We are BFFs Forever!

See, today is my 2 year wedding anniversary.  So, my wife and I celebrated yesterday in the only way you celebrate her special day (i.e. "our" anniversary).  It is an easy 3 step process:

1.  Go out to lunch.

2.  Hand her the credit card.

3.  Walk 3 to 5 feet behind her at the shopping center while she buys expensive and useless stuff. 

Couldn't be easier!  While we were out buying these shiny purpose-less things, we stopped off at a high end baby store.  One of my co-workers just had a baby.  Unfortunately, the high end baby store was closed.  This filled me with sadness and doubt.  What if we couldn't find another high end baby store in Walnut Creek?  What if we couldn't even find just a regular baby store in Walnut Creek?

Luckily, we walked 3 feet to the left and viola, there was ANOTHER high end baby store.  So, we head in there.  Yknow I'd never really been in a baby store before.  I was looking at the different baby carrying cases, because there is nothing more manly than a dude walking down the street carrying his baby.

There's like two different ways to carry the baby.  The first is Baby Bjorn, some sort of complex backpack that sits on your chest instead.  This thing is like Baby Guantanamo Bay, it is inescapable.  You could do jumping jacks, you could do somersaults, the baby would be OK.

Hell, they should add Baby to those crazy Olympic sports.  Synchronized Trampoline Dressage with Baby.  Beach Weighlifting with Baby.  Use a Baby Bjorn and there is a 0.00% chance of injury.

The other option appears to be a piece of cloth that you wrap about your chest and put the baby in.  I guess then you hold on for dear life.  Any parent buying Piece Of Cloth should be shot immediately and the bullet charged to Karl Dorrell.  Go for the baby bjorn, people.  This is your baby.  Don't just grab an oversized t-shirt tie it around your shoulders and head to town.

And who do I see in the baby store, but William Lamar Beane!!!!  Now, I'd seen him in person before at As FanFests et al.  But never in a relaxed setting like this.  He's tall, he's losing his hair, and he was wearing one of those VOTE FOR PEDRO shirts.  I love the guy! 

He was in there with some woman.  I don't know who she is.  His wife?  His mistress?  His wife's mistress?  His mistress' wife?  Of course, using modern celebrity tabloid logic(k), I can now break the new that Billy Beane's wife's mistress is pregnant.  Congrats to Billy Beane and the whole Beane family! 

I, of course, proceeded to stare wildly at Beane, never say anything to him, and text the shit out of it to my friends afterwards.  Maybe I should have tried to get an autograph or something.  Get him to sign my boob.  Who knows what I have missed out on?  We could have bought baby stuff together!

We ended up getting a bunch of socks for my co-worker.  I was arguing for the hand puppets.  Hand puppets, hand puppets, hand puppets.  But what do I know, right?  So, then I bump into a friend who just happens to be holding his sock-less baby in a Baby Bjorn (smart move!).  We ask him "Hey, friend with sock-less baby, do you ever put socks on your baby?"

He says "Nah, you can't get socks on these feet here, they don't stop moving.  But damn did we get like 1,000 pairs of socks as gifts."

I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE GONE FOR THE HAND PUPPETS!  DAMN YOU, MRS. TWISTNHOOK!

And now some links:

Info on Cal v. Wazzuu football:

SERIES FACTS
Games Played: 69
Series Record: Cal leads, 39-25-5
First Meeting: 10/25/19, WSU, 14-0
Last Meeting: 11/3/07, Cal, 20-17
Current Streak: Cal win three straight
Tedford vs. Washington State: 3-1

Opening Kickoff
Victorious in their opening game, the California Golden Bears now go on the road to face Washington State on Saturday. The Sept. 6 date is Cal's earliest Pac-10 game since 1993 when the Bears upended UCLA, 27-25, on Sept. 4 in the season opener. That team went on to finish 9-4 with a win over Iowa in the Alamo Bowl.

