Makes me sad for him.

This reversal of faith certainly qualifies as welcome relief, yet it’s regrettably painful. But I’ve given up on UC Berkeley returning to the Rose Bowl football game in my lifetime.

Go Bears? No-go Bears.

I’ve waited patiently for 50 years — Holy Oski! — for Cal to get back to Pasadena on New Year’s Day. My patience has run out along with my enduring faith. I’ve come to the conclusion Cal is a second-tier bowl team, and that’s that.

Cal’s last Rose Bowl appearance ended the 1958 season — a 38-12 loss to Iowa. The Bears’ half-century Rose Bowl drought is the longest among Pacific-10 Conference schools, excluding Arizona, which didn’t join until 1978.

After humiliating losses the past two weekends, Cal has no chance of playing in this next Rose Bowl, which will be the rotating national championship game. Cal players can buy New Year’s roses for their mothers.

Gobbler Nation calls the resulting suspension really dumb. Do you agree with Bryant or the NCAA?

Bryant thought just going to Sanders’ house was a violation of NCAA rules. I don’t blame him. It seems every small, stupid thing is an NCAA violation, even if it’s just Chillin’ With Deion. The NCAA has these kids scared to leave their dorms without doing something that will cost them their eligibility.

That’s not how it should be. If the kids take pay for play then they should be ineligible. But when kids start thinking that talking to a retired NFL player is a violation, then you know there are too many rules.

[…]

Congratulations on busting such a nefarious rule breaker like Dez Bryant, NCAA. Now when are we going to hear something from you about Reggie Bush?

And what they get is this.

Womens golf wins Invitational:

SAMMAMISH, WASH. -

The No. 17 California Golden Bears women’s golf team won the team title at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational, held at the Sahalee Golf Course in Sammamish, Wash. The Bears took the tournament lead shortly after teeing off on Monday and never looked back. They held a ten stroke lead at the start of the third round. After posting a 298 in the final 18 holes, Cal extended their margin of victory, winning the tournament by 15 strokes over second-place Stanford.

Senior Roseanne Niven showed her senior leadership in the final round, posting an even-par 72 to lead the squad. Niven birdied holes 11, 13 and 14 on the back-nine to card her best round of the season. It was the second day in a row that Niven had birdied 13 and 14.

“Rosie is our baounce-back girl,” said head coach Nancy McDaniel. “To see her composure trying to come back after not playing her greatest round on Tuesday. Today, she was dialed in with her irons and she had a great round.”

Emily Childs, a sophomore playing in her first season at Cal after transferring from Colorado, was the top overall finisher for the Bears, placing third on the individual leader board. Childs opened the tournament with a one-over and then scored a pair of 74’s in the final two rounds to finish at +5. She finished two strokes off the medalist, Katrina Delen Briones of San Jose State who posted a three-over.

Mens swimming to open season:

This Week:

The California men’s swimming and diving team, featuring 2009 NCAA champions Nathan Adrian and Damir Dugonjic, opens the 2009-10 season with 1 p.m. home dual meets against Hawaii on Friday, Oct. 9, and Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 10. The Golden Bears divers, led by first-year coach Ben Herdt, will make their season debut Friday versus the Rainbows. Third-year Cal head swim coach David Durden has another talented squad, not only including juniors Adrian and Dugonjic, but six fellow 2009 All-Americans – senior Sean Mahoney, juniors Martti Aljand, Guy Barnea, Josh Daniels and Graeme Moore, and sophomore Nolan Koon.

2008-09 in Review:

The Bears placed fourth (350 points) at the 2009 NCAA championships in College Station, Texas. Adrian captured the NCAA 100 free in an American record time of 41.08 and the 50 free in an American record 18.71. Joining Adrian as national champ was Dugonjic, who won the 100-yard breast in an NCAA-record 50.86.

Other highlights were Mahoney placing second in the 200 breast in1:52.34. Mahoney had set an then-NCAA record with a 1:51.96 in the morning prelims. In the 100 back, David Russell was second, breaking his own school record of 45.42 with a time of 45.30. Cal’s 200 medley relay team of Barnea, Dugonjic, Moore and Adrian placed second with an NCAA-record 1:22.50, while the 400 medley relay of Russell, Dugonjic, Moore and Adrian swam a new school record 3:01.69, narrowly missing a national title as they were edged by Auburn’s 3:01.39.

