Mens bball to host open scrimmage:

BERKELEY – Cal fans will get their first opportunity to see the 2009-10 Golden Bears as the men’s basketball program will be hosting an open scrimmage on Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 5-6:30 p.m. at Haas Pavilion. Head coach Mike Montgomery’s squad will hold a scrimmage open to the public from 5-6 p.m. Following the scrimmage, fans will have an autograph session with the players and coaches until 6:30 p.m.

Fans will have a chance to win two basketballs signed by Montgomery, as well as two courtside seats to a select nonconference game.

The open scrimmage will include activities even the youngest fans will enjoy like an inflatable free throw contest inside Haas Pavilion. The Cal Spirit Teams will be involved with the Mic Men and Cal Dance Team leading the cheers.

Cal fans can purchase specially-priced ticket packs for the 2009-10 men’s basketball season before single-game tickets become available to the general public. Fans can choose between a 7-Game Flex Pack for $161, which allows you to pick three nonconference and four conference games of your choice, or the Cal Fan 4-Pack for $110, which includes UCLA, Stanford, Arizona and one nonconference game of your choice. Other 7-Game Flex Pack and Cal Fan 4-Pack benefits include flexibility and savings over single-ticket prices.

Womens BBall picked to finish 2 in Pac10:

The California Golden Bears women’s basketball team has been picked to finish second in the Pac-10 this season in the annual preseason Coaches’ Poll released by the conference. It is the second straight season that Cal has been named the number two team in the preseason poll.

Cal finished in a tie for second place last season, amassing a 15-3 record in Pac-10 games. They were the No. 2 seed for the post-season Pac-10 tournament. Cal has won 15 in-conference games each of the last two seasons.

Stanford, the nine-time defending Pac-10 champion, was named the top team in the coaches’ poll. The next three teams, Cal, Arizona State, and UCLA, were separated by just four points. Cal came in second with 67 points in the poll of the ten conference head coaches, followed by ASU (64) and UCLA (63).

Cal opens their season on Sunday, Nov. 15 when they host Idaho State at Haas Pavilion. They will have one preseason exhibition game this year on Tuesday, Nov. 3 when Vanguard comes to Haas. Tickets for the exhibition game will be free for all fans.

Season tickets are still available for the 2009-10 season. Reserved “chairback” seating is available in sections 1, 2, 3, 15, 16 and 17. General admission season tickets are also available. Both season ticket packages include many bonuses: Post season ticket priority – first chance at the 2010 NCAA 1st/2nd round tickets hosted by Cal; Pre-public access to single game tickets; 4 FREE general admission tickets to the Baylor game on Nov. 22; 4 FREE general admission tickets to the Stanford game on March 6th; Souvenir tickets.

Mens tennis set to host invitational:

BERKELEY – The California men’s tennis team is set to host the 2009 Wilson/ITA Northwest Regional Championship this weekend (Friday, Oct. 23, through Tuesday, Oct. 27) at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts. The five-day tournament will produce a singles and doubles champion which will each earn berths to the 2009 ITA National Indoor Tennis Championships from Nov. 5-8, in New Haven, Conn.

The Golden Bears will welcome players from Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon, Pacific, Portland, Sacramento State, Saint Mary’s College, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Davis and Washington.

Play opens with first-round singles matches on Friday (Oct. 23) at 8 a.m. PT. Top seeds will receive first-round byes and a second round of singles matches will be played on the first day. Losing players from the first round will be automatically entered into a back draw that will play to completion. Saturday (Oct. 24) will feature two rounds of doubles matches and one round of singles main draw matches. The singles back draw will also play two rounds.

Singles round of 16 and quarterfinal matches will be played on Sunday (Oct. 25) with the doubles round of 16 and one round of doubles consolation matches. The singles consolation bracket will go through round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal matches as well. On Monday (Oct. 26), doubles quarters and semifinal matches take place along with the singles main draw semifinal and the singles back-draw final. Championship finals will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 27, for both the singles and doubles main draws.

