Injury carts will be lonely for weeks as Marshawn is suspended for the first three games of the season.

LINK

The Bay Bridge will shut down over Labor Day weekend once again, Caltrans officials announced Wednesday – this time to allow a complex construction maneuver 150 feet in the air.

My roommate got me to download it and now im playing instead of studying.

MY THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR DBD WAS THAT YOU FUCKED OVER YELLOW FEVER WHO WORKED HARD ON HIS DBD TODAY. THIS IS JUST LIKE YOU THE MAHARG! YOU DONT CARE ABOUT NOBODY OR NOTHING!

PS Anybody watch that As game yesterday? NO-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!! What a great game. As score 3 with 2 outs in the 9th (and in some cases 2 strikes) to beat the Angels. Fuentes aint no KRod (much to my fantasy baseball team “Ethnic Comic”’s disappointment).

CalBear81 has an impressive 46% lead!

Womens tennis tot ake on Oregon:

vs. No. 56 Oregon
Saturday, April 11 – Noon
Hellman Tennis Complex | Berkeley, Calif.

vs. No. 45 Pepperdine
Sunday, April 12 – Noon
Hellman Tennis Complex | Berkeley, Calif.

Complete April 8 California Women’s Tennis Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

THIS WEEK: The No. 8-ranked California women’s tennis team (14-4, 5-1 Pac-10) will play its third and fourth home matches in a row at Hellman Tennis Complex as the Golden Bears host No. 56 Oregon (9-9, 1-4 Pac-10) in a noon match on Saturday, April 11, and No. 45 Pepperdine (9-9) at noon on Sunday, April 12. Cal pulled off consecutive victories over the Arizona schools last weekend to maintain a spot in the race for the conference title with just two Pac-10 matches left on the schedule. Both of this weekend’s matches will be streamed live via links at the women’s tennis page at CalBears.com.

LAST WEEK: The Bears claimed convincing wins over No. 21 Arizona State and No. 59 Arizona to open up a five-match home-stand. Cal defeated the Sun Devils for the ninth consecutive time in a 5-2 victory as senior Bojana Bobusic clinched the win with her 6-3, 6-2 court-three win against Laila Abdala. The Bears were unable to win the doubles point for just the sixth time this season but responded with five wins in singles play. Cal’s No. 6-ranked duo of sophomore Mari Andersson and freshman Jana Juricova walked away with a big 8-2 victory against No. 13-ranked Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna to get the Bears’ only doubles win. Juricova later defeated No. 3-ranked McKenna in singles by a 6-1, 6-2 score on the top singles court. Cal took out the Wildcats in a 7-0 sweep as it won all nine matches on the day. Andersson and Juricova got their 15th doubles win of the year to start things off before the Bears rolled to their 12th doubles point of the season. Freshman Stephany Chang clinched the win for Cal with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Debora Castany at court six. With the win over Arizona, the Bears pushed their record to 10-2 when they win the doubles point.

what’s with the “Pics of Beautiful Women” ad by Google. Don’t they know we are not mysoginists!!!

BIG SPLASH:

This Week in Cal Women’s Water Polo
The No. 5 Golden Bears (28-5 overall and 3-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) return home to host No. 1 Stanford (13-10, 0-5 MPSF) in MPSF play. Cal is 9-1 in its last three weeks of play with its most recent victory coming last Saturday against No. 8 Arizona State. The Bears will be looking for their first victory against the rival Cardinal since the 2000 season. Last year, Cal came within one goal of Stanford thanks to a score by Camille Hewko, but fell just short, 6-5.

Golden Bears Earn Conference Win No. 3
The No. 5 California women’s water polo earned its third conference victory with a 11-9 decision over No. 8 Arizona State on Saturday evening at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Junior utility Camille Hewko led all scorers with four goals while freshman driver Emily Csikos notched a hat trick. Arizona State tied the game for the fourth time, 9-9, in the fourth quarter. Csikos gave Cal the lead for good, 10-9, with a powerful skip shot with 4:35 to play in regulation. Hewko distanced the Bears with her fourth goal of the game, bringing the final tally to 11-9.

Hewko Named MPSF Co-Player of the Week
Hewko was awarded co-player of the week honors by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Hewko scored four goals to lead the No. 5 Golden Bears to an 11-9 victory over No. 8 Arizona State on April 4. The decoration is the first of Hewko’s career and the third time in the 2009 campaign that a Bear has been given the weekly accolade. Hewko helped the Bears get their first goal of the game when she earned a five-meter penalty shot for the Bears just 45 seconds into the game, and junior driver Meghan Corse converted. The second stanza began in similar fashion to the first – with Hewko captaining the first offensive. She gave the Bears the six-on-five and lobbed in a goal off a pass from Julie Oreglia. Hewko sent the Bears into the break with a 6-4 advantage. Hewko followed up with another score in the third, and she distanced the Bears with her fourth goal of the game, bringing the final tally to 11-9.

