We were having fun, guys?  Right?  Being all buddy buddy with CougCenter.  Doing the whole CougCenter thing.  It was like we were Twins.  Well, at the very least Junior.  I thought we were BFFs.  Forever!

Hell, things were going so well, I would have been willing to film a buddy action movie with them.  Something like Kindergarten Cop II:  Naptime's Over!  And I rarely film buddy movies with anybody.  Not after Addicted To Quack really screwed up Requiem For A Dream II:  Time To Take More Drugs In A Painfully Depressing Manner.  So, that was a big thing for me.

Perhaps I was to naive to think that CougCenter and us could co-exist together.  Perhaps it was foolish of me to hope.  To believe.  I am after all a Cal fan.  Hope and belief go together with Cal fans like Chicken and Waffles go together with Roscoe (OK, wait, bad example).

But color me surprised (also Badd) when I read this:  

But hey, how about California Golden Blogs' [unnecessary pluralization sic] WSU/Cal Q&A? See, it's funny because the Cougar is an animal and a slang term for an attractive older woman. LOL! And the best part is, no one has ever, in the history of time, made that connection before. Pure brilliance.

Why, CougCenter?  Why must you spew those True Lies?  Why did you have to do that to us?  We were learning so much about Cougs!  And Centers, too!  I felt working together, we could Jingle not just part, but ALL the way.  WHY?

COUGCENTER WEEK IS TERMINATED!  COUGCENTER WEEK IS OVER!  THEY ARE DEAD TO ME!

This is the 6th day and also the End Of Days for CougCenter Week.  Let's look forward to TestudoTimes Week.  Also, let's figure out a way to make TestudoTimes week 1,000 times sexier than CougCenter week.  THAT'LL SHOW THEM!

Collateral Damage.

And now, some link!

What's this:

via grfx.cstv.com

That is what the future will look like. 

BERKELEY - The California Court of Appeal late Thursday afternoon "summarily denied" requests that it impose additional stays or a new injunction on the University of California, effectively clearing the way for the university to begin construction of its new Student-Athlete High Performance Center adjacent to Memorial Stadium.

The court refused to impose an immediate temporary stay of construction activities and a 20-day stay to allow further review of the case, and it denied the appellants' request for a new injunction to prohibit construction.

Let's see what our old BFF Forever (Carolyn Jones) turned Judas has to say:

While the three-judge appeals panel declined Thursday to issue an order blocking construction, the court said it would hear the plaintiffs' appeal of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller's ruling in favor of the university.

Miller ruled that the project complied with state earthquake and safety laws, following the university's offer to limit nonfootball events at the stadium and remove a grade beam that would have supported the stadium's west wall during construction of the sports training center.

The mood was calm Thursday at the oak grove, where a dozen or so supporters of the tree-sitters have been camped for almost two years.

"We're just waiting and watching," said "Stump," one of the protesters. "They could cut or they can wait. They have a choice. But if they decide to cut, we're ready for it."

Michael Kelly, president of the Panoramic Hill Association, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the Court of Appeal ruling.

"This means they can go ahead and start the project," he said. "Certainly we feel there should be an injunction, and we still feel it's in everyone's best interest to wait on this."

Really, Michael Kelly, president of the Panoramic Hill association?  Everybody's best interest to wait on this?  Really?

Cal women's soccer hosts Missouri:

BEARS FACE MISSOURI: Coming off a 6-0 victory over Saint Joseph's, No. 21 California (2-1, 0-0 Pac-10) wraps up a three-game homestand against Missouri (1-1 overall, 0-0 Big 12) Saturday, Sept. 6, at 11 a.m. at Edwards Stadium. The last time Cal scored more than six goals in a regular-season game was in a 12-0 shutout of James Madision in 2000 in Berkeley.

LAFONTAINE-KUSSMANN RETURNS TO THE FIELD: Redshirt freshman Jorden LaFontaine-Kussmann returned to the field this season after being diagnosed with lymphoma last October. She was declared cancer free in the spring and is one of three veteran goalkeepers on this year's team. Cal also features junior Gina Pellegrini and redshirt junior Rosie Aguilera.

