DBD 2.24.2009: Qwantity and Qwality!

HONK

Thanks for not throwing me under the bus in the new FAQ-U

What about this awesome photo I found? It’s a little lewd, however…

Although we aren’t really all that prudish, it is important to remember that this site is viewed by all manner of people, including those who may not appreciate such photos, as well as others who read this blog at work. While most employers might not mind you reading sports websites during quick, 10-minute breaks at work, they may frown further on viewing embarrassing photos of player’s girlfriends and opposing cheerleaders. In no way does CGB ever want to be responsible for someone getting in trouble at work, so if you have a photo that you think could get people in trouble (large photo or photo of scantily clad women), please post only a link to the photo with a NSFW (“Not Safe For Work”) warning. Readers can then choose, or not, to view the picture at a later, more appropriate time. Better safe than sorry!

today is mardi gras.

Traditional Cal hater Wilner really likes the Ludwig hire:

Action: Jeff Tedford wasted no time replacing departed playcaller Frank "We hardly knew you" Cignetti with longtime pal/successor (at Fresno State and Oregon) Andy Ludwig.
Reaction 1: Ludwig is a better hire than Mike Dunbar or Cignetti — he’s the best offensive coordinator hire Tedford has made in his Berkeley tenure, and that includes making himself the OC after Dunbar left.

Reaction II: Ludwig was not popular in Eugene and moved on after just three years (2002-04). But running the spread offense is less his area of expertise than the fundamental act of coaching quarterbacks — that’s what he does best and that’s what Cal needs most. The Bears have the right system in place. They need a quarterback who can execute it.

Miller has Riley v. Mansion as the # 2 battle this offseason. Frankly, I don’t think it will be much of a battle and that’s no slight to Man Juice (BTW, is it fair to call Man Juice a “pocket passer” when he rushed for 1000 yards in his senior year of HS?).

2. California: Kevin Riley vs. Brock Mansion

This is a gut check for Riley, who clearly isn’t happy with how things went in 2008. He was yanked as the starter when the Bears were 3-1 and he’d completed 57 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns and just one interception. His performance over the second half of the season suffered as his confidence sank, though a shoulder injury and concussion probably deserve more blame than they’ve gotten. Mansion, a sophomore, is a prototype, 6-foot-5, 230-pound pocket passer who was a touted recruit in 2006. Experience should give Riley the early edge, but Mansion is a legit contender to start in 2009. And both will be getting used to new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig.

Ill bring those Cal links over ina bit, but I just wanted to note that I have contacted the higher ups about a mod rec button. Initial discussions have been positive. At least until I suggested that they call it the Sanchez button. That created confusion. But things are starting well. So, we’ll see how it goes, but thanks for this Berklium97.

Is anyone planning on doing the 6 AM Gameday thing on Saturday? While there is a very good chance they will come to Berkeley in the near future for college football (which would be more epic), this is definitely the first Gameday at Berkeley in a while (ever?) and it would be really fun to get on tv with signs to represent Cal well and get excited.

Is it time for CGB online store? Fear the Fin (this post is pretty funny) is doin’ it. They even have a Fear the Fin thongs (no pun) for the ladies.

Gameday coming to the UCLA game:

ESPN’s College GameDay will make its first visit to Berkeley when the national television program comes to Haas Pavilion this Saturday morning. The show, which is free and open to the public, runs from 8-9 a.m. and will be filmed in the middle of Pete Newell Court the court.

Later in the day, ESPN will air the Cal-UCLA game at 6 p.m., with the GameDay crew making live appearances at halftime and postgame.

Fans are encouraged to come out to Haas Pavilion and show their support for the Golden Bears to a national audience. Doors will open at 6 a.m. and food and beverage for the first 500 fans will be provided by Looney’s Smokehouse, Odwalla, Coke and Berkeley Farms.

Ashley Walker named Pac10 player of the week:

California Golden Bears senior forward Ashley Walker was named the U.S. Bank Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for Feb. 16-22, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today. She earns the honor for the third time this season.

