McCaffrey: ‘Just trying to master my craft’

And oh yeah, Jimmy Garoppolo had an excellent game too. Not that you noticed. Which was understandable, since he was playing on the same 49ers team as Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey is the guy who told us Sunday, after the Niners beat their patsies, the Los Angeles Lambs, 31-14, “I’m just trying to master my craft.”

What craft is that, carving sculptures like Michelangelo?

He seems already to have mastered the art of football. Or is that becoming only the third NFL player in the last 60 years or so to run for a touchdown, catch a pass for a touchdown and throw a pass for a touchdown in the same game merely pedestrian?

Jimmy G? He was 21 of 25 for 235 yards and two touchdowns. This was the same Niners team that a week earlier was embarrassed and overwhelmed.

Of course, they were playing the Kansas City Chiefs.

The constant advice in sports is never get too depressed after a defeat or too excited after a victory. For the moment. you are permitted to ignore the advice and instead consider the words of the Fox announcing crew, who said San Francisco once more is a Super Bowl possibility.

McCaffrey, the Stanford kid (well, he’s 26 now), spent five seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He was in great demand by other teams, including the Niners and Rams. And for the cost of a bag of beans — well, three high draft picks — the Niners got him.

On Sunday, the 49ers were without their main offensive threat, Deebo Samuel, who was injured. The 49ers have a bye next week, and when Samuel returns, he will make McCaffrey better — as McCaffrey will make Samuel better.

As McCaffrey in a way also made the already strong Niner defense (excluding the KC debacle) better because the other team won’t have the ball if the Niners have it.

“I think there’s still so much more left for me to learn,” McCaffrey said. “I’m excited to continue to grow and get better with this team and with the offense … I think there’s still a lot of meat on the bone that I left out there.”

After the win, the Niners only have a 4-4 record and are not even first in NFC West (Seattle is). But the Niners had numerous players who missed games (and practice) because of injuries. Most will be well in a month.

They’ll also have McCaffrey, as much for the way he has lifted the squad mentally as he has physically. Against the Rams, he rushed for 94 yards and had another 55 yards as a receiver. There are no statistics to rank degrees of optimism.

McCaffrey was measured in responding to questions about the remarkable achievement, accomplished previously only by LaDainian Tomlinson and Walter Payton.

However, Garoppolo said what others surely must have been thinking, that was some performance.

Especially for someone trying to master his craft.

Will this be the ‘Dustino’ World Series for Baker?

The nickname seemed perfect at the time, “Dustino,” created by Rod Beck, one of Dusty Baker’s relief pitchers when enough talent and a bit of good fortune were part of the landscape for the San Francisco Giants.

It was 2002, and ahead was a World Series, one in which — talk about fortune — Darren Baker, Dusty’s then 3-year-old son, was hoisted out of harm’s way at home plate by an alert J.T. Snow.

But destiny, Dustiny, Dustino, whatever, did not last.

A 5-0 lead in Game 6 disappeared. And then in Game 7 so did the Series. Now, 20 years and four teams later, Baker, 73, at last may get his first World Series championship — as a manager. At least his team, the Houston Astros, is favored over the Philadelphia Phillies.

It’s not correct to call Baker the accidental manager, but after the Giants and four other teams Baker was briefly unemployed and baseball was in a bind.

The Astros were involved in a cheating scandal, having sent illegal signals, and in the midst of firing various individuals, including the manager.

What to do to restore honesty and confidence to the sport? Bring in reliable, proven, honest Johnnie Baker, better known as Dusty.

It would be only poetic justice if the guy who very much is the man in manager would get the title. He has more managerial victories, 2,093, than anyone without a Series win.

People often ask sporting journalists whether they root for the teams they cover. In most cases, the answer is no. You want to cheer? Go find a seat in the stands.

But we often root for individuals, those who understand our jobs, and through that understanding make the work and the relationships more professional.

Dusty belongs in that category. The door to his office always was open when he managed the Giants, and presumably it has been with other teams.

True, nobody forces you to manage, but managing is a test of a person. He decides which athletes to play and if they fail, well, somebody has to be the target. As you know, they fire the manager, not the centerfielder.

Baker has handled himself and situations with control, which is the most one can demand of a leader. He’s been there — won a playoff MVP award — and done virtually everything.

Except managed a World Series champion. And that could be rectified in a matter of days.

"We love going out there every single day and competing for him,” Astros third baseman Alex Bregman told Paul Newberry of the Associated Press. “He loves this team. He loves winning. He loves the game of baseball. And a hundred percent we want to win for him.” It’s a cliché, but Baker has nothing to prove, not even to himself. Sometimes things work out — and sometimes, as with the sixth game in 2002, they don’t.

“You can’t rush it before it gets here," he said in an analogy about winning, “because it isn’t here yet. You’ve just gotta put yourself in a position to do it.”

Dusty Baker has been in that position for too long.

Shanahan: ‘Players just need to play better’

You say the Niners might need something more than Christian McCaffrey? Not a bad guess.

You could start with a defense, except as we were reminded on the telecast the Niners have the No. 1 defense in the NFL. And defense wins, right?  

Unless it is defenseless.

What do you call it? A reality check? A surprise? It certainly was a downer to close a week that had seemed perfect for the Niners.

They had out-snookered the others, we were advised, by trading a few draft picks for Christian McCaffrey, who could run and receive, do everything except leap tall buildings in a single bound.

He did play Sunday, but the Niners did not, at least to what was supposed to be their capability, getting overwhelmed, 44-23, by the Chiefs.

You want a word to describe the way the 49ers looked? How about terrible? They gave up a first down when the Chiefs had a third-and-20.

“We have good players,” said head coach Kyle Shanahan, notably bewildered. “They just have to play better.”

So simple. And so mystifying. Maybe the Niners on Sunday played as well as they are able. After all, they have a 3-4 record, and much of the perception of their power comes from that huge victory over the Rams.

That’s when the defense embellished a reputation that soon may be far less than it was. The D that day contributed six quarterback sacks. In this game they had just one, although KC’s Patrick Mahomes is particularly elusive.

Indeed, so is the Super Bowl, in which only a few winters past, Super Bowl LIV, the Niners faced the Chiefs. The chance for a repeat of that game was good. No longer.

The Chiefs looked every bit as strong as promised, running and passing for 529 yards. They are confident and well programmed.  

They grabbed the game, which fell far short of being competitive as the 1½-point spread would indicate.

Strange things happen in pro football, where nobody (except the 1972 Dolphins) wins them all. Virtually nobody loses them all, and the popular slogan is: “On any given Sunday.” 

