Hear ye!  Hear ye!  The town crier has a proposition for the people of Californiagoldenblogsylvania.  Will we move forward on this?

WHEREAS, Zack Follett, through the use of his black magic(k), did bring the Pain Train against ASU.

WHEREAS, due to Zack Follett's Pain Train-iness, the last week of Cal action was declared Pain Train Week.

WHEREAS, Pain Train Week was a wild success (unless you had money invested in a place that exists and can accept money for investment purposes).

WHEREAS, a delightfully stalkerish review of Zack Follett's facebook page has discovered Pain Train references dating back at least as far as 2006.

WHEREAS, Cal's opponent this week has a rather common and bland mascot, the Wildcats. 

WHEREAS, our dear, departed leader George W. Stegosaurus so greatly loved the Pain Train. 

LET IT BE RESOLVED, that Pain Train Week shall be extended to now be Pain Train Year!

Answer the poll below, so we can get some democracy in action.  Our people need to make their voice heard on this ever so important question.  It's what George W. Stegosaurus would have wanted!

 Men's soccer ties with San Diego:

BERKELEY - Sophomore forward Andrew Wiedeman scored his sixth goal of the season on Sunday afternoon against San Diego State at Edwards Stadium, but it wasn't enough for the fifth-ranked California men's soccer team to emerge victorious. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

 

Cal (6-2-4, 1-1-2) struck first in the 11th minute of the contest. Sophomore Servando Carrasco fed Wiedeman with a long pass to the top of the box. Wiedeman broke free and was able to beat the keeper with a shot at the bottom near post. Junior Evan Sassano also earned an assist on the score.

 

Wiedeman is currently the team leader in goals (6) and points (16). In addition to the goal, Wiedeman was able to tally three shots on goal.

Men's Water Polo gets 3rd place in SoCal Open:

The No. 5 ranked Cal men's water polo team improved to 10-4 with a 12-11 overtime victory over No. 2 UCLA in the third place match of the SoCal Open, Sunday, October 12th at the Raleigh Runnels Aquatic Center in Malibu. Earlier Sunday, the Golden Bears fell to No. 1 USC, 12-7. Against UCLA, Cal was led by senior captain Frank Reynolds and sophomores Zach White and Brian Dudley who led the Bears with three goals each.

Cal, who led 6-5 at the half, outscored the Bruins 4-0 in the third quarter to extend the lead to 10-5. UCLA rallied to score five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to tie the match at 10. After both teams were shutout in the first overtime, the Bruins struck first with 2:13 remaining in the second overtime. Zach White tied the game at 11 with 1:52 remaining. After a series of turnovers, the Golden Bears got the ball back for the final possession. A 6-on-5 was awarded to Cal with 14 seconds left, and Cory Nasoff's shot in the waning seconds was blocked by UCLA goalkeeper Chay Lapin. But the ball rebounded in front of the cage to Dudley, and he knocked it in right at the buzzer. Defensively, Cal was paced by sophomore goalie Jacob McIntosh who had 17 saves.

Women's soccer beats Oregon:

BERKELEY - The No. 15 California women's soccer team won its second Pac-10 Conference game, 5-1, over Oregon on Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium. The Bears scored four first-half goals and were led by sophomore forward Alex Morgan, who had a game-high three goals. Cal improves to 9-3-0 and 2-0-0 in the Pac-10 while the Ducks fall to 7-5-1 and 0-2-0 in conference play.

"We're very pleased. I think that we've been close to scoring a lot of goals all season long, and I'm excited for the players to get their just reward," Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. "Oregon is a very good team, and they're well coached so it's good to get a win over a team of this caliber."

