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!