Here

WASHINGTON – Looking to hide a few million from the taxman? Switzerland might not be your best choice anymore.

The U.S. and Switzerland detailed an agreement Wednesday for the IRS to receive information on thousands of accounts in banking giant UBS AG — accounts suspected of holding Americans’ undeclared assets.

The agreement breaks through the famed Swiss tradition of banking secrecy and is expected to prod thousands more UBS clients in America to voluntarily disclose their financial details to the Internal Revenue Service, lest they be pursued later.

Also, Switzerland selling its stake in UBS

PARIS — Switzerland’s government said Thursday that it was in the process of selling its stake in the giant bank U.B.S., a transaction that it expects will generate about one billion Swiss francs, or $938 million, in profit for taxpayers.

Officials confirmed details of the sale following a deal announced Wednesday to turn over information on American clients of U.B.S., who are suspected by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service of using Swiss bank accounts to evade taxes.

In October, the Swiss government had injected 6 billion francs, or $5.6 billion, into the troubled lender in exchange for mandatory convertible notes that would have given it an 8.5 percent stake in the bank if converted.

Here

KABUL, Afghanistan — Defying Taliban warnings and a flurry of rocket attacks apparently aimed at polling stations, Afghans voted Thursday in an election that has become a critical benchmark of the nation’s progress for both the Afghan government and the Obama administration.

The polls closed at 5 p.m. in Afghanistan, and the vote-counting began immediately. Initial reports from witnesses suggested that the turnout was uneven across the country, with higher participation in the relatively peaceful north than in the troubled south. There, insurgents threw up makeshift roadblocks in one area to warn off voters, and in Kandahar, witnesses said, insurgents hanged two people because their fingers were marked with indelible ink used to denote that they had voted.

Updates throughout the day here.

The Daily Cal’s 10 Best Athletes You’ve Never Heard Of

Yokanes reports:

Cal tight end Tad Smith has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and is out for the season, coach Jeff Tedford said Wednesday.

Smith is a fifth-year senior, meaning his college career is over unless he petitions the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility.

Smith suffered the injury while blocking during a running play during Tuesday’s intrasquad scrimmage.

Smith was the Bears’ No. 2 tight end last season and was battling sophomore Anthony Miller for the starting job this year.

“He’s a really good point-of-attack guy,” Tedford said. “He’s big, he’s physical. That’s really something he was doing a nice job with. Somebody will have to step up now.”

Have fun, kids!

I am going to hide this, change the date and then re-use it tomorrow Rishi.

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/8/20/986576/your-cgb-preseason-top-25-poll

When my team wins, it makes me happy.

New permanent light standards next to the pressbox

New…something on the Alumni side. I don’t know what the purpose of these railings and such is, but as you can see, they removed some seats to add it. It’s so low in the section, however, that I doubt many people sit in this area anyway:

To be more exact it takes about 20 seconds, 15 of which is spent on loading everything but the right side bar. I’m on a 20mbs down cable connection so it’s not slow by any means. This basically means that since most of the time I’m looking for a fan post (sorry guys) I end up twiddling my thumbs waiting for a while.

Now I know 20secs is nothing compared to how long we had to wait during the dial-up days and what not, but for 2009 it is a bit slow on cable internet. Imagine how it would be for a DSL user or god forbid dial-up?

There’s nothing out of the ordinary about what makes me happy: feats of unusual athletic achievements by representatives of my sporting tribal affiliations, my children, splendid musical stylings, and 25 – 45 year old Italian engines under acceleration.

–Some unfortunate injury news: As feared, freshman running back Dasarte Yarnway will need to undergo surgery to repair a torn tendon in his foot and miss the season. Yarnway may have redshirted anyway, but this guarantees it. It’s the same injury that knocked out offensive lineman Chris Guarnero last season.

Photo gallery from Sunday’s practice.

Cool story, Hansel. Wrecked!

Tedford still plans to announce the starting QB at Wednesday’s practice. (Hint: It’s Riley)

“I think I’ve played well throughout camp,” Riley said. “I did what I wanted to do _ get better every day, which I did.”

Riley appears to have the confidence of his teammates. Several players have talked about Riley’s leadership in camp, and Riley himself appears to have embraced his role as the dean of Cal’s quarterbacks.

“I think he’s embraced the leadership aspect by demonstrating it with his play on the field,” said Cal backup tight end Garry Graffort, Riley’s roommate and close friend. “He has the right attitude, he shows confidence, he runs the right plays. He kind of motivates everybody almost to act like him. He’s always been a confident person. It’s nice to see now that everybody is embracing him.”

