CBKWitness - Randle makes good
Friday January 8, 2010 11:27 Comment From Knox Harrington: Can you please roll ucla at Pauley? I hate them.Jerome Randle: UCLA made me mad. I know we should have won that game. I'm more upset that I wasn't 100 percent and I couldn't be myself. From this point on, the entire Pac-10 is just going to get my best.
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Golden Nuggets: The Best Grass in Berkeley
Cal Rugby's beloved Witter Field will temporarily be replaced with turf as part of the Memorial Stadium retrofit. After this season's final game, Clark's squad will find a temporary place to play home games until 2013 or 2014 so they can avoid playing on turf.
What many call the "best grass in Berkeley" will be torn out and replaced with artificial turf to accommodate practices for football and lacrosse.
"Playing on artificial turf beats the hell out of you," said Clark. "Even the newest generations of turf are not appropriate for rugby."
Watching the field that you built being paved over is tough. Not being able to play at home is worse.
..."It wasn't too long ago when I was flying around the states, standing on a chair in a crowded room saying 'I need you all to throw in some money behind Witter Rugby Field," Clark said. "Now, I'm in the awkward position of having to call back and say that we're putting artificial turf in the middle. These are difficult calls to make."
The group of donors began funding the construction of Witter. A grass field, a scoreboard and eventually the Doc Hudson Fieldhouse, formerly the bathroom outside of Memorial Stadium, were installed. The Fieldhouse now holds offices for all the rugby coaches and serves as the home for the team's rich history.
"(During football games) it was such a nasty place that you'd go and pee out back," said Clark. "Now we have 100 years worth of rugby memorabilia and Olympic memorabilia in here."
For Clark, Biestman and the other rugby donors, there is an understanding that the University must honor.
"We're all supporters of the Memorial Stadium retrofit," says Biestman "But what needs to happen is some type of commitment on behalf of the University to restore Witter Rugby Field to its original condition."
For now, the University is intent on honoring that commitment.
After the jump Tosh Lupoi earns honors from Rivals and ESPN as a top recruiter nationwide, Tedford discusses QB competition and a more aggressive defense, Pac-10 commish talks expansion and TV contracts, Randle dares defenders to contain him, and more.
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Bring the Noise, Cal Fans!
You know what, Bear fans? I'm disappointed in you.
This feeling has been building all season, really. We've got ourselves a first-place basketball team, one that's exciting to watch to boot, and yet fan support at Haas can best be described as 'tepid' or 'middling'. In many ways, the crowds are reminiscent of those that showed up to watch the end of the Ben Braun era, as the team stumbled to eight-place finished, hoping for NIT berths. Sure, a good number of people show up on gamedays, but not nearly enough to fill the building, and not all of them make much noise. The fact that organized cheers from Bruin fans were audible during UCLA's comeback victory in January is flat-out embarrassing. Where are you people, and why aren't you screaming your heads off for a team that very much deserves your support?
In some ways, attendance has followed the pattern it does every year. The stands aren't packed for the non-conference schedule because it's still football season, and few (if any) of the games are against interesting opponents, and some are against those you've never heard of. Then the students all go on winter break, and us working adults are on vacation, so that's where we all were during the Stanfurd, U$C, and fUCLA games. Then Cal hosted the Oregon schools, and neither of them are good, so many of you didn't bother to show up. Excuses beget excuses beget excuses. Lame.
Look, here's what's going down. Cal has seven games left in the Pac-10 season, and they've got a one-game lead on everyone else in the conference. They've got a favorable schedule down the stretch, with all their toughest opponents at home. But if they're going to use that home-court advantage to win their first conference title since the Eisenhower administration, they're going to need your help. They're going to need your noise. They're going to need your momentum-building cheers after big threes from Randle, your stifling roar on defense as they try to stem an opponent's run, your fervored distraction during free throw attempts. More that just about any sport I know, the roar of a crowd can turn a basketball game the home team's favor, but if we want it to turn the Bears' favor, we're going to have to show up in numbers and bring a little frenzy with us.
