San Francisco Chronicle Sports - Spoken Edition

St. Mary’s women fall on last-second shot by UC Davis’ Morgan Bertsch Dec 20, 2018

Morgan Bertsch hit a jumper with a second remaining Monday as host UC Davis edged St. Mary’s 76-74 on Monday night. The Gaels’ Emily Codding had hit a three-pointer with four seconds left to tie the game. Bertsch contributed a game-high 22 points for the Aggies (7-5). Nina Bessolo added 14. Madeline Holland paced the Gaels (5-4) with 17 points and Sydney Raggio had 16. Megan McKay had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

De La Salle tops 2018 Chronicle Top 25 football rankings Dec 19, 2018

Final 2018 Chronicle Top 25 football rankings RK Team Rec LW Comment 1. De La Salle 12-1 1 27th straight NCS title, just short at state 2. Liberty 13-1 2 No NCS title, but state 1-A champs 3. Menlo-Atherton 13-2 11 CCS D1 and state 3AA champions 4. Wilcox 14-1 6 State 3A champs, most wins in Bay Area 5. Valley Christian 11-3 7 CCS D2 champions overachieved 6. St. Francis 11-3 3 WCAL champs; 2 tough losses to finish 7. Clayton Valley 9-2 4 Hung with Liberty for a half 8.

McClymonds is a state football champion for 3rd year in a row Dec 18, 2018

OAKLAND — Michael Peters didn’t waste words. “A three-peat is hard,” the McClymonds football coach said after accepting the CIF 4-A Division State Bowl Championship trophy Saturday at Laney College. The journey may have been hard, but the Warriors made things look relatively easy on the field. After the McClymonds defense held Garfield-Los Angeles to 22 yards in the first half, the offense took over in the second half.

Raiders fans, twice abandoned, earn notorious honor Dec 17, 2018

Congratulations Raiders fans. It’s official now. You are the most screwed-over fan base in American sports. Oh, sure, others have vied for the title in the past. Baltimore had a pity party for a time. Cleveland felt abandoned. Same with Houston. Old-time New Yorkers still like to talk about when two of their baseball teams left. Seattle still would like an NBA team, thank you very much. But nobody has it as bad as Oakland Raiders fans. Screwed over by not one, but two generations of the same family.

A rare misfire for sharpshooting Stephen Curry this season Dec 14, 2018

It’s hard to know what to believe these days. The 1969 moon landing and walk? If Stephen Curry doesn’t believe it, can it be true? Look closely at those pictures, in the background you’ll see a Starbucks. Now I hear Kevin Durant believes the Warriors faked their visit to the Hamptons three summers ago. Curry and the fellas didn’t really fly cross-country to court K.D. Those were holograms created in one of team co-owner Peter Guber’s movie studios.

Raiders craft a day to remember in a season to forget Dec 13, 2018

Call it the Revenge of the Coliseum. Every Raiders game in Oakland feels like a wake these days, one final farewell to the memories and the moments that have filled Oakland Raiders history. With most of the recent ones being largely forgettable. For much of Sunday, it looked like Game 13 of the woeful 2018 season was also going to be just another ho-hum, losing affair. Until the Coliseum rose up and said: It shall not be so.

Everyone back on track Dec 12, 2018

The band was back together. Finally. On Monday, the Warriors were, at last, their complete selves. For the first time in five weeks. Draymond Green? Check. Stephen Curry? Yep. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson? Present and accounted for. “It’s good to get back to who we are,” Green said. Four All-Stars. On the floor together. The ones who went 8-8 when one or more were missing. And 10-1 when they all played together.

Oakland Raiders ponder an issue of respect for respective quarterbacks Dec 11, 2018

In the third quarter of Sunday’s Steelers -Raiders game, there was a sequence that seemed to reinforce everything that Oakland fans believe the league thinks about the two franchises, going all the way back to the Immaculate Reception in 1972: The Steelers get the breaks. The Raiders never do. On 3rd-and-19 from the 22, Derek Carr went back to pass but the ball slipped out of his hand. It looked to many like an incomplete pass, but was ruled a fumble, recovered by Pittsburgh.

U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to play at Levi’s in advance of World Cup Dec 10, 2018

Jill Ellis, the head coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, has made no secret of how much she enjoys her team’s appearances in the Bay Area. So, it’s no surprise that the U.S. team will make a local stop on its “Countdown to the Cup” tour in advance of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France as the team sets its sights on a fourth World Cup championship.

