By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
Second chances don't come often in sports, especially intercollegiate sports, especially in basketball, where the best players barely stay around for one year, never mind two or three. Or four.
The kids at Wisconsin understand that. The coach at Wisconsin understands that.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander and Mychael Urban
San Francisco Examiner
The K guys were at it again. “Did you ever get picked off in spring training?” Mike Krukow asked Duane Kuiper. Without hesitation or hint of embarrassment, Kuiper told Krukow and all of us fortunate enough to be watching and listening, “I sure did.”
How do we rank our Bay Area teams? Giants? 49ers? A’s? Kruk and Kuip? “On the love meter,” Giants President Larry Baer once said, “as far as the fans are concerned, they’re off the charts.”
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
Only Tiger Woods knows for sure if he's ready to conquer another Masters. The rest of us are only left to guess. More than guess. We can anticipate. He didn’t spend all these weeks working on his game, didn’t fly to Augusta to get in a presumed practice round for nothing.
Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
Consider it proof that rivalries still matter and thrive in sports. What unfurls again tonight in downtown Los Angeles, and what could await in the second round of the postseason, qualifies as NBA antagonism at its thickest and feistiest. From a near-brawl on a memorable Christmas night to the ongoing commentary of Draymond Green, the Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers truly cannot stand each other, which is a little hard to believe when weighing the respective histories of the franchises.
"We don't like each other," Warriors center Andrew Bogut said, flatly.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
He ran off the court and yelled to no one in particular, “It’s destiny.” At least that’s what was written. But Butch Beard isn’t quite sure what he shouted. Not from a distance of 40 years.
“Maybe I did say that,” Beard said, searching his memory. “That first game was sort of a miracle. We were way down. And then Hopper got in there.” Hopper was the nickname for Charles Dudley, whose frenzied play that first game of the 1974-75 NBA Finals brought back the Warriors from a 16-point deficit to victory.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
It has to do with saints, and that’s not the New Orleans franchise, but the ones after whom the two cities were named.
The 49ers were fine when they played in the city of St. Francis. Six appearances in the Super Bowl, five victories. Everything’s come apart since they moved to the city of St. Clare, even though she’s, yes, the patron saint of television.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The temperature was 89 degrees when Roger Federer finished another match without figuratively working up a sweat.
The man seemingly never grows old. He’s 33, which in tennis age is somewhere between remembering what used to be and reminding yourself to retire.
Unless you’re Federer, who said he planned his career to last and not flame out.
And, despite traveling with a wife and two sets of young twins, he figuratively carries no baggage.
Doesn’t carry his opponents either. On Sunday, he beat some poor kid named Diego Schwarzman, 6-4, 6-2. That’s a problem for tennis: the nobodies — Schwarzman, a 22-year-old Argentinean is ranked 63rd — get sent in like cannon fodder to face the stars.
It’s like a high-school kid trying to guard Stephen Curry. You lose confidence as quickly as you lose matches.
Yes, everyone started down there. In his postgame musings to the big crowd at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden’s 16,100-seat Stadium Court, Federer recalled his first appearance 15 years ago in the tournament now called the BNP Paribas Open.
“I was way out there,” he said pointing to an unseen court of the desert complex east of Palm Springs, “in a sandstorm.”
Once a player breaks through, finally gets beyond the first and second rounds, earns enough points to get matched against someone of, for that moment, his or her own skill, it all changes.
For Federer, an emotional player as a teenager in his native Switzerland, the great leap was when he defeated Pete Sampras, a seven-time champion, in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2001.
Suddenly Federer was the player the other guys had to get past. And they rarely did.
He took Wimbledon seven times. He has a men’s record 19 Grand Slams. And if he’s still not at the summit, occupied now by Novak Djokovic, No. 2 is impressive. And reassuring.
“I’m very happy,” said Federer. “I was feeling good in practice. Today I was moving well, which is the key on this surface (slower hard courts) because the easy shots and easy points are not going to happen here like they maybe do in Dubai or Australia or the indoor season.
“So I always have to adjust my game accordingly.”
It was Justin Gimmelstob of the Tennis Channel, a one-time ranked player, who asked Federer if he were surprised by his longevity.
“I organized my career this way,” said Federer, who later in the mass press conference went into greater detail.
“The idea,” explained Federer, “was always trying to be around the game a long time.”
To his satisfaction, to the satisfaction of tournament organizers, the idea was realized.
If the fault of tennis, using an unintended play on words, is that it’s difficult for the young players to move ahead, the other side is that fans cheer for the favorites, not the underdogs. They come to see the stars, to see Federer, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, all winners on Sunday.
Without team loyalty, tennis needs individuals who not only are champions but are famous. Federer meets that requirement.
He does Mercedes commercials. He does espresso machine commercials (for the Swiss company Jura Capressa). And he did in Schwarzman in 1 hour 3 minutes.
