DBD 11.25.08 - Cal's Bowl Possibilities

by ragnarok on Nov 25, 2008 1:30 AM PST

Man, I sleep at the wrong times to do one of these. I'm almost always in bed before the Daily Show, and by the time I get up in the morning, someone else (Twist) has already done one of these. I'm only doing this now because I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep.

Anyway, today's DBD will feature less "Gossip Girl" references and obsessing about my facial hair, and more actual information. Don't get used to it.

With the win over Stanford, Cal can now finish no lower than in a tie for 4th place in the conference, so the Bears can safely ignore the Hawai'i and Poinsettia Bowls, the latter of which will definitely be shopping for an at-large team, while the former only might be. Cal will fall no lower than the Emerald Bowl, that much I am sure of. In fact, it seems our bowl destination will hinge almost entirely on the outcome of the Civil War; if the Beavers win, Cal goes to San Diego, whereas if the Ducks win, the Bears stay home in San Francisco.

This conclusion rests on a couple of assumptions, and for a while now I've been looking for some sort of confirmation of them; tonight, I've finally found it. First, from Okanes' story on bowl possibilities:

Cal, which begins the week tied for fourth place, can't finish second, but the Bears could tie Oregon for third if Oregon State wins the conference and goes to the Rose Bowl and USC places second and is picked for a Bowl Championship Series game. In that event, the Holiday Bowl would get its choice between the Bears and Ducks.

Holiday Bowl executive director Bruce Binkowski said Monday that Cal likely would get the bid because it won the head-to-head matchup against Oregon.

"Historically, what we do in the case of a tie is look at who had the edge head-to-head," Binkowski said. "It's pretty difficult to not take the team that won."

When asked if there was any reason to believe the Holiday Bowl would change that criteria this season, Binkowski said: "No. It's the right thing to do."

Secondly, I wondered if, should the Ducks win and the Bears finish all alone in 4th, whether the Emerald Bowl could reach up from their 5th place selection spot and snap the Bears. Well, they can, and based on everything I've heard, they almost certainly would. From the Emerald Bowl's Executive Director:

Q: What are the tiebreakers used to figure out which Pac-10 team goes to which bowl?

Example - two teams have the same record for 4th in the Pac-10. Is it simply head to head? If more than two teams--say three teams--are tied for 4th, what determines who goes to the Emerald Bowl?

Thanks,

Derek

A: Thanks for the question, Derek. The Pacific-10 Conference has a very elaborate tie-breaker formula for the conference championship, but when there are ties for other spots in the conference standings, there are no tie-breaker procedures in place and the bowl partners have flexibility in making their selections.

This year, the Pac-10 bowl lineup is as follows:

No. 1 - Rose

No. 2 - Holiday

No. 3 - Sun

No. 4/5 - Las Vegas

No. 4/5 - Emerald

No. 6 - Hawaii

No. 7 - Poinsettia

If two teams are tied for second place, the Holiday can take either of the tied teams, and so on. Our case is unique in that the Emerald Bowl shares No. 4 and 5 with the Las Vegas Bowl. Each year, one of us has "priority." Las Vegas has the priority this year; we had it last year and will have it again in '09.

So, to use your example, if two or more teams are tied for fourth in the league this year, there is no tie-breaker procedure to determine who goes where. We will consult with the Las Vegas Bowl and hopefully decide which team is the best fit for each bowl. If we want the same team, Las Vegas will get the first pick and we will take the other team (or, in the case of a three-way tie, whichever of the teams remain).

There are a couple of other wrinkles in the Pac-10 bowl arrangements. The Sun Bowl, at No. 3, can exercise a "no repeat" clause and bypass the third place team. This happened last year when the Sun passed on Oregon State and we were fortunate enough to be able to select the Beavers.

And if there is one team in fourth place and one or more teams in fifth, either Las Vegas or Emerald can choose a fifth place team, but then the other bowl must take the fourth place team. In other words, the two bowls cannot choose two teams tied for fifth and leave No. 4 behind.

So, really, it's pretty simple, and it pretty much all comes down to the Civil War, Saturday at 4PM. However, neither the Sun nor the Las Vegas Bowls are completely eliminated. Here are a couple highly unlikely scenarios that land the Bears in either Bowl:

Sun - Oregon State beats Oregon, but USC loses one of its last two games, fails to earn an at-large BCS bid, and goes to the Holiday Bowl instead. The Bears are tied with Oregon for third, and since the Ducks went to El Paso last year, the Sun Bowl selects the Bears.