Nine singles players ranked in the ITA preseason rankings will be among the field of 120 in the first round of play. Those players are: No. 7 Alex Clayton of Stanford; No. 15 Bradley Klahn of Stanford; No. 32 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of Washington; No. 42 Pedro Zerbini of California; No. 76 Richard Wire of Stanford; No. 87 Kiryl Harbatsiuk of Sacramento State; No. 91 Gregory Hirshman of Stanford; No. 96 Ryan Thacher of Stanford; and No. 102 Anton Stryhas of Sac

Former women’s rower wins Rowing award:

BERKELEY – Former California women’s rower Erin Cafaro has been named USRowing’s 2009 Athlete of the Year, the organization announced on Thursday.

Cafaro, who graduated in 2006, was a five-time national team member and 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the women’s eight. She won gold medals in both the pair and eight at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland. Cafaro, a native of Modesto, Calif., and boatmate Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) became the first U.S. women’s pair in history to win the world title. Cafaro also won gold in the eight at the 2009 Rowing World Cup race in Lucerne, Switzerland. Domestically, she won the pair at the 2009 World Championships Trials and both USRowing National Selection Regattas. She also won gold in the eight at the 2009 USRowing National Championships.

“It’s the greatest honor you can receive because it is voted on by your teammates. It’s especially gratifying this year when so many people stepped up and performed well,” Cafaro said. “I’m very honored and thankful for all my teammates and coaches. I couldn’t have gotten anywhere without them.”

During her time at Cal, Cafaro was a key member of Cal’s 2005 and 2006 NCAA championship teams.

Baseball Alumni game set for 1 this Sun:

The 2010 California baseball team, featuring 2009 All-Pac-10 outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha and a class of newcomers ranked third-best in the Pac-10, will host the annual Cal Baseball Alumni Game, Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1:00 p.m. at Evans Diamond. Admission is free.

The alumni game is part of Cal Baseball Alumni Weekend which also features the Bullpen Club Golf Classic on Monday, Oct. 26, held at the Contra Costa Country Club in Pleasant Hill, Calif. beginning at 10 a.m. with check in at 8:30 a.m. The tournament is open to both men and women with limited spots still available.

The cost to play in the Bullpen Golf Classic is $300 per person. There will be a dinner, as well as a silent and live auction following the tournament that will benefit the 2010 Cal Baseball Team. If you don’t enjoy golf, you can still join the dinner and auction for just $25 per person. If you are unable to attend or would like to support this tournament and the Cal Baseball Team there are tee, green, and tournament sponsorships available. Donations for the silent and live auction are also welcomed.

Junior Canha (San Jose, Calif.) had a breakout year last season, leading the Golden Bears with a .366 average (fifth in the Pac-10) and finishing with 17 doubles, 75 hits, 130 total bases and a .634 slugging percentage. He also hit 12 home runs with 43 RBI and a .444 on-base percentage. Canha was the March 3 Pac-10 Player of the Week after going 9-for-20 (.450) with seven runs, two doubles, two home runs and five RBI in Cal’s wins over Vanderbilt (4-3), at Santa Clara (12-2) and three-game sweep at Long Beach State (11-8, 9-6, 6-3). He added a team-best 24 multiple hit and 11 multiple RBI games during the 2009 campaign.

The Bears’ 2009 recruiting class was selected the 24th best in the nation, and third-best in the Pac-10, by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. The national publication selected Cal’s 15 newcomers among the conference’s top three, behind only 2008 College World Series participant Arizona State (2nd) and Bay Area rival Stanford (10th), and ahead of Oregon State (25th), Oregon (26th) and UCLA (33rd).

Women’s Soccer to travel to Washingtons:

This Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The Bears take to the friendly skies for a trip to Washington for the third weekend of Pac-10 play. No. 23 Cal (8-5-1 overall, 2-2-0 in the Pac-10) is set to play Washington (9-2-3, 1-0-2 Pac-10) Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. before traveling East to Pullman for a match against No. 21 Washington State (10-3-1, 2-0-1 Pac-10) on Sunday, Oct. 25 and 11 a.m. The Bears won their first two conference games with a 2-1 victory at Oregon and a 2-0 win over OSU, and are looking to rebound after two tough losses last weekend to then-No. 9 USC (3-2, OT) and then-No. 3 UCLA (1-0).