“Whatever we do, we will plan long-term,” Federer said, alluding to a template designed by him and his advisers. “Sure we can chase money or more tournament victories. We can play more frequently, more often, train harder.
“But we decided to stay around 20 tournaments a year, which is a lower number . . . I want to play good. I want to play injury-free if possible. Of course, we all play hurt. But the goal was to stay around a long time. I think I did get inspired by seeing 32-year-olds, 35-year-olds. They almost did a favor that I could play against them. Would they have retired at 28, I would never have seen them on tour.”
He saw them. Now we continue to see Roger Federer, graceful, elegantly smooth, popular. Every point he scored drew an overwhelming roar. You felt sorry for Schwarzman.
The Tennis Garden is owned by Larry Ellison, and does he need to be identified? (A couple of nights ago, in the first row, John McEnroe sat between Ellison and Bill Gates. Nobody was diving for dropped change.)
“He likes to talk about tennis,” Federer told Gimmelstob about conversations with Ellison, “and I like to talk about other things. He doesn’t just sit there and act like, ‘Uh, I own the tournament.’ He really knows the details.”
So, in a different way, does Roger Federer, Mr. Forever.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — She’s spoken out before. Well, shouted out. At a linesperson during the 2009 U.S. Open. Endless invective. Serena Williams was never afraid to show her passion.
Or now after years of boycotting one of the more important tennis tournaments in the world, her compassion.
Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times
It was all about timing and about Time, the magazine. It was about the act of forgiveness, which Serena Williams, after the years and the memories, said she at last found a reason to offer.
Fourteen years ago, in 2001, Williams, a teenager but already a champion, was booed at Indian Wells, booed in a final by a crowd angry that in the scheduled semifinal two days earlier older sister Venus defaulted moments before the start because of announced knee tendinitis.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times
By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times
She's the Wizard of Woz, the woman who ran the New York City Marathon — "You don't know what the wall is until you hit it," she said — who posed, tastefully, for the recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue . . . who once was ranked No. 1 . . . who only Sunday won the Malaysian Open, her 23rd WTA tournament victory,
Caroline Wozniacki, one of the many stars at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, at age 24 has done almost everything. Other than win a Grand Slam tournament.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz — We’re in a bubble down here, Sesame Street with Saguaro.
The Niners are coming unglued. Bruce Miller arrested? What next? Jim Harbaugh coaching third for the A’s?
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The man who once played near the monuments of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio now walks past the encased jerseys of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella.
"Yes, I'm very aware of them," Don Mattingly said. "I love seeing the history of the organization."
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
MESA, Ariz. — He began with a jolt of Springsteen that was loud enough to be heard over a jet engine and certainly could be heard through the training complex.
Joe Maddon was making a first impression on a Chicago Cubs team that for five straight seasons had finished last in the National League Central.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
MESA, Ariz. — Winter hung in the air, one more brief shower for the Valley of the Sun. But on the field Tuesday unofficially it was spring, the Giants and the A’s in a game that while it didn’t mean anything, it conversely meant a great deal.
Ballplayers on the diamond, people in the stands, both delighted to be in the presence of the other.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The big silver structure of University of Phoenix Stadium, site of last month's Super Bowl, is visible a few miles away. Yet the facilities of Camelback Ranch, scraped out of the desert not even 10 years ago, seem far from civilization.
That's perfect for David Robertson after leaving the Yankees for the White Sox, who do their spring training about 15 miles west of Phoenix.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Storm clouds swirled in the distance, above the Superstition Mountains. But Tuesday, for the Giants’ first full-squad workout of 2015, there was only sunshine.
When you’re the World Series champion, anything else would be unacceptable. So Panda has crossed the continent. “A good player, a good teammate, always a happy person,” center fielder Angel Pagan said about the dearly departed Pablo Sandoval. “But we have to move on.”
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA — This is Hogan's place, actually "Hogan's Alley," a label that stands as surely as does the statue of Ben adjacent to the practice green at Riviera Country Club.
History counts here. History and reputations. Justin Thomas seems destined to create both. "Justin Thomas," said Graham DeLaet, "is part of the future of golf."
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA — The sixth hole is a par-3 with a pot bunker. In the middle of the green. The 10th hole is a par-4 that's drivable. And perplexing.
Riviera Country Club, where the tournament is now called the Northern Trust Open but began existence in the late 1920s as the Los Angeles Open, is yet another example there's more to a golf course than length.
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
These are good days in the old city that remains forever young.
We start, of course, with the Giants and AT&T Park. Couldn’t get much better than that, could it?
Then we look a few miles west, beyond Twin Peaks and Mount Davidson to another venue of champions, TPC Harding Park, the muni golf course that in some ways is a miracle.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA — Such an appropriate nickname. "The Big Easy." Golf, however, is nothing but easy, even for the man with the relaxed, easy swing, Ernie Els.
"I've been to the dark side a couple of times," said Els.
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post