Walker, a native of Modesto, Calif., became California’s all-time career rebounder with her ninth rebound in the No. 6 Golden Bears’ 62-40 victory on Saturday over Oregon State. Currently with 1,030 rebounds, Walker broke Colleen Galloway’s record of 1,029 rebounds, she registered from 1979-81. Walker grabbed the record-breaking rebound off of a missed Oregon State jumper with 5:39 left to play in the game.

The Pac-10’s leading scorer, Walker averaged 22 points, shooting 55.9 percent from the field, and 10 rebounds over the weekend. Against Oregon, she recorded 20 of her game-high 24 points in the first half also grabbing 11 rebounds and adding two assists as the Bears ran away with the victory, 84-42.

On her record-setting night against Oregon State, Walker shot 62 percent from the floor going 8-for-13. The forward finished the game with 20 points, her 16th 20-plus-point outing of the season. She is now 23 points away from becoming only the second player in California history to record 2,000 career points.

Walker averages 20.3 points per game and is ranked third in the Pac-10 in rebounding, grabbing 8.2 boards a game.

Mens golf 3rd:

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – On the strength of a consistent first two rounds, the California men’s golf team stands in third place after the first day of the USC Collegiate held at North Ranch Country Club.

Stanford leads the 13-team field at 8-under par 560, followed by BYU at 6-under and Cal at plus-3. The Bears hold an eight-shot edge on fourth-place UC Irvine.

Cal opened the day with a 1-over 285 and came home in the afternoon round with a 2-over score. The Bears’ second-round total was the second-best of the round when scores tended to be much higher from the morning session.

George Gandranata is Cal’s individual leader, standing in seventh place at 1-under par. He opened with a 2-under 69 that included three birdies and no bogies over his final 11 holes.

Baseball beats Vandy:

BERKELEY, CALIF. – Junior second baseman Jeff Kobernus helped California take advantage of a Vanderbilt miscue, knocking in sophomore Austin Booker with the game-winning RBI to right center field as the Golden Bears defeated the Commodores, 4-3, Monday, Feb. 23 at Evans Diamond.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth and down 3-2, Cal junior center fielder Brett Jackson hit a double off of Vanderbilt closer Russell Brewer. Pinch hitter Booker followed with a chooper to Commodore third baseman Jason Esposito, who threw wildly to first base, allowing Jackson to score and Booker to advance to third base. From there, Kobernus drove Brewer’s next pitch to the outfield gap for the game-winner.

The winning pitcher for the Bears was freshman reliever Erik Johnson, who threw the final 1.1 innings with no hits, no runs, one walk and three strikeouts. In the eighth inning, Johnson’s wild pitch had allowed the Commodores to take a 3-2 lead, but he recovered nicely by striking out the side in the top of the ninth inning to earn his first collegiate victory. Cal had received an outstanding pitching effort from sophomore right-hander Brian Diemer, who had the best outing of his college career, throwing a career-high 7.2 innings with three hits, three runs, one walk and a career-high eight strikeouts.

Diemer had yielded two runs in the top of the first inning to Vanderbilt on RBI groundouts by Curt Casali and Aaron Westlake, but then didn’t give up a run until the Commodore’s Brian Harris scored on Johnson’s wild pitch in the eighth. In all, Diemer and Johnson limited Vanderbilt to three hits, while only allowing two walks and striking out 11 batters.

Womens golf tied for lead:

Sophomore Pia Halbig is tied for the lead after the second round of the Wildcat Invitional golf tournament being held in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico. The Bears are tenth in the team rankings after the first 36 holes of the 54 hole tournament.

The Bears had a hole to climb out of in the second round of play. Originally reported as finishing the first round in tenth place, the Bears actually finished the first round in 13th place when sophomore Roseanne Niven’s first round score was disqualified. Freshman Angie Villela’s became the No. 4 score for the Bears for the day, giving them a 312 instead of a 307, and dropping them three spots in the rankings. Cal stepped up to the challenge, posting a 299 with all four golfers shooting rounds in the 70’s.

