DBD 02.03.09 TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Be sure to vote for what day works best for you. If none do, make suggestions for a different day. Hopefully some of the other west-coast Marshawnthusiasts can also come on the day we eventually pick.

I want to beat UCLA by 100 next year. Knowing our luck in that place we’ll lose by a touchdown.

And Dev Hampton starting to pick up her game.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/02/SPT415LKRP.DTL

Ohio State offensive lineman Alex Boone has been arrested after being subdued with a Taser during an alleged drunken tirade.

Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino says the 6-foot-8, 312-pound tackle was jumping on car hoods, yanking on a tow truck cable and trying to break a window when he was arrested late Sunday.

AP

Love the “yanking on a tow truck cable”

so my baby is supposed to be born about 2 weeks before the Maryland game and the start of The Year. Carefully, in a way an obsessed college fan must do with his preggo wife, I said:

“So honey, do you think we’ll still be able to get our Cal season tickets this year with the newborn? It’s only 6 games.” I almost started sweating as I anticipated her answer.

She said yes. She said she’d change the diapers in the PortaJohn’s on Stadium Rim Way. I said don’t drop the baby in the deep blue sea.

My only question is this: Is the crowd noise bad for baby? Don’t they have highly sensitive auditory systems?

NFL Combine News:

BERKELEY – Six former California football players – Rulon Davis, Anthony Felder, Zack Follett, Alex Mack, Cameron Morrah and Worrell Williams – have all been invited to participate in the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium Feb. 18-24 in Indianapolis.

The combine, which features more than 300 of the best college players from around the nation, will have executives, coaching staffs, player personnel departments and medical personnel present from all 32 NFL teams to evaluate players eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft in April.

“This is very exciting for me,” said Williams. “I’m a little nervous, but I think that’s normal. I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to showcase my talent and skill. I am also going to be cheering for my other teammates who will be there as well. The combine can’t come soon enough, but in the meantime I will continue to work on my speed and strength and getting my body in shape to perform in from of all 32 NFL teams.”

Golf is chugging along at Arizona Invitational:

TUCSON, Ariz. – California ended day one at the Arizona Invitational in a tie for sixth place after the second round was suspended due to darkness Monday at Arizona National Golf Club. The Golden Bears will complete the final four holes of their second round followed immediately by the third round, beginning tomorrow at 8 a.m. MST. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.

Windy conditions triggered an undesirable start before the Golden Bears settled down and played some good stretches of golf as the winds calmed down during second round.

“Conditions were pretty tough,” said head coach Steve Desimone. "This was a lot like the first round of The Prestige: we just didn’t get off to a very good start. After that we settled down and got a pretty good afternoon round going. We all have four holes left, so there’s a lot of golf left in this (second) round.

Womens Water Polo going to Colorado Invite:

This Week in Cal Water Polo
The No. 5 California women’s water polo team (7-0 overall) will journey to Fort Collins, Colo., this weekend for the Colorado State Invitational. The Golden Bears bring a seven-game winning streak into their third tournament of the 2009 season after recently posting a 4-0 record at the NorCal Cup last weekend. Cal will play three games on Saturday, Feb. 7 – UC Santa Cruz (8 a.m.), Fresno Pacific (12:45 p.m.) and host Colorado State (5:30 p.m.). Sunday’s games for the Bears will be decided based upon Saturday’s results. The Bears lead the series with UCSC, 6-0, while this will be the first meeting for Cal with Fresno Pacific and CSU.

Bears Turn Santa Clara Into Bear Territory
With four wins at Santa Clara University’s Sullivan Aquatic Center in the NorCal Open, the Bears made their presence known last weekend. In the first game, the Bear defense completely shut out CSU Monterey Bay in the first half, and Cal solidified the win with seven goals in the third period and two in the final stanza for a 20-2 victory. In the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 31, the Bears defeated Sonoma State, 15-1, thanks to another outstanding defensive performance. Cal took down Pacific on Sunday morning, 14-1, but the afternoon game against No. 9 UC Davis was Cal’s third game of the season against ranked opposition. The Aggies and Bears emerged in a 3-3 tie at the end of the first eight minutes. Cal responded with four goals in the second stanza, but the teams switched sides in the third period and so did the tide, with UC Davis scoring two and keeping the Bears scoreless. With the score at 7-5 in favor of the Bears, each team tacked on two goals in the final quarter of regulation, but the Bears won the game, 9-7.

