By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
OAKLAND, Calif. — Jon Gruden looked like he had played, not merely coached, as if the word merely ever is an appropriate word for anything that happens in an NFL game.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
SAN FRANCISCO — Chris Mullin knew all about Eric Paschall. “He used to kick our fanny,” said Mullin. That was when Mullin was coach at St. John’s and Paschall was a starter for rival Villanova.
Now Mullin is working as TV analyst for the his old NBA team, the Warriors, and Paschall is making an impact for his new NBA team, the Warriors, that not many other than Mullin knew was possible.
On Monday night, Paschall, a rookie, the 41st overall pick in this summer’s draft, had 34 points and 11 rebounds, and the Warriors — exhale, please — finally escaped the Curse of the Chase, defeating Portland 127-118, the first win in their new building.
It was going to come some night. After all, nobody goes 0-41 on their home court. But the Dubs had been without a victory in their previous four games at Chase Center, so there was a bit of anxiety.
Without Klay Thompson, injured knee, cheering from the bench, and Steph Curry, watching on TV at home, his broken left hand in a cast, the Warriors are not going to be a playoff team.
Yet with Paschall and another rookie, Kyle Bowman, playing well, the Dubs won. And that was despite Draymond Green missing the game because of a sprained injured finger.
These Warriors are not your father’s Warriors. Or even those of your brother, who would boast of those five straight finals appearances. These Warriors are a lot of guys who won’t get much attention from ESPN but are figuring out what the pro game is all about.
And keeping coach Steve Kerr as satisfied as anyone could be with a 2-5 overall record. He’s looking for hustle, for improvement, for basketball smarts. And slowly, progressively, he’s getting it.
And so are the suddenly alert sellout crowds, the fans Monday night responding vocally when, glorioski, they realized they were about to witness a small slice of history, the first Warriors victory at Chase.
Also a large slice of Paschall, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound forward who started his undergraduate career at Fordham, sat out a year and then transferred to Villanova, where he helped win the 2018 NCAA Championship.
“We really liked Eric because of his strength and his power,” said Kerr. “He was undersized, but these days, at that four position (strong forward), as long as you are really strong with that wingspan — well, we’ve seen it the last few years with Draymond.
“We felt Eric had a chance to have a similar impact, somebody you plug in and play particularly because he played four years (actually three) in a great college program. He didn’t look like a rookie at all from the first day of practice.”
He looked like a star Monday night on his 23rd birthday, scoring 17 points in the first quarter.
Apropos of nothing but pertinent to everything is the observation-joke about Michael Jordan’s career at North Carolina where he was restricted by the system, that the only person who could hold Jordan under 30 points a game was Dean Smith, his coach.
So Monday night Kerr alluded to that, substituting Villanova coach Jay Wright for Smith. Asked if he thought Paschall could hit the 30-point mark, Kerr answered, “Yes. I told Eric the only guy who could hold him under 30 points was Jay Wright. Jay’s my guy. I just wanted to say that.”
What Paschall, a humble sort, said was that confidence is behind his success. He believes in himself. And Kerr and Paschall’s teammates seem very much to share that belief.
“My teammates just find me and allow me to make plays,” said Paschall. “We have a great young group that just wants to play together, and we play hard. I felt like tonight we had fun.”
If getting that first win at home isn’t fun, they’re in the wrong business.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
OAKLAND — This Sunday, the first after the end of daylight savings time, with the weather beautiful and the sun low, was a bittersweet reminder of what will be missed.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — A broken hand. A busted season. The man who was going to carry the team, who was supposed to be a candidate for another MVP award, went crashing to the floor.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
SANTA CLARA, Calif.---He can hit you with a quick tackle or a long explanation. If Richard Sherman didn’t create the phrase “Legion of Boom,” to describe the defensive backfield, including himself, of the Seattle Seahawks championship teams he certainly made good use of it.
Yes. Sherman has his opinions. Why not? He’s been there, done that. And now, in his second year with the 49ers, he’s doing it again, on the field in the interview room.
The Niners won again Sunday, crushed the Carolina Panthers, 51-13, at Levi’s Stadium, kept the sometimes apathetic fans cheering and chanting—like the good, old days you might say. Of course, these very likely are the good, new days. As acknowledged by that sort-of-old guy, 31-year-old Richard Sherman.
The Niners have a defense. Defense wins. The rookie defensive end, Nick Bosa, the No. 2 overall selection in this year’s draft, had three sacks and an interception.
The Niners have an offense. Offense excites. Tevin Coleman scored four touchdowns, the most since a guy named Jerry Rice—talk about the good, old days—did it twice in the 1990s. Sharing that record is Bill Kilmer, from the 1960’s.
And the 49ers are 7-0, which keeps them, along with the Patriots, one of the two unbeaten teams as the NFL is about to reach November.
This Bosa kid (he’s only 22) has Sherman and the other teammates enthralled.
“He deserves player of the week,” Sherman said of Bosa, “defensive player of the year. From the first day in camp he’s showed his pedigree. He never stops working.”