Womens swimming prepares for Pac10 championsihps:

BERKELEY – The California women’s swimming and diving team is set to compete in the 2009 Pac-10 Swimming and Diving Championships, Feb. 25-28 in Federal Way, Wash. The Bears will look to set the tone early in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday – an event they have won five straight years.

General Information:
What: 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Women’s Swimming Championships hosted by the University of Washington.

Where: Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash.

When: Wednesday, Feb. 25 – Saturday, Feb. 28.

Who: Women’s swimming teams from ARIZONA, ARIZONA STATE, CALIFORNIA, OREGON STATE, STANFORD, UCLA, USC, WASHINGTON and WASHINGTON STATE will compete for the 2009 Pac-10 Women’s Swimming Championship.

Tickets: All tickets will be available at the King County Aquatic Center on the day of the event only. *Admission is FREE on Wednesday, Feb. 25. All Session Pass: Adult: $25.00, Student with ID/Senior $15.00 One Day Pass: Adult: $10.00, Student with ID/Senior: $6.00

Softball Athlete of the Week:

BERKELEY – Junior pitcher Marissa Drewrey was named the Muscle Milk California Student-Athlete of the Week after her performances in the circle at the Cathedral City Classic.

Drewrey went 3-1 at the Cathedral City Classic with a 0.33 ERA, two complete game shutouts and 25 strikeouts, while walking just two batters in 21 innings. Against Ole Miss, Drewrey pitched a one-hit shutout and was two outs away from a perfect game before giving up the lone hit in the seventh inning. Ole Miss scored 10 runs prior to its matchup with the Bears and was shutout for just the second time this season.

The following game against NC State, Drewrey relieved Valerie Arioto and pitched 6.2 innings and tied her season-high with 11 Ks. Against Maryland, Drewrey again pitched a complete game shutout, scattering four hits and walking just one with 8 Ks in Cal’s 7-0 win. Maryland won three games at the CCC and won against No. 17 Nevada, 8-7. .

Q+A with Water Polo player, Paige Lorenz:

BERKELEY – The California women’s water polo team put forth an excellent showing at the highly competitive UC Irvine Invitational on Feb. 21 and 22, taking seventh place. Helping the Bears to victory was senior two-meter defender Paige Lorenz, who had six goals over the weekend. As of Feb. 23, she has scored 23 goals, which exceeds her previous season high of 21 goals, which she set last weekend. Lorenz hails from Old Greenwich, Conn., making her the only American on the team that is not originally from California. CalBears.com recently caught up with the 5-11 co-captain to find out about life in California for Lorenz.

CalBears.com: As an East Coast native, what made you choose Cal?
PL: “In high school, I knew I wanted to come to California to play college polo; at that time there wasn’t as much opportunity to play on the East Coast. After my first trip to Berkeley I knew this was the place for me. I fell in love with the school, the team, the city and pretty much the whole Bay Area.”

CalBears.com: What was the transition from Connecticut to California like for you?
PL: “The transition was pretty easy for me. Luckily when I first got here, we started practices, and I got to know my teammates pretty well. They made me feel so at home here that I never had a problem being so far from home.”

LINK

Sophomore Delano Howell will make the most high-profile position switch of the spring, moving from running back to strong safety.

“He’s the starting strong safety from Day 1,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a big onus on him in that position.”

Senior Richard Sherman has asked to be moved from wide receiver – where he was the team’s leading receiver in 2007 – to defensive back for his final season. The knee injury he sustained last season will keep him out of the first half of practice sessions. Harbaugh said Sherman won’t be on the depth chart at cornerback until he’s ready to play.

Howell will be among the players who get a shot at both offense and defense. Others include Chike Amajoyi, Quinn Evans, Alex Debniak, Mark Mueller, Austin Yancy, Michael Thomas, Sean Wiser, Erik Lorig, Owen Marecic, Tom Keiser and Tom McAndrew.