At the 2009 conference meet, Cal had Pac-10 champions in the 50, 100 and 200 free (Adrian is the first Cal swimmer to win all three of those freestyle events at the Pac-10 meet), in the 200 IM (Aljand), the 100 breast (Dugonjic), the 200 breast (Koon), the 400 medley relay (3:03.30; Russell, Dugonjic, Moore, Adrian) and the 200 medley relay (1:23.98; Russell, Dugonjic, Moore, Bennett Clark). The Bears won eight Pac-10 crowns in 2009 after winning six conference titles in 2008, when they also placed second at the meet.

Mens Tennis Players earn main draw:

TULSA, Okla. – California men’s tennis juniors Pedro Zerbini and Jonathan Dahan earned a berth into the doubles main draw of the 2009 D’Novo/ITA All-American Championship Wednesday (Oct. 7) at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of host Tulsa University. The Golden Bears defeated Texas A&M’s Jeff Dadamo and Marcus Lunt, 8-6, for their third-consecutive win in the men’s doubles qualifying tournament to claim one of eight available spots in the championship main draw.

The teams held serve until the Bears earned the first break of the match to go up, 4-3. Dahan served next to put Cal out in front, 5-3, but the Aggies responded and held serve once again to earn the ninth game. Zerbini held in the next game to put the Bears up 6-4. Texas A&M fought off several break points to avoid falling behind, 7-4, and went into the 12th game back, 6-5.

Facing Dahan’s serve, the Aggies came on strong after falling behind, 40-15, and forced several deuce points. However, the Bears held on to go up 7-5. Lunt held serve in the 13th game to give the Aggies life once more to force the Bears’ hand. Cal returned the favor with Zerbini serving and went up 40-love before closing out the match, 8-6, to advance to the main draw.

Field hockey to host UC Davis:

This Week
Returning to Berkeley after a three-game Midwest road trip last week, the California field hockey team faces UC Davis this weekend in its third conference game of the season. The Golden Bears (3-8, 1-1 NorPac) face the Aggies (3-9) on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m. (PT) at Maxwell Family Field. After opening the campaign 2-0, Cal has now lost its last eight of nine contests.

Lohre Earns All-Conference Honors for the Third Time
Junior Lisa Lohre earned NorPac Defensive Player of the Week honors this week, the third time this season, when she recorded her fifth and sixth defensive saves of the season last weekend at Indiana. Her six defensive saves not only lead the team and the NorPac Conference, but they also top the NCAA chart. As a team, this is Cal’s fourth conference weekly award.

Cal Gets Swept in Latest Road Trip
For the second time this season, Cal was unsuccesful in picking up a win during a three-game road trip. The Bears lost to Indiana, at Iowa and at Northwestern in its last road trip. Cal has yet to garner a victory on the road this season. Highlighting that game was Lisa Lohre’s two defensive saves.
In the first game of the trip, the Bears fell to Indiana, 1-0, in Iowa. Cal’s best chance to win a game was the next day at Iowa. The Bears fell to the Hawkeyes, 3-2. Junior Natalie Nurnberg and redshirt freshman Megan Shimojima recorded the two goals for Cal. Shimojima scored the first goal of the contest to give the Bears the early lead. After Iowa scored three unanswered goals, Nurnberg’s tally cut the deficit to one, but Iowa held on for the win.
In the final game of the trip, Northwestern shut out Cal, 3-0, but goalkeeper Maddie Hand posted a personal-best 14 saves.

Q+A with womens swimmer:

BERKELEY – CalBears.com sat poolside with senior breaststroker Alexandra Ellis to discuss last year’s NCAA championship season, prospects for this year and “Dancing with the Stars.” The San Diego-product was a key member of Cal’s national championship team, earning All-America honors as part of the Golden Bears’ sixth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay and second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay.

She also garnered 2009 Pac-10 all-academic honorable mention and played a big role in Cal’s first Pac-10 championship, swimming an NCAA B qualifying time of 16:18.84 in the 1650-yard freestyle to take fourth place in the conference meet. Ellis and the Bears will host Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m. in their home-opening dual meet at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

CalBears.com: How is your senior season going so far?
Alexandra Ellis: It’s going really well. It’s going smoothly. We haven’t had any bumps in the road.