Still, you don’t get outclassed as the Niners were if there is to be more than a thimbleful of hope. It isn’t so much about what went wrong but what didn’t go wrong.

It wasn’t wrong for Shanahan to pull quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the closing minutes, the game decided. It was an act of mercy. Something the Niners needed.

“Our defense prides itself on eliminating explosive plays,” said linebacker Fred Warner. “And that’s what the game felt like, explosive plays, one after another.”

But only for one team and against one team.  

“That was just general frustration,” said Warner. “Knowing that we are better than that. And I felt they were marching down the field.”

He felt that way because that’s what the Chiefs were doing. The numbers are depressing as well as shocking. The Chiefs scored on six of their first eight possessions and didn’t punt until it didn’t matter, with only minutes remaining.

The 44 points were the most allowed in a home game since a 45-10 loss to Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2009. That’s before Shanahan arrived, the days when the Niners were as inefficient as they were on Sunday.

McCaffrey in a limited role was responsible for 62 yards on 10 touches. Wonder if he would be willing to try defense?

McCaffrey trade means the future is now for the Niners

First question: Do the 49ers have any draft picks in the next century or so? Second question: Who cares? As a football coach named George Allen used to tell us so often, the words became the title of his autobiography: the future is now.

There’s little doubt that the San Francisco 49ers are a better team than they were two days ago when wisely they embraced the opportunity to grab running back Christian McCaffrey, who leads in all sorts of stats and whom they hope will lead them to a championship.

The NFL is a league of missed chances and second guesses, so when the time arises, if it ever does, you better take advantage. The Niners did exactly that.

This is the way you have to think when giving up draft picks for real live people: One guy has been out there doing what you’re only believing some other guy might do or never do.

So let’s go forth, real live people.

True, it’s going to be boring around the Niners for the next few drafts. The picks they didn’t swap for Trey Lance, they swapped for McCaffrey.

Indeed, McCaffrey’s pro career since he came out of Stanford has been beset by injuries. All the more reason in the big picture to make a deal for him now.

As the Niners have been reminded this season, NFL players get hurt virtually every play. If you have more than a few talented healthy ones, it makes sense to add another who is quite talented and not infrequently quite healthy.

This is sports, right? It’s a form of entertainment. It isn’t that the Niners haven’t been at least mildly entertaining (and more than mildly frustrating), winning three of their first six games.

It’s that’s the acquisition makes them must-see stuff, right up with those Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. Plus there’s the backstory for a team wanting to be the front-runner. In 2017, drafting third overall, the Niners could have chosen McCaffrey. And didn’t.

General manager John Lynch, a Stanford guy himself, made the ultimate decision on trading three high draft picks for a 26-year-old running back. But Kyle Shanahan, the Niners’ head coach, and surely a few others in the organization had opinions.

On Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the 49ers play the Kansas City Chiefs, the team that beat the Niners two and a half years ago in Super Bowl LIV.

Whether McCaffrey, so quickly after joining the Niners, gets into this game is problematic, but he’ll be getting into other games and perhaps getting San Francisco into another Super Bowl.

Lynch called the trade a gamble, if a well thought-out one. Isn’t every play a gamble, the offense trying to outsmart the defense, which in turn is trying to outsmart the offense?

For certain, with McCaffrey running and receiving, the Niners’ offense will be more productive, giving a balance to a team whose strength has been on defense.

Perfection is rare in pro football, where are there are too many moving parts and bizarre bounces. The game essentially is one of persistence and survival.

Often it’s a case of hanging in until somebody makes the big play. That somebody might be Christian McCaffrey.

We’ll find out soon enough.

It's all different now with these champion Warriors

If you were around then, waiting for the disappointment, just knowing that no matter how well the Warriors had stayed in the game, how many times the crowd had chanted “Beat L.A.,” you remember Kareem or Magic or Kobe making those shots down the stretch. Unstoppable, and for Golden State fans, unbearable.

But as we — and the Lakers, and indeed all of pro basketball — know, it’s all different now. The power, the once-haunting sense of inevitability, has shifted. It’s the Warriors who somehow will get the win. It’s the Lakers who are trying to come to grips with their inadequacies.

The NBA season opener on Tuesday night at Chase Center was where we were supposed to find out if the Warriors’ Draymond Green and Jordan Poole could play together, two weeks after Green punched Poole in practice. They could and did, and the Dubs, to no one’s surprise after receiving their championship rings, defeated the Lakers, 123-109.

Yes, the Draymond-Poole — dare we call it an incident — was mentioned during postgame comments, but almost parenthetically. The big issue seemed to be whether this Warriors team was as deep as the team of  2014-15 that overwhelmed the Cavaliers in the finals.

That season, LeBron James played for the Cavs. Now, of course, he’s with the Lakers and echoing words of Warriors fans, when in the 1990s the Dubs were the patsies.

“The Warriors are who they are, it goes without saying,” was the observation of LeBron, who didn’t go without saying. “I don’t need to harp on the the greatness they possess every night.”

Hard to imagine anyone from the Lakers franchise, which used to own the Warriors, ever saying that, much less LeBron, the acknowledged best all-around player in the game. When the greats from other teams hold that opinion, well, you may be better than you hope you are.

“They’re the best third-quarter,” James conceded about the way the Warriors gain control after halftime.

This was only one game out of the 82 on the schedule. Perhaps the Draymond-Poole truce comes apart, although winning teams manage to survive internal troubles, which is why they are winning teams. When you’re based in New York or L.A., the nation’s two largest metropolitan areas as well as its two major media centers, you get attention that’s not always deserved. Skepticism is legitimate product.

But those Lakers teams of the 1980s and 90s, labeled by a copyrighted nickname, “Showtime,” earned all the headlines and TV promos they were allotted. Warriors fans may have despised those Lakers as much they respected them. Now the view has been altered.

“The postgame chatter,” wrote Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times about the opener, “came after the Lakers didn’t look in the same class as the defending (NBA) champs.” If there’s one thing you never would expect to read, it’s that the Lakers, who have the second most championships, are not in the same league as the Warriors.

That’s not about to happen to the Warriors, where the front office is preparing for the future with players such as Poole and James Wiseman as it carefully enjoys the present with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney and, yes, Draymond Green.

“I’m thrilled with the win,” said Steve Kerr, the Warriors’ coach. “Ring night is never an easy game, and the first game of the season is usually filled with some nerves early on.”

But later on, this one was also filled with a win.

