A Tough Loss To Stomach
by ragnarok on Mar 1, 2009 11:48 PM PST
in California Golden Bears Men's Basketball
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PrintI'm sure just about every serious sports fan has had that moment where, with their team getting beat and a critical loss seemingly inevitable, he or she just turns the game off and walks away. Maybe you just change the channel, perhaps watch some light-hearted Seinfeld reruns. Maybe you actually get up off the couch and go and do something else; pour yourself a drink, go outside for a walk, spend some time with your family, whatever. Last night, after Darren Collison hit an "and-one" free throw to cap a 13-0 Bruins run and put UCLA up by nine, I did just that -- I turned the game off and walked away. The difference was, in a personal first for me, I was actually attending the game.
This isn't supposed to happen to me. CBKWit is the one who's supposed to get too into to these games, to take these losses too personally. Sure, I've had some rough moments as a Cal fan, some real 'punch in the gut' games (@Tennessee '06, @USC '06, Oregon State '07, @UCLA '07 all come to mind), but I've always been able to sit in the stands and take it. I've been able to distance myself emotionally from the sporting contest down on the field, tell myself it's only a game, and continue to cheer for our Bears while becoming accepting of the devastating loss that I was currently witnessing. In football, you really can go through the five stages of grief within the span of one pathetic, hope-sapping three-and-out, but basketball moves too fast for that, with every possession harboring the glimmering hope of a big-time three-pointer, the shot that begins the miracle comeback barrage.
Saturday night, though, I just couldn't take it. Part of that may have had to do with me not having a seat to begin with. My seat was way up in section 18, near the corner, and I had gone down to visit a friend in the opposite corner during halftime. There were no seats available there, however (the sold-out crowd made moving around nearly impossible), so I decided to watch the second half from a nearby stairwell, as it actually had a much better view than my actual seat. So when Collison hit the free throw to put UCLA up 9, I just couldn't take it anymore, and I literally walked away.
This is not a normal reaction. It is not rational, and it is not healthy. I told myself all this at the time, but it didn't help that helpless, queasy feeling in my gut, and it didn't calm my nerves one bit. Being a sports fan is like that, I suppose. Sometimes, you'll keep up hope long past when any objective observer would say your team has a chance, and sometimes, like Saturday night, you'll see that the Bears are down by 9 with 6 to play and you'll just know that it's over, despite there being plenty of time for the for the Bears to mount a reasonable comeback. It just felt like that sort of game, a back-and-forth battle where runs were hard to come by, and the first team to put some real distance between them and their opponent was going to win.
Now, I didn't actually leave the building when I walked out; I'm too much of a fan for that. Instead, I just tried to calm myself down, put some emotional distance between me and a basketball contest involving a group of college students, none of whom I knew personally or had ever even met. I went to get myself a drink of water. I went out on the landing overlooking Evans Diamond to get myself some air. I paced back and forth, nervously listening for the roar of the crowd that would let me know that it was OK to look again. I must've circled the second-floor hallway of Haas Pavilion at least 3 or 4 times, anxiously looking for score updates every time I passed a stairwell. In short, I was a wreck.
It's interesting how you can follow a basketball game just by listening to the crowd. The largest cheers were reserved for when the Bears scored, with an even higher pitch and an exclamation by announcer Eddie Kleinhans if the bucket was a three. A slightly less rowdy cheer followed a defensive stop, and you can certainly tell when the Bears are on defense by the ambient crowd noise from the students all going "Ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" at the same time. Of course, there was a sizeable UCLA contingent on hand, so you could hear cheers mixed with groans every time the Bears failed to score, and louder cheers (with more groans) whenever UCLA scored. I found myself following the game in the hallway in this ridiculous, detached manner, trying to keep track of the scoring margin based on the sum of all of the crowd noises I had heard up to that point.
After the game, I headed straight home. I didn't check the comments on CGB, or my email, or even turn on my computer to read an AP recap of the game. I took a shower, watched the new Futurama movie, and basically ignored basketball as much as I could. Usually, I've been pretty good about getting up a postgame reaction on the blog pretty quickly, win or lose (and especially if the game was a triple-overtime thriller). After Saturday night's loss to UCLA? I couldn't even begin to think about writing something until the next morning. It was a defense mechanism, really; if I don't care about the game any more, I can't feel any pain, right?