The Niners, working beautifully, stopped a competent Panthers team (now 4-3) quite decisively, only 230 yards total offense and sacking quarterback Kyle Allen seven times.
“That was a goal of ours,” said Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead, “first to shut down the run, always, and then put some pressure on him and try to rattle him.”
Whether or not Allen was rattled, he certainly was pummeled. “Their defensive line did a really good job of rushing,” was Allen’s accurate summation.
A passer under duress is a passer who prefers not to scan the post-game statistics. Allen, again replacing the injured Cam Newton, was under such duress that Bosa, a lineman, picked off one of his passes and then like a running back sped through and around would-be tacklers for awhile.
“They had been cutting us a little bit on the pass,” Bosa said of the Panthers’ blocking style. “He got me on a play before. Really cut me good. So I just played the cut that time and saw the quarterback’s eyes and just jumped. And it went right into my hands.”
The way this delightful season seems to be falling into the 49ers hands. They’ll probably lose one here or there along the way—only the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished unbeaten in the Super Bowl era, and that was a 14-game regular season. And Thursday night the Niners have to play at Phoenix.
Still, this isn’t golf. You don’t lose what you’ve gained. There are no bogies in football. Just mistakes, although to this point the Niners haven’t made too many.
“In the NFL you never expect to blow someone out like that,” Kyle Shanahan, the Niners third-year coach said of the big win. “Especially as good a team as that.”
But he did expect Bosa to be the player he is.
Asked his impression of Bosa’s day, Shanahan said, “Probably the same as you guys. It was pretty damn impressive. I’m sure when I watch the tape it will be even better The play that he made the interception on was one of the more impressive plays I’ve seen from a defensive lineman.
“He’s just very confident. The more he plays, the better he’ll get as long as he can stay healthy. He’s a special player.”
As is Richard Sherman.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.---He can hit you with a quick tackle or a long explanation. If Richard Sherman didn’t create the phrase “Legion of Boom,” to describe the defensive backfield, including himself, of the Seattle Seahawks championship teams he certainly made good use of it.
Yes. Sherman has his opinions. Why not? He’s been there, done that. And now, in his second year with the 49ers, he’s doing it again, on the field in the interview room.
The Niners won again Sunday, crushed the Carolina Panthers, 51-13, at Levi’s Stadium, kept the sometimes apathetic fans cheering and chanting—like the good, old days you might say. Of course, these very likely are the good, new days. As acknowledged by that sort-of-old guy, 31-year-old Richard Sherman.
The Niners have a defense. Defense wins. The rookie defensive end, Nick Bosa, the No. 2 overall selection in this year’s draft, had three sacks and an interception.
The Niners have an offense. Offense excites. Tevin Coleman scored four touchdowns, the most since a guy named Jerry Rice—talk about the good, old days—did it twice in the 1990s. Sharing that record is Bill Kilmer, from the 1960’s.
And the 49ers are 7-0, which keeps them, along with the Patriots, one of the two unbeaten teams as the NFL is about to reach November.
This Bosa kid (he’s only 22) has Sherman and the other teammates enthralled.
“He deserves player of the week,” Sherman said of Bosa, “defensive player of the year. From the first day in camp he’s showed his pedigree. He never stops working.”
The Niners, working beautifully, stopped a competent Panthers team (now 4-3) quite decisively, only 230 yards total offense and sacking quarterback Kyle Allen seven times.
“That was a goal of ours,” said Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead, “first to shut down the run, always, and then put some pressure on him and try to rattle him.”
Whether or not Allen was rattled, he certainly was pummeled. “Their defensive line did a really good job of rushing,” was Allen’s accurate summation.
A passer under duress is a passer who prefers not to scan the post-game statistics. Allen, again replacing the injured Cam Newton, was under such duress that Bosa, a lineman, picked off one of his passes and then like a running back sped through and around would-be tacklers for awhile.
“They had been cutting us a little bit on the pass,” Bosa said of the Panthers’ blocking style. “He got me on a play before. Really cut me good. So I just played the cut that time and saw the quarterback’s eyes and just jumped. And it went right into my hands.”
The way this delightful season seems to be falling into the 49ers hands. They’ll probably lose one here or there along the way—only the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished unbeaten in the Super Bowl era, and that was a 14-game regular season. And Thursday night the Niners have to play at Phoenix.
Still, this isn’t golf. You don’t lose what you’ve gained. There are no bogies in football. Just mistakes, although to this point the Niners haven’t made too many.
“In the NFL you never expect to blow someone out like that,” Kyle Shanahan, the Niners third-year coach said of the big win. “Especially as good a team as that.”
But he did expect Bosa to be the player he is.
Asked his impression of Bosa’s day, Shanahan said, “Probably the same as you guys. It was pretty damn impressive. I’m sure when I watch the tape it will be even better The play that he made the interception on was one of the more impressive plays I’ve seen from a defensive lineman.
“He’s just very confident. The more he plays, the better he’ll get as long as he can stay healthy. He’s a special player.”
As is Richard Sherman.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Wait ’til last year.
