DBD 10.23.08 - Are you superstitious?

Pete Carroll to the 49ers? One can only hope.

If you go to UCLA, you’re guaranteed a job at NASA.

Dude you put the links IN the DBD, not AFTER it.

Amateur hour. Amateur hour!

● The Bears have suffered through some inconsistencies from their receiving core this season. Hagan was half-jokingly asked if he or anyone on the defense has pushed the coaching staff to play some offense this season.

— “Actually just yesterday I heard (Syd’Quan Thompson) telling Coach Cignetti ’I’m ready’ so hopefully he gives somebody a try,” Hagan said. “I played in high school but I like what I’m doing on defense right now.”

Wildcat alert?

Or maybe we should just have Squid stand 20 yds behind the line and longsnap it to him…

He definitely would fit our short receiver need.

Coach Rick Neuheisal, who has no easily acronym-able name, speaks about the Cal running game.

He also speaks about the 3-4 D.

And the nature of the rivalry.

Hey does Okanes have his chat today at 1 again?

The Mustache awaits!

gf

apparently she runs track at Baylor

Women’s volleyball takes on the LA Schools:

The No. 4-ranked California volleyball team looks to maintain its unblemished Pac-10 record as it takes a school record 7-0 Pac10, 17-1 overall start to Los Angeles. The Golden Bears have won their last 12 matches through a stretch that included 29 consecutive set victories. Atop the conference standings after seven matches (a school record), Cal looks to continue its winning ways against No. 10 UCLA and No. 14 USC. Last season, the Bears endured three five-set matches against the Bruins and Trojans and emerged with just one win, a thrilling 3-2 victory at Pauley Pavilion. Armed with the best offensive arsenal in the Pac-10 and last week’s conference and national player of the week in sophomore setter Carli Lloyd, the Bears hope to build on the momentum they’ve created and complete the first half of conference play with their perfect record intact.

THE FACTS: No. 4 Cal (17-1, 7-0 Pac-10) takes on No. 10 UCLA (14-4, 4-3 Pac-10), Friday Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. from Pauley Pavilion and No. 14 USC (10-6, 3-4 Pac-10), Saturday Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. from Galen Center. Please visit CalBears.com for links to live statistics via Gametracker. Live audio for the Cal vs. UCLA match will be available via www.uclabruins.com and live webcast of the Cal vs. USC match be available on TrojanTV at www.usctrojans.com. Fees may apply.

Men’s swimming wins award for being best academic skwad:

BERKELEY – Five swimmers from the 2007-08 California team – Justin Pollard, Jernej Godec, Mark Eckert, Louis Vayo and Nick Ferrif – earned academic All-America honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America and three Golden Bears claimed honorable mention consideration, the coaching organization announced this week. Also, the CSCAA lauded last season’s Cal team for having one of the top grade-point averages in the nation with a 3.08.

Eckert, Godec, Pollard and Vayo completed their collegiate careers last spring; Nick Ferrif is a sophomore on this season’s team. Pollard, the Pac-10’s 2008 representative to the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Council, led last year’s Bears with a 4.00 GPA followed by Godec (3.908), an Olympian and five-time All-American in 2008, Eckert (3.85), a two-time 2008 All-American, Vayo (3.823), a two-time honorable mention All-American last season, and Ferrif (3.654), who competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Current Cal junior swimmers and 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials participants Troy Nissen (3.60), Matt Scanlan (3.543) and Scott Sorge (3.533) earned honorable mention academic All-America distinction for last season.

The 2008-09 Bears return to action when they host Washington on Oct. 30 in their first dual meet of the season at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Cal baseball alumni weekend:

The 2008 California baseball team, featuring returning 2008 Freshman All-American Kevin Miller and All-Pac-10 honorable mention Brett Jackson, will host the annual Cal Baseball Alumni Game, Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m. at Evans Diamond. Admission is free.

The alumni game is part of Cal Baseball Alumni Weekend which will also feature the Bullpen Club Golf Classic on Monday, Oct. 27, held at the Contra Costa Country Club in Pleasant Hill, Calif. beginning at 10 a.m. with check in at 8:30 a.m. The tournament is open to both men and women with limited spots still available.

The cost to play in the Bullpen Golf Classic is $300 per person. There will be a dinner, as well as a silent and live auction following the tournament that will benefit the 2009 Cal Baseball Team. If you don’t enjoy golf, you can still join us for dinner and the auction for just $25 per person. If you are unable to attend or would like to support this tournament and the Cal Baseball Team there are tee, green, and tournament sponsorships available. Donations for the silent and live auction are also welcomed.