Las Vegas - USC and Oregon State win out, but the Bears lose to Washington, and Arizona State fails to win out and become bowl-eligible. With 2 teams in the BCS but only 5 bowl-eligible teams, only the Holiday, Sun, and Las Vegas Bowls get Pac-10 teams this year, and the Bears end up in a 4th-place tie with Arizona. The Sun Bowl takes the Wildcats, and the Vegas Bowl takes the only Pac-10 team left, the Bears.

Neither of these scenarios are likely (UW will be heavy underdogs against the Bears, as will both Notre Dame and UCLA vs. USC), and I very much doubt either will happen, but they're worth being aware of. Anyway, here's a few more linky-links:

Men's Basketball destroys North Carolina A&T:

Jerome Randle scored 20 points and Omondi Amoke added 11 points and four rebounds off the bench to lead California to an 82-47 win over North Carolina A&T on Monday night.

Patrick Christopher had 10 points and Jamal Boykin had nine points and seven rebounds for the Bears, who committed only nine turnovers while remaining unbeaten under first-year coach Mike Montgomery. Cal (4-0) had 12 different players score, led by as much as 37 and dominated on both ends of the floor while registering its most lopsided win since beating Long Beach State 102-65 on Dec. 28, 2007.

Robert Johnson had 14 points and six rebounds for North Carolina A&T (2-3). Unlike on Saturday when they gave UNLV a scare before losing 71-58, the Aggies weren't much of a threat and trailed nearly the entire game while shooting 33.3 percent from the floor.

The Bears, on the other hand, went into the game ranked second in the country in shooting percentage, a good portion of that due to Randle, who did nothing to hurt his numbers against the Aggies.

Also re: MBB, the article from the Chron:

Cal is four games into the tenure of coach Mike Montgomery, and about the only thing we know for sure about the Bears is that the starters are good cheerleaders.

Cal's starting five were once again in towel-waving mode for the final 7 1/2 minutes of Monday night's 82-47 blowout of North Carolina A&T at Haas Pavilion. They joined the crowd of 6,689 in cheering the three blocks of redshirt freshman center Max Zhang in garbage time.

"The games we've won are games we should have won," Montgomery said. "That's not to say that those teams couldn't beat us, but I would expect us to win."

And from the Cal Bears Examiner:

Montgomery has been preaching defense since before the start of the season and his team seems to be responding. NC A&T came into the game averaging nearly 40 rebounds, five blocks, and 10 steals per game, but weren't able to come close to that level of play at Haas Pavilion. It was Cal that looked like the defensive team while grabbing 38 rebounds, six steals, five blocked shots, and forced 19 turnovers. NC A&T was able to get 28 rebounds, but only one steal and four blocks, well below their season average.

For the game, Cal held the Aggies to 33.3% shooting (19-57) and only 11.8% from beyond the three-point line (2-17). Jamal Boykin led the Bears with seven rebounds and Jordan Wilkes (2 blocks) combined with Max Zhang (3 blocks) for all of the Bears' shot-blocking.

OK, that's it for my first attempt at a DBD. How did I do? At least better than HydroTech? Wait, wait, don't tell me, I don't want to know. I'm much to insecure to handle that kind of information. Just bring me some more links. Freshmen, more links!

The opinions expressed in a FanPost are not necessarily those of the California Golden Blogs or any of its authors. However, they are just as important as the opinions of any of the authors. And doubly so as compared to TwistNHook!

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Comments

Hopefully this puts an end to the “Cal in the Las Vegas Bowl” lobbying.

by BearsNecessity on Nov 25, 2008 2:01 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

I still don't see the problem with this...

What is wrong with the Vegas Bowl lobbying?

And, with this arrangement with the Emerald Bowl, are we ever likely to go there again?

by slims on Nov 25, 2008 5:00 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

It would be pretty funny to see USC vs. Texas in the Holiday Bowl...

…such a “marquee” matchup (and i use the term loosely) in what both teams would consider a less-than stellar bowl… ha!

Obviously, the best case scenario is that we go ot the Holiday Bowl (again), hopefully against a team we can beat :)

I haven't seen that many tear-stained dollar bills since my dad hired a stripper for my uncle's funeral.

by BearStage on Nov 25, 2008 2:22 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

Should Oregon State win the Civil War, I for one am like totes stoked to see if Oregon State can only lose by 30 to Penn State.

www.californiagoldenblogs.com

by HydroTech on Nov 25, 2008 2:46 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

If it’s Oregon State vs Penn State: Rose Bowl line will be around Penn State -6.5
If it’s USC vs Penn State: Rose Bowl line will be around USC -13.5

by BearsNecessity on Nov 25, 2008 3:07 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

That’s interesting. I would have thought the line for USC/PSU would have been closer than OSU/PSU.

www.californiagoldenblogs.com

by HydroTech on Nov 25, 2008 3:19 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Not after USC’s demolition of Ohio State.

by BearsNecessity on Nov 25, 2008 3:24 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Or their last two demolitions in the Rose Bowl.

by BearsNecessity on Nov 25, 2008 4:04 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

FanPost of the Year

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2008/11/24/669591/rickey

anyone who enjoys baseball will enjoy 67Marquez’s FanPost…he even has scanned in newspaper clippings!