Still, what still bothered me so much about this game was *how much* I cared in the first place. It seems really odd, when you think about it. Yeah, it was a competitive game against a longtime rival that had been dominating the West Coast recently, going to the last 3 Final Fours. However, UW had already pretty much wrapped up the conference title earlier that day, and Cal and UCLA were only fighting for a slim chance at a possible tie for first. Really, for Cal to share the Pac-10 title, they would've needed to first beat UCLA, then sweep through both Arizona and Arizona State in the desert next week AND hope that Washington lost to Washington State; "unlikely" only begins to describe that scenario. And win or lose, Cal is pretty much assured of a bid to the NCAA tournament, so there's not really any do-or-die pressure.
So if the Bears were likely playing only for pride and tournament seeding, what got me so worked up? I blame ESPN GameDay. The national exposure certainly heightens the importance of any game, and attending the early morning taping got me even more ramped up. Tell you what: you try getting up at 5am, going to a Cal rally on 4 hours sleep and chanting Cal spirit yells for three hours (on cue, no less!), with the occasional "Beat LA" chant worked in for good measure, and see if you're not unreasonably hyped up after that. By the time 6pm rolled around, and the Bears tipped off in front of a riled-up sellout crowd at Haas Pavilion, it seemed to me that the very success or failure of the entire season rested on the outcome of this one particular contest. Sounds crazy, but there it is. Like I said, this is not healthy.
In any case, I've now written 1250 words and have yet to actually talk about the game. But do I need to? If you weren't there too, most of the rest of you saw it on ESPN. The Bears were good, but were still plagued by some of the same turnover problems that cost them their first matchup in Pauley. There were some questionable refereeing calls, but there always are, and I don't think more calls went one way or the other. You could blame the loss on the intentional foul call on Theo Robertson, though I would say the Bears' inability to get out on the perimeter and contest Bruin shooters is equally culpable. However, I do have three things to note about the game that I've never seen before:
• First, in case you didn't notice, Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, and Darren Collison all missed free throws within the first 15 minutes of the games. Remember, these are three guys have made a combined 88% of their free throws this year -- Collison himself has only missed 8 all year. What are the odds these guys all go 1-2 from the line? Pretty unlikely.
• Secondly, I've been watching Cal Basketball for nearly a decade now, and I can't say that I've ever seen a three-second lane violation called. Of course I know that it happens, and I know why it's a rule, but I've honestly never seen it happen.
• However, three-second violations are mundane and commonplace compared to the Bruins' seven-point possession, which I've honestly never even heard of before. If you had asked me yesterday afternoon how many points one team could possibly get on a single possession, I might have guessed six (get fouled as you make a three, miss the and-one free throw, grab the rebound and make another three), but maybe not. I don't dispute that it was the correct call according to the rulebook, and it's only a seven-point possession because the Bears' defense lapsed after the intentional foul and let Michael Roll get a wide-open look at a three, but man, that one call ended up being especially punitive -- essentially a five-point foul. All I can do is shake my head, and Monty essentially said the same thing after the game:
"The reality is that we should have been up a bunch in the first half," Montgomery said. "When they get what turns out to be a seven-point play, it just really takes the wind out of your sails. ... I'm not saying it was the wrong call. It's just hard to take."
Hard to take? Boy, I'll say...
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It’s a little depressing to consider what Ryan Anderson would’ve been like anchoring this team in the middle. We’d probably be a good lock for the Sweet 16 and Anderson would be getting a decent amount of love. Instead he’s shooting youtube videos with that Furd’s center on yellow fever’s crappy team.
…Actually, that doesn’t look too bad.
Making it through losses like these are what make us all Cal fans.
I’d just like to slightly amend that to read: Making it through years of losses like these are what make us all Cal fans.
Yeah, days and losses like this happen. It happens when you want a win too much, when you’re tired of always being on the other end of a beating, and when you actually start to believe that this is the time. Before the game you’re already (subconsciously for most) thinking about the celebration ahead. And, with Gameday at Cal, this was supposed to be our party, not theirs. They’ve had enough parties. Not to mention losing to them is worse than losing to anyone else. It. Just. Isn’t. Fair.
Yeah, but then again, we’re Cal fans. We know disappointment better than anyone. Hell, there’s a Cal logo next to the definition of disappointment in the dictionary. Disappointment is our domecile!
