It was not too long ago that we all viewed Maharg with the greatest of respect.  He had the perfect NAILED IT! timing and always knew the funniest lines to say.  He access to the Oh, Snap chart was truly legendary. 

But now, he has devolved into little more than a CGB tagline proposing machine.  So, that's why we've gathered all of his friends together.  Brought his loved ones here to help him understand that he has a problem.  There is something keeping him from realizing his CGB potential.  That thing?

Work.

My theory is that he has to work now and doesnt have much time.  So, all he can do is the same lame CGB Tagline joke OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again.  You need to admit you have a problem, The Maharg.  That's the first step to success!

And quit your job.  It's just getting in the way of being the absolute wittiest you can be.  We know you can do this.  We believe in you.  But this whole working (and 2 jobs at that!), not acceptable.  That's why we are all here. 

Stop.  You have a problem.

4 Cal players named to All-Academic team:

BERKELEY - Four California Golden Bears - center Alex Mack, fullback Zach Smith, offensive guard Mark Boskovich and linebacker Mike Mohamed - have been named to the Pac-10 All-Academic first team, the conference office announced Tuesday. In addition, offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz and fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou were chosen honorable mention.

With four selections, Cal tied with Oregon State for most players on the first team.

Mack, a two-time first-team choice, earned his bachelor's degree in legal studies last May and is competing this fall as a graduate student in education. Also named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete earlier this year, Mack is a finalist for the Draddy Award, which goes to the top football student-athlete in the country and will be announced Dec. 9 in New York. In addition, Mack is a finalist for the Lowes Senior CLASS Award for academic and athletic excellence.

Smith, likewise, is in graduate school at Cal, pursuing a master's degree in a special program focusing on athletes and academic achievement. He previously earned his bachelor's degree from Duke before transferring.

Services planned for Pete Newell:

BERKELEY - The family of former Cal basketball coach Pete Newell has announced plans for his funeral, and two additional ceremonies honoring the Hall of Famer have been scheduled - one in Berkeley and one in Los Angeles.

A funeral mass was held on Monday, Nov. 24 at the Church of Nativity at 6309 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe.

The first of two events celebrating Newell's life will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the Pauley Ballroom on the Cal campus, starting at 5 p.m. It will include tributes to Newell as well as a video, and will precede Cal's basketball game vs. DePaul, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in Haas Pavilion later that night.

In addition, there will be a memorial service/testimonial at 9 a.m. on Dec. 15 at the Sacred Heart Chapel on the Loyola Marymount campus, Newell's alma mater.

Family and friends are welcome to all three ceremonies.

Womens BBall to host tournament:

The No. 3 California Golden Bears, off to a school-best 6-0 start, were the Paradise Jam Tournament Reef Division champions last week in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The Bears outscored their opponents, 229-152, in the tournament, cruising to victories over South Florida and a pair of teams which had received votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll this season, Texas Tech and Iowa.

Senior forward Ashley Walker was named the Reef Division Tournament MVP, averaging 22.7 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game. Walker shot 60.5 percent from the field and was a perfect 15-15 from the free-throw line. She also had seven assists, six steals, and four blocks. Walker was also named the U.S. Bank Pac-10 Player of the Week for the fifth time in her career.

Junior guard Lauren Greif posted the first double-double of her Bear career in the 85-55 victory over South Florida. Grief scored 15 points with a career-high 11 rebounds in the game. She ended the tournament with 23 points and 21 rebounds and was named to the all-tournament team, which marks the first time in her collegiate career she was named all-tournament.

Junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson was also named all-tournament with her 37 points and 16 rebounds. Gray-Lawson also had 12 assists with just three turnovers in the games. Gray-Lawson received a roaring ovation on Saturday night when it was announced to the crowd that she had scored the 1,000th point of her career just before the end of the first half of the Iowa game. Gray-Lawson is the 20th Cal player to enter the 1,000 point club.

Cal remained at No. 3 in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' polls. The Bears trail only UConn, the unanimous No. 1, and North Carolina.

Mens water polo player receives honor:

The California men's water polo team (19-9) had one player selected to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Conference squad. Junior All-American Spencer Warden was named to the All-MPSF first-team for the second consecutive year.

Warden, a team captain, was instrumental in Cal's success this year. Warden led the Bear's balanced offensive attack this season by notching a team high 40 goals in 27 matches. He scored a season high three goals in both matches against Pacific and in the match against Santa Clara. He now has 96 goals in his three year career at Cal. Warden led the team with 68 steals and was third on the team in assists with 29, second in ejections earned with 27, and second in field blocks with 11.

3 XC Bears earn honors:

BERKELEY - California senior Mark Matusak, sophomore Kari Karlsson and redshirt freshman Matt Hansdavid Miller earned second-team Pac-10 all-academic honors for the 2008 cross country season as announced by Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen.

To be eligible for selection to the academic team, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and be either a starter or significant contributor.

Between the men's and women's teams, eight other Golden Bears earned honorable mention honors. Those eight runners were seniors Yosef Ghebray, Rebecca Palm and Matt Kelley Miller, juniors Michael Coe and Alison Greggor, and sophomores Steve Sodaro, Patrick Lynch and Rowena Tam.

