Interview with Tedford:

BERKELEY – California head coach Jeff Tedford sat down with several members of the Bay Area media Tuesday to discuss his team as it prepares to start spring practice March 14. The Bears will work out in Memorial Stadium through April 18, when they will host an open scrimmage.

Cal returns 17 starters from last year’s club that finished with a 9-4 record, including a 24-17 victory over Miami in the Emerald Bowl. After earning a No. 25 final ranking in the final USA Today poll, the Bears are receiving Top 25 mention from most preseason publications.

Season tickets for the 2009 campaign that features home games against Maryland, USC and Oregon State, among others, are now on sale. To order, visit the Tickets Link at CalBears.com or call 800-GO BEARS.

The April 18 scrimmage begins at 12 noon in Memorial Stadium and is part of the campus-wide Cal Day celebration.

Head Coach Jeff Tedford Quotes

On the integration of new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig
Obviously, it’s moving pretty fast and furious because of the timing of spring ball, but I’ve been working very hard with the rest of the offensive staff to get him up to speed. One of the things that has been very natural transition for Andy Ludwig is that he’s familiar with all the terminology, because we use the same terminology here that is used at Oregon. It hasn’t been starting from scratch. We haven’t had to explain what it’s called and why it’s called this. He is well ahead of the curve as far as that is concerned.

9 Bears go to the Indoor Track Championships:

This Week
California will send nine Golden Bears to compete in the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. The Bears heading to the national meet are from the 13th-ranked Cal men’s indoor team are sophomore runner Michael Coe, in the men’s 3000-meter run, the men’s distance medley relay of Coe, senior Mark Matusak, senior Jake Hanson and freshman Sebastian Sam, and senior high jumper Ed Wright. Cal head coach Tony Sandoval will take four members of the women’s team: Senior Katie Morgan, (women’s pole vault), senior Inika McPherson (women’s high jump), junior Kristen Meister (women’s high jump) and sophomore Cherrelle Garrett (women’s 60-meter dash).

2009 NCAA Indoor Championships
Live results and other information, including ticketing, visitors’ information and heat sheets, from the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be available from the meet’s official Web site: http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaa2009/track/

Womens Tennis beats Baylor:

The No. 7-ranked California women’s tennis team (9-2, 2-0 Pac-10) welcomed No. 5 Baylor (6-4, 0-0 Big 12) to the Hellman Tennis Complex today and claimed a 4-3 victory as freshman Stephany Chang sealed the deal for the Golden Bears at No. 6 singles with a 7-6, 6-0 win over Kasia Siwosz. Chang needed to win the first-set tiebreaker (7-3) before she finished off Siwosz without dropping a game in the second set.

With all three doubles matches on pace to finish at nearly the same time, it was the Baylor Bears who seized the first win of the day as No. 24-ranked Csilla Borsanyi and Lenka Broosova took an 8-3 victory against Cal’s senior tandem of Bojana Bobusic and Claire Ilcinkas on the second court. As the top-court score sat at 7-3 in Cal’s favor, it was No. 3 doubles that would finish first. There, Nina Secerbegovic and Siwosz pulled out the 8-6 win over Chang and senior Marion Ravelojaona to secure the doubles point for Baylor. Seconds later, No. 13-ranked sophomore Mari Andersson and freshman Jana Juricova completed their 8-3 triumph over No. 55 Taylor Ormond and Jelena Stanviuk.

Even though Baylor had the point after doubles, it was Cal that came out with the momentum in singles play. No. 23-ranked Bobusic came off court first as she finished off No. 73 Borsanyi at No. 4 singles, 6-0, 6-1. Baylor answered right back to take a 2-1 lead in the match as Secerbegovic dropped a 6-0, 6-2 win on Ravelojaona at No. 5 singles. Cal pushed right back to tie the match at two-all when No. 26 Juricova walked away with a 6-0, 6-2 win on the top court over No. 46-ranked Broosova. The win was Juricova’s 25th singles victory of the year.

Male gymnast named Gymnast of the Week:

BERKELEY – Senior Kyson Bunthuwong earned distinction as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation gymnast of the week, the conference office announced Tuesday. Bunthuwong won the all-around competition against Ohio State on March 6.

In his last meet as a Golden Bear, Bunthuwong helped lead Cal to a 352.700-337.250 victory over the Buckeyes on senior night at Haas Pavilion. Bunthuwong earned an 88.800 to win the all-around and also took home three event titles. He finished first on parallel bars (15.000) and high bar (15.000). Kyson and his brother Kyle Bunthuwong tied for first on vault, each scoring a 15.650. Bunthuwong’s performances helped the Bears win all six events as well as the meet. His all-around score was a new personal best.

womens Lacrosse hosts William and Mary:

This Week
California (4-3, 2-0 MPSF) continues its homestand with a pair of nonconference games this week. The Golden Bears take on William and Mary at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11, and then play Vermont for the first time at noon on Saturday, March 14, at Memorial Stadium. Cal has a 1-2 record in the all-time series with William and Mary.

Almost half way through the season, Cal currently has the second-best record in the MPSF to Stanford, which is 4-0 in conference and 6-2 overall.

Price is Right for Bears
Cal senior attacker Sam Price leads the team in points (18), goals (13, tied with junior midfielder Alex Morgan) and assists (5, tied with junior midfielder Alyse Kennedy). Morgan ranks second in points (13). Bears senior goalkeeper Morgan Dyson lowered her goals-against average to 9.19 after Cal defeated UC Davis, 13-6, on March 8 in Berkeley.