Q&A With the Golden Bears
CalBears.com will be running question and answers with the Cal women’s water polo team all season. This week’s Q&A is with redshirt junior utility Stephanie Schnugg, and you can read it by clicking here. With a father who won a national title in men’s water polo at California and competed on the Olympic team, two cousins on the men’s water polo team and a sister who was a women’s soccer student-athlete at Cal, Stephanie Schnugg comes from a family rich in Cal history. But this Schnugg has already set her own course. As a true freshman, she scored 10 goals and had 10 goals in her sophomore campaign, taking a year to redshirt in between. This season, she has already surpassed both of those totals with 19 goals thus far in 2009. CalBears.com took some time to find out more about growing up in the Schnugg family as well as her interest in art, which is her major.

Mens Crew #1:

BERKELEY – California’s varsity 8+ moved up to No. 1 in the USRowing top 20 national poll that came out Wednesday, reflecting the Golden Bears’ victory against a strong field in the San Diego Crew Classic’s Copley Cup grand final on April 5. Cal’s top boat was ranked No. 3 in the previous poll.

Cal collected 347 points in the latest poll to 331 for No. 2 Wisconsin, though the Badgers garnered 12 first-place votes to Cal’s six. Washington (329 points), whose varsity 8+ lost to Cal in the Copley Cup grand final, dropped from No. 1 to No. 3. Harvard (308), which was third in the Copley Cup, is No. 4 and Stanford (288), which was fourth in the Copley Cup, is No. 5.

Track heads to LA:

This Week
California heads to Southern California this week for the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational from Friday, April 10, to Saturday, April 11, in Los Angeles, Calif. The Invitational kicks off with the women’s discus at 12 p.m. The running events begin at 2 p.m. with the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Last weekend, although Cal only added two NCAA regional qualifiers it had multiple strong performances. The Cal men are currently ranked No. 22 in the USTFCCCA rankings.

Last Time Out: Sacramento State Elite Meet
Last Saturday at the Sacramento State Elite Meet, Cal won 11 events, earned two new NCAA regional qualifiers and had a number of strong performances. Seniors Katie Morgan and Evelyn Smith were the two new regional qualifiers in the pole vault and the 400-meter hurdles, respectively.
Senior Kellan Patterson, and sophomores Cherrelle Garrett and Patrick Kowalsky were named the Athletes of the Meet. For the second straight competition, Garrett won both the 100 and the 200 meters, clocking an 11.69 in the 100 and a 24.03 in the 200. Patterson took top honors in the 100 with his time of 10.61 and second in the 200 (21.84). Kowalsky finished first in both the shot put and the discus. His mark in the shot put was 53-8.25 (16.36m) and his personal-best mark in the discus was 158-00 (48.15m).

BIG SOFTBALL:

Quick Hits
Cal began the season 11-1 before falling to Kansas on Feb. 22 – it was the best 12 game start to a season since 2005 … the Bears fell four spots to No. 16 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll (No. 17 in the NFCA Top 25) … Cal’s highest ranking of the season thus far has been 9th – the last time Cal was ranked higher than No. 9 was when it was ranked 5th in late 2006 … the Bears have a Pac-10 best and school-record 110 stolen bases (on 122 attempts)… Cal is second in the nation in steals per game (2.97) … the Bears have clocked 12 home runs since Mar. 24, including a season-high four at Pacific (3/25) … Cal extended its perfect record to 16-0 when scoring six or more runs after putting up 12 on Oregon State on Mar. 29 … the Bears are also 21-5 when scoring first this year … Cal had a school single game record nine stolen bases against George Washington (2/14) … Cal has scored 10 or more runs seven times this season … the Bears produced a season-high 12 RBI against Liberty (2/6) … Jamia Reid owns the single-season steals record (currently at 31) … Sanoe Kekahuna owns Cal’s longest hitting streak of the season at nine (3/12-3/25) … Valerie Arioto and Jamia Reid lead the team in multi-hit games (10) … Jamia (.336) and Elia Reid (.325) rank 1-2 in batting average on the team … both sisters recorded single-game records of four steals this season (Elia at Hawaii, and Jamia vs. Providence) … Gina Leomiti, who led the team in RBI last season, once again leads the team this year with 27 RBI … playing competitive softball for the first time since high school in Fresno, Nikki Schrey (who played two years of soccer for Cal) has eight runs this season … SP Marissa Drewrey has recorded eight or more Ks eight times this season, including a season-high 11 Ks against Wichita State – she is fourth in the league in strikeouts (177).