CalBears.com: Can you describe your emotions when Cal won the NCAA championship last season?

AE: That was amazing because we didn’t go into it focused on winning. We just went into it thinking we’re going to have fun; we’re going to show everyone what we’ve been doing this season. And we didn’t have the smoothest season last year; we lost a few dual meets. Pac-10s was a surprise, and we go into NCs, and then we go into the last night. We thought, oh, wow, we can win this. The whole time we were just enjoying ourselves, and I think our swims reflected that.

Womens soccer to take on Oregons:

This Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The Golden Bears kick off the Pac-10 half of the season with a two-game swing in Oregon. California (6-3-1 overall) travels to Eugene to play the Ducks (8-2-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, and then heads up to Corvallis to take on the Beavers (8-2-1) at noon on Sunday, Oct. 11. Last season, the Bears swept the Oregon schools with a 1-0 win over Oregon State and a 5-1 demolishing of Oregon.

Last Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The Bears posted a 0-1-1 record in their final weekend of nonconference play – suffering a 1-0 stinging by Sacramento State at home on Oct. 2, but battling No. 11 Santa Clara to a 1-1 double-overtime draw on Oct. 4 in the South Bay. The Bears outshot the Hornets, 19-9, but could not poke one through. At Santa Clara, junior forward Alex Morgan scored first with 43:03 to play in regulation, but the Broncos evened the game in the 72nd minute. Morgan took a penalty shot in the 101st minute of play, but the keeper made a diving save to her left and tipped the ball up and over the crossbar. After 110 minutes of play, Cal went home with its first tie of the year.

Q&A With the Golden Bears
Junior Emily Shibata has been a key player on the California midfield for the past three years. Shibata, who has played in nine games and has one assist this year, is a Bay Area product, hailing from nearby Walnut Creek, Calif. Last year, she recovered from a preseason injury to play in the final 15 games of the 2008 season, starting two, and was also a Pac-10 Conference All-Academic honorable mention. CalBears.com talked with the 5-2 player to discover more about her.

To read the full Q&A with Emily, click here.

To see all past Q&As with the Golden Bears, click here.

Hilariously bad Google suggests:

This must be carps:

Dude, SportsNight! I loved SportsNight! Why did they cancel that show, anyway?

being kind of disappointing if you’re expecting a feast of football…sadly, the way the rights for the games are shared around the channels in the UK means that the earliest that someone can show all the games in on Saturday evening. It really sucks.

Still, the guy that presents Soccer Saturday makes it about as entertaining as he possibly can…

Soccer Saturday

What, did people decide to work today or something?

Does anyone have any good links or commentary regarding the protests outside the NATO Summit in Strasbourg?

LINK

Ryan Anderson:
 
How would you rate your performance tonight?

I think there a lot of things I need to work on, there’s a lot of things I’m adjusting to still and it’s my first game back so I think, defensively, there’s a lot of things I need to work on, offensively, I need to work on getting in the flow of the game. I just need to focus on more screen & rolls, just finding my open shots. I think later on in the game, I kind of found my rhythm, found open gaps, and that’s what’s going to be there really with Vince and Dwight obviously down low.

Offensively, do you feel like you let the game come to you during the second half, once you were getting into a groove like you said?

Yeah, I mean, that’s what really happens when you get through past those first few minutes of the game, you do feel the nerves, but once those first plays go through basically, you start feeling comfortable, you find your role, you just focus more on your game so it comes easier as the game goes on.

If you don’t start, do you believe you can help the team pack a punch off the bench?

Oh yeah, I mean, I think this team compliments my style of play. Dwight on the inside, four shooters on the outside. It’s tough to guard, it’s really tough to guard and because so many guys are going to be sagging down on Dwight, it’s going to create open shots for everybody along the perimeter so I mean, I think that for myself, I think I’ll definitely be competing in the rotation. Whether or not … Brandon is a heck of a player, too, whether or not he’s a three-point shooter, it doesn’t really matter. The guy busts his butt and he does what he needs to do. He’s a strong player, like I said before, so I mean, we have so many weapons, so many options so yeah, I’m obviously going to compete for my minutes, I’m not going to be handed anything so I’m going to fight and when I get in the game, just do what I do, just shoot the ball and rebound.