Draymond: Off the hook, on the radar

So, Draymond Green, where have you been? Oh, never mind. It’s all on that tape, which is as big a story as your brief absence. You know how when people leave work they call it punching out? Sorry, which is what you said you are about your recent contretemps.

Some people thought you should have been suspended, but fortunately for you they don’t coach or work as executives for the Warriors. Besides, if you didn’t already know, nobody is supposed to hit anyone, much less a teammate.

Nobody wonders if you’ll play hard. That’s in your DNA. You’d never have made it in the NBA without your passion and intensity.

What has some worried is a few players, one being Jordan Poole, whom you punched in practice, will not feel comfortable playing the season with you. But teammates have battled physically and still won titles. Think of those Oakland A’s.

Then again, that was in the 1970s, before cell phones, items that would provide a literal picture of an event. And before a news service (?) like TMZ, which has sources seemingly everywhere. Somebody at the Warriors facility took that video. On ESPN, Tony Kornheiser called it sabotage.

What Warriors coach Steve Kerr called the punch and subsequent reaction was “the greatest crisis” of his coaching career.

When during that career you won four championships in a span of several years, there haven’t been many crises, great or small.

For certain, Draymond and the Dubs accomplished the near impossible, knocking the 49ers out of the top spot of the TV sports reports, a difficult task indeed.

Kerr, who once was slugged by Michael Jordan when they were teammates on the Chicago Bulls, went about his well-scrutinized business with the determination and irritation of an individual who’s been there and had that done to him.

Basketball is the sport of least privacy. Baseball has dugouts in which to hide; football has helmets to be worn. Basketball is a T-shirt and shorts. Insults — trash talk — are constant. You handle it, or you try another activity.

What the Warriors tried, however, was honesty.

No denials, no attempts at cover-ups. Let’s get this fixed and, as Kerr said, move forward.

Yet if what’s in the news is any indication, that journey will not be an easy one.

The media (blush) isn’t going to let this go quickly. Whatever the Warriors do to keep the team strong on the court, there will be a reference to Draymond Green and his punch.

Either they’ll have overcome that mammoth crisis or they’ll have fallen victim to it.

Draymond insisted when he made his apology several days ago that the punch and still unknown problem between him and Poole was embarrassing.

Both players are lucky it wasn’t injurious, one or both ending with a broken bone, Now apparently all we’ll get is hurt pride.

The punch and the TMZ video jolted the Warriors, a franchise where everything invariably runs so smoothly — or so it seems — like, well, a punch to the jaw. They had to do the right thing as much as they had to do what would keep them winners.

“It’s been been an exhaustive process,” Kerr said of the discussion on how to to proceed. “Everything was on the table.”

Now Green effectively may be off the hook, although definitely he’ll be on everyone’s radar.

Of the Niners’ win and Draymond’s punch

So the 49ers played the way we’ve been waiting for them to play — meaning both efficiently and effectively — and people even were talking about them being the best team in the NFL.

When they weren’t talking about Draymond Green, whose defense is almost as famous as the Niners’ and whose rash behavior is just as infamous.

The debate this summer was whether the Warriors, with Green, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, had by winning a fourth championship surpassed the 49ers as the most popular sporting franchise in the Bay Area.

It’s accepted that popularity is based on success. Over the last few years, no team other than the New England Patriots was as successful as the Warriors. You surmise that will outweigh Draymond’s moment of outrage. But apology or no apology, Green’s punch could have an effect.

For certain, the Niners, founded in San Francisco in 1946, always will have their followers to cheer in good times and grumble (and boo) in bad. And ironically and appropriately, these 49ers are developing into a very good team.

With their 37-15 romp Sunday over the Carolina Panthers, a team susceptible to being romped, they made a statement. Or perhaps updated a previous one.

The problem for the Niners was that they seemed to be losing players on injuries on virtually every down. Safety Jimmy Ward was gone early, pass rusher Nick Bosa later.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan appeared as philosophical about the injuries (“They’re part of the game”) as he was ecstatic about the win, arguably tops in the league, but at last the offense in general and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo played well.

“We made plays,” said Shanahan. “Jimmy G looked like Jimmy Garoppolo. He kept drives alive.” Along with his running backs and receivers.

Shanahan kept using the word awesome. He’s allowed, if anybody is.

After the game, with Washington as the next opponent, the Niners flew not home but to the Greenbrier, a historic resort in West Virginia, where they stayed on a previous trip to the East Coast. ”We’ll be together,” said Shanahan. ”We like that.”

On Sunday, they very much liked Garoppolo (18 of 30, 253 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions) and liked his progress.

As is well known around Ninerville, Jimmy G, without a team of his own, was unable to take part in a preseason summer camp. Then, having joined the Niners as a backup, Garoppolo was forced to become a starter when Trey Lance broke his ankle.

“I thought he looked real good,” said Shanahan in what was an unneeded affirmation.

When you’re on a two-game win streak and moving into a 3-2 record, that’s not exactly an overstatement.

Every NFL team, particularly the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, has fans on the road; the Niners had more than a few in Charlotte. “We knew they were there. It was great.”

The Cowboys also were winners, defeating the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, who the Niners defeated a week ago. Also in last year’s playoffs, the Niners kept Dallas from a shot at the championship.   

A few days ago, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, never one to remain silent, said he would love for a rematch. Most people would, including Draymond Green.

Niners battling Cowboys for time on ESPN

Those 49ers must be doing something right. They received almost as much time on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Tuesday morning as the Dallas Cowboys. who were doing something or other. What the Niners had done was defeat the Rams, merely the defending Super Bowl champions.

Not that the Rams seem to be any good, if one studies the Los Angeles Times, as it were the Rams hometown paper. “Four games into the season,” wrote Dylan Hernandez, the Times columnist, “and (Rams coach) Sean McVay looks as if he still hasn’t recovered from his boozy Super Bowl parade. The offensive revolutionary suddenly is a .500 coach, his once feared attack painfully predictable.”

Also predictable is the Niners’ implacable defense, but you knew that. Holding any NFL team to nothing except three field goals, as the 49ers did in their win over the Rams, is verification.

You also knew that fans and critics can change opinions about as quickly as Deebo Samuel can change direction.

A week ago, there were questions about the Niners in general and the returnee, Jimmy Garoppolo specifically. He stepped out of the end zone for a safety and the team looked as if it had fallen into a rut. Oh, woe is us.

Now? Now Jimmy G — the way he’ll be described when results are satisfying — says post-game, “I feel much better than last week.”