Bear Bites

The No. 3 ranked California men's water polo team (19-9, 4-4), who were the defending 2006 and 2007 national champions, completed the 2008 season with a seventh-place finish at the MPSF Tournament at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu. The No. 5 seed Golden Bears lost to No. 4 seed UCLA, 11-8, on Friday, Nov. 28 and No. 8 seed UC Irvine, 13-12, in sudden death overtime on Saturday, Nov. 29. Cal rebounded on Sunday, Nov. 30 to defeat No. 7 seed Long Beach State, 13-9, to conclude the 2008 campaign.

Recapping the 2008 Campaign

After winning the 2006 and 2007 NCAA titles, Cal opened the season ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Bears started the season 6-0 by winning the Navy Open and its first two matches of the NorCal Open. In the semifinal match of the NorCal Open, Cal fell to UCLA, 6-4. In the third-place match, the Bears fell in sudden death overtime to Stanford, 11-10. After the NorCal Open, Cal began MPSF play with a, 7-5, loss to Pepperdine for its first three game losing streak since 2004. Over the Bears next five matches, Cal went 4-1 avenging losses to both Pepperdine and UCLA in route to a third-place finish at the SoCal Open. After finishing third in the SoCal Open, the Bears went 7-2 over their next nine matches with MPSF conference wins at home against UC Santa Barbara and on the road against UC Irvine and Long Beach State. The two loses over that period were both MPSF conference matches at home against UCLA on a last second goal and at USC. Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Cal was 17-6 overall and 3-3 in the MPSF conference. In The Big Splash match against Stanford, Cal narrowly lost 9-8 to fall to 17-7 overall and 3-4 in the MPSF conference. The Bears rebounded with a, 10-7, win at Pacific to close out the regular season. With the win Cal finished the regular season tied for fifth in the MPSF conference with a 4-4 conference record and was ranked No. 3 in the nation with an 18-7 overall record.

DePaul scouting report:

Set to take on DePaul (4-0) Wednesday in their first game since losing for the first time this season, the Golden Bears (5-1) remain pointed in the right direction, coach Mike Montgomery believes.

“We’ve got a lot of things we need to get better at, but we’re on the right track,” he said. “There wasn’t anything that caused us problems that had we done it correctly, it wasn’t the right thing to do.

“Rather than, `This isn’t going to work . . .’ it will, if we can execute offensively and be consistent defensively, to the extent of the limitation of our personnel.”

The Bears lost 80-77 to Florida State on Saturday at Las Vegas in the championship game.

“Florida State was very big, very physical. There’s not a lot we can do about that,” Montgomery said. “We’re doing the right things. When we do them, we’ve been successful. When we don’t, Florida State made us pay a lot for when we made a mistake.

“Always, your first thought is, `Aw, this is terrible, nothing’s working, this isn’t the right thing to do.’ But if you look at tape, it is. We’re doing the right stuff. We can be competitive with the things we’re doing if we do it right and do it consistently.

CC times makes you register to read their stuff now.  LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!

Well, as we mentioned the other day, soviet everyman Gary Tyrrell was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.  If you don't know who Gary Tyrrell is, here's a kwick primer from the Woodside Fund.

Gary has more than sixteen years of accounting management experience, in both manufacturing and service environments, with both publicly traded and privately held organizations.

Prior to joining Woodside Fund, he operated a management accounting consulting business for six years, and worked as Chief Financial Officer for Orion Instruments, Inc., a manufacturer of microprocessor development tools. Prior to Orion, he was Division Controller for the Contract Manufacturing Division of Bell Microproducts, Inc.

Gary has a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. He enjoys mountain biking and cross-country skiing, and he is an award-winning homebrewer.

"I can't believe JShufelt said that Oregon brews were better, helloooo, have you ever tried Tyrrell 2008!"  -  Image via cache.gettyimages.com

Oh ya and also, he was this guy:

Image via oz.deichman.net

Well, not the guy in mid-air.  That's Kevin Moen.  He's the guy who is about to be Mr. Moen's crash landing.  Mr. Tyrrell was nice enough to step away from his basement bathtub brewery to answer a few questions about love, life, and being the CFO of a venture capital firm.

Continue reading this post »

Look, I know that the vast majority of our readership, especially those guys from CougCenter, are women's studies majors.  So, there's no real reason to go over the entire history of the American feminist movement as it relates to Cal Women's Basketball.  But just for the few stragglers who might have slept through "Alternate Sexualities In A Transnational World," here is a quick primer.  Let's Wikped!

via upload.wikimedia.org

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused on de jure (officially mandated) inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage (the right to vote).

Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the 1960s and lasted through the late 1970s. Where first-wave feminism focused mainly on overturning legal (de jure) obstacles to equality, second-wave feminism addressed unofficial (de facto) inequalities as well as official ones.

And that brings us to the Third Wave.

Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of awesome domination of collegiate American basketball in the earliest part of the 21st century by California women's basketball.  The movement arose as a response to perceived possible failures and backlash against initiatives and movements created by Ben Braun c. 1996 through 2008.

So, forget De Jure obstacles, forget De Facto inequalities, let's focus on De Vanei Hampton.  Put down that Betty Freidan masterpiece and let's learn a little bit more about our women's basketball team.

