RealClearSports: Cowboys Fans at Home in San Francisco

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Maybe the dateline should read Dallas-by-the-Bay. A Northern California stadium half full of Cowboys fans? The next thing, the area will be endorsing Rick Perry.

That nonsense about the Dallas Cowboys as "America's Team?" It isn't nonsense around here.

Where did it all go wrong? How did fans...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: 49ers' Jim Harbaugh already mastering coachspeak

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Jim Harbaugh is as much a football coach as a psychologist is a pixie. His words are measured, his thoughts unlimited. There’s a reason for every comment, just as there is for every play call.

Wednesday at 49ers Central in Santa Clara — and via phone hookup — Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys, who play the Niners on Sunday at Candlestick Park, said what one coach always says about another: That Harbaugh is brilliant.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Greatness on a Monday Night

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It was Jimmy Cannon who wrote that it all comes down to man being great at something. He was referring specifically to Joe Namath, but the words are inclusive in sports, and the idea must be expanded to include women.

In the end, after the scandals and the embarrassments, the games and those who play them at the highest levels are what keep us from turning away, from giving up. We’re stubborn and maybe stupid. We’re also dreamers.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: 49ers could feel some growing pains this season

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Perspective is a word fans do not like and often don’t understand. They are looking for wins and championships, not explanations or reference points. Yet for the 49ers, in what surely will be a transition season, perspective may become the saving grace.

Jim Harbaugh has arrived ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Pac-12 commissioner Scott just staying competitive in NCAA

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The way Larry Scott is remolding the Pac-10 — err Pac-12, um, Pac-16 — is no surprise to those here in New York at the U.S. Open. They saw the way he reworked what once was called the Women’s Tennis Association but now goes only by the initials WTA.

Scott was the demon of change when he served for six years as the chairman and CEO of the tour.



Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: At Stanford, it all starts with with Luck

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

"Athletes at Stanford are not heroes." A sociology professor at the university, one Sanford Dorenbusch, said that to Sports Illustrated in 1972 when the mood in America, trying to extricate itself from Vietnam, was very unheroic and the mood at Stanford was not much different than it is now.

The school takes itself seriously, selects its students carefully and deals with athletic success in a blend of pride and embarrassment ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Manning's Presence Defines the Colts

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

This is similar to the way it started for Joe Montana, an injury that didn't seem like much, an elbow injury in August 1991 that didn't heal for two years.

An elbow injury that stopped his career with the San Francisco 49ers, who were fortunate enough to have Steve Young in reserve and after those two years grudgingly traded Montana to Kansas City.

Maybe the neck problem for Peyton Manning isn't that serious ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Ailing Al Davis Still Calling Shots

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND — You asked if Al Davis still was calling the shots for the Oakland Raiders? Now you know. Terrelle Pryor is your answer, even if he never becomes the answer to the team's future quarterback questions.

Who cares if Terrelle's a disappointment — the word 'bust' is reserved for JaMarcus Russell — when Pryor gets you to the top of the USA Today sports section as he did Tuesday.



Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: San Francisco's Candlestick Park turns into combat zone

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

So now what do we tell L.A.? That we have as many thugs at our sporting events as they do? That Candlestick Park is every bit as dangerous as Dodger Stadium? That the scofflaws and punks have imposed their will on society, just like in Southern California?

Fans entering NFL games are patted down. As if it does any good. Fights — brawls, really ...



Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Will Jackson's Enthusiasm Win for Raiders?

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NAPA, Calif. — He is behind a temporary podium facing the setting sun. Not a comfortable position for Hue Jackson, but neither is his new job, head coach of the Oakland Raiders, the franchise that used to be.

America knows this city and valley, some 40 miles north of San Francisco. The country's wine capital. Grapes not of wrath but of potency and fame.

America knew the Raiders as the demons of the NFL. "The autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun ..."

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Quarterback questions loom for Bay Area football teams

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Yes, as Jim Harbaugh pointed out, we love talking about the quarterback position. Why wouldn’t we? Arguably, it’s the most important in any team sport. It’s the position that wins games. Or loses them.

We know quarterbacks. We’ve watched Joe Montana and Steve Young and Jim Plunkett. What we don’t know, after six seasons, is whether Alex Smith...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Randy Moss: Brilliant and Bewildering

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The apparent departure of Randy Moss from the NFL — one never can be certain when athletes announce they are retiring — brings to mind the adage about the glass being half full or the head being half empty. Or something close enough.

Moss was one of those skilled athletes who was part awe, part irritation and part, "It's my world, and you're never going to figure me out.''

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: New 49ers, Raiders leaders have their work cut out

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

New coaches and old stadiums. The Black Hole and holes to fill. Pro football is back by the Bay — dare we say welcome? — and now that the talk has shifted from lockouts to wideouts, the major questions are whether there will be a last hurrah for Al Davis and the Raiders and a first hurrah for Jed York and the 49ers.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: I Told You So: NFL Back in Business

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The New York tabloids gave it that, "This is the most miraculous thing ever,'' approach, but, hey, understatement is not their style.

"Christmas in July,'' was the headline fromon the Daily News. Be interesting to see their assessment of Christmas in December.

Look. I don't want to say I told you, but ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: American Sports Take Beating in Britain

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

HASTINGS, England — What's with the English? Every other person seems to be wearing a New York Yankees hat. But just try to find one word about baseball in the dailies. A word that is not discouraging.

Not too long ago, you could pick up a copy of the Times of London, which for the record printed edition No. 70,305 on Thursday, and in the agate type find the ball scores. Not the "football'' scores, soccer, their game. Baseball, our game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Memorial Golf Uplifting in Columbus Gloom

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- This is football country. This is disgraced-school country after what has happened to Ohio State -- the cover-up and the needed departure of coach Jim Tressel.

For a few days, happily, this is also golf country. The Buckeyes matter, but for the rest of a difficult week, they aren't the only game in town. Fore!

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Young Cam Rides Old Mo to No. 1

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Count this one for Old Mo, as in Momentum. Once it started for Cam Newton, it was unstoppable. The negative became trivial, the assets became overwhelming.



We love to jump on bandwagons, especially those driven by a kid who couldn't do much right — other than win football games — and now can do no wrong.

The last few days, Newton being chosen No. 1 in the draft was ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Draft allows NFL to get back to football

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The commissioner, Roger Goodell, says the NFL Draft is one of his favorite events. “Because,” he told USA Today, “it’s all about football.” Apparently so is the honorable Susan Richard Nelson, who has decided people who play it for a living, well, ought to be able to play it for a living.

Nelson is the U.S. District judge in St. Paul, Minn., who ordered an end to the lockout declared last month by the owners against the players.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Billion Here, There ... No NFL Anywhere

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, you'll never go wrong underestimating the intelligence of those trying to reach a new collective-bargaining agreement.

Looks bad, people. A week ago I promised there would be an NFL season in 2011. Believed both sides, the owners and the players, were too wise to mess up a good thing. Thought they understood the idea of compromise.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Affair with Giants is hot, but 49ers still San Francisco's true love

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Brian Sabean, the man who helped build the Giants into champions, said San Francisco has become a baseball city. Unquestionably. Yet, it is no less a football city, as we were reminded the other evening.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company