PGATOUR.com: Sim could be next star product of Aussie pipeline

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By Art Spander
Special to PGATOUR.com

SAN DIEGO -- He's part of the Aussie Pipeline, the kids who grow up Down Under with thoughts of playing golf Up Over, across the Pacific and in the other hemisphere.

We're so accustomed to the success of Australian golfers in America, from Bruce Crampton to David Graham to Greg Norman to Geoff Ogilvy, that Michael Sim should be absolutely no surprise.

Read the full story here.

© 2010 PGA TOUR, Inc.

PGATOUR.com: Mickelson's use of old wedges stirs groove rule debate

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By Art Spander
Special to PGATOUR.com

SAN DIEGO -- This is what Phil Mickelson said. That all the clubs in his bag are approved for play. Including the ones some other players say he should not be using, wedges from Ping which if not older than dirt are old enough to create a controversy.

Read the full story here.

© 2010 PGA TOUR, Inc.

RealClearSports: Thanks, David Stern for Doing the Right Thing

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Thanks, David Stern. Thanks for doing what any sane-thinking person would have done, suspending the two Washington Wizards players who were so stupid, so arrogant to bring guns to practice.

Thanks for attempting to restore to society some sense of what is right and wrong.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

PGATOUR.com: Tidland's career interweaves with Tiger, Torrey Pines

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By Art Spander
Special to PGATOUR.com

SAN DIEGO -- Oh, what Chris Tidland didn't know. That golf could be such a frustrating game and yet such a rewarding one. That he would reach the final stage of q-school 10 times and gain his card only twice. That the 13-year-old kid he couldn't defeat would turn out to be the best player in the world.

Read the full story here.

© 2010 PGA TOUR, Inc.

PGATOUR.com: With Woods gone, Mickelson brings shot in the arm to event

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By Art Spander
Special to PGATOUR.com

SAN DIEGO -- This is his town, San Diego, where the waves sweep in and world seems nothing but blue skies and Mexican food. This is the place Phil Mickelson was always The Man, even when he was a boy.

And now, with the absence of the other guy, and is there any reason to mention names, there's a new responsibility for Mickelson as he plays for the first time in 2010.

Read the full story here.

© 2010 PGA TOUR, Inc.

RealClearSports: Questions About Tebow's Actions On and Off the Field

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

How do you look at Tim Tebow? As the quarterback trying to impress the scouts at Senior Bowl practice? Or as the spokesman for what critics contend is an anti-abortion ad to be broadcast by CBS-TV during the Super Bowl?

At the moment, he's both. It's odd. And awkward. One instant he's being quizzed about reading defenses. The next, someone alludes to him reading the bible.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Giants win this round against NY

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s usually the Giants or A’s who are left standing with their mouths open and checkbooks closed. Especially when a team from New York is involved.

That’s why re-signing Bengie Molina was of itself a small triumph. The guy can barely hobble down to first base. We know that.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

Global Golf Post: Analysis: When Hope Is Hopeless

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By Art Spander

LA QUINTA, CALIF. -- There was a time, before ESPN, before an NHL team showed up in Tampa, before the major leagues went to Denver and Phoenix, that sport was different.

We were happy for small favors, pleased when people such as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope gave us golf tournaments that were as much about entertainment as competition.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post

RealClearSports: Tiger News Won't Die Down

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- The back cover of the tabloid New York Post was what we would expect, a photo of a Jets running back. The team's biggest game in years is Sunday against the Colts. Overkill is permissible. Jets, Jets Jets.

But that's the back cover.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Yogi, Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Steroids? "I don't even know what steroids look like,'' said Yogi Berra. But he knows what baseball looks like. And life looks like. And success looks like.

Lawrence Peter Berra, 84, master of the malaprop, genuine good guy, genuinely great ballplayer, full of stories but not of himself, was talking about everyone from Bob Hope to Mark McGwire.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Chargers no strangers to falling short in postseason

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

This is the conundrum for sports fans: Is it better to have a bad or mediocre team — the Raiders and 49ers immediately come to mind — that numbs you into a state of indifference, or one like the San Diego Chargers that raises hopes and then inevitably collapses?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

Newsday (N.Y.): Revis again shows he can handle tall task

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN DIEGO -- That stuff about a good little man not being able to handle a good big man? The size is relative, of course, but for Darrelle Revis, considered small at 5-11, all the talk is just so much talk.

Read the full story here (subscription only).

Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Sanchez transformed from spectator to winning QB

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN DIEGO -- The eye black hadn't been removed. Neither had the feeling that everything in his career was going absolutely perfectly. The fates brought Mark Sanchez to Qualcomm Stadium again, but this time it was as a player, not just a spectator.

Read the full story here (subscription only).

Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: There Are No Morals in These Stories

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Was sport always this crazy? Did basketball players 30 years ago think they needed a bigger arsenal than Wyatt Earp?

Did football coaches leave town faster than a guy being chased by a sheriff and then get a royal welcome the next place they put down their clipboard?

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: At USC, Coach Isn't a Job, It's a Role

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

At the University of Southern California, football coach is less a job than a role. A man must know his X's and O's certainly, but as importantly in the movie capital, where there's no business like show business, he must know how to shake a hand and tell a joke.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Bay Area stars pioneered steroid era

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — A few sniffles from Mark McGwire. Did someone say there’s no crying in baseball? Of course there is. Our pal, Barry Bonds, cried long ago on the Roy Firestone show.

And you thought the suspected (and, for one, acknowledged) use of steroids was the only thing that linked the home run kings.

Obviously, it’s the Bay Area influence. Not for teardrops, but for substance abuse.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Colt Is the Real McCoy

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- This is southern California at its luxurious best, the Marriott Hotel on a bluff, the Pacific in the distance, the outside temperature in the mid 70s.

Except the kid wearing the white jersey with No. 12 on the front is inside, and his view is of cameras, microphones and prying journalists.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: New year doesn't bring much hope for Bay Area sports

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — This is a happy new year? The 49ers reveling because they didn’t lose more games than they won. The Raiders groping because they did lose more games than they won. The Warriors making us wish it were baseball season. The Giants and A’s making us wonder why we should wish it were baseball season.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Terrelle Pryor Proves He's a Quarterback

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

PASADENA -­- Isn't this what he was supposed to do? Wasn't Terrelle Pryor rated the best prep football player in the land a couple of seasons ago? Didn't everyone contend when Ohio State picked up Pryor it picked up a national championship? Or at the least a BCS bowl game win?

It hadn't worked that way. Until Friday night. Until the first evening of 2010.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010