SF Examiner: Allegations against Cable have caught Davis’ attention

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Al Davis is watching. That should be understood. He may be 80 and hurting physically, but nothing gets past him. Including this embarrassing business with his coach, Tom Cable.

We know Al’s philosophy of sport, the idea of just winning. Not that he’s any different from the rest of us. As Red Smith wrote decades ago, you’re not going to field a team of choirboys. Not if you want to be successful.

You use who you can, when you can. Get them out of bed sick, get them out of jail, get them on the field.

Al Davis, however, has a social conscience, supporting the less fortunate, especially former players. He often talks tough. He doesn’t talk nonsense.

The statement from the Raiders, meaning from the desk of Al Davis, that they are aware of the allegations against Cable, accused of striking an ex-wife and a former girlfriend, “and will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter,” is proof Davis is not taking the issue lightly.

Not dismissing it with the commentary, “We’re just thinking about the season,” which is what we usually get. Along with suggestions any criticism of the Raiders is a conspiracy hatched by the NFL.

In one of the more unusual interview sessions, Cable on Monday stood behind a podium to be confronted by a house divided by gender.

The male reporters were more interested in the progress of quarterback JaMarcus Russell, or rather the lack of. The females asked Cable about the allegations against him and how he felt about anger management.

His repetitive answers referred to a statement released in the wake of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program on Sunday — a short while before the Raiders lost to the San Diego Chargers 24-16 — that Cable physically abused the women.

This after the Napa County district attorney said he would not pursue charges against Cable over the incident in August in which a Raiders assistant coach claimed the coach broke his jaw.

Cable’s response to “Outside the Lines” said that more than 20 years ago, during the marriage to his first wife, Sandy Cable, he learned she had committed adultery and he “slapped her with an open hand,” and has regretted it. He denies striking ex-girlfriend Marie Lutz earlier this year.

When Cable was asked by a woman reporter Monday, “Can you tell us what Al Davis has said?” he answered, “We have not had a discussion.”

They have now. You can be certain. And whether Cable’s position as coach is in jeopardy because of the allegations, as opposed to being in jeopardy because of a 2-6 record, one need only read the release from the Raiders.

“We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged,” the Raiders’ statement said. “There have been occasions on which we have dismissed Raider employees for having engaged in inappropriate conduct.”

Not surprisingly, the Raiders sent out another release insisting “during the past year ESPN engaged in a calculated effort to distort the truth about the Raiders.”

That can be ignored. No one, the Raiders, the NFL, the public, can ignore what the team calls “the allegations” against Cable.

If those allegations are at the point of “he said, she said,” remember the only thing that counts is what Al Davis says.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Baseball Defies Predictions of Doom

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The game died years ago. Isn't that what we were told? Baseball was the echo of another time, men in baggy flannel standing around while the world sped past.

It didn't work on television, trying to cram that huge expanse onto a small screen. And kids who weren't playing video games supposedly were playing soccer, on baseball fields.


But here are the Yankees and Phillies going at it in this World Series in October 2009 as they did in the World Series in October 1950, and Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard are being given space in the sports pages equal to that of Brett Favre journeying back to Green Bay.

Sure, it's because of the Yankees, the most famous sporting franchise in North America, a team of wealth, pinstripes and history. The Yanks cannot be ignored. Nor, with this World Series, can baseball.

They had a 13.8 overnight Nielsen rating for Game 1, NFL type numbers, and presumably the figures will be about the same for Game 2, when the Yankees, hailed and hated, tied things up.

Baseball. "You win with pitching,'' said New York's Derek Jeter after the Yankees beat Philly, 3-1, Thursday in Game 2. Always will win with pitching.

The Phils took the first game, 6-1. Always have won with pitching.

Baseball. "Ninety feet between bases,'' wrote the late Red Smith, "is the closest man has ever come to perfection.''

Baseball, a game of axioms and survival. Despite the Black Sox scandal, despite the shutdowns and strikes, despite the despair over steroids, the sport keeps staggering on.

Gene Mauch, known infamously as the manager of the 1964 Phillies, who leading by 6½ games in September lost 10 in a row, told us, "Cockroaches and baseball keep coming back.'' And so baseball has returned in all its glory, old and new.

"Hypnotic tedium" was a description of baseball by Philip Roth, whose canon of work includes "The Great American Novel,'' dealing with the fortunes of a homeless baseball team. But Roth said not until he got to Harvard did he "find anything with a comparable emotional atmosphere and aesthetic appeal.'' Baseball was "the literature of my boyhood.''

The essence of baseball is cumulative tension. Each pitch adds to the question, the doubt. Does Cliff Lee go inside or outside to Jorge Posada? Does A.J. Burnett throw curves or fastballs to Chase Utley?

It's cold in the east. The games start too late -- although not as late as in past years -- and go on forever. But New York and Philly are enthralled. So is much of America.

Baseball is the only team sport not played against a clock. It's the only team sport where a manager hikes to the mound to stall for time, where an argument with an official is not only accepted it's expected -- even if never without positive results --where fans, like Jeffrey Mayer and Steve Bartman, may affect the outcome.

Baseball requires patience and persistence. The most famous cry is not "Play ball'' but "Wait ‘til next year.''

The Yankees have been waiting for some time. The Phillies, on the contrary, are trying to win a second straight championship, and you only wish the late James Michener, who authored dozens of books, could be around.

Michener once wrote a New York Times piece about his flawed love of the Phillies, which began in 1915 when he was 8 years old and continued until his death in 1997. "Year after year,'' Michener conceded, "they wallowed in last place.''

A young literary critic confronted Michener and pointed out, "You seem to be optimistic about the human race. Don't you have a sense of tragedy?''

He answered, "Young man, when you root for the Phillies, you acquire a sense of tragedy.''

The Phillies are no longer tragic. They are involved in a World Series destined to go no fewer than five games and maybe, with luck, six or seven.

The Yankees have the prestige and the bullpen. The Phillies have a high degree of self-confidence. Baseball has an attraction involving two of the country's more passionate sporting cities, which happen to be located 100 miles apart.

Out west they wanted the Dodgers against the Angels, but truth tell this one is better, a team not many people other than baseball purists really know, the Phillies, and a team that because of its $200 million payroll and stars even the non-fan knows, those Damn Yankees.

And remember, you win with pitching.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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© RealClearSports 2009

RealClearSports: McGwire Slinks Back into Baseball

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND -- He is emerging from the mist, rejoining society, rejoining baseball. Mark McGwire returns and where that could lead, dare we say Cooperstown, is yet to be determined.


McGwire became a near recluse, wanted to stay as far as possible from another question, another interview, another critical story.

He lived in a gated community in southern California's Orange Country, hung around with those who had the good sense not to be inquisitors and played as much golf as possible.

The votes came in for the Hall of Fame, and McGwire, who at one time, before the steroids, before the painful appearance before Congress, would have been a certain inductee, was rejected. And rejected a second time.

You can think what you wish, but McGwire belongs in the Hall. So does Barry Bonds. So do others whose performances were worthy.

The steroids, the artificial enhancements, were part of the late 1990s and early 2000s, part of baseball. They made players better, but they didn't make stars out of failures.

In time we will realize that. What Mark McGwire presumably realized is that he wants dearly to be in the Hall, and to do that he needs to rehabilitate an image that has been pounded as he once pounded the ball.

Or maybe the Hall of Fame is of no concern. Maybe McGwire decided he needed something in his life, an assignment, a challenge.

So here he comes, a few days past his 46th birthday, connecting with the man who managed him, first with the Oakland A's, then with the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony LaRussa. When LaRussa signed once more with the Cards, he brought along as his hitting coach Mark McGwire. And why not?

McGwire was always shy, hesitant to face the press. He became part of the A's "Bash Brothers'' almost by accident. He could hit home runs, but it was Jose Canseco, the extrovert, who hit the jackpot with the media. McGwire wasn't a bad guy, just a reluctant guy, at the opposite end of the clubhouse and the spectrum from Canseco.

At Damian High School in LaVerne, some 30 miles east of Los Angeles. McGwire even skipped baseball one semester to join the golf team. He was an independent sort. At USC he pitched, but when you're 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, the future is as a slugger. Sorry, hitter.

The 1987 season in Oakland, when he was Rookie of the Year, following Canseco, who earned the award in '86, McGwire hit 49 home runs. No artificial enhancements. Just natural ability. And yet he would tell writers, "I'm not a home run hitter.''

He wasn't any kind of hitter in 1991 when, unhinged because of family troubles, McGwire dropped to a .201 average. But he recovered quickly enough, and the photos of him and Canseco smacking forearms became familiar.

Retirement came after 2001. McGwire was out of sight until that painful 2005 hearing before a House committee when, asked whether he had played "with honesty and integrity, he responded, "I'm not going to go into the past or talk about my past. I'm here to make a positive influence on this.''

Refusing to address allegations against him and other players in Canseco's tell-all book, McGwire explained, "My lawyers have advised me I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family and myself.''

