San Francisco Chronicle Sports - Spoken Edition

If comedy relief is needed in the first-round series between the Warriors and Spurs, Nick Kerr figures to be the go-to guy, even though he won’t say anything and will be in the background. Nick Kerr is the oldest son of Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr. Nick is a first-year member of the Spurs’ coaching staff, a video assistant. Last year, after being a walk-on player for Cal, he served as a Cal coaching intern.

It’s funny talking to the Warriors’ various superstars. They all bring a little something different to the press conference. Stephen Curry is an engaging guy, but speaks in a direct, serious fashion. He’s used to being the face of the franchise and he carries it well. Klay Thompson clearly hates the whole thing, oftentimes staring at the ground as he mumbles quietly. A fifth-grader forced to attend church comes to mind.

Burning questions while we wait to find out whether that was the real Warriors we saw breezing to a win Saturday in Game 1 of the playoffs. ... •Game 1 against the Spurs might have been the Warriors’ most impressive performance of the season. When Stephen Curry returns, will he be able to make this team? That’s the stupidest question I’ve ever asked myself. Of course, he’ll make the squad.

As the Golden State Warriors prepare to wade into the playoffs and defend their NBA championship, they find themselves enveloped in an unfamiliar cloud of drama, doubt and anxiety. What the Warriors need to do right now is to take a long walk in the woods with Rocco the bulldog — Klay Thompson’s best pal, spirit animal and furry chill-pill.

In July, while the Giants are playing the A’s at the Coliseum the weekend after the All-Star break, their own ballpark will be packed. From July 20 through July 22, AT&T Park will be the site of the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the first rugby world cup event to be hosted in the United States. More than 100,000 fans are expected to fill the stadium during the three-day tournament.

The Warriors’ regular-season work is done, and it was a bumbling mess. Just two seasons after their record-breaking, 73-win masterpiece, they’re entering the playoffs as a team that has become strangely accustomed to losing. If that sounds a bit extreme, point well taken.

•My launch angle is up but my velo is down. To sort it out, I’ll have a convo with my bobos, in hopes of decreasing my career exit speed.•Go figure: Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid are unemployed because they took a knee. Marshawn Lynch is back with the Raiders, even though he sits on the bench during the national anthem. Maybe Lynch is protected by a magnetic force field created by Gatorade jugs.

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Babe Ruths come along only once each century, and it remains to be seen if the 21st century Babe is anything more than a mere shadow of the 20th century Bambino. A Shambino?The Original Babe is a tough act to follow, even a century later.Shohei Ohtani is off to a good start. The Angels’ potentially marvelous pitcher/hitter from Japan made his big-league pitching debut Sunday, in the warm sunshine at the Coliseum.

They are the Giants’ odd couple, Johnny Cueto and Pablo Sandoval.They both play with a unique style and flair, they’re both in full comeback mode, they’re both with the Giants basically because they weren’t wanted elsewhere, and if the Giants are going anywhere this season, these two men are going to have to be big contributors.Cueto will have to lead an otherwise anonymous pitching staff, at least until two injured starters get back to action.

Fans were stuffed with hot dogs and optimism on baseball’s opening day Thursday at the Oakland Coliseum, where barbecue, beer and good cheer washed away doubts about the beleaguered team and its stadium problems.The parking lot was a rollicking party scene well before the 1:05 p.m. start time against the Los Angeles Angels, an American League Western Division rival that also went into the game undefeated — a situation that was both ephemeral and worth celebrating while it lasted.

I’ve got time for a few questions. Fire.•Have the A’s abandoned Howard Terminal as a potential ballpark site, after their recent meeting with the Schnitzer Steel people, who explained that the company does its steel pounding at night, so there would be a constant, earsplitting din right next door to a ballpark?On the contrary, that makes the site more attractive.

Karim Mayfield has a lot on his mind these days.San Francisco’s homegrown welterweight has a big fight coming up on Saturday. Not only is he boxing, but he’s also promoting the six-bout card. And it’s all happening on Nob Hill, in the first-ever fight night at the Fairmont Hotel.The 37-year-old boxer, one of the best this city has ever produced, also has four kids at home with his high school sweetheart turned wife of 12 years.

Quinn Cook is one of those guys, when he moves into your neighborhood, he knocks on your door and introduces himself, he doesn’t wait for you to drop by and say hi.Cook is moving into the NBA, just renting now but hoping to buy. And for him, part of the deal is getting to know folks.Before games, Cook finds out the names of that night’s refs, then introduces himself.

LOS ANGELES — Austin Jackson, the Giants’ new center fielder, stood by his spring-training locker and smiled at the thought of stepping into the right-handed batter’s box at Dodger Stadium and seeing the season’s first pitch from Clayton Kershaw on Thursday.“It’s a special moment in baseball,” Jackson said. “You always cherish those Opening Days. You’re playing a team in your division and you’ve got two great pitchers.