CAL IN THE POLLS: As a result of a 3-2 overtime loss to unranked Cal State Fullerton on Aug. 29, Cal fell out of the Soccer America and Soccer Buzz polls. Cal dropped four spots to No. 21 in the NSCAA poll and is receiving votes by Soccer Buzz. The Soccer Times poll has not been updated this week.

Field hockey kicks butt:

FARMVILLE, Va. - Senior midfielder Gwen Belomy scored her first two goals of the season to lead California to a 4-1 victory over Longwood on hot Thursday afternoon at the Lancers' Athletics Complex in Farmville, Va. The Golden Bears improved their record to 2-1 and 1-0 in the NorPac Conference, while Longwood fell to 0-3 (0-1 NorPac).

"Gwen was really dynamic and at the right place at the right time," Onstead said. "She did a nice job of controlling the whole field.

"We were certainly better at finishing and we were better at not letting them stay in the game, which was my point to the team and something we learned from the Drexel game. We had a number of chances. It could've been a bigger score. We still need to work on finishing."

Belomy fired a shot that deflected in off of Longwood goalkeeper Erin West for the game's first goal in the fifth minute. Belomy struck again in the 17th minute when West was off her line to give Cal a 2-0 lead.

Okanes on the Court Ruling and Michael Calvin:

Barbour, who spoke to reporters after practice as well, didn’t know what the university’s next step was, but said the trees outside Memorial Stadium could come down sometime next week.

On the field, wide receiver Michael Calvin continues to demonstrate that he is returning to full health and should play a big role on Saturday. Tedford said punter Bryan Anger is ready and will make the trip. The Bears are also taking both David Seawright and Jordan Kay. Seawright will handle both kickoffs and field goals.

Injured left tackle Mike Tepper will not make the trip.

WSU's leading rusher, Dwight Tardy, is on the mend nicely from knee surgery:

With his 18 carries and 59 yards rushing, running back Dwight Tardy was one of the most productive Washington State football players in Saturday’s 39-13 loss to Oklahoma State at Qwest Field.

They weren’t huge numbers, but considering the WSU attack netted only 196 yards of total offense, Tardy made a legitimate contribution. His 59 yards led a solid if not spectacular Cougars ground game that gained 114 yards. The 18 carries were more than expected, said coach Paul Wulff, who expected to limit him to around 10 to 12 carries since Tardy is recovering from offseason knee surgery.

But Tardy isn’t about to accept compliments on the performance.

“I think I can play a lot better,” he said. “I was thinking about my knee too much. Seeing a couple guys go down early in the game, it kind of got in the back of my mind.”

This might have been linked to already, but its about how difficult starting Pac10 play early is.  If we are going to select one team to start it against, Im happy its WSU:

He said because of the 64-player roster limit for Pac-10 road games, the coaching staff has had to speed up personnel evaluation in certain areas this fall.

"You like to play your nonconference games first and then get to conference play," Tedford said. "You like to be able to figure out who's exactly going to play for you in special teams and get some game experience for guys before you have to get into conference play. That's a challenge this week to cut down to 64 for the road. You're still evaluating some situations on special teams and so on and so forth."

This will only be a taste of Pac-10 play for the Bears, who beat Michigan State 38-31 in its season opener last weekend.

Cal follows Saturday with two more nonconference games before resuming its Pac-10 schedule Oct. 4 against Arizona State.

Not only are the Bears starting Pac-10 competition earlier than they would like, they are doing so against a new coaching staff that has implemented the no-huddle, spread offense. Tedford said the team has watched film of Eastern Washington, new Cougars coach Paul Wulff's previous stop, but doesn't have a lot to go on for the conference opener.

"You just don't know what to expect," Tedford said. "We've obviously seen tape of Eastern Washington from last year to try to get a gauge on who they are. But their personnel is a little bit different at Washington State. There are a lot of unknowns playing a conference game so early, especially against somebody you don't have a lot of history with. That makes it more difficult to play a conference game that early when it's a new coach."

CougCenter, are you ready to apologize?

Dump Away!  Go Bears!