And of course, having to endure all manner of insufferable bruin celebration is never fun.
Ah well … don’t despair, young man. Some times you eat the b’ar, and sometimes he eats you.
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Indeed
I know I can look forward to many more years of losses like this, and I can only hope that I learn to handle it better.
What is interesting to me, though, is that I’ve felt like this before at football games (though never this bad), but I’ve never felt close to this for Cal Basketball. Guess I really am becoming a fan…perhaps next year, I’ll purchase season tickets for the first time…
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
I know exactly how you felt. Normally basketball losses are not that tough for me to forget, but this one felt just like a football loss. Maybe you’re right, maybe it was waking up with the chickens and spending a few hours at Gameday getting really hyped up for the game. It certainly didn’t help that we had the lead for most of the game and could never come back from such a small deficit.
"After review, it has been determined that the previous play was not reviewable"
The Pac-10: where quality officiating happens.
There's some kind of sick irony in the fact that
last year, Cal lost due to the referees’ blatant nullification of a black-and-white rule… and this year, they arguably lost to the exact opposite (nitpicky enforcement of a rule which is almost always ignored). I don’t want to suggest some kind of conspiracy theory here, but it’s starting to get a little old.
The inescapable subjectivity of reffing is one of the biggest flaws in basketball as a game, IMO, Baseball at least offers the hope that one day, stupid ball/strike calls by umpires will be a thing of the past. That’s never going to happen in basketball. Favored players, teams, coaches, etc are always going to have an unfair advantage.
Many years from now, when his name's recalled
Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
-- Al Stewart, "Football Hero"
Refs
There is no doubt that the officials in the Pac-10 have been atrocious, and have cost teams games year after year after year. They’re inconsistent, error-prone, and often just flat out wrong. Two shining examples come to mind: The horrible charging call against Ucla at ASU, and the horrible 7-point play for Ucla against Cal.
That being said, I don’t think the refs cost us this game. Yes, that 7-point play was huge, and yes, it seemed the refs just took the wind out of our sails time and time again. But watching the game, it just felt as if Ucla was playing better – at least they were playing more within themselves. Cal was playing with a lot of emotion, which often means not playing smart, or within yourself. Even with a completely mistake-free game by the refs I think Ucla wins this. And that is a hard thing to say.
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
exactly
I made this point earlier to a bruin poster. He hasn’t responded.
I understand that ucla will bump, check, and undercut our shooters and get away with it for the most part. I understand that they will set moving picks on every possession and get away it (they got called for it only once the entire game – as a bonus, watch the highlight of ucla’s big 3 pointer down the stretch against stanford. The guy setting the pick is literally dancing back and forth while setting a "screen"). It is very tough to take, but you know it will happen, there’s nothing you can do about, so best to accept it now.
What is incredibly frustrating to me are these unusual, extra controversies that have become the norm with ucla. I don’t want the refs to favor us, I just want a fair shake. And when you can’t get one against the big teams, the ones with all of the talent and historical advantages…well, it’s really hard. It’s not just, it’s not fair, and it’s incredibly difficult to accept.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Part
of what made that loss so hard for me to stomach was the number of ucla fans there. Hearing them start chants and cheer so loudly just drove me up the wall. At the time, it seemed like the crowd was at least 1/4 ucla fans. I didn’t leave early, because I always stick around to support my team, but afterwards, I felt like punching something.
Alright, fine, I admit it! "Hydration Technician" really DOES just mean "water boy!"
I actually wasn't THAT upset about this game
maybe it’s because I didn’t have to get up at 5AM for gameday. I was out of town, so I rolled over on the couch at 7:55 to watch the 8AM broadcast.
I honestly felt we were the better team and were going to win. Then Darren Collison showed up and showed why he is an all-american – had he left last year (and he would have it he hadn’t been embarrassed in the tournament by Derrick Rose), we would have won this game handily. But he didn’t, and had some very difficult, very clutch shots down the stretch. We didn’t need to win this game, Collison earned it at the end, and I had had 6 beers in the last couple hours so I was holding it together pretty well.
