Coaches Tour 2008: San Francisco Report

by HydroTech on May 21, 2008 2:48 PM PDT in General

On Tuesday night I went to Gordon Biersch in San Francisco to attend the Coaches Tour event. There was a much smaller turnout than Monday's event in Pleasant Hill. Only about 150 people were probably in attendance despite the 250 or so who had registered.

Here are my notes from the night:

Rich Feller - Cal Women's Volleyball Head Coach
*The Pac-10 is the best volleyball conference in the nation - bar none.

*The team finished 4th in the Pac-10 but that's still good enough to make the NCAA Tournament because of the intense competition in the conference.

*Cal just signed the #1 recruit in the nation, a 6'3" outside hitter.

*The team is so talented and executes so well that he often has nothing to say during timeouts. The team knows what they're supposed to be doing and are doing it. The most he usually says to the team is to grab some water.

*Please come watch the team. The final game is against UCLA in Haas Pavilion the very same day as Big Game (afterwards).

Jeff Tedford - Cal Football Head Coach
*Cal probably has the best one-two QB combo in the Pac-10.

*Determining who will be the starting QB may require evaluation of game time performance, meaning both QBs may play against Michigan State.

*Javhid Best is an "every-down back." Shane Vereen is a "diverse player."

*There is tremendous speed at the RB position.

*The QB position is one where they get too much blame and too much praise. It's the nature of the position. It is not fair to Longshore that he received so much blame for 2007. It was a hard time for Longshore as it was for all the fans. Longshore's confidence is still high.

*Longshore lost 15 pounds this spring. Longshore is "mobile." He has mental toughness.

*Fans need to support whoever is the QB.

*Team chemistry is the best it's ever been.

*Tedford is very confident about winning the lawsuit. Getting started on building the new facilities will give Cal some credibility in the eyes of recruits and current players. Once construction begins, it will truly open up many doors for recruiting.

*Tedford officially acknowledged that the team has switched to a base 3-4 defense - the reason being that the strength of the defense is in its linebackers.

*Cignetti will call most of the plays but Tedford will continue to help out with the game planning.

*Tedford emphasized that no player on the team should ever get booed. The players are giving their best and have enough to deal with between school, practices, and the games, than to deal with negative, malicious, and non-supportive fan behavior.

*Tedford acknowledged that the media, fan chat boards, and bloggers must remain positive because it does and has had an effect on recruiting.

*How Cal fans can help the Football team: if you have internships or jobs openings for current Cal Football players and alumni, please contact Mike Anderson.

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I remember during the Stanford game when the Cal section booed Longshore and was chanting “Riley Riley”. I swear that I saw Tedford and Longshore look up and shake their heads sadly…

What’s sadder were the old alumni getting into it.

I used to be RR at the Cal Golden Blogs

by royrules22 on May 21, 2008 2:53 PM PDT 0 recs

Booing is NOT an option

I am a firm believer that no college player should ever be booed by their fans. We have to remember that these are kids—18 – 21 years old and are doing their best.

That being said, I also am a firm believer that no one should blindly support a team when it’s obvious there are problems. Last year’s team is a perfect example. I don’t for a second question the heart, drive, or intensity of Longshore, but anyone who watched any of the last 6 games surely saw a QB who simply should not have been in there. By the mid-3rd quarter of games he was unable to plant his foot, causing his mechanics to get mesed up, meaning his throws were weak, inaccurate, and ineffective. Opposing teams knew this and could cheat the run, which made our offense even more ineffective. I think the question that JT needs to answer isn’t about the fans not supporting Longshore, but why he continued to play him when it was apparent we could not win with him. The argument that the position gets disproportionate blame or praise is a straw-man. An ineffective QB removes half your offensive potential, and any Pac-10 team that only has to defend one dimension on offense has the advantage.

That being said, I certainly hope this year JT will pull the trigger on whoever our QB is if he is injured or simply ineffective, but history says he will not. One of JT’s greatest characteristics (both as a strength and weakness) is a fierce loyalty, and if he believes in someone it seems they get the benefit of the doubt and visa versa—despite the outcome.

But, I do still trust him to run the team.

Go Bears!

by SoCal Oski on May 21, 2008 3:05 PM PDT up 0 recs

Never boo? Ever?

For the sake of a Devil’s advocate, I ask: What about the Udub and Stanfurd games last year? With the exception of Longshore @ Udub, the whole team deserved to be booed for so blatantly dogging it on the field the way they did. They were not “giving their best” and representing the world’s greatest university with the respect it deserves during those games, in my opinion.