Offensively, it really seemed like you made a concerted effort to drive into the lane, initiate some contact, and get some free-throws out of it. Is that something that most people don’t know about? Because it seems when they see you, they see you strictly as a perimeter shooter.

I think … a lot of people think I’m just a shooter, that’s not really my game. I’m a physical player, I have a knack for the ball, I try to get offensive rebounds. I may not be the greatest finisher. I really need to work on my full jumper but besides that, I think that my driving game is something that people don’t really know a ton about because I don’t do it a ton but I’m getting more and more comfortable as I’m playing, with driving the ball, and I think I might surprise some people and they think I’m just going to spot up and shoot it a ton.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20310985,00.html

Emmy Rossum may be suffering the end of a secret marriage, but she and the new man in her life, Adam Duritz, are already making sweet music together, Duritz tells PEOPLE.

Rossum, 23, whose husband Justin Siegel recently filed for divorce, was all in white at the American Ballet Theater Fall gala at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York on Wednesday. She was there with Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows, with whom she’s been seen smooching in Manhattan and Beverly Hills lately.

[…]

“She can sing her ass off. But she toured with us onstage, so I knew how she could sing,” he said. “I sing with her all the time. I actually think she sings better onstage with us … I like to make music with her.”

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/WorldUniversityRankings2009.html

How does Berkeley rank within the top 5 in engineering, life sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities but end up as the 39th-ranked school in the world? Apparently faculty-student ratio is that important to this metric (though this is the most I found directly related to the break down of scores.

Though, not everyone puts stock in the rankings:

Robert M. Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities, said that at his association (which includes research universities in the United States and Canada), “we don’t generally place a great deal of stock in the public rankings of universities, but we don’t ignore them either. They are important to the extent that shape public perceptions of the qualitative hierarchy of institutions, but they all have flaws and biases.”

[…]

But Berdahl, a former chancellor at the University of California at Berkeley, said he just can’t buy the numbers in the Times Higher’s survey. “While I think that there has been some relative slippage as a result of a decline in funding in the U.S. and the investment elsewhere, the rankings indicated by the Times seem to me to be wildly off the mark,” he said. “No one I know would rank Berkeley anywhere near as low as 39th in the world. I admit I’m biased; but this is too far from the mark to be taken terribly seriously.”

http://www.calbears.com/ot/HatGiveaway.html

“Joe Roth was an exceptional athlete, but the thing that made him special was that he was an extraordinary human being.
His life was tragically cut short by cancer just three months before his 22nd birthday. In his short 21 years, Joe touched many people and his story,
while tragic, has a very positive and powerful message that still rings true today”
 
In honor of Joe Roth, Bank of the West for is distributing 14,000 Commemorative Joe Roth Hats to Cal fans.
Hats were distributed to fans in attendance at the Cal – USC game on Saturday, Oct. 3rd.

 Bank of the West would also like to offer Cal fans an additional opportunity to receive the Commemorative Joe Roth Hat.
Hats will be available at the Official Cal Branches from Monday, October 5th through Friday December 6th.

Aaron Taylor says a certain coach is on the hot seat (0:50).

Plus some dude with a Cal hoops T-shirt at 1:52.

LINK.

Jerome Randle, 5-10 G, Sr. (California): Randle is an offensive force, plain and simple While his average of 18.3 points per game is impressive enough, his percentages are staggering—50 percent from the floor, 46 percent from three-point range, and 86 percent from the charity stripe. Even with all of that shooting, Randle still managed to chip in 5 assists per contest. He could work on his defense a little, as he only managed 0.7 steals per contest, but his efficient offensive output more than makes up for any defensive efficiencies.

LINK

1:06
[Comment From Robert]
J.O. ABC sideline reporter Shelly Smith noted that the Bear sideline was dead early in the 2nd quarter. Then later showed how $c was still fired up right at the start of the 3rd quarter. Does the team take after Tedford too much and becomes too stoic?
1:06
Jonathan Okanes: It’s a lot easier to be fired up when you are winning.