Daily Republic
Romain Grosjean escapes explosion, fiery F1 crash with minor injuries B8 Monday, November 30, 2020 SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926
College basketball should hit pause button before it ends up in mess like college football Nick Canepa
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Carr
Carr views loss from bench
T
he body of college basketball, buried half-alive by Covid in March, was exhumed last week. It has begun its new life in semi-earnest. It may end as it did in 2020, with a viral thud, again on the medical examiner’s table. Those in sports have done their best to dribble around this damn thing, to block and tackle it, to launch angle and exit-velo it with about as much
Commentary success as can or could be expected. But like everything else, we are rushing into it, desperate to get games made as money pours without a handy tourniquet from sports bodies, college and pro. This virus isn’t an unruly child you simply can ground for a week without a smartphone. Until there’s a vaccine we know works – and it appears to
be coming soon – the sports world is a huge casino, one crap table after the other. We have been impatient with it and quite often incredibly stupid and uncaring. The virus has no feelings or sense of hearing. At this point in Covid Time, I agree with Rick Pitino. Not for his sexual appetite in Italian restaurants, but how he sees the season. Now basketball coach at Iona, Rick has looked at it closely and would like it
further away. “Move the start back,” one of the all-time coaches tweeted last week. “Play league schedule and have May Madness. Spiking and protocols make it impossible to play right now.” Pitino’s team already has had a two-week shutdown because of Covid-19, and others have followed. His Gaels’ first four games already have been postponed or canceled. See College, Page B8
Curtis Pashelka Mercury News
ATLANTA —After he had fumbled for the third time Sunday, and well after he had thrown an interception that was returned for a touchdown, quarterback Derek Carr just stood on the Raiders sideline and shook his head in disbelief. “I haven’t felt this way in a while,” Carr said. “It’s a gutpunch for sure.” After a near-flawless performance last week at home against the Kansas City Chiefs, Carr and the Raiders’ offense fell flat in what became a 43-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Carr completed 22 of 34 passes for 215 yards, but was sacked five times and also had a career-worst four giveaways that resulted in 20 points for the Falcons. Carr fumbled three times – two of which were the result of Falcons pressure coming off the edge – and also threw an interception early in the third quarter to Deion Jones, who returned for a touchdown to give Atlanta a 23-3 lead. It was the first time a Raiders quarterback had at least four giveaways in one game since Matt McGloin had five against the Kansas City Chiefs in Dec. 2013. Following his third fumble with 12:13 to go in the fourth quarter when he was sacked by Steven Means at the Raiders’ 36-yard line, Carr was replaced by Nathan Peterman, and was left on the sidelines to ponder what went wrong. “This is a tough business and he’s been through a lot, and he’ll be fine,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said of Carr. “We’ve just got to regroup. We’ve got to get on the plane and we’ve got to get ready for the next one.” Carr now has eight fumbles this season. “Any time I can see the guy, I try my best to get two hands on the ball and I should have took that ball to my chest,” Carr said, adding on two of the fumbles, including the one caused by Tuioti-Mariner, “I’ve got to get the ball out quicker. It’s definitely not my line’s fault, they’ve been doing a heck of a job. I’ve got to do a better job of stepping up and making my read.” “Carr never found a rhythm against the Falcons.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS
Rams Jared Goff tries to pick himself up in front of 49ers defensive lineman Kevin Givens after throwing an interception for a touchdown
in the 3rd quarter at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Sunday. The 49ers defeated the Rams on a last-second field goal.
Defensive takeaways, Deebo Samuel power Niners to critical road win
Cam Inman The Mercury News
If this was the 49ers’ swan song in California for the season, they went out in victorious fashion, rallying for a 23-20 upset Sunday over the host Los Angeles Rams. Robbie Gould’s 42-yard field goal won it as time expired, only after Kyle Juszczyk converted on a fourth-and-1 run and Deebo Samuel capped his 134-yard receiving day with key catches on the winning drive. It was only the 49ers’ fifth
win in 11 games. Most pertinent, it was their fourth on the road, which is where they’ll likely remain through December for a daunting playoff chase. A day earlier, Santa Clara County announced a sports ban that prevents the 49ers from hosting games and even practices because of Covid-19 precautions. The 49ers and NFL have yet to announce relocation plans, which could lead to refuge at the Arizona Cardinals’ or Dallas Cowboys’ stadiums. Coach Kyle Shanahan said
he’s “not sure” where the 49ers go from here, but he expressed extreme discontent about the county springing its ban on them Saturday just before they flew to Los Angeles. “You guys want to know the answers, so do our wives and everyone that knows us,” Shanahan said. Defense undoubtedly keyed Sunday’s road win. Jimmie Ward forced two fumbles, Richard Sherman made a firstquarter interception in his long-awaited comeback and rookie Javon Kinlaw swiftly returned an interception for a
touchdown and 14-3 lead just after halftime. Running back Raheem Mostert (touchdown run) and Samuel made impressive returns after multi-game absences, helping offset Nick Mullens’ mixed day throwing the ball in his fourth start in place of Jimmy Garoppolo. Mullens’ moxie came through in the fourth quarter, however, as he led a drive to put the 49ers in position for Gould’s winning kick. See Niners, Page B8
MLB players face a bleak winter as reality of pandemic revenue losses set in By Bill Madden
New York Daily News
B David Santiago/Miami Herald/TNS file
Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto drives in a run against the Miami Marlins, Sept. 10, at Marlins Park in Miami.
aseball’s version of “bargains galore” black Friday will arrive this Wednesday – or to paraphrase Marie Antoinette: After Dec. 2, le deluge, as in the deluge of players being non-tendered by their clubs, opening up potentially the most populated freeagent market ever. Nobody would be more delighted with this develop-
Commentary ment than Charlie Finley, the maverick owner of the Oakland A’s who, when free agency was in its infancy in the mid-’70s, made a proposal to his fellow owners to limit all the players to one-year contracts and make everyone free agents every year. Aghast, the baseball lords laughed at Finley, much to the relief of Players Association executive
director Marvin Miller, who had to explain to his players that universal free agency was really a bad thing; that a flooded market would destroy the concept of supply and demand and salaries would actually decrease. But this is only one reason why the players are facing a potentially lean offseason in which nobody has any idea what the owners’ revenues are going to be, or when the 2021 season is even going to begin, and with how many
games. The only thing that appears certain is that, with a few exceptions, long-term (3 or more years) megabucks contracts aren’t going to be in the offing this winter. And at the end of the day, when the music stops, a lot of non-tendered veteran players, in the $2-$8 million range, are going to be left without a chair as clubs seek to replace them with minimum-salary players from See MLB, Page B8