As he should, having been in tight control of an offense built around Mr. Samuel (remember when he wanted to be traded?), in truth an offense built around the defense. Once more a reference to the observation by the late John McKay, who won a national championship at USC and would insist, “You win on defense. If the other team doesn’t score, you never get worse than a 0-0 tie.”

The Niners got much better. And even though they have only a 2-2 record, the Niners are once more, as they were at the season’s start, being touted as the favorite in the NFC, despite the presence of the 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles.

“We’ve got to play better,” was McVay’s farewell analysis of his Rams. That’s hardly an original thought among losing coaches. In fact, it was expressed only last week by the Niners’ Kyle Shanahan after the rare miserable  showing against the Broncos. But Monday night, Shanahan seemed absolutely delighted in the way the Niners played.

“I was real happy,” said Shanahan. “It was a cool way to win. We knew it would be a battle to keep them out of the end zone.”

Cool was a repetitive word. Shanahan used it to describe the way his team won and the way his linebacker Bobby Wagner flattened a protester who jumped onto the field with a smoke bomb in the first half. Garoppolo didn’t say much, but his smile said a great deal, and Jimmy G, contemplating the pressure and success, was testament enough.

“You know how the (stuff) is,” Garoppolo reminded, only he didn’t say stuff. “It’s a roller coaster. You’ve got to love it.”

No less, you’ve got to love Samuel, who dashed 44 yards on a pass play for the Niners’ first touchdown and at kickoff earned high praise from TV analysts including Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who called Samuel his favorite player.

“I don't even look in their eyes anymore,“ Samuel told NBC Bay Area about the guys chasing him. "I just go out there and line up and can just see them like, 'Oh here comes Deebo.'"

And there go the Niners.

Niners: Too many mistakes, too little rhythm

That result, the Niners losing to Denver 11-10 on Sunday night.

It was an NFL game, right? Or numbers left off the odds sheet from Bally’s? Wonder what the odds were that Jimmy Garoppolo would take a step out of the end zone for a safety?

Comments from the post-game locker room seemed divided between mistakes (too many) and rhythm (too little).

It’s an accepted thought that the most important phase of the game is defense; the old line if the opponent doesn’t score, you’ll never get less than a 0-0 tie. And San Francisco has an excellent defense. 

Which is fortunate because it doesn’t have much of an offense. At least it didn’t on Sunday night.

Then again, their best offensive lineman, Trent Williams, was injured (and will be gone a month).

And they forced to use a new quarterback who is an old quarterback, Mr. Garoppolo.

Jimmy G. very much was back, having healed from his injuries (and maybe the blow to his ego) to replace the injured Trey Lance.

You understand the reason the 49ers took Trey Lance third overall in the 2021 draft (after trading draft picks to get the opportunity). The team wanted a different (and different type) of QB from Garoppolo — if not at the moment, then in coming seasons. But fate is strange.

The Niners signed Garoppolo, thumbing a nose at those who said that two starting quarterbacks is the same as having none. Not if one is required to step in, or in Jimmy G’s situation, step back in.

Of course, on Sunday night it appeared he had stepped into trouble.

“We never got into rhythm,” said Niners coach Kyle Shanahan.

What? With the veterans such as Deebo Samuel? How can the team that a year ago was so close to the Super Bowl — with Garoppolo as quarterback — have those penalties and two turnovers?

One of those knowledgeable sorts on NBC Sports Bay Area, Donte Whitner or Rod Brooks,  said because Garoppolo didn’t take part in summer camp, he and the team still are unfamiliar with each other. The implication was everything will be there in time.

“It was a tough situation,” was the explanation that didn’t really explain anything.

Garoppolo was as bewildered as anyone why the Niners got yards (virtually the same as Denver) but could barely get points, except for one, virtually the same as Denver.

“We were sloppy,” said Garoppolo. “We were not in rhythm. Our defense kept us in the game.”

When someone on air reminded us that Garoppolo had only been back as a starter for a game and a half. Garoppolo said, “No excuses.”

Not a lot of protection either. Garoppolo was sacked four times.

The quarterback said he was “trying to buy time,” when under pressure he stepped out of the end zone for the safety.

No way the A’s will get stadium in Oakland

There’s this baseball team in Oakland that used to be in Kansas City, and before that in Philadelphia, and seemingly next will move to Las Vegas.

Used to win a lot of games before management traded away the guys who were responsible.

But what happens on the field for the Athletics forever remains secondary to occurrences off the field, meaning the inability to construct a new stadium/ballpark or whatever you wish to call it.

Basically, after years of discussions, debate and frustration, you can’t call it anything except a failure.

Or didn’t you see the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s crunch time for the A’s”? You’re thinking, if only Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco could step to the plate, but they couldn’t solve the problem.

With the city’s budget and with the city’s administrators, the problem is unsolvable.

The Bay Area for a long time had a spotty record when it comes to retaining its sporting franchises. The Giants lost four ballot measures in two different counties to fund a stadium, before individuals such as Peter McGowan and Larry Baer got involved.

Didn’t the people then running the A’s arrange for billboards near the Bay Bridge that read something like, “While they were building a ballpark, we were building a winner”?

History has been unkind to the location the Spaniards arriving in San Francisco long ago named “Contra Costa,” which translates as “the other shore.”

The Raiders left Oakland and went to Vegas. The Warriors left Oakland and went to San Francisco.

And now? The A’s-to-Vegas shift has been rumored so many times, it seems inevitable, especially now that negotiations between franchise and city must be completed in a week to get a vote on the proposed $12 billion waterfront stadium.

They’ve had weeks to settle this thing, so how can it be settled in days?

Who’s at fault? Charles O. Finley, who moved the A’s to Oakland in 1968? The Coliseum people who agreed to modify a football stadium for baseball?

The Haas family turned the A’s into champions, but nobody has been able to turn the Coliseum — now a  half-century old and all but disintegrating — into a fan-friendly baseball park.

Indeed two games against the Giants a few weeks ago brought more than 70,000 to Oakland, but that was as much part of the situation as the games with 5,000 fans. Why did all those people show up?

Why hadn’t they been showing up?

The only certain thing is the uncertainty. It’s like remodeling a kitchen. No matter the estimates, the project will cost you more.

Which may be the reason some people in the East Bay are not so much wary of a ballpark as they are opposed to one. Troubled by everything from financing to, say, the stadium lights shining into the eyes of tugboat pilots. Yeah, we need to keep the A’s, but what about the fate of the ships? And what about the homeless?