Then I started thinking more about the 7 point play. Basketball is obviously a game of runs and momentum, so when big plays occur early in the game, they are often discounted. In this case, Cal was still up at half, still had a four point lead with ten minutes gone in the second half, so it probably didn’t matter. But as much as this is a perfectly fine way of looking at the game, I think it is more objective to look at the statistics and percentages that make up a final score (the Michael Lewis article on Battier is a good read on this subject). And in this case, those these extra four points took our chance of winning from something like 44% to 38% (numbers VERY rough). I believe Ken Pom gave us a 44% chance to win, and in a 68 point game, that’s 4.08 points below 50. So we need to make up 4 points to give us a 50 chance to win, and if you look at the final score, we did…only ucla got 4 free points on the 7 point possession. Very frustrating, no?
Of course, you can say that without those four free points, perhaps ucla runs their offense at a quicker pace in the second half and makes them up anyways. There are any number of scenarios that have ucla winning even if they did not get those points – remember, picking up those 4 points still leaves us .08 points below a 50% chance of winning the game. But I think it’s also fair to say that it would have been a different game if we had gone into the locker room with a 6 point lead instead of a 2 point lead – subjective speculation on what would have happened goes both ways.
In any case, we need to remember that the margin in games like these is very, very thin, and that giving a team 4 points in a 70 point game is a HUGE deal. If this is a thousand point game, it’s a drop in the bucket. As it was, that play was incredibly important, and the more I realized this late Saturday night, the more frustrated I became.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Time is a luxury you don't have
I was really debating whether to post a comment, and I may regret this later: Ragnarok either needs help or just has to age a bit more. How old are you guys? Indeed, Cal fans are the lovable losers. We always will be, even if we make a Rose Bowl in my lifetime (which has not happened yet). Let me back up:
I went to every home football and basketball game when I was there, 83-87. I was co-Sports Director at KALX my senior year. Michael Silver (formerly SI, now Y!) was a friendly rival. But I had Joe Kapp for football all 4 years; in basketball, 2 years of Dick Kuchen, and 2 years of Lou Campanelli. [Isn’t Sweet Lou still director of Pac-10 officiating? Of course these are the worst refs by conference in the country!]. Not 1 Bowl game or 1 NCAA appearance in my 4 years. And we had KJ! You young-‘uns weren’t formed on all that mediocrity, but it hardens the heart, believe me. The same heart that current football success under Tedford rips out of you, and shows to you while the heart is still beating before it turns black and you collapse. Talk about frustration!?!?
I snuck in to Harmon the morning of the Cal-UCLA game back in ‘86 when that team ended “The Streak” to save seats. Center court, 1st row, and 1 of my buddies got picked to shoot free throws at halftime (he lost to a girl on the other basket, but he was really nervous). Best b-ball game I’ve ever attended.
So I was fully expecting a loss here. That’s what makes the actual loss so maddening; Cal could have easily won. “Coulda/shoulda/woulda”s are part of our vernacular. Two observations and then I’ll stop:
- as good a coach as Montgomery is, he can’t coach stupid. Robertson was MIA most of this game. Why he fouled at all after getting beat on the baseline, I have no idea, but as far as mental lapses, it’s getting down there w/ Webber’s phantom time-out. You lose by 4 and give up a 7-pt play? Bad, Theo. He also had at least 2 drives in the 1st half where instead of shooting, he passed to no one. He’s a great defender, and he had a bad game.
- exhibit 2: a 5-point swing w/ about 2 minutes to go sealed it: Christopher air-balls a 3 coming off a screen; never set himself, and at the other end, Collison nails his running prayer as the shot clock buzzer sounds.
12 point difference right there. Mental mistakes. To beat UCLA in basketball, even at home, is like beating SC in football, you need to play an almost perfect game. Cal didn’t come close. They still deserve to make the Dance in Monty’s 1st year. They will likely get a 7 or 8 seed and lose in the 2nd round to Duke or Pitt, or Memphis or MSU. Still a successful year by our standards, with a brighter future to build on. Give DJ Seeley back his jersey, and see what happens.
GO Bears!
Rollah on You Bears
The thing is, though,
I’ve seen Christopher make that exact same shot more times than I can count, and he’s not unusual. WSU used to run that exact same play for Derrick Low 4 or 5 times a game. On TV, it looked completely online (because of the camera angle). I was shocked when it was an airball. Collison’s shot was a one-in-ten prayer that went in— there’s just nothing you can do about that.
I thought Robertson actually had a pretty good game. He was much more aggressive on the interior than I’m used to and showed a nice ability to finish on tough layups and get fouled. Boykin was completely invisible, though, particularly on the defensive end. It seems like teams (Cal included) still can’t quite seem to bring themselves to believe that Dragovic is a good outside shooter.
