A friend of mine has a great cable package and gets the Mandarin Broadcast Channel (MBC).  So, over the weekend I was able to watch a ton more Olympic sports.  Plus, NBC and its team of channels will show non-live stuff, which is great.  So, I got to watch weightlifting and badminton and ping pong.  The ping pong is insane, because its not like the way you or I would play it.  They serve in mid air and keep their arms in really tight like two TRexs are playing.

They had some crazy Equestrian sport called Drissage where you basically frog march the horse around in a big square.  Thats it.  Just walking around in a square.  And then at one point, the horse like stopped walking forward and decided to go backwards.  This was, to the announcers, worse than Little Big Horn or something.  I didn't know what the hell was going on, but apparently in Drissage you do NOT go backwards. 

But watching all these delightfully random sports (like trampoline) made me think that there's no particular rhyme or reason to a lot of the Olympics.  Sure, sports like track, gymnastics, and swimming seem truly iconic as Olympics sports. 

But beach volleyball?  Trampoline?  Badminton?  Drissage? Synchronized Diving?

I figure if we are going to just create sports out of whole cloth to put into the Olympics why stop there?

Let's do beach bandminton.  Synchronized Weightlifting (now, THAT one would be good).  Trampoline Drissage.

Frankly, let's just put everything with the trampoline. That trampoline is sick.  Who wouldn't watch trampoline synchronized diving?  You'd dive from the board onto the trampoline.  Trampoline wrestling would be sick.  Trampoline badminton. 

Hell, I'd even watch Trampoline trampoline.  Put a couple trampolines on top of each other and they'd have to jump around. 

And let's synchronize everything.  If 1 person can do it, why not 2 or 10?  Synchronized Pole Vault.  Synchronized Air Rifle. 

These are all great sports ideas and I will not stop until we have Trampoline Trampoline in the Olympics.  If they are getting rid of baseball and softball, they have a few openings.  Let's make this happen, people!  What other sports could we do?

Linkys:

Olympic Video of Natalie Coughlin

Cal Olympic Review Day 10

More info on Football camp:

In the offensive 7-on-7s, Tad Smith made a leaping catch, while Will Kapp made a nice catch and run along the sidelines for a sizeable gain. The 1-on-1s (DBs vs. WRs) also provided both offensive and defensive highlights. Ian Albrecht snared three catches, while newcomer Verran Tucker made an over the shoulder grab on a deep pass from Nate Longshore. Freshman Marvin Jones used his 6-2 frame to extended and make a play on the ball near the sideline as well. Defensively, Marcus Ezeff stuck like glue on his defender to break up a pass, and Kevin Lewis recovered nicely to also break up a pass. <!-- STORY AD BEGINS HERE -->

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Towards the end of practice, Cal went to work in the 11-on-11s. The defense remained aggressive, as Rulon Davis chased down a shifty Jahvid Best, while Tyson Alualu and Brett Johnson road blocked running back Shane Vereen from forward progress in the lane. Cameron Jordan also applied heat to the quarterback, while fellow defensive lineman Ernest Owusu intercepted a pass after Keith Browner applied pressure to the quarterback.

Preview of the Women's Volleyball Season:

When the 2007 Bears defeated Iowa State in the NCAA regional semifinal, it advanced further in the postseason than any Cal team in program history. Not satisfied with their successes, the Bears did themselves one better by knocking off then-defending NCAA Champion Nebraska, in the Wisconsin Regional to earn a trip to the NCAA championship semifinal match against eventual NCAA Champion Penn State, in Sacramento, Calif.

Feller believes the 2008 Bears are a unique blend of experience and youth; and of calculated precision and raw athletic talent. This year, Cal opponents will bear first-hand witness to the manifestation of a returning roster that boasts a junior outside hitter who received AVCA All-America honors, a senior class poised in leadership, a sophomore setter who came within six assists of breaking a single-season school record and a freshman class that brings with it two Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 Selections.

via grfx.cstv.com

Olsonist mentioned this yesterday, but it bears repeating.  Bone marrow donation can save lives.

BERKELEY - The purpose of the University of California football team's annual Fan Appreciation Day is for the Golden Bears to have a chance to thank their tremendous fan base by signing autographs, posing for pictures and shaking hands. However, the 2008 event will have even more meaning as the Bears are coming together to support Michelle Maykin, a Cal graduate and season ticket holder who was diagnosed with leukemia in February of 2007. The event will run from 12-2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

A true fan of the Golden Bears, Michelle, who even named her dog Marshawn after former Cal running back Marshawn Lynch, is in need of a bone marrow/stem cell transplant to help save her life. Her friends and family have been working throughout the summer on a campaign (www.projectmichelle.com) to register people onto the national bone marrow donor registry of the National Marrow Donor Program.

