SF Examiner: Patriots' Tom Brady was almost a San Francisco 49er

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

INDIANAPOLIS — It could be better for Tom Brady. He could be playing for the 49ers, his team when he was a kid. Such a Niners fan.

“I’d run around the parking lot at Candlestick in my Joe Montana jersey or Steve Young jersey,” Brady said. “Throwing the ball. There were some great times.”

These aren’t bad times. On Sunday, for a fifth time...

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Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Raiders Not Equal of Patriots Yet

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. — Team efficiency showed up again. One game's mistakes for the New England Patriots became the next game's corrections, the way the Oakland Raiders became the Pats' victims Sunday.

And, no, the balance of power in the NFL is not about to change.

Whatever this matchup proved...

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© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Guaranteed: There Will Be an NFL Season

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

So that's settled. There will be an NFL season. Guaranteed.

What, you were worried, unhinged by the rhetoric? It's going the way it was supposed to go, to the 11th hour, to the edge. A long-ago Secretary of State named John Foster Dulles described the tactic as brinksmanship.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Favre Leaves Us Grasping for Perspective

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Steve Young, as always, made the intelligent assessment. How, asked Young, a Hall of Fame quarterback himself, do we use the word "perspective" when analyzing what Brett Favre has accomplished?

"People ask me to put this in perspective,'' Young said on ESPN, talking about the end of Favre's consecutive starts streak at 297. "But there's no perspective. This is uncharted territory.''

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Pebble Beach - Sports Merged with Circus

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

PEBBLE BEACH -- No, Tiger Woods is not here. Next question.

How about something dealing with Tom Brady's wedge game? Or Tony Romo's tee shots? Or Bill Murray's putting?

This is the other side of golf, not exactly the Twilight Zone but then again not too far away.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010