Not to be a total dick, but these are young men getting free rides at UC Berkeley and being asked to give their full effort in return. Plus, it’s an important life lesson: the world is harsh and if you don’t live up to your end of a contract there are consequences. There are worse things than being booed.

Ok, now I do feel like a jerk for writing all that, but man those games were horribly painful. Even thinking about them hurts. Also, for the record, I haven’t booed the Bears, EVER. Now that Emil Brown play last night… BOOOOO!

by CalBandGreat on May 21, 2008 4:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

Dissatisfaction with the team can be expressed by not applauding instead of booing. Furthermore, while the team may have appeared demoralized, they were giving their best. There is a difference between demoralized play and quitting.

And just as painful as the games were to you, they are just as painful for the players. They don’t need booing to get it into their head that fans are dis-satisfied with their performance. Just like Mike Montgomery said at the Pleasant Hill Coaches Tour event, “it’s like DUH.” They (the players) know they aren’t performing well.

And yes, the world is harsh. But the players don’t need to hear it from the fans because the players know the fans are dis-satisfied and plus the players are going to hear plenty of it from the coaches. There is also a lesson to the fans too. Personal pain and dis-satisfaction doesn’t justify turning on the 18-22 year old amateur players. I don’t care how painful it is for anyone to watch their team to lose, it just does not justify anyone booing the players.

by HydroTech on May 21, 2008 4:59 PM PDT up 0 recs

Never, ever

Gotta go with HydroTech on this one. You can show your displeasure in different ways, but booing our guys just isn’t the way.

Like most of us, I played sports through high school, and I know that when on the field, the players are focused on the game, not the crowd. But between plays, and during timeouts, they do hear things. And trust me, they know if they’re doing poorly both by the fact that they’re actually in the game, and also by hearing the opposing fans cheer. Having their fans boo … it’s a killer.

But booing Emil Brown is always okay.

Go Bears!

by SoCal Oski on May 21, 2008 8:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

On booing

SoCal Oski said it best: we should never boo college kids.

However, JT did deserve some boos last year for being blind/loyal to the fact that Longshore sucked plain and simple, after his injury. Given that most fans don’t usually run into JT at the local grocery store, the question is when to boo him. Sine the game is the only opportunity, this presents a problem. So, in the best interests of the student athletes, I have to stick to the no booing rule because no one knows who the boo is being directed at and you would never want a college player to feel he’s being booed at.

As for pros, I think booing by the home fans should be accepted and expected if you are sucking. This argument comes up on Athletics Nation all the time and I cannot believe that people try to defend PAID athletes because you might hurt their feelings. Are you kidding me? I’d love to be paid seven figures if the biggest problem I had to deal with was that the people watching me doing my job booed me when I sucked at it.

In the case of USC, since those are paid athletes everyone should be able to boo away.

by oaktownmario on May 21, 2008 3:24 PM PDT 0 recs

I realize that the only opportunity to boo Tedford occurs at games (unless you go to the Men’s Fantasy Camp, or you go to the Coaches Tour Events), but I don’t think people should boo Tedford at games since there is no other opportunity to do so because such an act can be mistaken as booing the players. If you have problems with Tedford’s head coaching decisions, rational and reasonable arguments can be sent to his official email address found on the CalBears website.

by HydroTech on May 21, 2008 4:48 PM PDT up 0 recs

I agree

and if you read my comment that’s what I said . . . so it’s all good.

by oaktownmario on May 21, 2008 8:49 PM PDT up 0 recs

I read your comment. So it’s all good. My comment wasn’t meant to be directed at you but at people who might feel justified in booing Tedford at games since there is no other opportune time to do so.

by HydroTech on May 21, 2008 9:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

I don't know

I was at the As game last night when Emil Brown decided that he should try for style points on an important 8th inning catch with the bases loaded. Many people started booing him (even louder when he struck out in the 9th inning down by only a run). But I said “No! I will not stand for this! What’s more important? Winning or looking good?”

I think the answer is self-evident.

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on May 21, 2008 3:29 PM PDT 0 recs

Emil definitely deserved the boos that he got

his play in LF has been atrocious and inexcusable, even if he has the most rbi on the team.

Don;t get me wrong, I don’t think you should freely boo every time someone strikes out, but last night’s play, . . . uuuggggghhhh

by oaktownmario on May 21, 2008 3:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

Not the first time.