He took the Fifth. And he took a whipping from the media. Presumed innocent until guilty? McGwire was presumed guilty until innocent. And then he went deeper into seclusion.

Wright Thompson of ESPN.com chased after McGwire a couple of years back, and wrote a wonderful piece with interviews from old pals and ex-USC teammates, but nothing at all from McGwire himself.

"He just wants to slink away,'' Ken Brison, son of a former McGwire Foundation board member, told Thompson. Well, now he's unslunk.

Now he's agreed to put on a uniform and advise people with bats in their hands how to make contact while, one supposes, doing his best to avoid contact with journalists.

The game will be better off with McGwire as part of it. McGwire will be better off. Baseball cherishes its past, even the unfortunate parts. Triumph and figurative tragedy are ingrained. Willie Mays is a frequent visitor to San Francisco's AT&T Park, Tommy Lasorda a regular at Dodger Stadium. Barry Bonds has showed up now and then at Giants home games and was all over the place during the recent Presidents Cup international golf matches at San Francisco's Harding Park.

Mark McGwire is back. Maybe Barry also becomes a batting coach. Maybe it doesn't help their Hall of Fame chances, but it certainly doesn't hurt.



As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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© RealClearSports 2009

SF Examiner: Smith gets another chance

in ,
By Art Spander
Examiner Columnist

Unfinished business. That was Alex Smith’s explanation for returning to the 49ers last spring when logic dictated he take his battered psyche and repaired arm to another franchise.

“It was important,” said Smith. “I felt like I had unfinished business here.”

Business he barely had a chance to start. Business which none of us ever believed he would get the opportunity to complete. And now business that would make his story enthralling.

They are his team, the 49ers. As they were supposed to be, before the constant chaos and frequent injuries. He came back, against our better judgment, given the chance for a comeback of another sort, to prove the faith once shown in him was justified.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been the first pick in the 2005 draft, but he was. There had to be some reason: talent, smarts — after all, Alex graduated Utah in 2½ years — and intuitiveness.

He’s only 25. That’s the same age at which Joe Montana became a starter in 1981. And while no one is declaring Smith the new Montana, Alex has years ahead of him, and yet years of experience.

In ’06, Alex’s second season, when he had the wise Norv Turner as offensive coordinator, Smith became the first Niners quarterback to take every snap in every game.

There’s no guarantee Smith will be a savior, despite his three-touchdown passing performance off the bench last Sunday. But here was a lesson. Smith, the Niners’ first choice in ’05, throwing to Vernon Davis, the Niners’ first choice in ’06.

There are factors such as chemistry, desire and coaching — especially coaching — but in football ability invariably makes a difference. First-rounders are supposed to be great. Otherwise they wouldn’t be first-rounders.

Mike Singletary, the guy in charge of the Niners, is impatient. He doesn’t suffer fools or laggards. Or quarterbacks who complete only 6 for 11, as did Shaun Hill the first half for the 49ers against Houston.

It wasn’t all Hill’s fault, and he is a fighter, someone who has beaten the odds. But he doesn’t have the capability of Alex Smith.

“When I looked at Alex,” said Singletary, “I didn’t know what we were going to get when he went in.”

What he, we, the Niners got was a quarterback under his sixth coordinator in six seasons, a quarterback whose courage had been questioned by the very person who drafted him, former coach Mike Nolan, playing beautifully.

No, the Houston Texans had not prepared for Smith — although in the NFL such an oversight is inexcusable. And no, Smith, who went in with the Niners trailing, 21-0, couldn’t get them closer than 24-21.

But the man who was a teammate of Reggie Bush at Helix High in San Diego, who played his college ball under Urban Meyer, had us thinking less of the present than of the future.

The Niners through history have been the team of Frankie Albert, Y.A. Tittle, John Brodie, Montana, Steve Young, Jeff Garcia — quarterbacks who could find a receiver and find a way.

Alex Smith was drafted to be next in line, heir to that throne. He again has been handed the crown. And the football.

Time to finish business.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company

Newsday: Jets' rushing games rolls, but Washington's lost

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Ground it, pound it. Rex Ryan kept emphasizing his philosophy, kept talking about a Jets team that ran and ran and ran; a Jets team that lost its No. 2 rusher, maybe for the season, but didn't lose its direction or its push on the offensive line.

Five minutes into a game that would serve as much as a reminder as a result, Leon Washington incurred a season-ending injury, a compound fracture of the fibula in his right leg.

Almost before teammates were airborne on their flight back home, Washington was on the operating table at a hospital. "They needed to get surgery done,'' Ryan said, an indication of the seriousness of the injury. "They didn't want to wait to get back to New York.''

It was a sobering comment about an otherwise delightful afternoon along San Francisco Bay. The Jets, rushing for more than 300 yards for a second straight week -- the first time that had been accomplished by anyone in the NFL since 1975 - crushed the Oakland Raiders, 38-0.

"This is as good as it gets from an offensive standpoint,'' said Ryan after a game in which the Jets, ending a three-game losing streak, gained 447 yards of total offense. "We were able to control the ball as good as we did.''

They did it because rookie Shonn Greene from Iowa, who had only seven carries the first six games, carried 19 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns and because Thomas Jones rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.

They did it because the offensive line pushed around a Raiders team that showed a bit of life a week ago in upsetting the Eagles but now, at 2-5, seem pathetic once more.

"When we took the young man,'' Ryan said of Greene, whom the Jets acquired with the 65th pick in last spring's draft after a complex trade, "how we visualized our team was that we would ground it, pound it, and let the young kid hit you when you were on your heels. But he's a talented back, and you can't have too many good players.''

Nor can you have too much vengeance. Jets offensive line coach Bill Callahan led the Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2002 and then was fired after a 4-12 season in '03. So at game's end it was Ryan himself who gave Callahan a Gatorade dousing.

"He probably won't say it,'' Ryan said of Callahan, "but this game was really important to him. We just wanted to show him our support. He means a lot. And this game was special to me, with my brother.''

That would be Rob Ryan, longtime Raiders defensive coordinator, dismissed after last season.

No one was dismissing Greene's performance, including Greene. "I was upset when the injury happened [to Washington] but I was prepared. I just followed that offensive line. They did a great job sustaining blocks. Give them the credit for all the hard work. [Jones] and I just followed them the whole way.''

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/jets-rushing-games-rolls-but-washington-s-lost-1.1548347
Copyright © 2009 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday: Jets' defense nasty from start and never lets up

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

OAKLAND, Calif. -- It started early for the Jets' defense, the first play from scrimmage, and it never ended until the game did.

The Jets took willingly -- four turnovers -- and gave grudgingly in a 38-0 rout Sunday, the most lopsided home loss in the Raiders' 50 seasons.

This without nose tackle Kris Jenkins, done for the season with a torn ACL. But this with his replacement, Sione Pouha, along with Marques Douglas, Calvin Pace, Shaun Ellis and the rest of the Jets' defenders.

"When a guy goes down,'' linebacker Bryan Thomas said, "there's not going to be any sympathy cards. The next guy has to step up. It was good to see Mike DeVito and [Howard] Green and [Ropati] Pitoitua step up and contribute.''

Pace sacked troubled Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell on the first scrimmage play, with Russell fumbling and Douglas recovering at the Oakland 4. Four plays later, the Jets were in front 7-0.

Jets coach Rex Ryan said defensive coordinator Mike Pettine "wanted to give Calvin the opportunity to pass rush, so he flipped the responsibilities for Calvin and Bryan Thomas, and it paid off for us. Calvin did a great job, not only with sacks [three] but in stripping the ball.''

Before the half was history, Russell was. After the fumble, Russell threw two interceptions, and with about six minutes left in the second quarter he was benched, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft replaced by Bruce Gradkowski.

Apropos of nothing, it was a bad day for Bay Area quarterbacks, with Shaun Hill of the 49ers being replaced by Alex Smith in the loss at Houston.

Ryan didn't care about who was playing for the Raiders, just that his defense was effective against one and all.

Oakland had the ball at the Jets' 2 with a couple of minutes left but couldn't score. "Our guys never flinched,'' said Ryan, who conceded the Raiders could have kicked a field goal just to get points. "We wanted to keep them out of the end zone. It was a great sign.''

He said the defense's primary goal was to halt the Raiders' running game. The Jets allowed 119 harmless yards on the ground.

"We just have to be physical up front,'' he said. "We miss Kris. That's a big loss. But we want to win a championship, so we can't stop.''

In Oakland, interest in the Raiders virtually has stopped.

Announced attendance at a game blacked out regionally was 39,354, smallest since the team moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995.

A bad sign was the way the fans, few as they might have been, booed Russell. By game's end, the only cheers were for the Jets, probably from New York expatriates.

New York teams have pummeled the Raiders of late. Three weeks ago, the Giants beat them, 44-7, at the Meadowlands. Now comes 38-0 from the Jets.