Now, I think it's important to note that I am not merely an athletic department shill. Frankly, Cal Athletics won't return CGB's calls, and you could best describe our relationship with them as 'nonexistent'. Personally, I don't care how many tickets they sell to these games, or whether they make any money at all. Buy your tickets from scalpers if you can get a better deal. Heck, sneak into the game for all I care -- it doesn't matter to me if you pay your way in, so long as you're vocal in your support for your Golden Bears once you're inside. (Protip: if you wear a straw hat and carry a musical instrument, it's pretty easy to sneak in the front door; they smile and wave you right on by.)
The important thing is that you're there, supporting this very deserving team. So when the Bears make a big bucket, I want you loud. When the Bears are on defense, I want you loud. When the opposing team takes a timeout and the band strikes up 'Big "C"', I want you singing along loudly. When it's time for the anthropomorphic Odwalla bottle race...well, actually, the Odwalla race is stupid. You should use that time to buy a hot dog or go to the can or something. Just so long as you're back in your seat in time for when the game begins again.
Finally, I know I'm not alone in this because KoreAmBear has posted a call to arms in much the same vein over at BearInsider. Here, I"m going to finish by just copy/pasting his entire post below.
Dear Cal men's basketball fans, our team is in a dogfight to win the Pac-10 title for the first time in 50 years and need every one of these next four home games desperately. Not only is the title involved, these games concern whether we receive a ticket to the NCAA tournament ("the Big Dance") and as well maximizing our seed when we do make the Big Dance.
Here's what you can do: 1) fill up Haas. Show up and go to as many of the last four as posssible. 2) when you are there, do not be passive. Our team is small, deplete with injuries and does not have much depth. You can be the extra player on the bench (pun intended). Do not WAIT for a great play to happen. Will our team to victory.
Make noise, be demonstrative, bring signs, join in chants and even stand on certain possessions. It's been well documented that a great crowd feeds into confidence and better play, as well as demoralizing the other team.
Our players have said that they don't feel like they get the support that some of the other teams in the Pac-10 get. That's a shame on us, especially coming from a tradition of the greatest home venue in the Pac-10, Harmon Gym. But we have four games to disprove this notion. And I am sure you will. Please pass this on to as many Cal fans who could make any of the next four games. Time to roar and rock the Haas again. Go Bears!
See you all on Thursday evening! Go Bears!
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Cal Women's Week in Review: The Agony and the Ecstasy
Now, on to UCLA: Determined to get better pictures this time around, I approached the ticket office and requested the best reserved seats they had. They handed me seats in section 1, row BB. When we reached them, we quickly realized that we had bought tickets that traveling UCLA fans hadn’t purchased. So we had the luxury of a great view and the interesting insight of being within hearing distance of the UCLA bench.
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Interview with new California Golden Bear Coleman Edmond
In 2007, Cal had a triumvirate of wide receivers, Robert Jordan, Lavelle "The Hawk" Hawkins, and DeSean "Tha1" Jackson. Unfortunately, after that year, they were gone to the NFL. I don't think it would be controversial to say that Cal has not quite had that same level of play since. We've got some new WR recruits that, alongside our current WRs, hope to change that. Coleman Edmond is one such recruit! It's been a long time coming for him. Check out his story here:
This was some trip from Ulster County to northern California.
Edmond, who played quarterback and running back at Kingston in 2005, left the school to attend Harmony Community prep school in Cincinnati. He accepted a scholarship offer from Division I-AA Wagner and red-shirted in the fall of '07.
Edmond left Wagner after a year and came up with a plan to go West. Edmond, a wide receiver and kickoff returner, enrolled at UCLA in the fall of '08 and ran on the track team that spring to try to get the attention of UCLA's football staff. He was a standout sprinter on the track team at Kingston.
"I always wanted to go to a bigger school," said Edmond, who is 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. "I couldn't just sit back, I needed to follow my dream. I was just trying to get to the top, and you only live once."
While at UCLA, running the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Edmond walked into the Bruins' director of football operations office and told Steven Radicevic he wanted to walk on. According to Edmond, Radicevic laughed at him.
However, Edmond, 21, persuaded UCLA to allow him to participate during summer workouts last summer. According to Edmond, UCLA told him they didn't have any scholarship money for him. He had already taken $35,000 in loans to pay for one year of school in Westwood.
