YouTube Thursday: Tired Obama Jokes II: Obama Harder

Yes!  We face Oregon State!  More Obama jokes.  Hope this.  Change that!  Up with progress.  Down with, I guess, the same? 

Considering that we lost to OSU last time out, that was not change we could believe in. 

But actually, before we face OSU on Saturday, we have Oregon tonight.  And the only connection that Oregon has to Obama is that Phil Knight bought Obama a Playstation 3 for his presidential locker.

Oregon is not very good this year.  Their season can kind of be summed up in this video:

Here's the preview for the Oregon game from the official website. 

California Golden Bears (19-6, 8-4) at Oregon Ducks (6-19, 0-13)
Thursday, Feb. 19, 6 p.m., McArthur Court, Eugene, Ore.
Radio: KYOU (1550 AM) TV: Comcast SportsNet California

 

Oregon Scouting Report
A Look at Oregon
The Ducks are still looking for their first conference win of the season, entering Thursday night's contest with the Bears at 0-13 in Pac-10 play. Tajuan Porter leads Oregon in scoring, averaging 15.2 ppg. Porter is the only Duck averaging over 10.0 ppg.

 

Cal-Oregon Series History
Cal was victorious when these teams met earlier this season in Berkeley, 76-69. The Bears shot 66.7 percent against the Ducks. Jamal Boykin finished with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Jerome Randle tallied his 11th 20-point outing of the season with his 22 points on the day. Cal leads the all-time series, 72-55.

 

Oregon Head Coach Ernie Kent
Ernie Kent, the 2002 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, has had a lot of success at Oregon. His accomplishments include seven postseason appearances, a Pac-10 title, two Pac-10 tournament titles, two NCAA Elite Eights, two NIT Final Fours and four NBA First Round Draft selections.

 

Probable Starters

Pos	No	Name	                 Ht     Wt	Yr	Ppg	Rpg
F	24 	LeKendric Longmire	 6-5	200	So	9.9	3.7
F	50 	Joevan Catron	         6-6	235	Jr	7.6	7.0
C	33 	Michael Dunigan	         6-10	255	Fr	9.0	5.0
G	03 	Garrett Sim	         6-1	175	Fr	7.5	1.9
G	12 	Tajuan Porter	         6-2	170	So	15.2	2.4

Some preview videos:

What the heck is going on here?

I find it wildly doubtful that danzig or carp will care about this video:

You might recognize the name Garrett Sim.  He was a high school senior, who, I believe, originally was to come to Cal.  After Cal fired Braun, he changed over to Oregon.  He is getting playing time as a freshman.  Wonder if he regrets his decision at all.  Here he is:

And another one:

They are led by Tajuan Porter.  Here are some videos of him:

And here is a look at OSU:

California Golden Bears at Oregon State Beavers (11-13, 5-8)
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2 p.m., Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.
Radio: KYOU (1550 AM) TV: Fox Sports Northwest

Oregon State Scouting Report
A Look at Oregon State
Oregon State welcomes Cal this week riding a little bit of momentum, having defeated Washington State last Saturday to split its games last weekend. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Beavers. Calvin Haynes has been leading the way for OSU, averaging 15.2 ppg, the only Beaver over 10.0 ppg.

 

Cal-Oregon State Series History
Cal had won the last seven in a row against the Beavers before Oregon State won the first meeting this season in Berkeley. Last season, when these teams met in Corvallis, the Bears were victorious by a score of 69-59. Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher each had 11 points in that contest. Cal leads the all-time series, 74-57.

 

Oregon State Head Coach Craig Robinson
First-year head coach Craig Robinson led Brown University to a school record 19 victories last season. In two years at Brown, Robinson also led the Bears to their fourth-ever postseason tournament berth.

 

Probable Starters

Pos	No	Name	                Ht	Wt	Yr	Ppg	Rpg
F	0 	Kevin McShane	        6-9	215	Fr	0.4	0.5
F	15 	Seth Tarver	        6-5	210	Jr	7.3	5.0
C	10 	Roeland Schaftenaar	6-11	240	Jr	9.2	3.2
G	5 	Josh Tarver	        6-3	190	Jr	4.0	1.4
G	11 	Rickey Claitt	        6-2	175	Sr	7.3	2.0

Oregon State has won a few games, though.  Here they barely hold off Saint Martin's in an exhibition game:

Coach Robinson at a press conference:

I was unaware that OSU had 2 Final Four appearances

Rally The Legend is a phrase where each word makes sense in a vacuum, but when combined together is nonsensical:

Here is some video from the Civil War B-Ball style back in January:

OSU beat USC!  In B-Ball, too!

Here we are losing to OSU, too!

More on Coach Robinson:

When I was at Cal, I took a jazz theory course.  One part of the jazz theory course was transcribing a song.  That amounts to essentially listening to the music and writing down what is played.  For some, it is easy.  For me, it was brutal. 

I picked a song I was enjoying at that time, "Don't Mess With Mr. T" by soul sax giant, Stanley Turrentine.  I spent hours sitting at my computer listening to the song for 8 seconds, then trying to match those 8 seconds on my sax.  Much to the raging resentment and eventual anger of my dorm/floor mates. 

Finally, frustrated, I gave up.  I was so upset, I couldn't figure it all out.  Nobody likes to be made to feel like an idiot.  That happens pretty much EVERY day to me and I still don't like it!  Everything seemed to be in these complicated triplet forms.  It was all too much.  So, I went in to the professor to essentially beg her to let me turn in what I already had.  I mean I had spent hours and it was all triplets, all triplets!  No person could reasonably be expected to transcribe those impossibilities.  So, of course, as soon as she spends 3 seconds listening to the song, she turns to me and says "You do realize this is in 6/8, right?"  Although the version I found here seems to be in 12/8, which is 4, but just with triplets.  So, what am I talking about, anyway.

This story will make no sense to most, but I felt like a giant idiot.  But it is such a sweet song!  This is not the best version I've ever found of the song, but this is it.  What a sweater he is wearing:

One of my favorite versions of "Don't Mess With Mr. T" is from jazz violinist Regina Carter.  I went to see her at Yoshi's a year or so back and was stunned when she came out with a fully gray head of hair.  Her promotional materials make her look 29!  Don't be fooled!  I was fooled!  I tried to find her version of the song, but could not.  I was able to find this pretty cool song of her playing with Ray Brown (whose Jazz Cello CD is apparently not on YouTube :(!):