"Our guys stepped up,'' Ryan said. And stepped all over the Raiders.

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Copyright © 2009 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Cal’s season remains in the rearview mirror

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BERKELEY -- They tell football players to look forward, concentrate on what’s ahead. For Cal, it’s what’s in the rearview mirror that puts everything into perspective. For Cal, the games that count are the games they couldn’t win.

The rest of the season is almost incidental, as was Saturday’s game against Washington State. That one was over after 52 seconds. Not literally, of course. But symbolically, metaphorically, when the Bears scored on the second play from scrimmage.

Then they scored five minutes 19 seconds later. Then they scored roughly a minute and a half after that. Some people have questioned whether Washington State belongs in the Pac-10. The Cougars certainly didn’t belong on the same field as Cal. Again.

This one finished with the Bears ahead 49-17.  Last year, Cal won 66-3. For Cal, Washington State is nothing. Unfortunately, Oregon and USC were too much.

Those were the teams Cal needed to beat. Those were the teams Cal couldn’t beat.

It’s going to be a successful season for the Bears. They’re 5-2, if only 2-2 in the Pac-10. They likely will win their final five games. That would be 10-2. That will get them to a bowl. But not the only bowl that matters, the Rose Bowl.

Cal crushed UCLA, which is borderline-awful. Then eight days later, Cal crushed Washington State, which is awful without any qualifications. The Bears are rolling, if against easily rolled-upon teams. Two losses, a bye week, then two dominating victories.

“Yes,’’ said Cal quarterback Kevin Riley, “I’d like to play Oregon and USC again. I didn’t lose any confidence. Those were just bad games.

“The bye week, we thought quite a bit about that. Our confidence wasn’t down. Our spirit was down. Those types of spankings shouldn’t happen against a team of our caliber.’’

Sports is not what shouldn’t happen but what did happen. Falling to Oregon, 42-3, and then to USC, 30-3, going consecutive games without a touchdown, the Bears looked like Washington State did against the Bears. Bewildered. Incompetent.

“We’re not going to look back,’’ Jeff Tedford, the Cal coach, reminded. “We made a pact after the bye week we were going to start a new season. We need to take each game one at a time and keep focusing on the details and play our best.’’

He wasn’t trying for a pun. He wasn’t alluding to Jahvid Best, his supreme running back. On the game’s second play from scrimmage, Best caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Riley. Then a minute into the second quarter, Best ran 61 yards for another touchdown.

The Bears had a season-high 559 yards in offense, 309 on the ground, 159 by Jahvid. Everywhere he was, Washington State wasn’t. And if Best was sitting, as he did for a while because of a sore foot, Shane Vereen was a wonderfully adept replacement, with 66 yards and two touchdowns, one receiving, one running.

Each took direct snaps in what is called the Wildcat formation. “The players really like it,’’ confirmed Tedford. “They come to me with ideas on how to use it. It comes in a lot of different parts. We probably ran three parts today. If we’re looking for misdirection, Shane and Jahvid fill the role.’’

Vereen contends the formation “keeps the defense open,’’ spreading players around. Asked how he would like to embellish the Wildcat, Vereen laughed, then explained, “Probably throw more, have more pass plays for us.’’

It’s Riley who does the throwing -- he was 12 of 18 for 229 yards and three touchdowns -- and Best and Vereen who do the catching and running.

“We just didn’t do it against Oregon and USC,’’ Vereen conceded. “But the last couple of weeks we’ve had a sense of team, a sense of urgency on the offense.’’

Best said the team used the off week to “get our minds right.’’ Their minds are clear. Their offense is effective.

“We told ourselves to forget about (Oregon and USC). We’re starting a new season. That season, we’re 2-0.’’

Tedford spoke only of a sense of purpose. He liked the fast start. He knew Cal had an advantage with the speed of Best and Vereen. Get them out there. Let them perform. They did. Against Oregon and USC they didn’t, Best gaining only 102 yards combined in those games.

“It’s really important that we look at our immediate short-term goals, which are week to week,’’ said Tedford.

Arizona State is next week -- Arizona State, which had six turnovers against Washington State and won only 27-14. After that for the Bears are Oregon State, Arizona, Stanford and Washington.

“We’re 5-2 with a lot of tough games to play,’’ said Tedford, a coach sounding all too much like a coach. “We’ll let the big picture take care of itself. We’re not going to get caught up in the Pac-10 race.’’

They’re already caught. They can’t escape. They can’t get rid of the losses to Oregon and USC.

RealClearSports: For Dodgers, McCourts, It's Going to Get Ugly

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com


In the latest development of "This Ain't No Fantasy League, Folks,'' the guy who currently owns the Los Angeles Dodgers -- and we must wait to see how long that will continue -- has fired the team's chief executive officer. Who happens to be his wife. His estranged wife.

This following Steve Phillips, former major league GM, recent baseball analyst and oft-time Don Juan, being forced to take a leave of absence by ESPN for reasons that had nothing to do with the hit-or-take sign.

We know the real world is out there, but how about allowing us a few unspoiled moments when we don't have to worry about troubles other than a pitcher losing his stuff?

In SoCal, from the very start of the Dodgers' League Championship Series against the Phillies, the issue seemed to be about Frank McCourt not so much losing his spouse, the self-assured and quite well-heeled Jamie, but about losing his team. To his spouse.

So as that melodrama unfolded -- he's going to have to sell, as John Moores in San Diego; no, she's going to give up her 50 percent -- along comes Phillips to take the headlines. He had what was called "a fling,'' and that didn't mean hurling a baseball.

Parallel worlds. Phillips' wife apparently is filing for divorce for his dangerous liaisons. Meanwhile, with the McCourts the word "divorce'' has not been spoken, only speculated.

Up in Northern California, where hatred of the Dodgers is more noticeable than love of the Giants -- yes, jealousy -- the citizenry is viewing the McCourts' problems as pure Hollywood. And also with pure delight.

Even Giants fans are respectful of the tradition of marriage and wish no ill will to either McCourt. But if their union does fail, there's the possibility the Dodgers also may fail. After all, the Pads went from a champion to a disaster when the assets were divided, as required by law.

It was interesting that McCourt announced the removal of his wife of 30 years from her post the day after the Dodgers had been removed from the playoffs by the Phillies. Presumably he thought everyone in L.A. either would be in such a funk they wouldn't notice a little hanky panky in the front office.

One person who did notice, of course, was Jamie McCourt. Another was her attorney, Dennis Wasser, who gave the normal legal response in such situations, to wit: "Jamie is disappointed and saddened by her termination. As co-owner of the Dodgers, she will address this and all other issues in the courtroom.''

All other issues? What would they be, whether Steve Phillips will stop huddling with girls half his age?

Frank McCourt's attorney, Marshall Grossman, played barrister-ignorant on whether his client had canned the mother of their four children from the post she'd held since March.

"The Dodgers' policy is not to comment on personal issues,'' said Marshall Grossman, Frank McCourt's guy. Then they stand alone in the mess, since everyone else is commenting, gossiping and guessing.

What happens to the Dodgers? What happens to Joe Torre? Normally, owners fire managers, not chief executives.

Is Jamie McCourt, who teaches at UCLA's business school and has degrees from Georgetown, the Sorbonne and University of Maryland School of Law, really lining up investors to buy out her hubby?

Does Steve Phillips wish he had a woman as sharp as Jamie figuring out a way to save his career?

When McCourt vs. McCourt gets to a court, it could make Judge Judy blush.

Grossman contends that "Frank McCourt is the owner of the team.'' Wasser contends, "If the ownership issue must be adjudicated, the Dodgers will be determined to be community property, owned 50 percent by each of the McCourts.''

OK, Jamie, which half of Manny Ramirez do you want?

Major League Baseball lists Frank McCourt as the Dodgers' "control person,'' but according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times a "high-ranking baseball source'' said the couple presented themselves together for the approval of commissioner Bud Selig when they bought the team in 2004.

"I think,'' agreed the source, "it's going to be pretty ugly.''

It already has been. Baseball doesn't need this, doesn't need the embarrassment of Steve Phillips, not during the post-season, not any time.

You think those people in the right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium are the least bit concerned with Jamie and Frank McCourt's domestic relationship? They've got their own problems.

They turn to the Dodgers, to baseball, to any sport, for a few hours of entertainment. Of course, in L.A., marriage on the rocks is part of the entertainment.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

RealClearSports: Say Goodbye to the Freeway Series

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com


Does this mean there's not going to be a Freeway World Series? Think of all the gas they'll save in Southern California. The kind that goes in the fuel tank, not the type C.C. Sabathia was throwing.

No entertainment personalities. No inside info on the breakup of Jamie and Frank's marriage. No Tommy Lasorda anecdotes. No confusion whether they're the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles or Charlie's Angels.

The Yankees are supposed to be that good, aren't they? A-Rod has the largest contract in history. Sabathia got enough to bail out Wall Street. He certainly bailed out a team that last year didn't even get to the playoffs. Mark Teixeira is earning $20 mil a season, or thereabouts. Then there are Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and a cast of thousands.

