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Byline: Mark Purdy PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. _ David Duval left the scoring trailer Thursday after shooting another hideous round of golf. "Got a minute, David?" asked a reporter. "No," Duval […]

Byline: Mark Purdy JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ Right to the last moment of his last great football achievement, it was no easy time for Steve Young. Saturday morning, he was summoned […]

Byline: Mark Purdy JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ He is going to play. We must face that despicable prospect. Terrell Owens will play in the Super Bowl on Sunday. He will play […]

Byline: Mark Purdy JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ Steve Young doesn't want to get ahead of himself. But, you know, a man does think about these things. That is, if the man […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Was it really a mere two years ago? Yes. Just two years ago this week, the Oakland Raiders played in Super Bowl XXXVII. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Barry Bonds, take a bow. Once more, it's all about you. When baseball officials mail out their new drug policy to players, a […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The last time I saw Pete Carroll, he was Tommy Tune in coaching gear. Carroll was practically skipping down a corridor beneath Pro […]

Byline: Mark Purdy FOXBORO, Mass. _ Give the San Francisco 49ers credit for consistency. Sunday, here at Gillette Stadium, a biting wet breeze made the temperature feel like 27 degrees. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Dennis Erickson is gone. After the season, the 49ers will dump him faster than the Desperate Housewives drop their towels. Right? One guy […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The Raiders are the Bay Area's luckiest professional sports team. They have been almost totally off the radar while playing almost totally inferior […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The Oakland A's fans have been there and done that, bought the green T-shirts, and heard the excuses. When they get angry and […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ In the culture of 21st Century Baseball, the operative initials have been: WWBD. What Would Billy Do? Such is the respect _ and […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Do not fret, lovers of baseball and flaxseed oil. The BALCO scandal will not kill our national pastime and/or the nutritional goo industry. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ So it has finally happened. The smoldering fumes of steroid smoke have burst into flames around Barry Bonds. According to his own grand-jury […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ A little more than a year ago, on a cold November morning, Tyrone Willingham and I sat in his office at Notre Dame. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ A toast to Rick Perez. Not everyone would show up for a 9:02 a.m. football game _ or an 8 a.m. tailgate. "It's […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ So you think the 49ers are getting slammed pretty good by their fans right now? Hah! Never forget the old saying: Those who […]

Byline: Mark Purdy CHICAGO _ With the San Francisco 49ers this season, you take your entertainment any way you can get it. Sunday night, the entertainment included two field goals […]

Byline: Mark Purdy OAKLAND, Calif. _ So it has come to this for Kerry Collins, the besieged Raiders quarterback: He now wants the team's fans to boo him as much […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The baseball playoffs go on. So does the steroid postseason. There were two developments last week. Neither was laughable. Ken Caminiti, who won […]

Byline: Mark Purdy INDIANAPOLIS _ Kerry Collins muttered an obscenity. "Sorry about my language," he said. No apologies necessary. At least about the language. But his quarterbacking? If Collins had […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SOUTH BEND, Ind. _ Stanford's players left the field. Their bitterness did not. No. The ire remained out there near the 50-yard line of Notre Dame Stadium, […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Know the problem with Fantasy Leagues? There's not enough fantasy in them. I discovered this dreary truth several years ago. I was lured […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Many years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I sent a postcard to a radio station, entering a contest for tickets to a […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ For the first time since 1977, the 49ers were pointless. And the Seahawks knew. Damn right they knew. And they relished destroying the last piece […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The absurdity was stamped and certified Wednesday. The National Hockey League decided to commit suicide, either temporarily or permanently. And as we all […]

Byline: Mark Purdy At every major league ballpark, it's pretty standard. The spectators' chairs are bolted to the concrete. The bullpen chairs aren't. Who knew it should be the reverse? […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS, Greece _ My last day in town. One more place I needed to see. That's the tough thing about working the Olympics. If you spend 17 […]

Byline: Mark Purdy PERISTERI, Greece _ One ugly eye, one beautiful medal. That's a pretty good tradeoff. And it wasn't even Andre Ward's most impressive accomplishment. Andre Ward won Olympic […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ We're No. 3! We're No. 3! We're No. 3! Be happy. This could have been much worse. The U.S. men's basketball team could have failed […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Don't cry for me, Allen Iverson. Also, don't tell me _ and us _ something that we already know. After the U.S. men's basketball team […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Let me get this straight. After almost two peaceful Olympic weeks, the United States suddenly has a fierce and heated international confrontation that includes a […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ I followed your orders. Obeyed your instructions. It was agonizing. But I faced down my worst Olympic fear: Synchronized swimming. Other people flinch and recoil […]

Byline: Mark Purdy PERISTERI, Greece _ A man walks into an arena. He knows there will be boos. Rowdy boos. Nasty boos. The Greek crowds are treating every American boxer […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Gymnastics never learns. No surprise. Gymnastics is the spoiled brat of the Olympics, because gymnastics gets the big television ratings. So nobody ever tells the […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Ask me the most heartwarming thing I have seen at these Olympics, and I will answer in the negative. I have seen no terrorist attacks. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Kerri Walsh was probably violating several Olympic security regulations, the ones about athletes mixing with unknown civilians in public places. As if she cared. "This […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS - At the Olympics, they say, there are no real losers. Except that here, in 2004, it is just the opposite. There are no real winners. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ For a nation in need of strong therapy after a week of drug scandals, Pyrros Dimas was just what the clean-and-jerk ordered Saturday night. Dimas […]

Byline: Mark Purdy Gary Hall Jr. stepped onto the pool deck dressed like Rocky Balboa, in a glorious star-spangled robe and boxing trunks. Then he threw a swift right hook […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ It was a night for the somersault ages. Carly Patterson turned herself upside down about a jillion times, and then turned the gymnastics world into […]

Byline: Mark Purdy OLYMPIA, Greece _ I believe it was the famous ancient Greek announcer Harryus Carryitius who first uttered the classic phrase: Fans, you just can't beat fun at […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ No question about it. The last few days, there were serious doubts about Athens as a sports town. The signs were all bad. There were […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Tuesday night, the United States men's basketball team tries to shake off the Olympic stink. Don't be stunned if the odor expands. This could get […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ The scars on both his shoulders told much of Blaine Wilson's saga. The silver medal around his neck Monday night told how the saga ended. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Marion Jones threw off the yoke of her media oppressors Thursday night. She made certain she was not going to pitch an Olympic shutout. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Another day, another tetrahydrogesterinone whispering festival. Yes, here at the Olympic trials, we're pretty much all steroid gossip, all the time. Track and field […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ There was a time when many of us believed the All-Star Game was the coolest event of the summer. There was a time […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The San Jose Sharks should have just stayed in Calgary. They should have just forfeited Monday night's game. It would have saved everyone […]

Byline: Mark Purdy CALGARY, Alberta _ All right, so they like hockey in Calgary. They really, really, really, really like hockey. When the Sharks took the ice Thursday night, they […]