“I think it’s the wave of the future,” Harbaugh said. “In college football, it’s about finding as many good players as you can and making sure that you are utilizing them as much as possible. I believe we’re on the cutting edge of that.”

Spring ball has been pushed back to March 14th

I’m guessing this is due to weather and new coaches getting verything together.

Should be a lot of big names coming to campus this weekend

Here are some names I’ve heard on Rivals:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=69125
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=69901&season=2010
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=69368&season=2010

Former Bear Tyson Ross looking impressive in spring training. Good to hear he’s rebounded from his injury. They’ve also tweaked his mechanics.

Rob Bowen, who caught one of Ross’ first bullpen sessions, raved about the former U.S. National Team standout. In the summer of 2007, Ross went 4-1 with a 0.82 ERA in 43 2/3 innings of work for Team USA. “He throws real hard; low- to mid-90s, at least,” Bowen said. “He’s got nice movement on his fastball, too, and he’s got some good offspeed stuff. He’s a big boy with a lot of leverage on the mound.” While at Cal, Ross employed something of an unorthodox delivery, standing taller than most pitchers — almost straight up — at the point of delivery. It prompted some whispers among scouts, worried that it put too much stress on his arm, and might explain why he fell to the second round. Ross’ delivery has since been tweaked, the product of a postseason trip to Oakland’s Instructional League. “We made some small mechanical adjustments with his stride length and things like that,” A’s manager Bob Geren said. “He’s still got that deception in his delivery, though. Still a little unconventional. But he’s got a good arm, good movement, good body. "He’s still a work in progress, but he’s got a high ceiling and great potential.”

Is anyone buying the Kindle? Anyone know if it’s any good?

The attorney for a Woodland dentist told jurors that his client massaged women’s chests as part of a medical treatment.

come watch 18-0 Cal Rugby play UC Santa Cruz @ Witter Field on Wed (6pm). This won might reach a hundo…

Who called for executions to be televised after winning acclaim for playing a death row convict?

Stanford will hold student tryouts March 6 for kicker on kickoffs.

“We’ll be looking for somebody with a strong leg, male or female, whoever can kick it the farthest,” Harbaugh said.

It’s a lot of fun watching Bak Bak annihilate high schoolers…

But the team names are awesome.

In another game that started at 11:15 p.m., Kelly Calabro, 41, of Alameda was leading his team, Beer, in a comeback against The Shenanigans, when he fell on his back. Calabro’s teammates also tried CPR but failed to revive their friend.

hmm…should we have a CGB roll call to make sure one of our guys didn’t get picked up?

Oakland police seized 16 guns and $16,000 during raids of an illegal downtown medical-marijuana dispensary and the San Ramon home of its owner, authorities said today. The dispensary, the Lemon Drop Cafe at 1736 Telegraph Ave., was raided shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, but police did not publicize the operation until today. Officers seized 16 guns at the cafe and at the San Ramon home of its owner, Steven Smyrni, 36, who was arrested, said Officer Jeff Thomason, an Oakland police spokesman. The cafe was an illegal dispensary that was selling marijuana to people without the required documentation, Thomason said. Investigators seized $16,000 and two pounds of marijuana.

The buzz: Cal is tied for third in the Pac-10 but has a bruising closing schedule: vs. USC, vs. UCLA, at Arizona and at Arizona State.

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=916163

Thought I would pose a question

Would you rather lose to furd but make it to the Rosebowl or beat furd but be relegated to some other bowl?

Discuss, but dont get verklempt.

I just had a woman storm out of my office claiming that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

The best part?

A)She was right!
B)This wasn’t the first time.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/pac10/0-7-109/Opening-the-mailbag—Perspectives-on-the-Lobbestael-arrest.html?post=true

Talked to coach Jeff Tedford today for a Q&A that runs Wednesday. Not to bite off my own feature, here’s what he said when I asked him about the LBs.