"I was devastated, I thought the summer workouts went well," Edmond said. "As well as I did, I thought they would have picked me up right away."
Edmond ended up at Pierce this past fall with the help of defensive coordinator Jeff Phillips, who coached at Wagner during Edmond's short time there. Edmond starred at Pierce, making 37 receptions, including nine for touchdowns, and amassing 1,584 all-purpose yards. He returned a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown.
In one game, a 62-55 overtime win over West Los Angeles Community College last fall, the opposition kicked the ball away from Edmond a dozen times.
Edmond ended up at UCLA, running track, hoping to get a spot on the football team. Even though I am still able to tag him in this post as a UCLA WR, it didn't work out there. Now he has a second chance, via Pierce Community College, to play Pac10 football. Here's hoping the UCLA fans say "Oh, what could have been" over the next few years!
Edmond is a man smart enough to make it into two separate elite UC schools. Despite that intelligence, he agreed to an interview with CGB. After the fold, learn more about one of the newest Golden Bears, Coleman Edmond. Many thanks to Coleman for his effort here, we really appreciate it. Good luck to him and GO BEARS!
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Djax had a amazing year this year thought id do a video
1 day ago
4Ever Golden
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Tosh Lupoi named Rivals Recruiter of the Year
"While recruiting is a team effort and the whole staff played vital roles in our recruiting success, Tosh is worthy of being recognized as doing an exceptional job," Bears coach Jeff Tedford said. "His dedication to develop strong relationships and communicate the great opportunities that Cal provides makes him a very strong recruiter."
Lupoi was involved in signing many of Cal’s top recruits, including Chris Martin, Keenan Allen, Nick Forbes, Gabe King, Cecil Whiteside and Chris McCain.
Go Tosh! (HT chowder)
1 day ago
Avinash
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Golden Nuggets: Crabbe Excels on the Court and in the Classroom
Cal basketball recruit Allen Crabbe has shown great development over the past season.
At tiny Los Angeles Price, a school of kindergarten through 12th grade in the sprawling Crenshaw Christian Center, Allen Crabbe is the boy everyone has seen grow up before their eyes.
His grandfather, the Rev. Frederick K.C. Price, is the founder of the school. Crabbe has been a Price ball boy or student seemingly forever. When Price was winning five state Division V basketball championships in the last decade, he was preparing for his chance to join in the fun.
Now he has grown to 6 feet 6, makes three-point baskets as if they were free throws and has the skills to win any dunk contest. He also has a 3.5 grade-point average, has signed with California and has developed into one of the best players in the state.
"He's a zero-maintenance kid," Coach Michael Lynch said. "He's constantly in the gym. I don't ever have to think about him."
Crabbe has always been able to shoot and score, but he grew two inches and gained 10 pounds since his junior year, and the added strength has elevated his game. He is averaging 23 points and nearly 11 rebounds in leading Price to a 22-2 record with one week remaining in the regular season.
"Adding that strength to his game has really taken it to another level," Lynch said. "His mid-range game has just blown up. He's posting smaller people, where he wouldn't in the past. His game has just blossomed."
Said Crabbe: "It gives you more confidence when you know you have that strength to go up against other opponents."
In recent weeks, Crabbe has scored 38 points twice, against Ventura and Los Angeles Crenshaw. But it's his leadership that Lynch has appreciated most.
"When we've needed him to come through, he's been telling the team, 'Come on, guys, we can do this,' " Lynch said.
There's no better example for what a teenager can accomplish when combining athletics and academics than Crabbe, who has used his twin focus to put himself in position to have a bright future.
Talking about his many years attending Price, Crabbe said, "It's like a big family. You have teachers who care for you and always want you to do good and succeed in life. They're always on top of you, even if it's a little homework assignment you missed. They emphasize it's very important to get your work done, because you can have sports but without an education, you can't do anything."
While Price is heavily favored to win a Southern Section Division 4AA championship, the Knights won't consider it a successful season without a state title.
"Everybody's hungry," Crabbe said. "We've been to the game before the state championship and come up short."
After the jump Ted Miller looks ahead to the 2010 season, basketball continues to be respected by the computers, and the rest of Cal sports enjoy a relatively successful weekend.
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