was returned for a touchdown, the infamous pick six) and you can’t lose.

“They went back to who they are,” said Louis Riddick, who analyzes for NBC Sports Bay Area.

Or who they were.

Maybe you missed the grumbling from fans and media because of the attention to OBJ — hard to ignore ESPN — but there was great disenchantment with the 49ers, beginning with head coach Kyle Shanahan.

A team that had been considered a probability for the postseason was 2-4 and at the bottom of NFC West.

And besides that, the Niners looked so awful against Arizona a week ago, one supporter emailed that he switched channels to some music program.

What to do? The old cure.

“We went back to basics,” said quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Meaning plays that would succeed. Taking opportunities not chances.

Garoppolo, who gets his share of criticism, was effective, completing his first 12 passes and 15 of 19. When Deebo Samuel wasn’t catching the ball, he was running with it.

The Niners, perhaps as much in frustration as determination, pounded away. Woody Hayes, he of the three yards and a cloud of dust, would have been overjoyed.

It isn’t too much of a reach to say Shanahan was.

The Niners had 156 yards rushing, the Rams 52. Passing? The Rams had 226 to San Francisco’s 179. OBJ had two receptions for 18 yards.

You might say the Niners were fighting to keep their jobs.  What Shanahan would say was, “The whole team has to play that way, offense, defense, special teams.”

The game plan was simple — and brilliant. Keep the ball and keep the opponent off balance.

“The Rams are a real good team,” said Shanahan, “but we were excited to play them.” Given history, it’s easy to understand why.

“I think we took a lot of things personally,” said Shanahan. “We were very aware. We wanted to make the game as physical as possible. But our physical guys also have some skill sets.”

They can maneuver. They can think. They also can grasp the disappointment — disgust, even — engendered by going winless game after game on their home turf.

“There are no secrets to what we did,” said Garoppolo. “We were just locked in.”

After figuratively being locked out for 390 days.

Warriors keeping NBA confused, fans enthralled

So they can’t keep this up, and everybody knows (or think they know) the Lakers and Nets are superior teams.

But hasn’t this been fun — as well as surprising?

There are the Warriors playing like it was 2015. Or 2017 or 2018, winning and winning. And winning.

And keeping the NBA in confusion.

You ask yourself how this is happening, and then you ask how much better it could be with Klay Thompson back on the court.

This Curry kid seems unstoppable. True, at 33, the other night becoming the oldest with 50 points and 10 assists, he’s no longer a kid. But that’s merely a figure of speech.

Winning is great, certainly, and heading into Friday night’s game against Chicago at Chase Center the Dubs have won six in a row and 10 of their last 11. Winning unexpectedly is even better.

And this recent run has been unexpected, if not unappreciated. You have to think management, primarily GM Bob Myers, knows something about basketball — and, no less importantly, about basketball players.

Yes, the play of Steph Curry is a given. But how about those other guys, Draymond Green, who unfortunately may be out because of a contusion in his left leg received in Wednesday’s 123-110 win over Minnesota; Kevon Looney; Andre Iguodala; Jordan Poole; and most noticeably after 35 points against his old team, Andrew Wiggins.

“Keep protecting him,” Curry said of Wiggins.

What journalists up in Minneapolis said, in so many words, is that Wiggins is a semi-bust. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft, Wiggins was chosen by Cleveland but quickly enough in a transaction that included the Cavaliers and 76ers was traded to Minnesota, where he was not liked at all by the critics.

Finally, in February 2020, the Warriors got him for Jordan Poole, and a blogger named Brandon Anderson ecstatically wrote, “The Timberwolves might have saved their franchise, while the Warriors made a catastrophic misstep that could put their dynasty on the brink.”

Strong stuff, huh? Also misguided stuff. Rather than a catastrophe, the Warriors with the 6-foot 8 Wiggins in the game have been a success.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr had a one-word analysis of Wiggins’ performance against the T-Wolves, “fantastic” — a considerable distance from catastrophic. “Obviously excited to play against his old team,” he added.

Wiggins provided not only scoring but rebounding and defense. He takes on the big man, in height and reputation, from the other team.