"I have many buttons on my pants!" via i.a.cnn.net

Continue reading this post »

Not quite as Cal-oriented today as you might think.  Check out this story here from CNBC.  Listen to the first 30 seconds or so of the video.  Tell me if you hear anything.......different about her interest rate cuts.

And with that, let's get to some links:

VBall players earn honors:

Pacific-10 Conference Commissioner Tom Hansen announced the 2008 conference awards today (Dec. 1), naming California volleyball junior outside hitter Hana Cutura and sophomore setter Carli Lloyd to the all-conference team. The selection was Cutura's second such honor. Senior outside hitter Am'ra Solomon and junior middle hitter Mindi Wiley each received honorable mention. The Pac-10 all-freshman team featured two Golden Bears: outside hitter Tarah Murrey and middle hitter Shannon Hawari.

Cutura leads the conference in kills per set with a 4.47 kps average (11th in the country) and is second in service aces, posting a 0.32 saps mark. The Croatian native also tops the Pac-10 leaderboard for points, averaging 5.13 points per set. Earlier this season, she moved into sixth place all-time at Cal in kills with 1,333 and just last weekend, claimed the ninth overall spot for attacks with 3,116 career attempts. She also set new career marks for attacks (68 vs. UCLA) and digs (19 at UCLA) this season on her way to being named to the all-tournament team at the Cal Molten Classic, Golden Bear Invitational, Diet Coke Classic and the Crowne Plaza Volleyball Classic, at which she garnered MVP honors.

Lloyd ranks third in the nation and second in the Pac-10 in assists, recording 12.08 assists per set. She claimed a personal best seven kills in a match earlier this season and has been attacking at a .345 rate (90k, 23e, 194att). Lloyd earned Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week honors on Oct. 20 and was recognized as the Pac-10 Player of the Week twice this season (Aug. 23-30 and Oct. 12-19). The Bonsall, Calif. native also took home MVP honors at the Cal Molten Classic and the Golden Bear Invitational; and received all-tournament notice at the Diet Coke Classic and the Crowne Plaza Volleyball Classic.

VBall to host 1st and 2nd rounds of NCAAs:

BERKELEY - The California volleyball team received its school-record seventh consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament today and will host three teams in the first and second rounds of the Penn State regional. The No. 7-ranked Golden Bears (23-6, 13-5 Pac-10) will play Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament champion Siena College (20-12, 15-3 MAAC) in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship on Friday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. In the other first round match, No. 25 New Mexico State (25-8, 15-1 Western Athletic Conference) will take on St. Mary's College (20-7, 10-4 West Coast Conference) at 6 p.m. The winners of each match will advance to face each other in an 8 p.m. match on Saturday, Dec. 6 for the right to advance to the round of 16. All three matches will be played on Pete Newell Court at Haas Pavilion.

Tickets go on sale at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow (Dec. 1) and are only available through the Cal athletic ticket office website. Adult two-day packages that include admission to all three matches can be purchased for $18; $14 for seniors (65+), youth and students with valid identification.

Mens BBall hosts Depaul Wedned:

California returns to Haas Pavilion to host DePaul Wednesday at 7:30, the Golden Bears' lone home contest during a five-game stretch that began Nov. 28 and runs through Dec. 10.

Cal is coming off a split at the Global Sports Classic last weekend in Las Vegas. The Bears opened with a decisive 73-55 victory over host UNLV Friday to break the Runnin' Rebels' 19-game winning streak at the Thomas & Mack Center. In the tournament final, however, Florida State handed Cal its first loss by an 80-77 margin.

Next weekend, Cal travels to Columbia, Mo., to meet Missouri in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series before visiting Utah Dec. 10 for its last contest before fall final exams.

Led by junior G Jerome Randle, the Bears pace the nation in three-point accuracy, having connected on 53.8 percent of their long-range attempts. Randle is 18-for-28 on treys and his 64.3 percent rate is No. 6 in the country. Overall, Randle paces the squad with 20.5 ppg after matching his personal high with 26 points vs. Florida State. He is also dishing out a team-best 4.5 apg and owns a team-high eight steals.

On the defensive end, Cal is limiting its opponents to just 61.7 ppg, far fewer than the 75.1 ppg the Bears allowed last year. Against UNLV, Cal held the Rebels to only 29.7 percent field goal shooting and outrebounded them 50-34.

Ashley Walker is a GOD:

Leading the #3/3 Bears to a 3-0 week at the Paradise Jam over the Thanksgiving weekend, senior forward Ashley Walker was selected the U.S. Bank Pac-10 Women's Basketball Player of the Week, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced. Walker averaged 22.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists over three games at the holiday tournament in the Virgin Islands, also earning the event's Most Valuable Player distinction for the Reef Division.

After opening the week with six points, four rebounds and three assists in the 85-55 rout of South Florida, Walker went on to post back-to-back 30-point efforts to lead the team to the Paradise Jam championship game. Against Texas Tech, she netted 30 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including a three pointer on her only long-range attempt. She was impressive from the free throw line, as well, going 11-for-11. Walker followed with a 32-point, eight-rebound performance in the title tilt versus Iowa, which the Bears won handily, 76-43. She was 14-for-21 and perfect again from the charity stripe, knocking down all four attempts from the line.