TV loves the Yankees. Because so much of America hates them. Or did. It was the Red Sox who stepped in for the Yanks as target of our disenchantment the last few seasons. They became the very Evil Empire that the execs in Boston called the Yankees.

The theory here is "In cars, wine and ballplayers you get what you pay for, with exceptions.'' Alex Rodriguez has hit a home run in three straight post-season games, five total. He's acting like a guy who should be getting millions.

Long ago, the Yankees of Ruth, Gehrig and their teammates were nicknamed the "Bronx Bombers,'' a label shortened in the New York tabloids to Bombers. As in Bombers crush Angels. And in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, they certainly did.

Not a great 24 hours for the folks along the Pacific Ocean. The Phillies rally with two outs in the ninth to beat the Dodgers on Monday night, and then the Yankees do some freeway wheeling, 10-1, Tuesday evening.

A Yankees-Phils World Series isn't quite as glamorous as Yankees-Dodgers or, as the West Coast crazies would have preferred, Angels-Dodgers, but the baseball itself should be fascinating.

One team is the defending World Series champ, the other long has been the template for judging American sports. Arguably the three most famous franchises on the planet are Manchester United, FC Barcelona and the New York Yankees.

In the case of all three, they're the best teams money can buy. But in a way that's incidental. Pack together a lot of star players and it results in success on the field, or pitch, and at the gate or on the tube. Did anyone notice Friday night the Yankees-Angels had a TV rating nearly twice that of Dodgers-Phils?

You sort of wish the problems with the economy were as easily correctly as those with the Yankees. Sign C.C. Sign Teixeira. Pick up Nick Swisher and that's that.

All the agonizing in March, about A-Rod on steroids, about A-Rod undergoing hip surgery, about A-Rod struggling to find his form has quieted considerably.

He's knocking balls into the stands. He's scoring from second on singles. He's playing like a $250 million man.

Rodriguez went from Seattle to Texas to the Yankees, but he's never gone to the top, never been a World Series champion, a point emphasized on the back pages of the tabs.

They've been waiting for a new Mr. October. He's arrived.

Only a week ago, after the Angels and Dodgers swept their division championship series from two very good clubs, the Red Sox and Cardinals, euphoria was on the loose in L.A. and vicinity.

Thirty miles or so from Anaheim to Dodger Stadium. Randy Newman's song "I Love L.A.'' on the radio. Great fall weather. Eat your heart out, Manhattan, while we roll back our sun roofs and roll down Interstate 5.

It isn't going to happen. Not even half of it. No Angels. No Dodgers. Instead it's going to be the very underappreciated Phillies and the very impressive Yankees. Instead it's going to be two teams who have a beautiful blend of pitching and hitting.

Southern California was getting just a bit cocky. The Lakers won the NBA title. USC is no worse than the fifth best college football team in the land (despite what the BCS says). And then the Angels and Dodgers had made it one step from one short drive to a regional World Series.

But unlike so many Hollywood productions, this one will end without the hero getting the girl, or more specifically the two baseball teams getting what they thought they would -- an opportunity to meet for a title.

A bummer. Or should that be a Bomber?

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

SF Examiner: Choosing between Russell and Hill

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — You’ve been around. You know the axioms of sport, the clichés. You know that no matter what you’ve done before, your reputation is dependent on the last game. “What have you done for us lately?” is sport’s ultimate question.

What Shaun Hill of the 49ers and JaMarcus Russell of the Raiders did was get people talking, get people asking: “Which one would you rather have as your quarterback, this season or in the future?”

The subject was fodder for Gary Radnich’s morning show on KNBR (680 AM). Hill’s last game, a week and a half ago against Atlanta, was his worst game. Russell’s last game, Sunday, a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, may have been his best.

All of a sudden we could see the potential in JaMarcus, who, despite his flaws, looked like a young man with a future, a young man who was the first pick in the draft. All of a sudden we could see the failings of Hill, who went undrafted and spent nearly six seasons in the NFL without throwing a pass.

So, we were asked, if you were starting a team, who would you rather have, Russell, the All-American, the very first selection in the ’07 draft who because of poor work habits and a degree of confidence that nears arrogance had been a bust, or Hill, the guy in control, the one who earned his place, but at 29 is as good as he’ll ever be?

I’ll take JaMarcus. There had to be a reason he was chosen over everyone else. He is supposed to lead a team to championships, even though Raiders coach Tom Cable properly pointed out, “‘supposed to’ are scary words; there are a lot of things in this world that are supposed to be but are not.”

A great quarterback wins games, not merely manages games. Indeed, Hill had a 7-0 record at Candlestick Park as a starter, but the Falcons quickly took him out of his comfort zone. Having to play from behind, Hill was flustered and frustrated.

Russell’s also been frustrated in his two-plus seasons, but against the Eagles, who are supposed to be a good team — thank you, Tom Cable — JaMarcus made the right plays. He appeared to understand what is required of a quarterback.

A player is allowed a stinker now and then, but what happens if Hill starts to slide? Do the Niners finally give the bewitched Alex Smith an opportunity? Like JaMarcus, Alex was the first pick in the draft. Once again, there had to be a reason.

We’ve learned success comes from more than talent. Just because you can throw a ball 60 yards or shake off tacklers doesn’t always mean you’ll have the magic to make teammates better, to make them believe in you.

Tom Brady was a sixth-rounder. Kurt Warner needed seasons in the Arena League and Europe to prove he could be an NFL starter. There are exceptions. There are mistakes.

But if the scouts think someone can play and someone else can’t, it’s difficult to defy the odds. Shaun Hill has done all he could. It’s simply that JaMarcus Russell should be able to do much more.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company

No revenge for Tom Cable, just victory

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OAKLAND -- He’s a rough-hewn sort, which is what an offensive line coach is supposed to be. But now Tom Cable is a head coach, of the Oakland Raiders, and his appearance, background and recent problems have not fit the image that some prefer.

We’ve heard it all. Tom Cable is Al Davis’ tool. We’ve written it all. Tom Cable is just filling space until he’s fired.

The last few days, with the Raiders getting crushed the previous weekends, with the accusations that Cable punched one of his coaches, the news and the rumors had been particularly nasty. A season on the brink? It  was a season in the sink.

So when the unexpected took place Sunday, when the Raiders sacked Donovan McNabb six times, when the Raiders held an opponent without a touchdown for the first time in 43 games, when the Raiders upset the Philadelphia Eagles, 13-9, Cable could have extracted a measure of revenge.

Could have pointed out we know less about football than about conjugating verbs, less about football than about restaurants in Barcelona. Could have gloated and said hey, he knew what he was doing all along. Which very well could be the situation.

He knew they could play, that it wasn’t a matter of tactics and strategy but of competition. And if deep down he was burning from all the words hurled his way, he wouldn’t be letting us in on the revelation.

“I think this makes a statement,’’ Cable said, making his own statement, “that we have good enough players, we have a good enough football team, and it’s a matter of whether we go out and fight for it. And today we fought to win. We deserved to win. We beat a good team.’’

What that makes the 2-4 Raiders, ending a three-game losing streak, is a legitimate question. In the NFL, good teams lose and bad teams win, if in either case not consistently, which is why they’re either a good team or a bad team.  And why the Raiders can get battered one week by the New York Giants, 44-7, and then the next week defeat the Eagles can be attributed to the “Any Given Sunday’’ Sunday.

But if the Raiders with their few hours of success satisfied a Coliseum crowd announced at 49,642, Cable was waiting for new answers. Like whether this was just the Eagles acting as if they would have been better off taking a swim in the Atlantic or whether the Raiders actually deserved to be a member of the NFL.

“The biggest issue in the locker room,’’  Cable insisted, and correctly so, “is how we handle this. How do we grow? . . . How do we turn it around and make it consistent, grow from it?’’

Cable had been telling us the Raiders were “about to turn the corner,’’  although you wondered if the corner were at Telegraph and 51st or one of the intersections of the Champs-Elysees. So Sunday he did give us a little post-game reminder.

“I said to you guys time and again,’’ was Cable’s instructional commentary, “stop looking to write negative things or worry about the BS. ... We’re developing a team and an organization that has struggled to win the last few years, and you don’t flip a switch to that overnight. Don’t wake up the next day and everything is rosy and ready to go. There’s a process.’’

On Sunday, the process included quarterback JaMarcus Russell, as taunted as Cable, connecting on 17 or 24 passes for 224 yards and, on a great catch and excellent blocks by rookie Louis Murphy, an 86-yard play for the game’s only touchdown.

The process included the defensive line chasing down McNabb and holding the Eagles to 67 yards rushing. “We got home after the Giants game,’’ said defensive end Trevor Scott, who had two sacks as did Richard Seymour, “and asked, ‘Is this what we want?’ We can’t be playing ball like that.’’