Last Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The Bears lost a tense Pac-10 Conference game, 1-0, to visiting No. 3 UCLA on Oct. 16. Cal had multiple solid looks on goal, but could not convert against the Bruins (12-1-1, 3-0-0). UCLA’s goal came from Sydney Leroux in the 77th minute off an assist from Lauren Cheney. On Sunday, Oct. 18, the Bears scored two goals in the second half to tie No. 9 USC, 2-2, at the end of regulation, but could not score in overtime and US) won the 3-2 overtime decision. Sophomore defender/forward Miranda White scored first for the Bears and junior forward Alex Morgan netted the second. A 2009 season-high 753 fans came out to Sunday’s Pac-10 match.

Miranda White Comes Up Huge Against USC
Sophomore defender/forward Miranda White came out huge for the Bears against USC. After having a near miss on a shot from White that hit the crossbar, Cal found the back of the net with its ninth shot of the half. White struck a pass from Morgan at the tail end of the 74th minute to bring the Bears within one, 2-1. White returned the favor with an assist to Morgan, who tied things up, 2-2, with a goal at 77:24.

Update to Gameday Plan:

BERKELEY – After a thorough review of its gameday procedures following the Oct. 3 USC game, Cal Athletics will institute several changes for the rest of the season that are aimed at improving fan experience at Memorial Stadium.

Increased congestion and long lines created an unpleasant evening for many who were in attendance to watch the Golden Bears and Trojans three weeks ago. Now, after consulting with the UC Police Department and other experts, a new plan will be put into place to help ensure safer pedestrian flow and better crowd control.

The first steps fans are likely to see, starting with this Saturday’s Washington State game, are volunteers stationed strategically around campus and outside the stadium to help direct fans to the most appropriate gates and answer any questions on entry into the stadium. Additional measures that will be taken include:

    * Closing selected concession stands on the mezzanine level pregame to prevent long lines that can impede access to seats.
    * Providing radios to security personnel located in the mezzanine to better communicate potential problems.
    * Allowing fan access to seats inside the stadium through the North Tunnel before the game.
    * Monitoring gate traffic through the use of video cameras focused on key entry points.
    * Better oversight and maintenance of restrooms and portable toilets throughout the stadium.

Due to construction of the Student-Athlete High Performance Center, a number of changes were enacted prior to the season that have had an effect on access to Memorial Stadium. Because of these modifications, fans are encouraged to arrive early to ensure they are able to be seated prior to the start of games. Gates will open two hours before kickoff.

Fans are also requested to follow the guidelines below to help to make it easier for them to find their preferred gates.

We didn’t even get to play Truth or Cougar!

LINK

What has not improved offensively is that this team still has no “rice and beans” offense – the plays that sustain the offense between all the big plays. Right now the Cal offense is living off Red Bull and vitamins instead of real food. 500 yards of offense doesn’t matter if you can’t get 3 yards when you really need it. Great offenses can get those yards on the ground. This team is still relying on the big play the way the Cal basketball team relied on the three pointer last season. When the big play isn’t there, it is struggling to manufacture yards. Exhibit A: the entire second half versus UCLA.

Red Bull and vitamins? Apparently we’re running the Rishi offense!

Hmm, lots of interesting stuff from the BWNQ midseason report…I’ll go point-by-point and let you guys talk about it.

Constant shuffling of LB spots. While I have a number of issues with Gregory, which I will get to, one that relates to this issue of being out of position is all the shuffling around at LB. I get that you want to figure out where they fit. But seriously, you don’t know where Devin Bishop, Mike Mohamed, and Eddie Young should play at this point, in their third, fourth, and fifth years in the program, respectively? This constant moving around is almost certainly making these guys think too much and play tentatively. You can see it with Mohamed in particular. Give them their spots (which can still be multiple, such as one spot on 1st and 2nd down and another on 3rd down – as long as it’s fixed), and let them get comfortable with it.