Walker shot 60.5 percent from the floor during the week and was 15-for-15 from the foul line. She also tacked on six steals and four blocks in the tournament.

Article on Montgomery's rotation:

Coach Mike Montgomery used 11 players in the first half Saturday night against Florida State, determined to give his starters some rest in Game 2 of a back-to-back at the Global Sports Classic.

He wants to develop depth on this team, but the result of trying to do that against the Seminoles put the Bears in a hole.

“Unfortunately, at the end of the first half when we went from close to not close, it was when we had to substitute,” he said. “We didn’t play the last 3 minutes very well.”

With three starters off the floor at the end of the half — each saddled with two fouls — FSU scored the final eight points of the half, extending a 24-23 lead to 32-23. Cal fouled four times during that span — with the Seminoles hitting 5-for-7 from the line — and was 0-for-5 with three turnovers on its final eight possessions of the period. 

Cal wound up suffering its first defeat of the season, falling 80-77 after a ferocious rally in the final 2 minutes.

“We’re going to have to develop our depth, but at the same time some of these games – maybe most of them, if not all of them – we know we’ve got to have certain people on the floor for us to win,” Monty said Monday at his weekly press conference.

As a result, he said it may be time soon to tighen up his substitution pattern, likely going to an eight-man rotation.

Did she really say that?  Sounds like it to me.  Dump away.  And Go Bears!

Royal Exchange

Pregame

First Half

2nd Half

Whew!  What a game.  Cal wins!  We have the Axe.  Go Bears!

And nobody was more excited than the players themselves:

Well, the players themselves and that one shirtless dude at the bottom of the photo there.

Continue reading this post »

I know that they killed us last year, embarrassingly.  And I know that the bane of my collegiate football existence (besides Holmoe himself) coaches there.  But I find it difficult to irk any of my ire against the Huskies.  And I do so love to irk my ire.  I really love to irk anything.  Really.

I think it's because a)I'm still really happy and content after Big Game and b)their team is in shambles.  This is why it's best to leave the Big Game as the last game of the regular season.  Its a perfect exclamation point.  I just hope that the football team isn't like me!

And it's tough to hate on TDub when hes been fired and this is his last game.  His career really took a downturn after he left Stanford.  He gets fired from ND (inappropriately, imho) and now UDub (not so inappropriately, imho).  Lord am I happy he left Stanford and failed to make UW any good.  But still.  It is what it is, I guess.

I know our Duck and Beaver brethren to the north really, really, really hate UW.  And thats cool.  But am I the only one struggling to irk anything, let alone my ire?

Mens Water Polo beats Long Beach State:

The No. 3 ranked Cal men's water polo team (19-9) closed out the season with a 13-9 defeat of No. 8 Long Beach State in the 7th place match of the MPSF Conference Tournament, Sunday, November 30th at the Raleigh Runnels Aquatic Center in Malibu. The Bears were lead by five players who each scored two goals against the 49ers.

The Bears jumped on the board early on a goal by senior captain Frank Reynolds to take a 1-0. On Long Beach State’s next possession, Justin Koeppen scored to tie the match at 1-1. Less than a minute later, freshman Ivan Rackov scored to give Cal a 2-1 lead. Neither team would score for the next three minutes. The end of the first period saw each team score twice and trade goals as Cal led 4-3 after the first period.

Midway through the second period, Cal extended its lead to 6-3 on Reynold’s and Rackov’s second goals of the match. After Rackov’s goal, Taylor Clute scored for 49ers to cut the lead to 6-4 with 2:07 remaining in the first half. With 0:55 seconds remaining in the half, Cal junior All-American Spencer Warden notched his second goal of the match to give the Bears a 7-4 lead at the half.

Womens BBall wins Paradise Jam Tourney:

St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. - The California Golden Bears won the Paradise Jam Reef Division tournament title with a 76-43 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday night at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas. Senior forward Ashley Walker scored 32 points, tying her career high, en route to being named tournament MVP. Junior guards Lauren Greif and Alexis Gray-Lawson were also named to the All-Tournament team.

Iowa started the game strong, jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead. Cal senior forward Ashley Walker found her stroke, scoring 11 straight points for the Bears to give them a 13-8 lead. The Bears built on Walker's foundation, extending their run to 24-2 to take a 26-10 lead. Once again, it was the Bear defense fuelling the offense. Iowa shot just 26.7% in the first half with the two teams retiring to the locker rooms with Cal leading by 20, 40-20. Walker accounted for 20 of those first half Cal points.

The most important basket of the half came at the 1:26 mark when junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson drove through the lane to lay in the ball, scoring two points for her team and becoming the twentieth member of Cal's 1,000 point club. The St. Thomas crowd gave Gray-Lawson a rousing ovation when the accomplishment was announced.