The times have changed for the Warriors. So, too, has their place of business, but that move is only about 15 miles.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
It’s all about LeBron and Kawai now, about the Lakers and Clippers. The new reality set in Tuesday. Another NBA season started, and the Warriors are no longer on center stage as was made all too clear on prime time.
Lakers vs. Clippers; that’s what the country wants to see, and what it did see on opening night, the Clips, with Kawai Leonard scoring 30, defeating the Lakers, 112-102. That used to be the Warriors, getting the attention, but no longer.
The change was so rapid. One day the Warriors were playing the Raptors in Game 6 of the finals. Virtually the next day their dynasty was coming apart. Andre Iguodala was being traded, Shaun Livingston was retiring, Kevin Durant was joining the Brooklyn Nets and Klay Thompson was injured.
Nothing is forever, but who thought the end would be so quick? It was almost impossible to read a preseason forecast in which Warriors weren’t the favorites. Now it’s impossible to read one in which they’re anything but also-rans.
It’s a new world, one where the dynasty, five consecutive finals and three championships is barely a memory; a world where the player some consider the greatest ever felt compelled to get in a zinger.
That Michael Jordan took a shot, albeit a figurative one—those old guys will do almost anything for attention—was meaningless. That Klay Thompson will be unable to take any shots for a long while is serious.
It’s funny with great athletes when they retire. Some tell us the new generation is fantastic. Others, like Jordan, act as if nobody will match their accomplishments, and in Jordan’s case, that might be true.
In an interview with Craigh Melvin on “Today,” Jordan was asked to update a list made six years ago of players he thought would be unbeatable in a pickup game.
A loaded question. The older an athlete gets, the more distant he is from the competition, the better he gets. Right? Not that Jordan had much room for improvement, as opposed to room for understanding the feelings of his peers.
Jordan declined to update which was allowable, continuing the 2013 group of Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and his former Chicago Bulls teammate, Scotty Pippin.
“So Steph Curry shouldn’t be offended when he watches this?” Melvin asked Jordan.
“I hope note,” said Jordan. “He’s still a great player. Not a Hall of Famer, yet, though.”
Technically, Jordan, now an executive with the Charlotte Hornets, is correct. You don’t get voted into the Hall until your career is done. Jordan could have given a more positive answer, but he knows Curry is from Charlotte and obviously wanted to give him a bit of a jab.
Jordan knows, as we all do, Curry, a two time MVP, a member of three Warriors title teams, is a lock for the Hall.
He also knows he’s a hell of a golfer, as is Jordan.
Klay Thompson is another Hall of Fame probability. At times he’s unstoppable. Three years ago he scored 60 points in three quarters against Indiana before being taken out by head coach Steve Kerr.
Now Kerr would love to have Thompson for just one quarter. But the coach said Thompson’s rehabilitation from the torn ACL which occurred in Game 6 of the finals, June 13
“It’s unlikely he’s going to play this year,” Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area. “So we have to understand that.”
Thompson had surgery July 2. Warrior’s general manager Bob Myers, speaking Sept. 30 at the start of training camp, said the team would re-evaluate Thompson around the All-Star break in mid-February.
“You have to look at it realistically,” Kerr said. “I had an ACL (tear) in college, and I missed a whole season. Generally, an ACL for a basketball player is a full-year recovery, and if it’s a full year for Klay, that puts them out for the season.”
A season that for the Warriors is here all too soon.
ALAMEDA, Calif.—He still wears the visor. He rarely wears a smile. When Jon Gruden was asking the questions in his role as an ESPN football commentator he was described in one story as “jolly.”
Which he had a reason to be, as the network’s highest paid employee, earning a reported $6.5 million for analyzing the game he loves and knows so well, becoming a celebrity.
But now, back coaching, back with the Raiders, he’s compelled to provide answers that are difficult in certain situations. Such as when two days ago, during his weekly media session, he was queried about the domestic abuse allegations against tackle Trent Brown. Answers are painful.
“We’re aware of it,” was Gruden’s response to a question about the lawsuit suit filed against Brown, “and we’re looking into it. I’m not going to say anything else other than we’re aware of it.”
The rest of us are aware Jon Gruden willingly accepted this job, if coaching of any sport at any level can be called a job. An occupation, maybe, a way of life, but not exactly an “is it time to go home yet?” sort of job.
People who coach surely want to be paid well—Gruden’s getting $10 million a year from the Raiders—but something other than money drives them
They want to succeed. They want to help others succeed. They are supremely confident, believing they have the skill and will power to facilitate change, for those they coach.
Chris Washburn was a problem as a basketball player at North Carolina State, but he was 6-foot-10, a dream within a nightmare. Washburn was taken No. 3 overall in the 1986 NBA draft by the Warriors, and lived down to expectations, so angering George Karl, the coach who selected Washburn despite the player’s reputation, Karl tore doors off Washburn’s security cabinet in the locker room.
Asked why, despite all the advice, he drafted Washburn, Karl said, “He has such ability. I thought I could make him better, get him to reach his potential. Thought I could coach him.”
There’s always a challenge, always something to prove perhaps as much to oneself as to others.
