San Francisco Chronicle Sports - Spoken Edition

The U.S. Olympic Committee is moving to revoke USA Gymnastics’ status as the governing body for the sport at the Olympic level, meting out the nuclear option to an organization that has botched its own reorganization in the wake of a sex-abuse scandal involving former team doctor Larry Nassar.

The happy-feet Raiders are nearing the end of their most recent stay in Oakland, and who is to blame for owner Mark Davis moving his team to Las Vegas? Not Oakland, says Mayor Libby Schaaf. I had a recent phone conversation with Schaaf, who is up for re-election Tuesday and is considered the favorite. The interview was regarding the A’s and their search for a site for a new ballpark in Oakland.

The Golden State Warriors must pay off the estimated $40 million in remaining debt incurred by Oakland and Alameda County for renovations to Oracle Arena, an arbitrator has ruled. A 1996 demolition and redesign of the arena’s interior cost about $150 million, to be paid over a 30-year period. Since then, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority has collected an annual payment from the basketball team of $7.4 million to help pay off the debt.

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are transcendent players, with MVP trophies on their mantles and the skill and bravado to singularly take command of games. But the Warriors are a transcendent team when Klay Thompson climbs into his catch-and-shoot groove. Thompson epitomizes how Golden State became an NBA powerhouse — movement without the ball, unselfishness, togetherness. He could be the leading man on countless teams, but he happily embraces his role as third wheel on a dynasty.

Tracking Hank Greenwald’s broadcasting career is a bit like trying to identify every song ever performed by Bob Dylan. There’s a new discovery around every corner. Greenwald, who died at 83 on Monday, covered Syracuse football during the heyday of Ernie Davis, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka. He was the voice of USF basketball for a spell in the 1970s. He once hosted a weekly 49ers television show, appearing one night in a helmet so comically large, it came down over his shoulders.

What was the message Stephen Curry delivered to fans during the most recent home game, when he strolled alone into the spotlight? After he hit a 31-foot jumper late in the third quarter against the Wizards, the visitors called time out and Curry sauntered to the midcourt circle, flapping his arms up and down. The noise had already reached classic Oracle-din level, but Curry wanted more.

About 30 former Miramonte male basketball players, ages 30 to 50, showed up for open gym at their alma mater in Orinda on Friday night. They weren’t there to play hunch or relive glory days. Instead, they ran the Olympic drill, three-man weaves and the famed Miramonte muscle layup line.

Schedule: Thursday through Sunday Post time: 12:45 p.m. Feature race: $75,000 Pike Place Dancer Stakes Update: Lakerball, who won the $100,345 Surfer Girl Stakes in a 33-1 upset Oct. 8 at Santa Anita, ships north for the Pike Place Dancer Stakes. The 1-mile grass race for 2-year-old fillies also drew Stealthdiamonds, who has two wins and a second in three sprints. Tomlin also has two wins in three sprints and beat Stealthdiamonds in that horse’s debut.

The coming months have historic potential for women’s surfing. A major obstacle has been cleared, and there’s a sense of freedom that never existed before. Such is the everlasting shine of equality. When the World Surf League announced in September that equal prize money will be awarded to men and women in the upcoming Mavericks contest, it wasn’t just a triumph in the big-wave realm.

The U.S. women’s soccer team will head to France next summer, carrying the heavy mantle of American soccer. All our country’s soccer hope and pride will rest on the shoulders of the 23 players that coach Jill Ellis selects for her roster. Unlike the embarrassing disappointment of their male counterparts a year ago, the American women qualified this month for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in dominating, efficient and cut-throat fashion.

Johnny Miller’s long, incomparable run as golf’s signature voice on television traces directly to his upbringing in San Francisco. Miller, who announced his retirement Tuesday, recalled playing with his buddies at the Olympic Club as a teenager. They good naturedly gave him grief, so he gave it right back to them. This friendly verbal sparring shaped Miller as he embarked on what would become a Hall-of-Fame playing career.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — This was all set up for C.J. Beathard. He played splendidly in the first half, matching artistic spirals and gaudy numbers with Aaron Rodgers. Even as the 49ers nursed their lead into the fourth quarter, Beathard avoided those deflating mistakes he made the previous two weeks, after he replaced Jimmy Garoppolo. And then he fluttered one regrettable pass downfield. Interception. Rodgers suddenly had the ball back, with 1:07 left and the game tied at 30-30.

It’s getting to be a ritual among Warriors fans and anyone familiar with NBA history: Forget what’s happening at the moment and play the mythical game. Among all the great teams of the past, who could take down Golden State? With a single criterion — bring those teams right into the present, playing modern rules — Bob Ryan believes it’s a lock.

After Raiders’ losses, team owner Mark Davis fumes and mopes and sometimes boils over. He has been known to berate assistant coaches on plane flights home, and to fire head coaches after games in midseason. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Who wants a team owner who is a happy loser? Surely you would expect disappointment after Sunday’s 27-3 megaloss to the Seahawks in London. But at some point Davis is going to have to start owning better.

In today’s episode of “Not the Warriors,” we bring you Jimmy Butler and the Minnesota Timbersolves, a case study in how to wreck an NBA team.