DBD 4.23.2009 WWE Backlash Preview

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Senior Evan Roth won his first-ever national championship on still rings at the 2009 NCAA Championships in the individual portion on Saturday evening. Roth notched a 15.600 to take home the title. “This is inexplicable at the moment,” Roth said. “I’ve been working all year for this. This is a dream come true.” Roth’s individual title is the 29th in program history and the 12th in the past nine years at Cal. Roth’s 15.600 tied his career best.

here – (although why would Cal be hosting a New York event? What’s in a name?)

This Week
California hosts the Brutus Hamilton Invitational and the New York Road Runners Distance Carnival this weekend at Edwards Stadium on Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25. On Friday, the running events begin at 4 p.m. with the women’s 400-meter hurdles. The NYRR Distance Carnival goes from 5:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday night. The Cal men are currently ranked No. 23 in the USTFCCCA rankings.

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This Week in Cal Women’s Water Polo
The No. 5 Golden Bears (30-6 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are making the trip across the Pacific to the state of Hawaii for the annual Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. The championships will be held Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26 at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Cal, the four seed, will take on fifth-seeded No. 6 San Jose State on Friday at 10:30 p.m. PST. In round two of the tournament, the Bears will either play No. 1-seed USC or eighth-seeded Arizona State on Saturday, depending on which teams lose and win.

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BERKELEY – The California women’s soccer team is holding its 15th annual 7 vs. 7 spring tournament on Saturday, April 25, to raise funds for its upcoming summer trip to Italy. The tournament will take place at Cal’s Memorial Stadium and games will start at 9:30 a.m. and end around 4 p.m.

The Bears are heading to Italy from May 25-June 5 for the first international trip in program history. The team is currently accepting donations for the trip. For those who are interested in donating to Cal Women’s Soccer’s first-ever foreign tour, please call Neil McGuire at 510 643 8100 or E-mail him at nmcguire@berkeley.edu.

Cal will play host to Stanford, the California Storm of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), Saint Mary’s, UC Davis, Pacific and Sacramento State.

I have no idea what a draw control is.

CalBears.com recently spoke with senior attacker/midfielder Elizabeth T Jahp, who leads California in draw controls with a career-high 29. The Lake Forest, Ill., product has also posted careers highs in goals (10), assists (8) and points (18) this season. T, as she’s known, is preparing to enter MPSF Tournament play against Saint Mary’s this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Stanford. Jahp, a mass communications major, will graduate next month.

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This Week
California faces Washington at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, on Montlake Cut in Seattle. The Golden Bears’ top-ranked varsity 8+ will take on the Huskies’ fourth-ranked varsity 8+ for the Simpson Cup, the trophy awarded annually to the winner of the Pac-10 rivals’ varsity 8+ race. Under the leadership of Cal head coach Dave O’Neill, the four-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year including in 2008, the Bears have won the Simpson Cup six straight years.

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* Cal

C Alex Mack: Best pure center in the draft. Tested well, including a 5.17-second 40. Could end up with the Super Bowl champ Steelers at the end of the first round. (Oregon center Max Unger is also a candidate for that spot.) Projected round: 2nd.

TE Cameron Morrah: Good hands and speed but there are serious questions about his blocking skills and overall readiness for the NFL. Had he stayed in school and played well/tested well, he might have been a second or third rounder next spring. Projected Round: 5th.

LB Zack Follett: His 40 time was a shade under 4.7, which isn’t good for an outside linebacker (can he hold up in coverage?). Has the instincts and the accomplishments but is a classic case a very good college player whose skills don’t translate to being a very good pro — unless he simply proves everyone wrong. Projected round: 6th.

Possible 7th rounders/probable free agents: QB Nate Longshore, LB Anthony Felder, LB Worrell Williams and FB Will Ta’ufo’ou. Add: DE Rulon Davis.

I just realized I posted a bunch of the same CSTV articles from yesterday’s DBD. Whoops! Well, you should go read them now because I know most of you haven’t.

