RealClearSports: Pete Carroll Cares, and Proves It

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LOS ANGELES -- The question came from the man who the past few days had been hearing too many of them.

This one, however, wasn't about how to repair a humbled football team, his team, USC.
Instead, it dealt with how we might repair a damaged society.

"Why should we care?'' asked Pete Carroll rhetorically.

Then he answered. "Because, we can change the culture.''


© RealClearSports 2009

RealClearSports: Belichick and Harbaugh Deserve Our Thanks

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- So here was Jim Harbaugh, who tried to tell us he didn't want to take chances, going for a two-point conversion with his Stanford team far ahead, being linked to Bill Belichick, who as we know took one very large chance.

Harbaugh, the guy who just got an extension to stay at Stanford, and why not, since he proved kids who study are kids who can play, was about to step to the microphone in a bayside sports bar/brewery/dining establishment called Gordon Biersch.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2009

SF Examiner: Heisman hype has shifted from Best to Gerhart

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — The Heisman Trophy often seems less a reward than a promotion. To be considered, you have to have talent, but you also have to have publicity, Hollywood-type stuff which catches the public’s imagination and schools hope catches the voters’ attention.


Cal went about it the right way with Jahvid Best, a superb running back, who played the hype game every bit as well as he played football, until he came crashing onto his head a couple of weeks ago, incurring a concussion which cost him not only any chance at the trophy, but also a chance at getting back on the field this season.


Now, it’s the guy across the Bay, Toby Gerhart of Stanford, who’s getting noticed, and while he won’t win it either, the shame is that two legitimate Heisman candidates could have been competing in the 112th Big Game on Saturday at Stanford Stadium.


Read the full story here.


Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company

Will it ever work for JaMarcus and the Raiders?

in ,
By Art Spander

OAKLAND -- He was supposed to the savior, the guy who dragged the Raiders from the mess they’re in, the quarterback who made the right calls and the proper throws. It hasn’t worked that way for JaMarcus Russell, and now, after he was benched a second straight game, you have to wonder if it ever will work.

So many factors, interconnected, inseparable, a bad football team, a questionable offense and then a young man who was the first selection in the draft and thereby supposed to correct the wrongs, supposed to turn the Oakland Raiders into winners.

But after the Raiders were beaten Sunday by one of the NFL’s other bad teams, the Kansas City Chiefs, 16- 10, a team over which Oakland had gained one of its only two victories this season, the future is more ink blot than window to success.

While it’s unforgiving to assign all the blame to JaMarcus -- his receivers offering little or no assistance, head coach Tom Cable counting eight dropped balls that should have been caught -- Russell has a great deal to do with the problem.

Or else Cable, for a second straight home game, wouldn’t have replaced him with Bruce Gradkowski.

And wouldn’t have conceded that he very well might start Gradkowski when the Raiders play Cincinnati next weekend, Cable adding that after watching the films he will have something more to say on that Monday.

Quarterbacks do not all develop at the same rate. Progress is relative. And those with potential invariably are taken by the bottom dwellers, the worst teams, meaning their baptism will be exceedingly painful. And yet it is the how and why of all this that adds to the doubt.

JaMarcus was a star at LSU with an arm able to launch rockets and a body (6-foot-6, 260 pounds , maybe 290) able to take punishment. He lacked finesse, polishing, but the belief was that it would come in the pros. He didn’t lack confidence, or after a long holdout ended and he signed for a $30 million guarantee, was that arrogance? Along with the tools Russell brought an attitude, or so it was perceived, the idea he was someone special. He isn’t.

He’s a struggling kid, the target of boos from a Raider fan base that seems to be shrinking by the week -- attendance at the Coliseum was only 40,720 -- but is not shrinking in its disdain for JaMarcus. Every wild pass was met with vocal derision.

This is JaMarcus’ third year, although he missed most of his rookie season, 2007, and the erratic performances are less baffling than they are irritating. Then again, maybe he’s not at fault -- if indeed he has worked to improve as Cable contends he has, it’s the Raiders who are at fault, for drafting him.

