I went with the second option…

and for those single guys/gals out there…don’t get married until you find someone that makes you vote option 2…

Yeah, 100% made up.

Ratto on Giambi deal…

So it’s Jason Giambi, and why not? He’s not packing the same salary as last season, when he earned $1,046,935 for every hit by pitch, and got hit 22 times. He also had the second-best homers-to-at-bats ratio in the American League, and didn’t ask for MannyMoney (copyright The San Francisco Chronicle, so hands off if you don’t want lawyers in your breakfast nook).

I used to hate Ratto, now I find his humor pretty funny.

I saw the BART murder video last night on the news…very disturbing. I don’t even want to post it here. That cop shouldn’t get a trial, he should be shot on the spot (sorry lawyers).

PS, anyone else notice an astonishing increase in the quality of DBDs once Twist left? I’m not one to mix up correlation and causation, but I’m just pointing it out.

I’m a scientist by training so things in my world are fairly cut & dried.

An attorney for the family of the unarmed man who was fatally shot by a BART police officer early New Year’s Day filed a $25 million claim against the transit agency Tuesday, pushing the case forward even though BART has yet to speak with the officer or say why he fired his gun.

- First, why are they sueing BART and not the officer who shot him? If the employee was assumed to be mentally fit and properly trained, then why doesn’t responsibility lie solely on the officer?

some of you sleepy heads may not have seen danzig’s awesome Jahvid Best 2008 highlight reel on the right hand side (FanShot). It’s a must see.

HydroTech. Why is it such that you want me to feel bad about myself emotionally? What have I done to deserve such dis-service? Have I not treated you with kindness at all times?

I was just talking with Jake over at BuildingTheDam. He tells me that his bloggers treat him with kindness and respect and all are applying to medical school. Well, except for that CV guy. He’s a law school kind of guy. And yet I come here to find myself being treated in this manner? What have I done to raise such a disobedient blogger?

Thank Yahweh your blog-grandmother isn’t around to see you act like this. She would plotz. What a shonda!

Womens bball coach Boyle named rising star:

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its winners for the 2009 WBCA Superlatives, with California Golden Bears head coach Joanne Boyle earning the Rising Star award.

Joanne Boyle, the 2007-08 Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year, has guided the California women’s basketball program to the distinction of being one of the top-10 teams in the country in her four seasons at the helm.

Boyle has amassed a 79-30 record in three years in Berkeley, giving her the best winning percentage (.724) of any of the eight women’s basketball coaches in school history and a six-year career record of 146-59 (.712). Under Boyle’s direction, Cal has registered three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths (2006-08) for the first time and consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins for only the second time in school history. In 2008, Cal also advanced to the final of the Pac-10 Tournament for the first time.

Womens bball has home opening weekend:

BERKELEY -

Thursday, Jan. 8, 7:00 p.m.: Washington St. at Cal, Berkeley, Calif.

Sunday, Jan. 11, 12:30 p.m.: Washington at Cal, Berkeley, Calif. (Radio: KALX 90.7 fm, TV: Sunday, FSN)

For the second straight season, the California Golden Bears have started the season with a 2-0 mark in Pac-10 play. The Bears earned a 56-46 victory at Arizona Jan. 2, followed by a 54-53 thriller at Arizona State Jan. 4 to put them atop the conference standings. Since joining the Pac-10, the Bears have only started 3-0 or better two times- last season when they won six straight to begin conference play and in 1991-92 when they began with a 4-0 record. Overall, the Bears have started conference play 3-0 or better eight times, with their best start coming in 1981-82 when they went 8-0 to begin their NorCal Conference play.

After the opening weekend, the Bears are now 22-24 overall in the opening weekend of Pac-10 play. They have opened their Pac-10 season facing the Arizona schools nine times with a 7-11 record in those games.

The Bears are 11-11 in their Pac-10 home openers. Last season, they played they opened Pac-10 play at Haas with a 66-40 victory over Washington. Cal has won two of their last three Pac-10 home openers. This year, the Washington State Cougars will get the nod to play in Cal’s Pac-10 home opener. The Cougars have lost the last seven times they have faced Cal. Last year’s home contest against Washington State saw a final score of 99-44, with five different Cal players scoring double-digit points. The game was also the largest margin of victory for a Cal team in a Pac-10 game (44 points) and set a record for most points scored by a Cal team playing at Haas Pavilion.

