By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — The first few minutes of the CBS telecast Saturday from the Farmers Insurance Open were videos of swings by Tiger Woods. Which might be all you need to know about the current state of PGA Tour golf.
Woods hasn't been here since Thursday, when he withdrew because of back spasms.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — The Farmers Insurance Open lost its second star in two days when hometown guy Phil Mickelson, putting "beyond pathetic," missed the cut Friday. Tiger Woods withdrew from the PGA Tour event Thursday because of a bad back.
Mickelson, who grew up playing Torrey Pines, shot a par 72 on the easier North Course after a 2-over 74 Thursday on the South, the one on which Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — The questions about Tiger Woods before he teed off Thursday dealt with his game. Now, once again, they are about his back, and at age 39, his future.
Woods, in obvious pain, withdrew after only 11 holes in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, a course where he had flourished. He has eight wins here as a pro, including the 2008 U.S. Open, his last victory in a major.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist, Bleacher Report
SAN DIEGO — It seemed as symbolic as it was sad. There was the man, Eldrick Woods, the one and only Tiger, driving away into a coastal fog that, if it didn’t obscure his future—he’s done—it certainly did the future of golf.
Why does it always have to end like this for the great ones—injuries and ailments and worst of all an inability to perform with the magnificence they once did?
Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
Even the weather seems to be against Tiger Woods.
Coastal fog, not unusual this time of the year in southern California, delayed Woods -- and everyone else -- by two hours at the start of Wednesday's pro-am for the Farmers Insurance Open.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner
They are so good for so long, and then suddenly we’re wondering — they’re wondering — how and why the great players go into decline.
Why can’t Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum get the ball over the plate any more? How did the Niners’ Vernon Davis last season go from star to question mark? And what has happened to Tiger Woods?
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA — The sign attached to the second-floor patio railing intentionally was visible from the adjacent fairway. "Welcome back, Tiger," it said in properly large letters.
Such a delightful greeting. Such an unexpected response.
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
GLENDALE, Ariz. — He was weary and battered, a champion once again, an MVP once more.
Tom Brady, who wasn't necessarily the man who made the difference — although certainly he was a difference-maker — stood there as much in gratification as in glory.
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tiger Woods may have lost his touch — his 82 Friday in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open was his worst as a pro — but he retained his sense of humor.
"I'm only doing this so I won't get fined" was Woods' opening comment to the media. Clearly he's been watching the interviews with Marshawn Lynch, whose Seahawks will play the Patriots Sunday in Super Bowl XLIX in nearby Glendale.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tiger Woods' return to PGA Tour tournament golf for the first time in 5 1/2 months was a struggle to be expected by everyone aside from the man himself.
Woods, who turned 39 at the end of December and hadn't competed in a full-blown event since the PGA Championship last August, started erratically, 4 over par in his first four holes, then rallied impressively and shot a 2-over-par 73 in the opening round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to the Examiner
PHOENIX — They weren't going to trap Marshawn Lynch. He would talk Tuesday on Super Bowl Media Day. He would sit there at his rostrum and declare, "I'm only here so I won't get fined."
Declare it 28 times before adding, "Time up."
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX — There was a guy wearing only a barrel. No, not the late, great Tim McKernan of Denver; this was someone representing a local C&W station, KNIX.
There was a young lady from a Hispanic sports station wearing something so tight it could barely be confused with a dress, much less a barrel.
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX — Think of the great NFL coaches over the last half century, the Lombardis, Shulas, Nolls, even the Belichicks, because no matter what we think of Bill, he is part of this category and a much rarer category -- a winner in back-to-back Super Bowls.
Now consider adding the name of Pete Carroll to that list. Silly, you suggest, because Carroll, a product of California's fantasy-land Marin County, a guy whose easy-going ways when he coached the Jets were derided as "the good ship Lollipop?"
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX — Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, in his rimless glasses and dark suit, looked more like a businessman than a football coach. However, the questions he was asked moments after the Seahawks arrived for next Sunday's Super Bowl had nothing to do with finance.
Seattle's jet arrived at Sky Harbor Airport in the early afternoon, and not long after that, after the Seahawks' buses crept through the crowd of cheering, banner-waving fans at the motor entrance to the Arizona Grand Hotel, he was dealing with, yes, "deflategate."
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
We have grown accustomed to the Warriors' success now, even demanding of it. One winning streak after another. Two brilliant backcourt artists, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Nirvana. At last.