Womens Water Polo Player receives honor:

BERKELEY – California redshirt sophomore Stephanie Peckham was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player of the week for Feb. 2, the conference announced today. This is Peckham’s first weekly honor.

Peckham helped to lead the Bears to four wins at the NorCal Cup. Peckham grabbed three saves in the 20-0 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay and seven stops for the 15-1 demolishing of Sonoma State. On Sunday, Peckham was instrumental in Cal’s two wins – 14-2 over Pacific and 9-7 over No. 9 UC Davis.

Q+A with said polo player:

BERKELEY – The California women’s water polo team is off to a perfect 7-0 start to the 2009 season, partially in thanks to redshirt freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Peckham. Peckham redshirted the 2008 season due to injury and has started her Cal career very successfully, already notching 63 saves in seven games of work. She recently grabbed a new career-high of 12 saves in the 9-7 win over No. 9 UC Davis on Feb. 2. CalBears.com recently talked with Peckham, the Feb. 2 MPSF Player of the Week, to learn more about her life in and out of the pool.

CalBears.com: How does playing at the college level compare to playing in high school and at the club level?
SP: “Playing at the college level is a lot different from high school. The game is so faster and more intense. Every team is very talented, so the competition during season is high. As a goalie, you have to really focus on the ball and do your best to keep the ball out of the goal.”

CalBears.com: During the off-season, how do you spend your free time?
SP: “In the off-season, I spend a lot of time with my friends and family. I love just hanging out, listening to music, and watching TV. I’m also a huge hockey fan. My family and I go to Anaheim Ducks games all the time, which is so much fun. Other than that, I love playing water polo any chance I get!”

CalBears.com: If you could be anyone else for a day, who would you be and why?
SP: “If I could be anyone else for one day, I would want to be Jerry Bruckheimer. I think it would be awesome to be one of the most brilliant producers in both television and film today.”

Womens gymnastics on bye, then take on ASU:

Bears Get a Break After four straight weeks of competition to begin their season, the California Golden Bears women’s gymnastics team will have a weekend off before traveling to Tempe to face the No. 23 Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday, Feb. 13.

Feb. 1 Tri-MeetThe Bears continued their upward trend in their home tri-meet Sunday, Feb. 1, against Washington and Illinois State, posting their best team score of the young season. They also had their closest meet of the season with Illinois State just edging Cal by 0.400 points, 191.350-190.950. The Bears had their top scores of the season in the beam and the floor, beating their previous best floor team score by 1.500 points. The Bears had their second best mark of the season in the bars, but posted a season-low in the vault.

The All-Around For the third meet in a row, Junior Sophia Hocini was the top all-arounder for the Bears. Hocini’s 38.575 was just off the 38.800 she posted at the UCLA meet, but it was still solid enough to rank her second in the meet in the all-around. Senior Joanna Bennett finished fourth in the all-around with a career-best 38.175. Freshman Erica Varon continued her growth with another jump in her all-around numbers, improving by 0.725 over her previous high.

So when it comes to recruiting, and the other big names like Burficit and Te’o who are considering USC and the other Pac-10 schools. Where should I want them to go? On the one hand, anything that weakens USC increases the likelihood of a Cal pac-10 title. But if they go to USC, they are more likely to be buried by other awesome recruits, therefore they’d see less playing time, and we’d actually face these players less. Consequently, if they were to go to the obessession or ASU, we’d more than likely have to face these players. Essentially, what is better for Cal, hoping the good players all go to one school and get buried on the depth chart, or hope that the good players get spread around?

Are you okay, Hydro?

My sister was just accepted at UCI’s new law school (She’s 20 and just graduated in 3 years from UCI undergrad). One of the big-time benefits of going to school there would be the full scholarships they’re offering to this year’s class. She’ll be able to live at home with my mother and commute to school daily (with approx. 30 minute drive). So… this is basically free law school. She’s also been accepted at Hastings (with only regular financial aid offers) and has a full scholarship at Chapman too (I don’t know if people even know about Chapman outside of Orange County). She’s waiting to hear from Berkeley, but I don’t believe she’ll get any sort of financial deal if she is accepted- a big if.

For those of you who’ve been down this path, does this seem like the best choice? And what’ve you guys heard about the new law school and its mission to be a top 20 program within the next few years? Would being a part of its first graduating class carry some sort of prestige in the lawyer world? It seems like they’ve put a well-respected faculty/staff together, but I don’t know much about it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.