We have some guys, thankfully, who got a lot of playing time last year. Those guys who left us are big-time players, who were very productive for us, especially when we went to a 3-4. But Eddie Young started at an outside linebacker last year. Devin Bishop moves inside and he’s a guy who’s ready to step up. Mike Mohamed played a lot for us last year. Mychal Kendricks, who was a true freshman, played a lot. We feel pretty good about those guys. And giving us a little bit of depth there are some of our junior college guys, Ryan Davis and Jarred Price and Jerome Meadows are three JC linebackers coming in to give us a little bit of depth, too.

And a guy I forgot to mention is D.J. Holt. He’s inside and he played quite a bit last year as well. We’re not starting from scratch. These guys have been on the field and have a lot of ability.

So my guess is Mohamed and Young can be penciled into two spots, with Bishop, Kendricks and Holt and the JC guys competing for the other two voids.

Honestly, I think Cal will be fine at LB.

RB Clay talks about who’s in his five

“I have a very flexible top five right now,” Clay said. “Oregon, USC, Cal, Michigan and Stanford are high on my list but I don’t feel any pressure to make an early decision. I justwant to enjoy these next few crucial months of recruiting and see how the process plays out.” “I want to visit Oregon in May,” Clay said. "I’m going to try and check out Cal whenever our family isn’t busy and I definitely plan to visit Michigan for their spring game to watch Tate (Forcier).

OL Kohler plans early decision

“I’m going to Cal this weekend for their Junior Day.” Kohler said. “I’m also planning a trip to Arizona to see both Arizona and ASU, I’m planning on being at Oregon’s Junior Day and will visit Stanford when they start spring ball. "I would like to commit before summer gets here, that’s my plan. If I’m not ready yet, I’ll take the summer to check out my options some more, maybe take another visit if I need to and then make my decision before the fall. I definitely plan to be committed before school next fall so I can just focus on my senior year without any distractions of recruiting.”

Ok, new question, win Rose Bowl or achieve World Peace slash feed all the hungry slash employ all the jobless slash house all the homeless.

I know which one I’ mgoing for!

Hardest game in the world

lol wut

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/index

scroll down to ESPN Daily Radio 2/24

I haven’t listened to it yet, but it says he’s on there

GG Fields might be in trouble…

I wonder if Uncle Lew could build a ballpark there…on the water…

Rob Neyer mentioned Portland (NO!)

Blez (aka, The Godfather) thinks is San Ho (San JosA’s)

For those smirky Giants fans just remember it wasn’t long ago when you fucks almost moved to St Pete (shudders). Prior to Lurie, the owner tried to build in SF, San Ho, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Half Moon Bay, Full Moon Bay, and Total Eclipse Bay. Grrr.

Wilkes likely to play against USC, but with a mask.

Starting center Jordan Wilkes, who suffered a concussion and broken nose last Thursday at Oregon and sat out the Oregon State game two days later, has been fitted for a protective mask and is likely to play Thursday when the Bears take on USC at Haas Pavilion.

But the 7-foot junior, on the final home weekend of his career, still must be cleared before getting the go-ahead. He will undergo a test Wednesday to determine if his memory function and reaction times demonstrate he has recovered from the concussion.

"It’s so much better than this weekend," Wilkes said Tuesday. "It kind of feels good to feel back on this earth."

SOMEBODY CHECK ON RISHI! BEING THIS CLOSE TO BOBBY JINDAL’S FACE PROBABLY HAS HIM IN SHOCK!

So on the State of the Union, I feel [DELETED BY TWISTNHOOK]

Guys…tomorrow I’ll be leaving for Monterey (for my meeting with bankers/med school deans – you know, The Suit Discussion day) so you prolly won’t hear from me. Don’t send an officer by the lab – I’ll be okay! Maybe I’ll have internet hookup, although I’d like to play a little golf and go to the aquarium. Good luck with Gameday on Saturday!

I’ll be looking for the “I like Dike,” Monty said. sign.