The process included Justin Fargas rushing for 87 yards on 23 carries and then on third and one, with 2:02 on the clock and the Eagles out of timeouts, JaMarcus Russell  throwing to Gary Russell for the ultimate first down.

“It was coming,’’ said Cable of JaMarcus’ play. “He’s been throwing balls much better.

“Our defense played pretty good, (and) we had enough of a run game to eat up the clock, maintain drives and keep them off the field. We went out and said, ‘Enough. Let’s play.’ There were no magic words.’’

Just for the first time in a month, a magic ending.

RealClearSports: No Forgetting the Earthquake World Series

in ,


By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Twenty years ago, Oct. 17, 1989. 5:04 p.m. PDT, Athletics vs. Giants, Game 3 of the Bay Bridge World Series, a festive time that in an instant would become a tragic one.

"I didn't really feel the quake at first,'' Bob Welch said a while ago. He was in the visiting clubhouse, getting liniment rubbed on his shoulder. He was five minutes from walking to the bullpen to warm up, to prepare for his start.

"I thought they were rolling barrels on the ramps above the clubhouse.''

On the other side, Dusty Baker, the Giants' batting coach at the time, didn't have any doubts. He knew it was an earthquake.

Up in the second deck at Candlestick Park, where the overflow media had been seated, an area of temporary desks, the so-called auxiliary press box, I also knew.

What no one knew was how severe it would be. How it would knock down freeways, dissect the World Series.

Twenty years ago. I still have the memories. I still have a copy of the column I wrote for the San Francisco Examiner a couple of days after the quake. Not the night of the quake, because there was no power in the city.

The Examiner and Chronicle, a joint-operating effort, couldn't print. The Oakland Tribune could. The San Jose Mercury could, but not the papers in the city where the tragedy occurred.

Rob Matwick is an exec with the Texas Rangers now. Twenty years ago he was public relations director for the Houston Astros, assigned as many of his colleagues to work the Series. He was adjacent to me when it sounded as if a fright train were running through the park.

"What's that?'' he asked. As Dusty, I'm a native Californian. "An earthquake,'' I answered. I'd spent all my life in the state, south and north. I know earthquakes.

"But,'' I wrote 20 years ago, "I've never known one like this before. Candlestick swayed like a ship on a stormy sea. The quake lasted maybe 15 seconds that seemed like an hour.

"And then it was over, and some 60,000 cheered. They were Californians. They were Giants fans. They were survivors. Surely this was a sign from nature: No harm, no foul. ‘Play ball, play ball,' they began to chant.''

The teams couldn't play. No power. No lights. No idea of what was happening.

Norm Sherry, the Giants pitching coach, was telling those on the field, "The Bay Bridge is down.'' I had one of those little battery-powered TV sets. The bridge was standing, but a section of the upper deck had dropped onto the lower deck.

In effect, the bottom had dropped out of the World Series.

"After it stopped,'' said Welch, who now lives in Arizona, "I still thought I was going to pitch. Actually, I thought about (Oct. 1) 1987, when my last start for the Dodgers, there was a 5.9 quake in L.A. that rolled me out of bed.''

This one, the Loma Prieta Quake, named for the fault some 65 miles southwest of San Francisco, was first called at 6.9 on the Richter scale, where the rating is logarithmic and not merely one step above the next.

Then it was revised to 7.1, the worst earthquake in Northern California since the infamous one of 1906, which along with a subsequent fire destroyed most of San Francisco.

There was a fire in the '89 quake too, centralized in the Marina District, and because of low pressure, water had to be pumped from the bay. A couple of days after the quake, Joe DiMaggio was in line with Marina residents to check on property owned by his family.

That first night was science-fiction eerie. All of San Francisco was pitch-black. No lights, no elevators, no television. The next afternoon, baseball commissioner Fay Vincent spoke to the media in a ballroom at the St. Francis Hotel lit only by candelabra, as in the 18th Century.

From Candlestick to candelabra in a matter of hours.

Dozens were killed by the quake, many under a collapsed freeway in Oakland, never to be rebuilt. Damage was in the billions.

Candlestick, windy, much-reviled Candlestick, built on a solid ground, held up except for broken hunks of cement here and there.

The A's, who had taken the first two games in Oakland, decided to dress at their park and bus across the bay, maybe 23 miles from stadium to stadium. Wives and families had come in their own transportation.

Mark McGwire helped his then-girlfriend from the stands. As the A's Stan Javier, years later to play for the Giants, helped his wife, Vera. Oakland's Terry Steinbach embraced his wife, Mary. The Giants' Kelly Downs, in a photo that would be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, carried a young relative to safety.

Jose Canseco would be seen gassing up his Porsche some place down the Peninsula from Candlestick. Who knew if the San Mateo Bridge, the next one south of the Bay Bridge were open -- it wasn't at first -- or even the Dumbarton Bridge?

Some wanted the World Series stopped right there. Vincent, alluding to Winston Churchill insisting the cinemas in London be kept open during blitz to create a sense of normalcy, intended to continue.

Ten days after the quake, with a group of rescue workers, police and firemen tossing out ceremonial first pitches, baseball was back. But not for long. The A's won two more and swept the Series.

Twenty years ago, a time of joy and grief.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

RealClearSports: Wooden Wins a Big One, No. 99

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com


He couldn't win the big one. That was the criticism of John Wooden. Fifty years ago.

Times change. Perceptions change. Integrity never changes.

Couldn't win the big one.

Wooden was in his formative years at UCLA, a team competent enough in the old Pacific Coast Conference and its successor, the AAWU. But in the tournament, there was USF with Bill Russell, or Santa Clara with Ken Sears, and the Bruins were eliminated.

Then they began to eliminate everybody else. Starting in 1964, UCLA won all the big ones, won 88 games in a row, won seven NCAA championships in a row, and John Wooden earned a reputation he's never lost as the finest college basketball coach in history.

The great man, the "Wizard of Westwood'' -- a phrase Wooden still dislikes; it came from the title of a book by Dwight Chapin and the late Jeff Prugh -- turns 99 today, October 14. Ninety-nine, one short of a century.

Sadly, he is looking his age, frail, fighting through one ailment after another, the sort of problems not uncommon to those who make it to their ninth decade.

Delightfully, he never acts his age. He hates being pushed in a wheelchair. Doesn't want to be fussed over.

"I'm embarrassed not being able to get around,'' he said a while back. "I don't like it.''

Who does? In our minds, it's always yesterday, always a time of youth, when we never imagined what the future would be, never dreamed those old guys would be us.

The India Rubber Man someone called Wooden. He was the All-America from Purdue in the early 1930s. He would hit the floor and bounce up. Then he would hit a basket.

He became an English teacher and a coach. No, he became The Coach. After serving as a naval lieutenant in World War II.

UCLA hired him from Indiana State in 1948. He headed west and almost headed back to Indiana. Life in southern California, call it the "Hollywood Effect,'' was unsettling. Wooden considered leaving not long after he arrived.

But he still was there when I entered in 1956, a freshman on the school paper, the Daily Bruin, sent to interview Wooden in less than elegant campus surroundings, a spartan office in a wooden bungalow maybe 150 yards from an antiquated gym so small (2,500 seats) and so closed-in it was, in a word-play on the Tennessee Williams drama, nicknamed "The Sweatbox Named Perspire.''

Wooden was polite if impatient. Businesslike. Efficient. The Pyramid of Success, now marketed, was attached to the wall. He had his ideas. When he would get his players, Walt Hazzard (Mahdi Abdul-Rahman) and Gail Goodrich, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton, the ideas were brilliant.

Twenty-seven years, 10 NCAA titles, 620 wins, 147 defeats. UCLA finally got its building, Pauley Pavilion, in 1965, and Wooden finally got an office worthy of his status. But deep down, he was still the no-nonsense guy from Middle America.

For many years, Wooden has lived in an unpretentious San Fernando Valley condominium that is more museum than residence. Memories, homilies and most of all awards are on virtually every inch of the walls, atop every desk, table or trophy cabinet.

There is a letter from Richard Nixon, a bobblehead doll of Tommy Lasorda, a Yankees cap from Derek Jeter, a photo montage of John Stockton, of whom Wooden wistfully noted, "Was the last player in the NBA to wear shorts, not bloomers.''

He has books about Mother Teresa, a Medal of Freedom award from George W. Bush, a football autographed by Don Shula and, of course, photos of the UCLA teams he coached to titles before retiring in 1975.

"Nell arranged those pictures in the Pyramid of Success,'' explained Wooden, alluding to his wife, who died in 1985. "I didn't like that, but I wasn't going to change anything she did.''

Nell Riley was the only girl John Wooden of Martinsville, Indiana ever dated. There's a framed photo, leaning against a wall, of the two of them, John 16, Nell 16. The love of his life, to whom he still writes a letter the 21st of every month.

Her name is alongside his on the basketball floor at Pauley. It was the only way he would allow the court to be dedicated, to both of them.