It’s the nature of sports, particularly the NFL, that a team chooses the athlete and then when he doesn’t live up to expectations, and there are no expectations higher than those for the very first pick every year, he gets the criticism, the boos, as opposed to the people who selected him.

Russell comes across as uncaring because he doesn’t scream and yell. He also doesn’t seem to grasp the mistakes, or at least doesn’t admit to them.

“I thought things were going OK at that point,’’ said JaMarcus, who was replaced late in the third quarter. Asked if he were disappointed, Russell said, “Totally. I really can’t explain it. I don’t know what to say. (Cable) said balls were going every which way, but one time my arm was hit when I threw.’’

What Cable said was that Russell, completing only 9 of 24 for 67 yards, misread several throws, two where receivers were unguarded. “It was a matter of game management and accuracy,’’ explained the coach.

It also was a matter of poor hands by his possible receivers or, and this isn’t shocking to anyone familiar with the Raiders, penalties. If Darrius Heyward-Bey or Louis Murphy hang on to a pass or two, maybe JaMarcus stays on the field.

“They affect you,’’ said Russell. “A couple of those aren’t dropped, it’s a totally different game.’’

By the time JaMarcus was taken out, the Raiders’ Shane Lechler had 10 punts, or one more than Russell had pass completions. Eventually, as a team, the Raiders, with Gradkowski going 4-for-7 and also having a couple of long passes dropped, would end with 13 completions. And 11 punts.

Asked if he were disappointed in Russell, Cable responded, “I’m disappointed where we are as a football team. This game is about making plays, and we just didn’t do it, whether it was JaMarcus or Bruce.’’

The Raiders have scored more than one touchdown only in one game this season, opening night. They ranked 32nd, dead last, in the league in offense. The Chiefs were 30th. And now both teams are 2-7.

And now JaMarcus Russell hasn’t finished two of the last three games he started.

“Some guys take longer than others,’’ Cable said, defending Russell. “He’ll get there at some point. He’s a talented guy.’’

But so far one without a clue how to play quarterback in the NFL.

RealClearSports: Cutler Turns Over a Victory to the 49ers

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- In the future we're destined to have pro football eight days a week. It's unavoidable, like death and taxes. Fumbles, interceptions, holding penalties by the hour.

But right now it's only Sunday, Monday and, had we forgotten, Thursday night, that series now restarted to the delight of NFL Network if not the game's purists.

The San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears each played, and lost, Sunday, and then four days later, they were forced to face each other by the side of San Francisco Bay, two not very good teams offering a lot of not very good football.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2009

RealClearSports: Agassi Becomes an "Open" Book

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It was the great Jim Brown, arguably the finest of running backs, who when asked from the distance of retirement to analyze his career said a person should be occupied by things other than trying to judge his own importance.

Brown was of a different era, a different time, when sport and humility were interwoven. He ran for a touchdown, handed the ball to an official and moved to the sideline, without self-promotional gyrations. He performed. We cheered.

Andre Agassi was born in 1970, five years after Brown left the NFL, and the connection is that there's a disconnection, even if Agassi reached a point in his sport, tennis, that Brown reached in his, the top.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2009

Niners may not be who we thought they were

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The rant was predictable. What Mike Singletary said was the way the 49ers played, or in truth misplayed, is unacceptable. “Stupid stuff,’’ was his terse analysis of another game squandered.

Indeed, but should we, and he, expect anything else?

Maybe the Niners, who Sunday at Candlestick Park lost their fourth straight game, this one to the bottom-feeder Tennessee Titans, 34-27, are no more than they can offer.

Maybe those wins in September were illusory, giving everyone including the head coach the mistaken idea the team was in the upper echelon of the NFL.

Maybe the thought San Francisco could for the first time in seven seasons finish with a winning record, or at the least an even record, was the stuff of fantasy rather than reality, a dream for the faithful nurtured on the greatness of Montana and Young, Lott and Rice.