VBall ready for NCAAs:

BERKELEY - The California volleyball team received its school-record seventh consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament today and will host three teams in the first and second rounds of the Penn State regional. The No. 7-ranked Golden Bears (23-6, 13-5 Pac-10) will play Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament champion Siena College (20-12, 15-3 MAAC) in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship on Friday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. In the other first round match, No. 25 New Mexico State (25-8, 15-1 Western Athletic Conference) will take on St. Mary's College (20-7, 10-4 West Coast Conference) at 6 p.m. The winners of each match will advance to face each other in an 8 p.m. match on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. for the right to advance to the round of 16. All three matches will be played on Pete Newell Court at Haas Pavilion.

Tickets go on sale at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow (Dec. 1) and are only available through the Cal athletic ticket office website. Adult two-day packages that include admission to all three matches can be purchased for $18; $14 for seniors (65+), youth and students with valid identification.

Cal finished the regular season with a 23-6 overall record and won a program-best 13 matches in Pac-10 play. The Bears also set school records by winning 29 consecutive sets from Sept. 14 through Oct. 19. Cal's 8-0 Pac-10 start and 18-1 overall start were also program records.

Another article on VBall:

Cal and Stanford both will host first- and second-round matches as the 64-team field for the 2008 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship was announced Sunday.

The seventh-ranked Bears (23-6) received their school-record seventh straight tournament bid and will play Siena (20-12) at Haas Pavilion on Friday at 8 p.m. New Mexico State (25-8) will face Saint Mary's College (20-7) at 6 p.m in the other first-round match. The winners will play Saturday at 8 p.m.

The at-large bid was the fourth in Gaels' history, as they made appearances in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

The Cardinal (26-3), seeded No. 2 overall, will begin its quest for its seventh NCAA title Friday at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion against Albany (23-8). Pepperdine (20-7) and Long Beach State (25-5) will meet in the other match at 4:30 p.m. The winners will meet Saturday at 7 p.m.

Stanford is one of just two teams to have made it to all 28 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championships and finished second to Penn State last year.

Also, Santa Clara (17-9) will play Kansas State (24-7) in Seattle on Friday, and USF (22-7) will face Duke (24-8) in Los Angeles.

Okanes on Bowl possibility:

Cal got back together Sunday night after the Thanksgiving break, knowing a lot more about their postseason status. After Oregon’s rout of Oregon State last night, it seems to be almost a sure thing that the Bears are headed to the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park on Dec. 27.

 

Cal is going to finish alone in fourth place in the Pac-10 or tied for fourth place. Either way, the Bears will be in fourth place and be in the crosshairs of the Emerald Bowl. The Emerald Bowl wants Cal in a bad way, giving the game a local flavor for the first time and almost assuredly guaranteeing a sellout.

This season, the Emerald Bowl actually is slotted to take the conference’s fifth-place team with the Las Vegas Bowl scheduled to have the fourth place team. But the two bowls work in tandem for the 4-5 slot, switching off every year with the first pick. The Las Vegas Bowl actually has the first pick this year, but the Emerald Bowl is working with the Las Vegas Bowl to make sure it gets Cal and the Las Vegas Bowl is happy with its team.

As of right now, Arizona is the fifth-place team. The Las Vegas Bowl likely would rather have Arizona anyway. It’s closer than Cal, hasn’t been to a bowl game since 1998 and should travel well.

So, anyway, there you go.  Vote in the poll.  And dump away.  Go Bears!

Royal Exchange

Pregame

First Half

When we last left our faithful heroes, Cal had kept Stanford to 3 at the tail end of the first half.  Stanford had made 3 huge drives in the first half, resulting in a missed field goal, a fumble near the goal line, and a made field goal (albeit after having the ball on the 1 on 2nd down).  Somehow even after giving up over 200 yards of offense, Cal's D had held Stanford to 3 points.  Impressive, impressive stuff.

Also impressive?  This guy:

via TheNick

via TheNick

You've gotta give it to the Stanford band. They are nothing if not inventive.  As for how that guy felt after being wheeled around the field and spun over and over and over again, I do not know.  I'm not sure I *want* to know!  I can guess, though.

Continue reading this post »

Royal Exchange

Pregame

Whew!  So many posts and photos so far and we've barely scratched the surface.  We haven't even gotten to any actual game action.  Well, that is about to change.  And it got underway pretty quick as Jahvid Best took a potential 5 yard loss and broke the tackle for a 60 yard run!  Of course, it wouldn't have happened if this joke Daily Cal prank by Stanford had been accurate. 

via TheNick

via TheNick

Damn those Stanfordites!

Continue reading this post »

This DBD can prolly take us through the end of the weekend.

I was planning on writing something about how thankful I am for the axe.  And for Tedford.  And making more bad jokes about the Marshawn family Thanksgiving. 

But that was before yesterday.  Before I found out that one of my friends was stuck in the Taj hotel for 10 hours last night (she's safe, but tells me she dodged bullets twice).  Before I found out that another one of my friends was in the Leopold Cafe about 30 minutes before the attacks and was stuck in another nearby cafe overnight (he's safe).  Before I found out that the Leopold Cafe is owned by a friend of a friend.  Before I found out that another friend had a gunfight break out in front of her apartment.  "Luckily," she was stuck in that same cafe overnight as the first friend (in a rare twist of coincidence).  Luckily, she is safe, too. 