Gruden was in his 30s, ebullient, wise-cracking, when in 1998 he was hired by the Raiders to become an NFL head coach for the first time. His football smarts were apparent. His father was a coach. So was Jon’s puckish sense of humor. Asked by a writer for an interview he wondered—probably chuckling silently—“Why would anyone care what I say?”
What Raiders owner Al Davis cared was Gruden not only didn’t get any championships, he was glib, photogenic, becoming the face of the franchise, an unpardonable—albeit unintentional--sin.
Al was known for firing employees. Gruden however, wasn’t dismissed, he was traded, to Tampa Bay in February 2002 after going 10-6 with the Raiders and losing the infamous “Tuck Rule” playoff game the end of the 2001 season.
The following year Gruden coached the Bucs to a Super Bowl win (over the Raiders) and in time at ESPN, with Monday Night Football and the Gruden quarterback camp, became a media hero.
Enough? Not really. He heard the echoes, saw the visions. “I never wanted to leave the Raiders,” Gruden told us when after an absence of some 16 years he reappeared.
Then he said, “I haven’t changed much at all since 1998.” On the contrary. He has changed, maybe because the people in the game have changed. Gruden began with the Khalil Mack holdout a season past. This season it was Antonio Brown, fortunately released in time, and now Trent Brown and Richie Incognito.
It’s always someone in pro football and always something. But the Raiders keep going and their head coach implied at least this was what he wanted the chance to complete what he started way back when the world was young and there was a time to smile.
Surely Mr. Applegate is ecstatic. You know Mr. Applegate, the mystical guy who had a hand in helping Washington get to the World Series. Some people thought he was the devil, but hey who cares, especially the way things are going back there.
It was Applegate who popped up strategically in the 1950s musical “Damn Yankees,” when in the plot the aging, frustrated insurance man, Joe Boyd, said he’d do anything if Washington at last could beat the Yanks. Which was all Applegate needed to hear.
Yes, it was the Washington Senators, who became the Texas Rangers, not the Nationals, who used to be the Montreal Expos. Still, it’s the location that’s pertinent, rather than the nickname on the jerseys.
The Senators were awful. Referring both to the nation’s first president, and the team, people used to say, “Washington: First in war, first in peace and last in the American League.”
The Nats, nee Expos, are in the National League, but impermanence is the way of all sports. See Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders for verification.
Joe Boyd, the fictional Senators fan, grumbles out loud if Washington only had a power hitter it could beat “those damn Yankees.” Mr. Applegate gleefully arrives and in a literal puff of smoke (stage trick) Joe Boyd is transformed into young Joe Hardy, who slugs home runs and makes the Senators a winner.
For the Nats the role of Joe Hardy as been capably filled by Howie Kendrick, who was the MVP as the Nats swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series, winning the final game, 7-4, Tuesday night.
Joe Hardy didn’t have to endure various levels of post-season play to get to the World Series, but you won’t hear anyone on the Nats complaining. Wild card, divisional, league, they’ been unstoppable, for the most part because their pitchers have been unhittable.
The devil, Mr. Applegate, doesn’t have a thing to do with these Nats, although you contend the way team was created by general manager Mike Rizzo, the devil was in details. Who needs Mr. Applegate when you have a general manager like Mike Rizzo?
These have been an interesting few years in the Major leagues, a time for the halting of curses and life-long disappointment. The Red Sox started it in a sense by ending their so-called “Curse of the Bambino.” Then the Giants, without a championship in half a century, gained three in five years. Next it was the Cubs for the first time in more than 100 years.
Now a team from Washington for the first time since 1933. It would just be perfect , wouldn’t it if they faced those damn Yankees in the Series, but after three games of the ALCS, New York trails the Astros, two games to one and against Cole and Scherzer even the devil seems overmatched.
So right now it looks like Washington against Houston, but who knows? The Nats weren’t going to get past the Dodgers. The TV people were talking LA-New York, an historic rivalry and the country’s two largest markets.
The Nats stunned the Dodgers, indeed all baseball, wining the deciding division series championship on a grand slam in the 10th by that man, Kendrick. And they haven’t lost a game since.
Washington had a record of 19-31 in May. The Nats manager, Dave Martinez, had to undergo a heart procedure in September. Through it all they triumphed.
““Often, bumpy roads lead to beautiful places,” said Martinez, “and this is a beautiful place.”
That sounds like a line from a Broadway musical.
They keep winning. The excitement keeps growing. Isn’t that the way it should be?
Isn’t that the way it was the magical year of 1981 when the 49ers turned the corner, went from the team that never could to the team that that always did, the team of the decade.
Now it may be time to turn the page, back not forward, back to the days of Super Joe and Dwight Hicks and the Hot Licks, back to memories which make one think of possibilities.
So the Niners are 5-0. No one expects them to get to the Super Bowl, much less win it. The same way in ’81 no one expected this franchise which in the 35 years since its founding hadn’t won a championship of any sort.
Those’81 Niners had a third-year coach who was an offensive—well, the word “genius” was used quite a bit, over time, at least. Those ’81 Niners had a defense which, thanks to Dan Bunz and Hacksaw Reynolds, made a couple of huge goal-line stands. Those ’81 Niners kept winning while the doubters kept waiting for them to lose.