Wooden is a baseball fan. He would come to UCLA games when they still played at a utilitarian facility on the land where Pauley was erected and harass the opponents, a classic "bench jockey,'' insulting but never obscene. Wooden can talk about Babe Ruth. Or about Barry Bonds.

John Wooden knew. John Wooden knows. In 99 years, he hasn't missed much. Including winning the big one.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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© RealClearSports 2009

SF Examiner: The day the Battle of the Bay was rocked

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It began with more sound than fury, a rumbling as if every fan at Candlestick Park was stomping their feet. Up in the second deck, where tables had been knocked together to serve as an auxiliary press box, the man alongside choked out a question.

“What’s that?” asked Rob Matwick, now an executive with the Texas Rangers.

Twenty years ago, he was the public relations director for the Houston Astros. He had never experienced what he was about to experience. Neither had anyone.

“An earthquake,” I answered flippantly.

Then as the grandstand vibrated and the noise exploded, Matwick, panicky, gasped, “Is it a bad one?” Soberly, I responded, “Yeah, it’s bad.”

We know the date: Oct. 17, 1989. We know the time: 5:04 p.m. We know the setting: Game 3 of the World Series between the Giants and A’s. We know the result, dozens killed, billions of dollars in damage, a Richter reading of 6.9.

Candlestick, nicknamed the “The ninth blunder of the world,” by the late, great Herb Caen, was a terrible place for baseball. “Blow it up,” was one man’s slogan. But when that quake hit, loathed, belittled Candlestick held firm. As do the memories across two decades.

When the quake stopped, the chanting started, “Play ball, play ball.” But they could not play. Power was out in The City. They would not play. The A’s and Giants were scattering from the clubhouses onto the diamond, looking into the stands for loved ones.

The first two games of what was nicknamed the Bay Bridge Series had been won, easily, by the A’s in Oakland. Someone had hung a bed sheet sign from the upper deck at Candlestick before Game 3: “I am the Giant. I will be heard.”

What we heard was a giant of another sort. One that tumbled freeways and severed a section of the Bay Bridge. One that had journalists wondering whether the 86th World Series should be resumed, which it was 10 days later.

The A’s had dressed at the Coliseum and traveled to San Francisco by bus. The quake created chaos. There was a famous photo of Jose Canseco in his uniform, pumping gas somewhere down the Peninsula, the car having been driven over by his wife at the time.

That first night San Francisco was dark, without any lights. Hotel elevators didn’t run. Visiting sportswriters hiked up pitch-black stairwells. The day after the quake, a candlelit press conference with baseball commissioner Fay Vincent was held at the St. Francis Hotel on Powell Street.

A few days later, Joe DiMaggio appeared in the rubble of the Marina district, waiting in line with others, to check on a residence owned by his family.

Baseball resumed Friday, Oct. 27. Ceremonial pitches were thrown by 12 public servants and rescue workers, one of whom, Steve Whipple, had seen Buck Helm alive in the wreckage of the Nimitz Freeway.

We sang, “San Francisco open your Golden Gate.” Someone held a sign, “Most Valuable Park, Candlestick, No Crumble Under Pressure.”

The Series was back, if not for long. The A’s swept. They were champions. It almost didn’t matter. We were survivors. Which did matter.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Spectacle of Presidents Cup comes to a close

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

And so the golfing gods depart, the marquees come down and Harding Park, the little muni that could, goes from Tiger and Phil to a lot of neighborhood Joes, which is as it should be on a public golf course.

The weather wasn’t quite what was expected — brrr! — the competition was less than hoped, but The Presidents Cup was four days of memories and birdies. That ain’t bad.

Once again the United States was a winner against the international team, this time 19½ points to 14½ — not exactly a shock when the top three players in the world rankings are Americans and they play like the top three players in the world rankings.

Tiger Woods, No. 1 on the list, was a winner in all five of his matches; Phil Mickelson, No. 2, had four wins and a tie; and No. 3 Steve Stricker was 4-1.

“That’s what you expect out of your No. 1 player in the world,” Greg Norman, the international team’s captain, said of Woods. “You need him to step up to the plate. And sometimes he hasn’t done that, [but] this time he did do it.”

This time he teamed with Stricker to win their two foursomes and two four-ball matches. And then Sunday on his own, in what some called revenge for the stunning outcome of the PGA Championship in August, Woods crushed Y.E. Yang of Korea 6 and 5 in one of the 12 singles.

When Lincecum and Cain pitch shutouts, the Giants can’t lose. When Mickelson and Tiger pitched virtual shutouts, the U.S. couldn’t lose.

“I needed him — it sounds stupid — to go 5-0,” Fred Couples, the U.S. captain, said of Tiger’s perfection. 

The event needed him to provide the cachet of a high-level attraction, which The Presidents Cup certainly was.

If San Francisco didn’t exactly need the match-play event to verify its status as a world-class city, it still was a welcome addition.

Big-time golf makes such infrequent appearances in the West — although the U.S. Open will be at Pebble Beach next year and San Francisco’s Olympic Club in 2012 — that The Presidents Cup became a special presence in The City.

Yes, there are cable cars that climb halfway to the stars, but how often do guys such as Tiger, Ernie Els and Geoff Ogilvy walk the fairways out beyond Twin Peaks?

America again had a home-nation advantage in winning the event for the sixth time in eight chances. But Norman, the Aussie who grew up playing Royal Melbourne — where the tournament will be in 2011 — pointed out that the Harding crowd gave support to the international team, if not as fully as to the U.S. squad.

“I think it was a 70-30 split,” Norman said. “That would be expected here in San Francisco. We have a lot of ex-pats from around the world. Asian nations are represented very well here. There were a lot of Australians, and I saw a lot of Canadians out there and a lot of South Africans wearing their rugby jerseys.”

If Norman was impressed with the gallery, he was no less impressed with the venue. “I think,” he said of Harding, “with just a few minor adjustments it could be a magnificent course worthy of holding a PGA or a U.S. Open championship.”

Norman has no idea whether he will be asked to repeat as captain, but everybody has the idea Ryo Ishikawa of Japan is going to be one of the game’s best. In a match crossing generations and cultures, the 18-year-old on Sunday beat America’s 49-year-old Kenny Perry, 2 and 1. Ishikawa had three wins and two defeats.

Sean O’Hair of the U.S. — who had been coached during the week by Michael Jordan on intensity, and by Tiger and Phil on putting — overwhelmed Ernie Els, winning 6 and 4.

“I always enjoy getting advice,” said O’Hair, the team’s rookie. “Tiger always has been a friend of mine, and it was good to play Saturday with Phil. I learned so much about reading greens.”

Mickelson, a 2 and 1 winner against Retief Goosen, was elated when his wife, Amy — receiving treatments near San Diego for breast cancer — arrived Saturday.

“That was awesome,” Mickelson said. “What a wonderful surprise.”

The way he, Tiger and Stricker played also was wonderful, but it hardly was a surprise. They’re the top three in world rankings. And they played like it.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company 

SF Examiner: Stricker’s comeback lands him on Team Tiger

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner


He’s seen as the other guy, the accompaniment to the main act, part of a twosome which some might consider a single. Steve Stricker was Tiger Woods’ partner in all four Presidents Cup team matches, an accessory, perhaps, also a necessity.

A man who almost left the game, Stricker, 42, has no ego problems. And of late, after twice winning the Comeback of the Year Award and this year having won three times and moving to third in the world rankings, no golf problems either.

The person assigned to join Tiger, especially in the alternate-shot, foursomes format, has to understand it’s not going to be a walk at Harding Park. The fans are there to see Woods. Saturday morning they were yelling, “Hey, Tiger.” No reference to Stricker.

But he and Tiger work well together. And when Tiger holes a 22-foot birdie putt 17 and then rips a 3-iron onto the green for his second shot on the 18th to set up Stricker’s eagle putt, Steve just smiles. “I have a front row seat,” said Stricker. “We all know what he does.”

What the two of them did was win the final two holes of the foursomes to beat Mike Weir and Tim Clark of the Internationals, 1 up.

When a few weeks back Stricker briefly was atop the standings of the FedEx Cup, eventually won by Tiger, Steve said, “We’re taking up space in [Tiger’s] world, but I’m thrilled to death to be playing how I’m playing.”

Especially after never finishing better than 151st on the PGA Tour money list from 2003-05.

His wife, Nicki, once his caddy, was home with their two young children. He was feeling sorry for himself, was ready to quit.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do the rest of my life,” he said once. “I didn’t have the desire that I really needed to play this game ... Then at the end of the 2005 season, I went back to Tour school, didn’t make it and just kind of rededicated myself to work harder.”

Obviously, it worked far better than anyone might have imagined.

“I think we approach the game with the same mentality,” said Tiger of Stricker. “We just play it differently. I hit the ball a little farther. But our mentality and how we play and compete is exactly the same.”

Stricker, who grew up in Wisconsin but went to the University of Illinois, also has the right mental approach to be Tiger’s teammate.