Head coach David Esquer’s Bears, who qualified for an NCAA regional last season and finished 31-21-2 overall and 12-12 in the Pac-10 (fourth), return several experienced players, including sophomore right-hander Miller (6-1, 2.90 ERA, 68 K in 71.1 IP) and junior outfielder Jackson (.307, 4 HR, 40 RBI), who was one of the top centerfield prospects in the Cape Cod League this summer.’

If I watch a game at a friend’s house and we lose I’m very unlikely to watch a game there again. Especially after it happens twice. Which has totes happened.

My superstition: avoiding watching games at restaurants where I have previously watched Cal endure shitty losses.

I can never eat at Raleigh’s (big game ’07), Zabu Zabu (Az ’08), my own apartment (Maryland ’08, UW ’07—-I thought I had shaken the curse this year cuz I got a new TV), and worst of all Cluck U chicken (Az ’07).

From BI:

Starkey called in to the Sac Grid club this evening and was great to hear from him.

Like him or hate him for his announcing, he is a true Bear and it’s nice to hear his take on things..

He said that Riley really is not a good practice QB and that Tedford began to feel that he was someone who could have poor practices but be solid in games. Unfortunately he hasn’t really shone in games this year and that combined with his poor practices creates the dilemma.

He said that the loss of all our receivers is really the key to our poor offense but that Tucker and Boateng should be much better the second half of the season.

When asked about play calling, he said that Cignetti does call plays but that Tedford has a hand in it and always will, as well as running the QB meetings and doing most of the work with the QB’s.

Starkey said that he thinks Cal is playing about where he figured they would this year due to the loss of receivers and lack of depth in some areas. He said that he still thinks our running game is the strength of the team and was really surprised that we couldn’t run on Arizona, but that our lack of depth on defense is really hurting and thinks maybe we have been getting worn down in games, thus the poor play in the second halves.

I’m cautious about wearing a shirt that I wore during our first conference loss of the season. I’ll try to prove that it’s not bad luck by wearing it again during a game we’ll definitely win. Normally that works. And after we lost this past Saturday, I realized I was wearing the same shirt I wore when we lost to Arizona in ‘06. Oops, I probably should have worn a different one. Sorry guys. However, after we have our first loss and I later realize my shirt isn’t bad luck, I stop being superstitious because our chances of making a BCS bowl tend to drop notably after such a loss.

stepping down as UofA basketball coach.

Great! Now Arizona won’t routinely kick our ass anymore . . . Wait, we dealt with that problem by firing Braun.

Has it been confirmed that we’ll be wearing them this week?

Nah, I don’t think I have any deep superstitions. I always wear the 2003 football shirt when watching any Cal game, but that’s because 2003 was the last year when I actually liked the design enough to buy a shirt (“True Blue”, subsequently stolen by UCLA. God). I thought the tie-dye Ted-head shirts had potential but sadly lost their way into weirdness.

I also usually wear a temporary bear paw face tattoo, but that’s just to be all girly and sh*t.

I guess the biggest superstition is that deep down, I truly believe that some friends who live in Arizona are responsible for some of Cal’s recent losses. Every single game that they’re traveled to (including 2006 Arizona, 2008 Arizona, that Holiday Bowl game that we lost, 2008 Maryland, 2007 UCLA, etc etc) WE’VE LOST. This cannot be a coincidence.

Whose dick is AaronRodgesrForPresident sucking to get all these questions in? LAME!

Brontosaurus (yellow fever, i’m guessing)… we’re going to Minnesota next year, which is an early game

Sweet aerial imagery of Memorial Stadium.

Miller reports.

They should eliminate guys from less-than-stellar universities. That should rule out Daniel (Mizzou), Sakoda (Utah), Starr (IU), and Byers ($C). I’d even argue G. Tech and Notre Dame and maybe OSU should be booted. That would leave UW, Rice, and Cal.

What happened to BMullens fanpost?

Back on topic…

I really never want to admit that we won a game until Longshore (or Riley or someone else) takes the final kneeldown.

I can’t do that damn “Fourth Quarter’s Ours” chant.

I stopped checking sports scores on my phone because I’m worried that it’ll make the team do worse.

I’m not a superstitious guy, but on fridays up until the Maryland game I wore my gameday shirt. I forgot to wear it (or it was in the wash, or something) on that Friday, and they lost to Maryland. I wore it the friday before every game UNTIL THE ARIZONA GAME!!! It was in the wash a week ago, so I wore a different shirt! And they lost! So today, I am obviously wearing my gameday shirt. Have no fear.