Before I found out that another one of my friends was on the way to meet those people at that cafe (where they ended up spending the night) when the attacks occured.  Luckily, she is safe, because she stopped heading towards the cafe. Before I found out that one of my friend's friend, a gentleman named Herwant Karkare, was killed in the attacks.   

Also, I've been to Mumbai many times, as recent as earlier this year.  Although I've never been to the Taj or the Oberei personally, I have spent time in the lobbies of other touristy hotels in that city.  These terrorists, all they did was walk in to the lobby, start shooting, and then take Westerners hostage.  The fact that that happened on a day that I wasn't there was obviously MORE likely than not to occur, but still.  That could as much have been me yesterday slash STILL FUCKING GOING ON RIGHT NOW. It's mind-boggling and makes me feel far more vulnerably than September, 11th ever did.

In speaking with my friends in Mumbai right now, they are beyond freaked.  They go to these places almost every day.  They live near these places.  It'd be like somebody shooting up Dwinelle and Wheeler and then taking hostages in Sproul.  Maybe you aren't there right now, but it was only luck (or something more...) that it wasn't.  It could have just as easily been you. And for some of my friends, it WAS.

Maybe this just gives us all an opportunity to remember that this is just a game we spend so much time wasting our lives on.  Sure, it's a fun diversion, especially when Cal is winning, but it's just a diversion.  And a testament to how lucky we are that we don't have more pressing matters to deal. 

So, maybe now is the time to stop with the jokes.  To not write inane dissertations on Gossip Girl or my sideburns (which are gone, bee tee dubz).  To not spend all my work day putzing around these here intertubes mocking the shit out of The Maharg.

Nah, who the hell am I kidding?  I'm just an emotionally empty shell of a man without my pathetic attempts at humor.  I just sent this message to one of my friends in India, who was on her way to the attack area when they occurred:

THE TERRORISTS HAVE TAKEN MY SIDEBURNS HOSTAGE!

Last night I told her this:

They should send me in as a hostage negotiator.  Well, maybe not.  I'd probably just say there are two types of terrorists, my wife and ugly bitches.  And you are ugly bitches.  WAIT NO DON'T KILL ME, NO, DON'T SHOOT, NOOOO!

God, I'm such an asshole. And humor is not as good a defense mechanism as you might think.  Let's get to some links:

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The seventh-ranked California women's volleyball team set a school record with its 13th conference win after a three-set victory (25-15, 25-21, 25-20) on the road against Oregon State at Gill Coliseum on Tuesday evening. Cal's previous high of 12 conference wins was reached three other times in program history. The win also helped the Golden Bears improve to 23-5 (13-4 Pac-10) and 7-3 on the road. Cal wraps up the regular season at No. 8 Oregon on Friday at 7 p.m. in Eugene, Ore.

Cal, who has won 22 or more matches three straight seasons, has now won six straight matches over Oregon State since the 2006 season.

Junior outside hitter Hana Cutura, who had 1,300 career kills entering the match, paced the Bears with 14 kills (5e, 27att, .333). It was her third straight match in double-digit kills and the 22nd time she reached that mark in her last 23 matches. Cutura leads the Pac-10 at 4.45 kills per game. Oregon State junior outside hitter Rachel Rourke led the Beavers with 11 kills (7e, 37att, .108) and added nine digs to her effort.

Cal claimed the first set, 25-15, thanks to Cutura's seven kills in the frame. The Bears held a slim 9-8 lead, before reeling off seven straight points (Cutura served all seven points) to take a commanding 16-8 lead. The Beavers closed the gap to 18-13, before freshman outside hitter Tarah Murrey registered a kill to put Cal up by six (19-13). Cutura then posted back-to-back kills to help increase Cal's lead to 23-15, followed by an kill from senior outside hitter Am'ra Solomon and an Oregon State attack error to close the set. The Bears tallied a .333 attack percentage, while limiting the Beavers to a negative .097 clip (8k, 11e, 31att). Senior middle hitter Kat Reilly was in on three block assists in the frame. The Bears maintained a .333 attack rate while getting 13 kills in the first set (4e, 27att).

Mens soccer heads East to take on Maryland in the 3rd round of the NCAAs:

This Week
The No. 9 California men's soccer team hopes to carry its momentum from the double-overtime second-round win over UC Santa Barbara into the third round of the NCAA Tournament against No. 3 Maryland on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 10 a.m. (PT) in College Park, Md. The Golden Bears (12-3-5) will ride a five-match winning streak to the east coast. Cal upended UCSB last Tuesday with a 3-2 double-overtime victory.

 

In the Rankings
The Bears ended the regular season ranked No. 9 in the Soccer Times, No. 11 in the College Soccer News NSCAA polls, and No. 12 in the Soccer America rankings.
Also at the end of the regular season, junior keeper Stefan Frei led the Pac-10 in goals-against average (0.68) save percentage (.829) and shutouts with eight.
Among NCAA Tournament leaders, Frei is tied for first in saves with 12 and sophomore AndrewWiedeman is tied for first in goals with three.