Without cycling commentator Paul Sherwen, summer won’t sound the same Dec 07, 2018

Summer is going to sound different. Over the weekend, beloved cycling commentator Paul Sherwen died at his home in Uganda at age 62. The cause is suspected to be heart failure. Sherwen, a former British cycling champion and Tour de France domestique, became well-known to American audiences for pairing with Phil Liggett to provide commentary on the Tour de France.

Meningitis threat scared team in March Dec 06, 2018

ATLANTA — Five months after the Warriors’ David West alluded to some unreported adversity that the team had encountered on its way to a second straight NBA title, the issue in question finally has been revealed. According to the Athletic’s Sam Amick, Golden State dealt with a team-wide meningitis scare in mid-March. The concern stemmed from an outside vendor who prepared the team’s food daily.

Luka Modric wins Ballon d’Or, ends reign of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo Dec 05, 2018

PARIS — Luka Modric ended the long reign of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by winning the Ballon d’Or for the first time Monday. Modric won the Champions League with Real Madrid and then guided Croatia to the World Cup final in July. The midfielder was voted player of the tournament. Messi and Ronaldo had won every Ballon d’Or since 2008, and usually competed with only each other for the greatest recognition among soccer’s elite. “As a kid, we all have dreams.

For Cal in the Big Game, it’s always ‘maybe next year’ Dec 04, 2018

There are times when a habit never grows old. Stanford’s football program knows the feeling. No matter how often the Cardinal beat Cal — and that’s nine straight wins after Saturday’s 23-13 victory — there’s an exhilarating freshness to carrying the Axe around the field. And it’s all the sweeter if it happens in Strawberry Canyon.

Big Game memories: 25 years later, Cal’s Lindsey Chapman recalls 4-TD day Dec 03, 2018

Two running backs share the Cal record for touchdowns in a Big Game with four. Chuck Muncie did it first, in the Bears’ 48-15 rout at Stanford Stadium in 1975. The following year, New Orleans selected Muncie with the third overall pick in the NFL draft. He wound up spending nine seasons in the NFL. The man who tied his Big Game mark, Lindsey Chapman, didn’t play a down in the NFL.

Klay Thompson’s love letter to Oakland Nov 30, 2018

The Warriors are on their longest road trip of the year. When they return to Oracle on Monday, Dec. 10, there will be only 28 regular season home games left to play at the junction of 880 and 66th Avenue. The sand is slipping through the hourglass. And while Chase Center will be dazzling, there’s no doubt that when the Warriors move something will have been lost forever. The fans know that. And, it seems, so do the players.

Now healthy, skier Ted Ligety tries to regain top form Nov 29, 2018

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. — His face showed little expression as he glided his way down the hill. This was serious business — no laughing, smiling or crying. With his two-time Olympic gold medalist father holding on, 17-month-old Jax Ligety took his first trek down the slope a few months ago. The look: pure determination. It’s a look Ted Ligety knows all too well. He’s that determined to return to the top. For years, Ligety has been plagued by knee and back issues.

DA Rosen ‘exploring’ legal options after Reuben Foster’s latest arrest Nov 28, 2018

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he is “exploring the legal options” after former 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster — who is on probation for a gun charge in the Bay Area — was again booked in jail over the weekend, this time in Tampa, Fla., on suspicion of a domestic violence.

Steph Curry is the Warriors unicorn in this fairy tale Nov 27, 2018

Kevin Durant might not believe in fairy tales. But his coach believes in unicorns. Huh? Bear with me - this is where we are with the Warriors. We’ve run out of basketball words to describe what the last four years have been like and what the next six months may require so now we’re using terms that come from children’s picture books.

Winning trainers Hollendorfer, Wong to collide in Berkeley Handicap Nov 26, 2018

Jerry Hollendorfer won training titles at 51 Golden Gate Fields meetings from 1986 to 2017. Jonathan Wong has won the past two and is well on his way to a third straight at the current fall season. The 72-year-old Hall of Famer and the 29-year-old upstart clash in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Berkeley Handicap in which Hollendorfer runs G. G. Ryder and Wong runs Gabo’s Macondo and Mithqaal. G. G.

Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson shows what money can buy — and what it can’t Nov 23, 2018

One enduring lesson in nearly 14 years covering golf for The Chronicle: Not much compares to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing alongside each other, especially in contention on Sundays. Their spirited, simultaneous charges electrified Augusta National in the final round of the 2009 Masters, even if they both ultimately faltered. Their pairing three years later at Pebble Beach, where Mickelson uncommonly crushed Woods in the final round, created similar buzz.

