RealClearSports: Pujols Will Make Angels Resonate in Hollywood

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They've always been the other team, the outsiders, for 50 years, their entire existence. They changed ballparks, changed logos, changed names.

They played in Dodger Stadium, calling it Chavez Ravine, and now they play in the suburbs, calling themselves the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which is as absurd as saying the New York Yankees of Long Island.

When they weren't anonymous, they were the punch line of jokes...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Niners need extra push in red zone

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

So the Niners are less than perfect in the red zone, which is football newspeak to describe when a team is within the opponent’s 20-yard line. And they rank 24th in the NFL in offense. Yet, only one team has a better record, so what’s the problem?


That they get field goals instead of touchdowns? When the other team doesn’t score, as the St. Louis Rams didn’t score Sunday, at the moment, that’s only a trifle. Now when they face the Packers ...





Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Call It the 'Bowl Complaint Series'

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

And from the sort-of-great Northwest comes the word. “Everybody is just tired of the system.’’ That was Chris Petersen, Boise State coach, the system meaning the Bowl Championship Series, which should be called the Bowl Complaint Series.

Everybody? An exaggeration by Mr. Peterson, who if he doesn’t like the status quo could have accepted the position reportedly offered him by UCLA, which is having as much trouble finding a new football coach as it did scoring points against USC.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

Global Golf Post: Tiger Gets The Buzz Back

in ,
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA — Golf is whole again, and let us ignore what the skeptics and doubters might say. They'll argue that when Tiger Woods finally ended the silence, at last gave that full-voiced shout of victory on an 18th green, it came not in The Masters or U.S. Open, or even in a regular full-field PGA Tour event, but in what amounts to his own invitational, the Chevron World Challenge.

But a tournament is a tournament...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods ends 2-year drought with win

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The putt went in, and the cap came off. For the first time in two years, Tiger Woods had won a golf tournament, and he celebrated with first pumps, a wave of his hat and a smile that for golf had been too long unseen.

Woods came from a shot behind Zach Johnson with birdies on the final two holes Sunday to take the $5-million Chevron World Challenge, a charity event which benefits his Tiger Woods Foundation and surely was beneficial to the host.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods struggles in wind, trails by one

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Sherwood Country Club is cut into the rocky foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, fairways running up hillsides and down canyons, where Saturday afternoon, the wind gusted and swirled and tossed Tiger Woods for a loop.

Woods' three-shot lead entering the third round of the $5-million Chevron World Challenge was blown away, and he fell to second, a shot behind Zach Johnson.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: Tiger Still the Only Golfer Who Matters

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Let’s not fool ourselves. In golf, there’s Tiger Woods, and there’s everyone else.

Not specifically on the scoreboard, because as is obvious from the results, Rory McIlroy and Charles Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley can damn well play, and win.

But in our minds. In our attention to the game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Is it time for Golden State Warriors fans to believe again?

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The promises are out there, from a chain of command which seems very commanding, from a new head coach who acts very demanding.

This is the season, we are told, when fans of the Warriors, the most persistent, most loyal fans in sports, receive their payback.

Sixteen years out of 17, the Warriors have missed the playoffs...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Luck Leaves Stanford Stadium a Winner

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

STANFORD, Calif. — One of a kind. That's how Andrew Luck's appreciative coach described him.

"There's no player in America like Andrew Luck,'' was the biased but hardly inaccurate phrase of David Shaw. "Forget about the stats."

In his last game at Stanford Stadium, Luck's stats...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: 49ers quarterback Alex Smith finished biding time

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He was wearing a 49ers hat the other day, to which you would say, of course. But Alex Smith more often is seen in a Giants hat. Or on occasion, as a salute to his first love, a team of which he always will be a fan, the San Diego Padres.

“I’ve always worn something,” he said about his personal preference.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Jackson creates winning culture with the Raiders

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The blend is unusual in pro football, excitement and candor. Hue Jackson doesn’t stop believing. Or demanding.

When you wait half a lifetime to become a head coach, you look at things differently, and even when the score is wrong, approvingly.

Jackson isn’t the only reason the Raiders have moved out of the darkness...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Winds of change blow through Bay Area football

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The NFL season the Bay Area wondered if they would ever see has arrived.

The gloom has been lifted. The joy has returned. The playoffs are certain for the Niners, probable for the Raiders.

It’s barely past the mid-point, with several weeks...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Oh, Brother! Harbaughs Ready for Battle

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Oh, brother! Coach Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers against coach John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving night. “Yeah,’’ said Jim, “it’s a big deal.’’

Jim, a month from his 48th birthday, John 49. “We’re cut from the same cloth,’’ agreed Jim.

Of course they are, two sons of yet another football coach, Jack Harbaugh...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Luck 'Phenomenal' in Stanford's Victory

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

STANFORD, Calif. — He was wet and weary. But on this rainy Saturday night, Andrew Luck also was a winner. Of a football game, a traditional game that means as much to him as — maybe more than — the Heisman Trophy he might not win.

Whether Luck helped or hurt his chances for that individual prize is up to the observers and then the voters, but the only thing that concerned him was Stanford beating Cal in the 114th Big Game, if only 31-28, which might be considered a negative for a 17½-point favorite.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Tiger, Tebow Battle Their Demons

in , ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They were nearly 9,000 miles apart but as close as a television remote, the "T-Men,'' the demonized men. One is disliked for what he did - disappoint us after we embraced him like no other golfer in history. One is despised for what he hasn't done - play quarterback as conventionally played in the NFL.

On the Golf Channel, Tiger Woods at the Presidents Cup in Australia, a controversial and so far unproductive captain's pick by Fred Couples.

On the NFL Network, Tim Tebow...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: No love lost in Stanford-Cal rivalry

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

This Andrew Luck kid from Stanford? Just diplomatic enough to keep the coach happy. Just candid enough to keep the alumni ecstatic.

“We definitely respect Cal,” said Luck, discussing Saturday night’s Big Game at Stanford, “and I think they respect us. But it doesn’t mean we have to like each other.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Escaping the Hurt for a Few Hours

in , ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It was all right to watch the Raiders and Chargers, to check in on Tiger Woods at the Australian Open, to find out what was happening with Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech.

It was all right to get away from the hurt.

The world of sport had been changed, pummeled...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Stanford in the spotlight heading into Oregon matchup

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

For this week’s “Game of the Century,” you are presented a team with the longest major college football winning streak in the land, the Heisman Trophy favorite and the early morning arrival of that “look at me, Ma” presentation, ESPN’s “GameDay.”

Yes, as the Stanford band plays, it’s all right now.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: PSU Scandal Robs Sports of Innocence

in , ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It comes so fast you barely have time to duck. Or blink. “Bad news on the doorstep,’’ were Don McLean’s thoughts in “American Pie’’ – which, heavens, is 40 years old.

Now the bad news is on the screen, on the internet, on Facebook, on Twitter. Now the bad news assaults without a stop.



This is not about results...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011