Shanahan isn’t Bill Walsh (either is anybody else) but that’s irrelevant. He’s doing what Walsh did, taking a team that was a loser (well, since 2016) and making it a winner—with the assistance of that defense, that young quarterback (Jimmy Garoppolo, 24 of 33 for 243 yards) and a running back somewhat unrecognized ( Tevin Coleman, 18 carries, 45 yards and a touchdown).
Yet, the way the Niners won this game against a good Rams team (It did get to the Super Bowl in February) is exactly the way the Niners won the game the week before against a bad Browns team. By stopping the other guys.
The observation has been made here and everywhere: You win on defense. As the late John McKay, who went from Rose Bowls with USC to virtual self-immolation with the expansion Tampa Bay Bucs, who lost their first 26 NFL games, correctly pointed out, “You win on defense. If the other team doesn’t score you’ll never get worse than a 0-0 tie.”
The Rams scored Sunday on their opening drive to lead the 49ers, 7-0, with much of the first quarter unplayed. And then they never scored again. Even when they had the ball inside the Niners’ one.
The Rams were 0-for-9 on third down. The Rams were 0-for-4 on fourth down. Jared Goff, the Rams quarterback, the kid from Cal and Marin Catholic High, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft, didn’t even throw for 80 yards.
Yes, the Rams were without their top running back, Todd Gurley and a few other injured players. But good teams overcome the problems, which is why they are good teams. Maybe the Rams don’t belong in that ranking. Without question, the 49ers do.
The season has weeks to go. There are two games against Seattle, and those could be ones that derail the Niners. However, that shouldn’t derail the fans.
“Faithful then, faithful now,” is the phrase painted on Levi’s Stadium, words meant to link past, the glorious ‘80s and 1995 (Steve Young’s Super Bowl season) with the present. Kind of humorous. A few years ago, maybe around 2010, the Harbaugh years, those in charge tried to dissuade the media from using that slogan.
But it’s back. So are the Niners. Those who stayed faithful or have become faithful should find that faith and dedication rewarded. The Coliseum Sunday was full of red-shirted Niners fans, as was Anaheim Stadium in the 1980s when it was home to the Rams, and the Niners were the best in pro football.
They haven’t reached that level at the moment—the Patriots keep rolling—but the Niners are heading in the right direction.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—The number is down to two now. Five weeks into the 2019 NFL season and of the 32 teams only two are unbeaten. One of those is the New England Patriots, which isn’t surprising.
The other is the San Francisco 49ers? Which is surprising. Or is it?
The Niners were supposed to be improved. but who knew? Who knew they could be 4-0, which is their record after dominating the Cleveland Browns, 31-3, Monday night at Levi’s.
Yes, undefeated in four games, which has not been accomplished by any Niners team since1990, since the days of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Roger Craig. And Steve Young, because he along with Joe and Steve became an unfortunate part of what until the last couple quarters of play could have been an historic season.
That 1990 team was going to be the first in league history to win three straight Super Bowls, but in that championship game at Candlestick Park, Montana got hurt and Young came from the bench and Craig missed a handoff and the New York Giants recovered.
Kicking five field goals the Giants would stun the Niners, 15-13.
Twenty-nine years ago, the glory days, and perhaps after a seemingly endless wait, after a change of stadiums, of course, the Niners may have returned to the game’s upper echelons. Not to where the Patriots reside, but to a place of respectability.
The Niners will know more, much more, after playing the Rams on Sunday in Los Angeles. It they beat the Rams, who were and possibly still are the NFC favorites—after all they did reach the Super Bowl last February—then, well, OK, don’t even offer the suggestion to Niners coach Mike Shanahan, but anything’s possible.
“I mean it’s still early,” said Shanahan when asked about the record. “It means we played four games, one less than most people. It you tell me that at the end of the year when the season is over you’ll see me celebrating pretty hard. We’ve got to get to work on the Rams. It’s going to be a short week,”
Kyle is in the third season as Niners head coach, and it was Bill Walsh’s third season, 1981, when San Francisco not only became a winner but also became the NFL’s best for a long while, the team of the ‘80s.
Sure that thinking is premature, but the way the Niners battered what was supposed to be a contending Browns team, (it’s now 2-3), outgaining them, 446 yards to 180, intecepting two passes, recovering two Cleveland fumbles, was very impressive. Even exhilarating.
The 49ers were coming off their bye week. Sometimes teams after the inactivity are sluggish.
“It was a long two weeks,” said Shanahan. “We felt like we had some good momentum (before the bye). Spending two Sundays watching other teams play. That was the first time I’ve had to do that.. Two weeks in a row without playing.”
The Niners started fast—their first play from scrimmage, Matt Breida, untouched—excellent blocking as well as excellent running—sped 83 yards for a touchdown.
‘A big hole,” said Breida. “I saw a big hole. The play worked the way it was supposed to work.”
As almost everything worked, offensively and defensively. As almost everything has worked this season.