In basketball at any level, from prep to pro, you not only need the pieces, the athletes, but you need the pieces to fit. When the Warriors are at their best, and they’ve been close at times, they pressure on defense, get the missed shot and roar down the court with the ball.

“I had a good start,” said Wiggins, who had 22 in the first half.

That sentence would also describe his team’s play these opening weeks, something not to be dismissed.

The NBA season is long (82 games) and difficult with constant travel. There will be injuries and questionable calls. A team needs to get in front and try to stay there. Let the rest play catch-up.

The Warriors have spoiled their fans and themselves. Kevin Durant might leave, Klay Thompson might be severely injured — but there was no thought of rebuilding, of playing for next year. The Dubs’ future is now.

“We have a lot more shooters,” Kerr said about this Warriors squad, “and this opening the court up for guys to be able to cut, throw lobs and get a lot more stops and runs.

“I think last year we had really good defense, but we fouled a lot. This year we haven’t been fouling as much. We are able to push the ball and run in transition.”

They’ve got Gary Payton II, Juan Toscano-Anderson and the oldest of old reliables, Iguodala.

“We can finish above the rim,” said Kerr, “so that’s really been exciting to watch.”

So is the ball going through the hoop.

Niners can’t pass the eye test — or the football

You’ve heard the term in advertising: Eye test. Never mind the numbers or opinion of others. Do you like what you see? If you don’t, what else do you need to know?

The 49ers these days can’t pass the eye test. (That at times they can’t pass the football either is part of the problem.)

The Niners don’t look good. Which is being kind.

If you stayed with the Niners on Sunday as they failed to stay with the Arizona Cardinals, you can understand why head coach Kyle Shanahan said he was disappointed. He also said a lot more after the 31-17 loss at Levi’s Stadium.

He told us the Niners didn’t tackle well. Couldn’t stop the run. Didn’t stop the screen pass.

But that was very clear in the eye test.

San Francisco was outplayed from start to finish, giving away the ball on two fumbles and an interception; giving away big chunks of yardage on first downs.

What’s happened to a team many thought would be a contender for the Super Bowl but now is 3-5 and hasn’t won a home game since last season is a legitimate question.

Without easy answers. Maybe without answers of any kind.

Something is very wrong, and it isn’t necessarily quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo or Shanahan or the defense or the offensive line, but undeniably all are involved. In other words, bringing in Trey Lance isn’t going to make things better quickly.

The factors that combined to get the Niners to the Super Bowl only a couple of years ago, the ones that enable a team to succeed, controlling the ball, preventing the opponent from doing the same, have vanished like the thoughts of another championship.

Eye test: The Cardinal team on the field Sunday lacked Kyler Murray, the quarterback who runs like a halfback, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and all-pro defensive end J.J. Watt.

Obviously, that didn’t matter, because the Niner team on the field lacked willpower.

Every team has downers. Nobody wins them all, and on Sunday the Rams, arguably the best team in the NFL and the Niners’ next opponent, were defeated at home by the Tennessee Titans.

Yet, the 49ers were sad reminders of what used to be, a franchise that over the years may have struggled but at least had a chance to win.

The Niners, down 17-0 all so quickly, never had a chance in this one, and if Shanahan didn’t say that directly he very much implied it.

Kyle is perceptive enough to understand that if he can see what was going on, so could those at the stadium or watching on TV.

Coaches or baseball managers brought in by organizations where winning isn’t so much expected as demanded inevitably say it’s the city’s team and they’re merely caretakers.

It’s obvious in this disappointing season of 2021, to borrow from Kyle Shanahan, that nobody is taking care of a football team with a proud past.

“We couldn’t stop the run,” said Shanahan. “All those free yards. We couldn’t keep them from less than five yards on first down. Couldn’t stop the screen passes. We’ve got to make those plays..

“And on offense we dropped the ball. We fumbled, then we fumbled again.”

Tight end George Kittle, out the past few weeks, returned and after a reception was one of the fumblers. Brandon Aiyuk was the other.

The interception, of course, came from Garoppolo, trailing late when everybody — including the Cardinals — knew the Niners had to pass.