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 5:49 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

That was EPIC!

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 7:50 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

agreed

the A’s recently had Rickey day…except they misspelled his name on the jumbotron. Oi!

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 8:22 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

VBall to take on Oregons:

The No. 7-ranked California volleyball team heads to the Beaver State to close out the regular season with matches sandwiching the Thanksgiving holiday against Oregon State (Nov. 26) and No. 8 Oregon (Nov. 28). The Golden Bears hope to finish strong after nabbing two big wins against No. 10 UCLA and No. 11 USC at home this weekend. The last time Cal tangled with the Ducks and the Beavers in Berkeley, the Bears made short work of their opponents by claiming two 3-0 sweeps to open Pac-10 play. Now on the other end of the conference schedule, Cal has already tied the previous school record for most conference wins in a season with 12. The Bears reached the 12-win mark just three other times in school history; most recently as last season, and in 2003 prior to that. Cal also won 12 conference matches in 1982 under the direction of Chris Stanley when the Bears went 12-2 to secure the first NorPac conference championship; Cal’s only volleyball conference title. Since enduring a short losing slide, the Bears have bounced back to win three of their last four matches entering the weekend.

THE FACTS: No. 7 Cal (22-5, 12-4 Pac-10) completes the regular season with two road matches in the Beaver State. The Bears will meet Oregon State (14-15, 3-13 Pac-10) in a 4:30 p.m. PT match on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore. and then travel up the interstate to take on No. 8 Oregon (22-7, 10-6 Pac-10) in a 7 p.m. match on Friday, Nov. 28 at McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore. Live statistics are available for each match via links at www.goducks.com and www.osubeavers.com.

NCAA TOURNAMENT SELECTION SHOW: ESPNU will air the 2008 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship selection show live at 7 p.m. PT on Sunday, Nov. 30. The NCAA will announce the field of 64 teams selected to participate in this year’s national championship tournament and reveal the 16 first and second round competition sites. Please check your local listings for times and availability.

Mens soccer to take on UCSB in NCAA Tourney:

This Week
The No. 9 California men’s soccer team increased its winning streak to four as it heads to Santa Barbara for the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Bears (11-3-5, 5-2-3 Pac-10) will play at No. 19 UCSB on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m. at Harder Stadium. Cal is fresh off a convincing 3-0 victory against San Francisco last Friday at Edwards Stadium.

In the Rankings
The Bears are currently ranked No. 9 in the Soccer Times, No. 11 in the College Soccer News NSCAA polls, and No. 12 in the Soccer America rankings.
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.
Cal, as a team, led the conference in goals-against average (0.68), goals allowed (13), and shutouts with nine.

Scouting the Opposition
UC Santa Barbara (10-6-5) has not been in the win column since beating Cal State Northridge, 3-1, on Oct. 29. Since that victory, the Gauchos have gone 0-2-3. In its last game, UCSB fell to UC Irvine, 4-2 in the Big West Championship match. Despite not getting the automatic bid, the Gauchos advanced to their seventh consecutive NCAA College Cup and earned a first-round bye in the process.
Chris Pontius leads UCSB with 32 points on 14 goals.

Postseason History Against UC Santa Barbara
Although they have not met in the postseason for a few years, Cal and UCSB have met twice before in the NCAA College Cup. The Bears topped the Gauchos in 2002, 2-1, in Berkeley. It was a historic victory for Cal as it was the program’s first-ever postseason victory and it was also Kevin Grimes’ first postseason win at Cal.
In 2003, UCSB got revenge when it ousted the Bears in Santa Barbara. The Gauchos shut out Cal, 2-0.

Men’s swimming gets 5 new recruits:

BERKELEY – California signed five talented swimmers to National Letters of Intent, Golden Bears head coach David Durden announced on Monday. The signees include second-generation Bears Chris Packer and Nick Trowbridge, whose father, Todd, won an NCAA title as part of Cal’s triumphant 800-yard freestyle relay in 1982, and Tom Shields, who competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, Austin Brown and Ben Hinshaw.