Sure, I’m pessimistic. If Oakland couldn’t keep the Raiders, the team that was formed there, the team that made Oakland a major factor in the nation’s sporting landscape, how is it ever going to retain the Athletics?

According to the Chronicle, Oakland is studying the issue of a limited obligation bond, “which would raise money for infrastructure upgrades, then use money from hotel, sales and parking taxes generated by the project to pay off the debt.”

Sounds plausible, but plausibility isn’t the issue, money is. Las Vegas has it. Oakland doesn’t.

Willett couldn’t lose Fortinet, but he lost

NAPA, Calif. — It was the start of a new season in golf. It was the same old story in sport.

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Which, in this game, means not until the final shot is hit. Or missed.

No way Danny Willett was not going to win the Fortinet Championship on this damp Sunday afternoon. He had a one-shot lead over Max Homa and was on the 18th green with a very makeable 3-foot 7-inch putt for a birdie 4 and the victory.

Meanwhile, Homa was in the wet semi-rough, 33 feet from a birdie that, if somehow he could make with a miracle chip, would just put him in a tie and force a playoff.

You know what happened. Golf happened. Not only did Willett knock his putt about 4 feet past the hole, he followed it by also knocking the comebacker some 3 feet past the hole.

His birdie was transformed, yikes, into a bogey. And when Homa chipped in (do you believe in miracles or merely the nature of golf?), Willett, a former Masters champ, was a stunned runner-up. And for a second straight year Homa, the Cal grad, was first in the Fortinet.

“Yeah, obviously going to remember that last (putt),” said Willett.

The question is whether he’ll be able to forget it. Agony in golf seems to persist, even when you’ve won a major and mostly playing the European (now DT) Tour seven tournaments in all.

Homa, who trailed by as many as three shots during a day when the forecast rains came on early and then again late, had a final-round 68, 4-under-par on Silverado Country Club’s North Course, for a 72-hole total of 16-under 272. Willett was a shot worse in both categories, 69 for 273.

“Nice to be in contention,” was the philosophical comment from Willett, an Englishman who spends most of his time playing on the east side of the Atlantic. Willett only decided to enter the Fortinet because he had been elevated to exempt status on the PGA Tour when several other players defected to the rebel LIV Tour.

Might as well get a jump on the other guys. Sure, he needed a 5,000-mile flight to California, but hey, if you don’t like to travel, try a more sedentary occupation.  

“Hit a little firm,” was his description of the first putt. “But all in all, a great week.”

Not as good a week as Homa’s, admittedly.

Now, Max goes to the Presidents’ Cup, thrilled to represent the United States in team play for the first time. At 31, he knows well the non-secret to success on the links: patience. Let the game come to you. You’ll make your birdies — and eagles — so plug away.

”You know,” said Homa, “my coach said just hang around. And I don’t know, but these minutes are kind of a blur. Danny played great, but I just tried to play my game and see where it got me.

“I don’t know. It was a wild finish.”

A finish with all the elements that make the placid game of golf wonderfully enthralling. Or very difficult to accept, when you make a mess of things.

A lonely but great round by Harrison Endycott

NAPA, Calif. — They call golf the loneliest game. You’re on your own, other than a caddy. But usually there’s another golfer nearby. A playing partner, who keeps score while he keeps at his own game. Usually.

Not for Harrison Endycott in the third round of the Fortinet Championship on Saturday. He was in a one-some, if you will. Very alone, and it turned out very successful.

Seventy-three pros made the Friday cut at Silverado Country Club, and Harrison, playing in his first event as a PGA Tour member after qualifying from the Korn Ferry Tour, was No. 73.

Which, because the Tour doesn’t use markers, stand-ins to turn an odd number of players into an even number, as do the majors, meant that Harrison was by his lonesome.

He loved it, starting at 7:40 a.m. before the breeze kicked up, before the greens got tracked, and shot a 7-under-par 65 to move from that all-alone-just-made-it-to-the-weekend 73rd position to well within the top 10.

In a way, Endycott, born and raised in Australia, knows well what it’s like to be on his own. He was in his teens when his mother, Dianne, died from ovarian cancer.

According to Adam Pengilly of the Sydney Morning Herald, the young man, shaken, became a rebel — delinquent is too strong a term — and, already a golfer, devoted time to the game.

Now 26, Endycott is prepared to join the group of other Aussie golfers, including British Open champion Cameron Smith, on the world leader board.

“I mean it’s still very new,” he said, bringing a big attempt of reality to his making the Tour. “You know you’ve got a little more atmosphere, more people, bigger grandstands, TV everywhere I look. It’s funny. Like I feel very comfortable there when I’m within my own element, but when you kind of smell the roses in between shots you’re like, this is a different atmosphere. It might take a little time getting used to. But right now I’m enjoying it.”

When you shoot 65 in your third round on Tour, what’s not to enjoy?

The only mini-disappointment to Endycott’s round was that his girlfriend, Brandy, missed it. She didn’t awaken in time to attend.

At least his father was there, after being unable to travel from Australia because of the nation’s very restrictive Covid laws (see Novak Djokovic).

“It was very challenging not to see family and friends,” said Endycott. “But it’s going to be awesome to have them here on Sunday when I’m in contention.”

Endycott turned pro in 2017 and joined the Latin American Tour, where the language was a bigger worry than the golf. Then it was on to what now is the minor leagues, the Korn Ferry. Quickly enough, he advanced.

“I think my goals will come,” he said when asked his plans. “I expect the other guys will be shooting low numbers.”

As he must attempt to duplicate.

The Englishman who won a Masters shares Fortinet lead

NAPA, Calif. — He won a Masters. His schoolteacher brother in England called American golf fans “baying imbeciles.” You remember Danny Willett. Or do you?

There he was Friday, sharing second place in the first Tour tournament of the season, trying to bring back the magic while perhaps bringing back a few memories.

Willett shot an 8-under-par 64 Friday at Silverado Country Club and was tied with defending champ Max Homa at 12-under-par 136 in the Fortinet Championship.

A surprise? Not compared to what happened in 2016 at Augusta. That’s when Jordan Spieth started knocking balls into Rae’s Creek and giving Willett, the Englishman, the Masters triumph.

Which gave those baying imbecile golf fans in the USA a chance to ask “Who?” almost as if to verify the supposedly tongue-in-cheek commentary by Peter Willett.

A writer with the opportunity to chide the opposition in the U.S.-Ryder Cup matches, Peter wasn’t concerned about what the golfers thought, probably, only about laughs, Yes, there were apologies.