Baseball loses to Stanford:

STANFORD, CALIF. – The California baseball team got big games offensively from junior second baseman Jeff Kobernus and sophomore first baseman Mark Canha, but could not hold off Stanford, falling 11-7 Wednesday evening at Sunken Diamond. Cal, which had fallen behind 5-1 after three innings could never catch up, dropping to 18-20 overall. The Cardinal improved to 17-16. Kobernus, who was the Pac-10 Player of the Week last week, finished the game 3-for-5 with a two-run homer in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth. Canha, who is now batting .399 on the year, was 2-for-4 with an RBI ground out in the first inning and a two-run triple in the fifth inning.

Cal scored the game’s first run in the top of the first inning when junior center fielder Brett Jackson led-off with a walk, stole second base and advanced to third base on sophomore shortstop Brian Guinn’s single through the right side. Jackson then scored on Canha’s RBI ground out to shortstop.

Stanford answered with a run in the bottom of the first on Cal starter Brian Diemer’s (1-5, 2.1 innings, six hits, five runs, two walks, one strikeout) wild pitch after Diemer had walked Colin Walsh and gave up a one-out single to Toby Gerhart. The Cardinal then pushed across five runs off of Diemer in the third inning on an RBI double by Gerhart, an RBI single by Kellen Kiilsgaard and a two-run homer to center field by Brent Milleville.

Womens Tennis heads to pac10 championship:

THIS WEEK: The No. 8-ranked California women’s tennis team (17-4, 7-1 Pac-10, second place) will join the Pacific-10 conference’s other eight teams as it heads to Ojai, Calif. this weekend for the Pac-10 Tennis Championships at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club and Libbey Park. The four-day tournament (Thursday, April 23 through Sunday, April 26) will decide the league’s men’s and women’s singles and doubles champions. The 32-player singles draw consists of three student-athletes from each school and five wild card players to be selected at the discretion of the draw committee. The 16-team doubles draw consists of one doubles team from each school and seven wild card teams selected by the committee. The Pac-10 Championships will be held in conjunction with the 109th Annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament with matches beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday, April 23. Two rounds of singles will be played on the first day while one round of singles and two rounds of doubles will be played on the second day. Thursday and Friday matches will be held at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club with Saturday and Sunday matches moving to Libbey Park. The singles championship match will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 26 with the doubles championships to be held at 2 p.m.

WHO’S WHO?: Pac-10 women occupy 23 spots on the ITA’s Top-125 singles rankings list through April 21. Of the Top-30 players in the nation, nine hail from the Pac-10. Seven Conference teams are represented by ranked individuals, with sophomore Hilary Barte of Stanford topping that list at No. 5.

Mens Tennis heads to Pac10 Championship:

THIS WEEK: The No. 48-ranked California men’s tennis team (10-10, 2-4 Pac-10, fifth-place tie) will join the Pacific-10 conference’s other six teams as it heads to Ojai, Calif. this weekend for the Pac-10 Tennis Championships at Libbey Park. The four-day tournament (Thursday, April 23 through Sunday, April 26) will decide the league’s men’s and women’s singles and doubles champions. The 32-player singles draw consists of four student-athletes from each school and four wild card players to be selected at the discretion of the draw committee. The 16-team doubles draw consists of two doubles teams from each school and two wild card teams selected by the committee. The Pac-10 Championships will be held in conjunction with the 109th Annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament with matches beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday, April 23. Two rounds of singles will be played on the first day while one round of singles and two rounds of doubles will be played on the second day. The singles championship match will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 26 with the doubles championships to be held at 12:30 p.m.

WHO’S WHO?: 15 Pac-10 singles players are ranked in the ITA Top-125 national men’s singles rankings (as of April 21). Six Conference teams are represented by ranked individuals, with USC junior Robert Farah topping the list at No. 7, and joined in the Top-25 by Stanford sophomore Alex Clayton at No. 20.

all links SF Gate unless otherwise noted.

Express toll lanes, or “Lexus lanes,” might be coming to the Bay Area. I wonder how much it will cost…to me, a huge issue is the Bay Bridge backup in SF (headed EB) in the evening. I hope the new Bay Bridge expedites traffic.

Chevron’s counsel might need a counselor after the shit he allegedly pulled in Gitmo.

SF’s Acme Chophouse near the Phone Booth flops.

Affeldt’s got a good heart.

Ed Jew’s got more time.