“It’s been a blast,” said Stricker. “I hope he’s not sick of me.”

Nobody gets sick of winning.

Local legends make return to Harding


They had come home, in a sense, back to the course where long ago they had perfected the game. Ken Venturi and Johnny Miller were at Harding Park, for them a place of history and memories.

Each graduated from Lincoln High, a few miles away from Harding. Each had gone on to win a U.S. Open. Now Miller, 62, was working The Presidents Cup as NBC’s co-lead announcer with Dan Hicks, while Venturi, 78, was in attendance to observe and remember.

The trophy case inside the entrance to Harding’s Sandy Tatum clubhouse is dominated by the huge cup Venturi earned in the famous San Francisco City Championship of 1956, when he defeated E. Harvie Ward in a finals watched by 10,000 people.

Miller told the TV audience he used to fish in Lake Merced off the edge of the 18th hole, which for The Presidents Cup was played as the 15th hole.

“I followed him,” Miller said of Venturi who later was a commentator for CBS, “in his two careers, as a golfer and an announcer.”
Venturi, won the U.S. Open in 1964, the last year two rounds were held the final day, surviving 90-degree temperatures at Washington’s Congressional Club. Miller’s title came nine years later at Oakmont outside Pittsburgh.

It was fitting Venturi’s final tour victory was at the 1966 Lucky International at Harding, where his father once had been the pro. Miller never won at Harding but he did at Pebble Beach and Silverado in Napa.

On target


Despite an unseasonably cold, cloudy Saturday, another sellout crowd of some 28,000 — including Condoleezza Rice and former U.S. Open winner Juli Inkster — swarmed about Harding Park to watch The Presidents Cup. Support from Northern California sports fans has been overwhelming for this second of the five golf events promised to Harding Park over a 15-year span after $16 million was spent for improvements on the public course.

Who said it


Steve Stricker

Tiger Woods holed a 22-foot birdie putt on 17 in the morning after Steve Stricker’s relatively poor bunker shot and squared the match against Mike Weir and Tim Clark. Asked how he continues to come through, Woods quipped, “Luck.” Not exactly.  Stricker  said, “He kept telling me we are going to win. He was calling it all the way. Believing is one thing, and he pulled off some great shots at the end.”

Jim Furyk

“I love playing with Justin,” was Jim Furyk’s comment after he and Justin Leonard beat Ernie Els and Adam Scott, 4 and 2, in foursomes. “But we split up in the afternoon. We hit the ball so much alike. You need someone who plays totally different. Anthony [Kim] and I are two different people who get along great.” They also played strong against Scott and Angel Cabrera in four-ball.

Match to watch


Who else but Tiger Woods? Teaming with Steve Stricker, so far he is 4-0 in two foursomes, two fourballs. Today Tiger and the 23 others on both teams play singles, match play. Woods is 3-2 overall in five previous Presidents Cup singles, his losses coming in the last two Cups, to Retief Goosen of South Africa in 2005 and Mike Weir in 2007. After Saturday, he is 9-2-1 in foursomes, or alternate shot competition.

By the numbers


Total singles matches that will be played today: 12

Tiger Woods’ career Presidents Cup singles record entering today: 3-2

Vijay Singh’s career Presidents Cup singles record entering today: 1-4-2

To see The Examiner's complete coverage of the Presidents Cup go to http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/presidentscup/

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SF Examiner: Leonard takes his shots

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner


It was a matter of shots for Justin Leonard. The kind you hit. The kind you drink. Or make people think you’re drinking.

Leonard had a good Friday in the Presidents Cup. Teamed with Phil Mickelson to win their four-ball match at Harding Park. Helped the United States stay in front on Day 2, in effect ending up where it began, with three victories and three losses to the Internationals.

A lead that was 3 ½ -2 ½ after Thursday’s alternate shot foursomes was 6 1/2 to 5 ½ after Friday’s four-balls. A total of 17 /2 points is needed to win the Cup, which has five foursomes and five four-ball matches today and 12 singles Sunday.

Thursday, Leonard, a great putter, missed a 2-3 footer for a birdie on the 18th green, costing a victory and half a point. Leonard and Jim Furyk halving the match with Retief Goosen and Y.E. Yang.

“I was pretty mad at myself,’’ said Leonard. “Pretty upset. I went to the putting green and hit some putts and cooled off a bit. Then I told a little joke in the team to to let everybody know I was OK.’’

Then Leonard, not exactly known for his sense of humor, pulled a big joke. He had Furyk’s caddy, Fluff Cowan, line up glasses at the bar of what appeared to be vodka but was only water.

“I went in,’’ said Leonard, “slammed the door, threw my stuff down and walked over to the bar and took these five shots like they were nothing and then slammed a beer. The beer was real and tasted good.’’

His wife, Amanda, was in on it. Unlike some others.

“I think,’’ said Leonard, “a couple of wives thought, ‘Wow. He’s really into this.’ But it was all in good fun, and I just wanted to show everybody that I was good.’’

He was more than good.  He was excellent. With the match Friday all square after 12 holes, Mickelson won 13 with a birdie and then Leonard won 14 and 16 with birdies.

“”We had a great partnership,’’ said Mickelson. “He came back after finishing the way (he did) Thursday night. He showed a lot of heart today.’’

Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker showed a lot brilliance. They whipped the Internationals Geoff Ogilvy and Angel Cabrera, 5 and 3. After smashing Ogilvy and Reyo Ishikawa, 6 and 4, on Thursday.

“Steve and I get along well together,’’ said Woods. “In this format you have to make a bunch of birdies and we did most of the day.’’

Only once during the day did Tim Clark make eagle, a 3, but it came at 18 and gave him and Vijay Singh a 1 up win over Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover to keep the Internationals where they started, one point behind.

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RealClearSports: Tiger Is a Majority of One

in ,


By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- This is a team event. This is when golf makes it "us'' against "them,'' country against country, or more specifically in the Presidents Cup, one country, the United States, against a group of them combined, Australia and Japan, South Africa and South America.

And yet this four-day competition held at a muni course on the western edge of San Francisco, Harding Park, a muni course that is not very far from the San Andreas Fault and very near the Pacific Ocean is not much different than most tournaments.

It's all about Tiger Woods.

He's only one player on a 12-man American team, a group that includes Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and two of this year's major champions, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink. But as always, Tiger is a majority of one.

He's the focus. He's the main man. In press conferences, where he's practically invisible behind a wall of television cameras. On the fairways, where his galleries dwarf those of other players.

Tiger brings them in. Michael Jordan, his pal, is an unofficial assistant captain, chosen by Fred Couples as much because he is Tiger's confidant as anything else, is at Harding. So is Barry Bonds, back in the area where he grew up and played. So is the great Jerry West, a scratch golfer himself.

The event is special. San Francisco knows its place among the globe's chosen cities. Narcissism is not exactly unknown among the citizenry. When there's news breaking, no matter what the story and where the location, the live shot is always of someone standing with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Unless it's the Bay Bridge in the background.

But this Presidents Cup is special. Because in the last 20 years, since the Earthquake World Series, there have been only two notable sporting events that actually took place in the region: the 1998 U.S. Open and the 2002 World Series.

And because Tiger Woods is playing.

He once went to school at Stanford, but that was 13 years ago, before the legend had been established. Tiger doesn't come around here very much any more. But he's here now. So is the Presidents Cup.

On Day 1, Thursday, Woods teamed with Steve Stricker, who might be described as the anti-Tiger. Stricker is pure Midwest, quiet, unassuming, content to play the game and earn his money. A good guy. A very good golfer. But not the sort who has fans chanting his name. As they chant Tiger's.

Northern California weather can be mysterious. You're familiar with the line that Mark Twain probably didn't say but no matter who did say it is wonderfully accurate, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.''

Earlier in the week it was among the warmest autumns anyone had ever spent in San Francisco. But the fog and chill arrived just before the first tee time. So there was Tiger, who doesn't like long sleeves because they restrict his swing, in a long-sleeve sweater.

Bright red. For the U.S.A. But, as locals noted, for Stanford.

Team golf is a bizarre animal. There's four-ball or better ball, in which two guys from, say, the U.S. play two guys from the Internationals. All four balls are in play. And the golfer who takes the fewest strokes wins the hole for his team.

But on Thursday, the game was foursomes, or alternate shots. That meant Tiger hit the drive, then Stricker the next shot, then Tiger the next shot and so on until the one ball they were playing was holed out. It's a form of torture when your teammate hits into a bunker or the rough and you are forced to make up for his wildness.

When John McEnroe still was active, the toss-out line around tennis was that the best doubles team in the world was McEnroe and whoever was his partner that day. Same thing, in foursomes, with Tiger.

In the match-play format, meaning every hole is a separate entity and a match is over when one side leads by more holes than remain, Woods and Stricker overwhelmed Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa, 6 and 4. That's like beating someone by three touchdowns.

Woods now has the best foursomes record of anyone in the nine years of Presidents Cup play, eight wins, two losses and a half.