Since then, the golfer, Danny, almost disappeared. His body was a mess. This hurt, that hurt. Splitting time between the PGA and European tours (now DT), he found trouble on both.

Then at the end of 2021, Willett had an appendectomy, at which time surgeons also fixed a hernia. The pain was gone. So far in two rounds of the Fortinet, over-par golf also is gone.

“Yeah, bogey free,” Willett said elatedly. ”Probably most impressive. We’ve hit it really good, and this place kind of jumps up. The rough is kind of hit and miss, and the greens being firm, to go bogey-free really is good.”

That’s an understatement, certainly. You stay away from bogies, you stay in contention.

Silverado, in the wine country about an hour north of San Francisco, isn’t the toughest test in golf — hey, 12-under atop the leader board is an indication — but there are dry creeks and trees.

“Ón 16 we probably got a little bit screwed there with the second shot,” Willett said of a par-five. “I was a little bit right of the target but hit the end tree branch and came 40 yards backwards, and I messed around a little bit and was able to pitch in to six feet straight down the hill and made a really good save for par — which then let me be able to finish birdie birdie and get myself in a really great position.”

His position in this Fortinet is as good as it can be. You wouldn’t have expected him to be in first, or at least have a part of it, but you wouldn’t have expected him to win a Masters either.

Rickie Fowler tries to find the golfer he used to be

NAPA, Calif. — The game forced him to be here.

Rickie Fowler normally wouldn’t be in the season’s opening golf event, the Fortinet, where the kids, the rookies, get their shot at making shots.

But it was a matter of … is desperation too strong a word?

Fowler was no Tiger Woods, but in a way he was the next best thing. In a short stretch of years, Rickie finished second in the Masters, second in the U.S. Open, second in the British Open.

It was only a matter of time and patience until he became a major champion. Or so we were told. Or so he believed.

Fowler, now 33, still doesn’t have that major. And although he does have five victories as a pro, including the 2015 Players Championship, the recent years have been a struggle.

It’s as if he’s had to relearn the game. Or himself.

Once fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings, Fowler tumbled to 178th. He changed teaching pros — returning to Butch Harmon, who once worked with Tiger — and changed caddies.

And changed his routine, forgoing any bit of relaxation to return to the Tour as early as possible, in the hope the situation can be corrected.

“Not going through the playoffs,” conceded Fowler, “and not being in the Presidents Cup, that’s been really the only reason I haven’t been to Napa yet.”

The words verbatim mean the opposite, but it’s just a figure of speech. We understand what Rickie was driving at: “Until now, my golf was so good I didn’t need to be at this event two weeks after the Tour Championship. Now I do.”

You’re alone in golf: you and your caddy and the clubs, which used to be your friends but now are enemies. No relief pitchers. No backup quarterbacks. Just you flailing (or so you imagine) and groping. And those putts that used to find the bottom of the cup.

No wonder even the very accomplished pros use instructors. And psychologists.

Thursday’s opening round was delayed an hour and a half at the start, so many of the entrants didn’t finish. Fowler did, shooting a 5-under-par 67. He was not displeased.

“Bogey free,” he pointed out. “For the most part, that wasn’t necessarily an issue other than one hole. I had to make a 15-footer for par after I hit it in a bunker. Other than that, it was a fairly simple day.”

Two days earlier, Fowler told Cameron Morfit of PGA Tour publications, “I feel like I’m in a really good spot. I’m arguably as healthy and strong as I’ve ever been. The home life couldn’t be better. Our little one is great.”

Sounds excellent, but so did all the comments a few years back forecasting brilliance for Fowler.

“A good step in the right direction,” Fowler said of his first round of the new season. ”Not that we haven’t been doing that in the past. But just trying to get back to being more consistent.

“I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t be just those weeks. There needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing, just getting back to playing consistent golf and having chances to win.”

As he had, not all that long ago.

Fortinet champ Homa is back; so is LIV controversy

NAPA, Calif. — The best thing about this LIV Tour business, or maybe the worst thing, is it has mature men who make millions hitting a little ball across exquisitely groomed fields acting like, well, less than mature men.

Not included in the category is Max Homa, the Cal grad, who on Thursday opened defense of the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Country Club and took part in a controversy not entirely of his own creation.

As you are aware, a group of billionaire oil sheiks, urged on by a disenfranchised Greg Norman, who very well could play golf but not the game of life, has chosen to take its assets and confront the sport’s establishment, the PGA Tour by forming a new tour, the LIV.

So golf, an activity in which competitors call penalties on themselves and invariably shake hands at the close of play, is now full of controversy and anger.

You probably are aware that people such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have positioned themselves on the side of the Tour. Well, so has Homa, if because he is less famous not as noticeably. Except to a few LIV zealots, including former president Donald Trump.

The Presidents Cup is a competition between teams from the U.S. and anyplace other than Europe, for which the players qualify either via a yearly point system or through the selection of the team captain.

The captain of the American team for the match in two weeks is Davis Love III, and he picked Homa, which since Max finished tied for fifth in the FedEx standings seems not only legitimate but appropriate.

However, one individual says Homa should not have been selected because he’s never won a major championship. The critic has been identified as a supporter of Donald Trump.

Homa, given name John Maxwell Homa, has never been one to avoid any issue, particularly one in which he is involved. He needed to work his way up from what then was the Buy.com Tour to the big leagues. The victory in last year’s Fortinet was his fourth on the PGA Tour.

Asked about the struggle between the LIV and the PGA Tour, Homa used the word “bizarre.”

“It’s actually funny,” he added. “Last year, I was saying this seemed like the craziest time to be alive. My grandma said it’s not so crazy. I said, what do you mean? She said, ‘You’re on this planet long enough, you just kind of go with the flow.’”

That is not to be confused with going with the LIV Tour.

“Yeah,” said Homa, “the landscape of golf seems like it’s changing. As a fan and a member of the PGA Tour, I’m not happy. I’m not happy that a lot of people are being snarky on both sides.

“I’d like golf to succeed out here, but I think it’s easy to look at it and say the PGA Tour is getting diluted a bit. But there are a lot of great golfers in the world. There are a lot of people picking on one side, on both sides, and that’s a bummer.”

He said the questions about him being named to the Presidents Cup team were a big deal.

Indeed, but still not as big as the question about what will happen as the PGA Tour and LIV continue to make a mess out of things.

Of moon pros and Fortinet Championship golf

NAPA, Calif. — Yes, wine country. And yes, also golf country, and here we go again, the PGA Tour intent on defying the calendar and starting a new year in September, showing how crazy things can get when Tiger Woods no longer plays full time.