 

Scouting the Opposition
Second-seeded Maryland (19-3) enters Saturday's contest riding a 12-game winning streak. Since Cal beat Maryland on Aug. 31, the Terrapins have only lost two games.
Jeremy Hall leads Maryland on offense with 32 points (13G, 6A). Casey Townsend is second on the team in goals with 11. Freshman goalkeeper Zac MacMath has had a remarkable season thus far. He currently sports a goals-against average of 0.49 and has a record of 15-1 with nine shutouts.

 

Mens swimmer wins leadership award:

BERKELEY - Former California swimmer Justin Pollard was named one of two 2008 recipients of the Pac-10 Conference's "Living the Dream" Scholarship, presented by World Financial Group, Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen announced on Wednesday. Pollard joins former Golden Bears Walter Chun and Caleb Kirk as a winner of the award. Chun, currently in his fifth year as an assistant men's golf coach at his alma mater, won the honor after the 2001-02 season. Kirk, a former gymnast, won the award following the 2006-07 academic year.

Former UCLA track and field star Ingrid Kantola is the other recipient of the 2008 scholarship, for which former Cal track and field and cross country runner Rebecca Yau was also nominated.

The Pacific-10 Conference and Pac-10 Properties established the "Living the Dream Scholarship," presented by World Financial Group, to recognize student-athletes who have served on their institutional Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC) and demonstrated leadership. The Pac-10 Leadership Award is a $5,000 scholarship for postgraduate study awarded to one male and one female student-athlete each year.

Cal mens bball heads to LV for tourney:

California vs. Florida State (5-0) or Cincinnati (4-0)
Saturday, Nov. 29, 5 or 7:30 p.m., Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
Radio: KYOU (1550 AM)
TV: none

California, off to a 4-0 start under new head coach Mike Montgomery, takes to the road for the first time this season when the Golden Bears travel to Las Vegas for the final rounds of the Global Sports Classic. Cal opens against host UNLV Friday at 5 p.m. and will play either Cincinnati or Florida State Saturday at 5 or 7:30 p.m.

Following a home game vs. DePaul Dec. 3, the Bears get back on a plane for visits to Missouri Dec. 7 and Utah Dec. 10.

Cal has jumped out to its undefeated record by shooting the ball well from all over the court. The Bears are fourth nationally in field goal percentage (54.4%), first in three-point accuracy (58.8%) and 20th from the free throw line (77.8%).

Despite losing its top two rebounders from last year - Ryan Anderson and DeVon Hardin, who combined to grab 17.3 rpg in 2007-08 - Cal is winning the battle of the boards by a 32.0 to 25.3 margin. Junior C Jordan Wilkes leads individually with 4.8 rpg, and five others are pulling down at least three per contest.

Be thankful for your health, for your family, and for the fact that you weren't dodging bullets yesterday.  Be thankful that we have enough time to spend prattling endlessly about bend but don't break defenses and the triple option.  Go Bears!

Ooooh, so much drama last night.  Audrina v. Justin Bobby!  Audrina v.  LC!  Jake v. TwistNHook.

Yes, finally, my life was just like the Hills.  Last night I went over to our newfound allies, Building The Dam, and read this inanely cocky post.  Lord knows the karma gods aren't going to be happy after paragraphs like this:

So I wanted to know your opinions, since you've all been watching the Beavers all year long, with your team's only hope of something great being the "chance" to upset Oregon State on the road for the first time in a generation.  If the ducks could pull that off, it would clearly be one of their best wins in a long, long time--a huge, partial dignity-restoring win for your program. Also, because none of us have really been able to watch your team, since no network wants to televise any of your games (I would have to consider that a blessing for all of us) we don't know a lot about it this year.  You run the wishbone, right?

 

Basically, the entire post can be described as "Beavs Fans Don't Care About Quack People."

So, I went over there to explain to these people not to tempt the fates:

As a Cal, this pregame trashtalk makes me freak out karmically. I’m rooting for you now, OSU. Dont fuck it up, like we have so many times before!

When I got back, I had a message telling me I needed to speak only about Disney shows and that I had a 6 week mandatory sensativity training to attend.  Ai!  What is it with these Oregonians and their seeming inability to handle mature situations.  The Blazers blog put the kibosh on ANY swearing. 

So, I did the training and I speak only of Hannah Montana now.  Perhaps BtD will accept me again.  I'm sure we'll find out on the SBN Aftershow.  I just hope that doosh with the glasses isn't on there.  I hate that guy!

Mens soccer advances in NCAA Tourney after beating UCSB in 2OT:

SANTA BARBARA - Playing through intermittent rainfall, the No. 9 California men's soccer team defeated No. 19 UC Santa Barbara, 3-2, in double overtime in the second round of the NCAA College Cup at Harder Stadium on Tuesday night. The Golden Bears (12-3-5), who had jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see UCSB (10-7-5) tie the match, were able to move on to round three with the overtime score. Tonight's game also marked the first-ever home NCAA Tournament loss for UCSB.

 

Sophomore forward Andrew Wiedeman scored twice for the Bears, including the gamewinner. Wiedeman's first goal came in the 61st minute and gave Cal a 2-0 lead. He ended the contest with his second score in the 103rd minute. Wiedeman increased his team lead in goals with 11 and points (27).