Saturday's 38-31 victory over Michigan State featured 467 yards of total offense, including a solid balance of 203 rushing yards (36 plays) and 264 passing yards (30 plays). The win was Cal's fifth in seven openers under head coach Jeff Tedford. Cal is 11-1 in non-league games in the last three years and 20-6 overall under Tedford in non-conference contests.

A big question entering 2008 was if Cal could continue its stretch of six consecutive seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher. After one game, the Bears are in good shape for that stat, while also showing off Tedford's preference to have two tailbacks handling the load. Sophomore Jahvid Best ran for 111 yards while redshirt freshman Shane Vereen collected 101 yards on the ground - the most yards in a debut game by a Cal freshman in history. Vereen also had an 81-yard touchdown run, the longest run in school history by a freshman.

Cal woman's field hockey loses to Drexel:

BERKELEY - California dropped its home opener to Drexel, 2-1, in overtime on Monday at Maxwell Family Field, as Dragons senior midfielder Amanda Kicera scored a golden goal in the 72nd minute. The loss evened Cal's record at 1-1, while Drexel improved to 2-0.

In the first and only overtime period, Drexel had a two-on-one break with Golden Bears senior goalkeeper Kelly Knoche. Dragons sophomore forward Susan Ciufo passed the ball to Kicera, who slotted the ball past the diving goalie.

Knoche finished with six saves. Her Drexel counterpart, Colleen McAndrew, made 10 saves, including saves on all four Cal shots in the second half. The Bears did not record an overtime shot.

Cal women's soccer beats St. Joseph's

BERKELEY - Five different players scored as No. 15 California downed Saint Joseph's, 6-0, Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium on the final day of the 14th-annual Cal Invitational. The Golden Bears improved to 2-1, while the Hawks fell to 0-2.

"We played well and created a lot of goalscoring opportunities," Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. "We actually created a lot of scoring opportunities on Friday but were having a lot of trouble in front of the net in executing the end of our offense. Our buildups are very good. We just weren't getting on frame. We need to do that."

Freshman midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir, who was named to the all-tournament team, put Cal ahead for good in the 20th minute with a header off a serve by senior defender Nkechi Kanu.

Sophomore forward Alex Morgan extended the Bears' lead to 2-0 about four minutes later off a long service from redshirt freshman defender/forward Natasha Richardson.

Cal men's soccer wins, too!  And over Maryland.  Sign of things to come?

Sophomore Servando Carrasco found the back of the net in the 87th minute to give No. 13 California a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Maryland Sunday afternoon at Drake Stadium on the campus of UCLA. With the win, the Golden Bears improved to 2-0 on the young season, while the Terrapins fell to 1-1.

Cal had only posted three shots in the first half, but recorded nine in the second half and forced Maryland keeper Zac Macmath to make five saves in the second half before the Bears got one past him for the game winner.

Overview of Men's Water Polo:

BERKELEY, CALIF. - Winning two-straight national titles is hard enough. To capture three-straight NCAA crowns is a near impossibility. Yet, do not count out Kirk Everist's 2008 California men's water polo team in its quest for another championship ring. Even though Cal lost five All-Americans from the 2007 squad, the Golden Bears still return three key performers from the 2006 and '07 title teams; have several other major contributors back; and showcase a class of newcomers ready to contribute to the Cal legacy.

Everist's troops will be striving for the program's NCAA-record 14th crown this season behind the leadership of senior captains Trent Calder and Frank Reynolds, and junior captain and two-time All-American Spencer Warden. The Bears also feature talented juniors Thomas Pearson, Scott Cruikshank and Mike Sample; plus sophomore standouts Brian Dudley and Zachary White, among others. This year's team will attempt to become the first Bear squad to win three straight national titles since the 1990-92 teams accomplished the feat. In fact, Cal is the only school in the nation to ever capture three straight NCAA crowns, winning three in a row from 1973-75, as well.