National Park ranger’s are going to Sizzler tonight! I’m pumped about this.

Teen’s aren’t buying stupid expensive ripped cargo shorts anymore (NYT).

Some homoeowners have decided now’s a good time to remodel (NYT).

NIH stimulus package funds are creating anxiety, hope in the science community (Science):

Sports

Quarterback remains a position of interest for the 49ers going into this weekend’s draft, but even if they do select one with their first pick Saturday, he would not be expected to start as a rookie. Compete, yes. Be anointed the starter, no.

More Ninersnation draft analysis. Great stuff over there.

Longshore & the draft:

Most draft analysts don’t even have Longshore listed as one of the top 25 quarterbacks in the draft. When Kiper was asked on a conference call last week if he thought Longshore would go undrafted, he answered "Yes" without hesitation.

But Longshore is staying positive. Saying that he feels healthy for the first time since that career-altering ankle injury at Oregon in 2007, Longshore is confident he can play in the NFL, even if he has to go the free agent route this fall.

"I’m excited to get the opportunity to go in there and show what I’m capable of," Longshore said. "As long as I get that chance, I’ll live. I’m just ready to go to work somewhere. I’m looking forward to August, getting into some preseason games and doing what i’m capable of doing when I feel good."

Longshore says he didn’t feel completely healthy in any game since the middle of the 2007 season. He said the affects of the ankle injury stayed with him for the rest of that year, and then the partially torn pectoral muscle he suffered last spring hindered him for all of 2008.

He says he feels healthy now. He had a good showing at Cal’s Pro Day last month and last week worked out for the 49ers. His agent, Erik Burkhardt, has been sending film to NFL teams of Longshore’s 2006 season, just to illustrate what his client can do when he’s healthy. He’s also juxtaposing that to film of the past two years, to show the difference the injuries made.

Longshore and Burkhardt said they have received increased interest during these last few days before the draft, and Burkhardt believes Longshore will be drafted in the fifth or sixth round. At the very least, Longshore should be in a camp this fall as a free agent

–He said the reason he played better in the first half during games is he was able to get shot up with pain medication before the game, so the injuries didn’t affect him as much. But as the pain medication wore off, his game suffered. He couldn’t get another injection at halftime of games because it wasn’t considered to be medically safe.

–After complaining at the end of the season that he didn’t get a fair chance this season, Longshore said having time to reflect gave him more understanding of Jeff Tedford’s decision-making.

"If you have one guy who is completely healthy and coming on strong and your veteran is a little banged up, you have to do what you feel is best," Longshore said. "I can’t blame him or be mad at him for that. I don’t fault him for anything. I understand that I wasn’t playing nearly as well as I needed to be effective."

–Longshore said he never considered shutting it down and trying to get an extra year. He felt he could play through the injuries and give the team a chance to win.

–Longshore said he is throwing the ball right now even better than he did in 2006. He said he worked out with former Cal receiver Lavelle Hawkins the other day and Hawkins told him, "When did you start throwing like this?"

–No matter what happens this weekend, this is an exciting time of Longshore’s life. He and his wife, Rachel, are expecting a baby girl in August.

"There’s a lot going on and I’m definitely enjoying it," he said. "There are lots of things that make life great, and it’s not always football. But I’m definitely having a good time. Life couldn’t be any better."

–Longshore said he expects to finish up his American Studies degree this summer.

Looks like Nate and I will be first time fathers this August. I had no idea he was partially injured for most of 2008.

YO also has a Longshore feature in the CCTimes. I could get used to this type of YO output.

Wilner, for some reason, thinks he knows enough about Cal football to create a depth chart:

WOLB: Devin Bishop/Jarred Price
Bishop had better get ready for a fierce competition that will last well into the regular season. Look for Jerome Meadows, another JC transfer, to compete for time.

WILB: Mike Mohamed/Robert Mullins
Just a guess with Mullens.

SILB: Mychael Kendricks/D.J. Holt
Kendricks started on the outside this spring and moved inside. Might see Holt as the No. 2 WILB.

SOLB: Eddie Young/Ryan Davis
Davis, a JC transfer, could be a very good option at several positions. Bear must figure out the best way to use all their incoming LBs.