Baseball heads to Seattle:

Thu., April 9 at Washington Husky Ballpark, Seattle, Wash. 6:00 p.m.
Fri., April 10 at Washington Husky Ballpark, Seattle, Wash. 6:00 p.m.
Sat., April 11 at Washington Husky Ballpark, Seattle, Wash. 1:00 p.m.

RADIO: KALX Radio (90.7 FM) will broadcast the April 9-11 Cal-Washington games. Gametracker available on www.CalBears.com.

BEAR NOTES: Cal (15-14, 3-6) will be striving to get back on the winning track this week when it travels to Washington (11-19, 1-5) for a three-game Pac-10 series, April 9-11, at Husky Ballpark in Seattle. The Golden Bears are in the midst of a season-high four-game losing streak after being swept last week at No. 16-ranked Oregon State. Offensively, the Bears continue to be paced by sophomore outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha, who is batting a team-leading .407 (3rd in Pac-10) with a team-best nine home runs (4th in Pac-10) and 27 RBI (5th in Pac-10). Canha, who was the March 3 Pac-10 Player of the Week after Cal’s sweep of Long Beach State, is also first in the Pac-10 with 46 hits and is second in the league in total bases (80), third in slugging percentage (.708) and fifth with a .481 on-base percentage. He is currently on a 17-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 28 of 29 games this season. Another hot hitter for Cal is sophomore shortstop Brian Guinn, who is second on the team with a .373 average (6th in Pac-10) and had a key two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning to help send the game into extra-innings in the Bears’ 5-4, 11-inning loss at OSU. Guinn is fifth in the Pac-10 with 38 hits and eighth with 25 runs. Junior center fielder Brett Jackson, a first-team Preseason All-American in Baseball America, is batting .339 and is first in the conference with 13 doubles. The Bears are second in the Pac-10 with a .304 team batting average and have a league-best 314 hits, 34 home runs and 502 total bases. On the mound, junior left-hander Michael Bugary is 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA (3rd in Pac-10) and a save. Bugary leads the Bears with 43 strikeouts (9th in Pac-10) in 29.1 innings. Opponents are batting .202 (7th in Pac-10) in 17 relief appearances (3rd in Pac-10). Cal is first in the Pac-10 with 92 strikeouts looking and 10 saves. Nine of Cal’s opponents this season were 2008 NCAA Regional participants. The Bears’ 2009 schedule is considered the nation’s third toughest by Boyd’s World.

Womens Crew heads to Davis:

This Week
California travels to West Sacramento, Calif., to face UC Davis in the Golden Bears’ second regatta of the season. Cal, with its third-ranked varsity 8+, will try to improve on its early success against a UC Davis team whose varsity 8+ is coming off an appearance in the San Diego Crew Classic.

The latest USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll ranks the Bears’ varsity 8+ third in the nation.

Bears Win 10 of 11 Races in Pac-10 Challenge
Cal found early success in the Pac-10 Challenge winning seven of eight March 28 races against Clemson and Virginia. The Golden Bears varsity 8, varsity 4 and novice 8 won their first day races. The Cal second varsity eight defeated Clemson 7.00.0- 7.01.8 but lost to UVa by a boat length.

Cal’s varsity eight posted a fast time of 6.26.6 against UVa (6:35.1) in the first session. The Bears came back in the afternoon to defeat Clemson in rough water, 6.49.4-6:52.0.

The Bears had a strong performance against Clemson, but all of the races were a tough fight, including the novice 8’s 7:41.1-7:41.8 win over the Tigers.

The second day of the regatta brought even more success as Cal swept Ohio State in three races, winning with its varsity 8+, second varsity 8+ and varsity 4+ boats on March 29.

The Bears’ fifth-ranked varsity 8+ showed impressive boat speed in beating the 12th-ranked Buckeyes, 6:39.9- 6:55.0. Cal also topped Ohio State’s varsity 8+ at last season’s Pac-10 Challenge.

BIG LACROSSE:

This Week

California (5-9, 3-1 MPSF) gears up for its game at 3:00 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 12, against No. 14 Stanford (7-3) in Stanford, Calif. The Golden Bears lost to Stanford last year in the MPSF tournament semifinal, 11-8.

 

Price Named MPSF Player of the Week

Cal senior attacker Sam Price earned her second MPSF Player of the Week honor after leading all scorers with a career-high tying seven points in the Bears’ 22-13 win over conference foe Saint Mary’s on April 1 at Memorial Stadium. The Millersville, Md., product collected four goals and three assists against the Gaels and collected one draw control in each of Cal’s games last week, including a 21-4 setback at No. 1 Northwestern.

