RealClearSports: Favre Leaves Us Grasping for Perspective

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Steve Young, as always, made the intelligent assessment. How, asked Young, a Hall of Fame quarterback himself, do we use the word "perspective" when analyzing what Brett Favre has accomplished?

"People ask me to put this in perspective,'' Young said on ESPN, talking about the end of Favre's consecutive starts streak at 297. "But there's no perspective. This is uncharted territory.''

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Last Hurrah for 49ers' Alex Smith?

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Peyton Manning again looked like a quarterback who should have been the first pick in an NFL draft. Which he was, reassuring to those who believe teams know what they are doing.

Or, no less significantly, the quarterback they select knows what he is doing.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Woods making progress despite loss

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

There was a considerable amount of gloating about Tiger Woods squandering a lead down the stretch in his own tournament, the Chevron World Challenge, the “See, I told you he can’t win anymore” crowd gleefully reminding, “See, I told you he can’t win anymore.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Meredith: Brilliant Star of a Bygone Era

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

There was a certain eeriness to the fact Don Meredith would die hours before a Monday Night Football contest. Also a certain poignancy.

Meredith better than anyone understood the contention of the late commissioner Pete Rozelle that at its essence the NFL is nothing but entertainment.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Singletary keeps 49ers fans guessing

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The coach still is the coach, and why not? It wouldn’t do any good to get rid of Mike Singletary at this point. He has a sense of purpose, and at times a sense of humor. You go after him, and he’s right back at you, admirable even if his record is not.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

Global Golf Post: Chevron Event Has Special Meaning for McDowell

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- It was at the Chevron World Challenge a year ago that Graeme McDowell was given a chance to jump-start his career, and, as noted by his journeys and his successes -- a U.S. Open champion is forever -- he has no plans on stopping.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post

Global Golf Post: Tiger's Progress Gives Golf Its Groove Back

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- This is what matters: Golf again has its spirit, its soul, its attraction. Golf again has its niche in the sports pages, its place on the television screens. Golf again has Tiger Woods, stepping beyond the past and into the future.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post

RealClearSports: USC Wins But Doesn't Sell

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

PASADENA, Calif. -- This is Hollywood territory, been-there-done-that country. All they're interested in around here is box office.

Tradition is for Peoria. Or Lincoln. You better put something on the plate -- or, more specifically, on the field -- if you want to sell tickets.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Tiger Looks 'Ominously Good'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Mark Stevens, the PGA Tour official, unintentionally summed it up. "Welcome back, Tiger,'' was Stevens' greeting as Woods sat down in the interview room.

Yes, welcome back to golf without agony, to a place atop a leaderboard, to a feeling that the pain and doubt of the last year had been overcome. At last.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Uribe's departure just part of game

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

There’s no crying in baseball. No permanence either. Wonder if those Dodger fans will get the hang of saying “Ooo-reebay”? Wonder if there’s any sort of chant that can be created out of “Tay-ha-dah”?

We blinked, and it’s all changed.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Tiger Longs to Begin Next Chapter

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The year that wasn't is coming to an end for Tiger Woods with many of the same questions, plenty of the same answers and on one side at least, his, a longing for separation as well as forgiveness.

When near the end of a media conference which provided more commentary than insight -- hardly unexpected under the circumstances -- local sportscaster Jim Hill asked sympathetically, "Are you tired of, or is it ...'' Tiger cut him off in mid-sentence.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: America Slipping in Schools and Sports

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

On a quintessential American holiday, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wrote of a now quintessential American problem, our decline in global competition.

The emphasis was academics. How half of the winners of Rhodes Scholarships, America's top grads, either were from other countries or the offspring of recent immigrants, students with last names such as Kang, Tauqeer, Alekeyeva and Nadathur.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Niners need to start over

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The advice has become cliché: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. What if it is broken? What if it’s a football team? What if it’s the 49ers, who need a very large repair job?

What if it’s a franchise without direction or people who could locate that direction?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Heat's On LeBron, Miami

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

"We're not having fun right now.'' The speaker was LeBron James. The same LeBron James who turned the end of his free agency into a parody and it was believed would turn the Miami Heat into the greatest team in the history of basketball. Or at least in the history of overhyped basketball players.

Nothing against Mr. James and the Heat, but some of us are having a great deal of fun.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Stanford's Luck 'Best Player in Country'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

BERKELEY, Calif. -- It's always been a quarterback school. Way back, there was Frankie Albert, and later John Brodie. Along came Jim Plunkett to win a Heisman. Then John Elway on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Now Stanford has Andrew Luck.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Tiger Begins Attempt to Redefine Himself

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The problem for Tiger Woods, as the process of image restoration begins its merry run, is not so much what he did -- his sins are all too public. It is what he failed to do -- connect with so many members of the media.

So now, as he visits early-morning radio or appears in Newsweek telling how his value system has changed, explaining that giving his son a bath is as rewarding as winning a tournament used to be, the skepticism is natural.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Tedford has had Stanford's number in Big Game

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — The other guy is getting the attention. A huge article on Jim Harbaugh in Sports Illustrated. Why not? Stanford has lost only one game. Stanford is ranked No. 7 in the nation.

“I have a lot of respect for coach Harbaugh,” said Jeff Tedford.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Vick Not Wasting His Second Chance

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

We find satisfaction in realizing what Michael Vick can do. After finding revulsion in learning what he did.

He moves forward, with remarkable skill, a brilliant talent. We move on. And yet ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Nothing Shocking About Newton Scandal

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

A scandal in college sports? Impossible. We're shocked, shocked, to borrow from Inspector Renault in Casablanca. He was talking about illicit gambling, which in a way would put him in fine stead these days when dealing with undergraduate games.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Things are looking up in NorCal

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner


John Cook, who won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday at Harding Park, was saying as a kid who grew up in Southern California — or “SoCal,” as he phrased it — how much he reveled in beating people and teams from Northern California.

Read the full story here.

C0pyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company