SF Examiner: 49ers on same page during busy offseason

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SANTA CLARA -- So the 49ers and Alex Smith will live happily ever after, and please don’t mention that dalliance with Peyton Manning. As far as Randy Moss, the only thing that matters, we’re told, is how Randy acts when he shows up, which presumably he’ll do in time.

Niners general manager Trent Baalke spoke with the media Wednesday about next week’s NFL draft, and because as usual...

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Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Halladay Outduels Struggling Lincecum

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — He gave up five runs, yet his ERA fell. Not much. It still is embarrassingly high, 10.54, but maybe Tim Lincecum has regained some of that edge with the slider and some of that swagger in his manner.

The possibility was enticing. Lincecum, the San Francisco Giants' two-time Cy Young Award winner, against Roy Halladay of the Phillies, also twice a winner of the Cy Young, if once in the American League.

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© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: Remembering Robinson's Number - and Skill

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The number, 42, hangs in every major league ballpark, a reminder of a man who was as much a pioneer as an athlete -- a superb athlete -- talented, proud and courageous.

Sixty-five years now since that April day in 1947 when Jack Roosevelt Robinson integrated the majors.

When he became the correction to one of the game's great wrongs, one of America's great wrongs...

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© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: The mystifying Mr. Barry Zito

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

In baseball, it was pointed out correctly, if not grammatically proper, by Hall of Famer Yogi Berra: You don’t know nothing. Or did you think Barry Zito would be a savior after Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain would be, not disasters, but at least disappointments?

To the contrary, one thing we all know is no matter how the A’s do, and that was a brilliant 1-0 win Monday night, they can’t draw beans, not with the kicking and screaming involved in their desperate attempt to flee to San Jose.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

Global Golf Post: Golf's Immovable Feast And A Guy Named Bubba

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA -- It always works, doesn't it? What they've got going at Augusta National, at The Masters -- and we'll cut to the chase and cut out the complaints -- somehow always produces a sporting event that seems more than a mere golf tournament. Mainly because as proved once more it isn't a mere golf tournament.

It's a festival, a fascinating concoction of flowery prose...

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Copyright 2012 Global Golf Post

RealClearSports: Bubba Earns Cheers -- and Masters Win

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He's not exactly a good ol' boy. But Bubba Watson is from the South - Bagdad, Fla., to be exact. And he did go to the University of Georgia. And he does button his golf shirt to the top, for neatness. So if the fans at Augusta National late Sunday afternoon were acting as if they were at, say, a Georgia-Florida game, that was excusable.

"Bubba, Bubba, Bubba," they were chanting. He had just won a playoff for the Masters, and while he was crying, they were screaming, "Bubba, Bubba, Bubba."

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: Bubba Watson walks away from Masters in tear-jerking triumph

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

And now we wait and hope, hope the next major golf championship of 2012, the U.S. Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Club in June, can be as full of tension and greatness — and, of course, drama — as the Masters.

What an ending Sunday, in the shadows after the setting sun dipped below the Georgia pines, a day of history, only the fourth double-eagle in 77 Masters and, because the winner couldn’t be determined until a sudden-death playoff, mystery.


Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: 2 Penalty Strokes Mar Tiger's Opening Round

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The signs, posted after the rain, offered a warning: "Caution, slippery when wet.'' What they neglected to say was: "No less dangerous when dry."

Such a beautiful place, Augusta National, with those tall Georgia pines, finely mowed fairways and rolling greens. Such a troublesome place, Augusta National, when playing from under those pines or the wrong spots on those greens.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

SF Examiner: Gender equity once again a hot-button topic at Augusta

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Augusta, Ga. — For a few hours Wednesday, the most important person at Augusta National was not Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. It wasn’t a pro golfer. It wasn’t even a “he,” which is the reason Ginni Rometty and her status has become important.

They’ll be teeing off this morning in the 76th Masters. The entrants that is. On Wednesday...

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Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

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.

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© 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...

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© 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.

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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...

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© 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