The Warriors with the best record in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics -- nemeses since eternity -- trapped in the wasteland where the Warriors once resided.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — The kid is almost too cool, but that’s hardly an indictable offense. Klay Thompson knows who he is, and exactly what he’s supposed to do.
That he wasn’t traded for Kevin Love, or anyone else, proves the people in charge of the Warriors also know who Thompson is. And very well what he may become.
The man scored 40 points Wednesday night, so easily it was almost obscene. Whoosh, whoosh. Swish, swish. “Credit to my teammates,” said Thompson. “They got me the ball.”
But Thompson, half of the so-called Splash Brothers — is he Splish or Splash, and yes, it does bring back memories of that long-ago Bobby Darin song — got the ball where it’s supposed to be, in the net.
He also helped get the W’s where they’re supposed to be, in the win column, 117-102 over the Indiana Pacers.
There’s more to life than digits, but sometimes the numbers cannot be ignored. First, Klay’s 40, second highest in his NBA career to the 41 on opening night. Next, the 21 by the other Splasher, Stephen Curry, who at 6:22 of the first quarter made his 1,000th 3-pointer, sooner (this is his sixth season) than anyone else ever. Next, the 15 assists by Curry. Next the 18 points by Marreese Speights.
And maybe more importantly, after their fifth straight victory (piddling, yes, after 16 in a row a few weeks back), a 28-5 record. Chew on that: 28-5. Reminds you of the old Celtics or old Lakers.
The new Lakers, crushed Wednesday night by the Clippers, remind you that success in sports is temporary. So enjoy it while you may. And for the normal sellout crowd of 19,596 at Oracle, the victory was particularly enjoyable.
In what the mavens call a trap game, the losing Pacers between the winning Raptors and Cavaliers (even if Cleveland will be without LeBron James), the Warriors began lethargically and imperfectly. They were down 11 before tying it up 50-50 at halftime. After that, it was all Thompson and the W’s.
“A great win,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “One of my favorite wins of the year.” We’ll not ask him to rank the other 27, but his exuberance is understandable. You’re down 11, and nothing is going right. Then it all turns out well.
Also not to be neglected was the return of 7-foot center Andrew Bogut, who after a hint or two by Kerr during his pre-game talk to the media, in the opening quarter sent Bogut into a game for the first time since early December. He was out 12 games, knee troubles — as opposed to ankle troubles previously.
Surely, Kerr’s labeling the game one of his favorites had a great deal to do with the return of the big Australian, who along with David Lee, also healed from an injury, will be a necessity when the playoffs arrive and basketball resembles a wrestling match.
“We were tested big time,” said Kerr. “We had to figure out things as we went.”
What the 24-year-old Thompson, in his fourth season, figured out quickly enough was that he had the rhythm and the touch, making 14 of 25 field goal attempts, 6 of 11 on threes. “I had good balance,” he said. And excellent teammates.
“I’ve got to thank them,” he said. “I was going under a lot of screens, and I was getting a ton of open looks. I missed a few, but I knew they were going to go down eventually. I got a couple of easy buckets to the rim as a result of Bogut’s passing and Andre (Iguodala’s) cutting.”
Naturally, Curry was not forgotten.
“He just does everything for us,” said Thompson. “He’s so good at finding us. He attracts so much attention on the offensive end, and his defense is underrated.”
Bogut played 14 minutes 41 seconds and had two baskets and eight rebounds, one fewer than teammate Draymond Green. “I played three-on-three (Tuesday) for the first time and felt OK,” said Bogut. “Thought to start giving it a go. Klay was unbelievable offensively, and it’s going to be a staple for us going forward.”
Thompson, raised in southern California, playing undergraduate ball at Washington State, is rarely lost for an answer. He was raised in the business after all, his father drafted No. 1 by the Trail Blazers, then going to L.A.
Someone pointed out it was a shame the dad was trapped commenting on the Lakers’ 114-89 rout by the Clips while the son was throwing them in some 370 miles to the north.
“I’m sure he had a little TV and was watching me,” said Klay.
On Wednesday night, on TV or in person, so were a great many others. Cool.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PASADENA, Calif. — The oddsmakers knew Oregon, even if most of the eastern United States did not.
The Ducks, the aptly named Quack Attack, were a 9 1/2-point favorite over Florida State, a team that hadn't lost a game in two-plus seasons. Some people wondered how that could be. They found out the first day of 2015.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PASADENA, Calif. — One team, Oregon, is second in the nation in the playoff rankings. The other, Florida State, is third and undefeated. Each has a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. What else do we need to know?