Members of the Cal football team, its coaching staff and the University athletic department staff will be registering to be potential donors at the marrow drive being held at Saturday's event. Staff from the Asian American Donor Program (part of the National Marrow Donor Program network) along with volunteers from Project Michelle will be present to register potential donors.

She named her dog Marshawn?!?!?!?!?!??  She is a true American hero. 

I'm going to have to speak with my wife about naming our first born child (of any gender) Marshawn.  I have a bad feeling that ain't gonna go over well.  *sigh*

Okanes talks about fall practice:

With limited game-like action, there wasn’t much chance to draw any distinction between the quarterbacks. Nate Longshore did make one mistake when he tried to dump a pass off to a running back while being pressured by defensive end Keith Browner, and it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Ernie Owusu.

 

Good news and bad news on the injury front. Nose tackle Derrick Hill (sprained ankle) returned to practice in a limited role, but tight end Cameron Morrah and cornerback Chris Conte now have sprained ankles, although Conte wasn’t in a red jersey.

 

It will be interesting to see just how much can be decided in Tuesday’s scrimmage. The Bears have key injuries at positions where there are battles for playing time. Mika Kane and Hill, the top two candidates for the nose tackle job, probably won’t play. Conte, who is fighting Darian Hagan for a starting job, is now an uncertainty. Mike Tepper’s injury still has the offensive line in a state of flux.

 

Coach Jeff Tedford downplayed the effect the scrimmage will have on the final depth chart, but it sure seems like it’s a big opportunity for those players vying for playing time. The Bears will start game planning for Michigan State on Wednesday, and Tedford said the team needs to have its scout team in order by that time. That means we should know by Wednesday which freshman are going to play this season and which are going to redshirt. It also will be interesting to see who takes first and second team reps, although Tedford has stressed that evaluation at every position is ongoing.

Chronicle article on camp battles:

Senior incumbent quarterback Nate Longshore started off hot and has been pretty consistent, but sophomore Kevin Riley made a push during the last week. Though Tedford said he'd like one of the quarterbacks to emerge, he has maintained that both could play, repeatedly saying, "It's more a matter of deciding who will take the first snaps than it is a matter of naming a starter."

Walk-on David Seawright has been challenging kicker Jordan Kay.

Injuries could get in the way of other positions being settled.

Redshirt freshman receiver Michael Calvin , who appears to be a lock as one of the top three, might miss the scrimmage with a toe injury. Tedford said Florida transfer Nyan Boateng and sophomore Jeremy Ross have struggled with consistency, and sixth-year senior Sean Young has been the most consistent wideout in camp. True freshman Marvin Jones led the team in receiving in the first scrimmage, and senior LaReylle Cunningham made two highlight-reel catches.

The top two nose-tackle candidates, Mika Kane and Derrick Hill, have ankle injuries, although Hill participated in individual drills Monday. Freshman Kendrick Payne has drawn rave reviews from defensive coordinator Bob Gregory.

Sophomores Darian Hagan and Chris Conte are competing for the corner spot opposite Syd'Quan Thompson. Conte was limited Monday with an ankle injury.

Daily Cal article that basically says same thing.

Examiner article that basically says the same thing.

McNabb speaks on DeSean:

With Reggie Brown expected to miss significant time with a hamstring injury, Jackson has been getting a lot of work with the first offense. He's expected to play a lot Friday, when the starters will go into the third quarter against the Patriots.

But McNabb said that, once the regular season starts, he'll face defenses and coverages that he hasn't seen before and will take some getting used to.

“I think he has done a great job. (But) I have been here a while, so I've seen when rookies come in and catch a couple balls and everyone gets excited,” McNabb said. “All of a sudden, the question goes out — "What happened and why isn't he still playing or making a lot of plays?'

“This is his third preseason game, I'm sure he wants to continue to improve. Most teams we've played play coverages sometimes where they are not pressed and up on (receivers), and are pretty much vanilla.”

Jackson has been most impressive with his ability to get off the line of scrimmage and get open on a variety of routes. But McNabb said one reason for that is because opposing teams aren't game planning for the Eagles.

“This is the preseason,” said McNabb, who did a series of sprints with Jackson after yesterday's practice.

“Most teams that we have played play coverages sometimes where they are not pressed and up on them. They are pretty much vanilla. We will see a lot of different things as this continues on, but this (playing time) gives him an opportunity to work on his routes, get the right depth, work on the timing with all of us, be able to catch the ball and turn upfield to make plays.”

So, if you see a link that relates to Cal in some way bring that bad boy on over.  Go Bears!  Dump Away!