Women's volleyball beats Arizona:

BERKELEY - The No. 5-ranked California volleyball team (16-1, 6-0 Pac-10) completed its ninth consecutive 3-0 sweep of an opponent when it put Arizona (12-5, 2-3 Pac-10) away tonight at Haas Pavilion, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20. The Golden Bears set a new school record by winning their 29th consecutive set without a loss. The 11-match winning streak is the second longest in school history and at 16-1, helps the Bears match the best start in school history (2003). Cal junior outside hitter Hana Cutura moved into a ninth-place tie with Jenna Brown (2002-05) on the all-time kills list, reaching the 1,113 mark by putting in 13 kills tonight (4e, 30att, .300).

Field Hockey wins big:

BERKELEY - Ashley Glosz came off the bench to score a hat trick and collect an assist in No. 14 California's 9-1 rout of Davidson on Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Family Field. The Golden Bears' record improved to 9-2 (5-0 NorPac) and Davidson fell to 3-10 (0-2 NorPac) after the conference clash.

The game, which started at 3:15 p.m., was pushed back from its original start time of 1 p.m. due to Davidson flight problems. Davidson arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area today, and the Bears pounced on the Wildcats.

Women's Tennis kicks butt:

MORAGA, Calif. - The California women's tennis team continued its strong play on the second day of the St. Mary's Invitational on the courts of the Korth Tennis Complex in Moraga, Calif., putting two Bears into the Red Flight singles semifinal. Sixth-seeded freshman Jana Juricova and sophomore Rachael Dillon each advanced to the semifinal round with two wins today.

Juricova took a win over St. Mary's Sabrina Gunnarson in straight sets, giving up just one game, 6-0, 6-1. She then took out third-seeded Alexandra Poorta, also of St. Mary's with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Dillon had a much tougher road to tomorrow's semifinal, first facing No. 91-ranked Caroline Bailly of Nevada and coming away with a 6-3, 6-4 win in the round of 16. Dillon continued to hit well as she took a 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 77-ranked Carolyn McVeigh of Stanford in the quarterfinal. McVeigh was the second-seeded player in the Red Flight singles draw.

Women's swimming beats Pacific:

Stockton - The California women's swimming team opened its 2008-09 season with a 147.5-103.5 victory over the Pacific Tigers in dual meet competition on Saturday afternoon.

In the first event of the meet (200-yard medley relay), Cal's foursome of Lauren Rogers, Alexandra Ellis, Hannah Wilson and Madison Kennedy earned 11 points with a first place finish time of 1:45.58. The Golden Bears' other foursome of Erica Dagg, freshmen Kirstyn Colonias and Ursula Dailey and Dana Vollmer clocked a second place time of 1:48.47, good enough for four points.

Blake Hayter (10:11.27), freshman Shelley Harper (10:11.67) and Sara Sun (10:21.50) finished 1-2-3 respectively in 1000-yard freestyle for a combined 16 points.

Another 1-2-3 finish ensued in the 200-yard freestyle, with Lauren Boyle garnering a first place finish of 1:52.58, followed by Rogers (1:55.36) and Dagg (1:56.24).

Men's swimming also beats Pacific:

STOCKTON, Calif. - California defeated Pacific, 135-113, in a Saturday dual meet to open the 2008-09 season. The Golden Bears, under the direction of second-year head coach David Durden, won nine of 14 events against the Tigers to give Cal a 1-0 record. Pacific is 0-1.

The Bears won eight individual events, with sophomore Graeme Moore winning the 50- and the 200-yard freestyles in times of 20.67 and 1:44.26, respectively. Moore and Cal also claimed the first relay of the day - the 200-yard medley relay - in a time of 1:31.13. Moore led off the relay and was followed by sophomore and 2008 Olympian Damir Dugonjic, junior Matt Scanlan and senior Bennett Clark, a transfer from Missouri.

Women;s volleyball also beats ASU:

BERKELEY - The No. 5-ranked California volleyball team (15-1, 5-0 Pac-10) won its 10th consecutive match tonight at Haas Pavilion, defeating Arizona State (10-7, 1-3 Pac-10) in three sets (25-16, 25-12, 25-21) to post its second-longest winning streak in school history. The Golden Bears have now won their last 26 sets, and threaten the all-time school record of 27 when they face Arizona tomorrow (Oct. 11) at 7 p.m. Cal was led tonight by junior outside hitter Hana Cutura's match-high 14 kills (6e, 28att, .286) and three service aces.