Other than who will win Thursday's College Football Playoff semifinal, of course.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
SANTA CLARA — The announcement, lacking explanation, carrying no emotion, was delivered within moments of Jim Harbaugh’s last words to the media. The 49ers and Harbaugh had “agreed to mutually part ways.”
Just like that? Not if you were tuned in, and the Bay Area, as well as Ann Arbor, where the man supposedly will take up residence, never tuned out.
The story, the agony, the questions, have been bubbling for weeks, printed in the dailies, carried on radio and TV, on Internet sites.
Harbaugh and the Niners were done when the season was done, we were told, and told again, and Sunday, with a 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, at last it was done.
Thus, after four seasons, most wildly successful, three trips to the NFC championship, one to a Super Bowl, so was Harbaugh as Niner coach.
We knew it was coming, knew it was inevitable, knew the people at the top didn’t like Harbaugh’s pushy, demanding style — although they did like the victories, of which appropriately there were a total of 49, including playoffs.
And yet in this world of social media and screaming headlines, where there are no secrets, Harbaugh and Niners management, meaning president Jed York and general manager Trent Baalke, attempted to hide it until the last second.
Then on the final day of the regular season of 2014, when it could no longer be ignored, the Niners delivered the news as they might have done about another empty seat at Levi’s Stadium.
Oh, by the way, kids, there will be a new coach next season. Thought you’d like to know.
Here’s the shame of all this: That on what most likely will be the final game for another memorable 49er, Frank Gore, who ran for 144 yards, giving him his eighth season of 1,000 or more and a career total of more than 11,000, the performance becomes a sidebar.
For the Niners, who came in at 8-8, the only non-winning reason of Harbaugh’s four, the main story is Harbaugh and the departure that was forecast for weeks.
Jim is a demanding guy. The way he’s turned teams into winners (at Stanford, he took over after a 1-11 season and, whoosh, coached the Cardinal to 12-1, leading to the Niner job), he can afford to be. But he gets to the egos of those who pay his bills, an independent cuss whose loyalty is to his players rather than the bosses.
When the Niners went to the Super Bowl two seasons back, facing the Baltimore Ravens, coached by brother John Harbaugh, Jim thumbed his nose at protocol. It’s tradition the Friday before the game that each coach shows up at media headquarters in coat and tie for a final press conference. John wore a suit. Jim wore the clothes he wears on the field, black sweatshirt, chinos.
Basically what Jim Harbaugh does is wear on others. Play a few bars of Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.”
Now it’s the highway. Or a private jet to Michigan, where he’s getting an offer worth millions to coach his alma mater. Of course, when Harbaugh became Stanford coach before the 2007 season, he said Michigan admitted “borderline guys” and steered athletes (student-athletes?) toward softer majors than the rest of the kids.
What he said Sunday standing at the podium in the stadium auditorium was he felt great with what he and the team accomplished during his short reign.
“I leave on good terms with Jed York,” said Harbaugh. While there were skeptics among us, York and Harbaugh embraced after Jim walked out of the locker room pregame.
Later, soaked by a Gatorade as a farewell gift from his players, Harbaugh left the turf carrying a game ball, handed to him by safety Craig Dahl, whose interception in the final moments locked up the win.
“It’s like the song ‘Time of My Life,’” said Harbaugh. “That’s what it’s been. The relationships remain along the way. That’s what a team is. As I’ve said all along, it’s been a tremendous four years, my pleasure to work with this organization, this football team.
“This win meant a lot. There have been a lot of great moments.”
Harbaugh thanked the fans — many of whom remained to give him a last hurrah — as well as the media, the team.
“These were signature years in my life.”
As, Frank Gore said, they were in his life.
“He’s a great coach,” Gore said of Harbaugh. “My best years were with him as a team. He was here, and we won. I just wish him the best. I know whatever team he goes to, whether it’s the NFL or college, he’s going to be fine. He’s going to get it done.”
The decision on Harbaugh and by Harbaugh has been made. The decision on Gore, a free agent, is pending. Does he also depart? “I wish we can get things worked out,” said Gore, who cried before the game started, considering past and future. “But I also know it’s a business.”
So does quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who in Harbaugh is losing not only the man who drafted him in 2011 after the two worked out, but the one who as a former NFL quarterback himself nurtured him.
“He has been a huge part,” said Kaepernick, “but I’m playing football nevertheless.