It’s Gronkowski:

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Arizona: Who’s the nation’s best tight end? Some might say Oklahoma’s Jermaine Gresham. Others might say this freak of nature. The Pac-10 Blog is prepared to go on the record believing Gronkowski will opt out of his senior year and will be the first tight end selected in the 2010 NFL draft. Gronkowski is a finely tuned 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, and he is the toughest matchup in the conference. Mike Stoops this week called him “unguardable,” and he’s right. As a true sophomore in 2008, he caught 47 passes for 672 yards with 10 touchdowns — yeah, a TD every 4.7 receptions is good — despite missing three games with mono. As a true freshman, he caught 28 passes for 525 yards — 18.8 per reception — with six touchdowns and earned consensus freshman All-American honors. While it’s always entertaining to see Gronkowski loose in the secondary — poor, poor 190-pound defensive backs — he also is worth following on a running play. His proficiency in blocking will be a huge selling point to the NFL. Arizona is breaking in a new quarterback. Whoever wins the job should be well-advised: Throw the ball to Gronk.

Signed Marshawn Lynch mini-helmet. Clearly we need to do a better job as Marshawnthusiasts of keeping on top of all hyphy merchandise that goes up for sale.

I may be autodrafting for the first few rounds as well. Although Tedford said practice would be a bit shorter today, so I may be able to make it on time.

LINK

Nick Adenhart, a rookie pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, died in a car crash early Thursday morning, just hours after pitching in a game in Anaheim.

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to ESPN.com that Adenhart had been killed in a car accident.

Wednesday night, Adenhart had pitched six scoreless innings, giving up seven hits, striking out five and walking three in just his fourth major league start.

Harden to the NBA…to no one’s surprise.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—All-America guard James Harden is leaving Arizona State for the NBA.

The 6-foot-5 sophomore and Pac-10 player of the year will hire an agent, ending any chance of returning to the Sun Devils.

"I felt I’m ready for it as far as taking my game to the next level," he said at a news conference Wednesday. "It’s a dream come true. It’s my dream since I put a ball in my hand, so why not take the opportunity?"

Harden, who led the Pac-10 in scoring at 20.1 points per game and was the first Arizona State player to be named a first-team AP All-American, said the decision to declare for the draft wasn’t as automatic as many perceived.

"People thought it was going to be an easy decision—‘Well, I’m leaving,"’ he said, "but it wasn’t the case because I have great teammates here, great coaches. Everything about this program made it hard to leave."

Damn, I just went to go buy some As tix online to the game Sat v. Ms. Its 4.50 per ticket “Convenience Charge” then a 4 dollar overall “Processing Charge” and it appears to be 2.50 if I want to print the tickets out at home. WTF!?!?!

This makes no sense considering theres a 100% chance I could show up the day of and buy tickets to the game.

We’ve got a navy, bitches.

Maybe Danzig was right about protecting your privacy. LINK

The woman in the Facebook picture is attractive, with auburn hair and icy blue eyes. She is flanked by several other women, each armed with an inviting smile and curvy features. Along with the photo is a hopeful note from the female "fan" asking to be added to a player’s personal networking profile.

The twist? These women don’t actually exist, at least not in the way that some unsuspecting NFL prospects are led to believe. Indeed, they are a figment of one NFL team’s imagination – a phony Facebook profile, used as a tool by one franchise in the pre-draft vetting process. A Trojan horse that, when used effectively, unlocks a door to a world of Internet pictures and information which most NFL teams are now consistently compiling to help polish their dossiers on draft picks.

The L.A. Times reports the NCAA has combined its probes of Bush and ex-Trojan basketball star O.J. Mayo into one investigation focusing on the dreaded “lack of institutional control”:

“It makes sense,” [attorney Anthony] Salerno said. “The NCAA looks at the program as a whole, and you may be talking about systemic problems in these cases of payments by agents. Yes, these were different teams and coaches. Rather than do it piecemeal, look at the institution.”

If the Niners take a QB with the # 10 pick, this might be my breaking point. I might be done with the NFL for good.

Check out the first 3 questions for Neuheisel in OMG INTERVIEW 2.

They would be even greater if they let anybody in, like we do here.

OPEN THREAD HERE; plus a chance to talk to Ashley Walker after she gets picked!

In more exciting news, we have a live chat in 30. As always, bring your innanity A game.

<a href="http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_12092141?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com" target="new">live chat!!!

Hey did anybody else notice that Carl Pavano started for Cleveland today. 1 IP 9 ER. OUCH!

Second time I can’t get into the chat.