Passive game plan = passive attitude. As much as defense is about talent, it is also so dependent on attitude. Lawrence Taylor’s crazed dog mentality sums it up. The Cal defense needs to be told on Sunday before the week of practice begins that they are going to impose their will on the opposing offense, that they are going to be the unit that the team rides to a win, not the offense. They need to practice with that mindset and they need to play with that mindset. And the best way to ensure that happens is to put in a game plan that reflects that mindset. Rushing 3 or 4 and dropping 7 or 8 every play doesn’t do that. Playing read and react and keeping everything in front of you doesn’t do that.

So my question is this: why is it that every time I see Anger coming off the field, Alamar is right there jawing in his ear? You have to wonder if there’s a correlation between Anger all of a sudden shanking punts this year and Alamar’s constant commentary.

Kickers and punters are different than other players. They’re like golfers. They get a handful of chances to do something that requires perfect coordination in one sweeping movement, with guys running at them.

Their psyches need to be handled differently. You don’t chat at them during a game. You call the play in the huddle – punt left, punt right, etc., and you let them execute. And if they don’t execute, you wait until practice to talk about it. And even then, you can talk to them about direction, but not too much. As long as it’s high, you should have the athletes to cover. Don’t waste the kid’s talent trying to turn him into a surgeon with the football.

From the Jon Wilner blog a couple of days ago. I hadn’t seen this posted before.

Lastly, quick personal anecdote:

I was at Cal yesterday and by total coincidence ended up walking a few steps behind Best from upper Bancroft all the way into Sproul Plaza — a 10-12 minute stroll through an extremely crowded part of campus during the middle of the day.

Best was wearing gray sweats and a white T shirt (I couldn’t tell if it said "Cal football," but it was of the athletic variety) and had No. 4 on his backpack … and he’s only the best-known athlete at the school.

And the entire time, nobody stopped him to chat, or congratulate him on the UCLA win, or the 93-yard run … or on being Jahvid Best.

That doesn’t happen in Gainesville or Norman. It was quite refreshing.

As the season has worn on, more and more of Riley’s passes have been one of three varieties: (1) very short, (2) to sidelines, or (3) deep. With a few exceptions, the 10-20 yard balls over the middle have been missing.

On the one hand, this is a sound scheme (if it is by design), because those are the least likely to be picked off. On the other hand, it is limiting the receivers somewhat in their ability to do much damage, or even at times to get open. These three kinds of passes are the easiest to defend, especially if defenses start to see that the middle is not a threat. If guys are getting thrown to over the middle constantly, it opens up the sidelines a lot more and it pulls the LBs back a bit into coverage, which can make the draws and run game even more effective.

Okanes Thursday night report.

Gregory also said he would continue to go with D.J. Holt starting at the rush linebacker spot with Mychal Kendricks coming off the bench, but added that Kendricks will "play a lot" on Saturday. Gregory also said safety Sean Cattouse’s playing time will continue to increase. Marcus Ezeff and Brett Johnson will continue to start.

LINK

The coaches received game tapes of Max’s performance with the Chinese team at the World University Games, courtesy of USA Basketball. Zhang led the tournament in rebounding and blocked shots and Montgomery admitted, "We were curious ourselves as to how he was able to do that." What they saw was Max playing in the back of China’s zone defense, often blocking shots of smaller players releaasing the ball from below the rim. He also got lots of offensive rebounds off his own misses.

Also, Monty labels Amoke as most improved

Montgomery labeled sophomore forward Omondi Amoke as perhaps the most improved player since last season. Amoke is active on the glass and a factor on every play, assistant coach Jay John said. At 6-foot-7, he still will shuttle between small forward and power forward, especially until Kamp’s situation at power forward becomes clear. Amoke said he doesn’t care which position he plays; he just wants to be on the floor as much as possible.