Many years from now, when his name's recalled
Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
-- Al Stewart, "Football Hero"
maybe so
you’re probably right, Paul. Those are just the 2 things I recalled off the cuff when thinking about this game. The fact that Cal even had a chance to win, or could play UCLA that closely, does speak volumes to the direction of the program under Montgomery. Better, not bitter, irony that Trent Johnson is being discussed for Coach of the Year at LSU now.
Rollah on You Bears
Well, I'm not so thrilled about that
I’m not a Cal alum… I went to D-III Pomona College… so I just root for the local teams that I grew up with. It may be heresy here, but I actually LIKE Stanford, so the program’s Bob Bowlsby-induced collapse in the last 10 months is not something I’m real happy about.
In the “Did you know?” trivia category, BTW, I hear that former Cal walk-on David Liss transferred and is now our star player…
Many years from now, when his name's recalled
Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
-- Al Stewart, "Football Hero"
I vote Nay. Let’s ignore the stake and just go straight to the burning.
TYRANNICAL KING OF UC EUGENE! BRING ME THE HEAD OF SEATTLE QUACKER!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
DUDE, LOOK AT THAT STAT LINE VERSUS OCCIDENTAL
http://www.physical-education.pomona.edu/mens/basketball/stats/2009/oxy-pp.htm
You ain't got it like Marshawn got it
exactly right about that shot
We run that play a lot for Christopher, among other sets we have for him coming off screens. In fact, if I remember correctly, he hit a 3 pointer just a few minutes prior to that in almost exactly the same way – coming off a screen, halfway between the top of the key and the baseline to the left. He hits that shot all the time, which is why we run that play so often. It just didn’t go down.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Mi compadre!
I was at Cal the same years as you, and suffered the same trials and aggravations. Back then Cal fans could count success on one hand: The Play; ending The Streak (viva KJ & Lenoard Taylor!); beating SC in football.
Yeah, that’s about it. Well, except for dominance in rugby and water polo.
But I understand the frustration of these “kids” – particularly when it comes to seemingly always losing to Ucla even when it really does seem like things are in line for a big, important win. It’s unfuriating at times, made all the more so by the prancing, thieving Ucla fans.
Your point and our experiences should serve as a guide to this generation, both as a warning of how bad things can be and as a way of helping temper wins and losses. But I’ve been where Ragnarok has been many times, and totally understand his frustration.
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Grrrrrrrrah, SoCal Oski
2 more items for further tempering of emotions:
1) My wife went to USC. Football season is an annual exercise of restraint vs. blood-letting. Her typical comment after Cal loses to SC is some variation of “But it’s Cal”. The 3 OT win in 2003? She wasn’t there with me.
2) My younger daughter, 4 yrs old, couldn’t stand the noise that Harmon generated on Sat. night, but when she wasn’t plugging her ears, kept saying, “Daddy, it’s just a basketball game”. She had more fun with the free pom-poms.
Games against Stanford, that’s a way of life. SoCal rivalries? I’m stumped. And how did a nice Cal grad like me — who’s from LA and still loves the Dodgers — end up living 5 minutes from Stanford?
Rollah on You Bears
You like the Dodgers!?
We can’t be friends. :(
by CaliforniaCMB on Mar 3, 2009 1:44 AM PST up reply actions
A couple quick responses
Ragnarok either needs help or just has to age a bit more. How old are you guys?
I am 27. I am sure that, with more years, will come more perspective, and I will be calmer and more reasonable about the whole thing. However, it is not as though I have never experienced losing; I spent my first two undergraduate years following Tom Holmoe-coached teams, and I’ve seen plenty of mediocre basketball over the past 5 years or so.
I fully admit that this was an unusual reaction I had to this game, however; I’m normally much calmer than this, which is why I thought my personal reactions were remarkable and worth writing about. Besides which, though you may have more experience and perspective when following the Bears, can you say that, when you were younger, a Cal sporting event never made you feel this way? It is a growing stage all of us sports fans must work our way through.
Indeed, Cal fans are the lovable losers. We always will be, even if we make a Rose Bowl in my lifetime (which has not happened yet).