The great thing about pro golf is it virtually never ends — only four weeks have passed since Rory McIlroy took the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship, the concluding events of, well, 2021-22.

The worst thing about pro golf also is that it virtually never ends, the 2022-23 schedule set to open Thursday at the Fortinet Championship, right here among the cabernet grapes and birdies at Silverado Country Club.

It’s been a few years now since the Tour instituted the so-called wrap-around schedule, trying to persuade us that the very beginning of an event is more appealing than the very end, especially when the big guys — Rory, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler — are taking a break.

Not that the people entered, including the Cal grad Max Homa, can’t play the sport. Homa tied Thomas for fifth in the standings. But golf and, as Serena Williams recently verified, tennis, are depended on reputation as on talent.

It’s always been that way for individual sports.

“Why are you guys always writing about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who aren’t in the tournament?” sponsors would ask a journalist 20 years ago. Because, as is the case with Tiger and Rory now, they were the ones who had us mesmerized.

The Tour does strange things with history. This tournament began in 1968, won that year by Kermit Zarley, who the comedian Bob Hope nicknamed “the Pro from the Moon.” The event was called the Kaiser International, and from there became the Frys, then the Fortinet.

Except in the PGA Tour, it’s never been anything except the Fortinet.

Silverado, the name of which came from a Robert Louis Stevenson story of gold-rush California, has never been anything except a welcoming course. They’ve had U.S. Open qualifying there, but they’d never had the Open there.

A man who in 1973 did win the U.S. Open at Oakmont in Pittsburgh, Johnny Miller, has left his mark on Silverado, in more than one way.

Miller and his family moved to Silverado after he won the Kaiser in 1969. In those days, he was arguably the best golfer on the planet, winning the Open, the British Open and, like clockwork, one Tucson Open after one Phoenix Open. He also won more than once at Pebble Beach.

John had a place overlooking the 11th hole at Silverado, and during one tournament, seemingly unconcerned with his own health, was noticed climbing a palm tree to shake down loose fronds.

Miller, now 75, helped remodel the course a few years ago, and he frequently stops by during the tournament from his current home in Utah.

John and the late Ken Venturi both attended Lincoln High in San Francisco, the only high school known to man — or the Pro from the Moon — with two graduates who won the Open.

And so the Trey Lance era has arrived for the Niners

The heralded Trey Lance era apparently has arrived. Anybody want to search for it among the frustration and disappointment of his first game as the 49ers’ designated savior?

What happened on Sunday was not entirely his fault, San Francisco squandering a 10-0 lead and getting stunned by the Chicago Bears, 19-10.

The defense became defenseless, and the Niners were called for 12 penalties, a number unacceptable for any team not named the Raiders. But the judgment of a QB is made from the final score.

Did he bring his team home a winner, in this game played in an occasional downpour and on a constantly sloppy surface at Soldier Field in Chicago? Lance did not.

The Niners had become the fashionable choice to make the Super Bowl, from all those folks at ESPN to hyper-critical Boomer Esiason. But when the curtain went up, they looked, well, terrible wouldn’t be an inappropriate description.

Kyle Shanahan, the Niners coach, tossed out phrases such as “stupid penalties” and “silly mistakes,” not needing to wait until the videos to tell us what he really thought.

The Niners and Lance, the quarterback who was the third overall pick in the 2021 draft, are hot stuff and the game was shown in many locations.

And while it’s only one game among the 17 on every NFL team’s season schedule, and while even the Super Bowl champ Los Angeles Rams were defeated in their opener, this wasn’t exactly the way to make an impression — for Lance or for the franchise.

“We all know what happened,” said Lance, in his postgame comments, “and we need to fix it.”

What happened was the 49ers had 331 net yards rushing and passing to 204 for the Bears, but botched up everything by holding or doing whatever else that an official would deem against the rules.

The league this season went from four preseason games to three. Perhaps the Niners needed that fourth practice game to learn what was proper and what wasn’t. Or how to fool the refs.

Compared to their dozen penalties for 99 yards, just one short of a football field, the Bears had only three for 24 yards.

“It’s hard enough to play against the opposing team,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “It’s even harder when you play against yourself.”

The Bears were seven-point underdogs in what would be labeled Chicago weather. Early on, they punted five times and quarterback Justin Fields threw an interception. but they won because the 49ers kept screwing up.

“We killed ourselves,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Every single one of those drives, you can look back and see we did something to help them get in the end zone.”

“We were stopping the run,” said defensive end Nick Bosa, “but we fell apart on penalties.” Asked about Lance, Bosa said, “I was encouraged by the way he played. With that rain, it was hard to throw the ball.”

Shanahan said the field conditions factored into how he used Lance.

“I’ll go back and watch the tape and I’ll ask him how he felt,” Shanahan said. “But it was that type of game.”

Not the type the Niners could have wanted.

Serena packs the place and keeps on going

Those commercials on ESPN, the ones that advise how sports bring enjoyment to our lives? They couldn't be more perfectly timed.

Yes, this has to do with Serena Williams.

She will be 41 in a few days. She’s a mother of one.

And on Friday she will be playing Ajla Tomljanović of Australia in the third round of a U.S. Open tennis tournament where some wondered if she could get past the first.

None of Serena’s opponents reminded us of Martina Navratilova or Chris Evert, but who cared? In the second round Wednesday, Williams upended the No. 2 seed, a tearful Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, 7-6 (4). 2-6, 6-2.

Of the 27,000 crammed into Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, roughly 26,535 were screaming and hooting for Serena.

True, that’s unfair to Kontaveit, who despite having played the women’s tour for a decade (she’s 26) nobody but the tennis mavens know.

In a sport built as much on longevity as success, and where familiarity brings respect and endorsements, Williams has lasted. And triumphed over tough times, as well as those across the net.

Along with record ratings, that’s good enough for me. The pre-event hype has been overdone, if anything in Manhattan can be overdone. If you can make it there, go the lyrics, you’ll make it anywhere.

Serena Williams made it anywhere and everywhere. She followed older sister Venus, now 44 — and with whom she is teamed in doubles — from the mean streets of Compton, Calif., to make history.

The word retirement is not allowed in Serena’s presence. She’s not retiring from what will be her last Open and perhaps forever. She’s “evolving,” but however you want it labeled, she’s leaving.

Tennis will miss her. And judging from the promos, ESPN will miss her.  

The network built its campaign around Serena — and in the media, it wasn’t alone. One day, the New York Times’ digital section had three Williams stories, posted one after another.

