SF Examiner: McIlroy has unfinished business at the Masters

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- This is where it begins, on the fairways and under the pines. This is where the golfing year starts. It’s all been a warmup until now, until the first weekend of April, until the Masters.

Jack Nicklaus defined his year by the majors, and if that idea were good enough for Jack, still the greatest until proven differently, it’s good enough for the rest of us. And the rest of the pros.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Tiger-Rory Rivalry Bubbling at Masters

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The other golfer was talking like a fan, which as a kid growing up and admiring Tiger Woods’ success is exactly what Rory McIlroy used to be.

Tiger’s records were yardsticks for McIlroy, as Jack Nicklaus records were – still are – for Woods, proof what can be accomplished and reason to strive for excellence.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: This Time, Calipari Wins Last One

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEW ORLEANS -- This time, Cal won the last one. This time, Cal won the big one. This time, there would be no missed free throw near the end, no missed chances, no pointed criticism that while John Calipari can recruit and can change jobs, he can't win the game that matters.

Because the game Kentucky won Monday night, beating overmatched but courageous Kansas 67-59, mattered perhaps more than any in which 53-year-old John Calipari had ever been involved.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: Davis Makes Semifinal His Stage

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEW ORLEANS -- The kid is better than everyone thinks he is, so good that a coach who knows was willing to mention Anthony Davis in the same sentence as the nonpareil of defense, Bill Russell.

Rick Pitino has seen a great deal, won a great deal, and when he's impressed, it is time to take even greater notice of Davis than has been taken. Not that the accolades haven't swarmed Davis, who won the John Wooden Award.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: Keys to World Series title no secret for San Francisco Giants

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The Giants are going to be in the World Series. And then, just as in 2002, they’ll lose to the Los Angeles Angels.

That’s the prediction from Sports Illustrated, which is rarely correct in such a thing, but why be concerned about accuracy, unless it’s with Tim Lincecum’s fastball.

Albert Pujols, the new Angel, is on the front of SI’s baseball issue...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Goodell Punishment Fits Saints' Crime

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Someone had to make a stand. Someone had to make us believe the rules in sports, as the rules of society, were created for a reason, and just because the country is full of scofflaws and liars and thieves who masquerade as businessmen – yes, you Bernie Madoff – we should keep winking and nodding.

These are serious times in football, the game, although wildly popular, undercut by the stories of concussions and dementia, of Dave Duerson shooting himself, but not in his head, so medicine could research the effects of a lifetime of tackling and blocking had on the human brain.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: Booing of Lacob during ceremony was shameful, but understandable

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

You’ve heard it before. No good deed goes unpunished. What the man who owns the Warriors heard was a backlash of boos, which while reprehensible, also was understandable.

Joe Lacob has the keys to a kingdom he is trying to upgrade. The team is a work in progress. Patience is needed, we’ve been told.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Peyton's World Becomes 49ers' Worry

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It all makes sense in a nonsensical sort of way, Peyton Manning deciding to join the Denver Broncos, the only team run by a man who as a quarterback won more Super Bowls than has Manning.

If you get recruited by John Elway, you have an offer you almost can't refuse, and Manning didn't refuse it. Tough luck, Mr. Tebow.

At last the Peyton saga has reached its conclusion...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: Historic Olympic Club will pose a daunting challenge for US Open contenders

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The trophy was there, bright and gleaming. The trophy sitting on the tee of the ridiculously lengthened eighth hole at Olympic Club. The trophy and U.S. Open, thoughts about what is coming and what has gone.

A photo day to capture the beauty of Olympic — where the second full week in June, for a fifth time, America’s golfing championship will be played in all its ecstasy and agony.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Howard Stays, Almost Everyone Else Goes

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports

OAKLAND, Calif. — Heard a radio guy ripping Dwight Howard because Howard decided to spend at least another year with the Orlando Magic. Are we missing something?

When did loyalty become an indictable offense? Why should an athlete feel guilty for not leaving?

The NBA is wonderfully bewildering. The predictions were that Howard would be...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

 

SF Examiner: Warriors make a major change, but will it be progress?

