will they huddle again?


Oct 2, 2011 - In-. Today's game. Patriots (2-1) at Raiders. (2-1), 1:15 p.m.. CBS. Online extra. Join our chat during the game, starting at 12:30 p.m...

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VALLEY FINAL 103

OCTOBER 2, 2011

COMPETING WITH CHINA

THE QUARTERBACK GURU AND HIS PROTEGE

Solar WILL THEY HUDDLE AGAIN? down, not out in U.S. Since he was 15, the Patriots’ Tom Brady has relied on a coach and mentor from the Peninsula to fix what ails him; now, that coach is fighting a life-and-death battle.

Solyndra failed and other firms might follow, but Silicon Valley innovation remains full of power By John Boudreau [email protected]

JIM ROGASH/GETTY IMAGES

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and San Mateo coach Tom Martinez have a bond that spans 20 years.

Health problems might keep NFL star’s teacher off sidelines at today’s game against Raiders

COACH ALWAYS ON CALL See SOLAR, Page 12

THE SOLAR DILEMMA Though China claims three-fifths of the world’s solar panel production capacity, Silicon Valley’s investment in innovation might allow it to compete long term.

By Daniel Brown [email protected]

They call Tom Martinez a mechanic, which is funny because he knows nothing about engines. He knows quarterbacks. And when a panicked Tom Brady summoned him last month, Martinez was aghast at what he found. “Boy, he was a car that wasn’t running well,” he said. It is a pattern that spans two decades: Tom Brady frets, Tom Martinez fixes. The bond stretches to 1992, when Brady was a junior varsity quarterback at Serra High in San Mateo. It has only strengthened during the quarterback’s four trips to the Super Bowl, 12 Hall of Fame caliber seasons and one unprecedented hot streak heading into Sunday’s game between Brady’s New England Patriots and the Raiders. But Martinez’s failing health may keep him from the O.co Coliseum sidelines in Oakland this weekend. And the mentor and his protege fear they are running out of ways to stop the clock. In June, doctors gave Martinez a week to live. Complications from diabetes and a failSee COACH, Page 9

SHANGHAI — The recent high-profile implosion of Fremont-based Solyndra and two other American solar panel manufacturers can be traced to sprawling cities in China, where low-cost manufacturers have come to dominate the global industry by pushing down the price of solar panels to a point where most U.S. companies can’t compete. China now claims three-fifths of the world’s solar panel production capacity. Chinese solar panel manufacturers such as JA Solar, now the world’s largest, say companies from Silicon Valley and elsewhere blundered by betting on new technologies instead of focusing on making panels cheaper to produce. “It’s not a pure technology business,” said JA Solar CEO Peng Fang, whose workforce grew from 4,000 to 12,000 last year. “If you invest in it as technology first and (cost reduction) second, you miss it. You need to reverse that.” But some industry experts disagree. They say the failure of some U.S. solar panel manufacturers — with more collapses likely to follow as panel prices continue to fall — does not mean the sun has set on Silicon Valley’s solar ambitions. Ultimately, they say, breakthrough technology from Silicon Valley and elsewhere will be needed to drive the solar industry

COURTESY OF TOM MARTINEZ

Brady, seen with Martinez in July, says he often refers to the coach’s notes.

“Whenever things don’t feel right out there — sometimes you get in little funks — I’ll talk to coach Martinez. Usually, we’ll figure out pretty quickly the one or two keys that can get me back on the right track.” — Tom Brady, Patriots quarterback

‘The Fixer’ Martinez has defied his “week-to-live” prognosis for months and kept coaching. He says his proteges keep him going.

Advantage, China By focusing on low-cost manufacturing, Chinese companies slashed the price of solar panels by 50 percent or more.

Advantage, U.S. Silicon Valley companies are developing new technology that will be needed to drive the solar industry forward.

Online extra: Read expanded coverage of the solar industry at www.mercurynews.com/green-energy.

Today’s game Patriots (2-1) at Raiders (2-1), 1:15 p.m. CBS Online extra Join our chat during the game, starting at 12:30 p.m. LIPO CHING/STAFF

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Intel innovator fights for medical shift

The winners are in for our 2011 Picture Our World travel photo contest. Find the judges’ picks in today’s Travel and the best of the rest at www.mercurynews.com/travel. PAGE H1

Former tech chief, suffering from Parkinson’s, is challenging the pace of disease research By Lisa M. Krieger [email protected]

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TODAY’S WEATHER Partly cloudy H: 70-79 L: 49-54 PAGE B8

See GROVE, Page 12

Andy Grove has committed $30 million to medical research since 2005 and fights for changes in the system.

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Andy Grove led Intel to spectacular success by developing a newer, faster and better product every year. If only medicines could be developed with the same kind of urgency and efficiency that spawned the computer revolution. That is Grove’s dream. A Silicon Valley pioneer-turned-medical activist, Grove, 75, is afflicted with

Parkinson’s disease. His worsening tremors fuel an impatience, offering daily reminders of the need to speed innovation into fatal neurodegenerative conditions. “Maybe I’m a Don Quixote,” Grove said in a rare interview about his crusade to spur more progress in an industry that every year spends more than $50 billion on research and development yet produces merely 20 new drugs. “I’m just trying to figure out some-

thing and move the ball. “Manage science like a business project,” he groused from his office in Los Altos, restless with the arrhythmic dance of dyskinesia. “We do this all the time in industry.” The man who helped usher in the age of personal computing knows that time is short. His disease not only stiffens the gait, but can rob the memory and muffle the voice. So he has committed $30 million to medical research since 2005. But he doesn’t just dole out money and hope for the best. In-

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JA Solar workers examine a module at the firm’s production facility in Fengxian, China.