I’m not sure that I’d agree with that statement. At least not for all time. First Jeff Tedford and now Mike Montgomery have brought hope to Bear fans, and the youngest generation of Bear Fans have known nothing but hope. Sure, there have been periods of hope before, but Tedford’s program has brought sustained excellence to Cal Football, and that hasn’t happened in 50 years. It’s a different culture than what has come before. Losing is no longer expected, is no longer the norm, and the youngest generation of Bear Fans are not nearly as conditioned to expect losing as Old Blues are. It’s the difference between rooting for the Cubs and rooting for the Dodgers.
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
The Dodgers haven’t won since 1988; my AL team, the Tigers, since 1984. [I bought Domino’s pizza for the dorm floor that year, b/c of then-owner Ilitch, before I learned that he was in the pro-life/Walmart set]. I can see how a generation can separate this thread, so I won’t deny you your feelings today. Bear in mind, though, that pro baseball proceeds along a much different path in its 162-game regular season than college football, where every game does count. I am not sure I got your point there, so let’s correspond when Cal makes its next Rose Bowl.
Rollah on You Bears
Perhaps the MLB comparison wasn’t very apt, but that’s what I thought of when you mentioned the “lovable losers” line. There really aren’t any good NFL comparisons, since parity has rendered dynasties and doormats nearly a thing of the past. Let’s just say that expectations are slowly ebbing upwards, and that losing is that much more painful if you’re not expecting it.
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
ha! I overlapped you also
started in 83 (year after the play).
The Ucla game to end the streak, as I’ve posted before, is like very little else in terms of atmosphere and game coming together. I was in the band, we all had paper reggie miller ears attached to our straw hats.
Yes, being a bears fan is to always live with hope, and have it crushed time and again. Folks wonder why we rush the field after a big game victory nearly every single time? because we’ve be are used to soul crushing losses in the last minute.
While I feel bad for the youngsters here who are learning what it means to be a Cal fan, I’m glad they are here to carry on our legacy of irrational blue and gold fandom.
Go Bears Go
A few thoughts
1) Never Ever leave a game early – regardless of score.
2) It is strange you cared so much because it was essentially a battle for second place with UW having already won earlier in the day.
3) Sports is supposed to be a diversion from reality, a way to escape the real life problems you have in life. Try to enjoy it and not take it so seriously. (easier said than done obviously)
4) At the beginning of the year who would have thought/dreamed/expected us to be where we are? Not many.
5) Take a deep breath and move on.
6) I’ll be at Cal v. ASU next weekend – say a prayer for me (or if you are BearNecessity – say one against me) that some Arizona State Desert Trash fan doesn’t jump me for cheering on my Bears.
7) Go Bears!
by 33SwisherSweet on Mar 2, 2009 11:01 AM PST reply actions
A few replies
1) I totally agree with you. I feel that it’s important to note that I never left the building until the game was over, and I never stopped caring, and I never really gave up all hope; I was dreading what seemed inevitable, and I was having difficulty dealing.
2) It IS strange that I cared so much, given the relatively low stakes involved. I tried to explore why this was the case, but it still seems strange to me.
3) Again, I agree. Again, this was an abnormal reaction, even for me.
4) Certainly not me! But November seems a long time ago now, and my expectations have been significantly heightened since then. Has this year been a success? Unequivocally. Does that lessen the disappointment of Saturday’s loss? For me, not really.
5) That’s what the walking around was for. That, and writing this post. Blogging can be incredibly cathartic.
6) Good luck, and try not to punch any douchebags on Mill Avenue!
7) Go MF Bears indeed!
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
I would encourage you to steal their coeds away from the gamooks who inhabit the campus!
by BearsNecessity on Mar 2, 2009 12:58 PM PST up reply actions
The other thing we have to remember
at this point, we are basically playing with house money. As my dad pointed out to me last night, who would have thought that we would be a tournament team this year? Certainly not me. If we win a couple games down the stretch here, we have a fighting shot to get to the second weekend. If not, we certainly have a great chance to get to the second round.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
who would have thought that we would be a tournament team this year?
[raises hand]
I thought Braun’s failure to take last year’s team to the Tournament with the talent he had on his roster was a savage indictment of his coaching ability. (In terms of raw talent, that team should have finished third or fourth in the conference.) Even with the loss of Anderson and Hardin, I felt that there was enough left over that a competent coach (and Montgomery is more than competent) should turn it into a tournament berth. If Anderson HAD returned, I think the fans would have been justified in expecting a conference title.