Indeed, the Niners could have beaten the Titans, perhaps should have beaten the Titans, whom they led 20- 17 in the fourth quarter. But they didn’t, and no matter how you analyze it, the four Alex Smith turnovers, three of them interceptions, the inability to shut down  Tennessee running back Chris Johnson (135 yards and two touchdowns), that’s all conversation.

Singletary, who now has a losing record, 8-9, since being elevated to then interim head coach a year ago, spoke of giving away the ball and of giving away games, both contentions being undeniable.

“The No. 1 thing is we cannot turn the ball over,’’ said Singletary after the Niners record slipped to 3-5, “and that’s the thing that basically killed us today . . . We’re not finishing football games. If you go back to Minnesota, back to Indianapolis, back to the game today, take your pick, we’re not finishing games.’’

But the response to both explanations is a question, to wit: Why? Why are the Niners making mistakes? Why are the Niners blowing leads down at the end?

Could it be their players simply are not as good as the other team’s -- even a team such as the Titans, which won a second straight game after opening with six consecutive defeats? Could it be the offensive game plan, so restrictive, doesn’t fit the players in the lineup?

Singletary is understandably supportive of offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, since he is the man who chose Raye. And no intelligent coach knocks his players, not when there are eight games to play, one of those games in quick turnaround on Thursday night against the Chicago Bears at the ‘Stick.

But Alex Smith isn’t there yet, despite all out-of-control optimism constructed over the previous two games. And the offensive line remains a problem, even though Singletary avoided a direct assessment of this game with the answer, “You know what, the past two weeks, I think they played well, I really did.’’

They didn’t play terribly well when Alex, who appears more comfortable in the shotgun formation he played at the University of Utah, was under center in the “T.’’

Smith was sacked four times, one of those resulting in a lost fumble with some nine minutes left in the third quarter when the ball was knocked out of his hand as he reached back to throw.

Raye, the coordinator, had been criticized for his conservatism, mainly because Shaun Hill was at quarterback. But with Alex playing a third straight game and starting his second in a row, it wasn’t what was called -- Smith threw 45 passes and completed 29 -- but the style that was utilized.

So many of the passes were short and wide, four yards, five yards. Alex has an arm. What he didn’t have was time, and perhaps Raye figured that into the equation.

What nobody figured was Smith would throw three interceptions, although one came after the Titans had taken a 27-20 lead in the fourth quarter, and Alex was forcing an attempted comeback and two others came after tipped balls.

“I wouldn’t say that at all,’’ Singletary insisted when asked if the interceptions were Smith’s fault. “I thought Alex was playing well today, for the most part. When you get turnovers, obviously you can’t say that, but I thought he made some good decisions . . . It looked to me that he was getting the ball where it needed to go.’’

The 49ers are not getting where they need to go. Losing to the Vikings, then undefeated, at Minneapolis, or to the Colts, still undefeated, at Indianapolis, both narrowly, is no sin. But losing to the Titans could be considered one.

When Alex, as a starter four and five years ago, before the injuries and agony, had an unusual number of fumbles, someone, fact or fiction, determined Smith had abnormally small hands. Singletary refused to enter that discussion.

“What he did in the past,’’ Singletary said of Smith, “I’m going to leave in the past. All I know is what I saw today was a quarterback throwing the ball pretty effectively. As far as the fumbles, we have to look at it, but I’m a little bit surprised he hasn’t fumbled more. When you get a quarterback that’s coming in new and not taken any snaps during the year, there are some of the things you’re going to have early on.’’

It’s early for Alex. For the 49ers, it may be later than they think.

RealClearSports: Harbaugh Turns Stanford Into a Winner

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford didn't as much play football as endure it. It was a place kids went so they could get into medical school or create Google, not get into the NFL. There was a reason it was nicknamed Harvard of the West, besides the academics.

