As I anxiously awaited Pete Sampras’ first serve, he bounced the ball, looked up at me and laughed so hard he almost fell over. The 14 time Grand Slam champ may have been out there for hits and giggles, but I was serious about Monday’s Hit with the Pros doubles mini-match at HP Pavilion.
Sampras, who had just lost a beautifully played SAP Open exhibition with Gael Monfils, was teamed with KGO Radio contest winner Ryan Sablan, a 27-year-old, 5.0 USTA-rated player from Martinez.
Read More
The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl despite losing star receiver Donald Driver (high ankle sprain) and cornerback Charles Woodson (broken collarbone) in the first half.This was nothing new to the Packers, who lost 16 players, including six starters, to injured reserve during the season. Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers had two concussions during the season.
Read More
Bumbling Christina Aguilera forgot the words to the national anthem, the bumbling NFL forgot to make sure all the people who had tickets had seats, and the bumbling Pittsburgh Steelers forgot what to do with the football, which is not turn it over.
Cobble together those errors, and the Green Bay Packers found themselves with an exquisite ending to Super Bowl XLV, a Sunday evening that — even filled with mistakes — couldn’t have been more perfect for the Pack.
Read More
Christina Aguilera started the game with an embarrassing mistake, and as it turns out, the pop tart would’ve looked pretty good in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey.
The Green Bay Packers are the champions of the NFL right now thanks in equal parts to the mastery of Aaron Rodgers in carving up a weak set of Steelers cornerbacks and to a series of Pittbsurgh gaffes not seen in a Super Bowl since Neil O’Donnell helped Larry Brown steal $12.5 million of Al Davis’ money.
Rodgers was the clear choice as the MVP of Super Bowl XLV, after completing 24 of
Read More
Enough already about this Aaron Rodgers-Alex Smith-oh-what-could’ve been debate.
There’s just as good a chance the 49ers would’ve ruined Rodgers just like they’ve damaged Smith. Six years of offensive coordinator musical chairs. The pressure to win games the 49ers had no chance to win.
Who’s to say how it would have unfolded for Rodgers?
Read More
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.
Here he is, Aaron Rodgers, the kid from Chico, the kid from Cal, the kid who became a man and will quarterback the Pack in Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.
Read More
Cal football coach Jeff Tedford has been making sweeping changes in his coaching staff, trying to rebound from his first losing season with the Bears.
Not all of the departures have been announced as firings, but you can be certain that those who have left voluntarily did so because they were encouraged to do so by Tedford.
The most significant moves are probably the departure of offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and offensive line coach Steve Marshall.
Read More
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.
Good times for a team which suddenly went bad, a team which since that appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII eight years ago, hasn’t had a wining season. Memories revived once more with the presence of two stars.
Read More
The Super Bowl’s most compelling storyline is the contrasting worlds of Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger. The squeaky-clean Packers quarterback calls the Bible his favorite book and leads the team in pregame prayers. Roethlisberger was nearly dropped by the Steelers following accusations of sexual assault on a 20-year-old college student at a Georgia nightclub last spring.
Read More
If the 49ers want to become serious playoff contenders again, they’d do well to study the teams in the Super Bowl. For different reasons, they illustrate how organizations build champions.
With the Green Bay Packers, it was a combination of good decisions and courageous ones.
The first decision was to hire Mike McCarthy as coach. Packers general manager Ted Thompson liked the work McCarthy had done in helping develop top quarterbacks, including Brett Favre during a stint as the Packers’ QB coach, and made a good decision.
Read More
URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/archive/17571/17571?page=46&quicktabs_1=0