There’s an axiom in sports that it takes a long while to become a champion, but you regress to failure all too quickly.

The 49ers lead the league in turnover differential, their negative total growing by three against the Cardinals.

“I think this year with turnovers,” conceded pass rusher Nick Bosa, ”we’re not getting them, and we’re giving them up too much. That’s a big sign of a losing team. And that’s what we are right now.”

As we could see all too well.

Buster became a part of our lives

It’s his life, of course, And yet Buster Posey, as so many of the athletes we chose to follow and perhaps idolize—or even dislike—became a part of our lives.

What starts almost as accidental, because of the uniform a young athlete wears-- in this case that of the San Francisco Giants—becomes personal

As if through his play as a catcher and our reaction Posey somehow owed us almost as we owed him, and that by announcing his retirement Wednesday, quite wisely but also seemingly too early, he was breaking a trust

As if he were obligated to play until management decided he was no longer useful, as happens too often, even to the greats.

Bobby Bonds, Barry’s father and a hell of a ballplayer himself would tell me. “They traded Willie Mays, didn’t they?”

And Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. But they never traded Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio. And now Buster Posey won’t be traded, either, unless he decides to come back—which listening to his explanation for stepping away, you doubt he ever will.

Posey did what few could hope to do, live his passion, play big league ball, help his team win multiple World Series, earn an MVP award—and then say goodbye on his own terms.

Sure at 34 he has plenty of game left, especially after this past season when he hit .304 and threw out runners at a rapid pace. But also he has plenty of life left, and four young children whom he wants to enjoy as a father and not a distant celebrity.

My favorite memory of Posey is during a spring training in either his second season or third, 2011 or 2012. He went for a workout run, returned  and almost in embarrassment told the waiting media, “That was dumb. I had my running shorts on backward.”

For Posey, that was stunning. Not the way he was dressed, but the announcement.

Buster Posey never was the type to seek attention in interviews. No outrageous comments. His recognition came from the way he played the game. He was professional;  reserved.  

Ask a question you’d get an answer but not a headline.

He played in the big leagues, for one of the historic teams, but down deep he was a small-town guy, from southern Georgia.

At the beginning of his farewell announcement, Posey made it sound as if he was the fortunate one rather than telling us how skilled and talented he had been.

“It’s such a unique opportunity to publicly thank so many people that helped me get here, help me stay here and help me fulfill a lifelong dream playing Major League Baseball,”  Posey told us.

He thanked his wife Kristen—wives in sports are the essence of loyalty and loving--his four children and various members of the Giants, the organization that made him a first-round pick out of Florida State.

Part of the joy of sport is watching a kid, out of college, out of the minors—yes,  Posey was there, if briefly—become a star. And Buster, surely a Hall of Famer, was a star.

 When the kid leaves there’s a sense of sadness and reality. We’re despondent, maybe as much about the loss of our own youth as about that of the athlete.

Think of brilliant careers we have been permitted to know from the start—Joe Montana, Tim Lincecum, Reggie Jackson—if not quite to the end.

One day the guys are young, the next they’re gone. Or so it seems.

The constant in sports is change. As the departure of Buster Posey makes it all too clear.

Was there a chip on Jimmy G’s shoulder?

That was an interesting comment about Jimmy Garoppolo by Joe Staley on the 49ers post-game show. Also a telling one.

About a run in which the entire Niners offense–including Garoppolo, the quarterback--grouped together to push and shove Elijah Mitchell to a touchdown, looking more like rugby than football.

 “Might have seen a little chip on that play,” said Staley, now in front of a microphone after years of being at the front  of San Francisco’s offensive line.

 What Staley meant, of course, was a chip on Garoppolo’s shoulder, an anger, an eagerness to get back at the doubters and whiners as well as get the team out of its four-game losing streak.

The 49ers finally did just that Sunday, coming back to beat the Bears, 33-22, in Chicago.

 “Everyone was there,” Garoppolo would say about the play, “so I just tried to jump in.”

 Which maybe will stop the knocks—ex-teammate Staley, included--from jumping all over Garoppolo. And head coach Mike Shanahan. And general manager John Lynch.

But won’t.