Then a coach named Jim Harbaugh arrived a couple of years ago with the stubborn idea kids who had brains could also be kids who had athletic ability. He was going to recruit people who not only could score on the SATs but also on the field.

Read the full story here.

RealClearSports: Cable's Troubles Becoming Unacceptable

in ,


By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND -- No one's ever judged this region by what might be called normal standards. The Bay Area, Northern California, was settled by Spanish missionaries, who were pushed out by pioneers looking for gold, with a lot of frontier justice on the side.

The edge of the continent may have put a limitation on movement -- this is as far west as you can go without a ship or a surfboard -- but there never has been any limitation on ideas, no matter how irrational or unpopular.

Almost anything is acceptable. Almost.

This situation with the man who coaches the Oakland Raiders has all but reached a point of unacceptability, with people who don't know exactly what happened screaming "Off with his head'' and those in a position to find out the details saying very little.

Oakland is one city south of the Protest Capital of the World, Berkeley, or as the late columnist Herb Caen called it, "Berserkeley.'' It was an Oakland native, Gertrude Stein, who said of the city, upon returning to find her old home had been razed, "There is no there, there.''

These days, with Tom Cable being accused of everything except that recent mechanical failure of the Bay Bridge, the one that closed the structure for eight days, there is plenty there.

Too much for Cable and the Raiders organization.

The Raiders have a bye this weekend, which, when you're 2-6 for 2009 and haven't had a winning season since 2002, might be viewed as beneficial. Instead, it's proving just the opposite, since media that might be focused on the team's troubles instead are concentrating on Cable's.

And they are many.

During camp in August, up at Napa in the middle of the wine country -- where else would a Nor Cal team train, anyway? -- Raiders assistant Randy Hanson incurred a broken jaw during a meeting of the coaching staff.

He accused Cable of causing the injury, either, as the story goes, by shoving him out of a chair in which he had leaned back, or punching him in the jaw.

After an investigation, and surely deliberation, the district attorney of Napa County declined to press charges, maybe because he didn't believe the case was strong enough, maybe because Napa didn't want to aggravate the Raiders and chance losing them to another city.

For a few days after the announcement, the Raiders' subject matter dealt with the ineffectiveness of third-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell and other paranormal items. Then on its "Outside the Lines'' program last Sunday, ESPN provided the revelation that some 20 years ago Cable had hit his ex-wife and early this year smacked a girlfriend.

The Raiders contended they were blindsided by ESPN, a network the team contends harbors a grudge against it. But to the credit of the Raiders -- meaning owner Al Davis, considerably more sensitive than his critics want to believe -- and chief executive Amy Trask, the allegations were not taken lightly.

"We will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter,'' read a release from the Raiders. "We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged.''

This was not good enough for the National Organization for Women, which demanded Cable be suspended while the allegations are checked out. It wants NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has spoken about fairness, to make a statement about Cable.

Earlier in the week, asked about his future, Cable insisted, "I'm coach of the Raiders, and I think my future is to be coach of the Raiders.''

Al Davis does not like firing coaches, despite all the coaches he has fired, and he likes even less dismissing them during the season, having done that only twice, Mike Shanahan and Lane Kiffin, over the past 40 years.

But this uproar over Cable is an embarrassment. It may even become a distraction, although the players, worried about their own futures and paychecks, invariably ignore everything except trying to keep the opposition from making a touchdown while making some touchdowns of their own.

Cable conceded he did slap his first wife, with an open hand, not a fist, and has regretted it. He said he did not strike any other female.

A team as bad as the Raiders, groping for any reason to be optimistic, hardly needs the current scenario, a coach under fire for reasons other than his record, and even the folk of Northern California wondering what is going on.

Any moment, we may all go over the edge.

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: Urban Meyer Teaches a Bad Lesson

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They're teachers. That's how coaches describe themselves. They take pride in helping the youth of the country, instructing them in how to become better players, become better citizens.

We're always hearing about the second part, how what a coach wants most is to prepare a kid for life after sports.