LINK

Cal is in trouble if: Jahvid Best, Shane Vereen, and the entire Golden Bear starting offensive line comes down with the flu and are unable to go on Saturday OR in a few years those players are found to have been violating NCAA rules and Cal is forced to vacate all of their wins for the 2009 season.

Buried in an SI.com article about funding a new NFL stadium in LA:

(The 32 clubs each get an equal split of revenues from television, sponsorships and merchandising; 40% of a team’s gate receipts also go into a shared pot.)

So basically, teams should endeavor to increase their own gate receipts through luxury boxes and the like; everything else is evenly split regardless so if even say, the Jaguars were to draft Tebow and sell a million jerseys, they’d only get 1/32 of the revenue from those sales anyway.

“We have reiterated to Goldy the importance of exercising appropriate religious sensitivity in the future.”

I especially like the impish picture included with the story.

Pac-10: Refs should’ve called penalty

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — The Pacific-10 Conference says its officials erred in not calling a penalty on Notre Dame for a fake field goal in last Saturday’s game between the Fighting Irish and USC.

The Trojans won the game 34-27.

The trick play resulted in a 25-yard gain that set up Notre Dame’s first touchdown. Dave Cutaia, the Pac-10’s coordinator of officials, says a foul should have been called for using substitutions to deceive. The Fighting Irish should have been pushed back 15 yards and the down repeated.

I’m putting Oregon on upset alert this weekend. Masoli’s been nursing a sore knee…and the game’s in Husky Stadium. I have a feelin’ Locker and Co can make Oregon’s D look over-rated (clap, clap, clapclapclap). Should be a fun one.

Should USC be on upset alert? I think they take care of business…but OSU’s easy to overlook.

Why couldn’t we get the Governator on our side during our Stadium fight?

INDUSTRY, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday he has signed a bill allowing the construction of a 75,000-seat stadium that developers hope will lure an NFL team back to the Los Angeles area.

Schwarzenegger said he signed the environmental exemption bill last week but saved the announcement for a news conference in Industry, where the stadium would be built about 15 miles east of Los Angeles.

The bill nullifies a lawsuit filed by residents in nearby Walnut over the project’s environmental impact.

Schwarzenegger called the lawsuit frivolous before a crowd of union members wearing hardhats. Across the street, a dozen protesters from Walnut and other nearby communities held signs saying “No Stadium.”

“This is the best kind of action state government can create — action that cuts red tape, generates jobs, is environmentally friendly and brings a continued economic boost to California,” Schwarzenegger said.