I find I need to have a trip planned for the near-future or I feel I’m wasting my life. An event works as a temporary band-aid.

VICTORY for my chosen sporting teams.

Physical activities for myself – basketball, golf, snowboarding, diving, hiking, among others.

Food. with friends or without.

Tunes and an open highway and a car.

Disneyland (really)

Travel.

Also, mocking Arthur Kade.

CAL FOOTBALL IS WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY.

IT’S BEEN TWO-HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT DAYS
-OR: FIVE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY HOURS
-OR: THREE HUNDRED FORTY THREE THOUSAND AND TWO HUNDRED MINUTES
-OR: TWENTY MILLION FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO THOUSAND SECONDS SINCE THE BEARS LAST PLAYED.
I NEED IT BADLY.

ALSO CAPS. LOTS AND LOTS OF CAPS DUE TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARVATION.

I just watched his highlight video and he looks like a fast and small WR/PR/KR which is cool and all but it doesn’t explain some Cal fan’s love obsession with him. Considering he was at Cal long before I followed Cal, I’m totally clueless to his charm. Anyone care to explain it to me.

Also the video said Vinnie Strang 2002-2003. He only played two years? And where is he now?

I saw it for a Friday matinee. Am I misremembering my Tarantino movies or was it far more graphic than previous Quentin Tarantino movies? He is known for violent films and violent subject matter, but usually the violence is implied on screen, not shown graphically. Kill Bill is an exception, but he showed the violence in the absurd, unrealistic anime style. Inglorious Basterds’ violence was realistic and unusually graphic.

Overall, good movie, not his best. Loved the opening chapter, the bar scene lasted a little too long, and I would have liked more screen time for the basterds. Also, I’m curious to know which role Simon Pegg was supposed to play, the young british officer or Mike Myers’ character. As for Mike Myers’, I kept picturing his character as Dr. Evil’s grandfather.

Today is my first day of school.

Field Hockey loses to Stanford:

BERKELEY – In its second and final preseason game before opening the 2009 season, the California field hockey team lost to Stanford, 3-1, Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Family Field in Berkeley. Sophomore midfielder Jessica Kreck recorded Cal’s lone goal.

“This was a good opportunity to try more experimentation,” head coach Shellie Onstead said. "We tried some different formations, both in the back and the front. We gave everybody some playing time. Today was about focusing on our press, defending them coming out of the back and trying to make some decisions on some positions. I felt really good about what we got done today.

“Compared to a week ago, we’ve taken a huge step, so that’s encouraging. We have a good hard week ahead of us, so we just have to keep at it. By the end of the year, this is going to be a pretty formidable team. Maybe sooner rather than later, but we’re on a good track.”

Kreck and the Bears didn’t wait long to get on the board, as she put a tally on the scoreboard in the fifth minute off of a 2-on-1. The Cardinal evened the score when Stanford’s Xanthe Travlos beat Cal keeper Maddie Hand in the eighth minute to tie the game at one. Those were the only two shots of the first half as the teams went into the intermission tied at one.

In the 53rd minute, Stanford’s Rachel Mozenter scored the eventual-gamewinning goal when she slapped a shot from the top of the circle that got past keeper Jessica Pizarek. A little over seven minutes later, Stephanie Byrne from the Cardinal put the game away with another score.

College Sports Day set for 8.20:

BERKELEY – Cal’s second annual College Sports Day, which provides a great opportunity for kids to learn more about college athletics, will be held from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Maxwell Family Field on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Open the children in grades 6 and lower, the event will feature players from a wide variety of Cal’s 27 intercollegiate teams giving one-on-one instruction and leading interactive games related to their sport. The Golden Bears will also sign autographs for those present.

More than 300 kids are expected to attend the activities, which are free to all children and their families (only those in sixth grade or lower can participate in the games). The first 200 kids will receive a free t-shirt, as well.

To reserve your spot, make sure you sign up today by filling out the registration form. Forms will also be available at the event. All children must be accompanied by an adult and have a parent or guardian sign the registration form.

Final 2 A Day:

BERKELEY – California conducted its final two-a-day practice of training camp with a pair of workouts Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The Bears ran through their first practice of the day in shells in the morning before putting on full pads for the evening session. The team has now conducted 19 practices over the last 16 days since camp began on August 7.

“The players understand that today was our last two-a-day,” said head coach Jeff Tedford. “Pretty soon, we’re going to be doing a lot of game situation stuff and then it’s on to game-planning.”