“It gives you a big boost,” said Breida of the quick score. “The team feels that, and everyone feels the energy, When we did that, and the defense then comes out and (Cleveland) goes three and out, it’s just an amazing feeling.”
The feeling for Baker Mayfield, the Browns quarterback picked first in the 2018 draft, was the opposite.
“You make mistakes,” said Mayfield, “a team like that is going to capitalize on them”
And going to troll the imperfections. When he was at Oklahoma, Mayfield, in a game at Ohio State grabbed a Buckeyes flag and faked planting it into the turf. Monday night after a sack of Mayfield, Niners rookie, Nick Bosa, a Buckeye, the Niners No.1 pick in the 2019 draft, mocked Mayfield.
“Hopefully,” said Shanahan, “it was a Niners flag and he didn’t offend anyone.”
Other than Mayfield that is,
SAN FRANCISCO—Maybe they should call it Wild Goose Chase Center. The Warriors were looking for their locker rooms—no one left a trail of bread crumbs—and they were looking for their rhythm.
Maybe they also were looking for Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, but unlike the rhythm they aren’t coming back.
A new season—well, the prelude to a new season—and as everyone knows a new home, $2 billion Chase Center, on the edge of the Bay and a bit south of Oracle Park, where Saturday evening, the Dubs opened their exhibition season, getting whumped by the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-101.
The idea in exhibitions, we’re told, is not so much to win but to play everyone, especially the new kids—and the Warriors have a great many of them—to learn what they can or can’t do.
But to start, Steve Kerr, about begin his sixth year as head coach, and quite probably his first without reaching the NBA finals, had to figure out where to go at the Chase after 47 years at the other Oracle (nee Oakland Coliseum Arena) across the Bay.
“It’s a great building,” said Kerr, and certainly when you spend as much as was spent, it should be. “The place was packed,” (It was a sellout 18,064, which for those counting numbers is about 1,000 fewer than could pack Oracle Arena.)
“It seemed like everybody, including players, coaches and officials was looking around,” said Kerr. “Our first night here, and it just felt strange. We were used to Oracle
“Before the game I didn’t know where to find my assistant coaches.”
They were located. Unlike his offense.
Steph Curry was Steph Curry. That pro-am round with Phil Mickelson at the Safeway Open at Silverado in Napa, did nothing to hurt Steph’s overall accuracy, although he was just 1 of 5 on 3-pointers. Curry, on court a shade under 18 minutes, ended up scoring a game-high 18.
“It’s still weird,” Curry said of playing at Chase. His historic first shot at Chase was perfectly planned, although not perfectly executed. It was a 31-foot jumper that went maybe 31 feet, 6 inches
“(The shot) was choreographed Friday,” said Curry, “to christen Chase Center the right way. Obviously it was an air ball, but I thought it was fitting to take a wild shot to get the building right.”
Jordan Poole, the Warriors first pick in this summer’s NBA draft, from Michigan (28th overall) made 4 of his 9 3-point attempts and scored 17.
Early on, however, nobody shot well for the Dubs, who were down 18 points, 27-9, eight minutes into the game.
So, yes, it’s a glorified workout, a test to see how your team plays and matches up. But with LeBron James (14 points) and Anthony Davis (13) controlling the inside, there was a sense the Warriors are in trouble—and will be until Klay Thompson comes back in February.
Klay was on the bench, in uniform, and when shown on the big screen received a deserved ovation but because of the knee injury incurred in the finals last June still is unable to compete or even run.
D’Angelo Russell, who came in the trade for Durant from Brooklyn, started where Klay would have been, at the other guard spot, and had just 4 points.
“For the most part,” said Curry of Russell joining him in the backcourt, “it’s getting him used to when we don’t call plays. It’s our second nature. Our reads, spacing and overall expectations. I told him there’s nothing he needs to change about the way he plays.”
If there is anything Poole or Eric Paschal, the 6-foot-7 forward from Fordham, selected in the second round of the 2019 draft, need to change it wasn’t apparent.
“I thought they both played well,” said Kerr of Poole and Paschal.”They both showed their skill and ability. Jordan, obviously, we drafted him for his ability to put the ball in the basket. You can see his confidence,”
Poole was asked to reflect on his first—albeit unofficial—NBA game of what very well could be a long career. “It’s insane,” he said of the movement. ‘Especially coming from the Big Ten, where everybody just kind of sits at the elbow. There’s a lot of length and a lot of speed and quickness.”
Let us communicate with Draymond Green about the building (Chase) and the Warriors rebuilding
“Nothing,” said Green when asked who or what stood out. “Nice arena. But it’s still a basketball court though.”
No argument here.
OAKLAND—There they were, the other team, the Tampa Bay Rays, the cheapest team in baseball, the most stunning team in baseball., There they were celebrating, leaping around, embracing, dancing on the A’s field.
First they stole the Athletics’ style, the home run ball. Then Wednesday night they stole the American League Wild Card game, beating Oakland, 5-1.
It’s the same old story for the A’s, if with a new twist. Another post-season elimination game in which they were eliminated, this time on their own field, and in front of a crowd that indicated Oakland can draw even if it can’t win.