Serena herself has remained as subdued and humble as is possible for a generational athlete. “It’s me, the same Serena,” she told the fans after her second-round win.

Not that we expected anyone else. At least until she retires, or, evolves.

“There’s still a little battle left in me,” she said. That battle is the essence of Serena Williams. When failing in other matches. Mary Jo Fernandez, a former player now commenting for ESPN, said Williams had the ability to serve herself out of trouble.

When Fernandez asked after the Kontaveit match, “Are you surprising yourself with your level of play?” Serena responded, “I’m just Serena, you know.
“

We do know. As Tiger Woods, Williams was capable of coming up with the right shot when it was needed. 

This Open, baseball is nearing the playoffs and college football is starting. Serena has been needed fo jack up interest and fill seats.

Some optimists, after the first two rounds, also picked her to win.

For certain, she can’t lose. Nor can tennis.

A win for the good guy, Rory

Sometimes it all works out. Sometimes the story ends the way we wanted. Sometimes the good guy wins.

That would be Rory McIlroy, who despite involvement in trying to save golf from itself, managed to finish first in the season-ending Tour Championship. 

True the early scoring is cumulative. But McIlroy must have done something right along the way.

Other than rallying from a six-shot deficit the event’s final day and also taking the Canadian Open, and finishing second in the Masters that is.

The word ”deserving” probably is inappropriate in sports, but if anyone is deserving of any special recognition it is McIlroy the 33-year-old Northern Irishman.

Rory and Tiger Woods both stepped out to support that PGA Tour against the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. A little loyalty is a big thing. McIlroy,  befitting the image of his countrymen, is personable. He’s also won four majors. One has nothing to do with the other, but  it certainly is a joy to have someone who’s a champion in many ways.  

The Tour (the PGA ‘tour)  unofficially is dormant  until the Fortinet Open in mid-September at Silverado in Napa.

 Same old, same old. Not alluding to the players or their games but the wearying struggle between the “we started this stuff”  so gives us a break,” amid the rich(er) guys on the other side of the bunker.

You’re probably aware that the Saudis or some other wealthy  royal types offered Tiger Woods something like $700,000,000 to switch sides and support the other people. To his credit (and his financial status) the other was rejected.

Exactly what Tiger would contribute other than a prestige factor—"look who we have”. But he’s staying, even if the current British Open champion, the young Aussie, Cameron  Smith apparently is  heading for the Saudi zillions.

There is a rivalry between the Old Guard and the Defectors, the players who went for the big playoffs.

It’s been great for some of the pros, especially those without fame or money, a group that excludes  former leading money winner Greg Norman, a founder, and Mickelson.

 When Sunday evening McIlroy was presented a check for  $18 million and a trophy, you could year a voice on television say, “Thank you Greg Norman.”

He pushed the battle, which apparently is far over. The Saudis  (and Norman) want the TV contracts held by the PGA Tour. You get TV attention by getting the players, which, in Mickelson.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepeka LIV seems to have acquired. But the only golfer who can be depended upon to bring in the fans and bring up the TV ratings is Mr. Woods.

The PGA Tour, not ignorant of the Saudi challenge, raised purse money for the tournaments beginning this fall.

The way tennis comes down to who is on court, and on TV, mainly Serena Williams, who won Monday night;  Golf needs attractions—winners who understand how they’re carrying the game.

Rory fit that category.

He’s young, dynamic, communicative and made up a six-shot deficit the final round to become the Tour Champion for a third time

Critics remind us that he hasn’t won a major in eight years. That happens. Golfers like McIlroy don’t happen very often. He’s a gem.

Seeking sports’ new hero we can all look up to

That was an interesting quote from Rory McIlroy about his rival, his idol and, as you interpret it, of sports as a whole. “He is the hero we all looked up to,” McIlroy said about, who else, Tiger Woods.

The players know. The fans know. The folks in management, the people who run the events, who own the teams, who make the deals, certainly know.

Did some observer really tell us that sports were the opera of the poor, long before the time when if you couldn’t afford a night at the Met you most likely could afford a day with the Mets?

Now, from arias to home runs, everything is high-priced. Including the salaries or, in the case of DeShaun Watson, the fine he must pay, $5 million, just to get back on the field after accusations of sexual misconduct. Sex sells.

The numbers make us crazy. And also help make our games what they’ve become, a fascinating blend of star power and high finance.

Maybe when President Biden is talking billions, we don’t even shrug if ballplayers or quarterbacks are talking millions.

ESPN knows. So do the other networks. Who do we want to see? Or, according to the ratings, who do the networks, the producers, the directors, believe who we ought to see?

Sometimes it seemed the only female tennis player was Serena Williams, the only pro golfer Tiger Woods, the only quarterback Tom Brady. Enough already. Or was it not enough?

The Lakers just re-signed LeBron James for two more years, and for $97 million. Bill Plaschke, the fine L.A. Times sports columnist, thought it was a bad deal. The Lakers were mediocre (or worse) with James last season, so why bring him back?

Because he is basketball in Los Angeles, the second biggest TV market in the land. It doesn’t so much matter what the Lakers accomplish, but what James can accomplish. The so-called ultimate team game is dominated by individuals. As are all our games.

You know the famous Michael Jordan response when he was told there is no “I” in team. “But,” he pointed out so accurately, “there is in win.”

Golf has been beholden to Tiger for a quarter-century. People who didn’t care much for golf still cared about Tiger. Or Serena in tennis. Or Brady in the NFL. Or Ronaldo in soccer. Or Justin Verlander in baseball.

Night and day, our games are on, mornings from the Premier League, evenings from some ballpark or tennis complex. Who’s going to bring us in? Who’s going to keep us there?

That’s a question pro golf faces essentially with the rebel LIV Tour challenging the established PGA Tour.

Go after the big names, pay them big bucks — though to Tiger’s credit, he turned down something like $700 million from the Saudi LIV group. The hope to create the excitement that will resonate when new TV contracts are decided.

Woods is very much a part of the action, as he should be. “His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf,” said McIlroy, who has a significant voice of his own, about Tiger.

The hero golf looked up to is in the process of stepping away. Yet, who knows what’s around the next field or diamond, or court or fairway.

Some 50 years ago, in what turned out to be his last column, the great Red Smith closed, “I told myself not to worry. Someday there will be another Joe DiMaggio.”

There hasn’t been, but there’s been a Hank Aaron. And a Roger Federer, a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods, a John Elway, a Joe Montana and so many others.

We await the greatness that was. The hero we can all look up to.