The Golden Bears 2009 season-opener is now just two weeks away with a nationally televised ESPN2 contest against Maryland at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 5 (7 p.m.). Cal fans are encouraged to participate in a Blue Out in the season-opener. The best way to show your support is to pick up the Cal 2009 Football Official Game Day Tee. For more information, visit CalBears.com/Blueout.

Womens Soccer beats Nevada:

BERKELEY – The California women’s soccer team breezed past Nevada, 4-1, on Friday afternoon at Edwards Stadium. The Golden Bears are now 1-0-0 after winning the season opener for both squads while the Wolf Pack falls to 0-1-0. Junior forward Alex Morgan had three goals for the Bears and redshirt junior forward Lisa Kevorkian had one. Cal out shot UNR, 15-2, and 8-2 in shots on goal.

“I don’t think that we were particularly hard to defend because we played very one-dimensionally – north to south,” Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. “In the second half, we spread the field and used the width better, and as a result, we were able to create more opportunities on goal.”

Morgan got the Bears on the board very early in the first half – just 5:23 into the game. Nevada keeper Marie Cove was drawn out of her post in goal to grab a ball but Morgan out powered her to gain possession and an open look on goal.

FanFest this Saturday:

BERKELEY – With football season fast approaching, the California football team will host its annual Fan Appreciation Day presented by the Contra Costa Times at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, August 29. The event will include a chance for fans to interact with players and coaches from the 2009 Cal football team. The Golden Bears are looking for their eighth straight winning season, as well as their seventh consecutive bowl bid and fifth postseason victory in a row in 2009.

Festivities will run from noon-2 p.m., with a pre-event starting at 11 a.m. near the North Tunnel. ALL FANS MUST ENTER THROUGH THE NORTH TUNNEL ENTRANCE. The stadium will not open for the event prior to noon. Fans are encouraged to use public transportation (BART) when visiting the Cal campus. For specific parking information, log on to pt.berkeley.edu.

Members of the team and coaching staff will be available for photo opportunities and autographs during the event. We ask all fans to respect the “one autograph per player or coach” guideline this year. The dance team, the Cal Marching Band and Cal’s lovable mascot Oski will also be on site to greet fans and pose for pictures. In addition, the California Victory Cannon, which debuted at the 1964 Big Game, will be on display and available for pictures.

The 2009 Cal Football Official Game Day Tee, additional Cal merchandise and season tickets will be for sale. Free burritos will be available to the first 1,000 fans courtesy of Rubio’s and soft drinks and other samplings will be served, compliments of Rubio’s, Coca-Cola and Odwalla. In addition, Sports Gallery will be on hand to showcase classic Cal memorabilia.

Kansas-Cal mens BBall to be at 6 PM on 12.22:

BERKELEY – The Dec. 22 matchup between California and Kansas at Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kan., will be televised on ESPN2 with the tipoff set for 6 p.m. (PT) as announced by the network recently.

The Golden Bears will be looking for their fourth win against the Jayhawks in school history as Kansas currently owns the season series at 14-3.The last time these teams met was in 2005, when Kansas defeated the Bears, 69-56. The 1954-55 season was the last time Cal defeated the Jayhawks, a 65-62 victory in Kansas City, Mo.

This is the second gametime set for the 2009-10 season, as it was announced on Aug. 20 that Cal will face Syracuse at 4 p.m. (PT) in the Nov. 19 semifinals of the championship rounds of the 2009 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer men’s college basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y.

Article on Alex Morgan:

Alex Morgan took more than a month off this summer to study in Madrid. And her teammates on the Cal women’s soccer team decided to throw an impromptu welcome back party in the season opener, providing her with several gifts in front of the goal.

The striker put her teammate’s offerings to good use, as the Bears downed Nevada, 4-1, on Friday.

“I really missed playing when I was gone, and it just makes me want it even more,” Morgan said. “I did some running in Spain, but we just finished double days, so if you weren’t in shape, you are now. I was just on today and ready to play.”

However, the usually crafty Morgan’s first opportunity didn’t come off a teammate’s boot. Rather, it was more a case of right place, right time for the forward, and it was a wrong place, wrong time for Wolf Pack keeper Marie Cove.

Cal athletes during the summer:

Women’s Soccer

As a bridge between its 2008 and 2009 campaigns, the Cal women’s soccer team spent 10 days travelling through Italy this summer.

Starting in Rome and heading north towards Venice and Milan, the Bears combined soccer and sightseeing during their tour of the Boot.

The trip, which began in late May, included two games against Italian Serie A2 clubs and ended with a final match against a Serie A1 squad. Cal emerged victorious on all three occasions.