Warriors can learn from Showtime Lakers after Durant-Green meltdown Nov 22, 2018

Opportunity knocks. Before Monday night’s courtside meltdown between Draymond Green and Kevin Durant, the Warriors were on their way to making history by winning their fourth NBA title in five years, maybe on their way to a couple more titles after that. Big stuff. They figured to go down in history as phenomenal team, with an asterisk. (*So much talent that it was impossible to lose.

On Warriors’ ride and Raiders’ road Nov 21, 2018

All the news that fits the bottom of the birdcage ... •What the Warriors must do now is twist the narrative, so the so-called turmoil and discord is all in the minds of critics and haters, and the attackers only strengthen the Warriors’ team bond. Draymond Green is the perfect man to lead this counterattack. •This has been bothering me, and admittedly I’m not strong on payroll economics: The Raiders have three first-round draft picks. First-rounders get hefty contracts.

What you’ll get with Warriors’ hall pass Nov 20, 2018

What if every pro and college team in the Bay Area puts donation boxes at the entrances, giving every fan the chance to drop in $1 for fire relief? No way this would happen, but if the Raiders had the chance, how fast would they trade Derek Carr straight-up for JimmyGaroppolo? All anybody really wanted from Carr last week was a My Bad — a simple admission that he made a huge mistake by grounding a pass on that 4th-and-5 play late against the Chargers.

Could Draymond Green vs. Kevin Durant make the Warriors stronger? Nov 19, 2018

Draymond Green might have thrown his team into momentary crisis this week, but he also threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the league on Thursday after a team shoot-around in Houston. “If you’re one of those other 29 teams in the league you’ve got to beat us,” Green said in his first statement since being suspended for his argument with Kevin Durant. “We not going to beat us. We’re going to continue to do what we do.

A’s Bob Melvin showing how to be old-school in new age of baseball Nov 15, 2018

Sometime during the offseason, Bob Melvin might want to pop open a bottle of Sonoma Pinot Noir and invite his friend Bruce Bochy over for a glass. And for a nice long conversation about the brave new world of baseball managing. Because Melvin, a few years younger than Bochy but basically from the same generation, is proving that an “old school” manager can succeed in a “new school” baseball world. Exactly what Bochy will be asked to do next season.

Sacred Heart, 60 miles from home, forced to turn bus around Nov 14, 2018

Twenty minutes out of Morgan Hill and a couple of hours from game time, Sacred Heart Cathedral football coach Barry McLaughlin got the call. “Turn around the bus and come back,” SHC athletic director Phil Freed said. “Game has been postponed.” The 6 p.m. Central Coast Section Open Division 3 quarterfinal game at Live Oak was one of 33 playoff games in the Bay Area called off Monday because of poor air quality caused by the Camp Fire in Butte County.

Good news for A’s ballpark plans, but don’t pop the Champagne yet Nov 13, 2018

A’s third baseman Matt Chapman was honored as the best overall defensive player in the big leagues, with the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award. Because of the way he treats enemy batsmen, Chapman is The Unwelcome Matt. Full props to the Giants for hiring Farhan Zaidi as their new top front-office man. But it’s curious that Bruce Bochy was not consulted during the process. Bochy is a future Hall of Fame manager with major S.F. seniority.

Courageous 49ers cheerleader has my MVP vote Nov 12, 2018

It’s a little early to hand out the NFL MVP award, but you know what they say: Vote early and vote often. So I’m voting for Kayla Morris. Morris is a member of the 49ers’ Gold Rush dance team. When the Raiders played the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Thursday, the Gold Rush was on the field for the national anthem. Morris, first identified by KRON (Channel 4), took a knee. Will she be kicked off the squad, suspended, warned or reprimanded? That’s a mystery.

Future of Football: Readers respond Nov 09, 2018

In late October, The Chronicle published a six-part series examining The Future of Football. The premise was simple: Now that we know the sport can cause lasting brain damage, driving some to suicide, what are we going to do about it. A dedicated team of Chronicle journalists spent months digging into the subject. You can read the whole thing at www.sfchronicle.com/future-of-football. In a letter to Chronicle subscribers, I encouraged response.

South Carolina’s Will Muschamp not focused on elections Nov 08, 2018

Will Muschamp The South Carolina football coach might have authored the perfect definition of “one-track mind.” While most of the country was riveted to midterm-election results, Muschamp apparently was unaware that there was even an election Tuesday. According to Yahoo, when Muschamp was asked by a reporter what effort he had taken to teach his players — many of whom could vote for the first time this year — about voting, he had no response.

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