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

So, isn’t that a heck of a deal for the Warriors, trading one of the NBA’s best scorers, Monta Ellis, to Milwaukee for a tall Australian with a broken ankle?   But hey, it proves the front office is willing to make moves, and didn’t Dante say something like, in times of moral crisis, the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who stand around using a zone defense?

The suspicion is the W’s could suit up five guys from Mosswood Park in Oakland and still sell out Oracle Arena, as they did Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics — Monta or no Monta, and certainly no Andrew Bogut, the Aussie with the ankle.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Sports Permanence in Twitter Generation

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Was it always this way, American sports and the 10-second attention span? Did we ever stay focused on anyone or anything before the next news cycle? Another Tweet, another change of subjects.

The end of last football season someone discovered Denver had a quarterback who threw like a man tossing melons but because Tim Tebow could run, Tebowmania was upon us like an elephant crashing through a jungle, unstoppable.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: Federer at 30: 'I Can Still Crush Anybody'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The warrior is old, comparatively, a man of 30 in a sport of 20-year-olds, knowing the way it was, believing in the way it could be.

"It is always in my mind still,'' said Roger Federer, "that I can still crush anybody."

Which he can, if not when it matters most, in the biggest events...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: Tiger, Djokovic, Pujols: Three of a Kind

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – It’s all about fame. Or infamy. All about recognition, for something you accomplished or couldn’t accomplish. All about fans chasing you for an autograph or a photo or no less significantly wishing they could chase you into the next county.

Hero or villain. The roles are virtually inseparable, although from a standpoint of morality and goodwill we would prefer a hero or heroine. Easier to accept. Easier to respect.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: The way to San Jose becoming bitter battle for A's

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

PHOENIX -- The dynasty started 40 years ago in 1972. The A’s won a World Series. Then another. Then another, an achievement since unmatched.

This is going to be a season of celebration, of memories, and two of the greats from the era, Rollie Fingers and Bert Campaneris, stopped by spring training before a recent exhibition game, living reminders of the way it was.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Bees weren't only buzz for San Francisco Giants in Arizona

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Angel Pagan had another hit Sunday. Melky Cabrera had two more. They got things started, and seemingly everybody else, Pablo Sandoval, Aubrey Huff, Brett Pill, wouldn’t let it stop. Only an exhibition game, but for the Giants, a telling one.

And because of the attack of the killer bees — not Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, but genuine bees who make honey — a game which threatened to last until sundown, but in fact took a mere 2 hours, 53 minutes (plus 41-minute bee delay), was a weird one.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

Newsday (N.Y.): White Sox's Robin Ventura has NY state of mind

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The home uniform pinstripes are black, not the royal blue he wore when with the Mets or the navy blue with the Yankees. Robin Ventura is manager of the White Sox, but the lessons of New York still are a part of him.

Ventura, now 44, played home games at Shea Stadium under Bobby Valentine and at Yankee Stadium under Joe Torre. Then he became the surprise pick to replace Ozzie Guillen. He had been a fan favorite in 10 years with the White Sox but hadn't managed or coached in organized baseball.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: This Alum Embarrassed by UCLA Mess

By Art Spander

For RealClearSports.com

So now it's my alma mater, UCLA, that has made a mess of things. But of course. It was inevitable. That's the game colleges play so they can play - no, make that win - the games.

The whole concept of big-time college sports is nonsense anyway. And the fact that participants are labeled student-athletes - what else could they be if they are students and athletes? - doesn't alter the essential fact that we often judge our educational institutions not on the quality of their libraries but on the achievements of their sporting teams.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 RealClearSports

SF Examiner: S.F. Giants refocused after disappointing 2011

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

They’re just a baseball team this year, the Giants, not the champions, not the club with the attention, baggage and impossibility of doing what nobody had done for more than a decade — repeat.

“I don’t think any of us knew what was coming,” Tim Lincecum said. He meant about the season of 2011, disappointing mainly because understandably it couldn’t match the season of 2010, the championship season.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Manny Must Handle His Bat and Life

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

PHOENIX – Everyone is saying the right things, of course. Why wouldn’t they?

The right things from Many Ramirez, trying to escape what he did to himself, to baseball and to his wife.

The right things from the Oakland Athletics, who out of desperation are taking a chance on Manny.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012