The five will join Cal next year to work with Durden and his staff, which includes assistant coach Greg Meehan, head coach emeritus Nort Thornton and strength and conditioning coach Nick Folker.

“We are very pleased to have Austin, Ben, Chris, Tom and Nick join our team for next year,” Durden said. “Greg, Nick, Nort and myself are excited to have the opportunity to work with such quality young men. We are thankful for all of the California club and high school coaches that have impacted and developed these young men into the athletes and people they are today. As these young men leave their legacy on high school swimming in the state of California this year, we are excited that they are continuing to impact California swimming through their performances as Cal Bears!”

As I reported yesterday, Mens XC got 22nd at Nationals:

The No. 18 California men’s cross country team took 22nd place with 477 points at the NCAA Championships hosted by Indiana State University Monday at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Cal finished fourth among Pac-10 schools, as Oregon won the national title.

“We’re disappointed that we didn’t do better than we did last year,” said Cal head coach Tony Sandoval. “We ran so hard at regionals that we weren’t able to come back after that. We still have one of the better distance programs in the country and we’re very proud of that.”

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 7:50 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

VOTE FOR ALEX MACK

http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/ncaa_football_2009/

...Scuzzlin fo a Jack in Da Box

by Thoroughbred on Nov 25, 2008 8:13 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

Prof Romer to become key financial advisor:

Economists across the political spectrum cheered the selection of UC Berkeley Professor Christina Romer to head the Council of Economic Advisers as president-elect Barack Obama moved Monday to name his key financial counselors.

Cal women #3 (highest ever):

Cal defeated then-No. 3 Rutgers on Friday at Haas Pavilion. Rutgers then lost by 34 at Stanford on Sunday. So while Cal rose four spots to No. 3 and Stanford rose three places to No. 5, the Scarlet Knights fell to 13th.

Not sure we talked about this…but Cal Poly nearly beat Wisconsin at Camp Randle!

Wilner thinks the difference in the Big Game was “control of emotions.”

Erase all the turnovers and dumb penalties, and Stanford would have been right there until the end …

Obviously, you can’t erase them, and you shouldn’t. Not only are mistakes part of football, they’re a large part of rivalry games. Which brings me to today’s topic:

Managing emotions.

That’s where Cal won the game. The difference wasn’t Jahvid Best or Cal’s defense. The difference was the mistakes Stanford made and the mistakes Cal didn’t make.

Avoiding mistakes is as advantageous (and important) as making them is detrimental.

The Bears kept their emotions in check and, with the exception of one awful pass, didn’t force anything and didn’t let emotion get the best of them.

I think he’s bitter that Cal smoked his pick…Wilner also put Central Michigan in his Top 25…

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 8:36 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

My wife, who majored in econ, saw the Romer pick on CNN last night and got really excited! Robert Reich was on there and he had the Campanile in the background. Go Bears!

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 8:44 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Doesn't the Romer also have Clinton Administration experience?

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 8:49 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Who cares? As long as she has Cal experience, I’m happy!

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 8:50 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

I took classes with her. She was a good professor.

I, however, want me econ 133 professor to become an advisor on the Bobby Jindal administration.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 8:57 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Damnit, give me edit capabilities. Now I sound like a pirate.

Damn you, Twist, damn you.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 8:58 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Yes, your stupidity is, in every way, my fault.

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 9:19 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Yes, because you never make typos.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 9:31 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

And I never blame you for my typos

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 9:45 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Clearly, it’s because everything is your fault.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 10:06 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Mrs. TwistNHook, is that you?

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 10:11 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

We should plan on going to the Cal-‘furd women’s hoops game. Should be awesome to see (potentially) two top 5 teams play.

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 8:46 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

I definitely want to make it out for that. Whats the date?

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 8:50 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

I heard ESPN Gameday will be there.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 9:04 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

MARK JANUARY 18, 2009 ON YOUR CALENDAR, PEOPLE!

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 9:19 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

I always mark January 18 on my calendar...

…since that’s my birthday

by calgbear on Nov 25, 2008 10:52 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Hopefully, Cal women’s basketball gives you a win over Stanford as a bday present!

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 10:58 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Rags, perhaps you can help me understand the Big XII pecking order when it comes to bowls?

So assuming there isn’t anymore chaos, Oklahoma goes to the NC Game, and say Texas snatches up an at-large bid. Obviously, that leaves behind an 11-1 Texas Tech team. There’s also a 9-3 Oklahoma State team and a 10-3 Missouri team (loser of Big XII Championship game).