Such an impressive turnout, 54,005, fans virtually filling up that huge expanse above centerfield at the Coliseum known as Mount Davis because it was erected to please the late owner of the NFL Raiders
Such a depressing result, again. The A’s are 0-9 now in elimination games, The A’s are 0-3 now in wild card games.
. “You've got to give them some credit,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of the Rays. ‘It's kind of our game; they kind of beat us with our game. We're normally a home run-hitting team, and we couldn't do much, and they hit the ball out of our ballpark, which can be tough to do.”
It was tough for the A’s. In fact, it was impossible Wednesday night.
For the Rays, whose salary total is $60 million, the smallest in the majors, it seemed easy.
Yandy Diaz, who coming off an injury was a bit of a surprise starter, hit the fifth pitch of the game into the right field bleachers.
Avisail Garcia then hit one in the second with a runner on. Then Diaz hit another in the third. All off Sean Manaea, who Melvin chose to pitch over Mike Fiers. Wham, wham, wham.
“He only gave up four hits” sighed Melvin, “and three of them were home runs”
He had that right. And this wild-card thing wrong.
Melvin said that during the regular season a team loses a game and comes back the next day or two days later and plays another. But that’s what makes the post-season so awful and so wonderful.
You win, you advance. You lose, you start thinking about spring training. Or what you might have done in the weeks previously. “We’ve got to win more games so we’re not in the wild card,” he said.
That’s not a bad idea.
Diaz is a 28-year-old who in 2013 on his third try managed to defect from Cuba. Last winter Diaz was acquired by the Rays from Cleveland, because according to Tampa manager. Kevin Cash, Diaz “hits the ball hard.”
Out two months with a bad foot, Diaz just returned the middle of September, unfortunately for the A’s.
While he was pounding away—Diaz also had a single –Tampa pitcher Charlie Morton was surviving a 32-pitch, bases loaded first inning without giving up a run.
You sensed it was not going to a great evening for the A’s. Was it because they wore their pea-green uniform with “Oakland” across the front rather than their whites with the word “Athletics”?
A few years ago, when the A’s kept losing in the first round of the playoffs (now they’d love even to get that far) general manager Billy Beane said the post-season was a crapshoot. He meant that one pitcher, one game, one screwball single can undo what was accomplished over the long, six-month season.
Yet, as Melvin reminded, it you’re good enough you don’t end up in the wild card, where your season, as the A’s season, falls victim to someone like Yandy Diaz.
“There's no responding in a game like this,” Melvin said of the defeat. “So it could be a difficult game. It's a little out of the norm for baseball. It is what it is. Both teams battled to get to this point and knew it would be one and out. They just played better than we did.”
That they did.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — He’s not afraid to defend LeBron. He’s not afraid to take a shot when the clock is running down. So why should Draymond Green be afraid to speak from the heart, a characteristic that doesn’t make him much different than others in his sport?
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — The tributes were so effusive and the ovations so long and loud, it was almost possible to forget a game had been played on this bittersweet Sunday, which considering the result was probably for the best.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
NAPA, Calif.—There was a ruling that seemed to take longer to make than to build the transcontinental railroad. There was a nine-shot swing that turned Bryson DeChambeau from a leader to an also-ran.
And after the third round of the Safeway Open there was a kid in first, Cameron Champ, who is virtually a local and definitely is a fascinating story.
Champ—and what a great name for an athlete—shot a 5-under-par 67 at Silverado Country Club Saturday for a 54-hole sc ore of 202, three ahead of both Sebastian Munoz and Adam Hadwin.
DeChambeau, who had two bogies, a double-bogey and nary a birdie. He shot 76, falling to a tie for 15th, but because he hit his second shot on the par-5 18th into some gunk, behind the stands, managed to stay on course and on camera—thanks, Golf Channel—as the sun sank over the Napa Valley.
According to PGA Tour official Mark Russell, DeChambeau hit the ball into a penalty area where “between him and the hole was temporary immovable obstructions”
DeChambeau had to decide whether to lift from the hazard at a penalty of one shot or drop in the hazard at the nearest point of relief without a penalty. DeChambeau walked up and back—and up and back. And up and back.
Finally, he placed the ball, made a magnificent chip to about nine feet—and missed the birdie putt.
Champ, 24, who grew up in Sacramento—and like DeChambeau, who was from the Fresno area—went to school in the Lone Star State, Texas A&M, while DeChambeau went to SMU.\
So Silverado, 45 miles from Sacramento, is sort of a home course for Champ, who the first two rounds was commuting to see his grandfather, Mack, who’s in hospice with cancer.
Mack learned the game in the Air Force but because he is African American was not allowed to play courses where he was based. It was Mack who taught Cameron at such Sacramento public courses as Haggin Oaks.
The grandson is giving Mack a chance to find the success racial attitudes of an earlier time kept Mack from attaining
According to statistics, Cameron averages 4.1 strokes a hole on par 5s. Interestingly Saturday Cameron didn’t birdie any of the four pars. That didn’t faze him a bit.
“I’m extremely pleased,” he said. “Not to make a bogey on the scorecard today, mission accomplished. I’m hitting it well. I’m giving myself so many chances. Yeah, I’m certainly happy with the position I’m in.”