 

Fellow sophomore Davis Paul scored the game's first goal in the 23rd minute. Senior Chris Deal headed a ball to Paul, and he was able to blast a shot from the top corner of the box past the keeper to the far right post. Paul's goal tied him for second on the team in that category with three. His four shots tonight were a team high.

 

Junior Stefan Frei had one of his best games of the year with a season-best 11 saves. Although Frei allowed two goals, he was brilliant for most of the night, holding off a UCSB team that outshot the Bears, 24-12. The Gaucho goals were scored two and a half minutes apart in the 68th and 70th minute.

Womens B-Ball team goes abroad for tourney:

The California Golden Bears are coming off a 66-52 upset victory over No. 2/3 Rutgers Friday, Nov. 21, at Haas Pavilion. The victory was the sixth time the Bears have beaten a ranked team since head coach Joanne Boyle took over the program in 2005-06. Rutgers was the highest ranked opponent that any Bears team has defeated since they upset No. 2 Stanford in 1992. The Bears pulled off the stunner while playing shorthanded with neither senior post Devanei Hampton nor junior post Rama N'diaye suiting up for the contest. Both players had been practicing all week and were listed as game time decisions for the game. Their status for this week's tournament has also yet to be determined.

Redshirt junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson led the team with 25 points in the Rutgers game. Gray-Lawson is averaging 14.7 ppg this season. She comes into the tournament 31 points shy of becoming the 20th player in Cal women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points.

Senior forward Ashley Walker posted the 36th double-double of her career, scoring 16 points with 10 rebounds against Rutgers. She is currently ranked second in the Pac-10 in scoring (22.0 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (11.7 rpg). Walker, who scored the 1,500th point of her career in the game against Nevada, continues moving up the career scoring and rebounding lists. She needs 14 points to move into fifth place on the all-time scoring list and 16 rebounds to move into third place on the rebounding list.

Mens water polo heads to Malibu for post-season play:

Bear Bites

The No. 5 seeded California men's water polo team (18-7, 4-4), the defending 2006 and 2007 national champions begin postseason play this weekend with in the MPSF Tournament. The Golden Bears face No. 4 seed UCLA (15-6, 5-3) on Friday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu. Last weekend Cal closed out the regular season by falling to No. 3 Stanford, 9-8, in Berkeley and by defeating Pacific, 10-7, in Stockton on Sunday.

About the MPSF Tournament

The 2008 MPSF Tournament features the top eight teams in the MPSF standings. Besides Cal's 3 p.m. match versus UCLA, other Friday matches include No. 1-seed USC (24-0, 8-0) versus No. 8-seed UC Irvine (10-13, 1-7) at 10 a.m., No. 2-seed Stanford (22-4, 6-2) versus No. 7-seed Long Beach State (14-15, 2-6) at 11:30 a.m. and No. 3-seed Pepperdine (19-6, 6-2) versus No. 6-seed UC Santa Barbara (15-10, 4-4) at 1:30 p.m. If the Bears win Friday, they would play the winner of USC and UC Irvine match at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29. If Cal wins Saturday, it would play in the MPSF championship match at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 30. Cal finished third in last year's MPSF Tournament when it fell to UC Irvine in a semifinal match and defeated Stanford, 12-9, to take third place. Cal won the 2006, 2002, 1995, 1993 and 1992 MPSF Tournaments, which is more titles more than any other MPSF team. Ticket information and complete bracket and results of the 2008 MPSF Tournament is available at http://www.pepperdinesports.com.

Okanes Tuesday night update (but not by Okanes):

Hello everyone. This is Curtis Pashelka. I attended Tuesday night’s practice at Memorial, filling in for Jonathan.

There’s not much to report. LB Zack Follett missed practice because a schoolwork-related activity, coach Jeff Tedford said. Tedford also said lineman Kevin Bemoll, who was moved to the offensive line as a stopgap to provide some depth, will be moved back to defense once the season’s over.  Also, depending on how next week’s practice goes, Tedford said QB Nate Longshore might get some snaps in the Washington game.  

Tedford commented on Washington, and how last year’s game was brought up in today’s team meeting. In that game, the Huskies dominated the line of scrimmage and piled up some 360 yards on the ground and scored three rushing touchdowns.

“That had never happened to us before, since we’ve been here, that I can remember. So there’s going to be a lot of motivation to make sure we take care of our assignments and do our job so that doesn’t happen again,” said Tedford, who added that any leftover excitement about Saturday’s win 

over Stanford has been officially put to bed.

 

BBall recruiting class gets little respect:

The recruiting Web site rivals.com rated the class Cal signed last week as only the No. 8 group in the Pac-10 Conference. The Bears signed post players Markhuri Sanders-Frison and Bak Bak, but also have a commitment from point guard Brandon Smith of De La Salle High, who is expected to attend without a scholarship his freshman year.

Here’s how rivals ranked the Pac-10 recruiting classes (with national rankings in parenthesis): 1. UCLA (8); 2. Washington (20); 3. Arizona State; 4. USC; 5. Oregon State; 6. Washington State; 7, Oregon; 8. Cal; 9. Stanford; 10. Arizona

HOW COULD THEY NOT RESPECT BAK-BAK!?!?!??!?!?  Go Bears!