The Bears donned pink pregame warm-up jerseys and played the match with pink game-balls for Dig for the Cure night as part of the Pac-10 Conference initiative to promote Breast Cancer Awareness month. Cal also promoted volleyball defensive awareness as it came out and knocked down 46 kills on 96 attacks (14e) to attack at a .333 rate. The Bears also did a defensive number on the Sun Devils, holding Arizona State to just 21 kills in the match (two in the second set) on 86 attacks (16e) and a .058 attack percentage.

Cal football remembers the 2006 Arizona game:

Linebacker Zack Follett and quarterback Nate Longshore both talked tonight about the 2006 loss at Tucson, which doomed the Bears’ Rose Bowl hopes. You can bet the team is going to use that game as motivation all week.

Follett also downplayed the significance of being 2-0 in conference right now.

“It’s so early in Pac-10 play, it hasn’t been talked about,” he said. “We’re going week by week. I’m feeding off that ‘06 loss. We’re going to be motivated to get a win.”

Also:

Best said he feels confident he’ll be ready to go against the Wildcats.

“I’m progressing more than I thought,” he said. “Coming from the first couple of days when I couldn’t move it at all — now I can do pretty much everything functionally with a little bit of soreness.”

Best admitted the mental part of the recovery is the hardest and said he’s still a little worried about taking hits on the arm. But today’s practice helped alleviate some of those concerns.

Best also fell accidentally while running sprints after practice. “I haven’t done much in a while. I guess I”m a litte rusty.”

 

Cal D is good:

BERKELEY — And now for your word association game of the day: What do the words "Cal football" make you think of?

Offense? Quarterbacks? Scoring?

These all would be good answers based on recent history ... but not the most recent history. For anyone who has watched the 2008 season, there is one word that should immediately come to mind: Defense.

Although they've have had some good defensive units over the years, the Bears have been perceived as an offensive-minded program.

Not this season. Cal is enjoying its bye weekend with a 4-1 record, and most of its success can be attributed to as good a defense as the Bears have had in recent memory.

"They're still going to be tested, but so far this is as good a defense as they've had in a very long time," said Cal radio analyst Troy Taylor, who played quarterback for the Bears from 1986-89. "I knew they'd improve from last year, but I didn't know it would happen so fast. I've been pleasantly surprised they've been as dominant as they've been."

Cal ranks third in the Pac-10 in total defense (290.6 ypg) and scoring defense (18.0) but appears to be getting better with each passing week. In last week's 24-14 victory over Arizona State, the Bears held the Sun Devils to 236 yards and made life miserable for ASU quarterback Rudy Carpenter, sacking him three times and picking off two of his passes.

Monty is good at recruiting:

BERKELEY — Brandon Davies, a high school senior basketball prospect from Provo, Utah, admits he wasn't up to speed with Mike Montgomery's resume when the new Cal coach began recruiting him this summer.

"I didn't really know anything about him until he started talking to me," Davies said.

Montgomery appreciates the math involved here. "Kids don't know," he said. "They're 17 now; four years ago they were 13."

Four years ago was the last time Montgomery coached college ball. He left Stanford for the NBA after the 2003-04 season to become coach of the Warriors.

Now he's back in the college game, where he won 393 games in 18 seasons as Cal's chief rival, directing his final 10 Stanford squads into the NCAA Tournament.

How could any college basketball fan not remember Montgomery guiding the Cardinal to the 1998 Final Four?

Well, Davies and other high school seniors being recruited by the Golden Bears should be excused from knowing that bit of ancient history — they were first-graders at the time

So, let's figure it out, people.  Is it going to be Pain Train Week?  Or Pain Train Year?

GO BEARS!  Dump away!