Thoughts on Mo being the mike backer? Isn’t Ryan Davis the leading candidate for WOLB (is this the Will)?

KenCraw on spring scrimmage:

Overall, I don’t yet see a team that is poised to make a run at the Rose Bowl, but I do see one that with some modest improvement in key areas, particularly QB, FB and O-Line, could be in position to do that. They’ve got to be ready to make that run right out of the gates because Maryland would love to prove that last year’s game was not an aboration and the first two conference games are the likely challengers for the Pac-10 crown.

Make sure to read the whole article…it’s really good!

love the wrestling angle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHeAwhqxrDQ&feature=email

The Terps have been working heavily on defense under new coordinator Don Brown. It could be a tough early test for Cal’s O-line.

“You’re going to see a lot more pressure, and you’re going to see a lot more people being challenged, a lot of guys one-on-one on the island,” Friedgen said. “I think Don does a great job of teaching press coverage.”

The goal of press man coverage is to disrupt the timing and give the rush time to get to the quarterback. This spring, Maryland’s defense has been given 2.5 seconds to get to the quarterback.

G/C from Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas

http://cal.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Pr_Key=79966

Here are his HLs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diFcUjckX00&feature=related


He’s got great size, which coach Marshall says is an issue with the current unit…. Undoubtedly needs to be coached up his frosh year, but you’re really looking for willing bodies who work hard and smart at this point

He was thought to have been a Notre Dame lean up until news of this commitment

Forgive me for not following the Cal besbol team. However, the last few times I’ve read the Chronicle recap of the Cal v. Stanfurd besbol games they have referred to the game as “a non-conference game.” Are we really not in the same conference as Stanfurd in besbol? The first time I read it, I thought it was a misprint. However, it was referred to a non-conference game in today’s paper as well. What gives?

Thanks gents.

BOOM THO returns the favor. TWICE.

For your next DBD can you do a special on how Santa delivers all those presents to children on Xmas and how the Easter Bunny shits out all those eggs? I’ve always wondered . . .

P.S. That first pic is really disturbing. Is that a man/woman/she-wolf/tranny?

http://tvseriesfinale.com/articles/parenthood-new-nbc-tv-show/

AND!!!!

http://www.hiphopcongress.com/2009/04/casting-for-extra-work-on-nbc-tv-pilot/

they need extras, I know I can definitely pass as a high schooler. At family function over the weekend, someone asked me where I was planning doing my undergrad. I said the college I am talking about is grad school

More importantly also has the chance to walk on as Cal running back down the line.

Castro Valley (Calif.) running back Dash Oliver, who was expected to be one of NorCal’s top running backs in 2008 before a knee injury sidelined him, will be heading to the Pac-10 after all.

“Dash committed to Cal for Track and Field (sprints and relays),” said his mother, Jennifer.

According to his mother, Oliver will have the opportunity to try out for Cal’s football program down the line.

Some of you have probably seen this, but I just stumbled upon it today.

The Jeff Tedford Story, as part of Gameday coverage of Cal-SC awhile back.

It’s a pretty awesome story.

LINK

Tony Gonzalez is headed out of Kansas City.

The Falcons confirmed to USA TODAY’s Jim Corbett that they have acquired Gonzalez from the Chiefs for a second-round pick in next year’s draft.

There is hope for Longshore!

news:

The Mulder watch: Clifton also reports that another of his rehabbing clients, Mark Mulder, feels healthier than he has in years. But the reason Mulder hasn’t shown off his newfound health for his half-dozen suitors is that he lost his delivery during 4½ years filled with pain, strains and three different shoulder surgeries.
So he’s working to put that delivery back together, and “He says, ‘I don’t want to sign until I know I’m ready,’” Clifton said. “But at this point, we’re talking about very minor, adjustable mechanical issues, whereas six months ago … this was a guy trying to throw a baseball like a shot put.”

Once that delivery gets smoothed out, Mulder is expected to throw for at least a half-dozen teams, a delegation that almost certainly will include the Dodgers, Nationals and Brewers. He also paid a recent visit to the Oakland Coliseum, where he had a conversation with Billy Beane. So while the A’s haven’t expressed much interest ‘til now, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Mulder personally invites them to come watch him throw.

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