“He helped develop me, not only as a quarterback but as a person. He made sure you took care of your family and your teammates. But he sill pointed out what I needed to do to get better as a player.”
He’ll be advising some other quarterback now on some other team.
“You start something,” Harbaugh said about the grind this year, “you finish it. We battled. You do your best. People may look at it as not enough, but you do your best. If your best isn’t appreciated, then you do your best anyway.”
Jim Harbaugh’s best was always appreciated. If only for too brief a time with the 49ers.
By Art Spander
SANTA CLARA — This was the 49er year in microcosm. And in memoriam. A season that might have been unwound painfully in a game that should have been. And wasn’t.
After all the chaos, the rumors, the questions, the Niners had a chance to quell the noise, if only for a few days, and no less significantly end their losing streak.
That they could do neither seemed appropriate in their next to last game of a season that will climax for the first time since 2010 without a winning record.
And possibly, since they now are 7-8 and play one more, with a losing record.
The Niners lost Saturday night. Again. Lost on a 40-yard field goal by Nick Novak in overtime. Lost to the San Diego Chargers, 38-35. Lost after leading 21-0 in the second quarter and 35-21 in the fourth quarter.
Lost after setting a team rushing record of 355 yards. Lost when for the 15th time in 15 games they failed to score a touchdown in the final regulation period. Or in overtime.
For a while, it seemed the Niners would have one last hurrah, a shout to echo through the dreadful silence of bewilderment, of wondering where Jim Harbaugh would be coaching, or asking why general manager Trent Baalke and team president Jed York couldn’t patch together the differences that in part turned a Super Bowl franchise into a supreme disappointment.
But a team that had a reason to win, the Chargers, chasing a playoff spot, found a way — or ways — to beat a team that already was eliminated from the postseason, had no particular reason. Except pride.
“We kept fighting,” said Harbaugh. “We did the best we could.”
There’s that one game left for the Niners, here at Levi’s Stadium, the $1.3 billion home for what evolved into a two-bit team, Sunday against Arizona.
After that Harbaugh, whose arrival in 2011 gave San Francisco the lift and the direction to become winners, will depart.
Where, to another NFL team — the Raiders? — or his alma mater, Michigan, only he knows. What everyone knows is the Niners have slipped from the their perch near the summit, and their fall could be a tumultuous one.
Already below Seattle, they could drop below Arizona and St. Louis, an also-ran with aging linemen and a quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, apparently more qualified to use his legs than his arms.
Kaep rushed for 151 yards, including a spectacular 90-yard touchdown run, the second longest by a quarterback (to Terrelle Pryor’s 93-yarder) in NFL history. Frank Gore, 31, whose time is nearly finished in San Francisco, picked up 158.
But for a fourth straight game, the Niners couldn’t pick up a win. Even after a great beginning.
“There’s no way to explain it,” said Bruce Miller, the Niners fullback.
To the contrary, there is.
The Niners, because of their numerous problems — only Wednesday, defensive lineman Ray McDonald was terminated because he was being investigated for sexual assault — their frequent injuries and their well-publicized dysfunction, were in survival mode from the start.
And they were unable to survive, whether the game Saturday night where the less-than-capacity crowd was less than effusive, or the full schedule. Losing to the one-win Raiders a couple of weeks back should have been the indication that the Niners were a mess.
Football is a sport of emotion as well as strength. People can say what they wish, but deep down a player must be driven. A bad break here, a tough call there, and everything comes apart. It did for the Niners Thursday night. And in other games.
Gore, who was returning after a concussion, had his finest game of the year. “There’s a man,” said Kaepernick of his main running back. Absolutely, 158 yards on 26 carries, highs for 2014.
Yet, the man wasn’t given a chance in so many other games. And now the end as a Niner is near.
The Niners' strength had been on defense. But NaVorro Bowman had a knee torn up in the NFC Championship a year ago and never played. Aldon Smith was suspended for legal troubles, including firearm violations. Patrick Willis missed the last month with turf toe. The strength became a weakness.
“I’m going to try and forget it,” defensive tackle Mike Purcell said when someone asked him if he would remember the game.
Niner fans will seek to do the same.
“We just didn’t finish,” said cornerback Parrish Cox. “We want to finish the season strong. But I don’t know what it is.”
Harbaugh may know, but he wasn’t talking.
“It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot to say right now,” he said after his penultimate game as coach.
Except, in a few days, goodbye.