SF Examiner: Despite off-field issues, Big Ben back in big game

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It’s not as if nothing happened. The suspension was imposed, for a reason which if it doesn’t beg the truth is hardly specific.

Ben Roethlisberger missed the first month of the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Northern California native Aaron Rodgers is leader of the Pack

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

In the end, sport is about results, not possibilities. Sure, football, the 49ers and  the Green Bay Packers would have been different if San Francisco had drafted the man who as a kid always wanted to play in The City — Aaron Rodgers. But they did not, and in retrospect, Rodgers is better off, if indeed the Niners are not.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Madness From Another Media Day

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

ARLINGTON, Texas -- These spikes were not done by a wide receiver who had just scored. They were the four-inch heels of the reporter -- need it be pointed out a woman reporter? -- from some TV station as intent on getting herself noticed as she was getting the answer to a preposterous question.

Stilettos on artificial turf are about as nonsensical as on icy thoroughfares in Dallas, and if this is supposed to be a test case of the 2014 (brrr) New York game we are (chattering teeth) forewarned.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson jumping on second chance

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He was on the podium, talking about another time. Charles Woodson was with the Raiders then, in another Super Bowl. So was Rich Gannon, out of the game now, but standing a dozen yards away, working as a commentator for Sirius radio.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Marcus Allen Likes Packers, Steelers, Birdies

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Not a bad team, Marcus Allen and Eric Dickerson. Allen a Heisman Trophy winner, both Pro Football Hall of Famers. They could carry the ball. Now they are concerned with how the ball carries.

The subject is golf. They are partners in the Bob Hope Classic, that marathon event in the California desert, five days -- four for the amateurs such as Allen and Dickerson -- 90 holes, a $5 million purse for the pros.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011