Tickner earns Lacrosse Player of the week honor;

BERKELEY – California junior midfielder Alex Tickner earned her second consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week honor, the conference announced on Monday. Tickner scored a career high five goals and five points in the Golden Bears’ 13-6 MPSF win over UC Davis on March 8 at Memorial Stadium. The Rockville, Md., product garnered the same honor last week after scoring a hat trick in Cal’s 8-6 victory over Temple on March 1.

Tickner’s two MPSF accolades give Cal three for the season. Bears senior attacker Sam Price earned the conference nod after scoring a career-high seven points in the season-opening 19-0 win over Fresno State on Feb. 7.

Nathan Adrian swimmer o fthe week:

SOMERS, WISC. – University of California sophomore Nathan Adrian has been named the Counsilman Hunsaker National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week, it was announced by Collegeswimming.com. Adrian was also selected as the 2009 Pac-10 Championships’ Swimmer of the Meet.

Adrian, from Bremerton, Wash., had three individual victories last week at the 2009 Pac-10 Swimming Championships at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach to help the Golden Bears to a second place finish. He won the 50 freestyle (18.82, American, Pac-10, school and meet records), the 200 freestyle (1:32.98, NCAA “A” time and school record) and the 100 freestyle (41.64, NCAA “A” time, American, Pac-10, school and meet records). The Olympic gold medalist also swam the freestyle on Cal’s winning 400 medley relay (3:03.30, NCAA “A” time, meet, Pac-10, and NCAA records), the second place 200 freestyle relay (1:16.36, NCAA “A” time), the second place 400 freestyle relay (2:48.62, NCAA “A” time) and the third place 800 freestyle relay (6:20.49, NCAA “A” time and school record).

Bozeman back in tourney???

Todd Bozeman: In his third season at Morgan State, the former Cal coach has the MSU Bears (yes, Bears) on the brink of their first-ever trip to the NCAAs and was named MEAC COY. They won 20 games, beat Maryland and are the top seed in the league tournament. Three of Bozeman’s best players are seniors, including Cal transfer Marquise Kately, and his three-year contract — that was all he could get coming off his NCAA ban — expires after this season. Will he stay at MSU or move on and up? (Bozeman reportedly interviewed for the Providence job last spring.)

YO previews o-line

Tomlinson to return to San Diego

LaDainian Tomlinson is staying with the San Diego Chargers.

Tomlinson and the Chargers agreed to a renegotiated deal that gives the team salary-cap relief. The Chargers confirmed the agreement Tuesday night. Financial terms weren’t immediately available.

The deal ends a two-month saga during which it looked as if Tomlinson, the 2006 NFL most valuable player, could be finished with the Chargers.

A writer (maybe Peter King) referred to Marvin Harrison as being “on scholarship” with the Colts last year. It seems the same is true of LT. Will we have another year of him running into brick walls and being outshined (outshone?) by a five-foot, hundred-pound runningback?

UC to raise tuition to $7763 per year. While that’s nearly 10, it equates to only a $600 increase. Chancellor Birgeneau also refuses to take a pay cut from $436,000. I’m ok with that on one hand, but c’mon…the chancellor’s a talking head. They’re talking about permanently reducing the budget by 8, and I think it would show good leadership qualities by reducing his pay to $402,000 (an 8% cut).

It’s rainin’ 3’s!

“They just shoot it terrific,” USC coach Tim Floyd said. “Patrick Christopher, Jerome Randle, Theo Robertson. I don’t know where to start.”

How about in your eye, Coach Floyd!

Seriously tho…I’d like to hear ragnarok’s, T-bred’s, concordtom’s, and LeonPowe’s prediction for how deep they think we can go by livin’ & dyin’ with the 3-ball. 20% chance at a Sweet 16 bid???

Rishi’s gaiety at NN is metastacizing. He’s moved on to the dreamy Kyle Boller.

Cahill, Mazarro, and Anderson appear to be the next Big 3. They’re all doing very well and should all be up this year. Mazzaro looks to be in for a rotation spot when camps break.

To be clear, I don’t think this is an A’s ownership-San Ho city official meeting. I think it’s the city officials meeting to even discuss the possibility of the A’s moving to San Ho. BTW, often times Giants fans will say “The Giants won’t surrender their territorial rights.” That’s great and all, but they don’t get to choose. MLB owners get to choose and Uncle Lew is a frat brother of Slimeball Selig. Oh, and there’s precedence too: the Washington Nationals moved into the Baltimore Orioles’ territory and this got approved by the owners. Also, from a historical perspective, the A’s used to have Santa Clara County within their territorial rights, and relinquished them when Lurie wanted to move the Giants to San Jose. Then Santa Clara. Then giving up and threatening St. Petersburg, FL of all places. Technically, the A’s we’re being friendly and now the same courtesy isn’t extended. While I’d hate for the A’s to leave Oakland…building a new park isn’t going to happen with the City of Oakland’s issues. San Jose is far…but it’s still the Bay Area and it’s better than Portland or being victims of contraction!

Any recommendations, hip CGB community?

http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?SID=880&Year=2010&ra_key=2369

I only know what people say here, but I did find it strange that Jake Heaps isn’t on the list, though Austin Hinder is. Also Robert Woods just missed a 5-star rating. Lache Seastrunk is the No. 2 rated player.