Cal women's volleyball continues to do great:

BERKELEY - The No. 5 California volleyball team (2-0, 0-0 Pac-10) completed a 3-0 sweep of UC Santa Barbara (25-15, 25-14, 25-21) today at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. on the final day of the 2008 Cal Molten Classic. The Golden Bears were led by all-tournament MVP and outstanding setter sophomore Carli Lloyd, who notched 34 assists on the day (66 over two matches) and added eight kills without an error. Lloyd also dug 10 balls and had five total blocks in an all-around tournament effort.

Junior outside hitter Hana Cutura led all players with 12 kills (4e, 26att) and hit .308 against the Gauchos (1-1, 0-0 Big West), earning a spot on the all-tournament team. Cutura also collected one of the Bears' three service aces and nearly logged a double-double, coming up with nine digs. Junior Kristen Kathan took defensive standout honors on the all-tournament team and led the way once again with 12 digs for the match.

Senior middle hitter Kat Reilly was the most prolific attacker for the Bears, coming up with eight kills on 10 attacks without registering a single error. Reilly also added two assists and two block assists to her final stat line.

I had noticed that Anger had a wrap on his leg.  Per Okanes:

Cal held its usual brief Sunday conditioning workout tonight. Afterward, Jeff Tedford said the team came out of Saturday’s game in pretty good shape healthwise.

The only concern is punter Bryan Anger, who suffered a sprained knee trying to get away a punt after mishandling the snap from Nick Sundberg. Anger is going to undergo an MRI on Tuesday and Tedford said the punter will rest most of the week. Anger said he thought he will play Saturday at Washington State.

Tedford provided some interesting insight about the mishandled snap after the game.

“One of the problems with having such a great snapper like Nick Sundberg is he snaps it so fast and so hard that you really have to be a great athlete to catch it,” he said. “That thing was smoking when it got to Bryan. Obviously, we don’t want that to happen again.”

Okanes with some quick hitters:

–Defensive coordinator Bob Gregory is in his seventh year at Cal, and for the first time since he’s been in Berkeley, he spent the game on the sidelines Saturday.

Gregory has always been in the press box for games, but the Bears decided it might be better for Gregory to be in the mix with his players during the game.

“We kind of felt it was an organizational thing,” Gregory said. “We thought it was a good thing to do. Just being able to look at all those guys and see them, and not have to go through somebody (to communicate)…”

Linebackers coach Kenwick Thompson took Gregory’s place in the press box.

Okanes' defining moments of the game:

–Michigan State had an apparent touchdown overturned by instant replay after it was ruled that wide receiver Mark Dell trapped a pass in the end zone on 3rd-and-6 in the first quarter. Dell made a sensational play just to make it close, going out in an all-out dive with Darian Hagan defending. I actually was surprised the call was overturned because it appeared to be so very close. I figured it would be ruled as inconclusive.

MSU:  A Look Back:

Before kickoff last night, it was really hard to determine just how good or what kind of team the Bears will be this season. Obviously, there are still a lot of questions to be answered, but I thought we started to get a gauge on some key issues against the Spartans, and it resulted in good news for Cal.

–Probably the most positive development was how the Bears defended the run. That was the biggest concern about the switch to the 3-4 defense. Michigan State is believed to have one of the most potent running attacks in the Big Ten with NFL draft prospect Javon Ringer in its backfield. The Bears held the Spartans to just 81 yards on the ground on a 2.6 average.

Obviously, the Bears allowed some yards in the passing game, and that will have to improve. Michigan State came up with some big plays through the air, especially late in the game. Spartans receiver Mark Dell had nine catches for 202 yards, the first opposing receiver to have over 200 yards against Cal since 2005.

–Tailback Jahvid Best looked exhausted at the end of the game and took a long time to come into the interview room afterward as he received treatment from the training staff. Best said he was slightly cramping late in the game.

If some of those links had already been posted, I apologize.  This is a goodly amount to start the day.  If you see any Cal-related links, bring those bad boys on over.  Dump Away!  Go Bears!