Many years from now, when his name's recalled
Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
-- Al Stewart, "Football Hero"
I agree with this part:
If Anderson HAD returned, I think the fans would have been justified in expecting a conference title.
But the lack of any top front court talent and a huge lack of depth at every position indicated, to me, that we weren’t headed towards the top. I know the conference is down this year, but outside of Christopher, Theo coming back from major hip surgery, and an inconsistent Randle, we didn’t have much on this roster.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Those guys have been great
but at the same time, I was hoping for more out of Seeley, Kamp and Wilkes. Injuries do have a way of evening things out.
Many years from now, when his name's recalled
Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
-- Al Stewart, "Football Hero"
You must be an optimist
Seeley was rated almost exactly the same as Christopher, and Christopher didn’t start contributing until the last few weekends of his freshman year. Kamp was coming off knee surgery. Wilkes hadn’t shown much of anything in 3 years.
There were a lot of reasons why this team was picked to finish in the bottom 3 in the conference. This team has succeeded because of a lot of reasons which were very difficult to predict before the season: Jorge, a last minute addition & true freshman, has backed up both guards and made huge contributions to several victories; Kamp has been healthy enough to play significant minutes; Theo recovered from his injury and leads the country in three point shooting; Randle has improved dramatically; and, first and foremost, Monty has taught the players much more, and much more quickly, than even he anticipated. Just reading his quotes from the early non conference schedule did not give one an optimistic feeling about the season – there was a lot of “we still have a lot to learn”.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Come on… You know that Randle was just waiting to be unleashed… He was the only guy who could play against Ohio State in that NIT game
You ain't got it like Marshawn got it
by Thoroughbred on Mar 3, 2009 12:52 AM PST up reply actions
I'm Much More Upset About the Women's Loss
I was at the men’s game, and it was miserable (and made worse by having some obnoxious UCLA fans around us). But the women’s loss was much worse. We went from a likely Pac-10 co-championship to an almost certain second (or even third) place finish by losing a game we clearly should have won. And we lost one of our best players, possibly for the rest of the year. A much more significant loss, and a much more devastating loss.
For anyone interested in the women’s team, here is an excellent article/interview with Joanne Boyle that appeared in the Wall Street Journal last week:
Great article. It’s weird watching a sport where you’re attracted to your team’s coach.
by BearsNecessity on Mar 2, 2009 12:56 PM PST up reply actions
Nice post... I have some of the same feelings, but...
I haven’t read all the comments. I’m sure, though, there is the obligatory “We’re Cal fans. Something was obviously going to go wrong. WAH WAH.”
This sentiment irks me a lot because I believe fans create some amount of the atmosphere around our teams, no matter what actually goes on in the locker room. You could just feel the tension in the air last year when Longshore was QBing… I remember how silent it sounded when he started the game versus ASU… The game ended well (and Longshore played very well), but you could just feel how depressing the atmosphere was…
I don’t want this same woe-is-me attitude permeating into our sports teams next year, which should setup to be a very good one for our two major sports. I know this will never happen because too many fans latch on to this ugly bridesmaid mindset.
I, for one, will remain positive about our sports programs (which have quickly become incredibly highly regarded for class and the production of fine student-athletes — don’t mess this up, Marshawn), and I’m not going to sweat it if everything doesn’t go according to hype.
You ain't got it like Marshawn got it
It is a strange culture that seems to permeate through most major sports teams these days. You’ll see a lot of grumbling and not a lot of enthusiasm. I blame Lehman Brothers.
by BearsNecessity on Mar 2, 2009 3:24 PM PST up reply actions
Hinder just got a scholarship offer from Notre Dame
he’s getting a lot of buzz now…. I just hope we lock up Heaps or Hinder, although there are some SoCal guys who love us too
You ain't got it like Marshawn got it
Lots of interesting comments
Rags, I read your on my lunch break and wanted to let my thoughts percolate around before responding. I think you bring up tons of interesting issues – thanks for putting it out there so honestly.