Champ has one Tour win, Sanderson Farms, about a year ago. But according to Brian Wacker in Golf Digest , the trappings of the victory, being paired with the big boys, such as Jordan Spieth, and a back injury threw Champ off after the victory.
He worked his way back.
“I’m just executing everything,” said Champ, who gets his power not so much from his size, although he is 6-foot-1, but from his huge swing. He’s even outdriven Rory McIlroy.
‘I’m not making the little mistakes,” he said. “I’m hitting my shots. Then I’m getting it up and down when I need to. Today was like a faultless day. “
Except he failed to position the ball on any of the par 5s to get even a lone birdie. The first two rounds he had seven birdies on the eight holes.
Asked the premature question on how important a win would be at an event close to home, Champ said, “Oh it would huge, In the time, the struggles we’re going through, it would be mind-blowing, honestly. If I win (Sunday) that’s awesome. It I don’t, I’m going home to my family. So that’s all that matters.”
Even to golfers there are things more important than golf.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
NAPA, Calif — No, Tony Romo didn’t make the cut. He didn’t even come close. No, Adam Scott didn’t retain the lead he had the first round of the Safeway Open. He didn’t come close.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
NAPA, Calif. — So there’s a Masters champ tied for first place after a round of the Safeway Open, and a British Open winner a shot behind? Those guys, in order, Adam Scott and Francesco Molinari, are pros.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
NAPA—It was exactly what golf needed. Especially at this time of the year, when the majors are months in the future or months in the past; especially with football virtually night (Thursday and Monday) and day (Sunday); and the baseball pennant races nearing conclusion.
Exactly what golf needed, with Tiger out of the headlines and the PGA Tour schedule starting (never mind the calendar; to pro golf it’s already 2020); the rest of us in September tend to think of falling leaves not of falling putts.
This is the Safeway Open, and what happened in the pro-am Wednesday, Steph Curry pairing up with Phil Mickelson, Tony Romo putting his single-digit handicap on display, very well could be bigger than anything in the tournament that starts Thursday,
Golf, as tennis, is a sport without home games. But not without favorites. Or personalities. Can you think two larger favorites or personalities, at least in Northern California, than a guy who was a two-time NBA MVP and a guy who won five majors and 40-something other events, including the Pebble Beach AT&T again last February.
Golf always has been the crossover sport, the one Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays enjoyed as much as baseball, the one a singer like Bing Crosby made almost as popular as “White Christmas.”
And athletes who dabble at the sport—well, dabble is the improper description—are as much in admiration of the golfing greats, Phil, Tiger, Justin Thomas, as everyone else.
We might stand in the backyard or the gym, throw up jumpers and wonder how we compare with the Warriors’ Curry, arguably the best ever, while Curry powers one off the tee and wonders how he compares with Mickelson. Truth tell he doesn’t have to wonder.
Mickelson said Curry’s tee shot on the par-5 ninth hole, at Silverado, which measures 557 yards, carried 370 yards. Wow. He had a sand wedge to the green. Wow
But the way Curry hits a drive should be no more surprising than how he hits—to use a sports colloquialism—a 3-pointer. The qualities which enable him to make the shots beyond the arc, timing, strength, wonderful hand-eye-coordination, are the same qualities which enable him to drive the ball miles off the tee.
“The thing, I think, about Steph Curry’s game,” said Mickelson, “is his touch, his hands, his chipping, putting. He’s got an incredible touch.”
As would anyone who rarely misses a free throw and who in practice often makes 35 to 45 consecutive 3-pointers
Curry grew up in North Carolina, golf country—think Pinehurst—and was almost as adept at that game as hoops when the Warriors made him a first-round draft choice. He’s played in a minor pro tournament, didn’t make the cut but was impressive
“He’s also got a ton of speed,” Mickelson said about Curry’s swing. “Dropping all kinds of bombs off the tee. Just hellacious bombs, deep and very accurate. Certainly straighter than I have.”
Some candor and self-criticism. Mickelson never has been sharp with a driver—one of the reasons he hasn’t won the U.S. Open, the tournament where the fairways are narrow and the rough deep. But in his younger days (Phil now is 49) he could, as the cliché goes, get it up and down out of the ball washer.
When Phil was an amateur, Golf Digest put him on the cover, inside showing a photo sequence of Mickelson hitting backwards over his head and landing the ball in the cup.
After the round Wednesday someone asked how the twosome would do as a best-ball team. Mickelson either misunderstood or in typical smart-aleck Phil style wanted to needle the questioner.
“Basketball,” Mickelson responded, “no, I can’t run.
Curry added, “I didn’t know if he said basketball.
He didn’t, but being Steph Curry was standing there off the 18the green, why not?
“His overall game,” Curry said of Mickelson, “I was just in awe of every shot, but I tried to hold my own too. I learned a lot about how to read greens for sure. “
Said Mickelson, alluding to Curry, “I just enjoy bring around greatness, and his work ethic and what he puts in to be the best in his field is inspiring to me.”
As to everyone.