"I felt a little extra pressure going out today,'' said Stricker. "I was comfortable having Tiger as a partner, but I wanted to make sure he was comfortable having me as a partner because I didn't want to feel he had to hold up my end as well as his end.''

Tiger Woods will hold up both ends and the middle. He's a big reason the Presidents Cup is a sellout. He's a big reason the U.S. has the first-day lead.

"Where's Tiger?'' some breathless fan asked when he and Stricker were still in the distance.

Where's Tiger? Where he always is. By himself in the world of sport.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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SF Examiner: Americans generate momentum early on

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — It doesn’t get much better than this. For the world’s best golfers. For a muni called Harding Park. For a sellout crowd which knows this sort of an event may never come along again in San Francisco.

Day 1 of The Presidents Cup on Thursday offered more sunshine than expected, as many close matches as anticipated, not quite as much success from the International team as hoped and, naturally, a brilliant showing from one Eldrick “Tiger” Woods.

Tiger and Steve Stricker were anything but the odd couple in the foursomes, the alternate shot competition, crushing Geoff Ogilvy, the Australian, and Japan’s teenage “Shy Prince,” Ryo Ishikawa, 6 and 4.

They used to say the best tennis doubles team in the world was John McEnroe and anyone else. In foursomes, where one man hits a shot, and the other the next shot and so on until the ball in is in the hole, that would apply to Woods. He now is 8-2-1 in Presidents Cup foursomes.

“It’s just one of those things,” said Tiger, “where you’ve got to make birdies at the right time and make a lot of them.”
What the International team, the Aussies, Japanese, South Americans, South Africans, Koreans, Canadians and Fijians, didn’t do was win enough matches.

The Americans, despite a yanked putt by Justin Leonard on the final hole of the final match which dropped him and Jim Furyk into a tie, still took the lead 3½ points to 2½.

The Internationals have won only once in the previous eight competitions, and as Ogilvy of Australia had contended, to make this tournament a rivalry instead of an exhibition, the Internationals need to do something other than just show up. After Thursday, that probably isn’t going to happen.

“The game can be cruel,” said Greg Norman, the International captain — a man who having blown Masters tournaments and had a British Open and PGA snatched from him knows how cruel.

“We are not too despondent about today,” said Ernie Els, who combined with Adam Scott for one of the two International wins. “That’s one of the better starts we’d had, believe it or not, the last three Cups.”

At one of the better venues, according to Phil Mickelson of the U.S., who teamed with Anthony Kim for a 3 and 2 win over Mike Weir and Tim Clark.

“It’s a really wonderful course,” said Mickelson, “and it’s perfect for this event.”

There was an imperfection from someone in the gallery who, when Ogilvy was about to putt at three yelled, “Noonan,” a term from “Caddyshack,” which translates as “Miss it.”

“Tiger,” said Stricker, “did the classy thing and apologized.”

Why are we not surprised?

 

Celebrity turnout at Cup boosts energy


The people watching Thursday’s first round of The Presidents Cup were no less recognizable than the people playing. In the gallery or in a golf cart were, of course, Michael Jordan, who U.S. captain Fred Couples invited for moral support, fellow basketball superstar Jerry West and ex-Giant Barry Bonds.

Jordan has talked about going on the pro golf tour, and on Wednesday was teeing it up at Olympic Club, across the road from Harding Park where he returned Thursday. West was a scratch golfer at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. Barry can play well enough.

“I think it’s good for the game of golf,” said Tiger Woods of the celebs, most of whom were watching Tiger and partner Steve Stricker. “The great sports figures have all come out here and supported golf. It couldn’t be any more positive than that.”

Phil Mickelson, a big-time fan, particularly of his hometown San Diego Chargers, said, “It’s cool to have those figures out supporting the game of golf, and it’s cool we could have somebody like Michael Jordan bring a lot to the table for our team.

“I think that shows the extent or the reach golf is starting to have.”

Bonds, who just finished his second year out of baseball, resides now in Beverly Hills but is a Bay Area native. “I’ll be here for the whole event,” was Barry’s Presidents Cup promise.

 

On target


Justin Leonard, remembered for the huge putt which gave the U.S. the lead in the 1999 Ryder Cup, missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the 18th green in Thursday’s final match. That cost the Americans the hole and dropped Leonard and partner Jim Fuyrk into a tie, all square, with Retief Goosen and Y.E. Yang, with each side getting half a point. Leading 2 up after 16, Leonard and Furyk lost both 17 and 18 to birdies.

 

Who said it


Tiger Woods
The No. 1-ranked golfer and Steve Stricker never trailed in scoring a 6 and 4 win over the Internationals’ Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa. “We didn’t give these guys a chance to get into the match,” Woods said after walking off the 14th green at Harding. “We put the hammer down pretty good.” They took the lead with a birdie at two, followed with a birdie at three and were at least two up the rest of the way.

Phil Mickelson
Lefty and Anthony Kim won the par-4 sixth hole with a bogey. Kim, driving, hooked the ball only 180 yards off the tee. Then Mike Weir, teamed with Tim Clark, bounced one off a cart path about 160 yards. “They hit a few more trees,” said Mickelson, “and when it was all said and done we both had 5-footers for bogeys. We made ours. They missed theirs.”

 

Match to watch


It’s fourball today, or better ball, with the low score from either player counting on each hole. The final grouping at 11:55 a.m., is Geoff Ogilvy and Angel Cabrera of the Internationals against Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker of the U.S. Stricker-Woods whipped Ogilvy-Ryo Ishikawa, 6 and 4, Thursday in foursomes, but Tiger has the most four-ball losses, seven, (he’s 3-7 overall) of anyone in Presidents Cup play.

 

By the numbers


3 Matches that went to the 18th hole Thursday
0 Holes Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa won against Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker
6 Birdies Woods and Stricker produced during their 6 and 4 victory

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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SF Examiner: The City provides the ideal golf backdrop

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Enjoy it, Tiger, and Y.E., and Geoff. This is your week in the city that knows how, the city that takes on recessions and earthquakes and never quits, a city which thinks like a golfer two-down at the 17th tee: How are we going to hang in there?

This is your week and our week, a week to appreciate talent and celebrate sportsmanship.

What a brilliant blending, an “only in San Francisco” mix, millionaire athletes playing their game on a public course, Harding Park, a facility open to all in a city which is never closed to any.

We love our golf. We love our sports. We love our diversity.

That The Presidents Cup matches, which start Thursday, involve players from America and Australia, Korea and South Africa, Canada and South America, and Japan and Fiji, couldn’t be more appropriate for a region with dozens of cultures.

A region brought to life by pioneers who crossed the mountains and sailed around Cape Horn, by Latinos whose ancestors followed Father Serra, by Asians who crossed the sea to build railroads.

It’s different here by the Bay, by the Pacific, different in Oakland and Berkeley, different in Marin and San Jose. We’ve been there, done that, but we never can get enough.

We’ve had teams win Rose Bowls and Super Bowls, had U.S. Opens at the Olympic Club, saw Ben Hogan stunned by Jack Fleck, the Washington Bullets stunned by the Warriors. We’ve had World Series, including the most infamous of them all, 20 years ago, when we were shaken physically, but never shaken symbolically.

Now it’s 20 years after the A’s-Giants World Series, the Earthquake Series, and The Presidents Cup, with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Y.E. Yang and Geoff Ogilvy, arguably is the biggest sporting attraction in the Bay Area since then, along with the ’02 World Series and the ’98 U.S. Open at Olympic.

The weather is spectacular. The scenery is great.

“A beautiful place,” said Ogilvy, the Aussie who won the 2006 U.S. Open. “Stunning. We should play on the West Coast more often.”

The celebrities are impressive — President Bill Clinton and Michael Jordan for a start. During the practice round Wednesday, caddies for the U.S. squad wore jerseys from the Giants’ road uniforms, the grays with “San Francisco” on the front.

Steve Williams, Tiger’s guy, had No. 24. Not a bad twosome, T. Woods and Willie Mays. We do know how to put on a show, if a subtle one.

We have our faults: San Andreas, Loma Prieta. We have our priorities — right down the middle, guys.

No matter who wins this Presidents Cup, there will be no losers. In San Francisco there never are, no matter the final score.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

Thursday’s matches


FOURSOMES

12:10 p.m.: Mike Weir and Tim Clark, International, vs. Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson, United States 
12:22 p.m.: Adam Scott and Ernie Els, International, vs. Hunter Mahan and Sean O’Hair, United States 
12:34 p.m.: Vijay Singh and Robert Allenby, International, vs. Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink, United States 
12:46 p.m.: Angel Cabrera and Camilo Villegas, International, vs. Kenny Perry and Zach Johnson, United States 
12:58 p.m.: Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa, International, vs. Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, United States 
1:10 p.m.: Retief Goosen and Y.E. Yang, International, vs. Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard, United States

To see The Examiner's complete coverage of the Presidents Cup go to http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/presidentscup/

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