Do something wrong, you get punished. "Coach Suspends Halfback'' is the headline. Unless he's too valuable. Then, well, as we're often reminded, discipline will be private.

Or virtually non-existent.

Urban Meyer, the Florida coach, has his own ideas about justice. And lesson-teaching. They might not be similar to ours, but we don't have to think about national rankings and the BCS.

Our ideas have to do with the difference between right and wrong.

To Meyer that difference is only 30 minutes, half a football game.

One of Meyer's players, linebacker Brandon Spikes, was caught last Saturday on videotape intentionally sticking his fingers through the facemask and into the eyes of Georgia's Washaun Ealey.

A dirty move, a cheap shot. And an incident replayed again and again on the various networks.

It bothered us. It didn't bother Meyer, not to the point he would keep Spikes out of uniform for the next game, against Vanderbilt.

Meyer understood he was required to make a showing. So he announced Spikes would have to sit out the first half of the Vanderbilt game. Then Spikes will be permitted to go out and gouge someone else's eyes.

"I don't condone that,'' said Meyer. He seemingly was referring to what Spikes did, not about his own decision.

Out west in September an Oregon running back, LeGarrette Blount, sucker-punched a Boise State defensive end after the game, and Blount was suspended for the season. Or, barring a change in mind by Oregon coach Chip Kelly, to this point in the season.

But in the Sunshine State, the coach looks at violations a little more kindly. Or at the AP rankings a little more intently, not that Florida should need Spikes to beat Vanderbilt.

What it does need, however, is a sense of perspective and an understanding that there's no place for scofflaws in activities built on rules and fairness.

Reprimands have been popular of late in our sporting world. Chad Ochocinco, the Cincinnati Bengals receiver, was fined $10,000 for wearing a black chinstrap. That NFL certainly has its priorities.

Then a golfer nobody ever had heard of, Doug Barron, became the first PGA player to be suspended for violating the Tour's performance-enhancing drug policy. He's gone for a year.

Now, Brandon Spikes is going to be banished for an entire 30 minutes of a 60-minute college football game. That should make him contrite.

"I talked to him,'' Meyer said of Spikes. "That's not who he is. I love Brandon Spikes.''

And then my favorite phrase in failing to explain why an athlete gets away with almost anything, "We're going to move on.''

They're going to do anything to avoid the facts, the implications, the embarrassment. They're going to worry about putting the ball in the end zone instead of putting a finger in an opponent's cornea or retina.

Why does it always have to be like this? Why does the final score have to supersede common decency? Why can't a coach, any coach but particularly one as recognized as Meyer, step forward and act responsibly, since he wants his players to act responsibly?

We know Urban Meyer can recruit and motivate. We know he's won national championships. What's so hard about admitting that there was a problem and, as a leader of boys who would be men, that problem will be corrected?

Why is Brandon Spikes being given a figurative slap on the hand used to attack an opponent's eyes? Why is getting a man into the lineup more important than getting a message across?

We found out long ago sport does not build character. What we found out the past few days from Urban Meyer was that anything is permissible. Except defeat.

The sin, the author John Tunis said, is not failing to act like a gentleman, but in failing to win. Florida fans are thinking of another national title, not of reprimanding an act that in some places would be considered disgraceful. Get the kid out of the doghouse and back on the field. That's all they care about.

And so that's all that Urban Meyer cares about. You're surprised he didn't have Brandon Spikes write an apology on a chalkboard. That is if Spikes is apologetic.

Urban Meyer certainly doesn't appear to be.


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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http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2009/11/04/urban_meyer_teaches_a_bad_lesson_96526.html
© RealClearSports 2009

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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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Spander-Allegations-against-Cable-have-caught-Davis-attention-69034562.html
Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Baseball Defies Predictions of Doom

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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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http://www1.realclearsports.com/articles/2009/10/30/baseball_defies_predictions_of_doom_96518.html#at
© RealClearSports 2009

RealClearSports: McGwire Slinks Back into Baseball

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

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

in ,
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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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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