Awesome comment on Dr. Saturday’s article about bad SEC officiating

23. Posted by ROBERT G Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:31 am EDT these comments did not come from the pac 10 conference, but from long time participants in the business of providing coverups for dishonest officials, dave cutaia, the current pac 10 conference coordinator of football officiating and his boss and predecessor in that pac 10 conference position,jim muldoon, now the associate pac 10 conference commissoner for football operations and publicity
dave cutaia got his promotion from the position of pac 10 head of game officiating crews from former pac 10 commissioner tom hansen right after an all pac 10 officiating crew headed by cutaia and an all pac 10 ten review crew stole a win over oregon from oklahoma with a coordination of dishonest calls and non calls by the crews headed by cutaia, very much like the coordinated dishonest calls by all pac 10 game officials which permitted usc to steal wins from notre dame over usc in 2005 and 2009.
the officiating at that 2006 oregon/oklahoma game was so blatantly dishonest that commissioner hansen and then coordinator of football officiating were forced to admit that the officiating conduct was dishonest and had altered the game outcome in oregon’s favor. both hansen and muldoon swore publicly that they would punish severely every pac 10 official involved in that game.
their punishment for cutaia was to promote cutaia to muldoon’s former position at the pac 10 conference.
unfortuinately, oklahoma did not pursue its civil remedies in the courts to force the phony game outcome to be reversed to show zero points scored by oregon, the boosters who paid off the officialsincluding cutaia , did deliver a win on paper to oregon.
to this day, no big 12 team will schedule any game in which pac 10 officials have any role whatsoever.
cutaia certainly does know what dishonest officiating and payoffs are all about since, in the eyes of hansen and muldoon, cutaia had earned a big promotion, which they both delivered to cutaia.
cutaia’s comments were in response to numerous game film clips of many acts of dishonest officiating by this pac 10 crew by charlie weis of notre dame requesting explanations with references to specific officiating rules.
cutaia’s normal responses to such requests which pour into him after virtually every game in which pac 10 ref or tech review crews participate are to ignore them completely or simply reply screw you.
the substitution rule to which cutaia refs simply does not exist and his press release is an attempt to draw attention away from the fact that this pac 10 officiating crew was bought and paid for to make sufficient dishonest calls and other acts of officiating misconduct to steal a win for usc, with large bonuses if they delivered a blowout win which they failed to deliver.
we hope that the pac 10 ref crew and cutaia and muldoon got very large payoffs in the notre dame and other games over the past several years since we will be relieving them of all of their material possessions in very public jury trials very shortly.
as for the pac 10 conference as an entity, new and honest pac 10 commissioner larry scott has a big mess to clean up, including terminating cutaia and muldoon and every single pac 1o game and tech review official in mid season.
we suggest that hansen, cutaia, muldoon, their counterparts at every other conference, and every official read the ncaa officiating rules very carefully and officiate every game honestly.
if that does not happen, we will take all of their material possesions in the civil courts as well in very public jury trials.
we undertstand that the ncaa and the conferences and officials and the coaches and schools that make the payoffs may still be operating under the assumption that they can rely on certain obscure federal laws to keep the public from accessing their records,
fortunately, we broke down those barriers in our disclosure action in the civil courts against the ncaa.
on 10/15/2009, after spending millions in attorneys fees at trial and on appeal, the ncaa threw in the towel and coughed up every single document realting to the ncaa investigation of florida state for academic misconduct.
in fact, anyone who wants to see a real classic inn dishonest officiating need only dial up espn 360 on the internet and watch the florida state, north carolina game which was played on thursday night.
there, dishonest acc game officials were paid by associates of butch davis, formerly and notoriously the head coach at miami, and now the head coach at north carolina to deliver a win to davis and north carolina.
well , in that game, florida state beat both both north carolina and dishonest acc game and tech review crews.
in that game, the tv feed and replays are clear as a bell for anyone who has read the ncaa college football officiating rules carefully.
the days of dealmaking behind closed doors and secrecy are over.
now, it is just a question of which officials choose to commit premediated economic suicide and which do not.
no, suspending the game crew at the arkansas/ florida game will not keep the sec conference or those who run the football officiating con operation in the sec conference or the game officials. the outcome of that game has to be reversed and every individual in the sec conference participating in or providing cover for any dishonest official will have to pay substantial damages in the civil courts, along with the conference as an entity.
in the case of the arkansas/florida game, it is quite possible that no payoffs were made to the game officials, but that the game officials, who are employed by the conferences,were seeking to protect the sec’s chances of securing 2 spots in bcs games with big payoffs with the winner of the florida/alabama game going to the bcs title game and the one loss loser going to a second bcs bowl game, with another big payooff for the sec conference and its employees.
when it comes down to the alabama. florida matchup, watch for alabama boosters to buy the sec officials and a win over florida unless the point spreads become of interest to the sports bookies, who can and have, in the past,outbid any team boosters.
this saturday, look for a bidding war between oregon and usc for the serices of another dishonest pac 10 ref crew in the wasshington/oregon game at washington.

COREY (MISSISSIPPI)

IS Cal’s coach in jepodary of his job!!!!!!!! Again they come into a season with lofty excepations and fall flat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruce (2:57 PM)

Nah, they were really mediocre before he got there. They do underachieve it seems annually though.

SEC country – English is not a core requirement.