It seems in the past two years, the loser of the Big XII CG picks up the Cotton Bowl bid (Missouri last year, Nebraska two years ago), so does Missouri get the Cotton Bowl or does Texas Tech (by virtue of Texas Tech simply just having a better record)? Next in the pecking order is the Holiday bowl, then the Gator Bowl (usually), then the Alamo Bowl.

So if Texas Tech gets the Cotton Bowl, would Oklahoma State or Mizzou get the Holiday bowl? One team is 9-3, the other is 10-3, but head-to-head, Oklahoma State beat Missouri.

Then, there’s talk that if Nebraska wins against Colorado, they’d get a Gator Bowl bid (ahead of Missouri, mind you). I understand that Big XII #3 means third-pick, not third place, but would the Gator Bowl pick a significantly worse Nebraska team over a better Missouri team because Nebraska “travels better”?

I’m usually good at sorting out all the bowl nonsense, but I am still confused. Please help.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 8:38 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

Godddamn, your post hurts my brain!

Please disregard the above ramblings as those of a clearly delusional fan.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Nov 25, 2008 8:44 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

I would think the Cotton Bowl gets the first non-BCS pick

and it would select Texas Tech with the media attention, Heisman candidates, and 1-loss record. Missouri would be selected for the Holiday (media attention for Chase Daniel Jeremy Maclin >> Zac Robinson/Dez Bryant) because they have 10 wins and were in that title game. I think every non-BCS bowl would be chomping at the bit for Texas Tech

...Scuzzlin fo a Jack in Da Box

by Thoroughbred on Nov 25, 2008 8:45 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

plus the cotton bowl's in texas...

and Cal would match up better with Mizzou!

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 8:48 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

See, that's the thing...

Yes, the order of the picks is Cotton, then Holiday, then Gator, then Alamo.

But even though every single author assumes the same things (Texas and TTU win out, Oklahoma makes the Big XII CG, Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State and Missouri and plays the winner of Alabama-Florida in the NCG), they all have different projections for these four bowls and which four teams out of TTU, Mizzou, Ok State, and Nebraska make which bowls.

I’ll ignore Stewart Mendel since he thinks Cal makes the Sun Bowl even though he has Oregon State making the Rose Bowl (which Rags has clearly proven really won’t happen). But even other writers get the bowl bids completely different.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 8:57 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

Well, that's the problem with projecting Big XII team into bowls

In that, beyond the conference tie-ins, there really is no definite order for these bowls to select their teams. The Cotton will pick whichever team it feels will be the best draw, and the Holiday will do the same.

Want more confusion? The Gator Bowl doesn’t even have to select a Big XII team! They could instead select a Big East team, or Notre Dame (though with the Irish limping to the finish line at 6-6, I somehow don’t see that happening. If the Gator does select a Big East team or Notre Dame, the Sun Bowl would get to pick a Big XII team, but only after the Alamo Bowl. Otherwise, the Sun would get to select either a Big East team, or Notre Dame. Yeah, the Sun could conceivably end up with 6-6 Arizona vs. 6-6 Notre Dame.

So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!

by ragnarok on Nov 25, 2008 9:17 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

If Nebraska gets picked over Missouri for the Gator Bowl, then heads should and will roll.

by Rishi on Nov 25, 2008 9:34 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

glenn dickey's funny

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Dickey_Convincing_Big_Game_win_will_only_brighten_Cals_future.html

Cal alums often write me to say they can’t understand why players aren’t attracted to Cal because of the school’s academic stature, its beautiful campus and its location in an area which visitors and residents love — which only proves that they are not 18-year-old males.

Top prep prospects are looking for a school which: (1) Has a team that will showcase their talents for the NFL; (2) Has a lot of attractive (they’d say hot) female students; and (3) Has good beaches nearby, at which the young women in question will be in bikinis. USC is at the top of the charts in all categories. Cal ranks fairly high in the first two categories but is virtually shut out in the third.

For those who don’t know him, he’s a columnist for the examiner now after a long tenure with the Chronicle where he thought the niners destiny was ending ever since 1990. He’s a HUGE cal homer and most definitely an Old Blue. He was a student when Pappy was the coach…he sort of looks like father time but without the mustache (yes, he rocks this look with a beard and no stache).

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 9:16 AM PST reply reply 0 recs

...Scuzzlin fo a Jack in Da Box

by Thoroughbred on Nov 25, 2008 9:31 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs

(2) Has a lot of attractive (they’d say hot) female students; and (3) Has good beaches nearby, at which the young women in question will be in bikinis.

The Maharg makes me look like an idiot.

by carp on Nov 25, 2008 9:34 AM PST up reply reply 0 recs