Rugby about to begin:

BERKELEY – The 2009 Golden Bears roster is under way in a determined effort to earn the right to represent their University against a sizzling schedule replete with top-notch competition from January through April.

Coming off of California’s 24th national championship in 2008, the program’s fifth in a row, head coach Jack Clark, coach Tom Billups and staff have challenged the team once again to rise up to a level that signals the fulfillment of its potential, a season-long journey with no guarantees.

Despite a tremendous loss of talent, a continuing battle to regain health and conditioning, and the time that will be needed for this team to jell, fans can be certain that the Bears will mean business when they run under the posts and onto the pitch.

Pay no mind to the body of work that precedes this season’s team – the challenges for the 2009 Golden Bears are fraught with excitement and uncertainty. While the irreplaceable boots of departed veterans loom large as the 127th season of University of California rugby gets set to begin, the opportunity for the entire roster to prove itself once again on the pitch infuses every meeting, workout and training session.

Few rugby teams in the United States, collegiate or otherwise, have been forced to address the departure of talent such as that which the Golden Bears experienced following the 2008 season.

ASU’s Pendergraph is injured:

Arizona State senior forward Jeff Pendergraph has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee and could be limited in Thursday’s game against Oregon State.

“Right now he’s just going to be kind of day to day,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said Tuesday.

“Heroic Mule” is now my #1 fav band name (were I to ever start a band):

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. — Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year’s Day when Lou’s braying and acting up got her attention.

Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire. She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.

She said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm. It took Lou months to get over the loss of her sister.

Solomon said she has ‘lost it all’, but credits Lou with saving her life.

Jolene is staying with family members and plans to rebuild her home. The home was built by her grandfather and she had lived there all her life.

TwistNHook didn’t even ask any of us fellow CGBers to give him score updates while he was gone. He just forgot about the game and didn’t think about it like it meant nothing.

HydroTech, you may not think of me as a fellow CGBer, but I was giving Twist score updates while he was gone. I was concerned at the time about his mental well-being, because he didn’t even know who Miller was. Hydro, I hate Twist as much as the next guy, but this refusal to acknowledge my existence has gone too far.

Seeing as how I only know how good college football teams are, I have no idea how good any Rugby team (except Cal, who is the greatest EVAR) is.

Seeing as how it’s in my home town.

I shall fix this!

Cal might want to look at departing Oregon O-line coach. Also the D-line coach and WR coaches seem to be on their way out, per Kelly’s instructions.

The announcement of Kelly as heir apparent apparently convinced offensive line coach/assistant head coach Steve Greatwood to pursue a head coaching future elsewhere. Greatwood, who played at Oregon and has been a UO assistant for 24 seasons, is a finalist at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

A superb line coach and a dynamic recruiter, Greatwood would be a major loss.

Nolan close to joining the Packers as a defensive coordinator, so he has no chance to screw Aaron Rodgers up.

He thinks Utah is the only national champ. Not a split with anyone else, the ONLY ONE. Uh, what?

SBN hits the big time!

WHOOOOOO. I’M NUMBER SEVEN. I’M NUMBER SEVEN.

What do I win this time?

But these guys have been wrong before. And Tedford’s visiting him tonight anyway, so I assume Cal’s still on the table.

Re: Oregon State men’s basketball team beating USC last Sunday, snapping their 23-game conference losing streak:

After the game, Oregon State fans at Gill Coliseum were chanting, "Just like football!"

JO continues his season review with wide receivers

We obviously didn’t know what to make of Cal’s receivers before the season started. I’m not sure we still do.

The Bears entered the season completely unproven at receiver. Guys like Nyan Boateng, Verran Tucker and Jeremy Ross proved to at least by steady and serviceable, but nobody really knocked your socks off.

As we discussed with the quarterbacks, there are a lot of factors at work. Perhaps the quarterbacks weren’t doing a good enough job getting the ball in the receivers’ hands. There were some games the offensive line’s injuries brought the passing game to a standstill.

But there’s no question the wide receivers didn’t make enough plays. Boateng led the Bears with 29 catches. Lavelle Hawkins had 72 to lead Cal in 2007.
…

2008 WIDE RECEIVERS GRADE: C+

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/We-Hardly-Knew-Ye-95-5-percent-of-Georgia-s-off?urn=ncaaf,132849

Darrius Heyward Bey is declaring for the draft – one less scary offensive talent to worry about.