You’ve heard the phrase “Game change,” used about everything from business to politics. Mitchell’s five-yard—well, it was less a run than a wrestling match—in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, changed this game.

It put the Niners safely ahead. It also might have put Garoppolo safely away his numerous critics for  a week or two, although if the screaming to start rookie Trey Lance ahead of Jimmy G, diminishes, it won’t leave entirely.

Garoppolo, in his fifth season with the Niners, often injured, occasionally praised, called it noise. But after finding satisfaction at Soldier Field, maybe a half hour from where he grew up, he conceded, “The win means a lot to me.”

 He was 17  for 28 for  322 yards passing, including an 83-yard play to and by Deebo Samuel. And while Garoppolo didn’t throw for any touchdowns he did run for two. He also became the leader quarterbacks need to be.

“I thought he had a hell of a game,” said Shanahan,  whose play-calling has been belittled no less than the way his quarterback performed.

“It’s nice to maybe not have to listen to it as much for a week. It goes with the territory. That’s part of the business. If you can’t deal with it, you usually don’t last. And he handled it very well this week.”

What the whole team handled was the perfect way it handled the ball, no interceptions, no lost tumbles, a turnaround from all those turnovers which contributed to the four straight losses  after starting the season 2-0.

 The last loss was a week ago to Indy in the rain at Levi Stadium. Staley a six-time Pro Bowl lineman, was irritated by what happened—or didn’t happen—that game.

"He came out, everybody knew exactly what they were going to go with,”  Staley told viewers that night, referring to Garoppolo.

 “They came out in the second and third drive and they were throwing the ball a little more on first and second down. Not having success and staying ahead of the chains. You got in third down situations much more consistently than you wanted to be, that were third-and-long more than you wanted.”

Now what Staley wants is for Garoppolo to do in future games what he did Sunday,-display a feistiness he implied is responsible for success.

 “I hope he carries that chip forward,”  Staley said this time about Garoppolo.

 When a reporter, acknowledging what the quarterback had endured the last month, asked Garoppolo. If he “needed this game for your sanity,”  he had a ready answer.

 “I think the team needed a victory,” he said.

 One mission accomplished. Perhaps two.

Dusty Baker: A good guy finally makes it back

Finally, Dusty has made it back. After he gave the ball to Russ Ortiz. After Steve Bartman took the ball that Moises Alou certainly would have caught.

After the Giants and Cubs, and Reds and Nationals. After the bad breaks and near misses.

Finally, Johnnie B. Baker Jr. is once again going to manage in the World Series.

And if you love baseball and appreciate what Dusty Baker has meant to the game, for the game, all we can do is repeat the two words a gratified Baker mouthed to the national TV audience Saturday night: “Thank you.”

That was moments after his team — his current team, the one he joined as an inspiration and savior before Covid-19 ravaged the 2020 season, the Houston Astros — won the American League pennant.

Lovable, cooperative Dusty Baker, who always left a door open to his clubhouse office; who never blamed players or the media for the failings of his teams; who was brought in to restore integrity and respect for a franchise that was in desperate need of both.

Exploiting a well-planned scheme of sign-stealing, banging pots and pans to provide information on pitches — basically, cheating — the ‘Stros won the 2017 World Series.

That they might have won it anyway with players like Jose Altuve, George Springer, and Justin Verlander became inconsequential, and properly so.

The method transcended the results. Those in the sport who weren’t outraged were embarrassed.

To save face, and to save baseball, a housecleaning was necessary. Who better to take charge than lovable, experienced, star-crossed Dusty Baker? 

He’d had his share of success as a player, gaining a World Series victory while on the Dodgers. But he couldn’t do the same as a manager.

The opposition and the fates conspired against him.

In Game 6 of the 2002 World Series against the Angels at Anaheim, the Giants led 5-0 in the seventh. Ortiz was struggling a bit, so Baker decided to replace him.

Dusty also decided to give Ortiz the ball, so confident he was about the win.

But the Giants lost that game, and then Game 7 and the Series. And Baker’s gesture to award a game ball for a game not yet complete would haunt him forever — the media dwelling on the incident season after season.