I’m not sure which was worse the booing of Longshore or the booing of Ayoob. Though, maybe everyone was just chanting, “AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOB!”

As for not blindly supporting one’s team, I guess I understand that to a point. If a Cal player does something stupid off-the-field, we shouldn’t wear blue and gold glasses. That said, for so many years I have been the “realistic” fan. Honestly, I enjoy following my teams with a positive attitude a lot more than constantly looking for dents in our armor or pot holes in our path toward a Rose Bowl.

By the way, none of that is to say Nate didn’t struggle and we shouldn’t point that out. But, I think there IS something to be said for the strength of our 1-2 at QB overall.

http://sportingcontrarian.wordpress.com/

by BeastMode on May 21, 2008 4:14 PM PDT 0 recs

I think the problem here, is that most people perceive not booing as supporting the team. That is not true. Supporting the team can be expressed as applauding and cheering. Not supporting the team can be expressed as booing. Supporting the team but expressing dis-satisfaction can be not booing and not applauding. Bottom line, just because you’re not booing doesn’t mean one is blindly supporting the team.

by HydroTech on May 21, 2008 5:05 PM PDT up 0 recs

Only 150 showed up?!?!?!?!

I was thinking of crashing it despite the fact I was too late in registering. Damn.

http://sportingcontrarian.wordpress.com/

by BeastMode on May 21, 2008 4:15 PM PDT 0 recs

There were a bunch of no shows...

As is typical with a free event, there are no shows. There were much more than Athletics ever thought (over 100 in Pleasant Hill, about 80 in San Francisco), so they are opening the others to over-book. Sorry you didn’t get a chance to come… but you can drop in on San Jose or Sacramento. SF was okay – but definitely missing a bunch without Montgomery or Sandy there.

by OskiWeeWee on May 21, 2008 6:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

Curfew booing? Huh?

You can’t hope to stop booing. When a player or team is drastically underperforming (like USC was against Stanford), fans are going to get at you. I respect Tedford’s idea that hard work should be lauded, but football is sports and entertainment, fans pay huge ticket packages to come out and watch, so when the team goes south, everyone is wondering what the hell we came out to watch (this doesn’t include me, but I can understand the sentiment of young and old Bears alike).

If Tedford really wants the fans to understand how much college athletes work and to assuage discontent, he should open up practices to the public. See how much work players have to put in to get to where they are.

by BearsNecessity on May 21, 2008 4:48 PM PDT 0 recs

Disagree on all three points.

Cal football, and college football generally, while definitely a business, is more than just mere entertainment. To me, it’s a connection to the University and a chance to root for a student-athlete that is going through the same rite of passage all of us did at Cal – however different the experiences may be. And, again, they’re kids.

As for fans some how deserving excellence just because they paid to go to the game or to be season ticket holders, I couldn’t disagree more. First, as an alumn, you support your team and your University regardless. Second, if fans deserve anything, it would be effort, not results.

Lastly, are fans really that ignorant that they don’t understand the commitment it take to be a D1 football player in a BCS conference? I hope not.

http://sportingcontrarian.wordpress.com/

by BeastMode on May 21, 2008 8:38 PM PDT up 0 recs

Just ask Dan Hawkins

Who better unders that “This is Dvision I football!! It ain’t intramurals!”

by Montezuma's Revenge on May 21, 2008 10:30 PM PDT up 0 recs

My experiences at the University are less positive than yours, so maybe this is why my description is sour. My allegiances lie with the football team and friends I made here.

The common fan is still plenty ignorant. The layman fan has been channelled to lash out at losing as a sign that you suck. I don’t think they’re aware of how much it takes, or they severely underestimate it.

And remember this is an academic school first, so a lot of smart people get rankled at all the attention our football athletes get. Fans here aren’t as supportive as you might think, and they’ll get going when the good times get bad.

by BearsNecessity on May 22, 2008 2:24 AM PDT up 0 recs

Sorry your experiences were not so positive. But, remember, those are some pretty fantastic gifts that the University gave you: good friends and Cal football. I’m not sure what other connection to Cal you are looking for. Moreover, you got a pretty decent education.

In any case, for me, Cal football is meaningful for me because of the friends I made at Cal, it’s meaningful for games I’ve seen, and it’s meaningful because Cal gave me a great education.

http://sportingcontrarian.wordpress.com/

by BeastMode on May 22, 2008 2:39 PM PDT up 0 recs