I’ve thought alot about this kind of dynamic, about how much sports fans CARE about the ‘split second decisions of kids under extreme physical duress,’ to quote SMQ/Doc Saturday. I recall going on a very intense, cathartic 30 minute run after Steve Finley of the Dodgers hit a grand slam on the 2nd to last day of the season to eliminate the Giants. I remember wanted to crawl into a hole for a few days after Kevin Riley’s boner occurred right in front of my section of Memorial. I remember Desean’s toe in Arizona almost ruining a day in YOSEMITE of all places – a place so beautiful that I was totally pissed at myself for almost letting a football game get in the way awe-inspiring nature.
So yeah, you’re not alone. As SoCalOski points out, you learn to deal with the disapointment over time. Watching Cal lose to USC in ’04 helped me deal with the disappointment of watching them lose to USC live in LA in ’06 and ’08.
Few people around here do it, but I find it both fascinating and scary how much ego a sports fan (particularly those on the internet) invest in the success in their team. How many times has a flame war started over something unimportant, and somebody says, “Talk to me when you don’t have to wait 50 years for a Rose Bowl” or “Whatever, your team is just a bunch of chokers!” as if that somehow makes them a better, more successful sportsfan! They way we internalize and personalize our teams successes and failures creeps the hell out of me sometimes.
Because Cal fans have experienced relatively little national success, I think we tend to avoid some of that attitude that may exude because somebody else’s team was blessed with a John Wooden, Joe Torre or Pete Carroll. So instead, we Cal fans use our academic reputation when WE want to be dicks on the internet. Of course, nobody listens to us, because we’re all a bunch of long-haired, tree hugging, dope-smoking hippies. DAMN!
For all of these reasons is why I really like things around here. Taking things to seriously, calling sports commentators “intellectually dishonest bastards,” booing Nate Longshore – all of these are symptoms, in my opinion, of people who have taken all of the joy out of being a fan.
Wait…am I still talking about how much it hurt to lose to UCLA? I’ve rambled for far too long – thanks for the indulgence.
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
Talk to me when you don’t have to wait 50 years for a Rose Bowl
TYRANNICAL KING OF UC EUGENE! BRING ME THE HEAD OF SEATTLE QUACKER!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
You’ve been waiting 50 years? How old are you?
by BearsNecessity on Mar 2, 2009 7:17 PM PST up reply actions
I always knew you were the better, more successful sportsfan!
…I mean…whatever, your team is just a bunch of chokers!
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
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Pac-12 On SBN
Pacific Takes (Pac-12) NORTH AddictedToQuack: (Oregon)
UW Dawg Pound: (Washington)
CougCenter: (Washington State)
BuildingTheDam: (Oregon State)
Rule Of Tree: (Stanford)
CaliforniaGoldenBlogs: (Cal)
SOUTH
BruinsNation: (UCLA)
ConquestChronicles: (USC)
HouseOfSparky: (ASU)
Arizona Desert Swarm: (Arizona)
TheRalphieReport: (Colorado)
Block U: (Utah)
Golden Bears Football Schedule
| Fresno St. | Sat 09/03 | W 36 - 21 |
@
Colorado
|
Sat 09/10 | W 36 - 33 |
| Presbyterian | Sat 09/17 | W 63 - 12 |
|
@
Washington
|
Sat 09/24 | L 23 - 31 |
|
@
Oregon
|
Thu 10/06 | L 15 - 43 |
|
USC
|
Thu 10/13 | L 9 - 30 |
|
Utah
|
Sat 10/22 | W 34 - 10 |
|
@
UCLA
|
Sat 10/29 | L 14 - 31 |
|
Washington St.
|
Sat 11/05 | W 30 - 7 |
|
Oregon St.
|
Sat 11/12 | W 23 - 6 |
|
@
Stanford
|
Sat 11/19 | L 28 - 31 |
|
@
Arizona St.
|
Fri 11/25 | W 47 - 38 |
|
@
Texas
|
Wed 12/28 | L 10 - 21 |
Pacific-12 Conference Standings
(updated 1.2.2012 at 11:12 PM PST)
| North | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
Oregon Ducks
|
8 | 1 | 12 | 2 |
|
Stanford Cardinal
|
8 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
|
Washington Huskies
|
5 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
|
California Golden Bears
|
4 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
|
Oregon St. Beavers
|
3 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
|
Washington St. Cougars
|
2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| South | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
USC Trojans
|
7 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
|
UCLA Bruins
|
5 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
|
Utah Utes
|
4 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
|
Arizona St. Sun Devils
|
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|
Arizona Wildcats
|
2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
|
Colorado Buffaloes
|
2 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
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