Dusty was, as they say, relieved of his duties after that World Series, but he was not out of work very long, hired by the Cubs, who made it to the 2003 postseason.

But in a playoff game at Wrigley Field, a fan named Steve Bartman reached out of the right field stands on a foul fly and kept Moises Alou from making the catch. The Cubs lost the game.

So much misfortune. You felt sorry for Baker. He moved on to the Reds, then to the Nationals. But he persisted. And so did the Astros, who after the irregularities not only needed a manager but an individual of character.

In Baker, they got one. At age 72 they also got someone who’s been there, done that — well, not including managing a World Series victory. So far.

“Game 6 has been my nemesis in most playoffs, and that’s what I was thinking,” he told the New York Times. “I mean, you’ve got to get past your nemesis. I was afraid of electricity when I was a kid, so now I’m an owner of an energy company. You try to get past things in your life.”

Baker was born in Riverside, where he grew up with the Bonds family — yes, Bobby and Barry, but also Rosie, the hurdler and toughest of them all. He then moved to Sacramento.

He’s a Californian all the way. More importantly, he’s a gentleman, the type of person who deserves to win a World Series.

Now Warriors face the L.A. team without celeb fans

So big an emotional swing in so short a time.

The prelude to the Warriors’ opener was all about the other team, understandable perhaps because the other team is Hollywood’s team, the Lakers.

Everyone was calling them the “new-look” Lakers.

As they used to say in the old movies, “Hello, sweetheart. Give me a rewrite.”

Or if you’re the Lakers, “Give me some baskets at crunch time.”

Only one game. But in the great scheme of California things, including rivalries and Bay Area paranoia, a very big game.

A game in the right direction. A game the Warriors won, 121-114. A game that allowed Warriors coach Steve Kerr to observe, “We could be a good team.”

More on that possibility will be available when the Warriors play their first home game of the 2021-22 season on Thursday night at Chase Center.

It’s against the other L.A. team, the one with less hype, no championships and without Jack Nicholson, Adele or other celebrity fans — the Clippers. 

Will the Lakers, Russell Westbrook joining LeBron James and Anthony Davis, develop into the great team that some have predicted? And will the Warriors surprise us pessimists? Indeed, one game is of little indication.

Yet the simple fact that the Dubs outscored the Lakers in the fourth quarter — remember those depressing days when Kobe or Magic or Shaq would own the closing minutes? — had to be uplifting.

After the Dodgers ousted the Giants in the playoffs (never mind what they’re doing against the Braves) and the Rams moved ahead of the 49ers in the standings, the Lakers were going to make it a SoCal sweep. NorCal was nowhere.

Then, even playing poorly, somehow the Warriors defeated the Lakers in Los Angeles.

That was without Klay Thompson, who we’re told, after two years of recovery and rehab from those injuries to his knee and Achilles tendon, will play in November.

The litany is that basketball is the ultimate team game. Yet, winning and losing depends on an individual, on LeBron for the Lakers or Steph Curry for the Warriors.

They so often get the big basket or rebound. Or steal.

Curry, however, was not at his best on Tuesday. “I played like trash tonight,” he told TNT. OK, but it was the kind of trash that produced Steph’s first triple double in five seasons, 21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

“He really only cares about the win,” said Kerr. “Steph always comes back with a good game.”

Said Draymond Green, still the rock on defense, about the win even with Curry’s off-night, "It's a huge lift. We relied on him so much, and we're still going to rely on him a lot.

“When he can have a night like he did tonight, not get it going, we still come out with a win, that's great. 

The Warriors struggled early because Kerr chose to go with his so-called small lineup, which proved disadvantageous against the taller Lakers (the 7-foot Davis, the 6-9 James), if not disastrous.

“We’re still learning each other,” said Kerr. “Do we want to go big and get the glass, or do we want to play small and spread the court? As the seasons goes, we’ll figure it out.”

What pleased Kerr was the decline in fouls from last season when the Warriors had the highest number in the NBA, many from reach-ins. “Our defense was fine,” said Kerr.

That was the reason the Warriors came back in the second half. Defense was what propelled the Dubs to three titles and five straight appearances in the NBA finals.

Those days are gone. The Warriors are working for a return.