RealClearSports: Kidd Fighting Father Time and Heat

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND -- He's been there, but Jason Kidd hasn't done that, meaning get a title.

All the years and the assists. All the trades and the troubles. Jason Kidd has endured and achieved. What he hasn't done is play for an NBA Champion.

Twice his team, then the New Jersey Nets, made it to the Finals ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Giants in Shock Over Loss of Posey

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — The fog melted away Thursday, but not the gloom. Buster Posey is gone for at least two months, most likely for the season, and the reality hit the San Francisco Giants with the force and impact Scott Cousins of the Florida Marlins hit Posey.

That happened Wednesday night in the 12th inning of a game that will live in infamy on the shores of the Bay. Cousins and a throw from Nate Schierholtz arrived at home plate at almost the same moment of a tie game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Bonds steps up to plate for Stow family

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Is it permissible to say something positive about Barry Bonds? Thank you. Bonds pledged to pay for the college education of Bryan Stow’s two children. That’s a splash hit of another sort.

Barry’s taken a lot of knocks, some of them deserved, certainly. So how about some praise? How about a high-five for someone who can use a few compliments?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Warriors Make a Legendary Hire

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — He's always had what was required, as a player with a last-second jump shot — Jerry West wasn't nicknamed "Mr. Clutch for nothing — as an executive with a draft day trade for the rights to Kobe Bryant.

"A tremendous amount of good fortune,'' advised West, "can happen for a risk taker.''

A risk taker who knows the territory, which Jerry West certainly does.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Accusations Keep Riding After Lance

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The world's supposed to end this weekend? Is that it? No wonder all these people are telling secrets. Lance Armstrong took a banned substance? The next thing you know, we'll find out Barry Bonds used steroids.

If these cycling pals of Armstrong are so self-righteous, why did they wait until now, or in the case of Floyd Landis a couple of years back, to tell us what was happening?

Lance continues to deny ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Bay Area sports limping along

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The Bay Area blues: The Warriors can’t catch a break. The A’s can’t catch on. The Giants can’t catch a ground ball — or if they do, can’t throw it properly to first base.


Dare we mention the Sharks, who until proven differently, remain the only major league franchise in the region yet to win their sport’s championship?



Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Fast Times and Hijinks at ESPN

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Snippets of the ESPN book are appearing, and apparently not all the employees at the network spent their days just diagramming plays. Sex? Drugs? Weren't people supposed to be concentrating on Australian Rules football?

The good folk back there know how to run a network. The good folk promoting the 770-page oral history of those who run the network or ran it know how to capture America's attention. By, so far, saying as little as possible.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: This Time, Sharks Come Through

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The sharpest dart, the one that figuratively drew blood and might have drawn someone into an argument, came from the captain, Joe Thornton, weary from having the truth told about his team, the San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks have gained a reputation, and it's hardly the sort any franchise or individual wishes. They've been described as failures, a hockey team that performs well through the regular season and early rounds of the playoffs, then falls apart.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Bruce Bochy is the brain behind the San Francisco Giants

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He’s as cool as an evening at AT&T Park, as reliable as the Pacific tide. Bruce Bochy is a motivator, a moderator, and it should be apparent, one of the finest managers in baseball. He is someone with a relentless confidence in his players and a deep understanding of baseball.

He doesn’t throw tantrums, but on occasion, will throw caution to those San Francisco winds. He never embarrasses an athlete, a journalist or the game, although he did go after Jonathan Sanchez’s lack of focus.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Djokovic: A Streak Nobody Notices

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It is a streak in the shadows, success in a virtual vacuum. Novak Djokovic had no trouble with Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. It's the Los Angeles Lakers and Justin Verlander who were the problems.

Djokovic's tennis has been superb. Djokovic's timing has been unfortunate.

What he's done has been remarkable ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: No. 24 Reaches Birthday No. 80

in , ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — He described his skills in such clear, unpretentious terms. "They throw the ball,'' Willie Mays once said. "I hit it. They hit it. I catch it."



What he hits today is a milestone. Number 24 has reached birthday Number 80. And if we actually needed another reason to revel in the glory of arguably the finest baseball player ever, well, there it is.

"There have been only two geniuses in the world, Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare,'' said ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Giants, A’s sharing same woes at the plate

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

At least A’s manager Bob Geren hasn’t felt the need to say of his team, “We’re awful,” which is specifically what Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of his team’s offense of late, even though they are not.

What they are is disappointing. So are the A’s.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Death of Bin Laden Through Prism of Sports

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

So I'm listening to Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo on their ESPN radio show Tuesday talking about what they know very well, the NBA, then switch to a topic maybe none of us really know — but still can't stop discussing — the death of Osama bin Laden.

They weren't alone, the sports talk guys. From Ground Zero to a hideaway in Pakistan, everything seemed viewed through a sporting prism.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Young Cam Rides Old Mo to No. 1

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

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



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

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

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Johnny Miller puts his fingerprint on Silverado Country Club

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Johnny Miller was back in his city a few days ago, back in San Francisco, where he grew up and learned the type of golf that would carry him to two major championships and a place with NBC as the game’s most candid television commentator.

Miller played Olympic Club while he was here, as he did while a junior member nearly a half-century ago, and as he did in the 1966 U.S. Open at age 19. He gained another perspective of what the old O.C. will be like when the U.S. Open returns in 2012.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: For Tiger, This Time It's His Knee

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

So now it's the knee. "We're not at all concerned," insisted agent Mark Steinberg. You could joke and say, sure. That's because the knee doesn't belong to Steinberg, rather to his prime client, one Eldrick "Tiger'' Woods.

But it's THE knee. The left one on which he's had surgery four times. And it's Tiger Woods, who whether you think the fates are getting even - please cover that grin - or whether a man who breaks a few hearts still should be allowed to break par, cannot be ignored.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Draft allows NFL to get back to football

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

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

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

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Dodgers: From Brilliance to Desperation

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — They were the great Dodgers, a sporting model, the franchise that once drew 93,000 for a game, the franchise of Koufax, Scully and Lasorda, the franchise of Frank Sinatra, the franchise that did everything right, while here in the city of faults the Giants seemed to do everything wrong.



The Dodgers made Northern California paranoid. The Dodgers made Northern California jealous. The chant, even to this day, is "Beat L.A.'' by people who'd practically rather have the Dodgers lose than the Giants win.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: A's lineup needs more pop to back pitching

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Say this for the Oakland A’s. The commissioner of baseball hasn’t felt the need to commandeer them, as he did the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At least the people who run the A’s still are controlling their direction. Or misdirection.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company