Away from the field, there was time for relaxing on the beaches of Riccione, riding gondolas through the canals of Venice and shopping on a day trip to Switzerland.

Article on loss to Stanford Field Hockey:

Stanford returned three times as many starters as the Cal field hockey team this season. And it scored three times as many goals as the Bears in Saturday’s preseason exhibition.

Eight of Cal’s starting 11 had never started a game at Maxwell Field and the Bears’ overhauled roster posted only one goal, by sophomore Jessica Kreck, in a 3-1 loss.

Chalk it up to inexperience.

At the same time last year, Cal claimed a 5-1 preseason win over the Cardinal on the road, despite training without Cal coach Shellie Onstead, who was in Beijing with the U.S. Olympic team.

Since then, the Bears have graduated 10 seniors-including their goal and assist leaders-leaving the team with eight freshmen and no true seniors.

Without those 10 seniors and eight starters on Saturday, Cal recorded only four shots on goal and as many penalty corners.

Many unknown starters still in Fall Camp:

Today’s helmets-only session is the Cal football team’s last practice before it begins to split up into starters and scout teams to prepare for Maryland, and coach Jeff Tedford still has yet to name a starting quarterback.

That announcement will come Wednesday, Tedford said. The coaches are using Tuesday-the team’s first day off since fall camp began on Aug. 7-to finalize the depth chart. And although Tedford said they already have a “pretty good idea” of what the depth chart is going to look like, he has given little indication of who is leading the quarterback competition.

Junior Kevin Riley has taken the majority of the first-team snaps in camp-Tedford recently guessed 70 percent-while battling sophomore Brock Mansion for the starting job. Riley has a considerable edge when it comes to experience, having started 10 games for the Bears over the past two seasons to Mansion’s six career pass attempts.

Ever wonder what happened to Amit Tamir?

Tamir is 29, unemployed, and admittedly confused.

Maybe he was too soft and chunky. Maybe he was too slow. Maybe he just wasn’t good enough. Maybe, he still doesn’t understand. For three seasons (2001-02 to ’03-04), the Jerusalem native was the mobile big man the Cal Bears had sought for years, the thoughtful, unselfish center who earned All-American and Pac-10 honors, and whose size and talent routinely lured scouts onto campus.

“I worked out with the Orlando Magic (2004) when I didn’t get drafted, but it never led to anything,” Tamir recalled after a practice with the Israeli national team. “I was disappointed, sure. I thought I could play in the NBA. Now I’m just trying to have fun, playing in Europe.”

Tamir has become the classic journeyman, except that he doesn’t just change teams, he changes countries. After leaving Berkeley, he signed with Peja Stojakovic’s former team (PAOK) in Thessaloniki, Greece. The following four seasons consisted of more airtime than playing time. He spent portions of a season with three teams in Athens, returned to play in Israel, signed with a club in Belgium, ended last season in Ashqelon, a city about 45 minutes south of Tel Aviv.

That I will now be back on CGB in somewhat more regular fashion (see the final reason)
Alcohol
People visiting me or traveling to visit people
Reading
Being pretentious

and finally…

That I start classes for Law School today (woo hoo!!!)

Cal Band Auction is up and running until 9.10.09.

Get in on the action!!

The Cal Band Auction is now OPEN for Bidding!
This is our one and only fundraising event for the entire year so its success is critical. 100% of the profits are used to support our Cal Band student members as they support and uphold campus traditions bringing Cal Spirit to important University functions, Cal football and basketball games and other Cal athletic events.

Bidding takes place online August 24-September 10, 2009.

Tedford doesn’t really say anything but heres the link

Ted Ford Interview on Rivals.com

Bee Tee Dubloons, I toads saw the Happy Happy guy yesterday. He was in Oaktown Chinaland. HE’S ALIVE, PEOPLE! HE’S ALIVE!

Big on how the Dalai Lama was helping Bush as a War Criminal.

I think this is the first time ever I’ve posted something like this. From Feldman:

Bjoern Werner, a promising DL originally from Berlin, Germany but playing his high school ball in Connecticut, is slated to make official visits to Cal, Oregon and Maryland in September, InsideMDSports.com reports.

Several other programs including N.C. State, Boston College, UConn, Syracuse, Rutgers, UTEP and Tulane have also offered on the 6-foot-4, 270-pound prospect, according to the site (via ESPN’s OnTheTrail):

“He loved Maryland,” said Chris Adamson, his coach at Salisbury School. “He really liked it a lot. He felt very, very comfortable with the staff and was very impressed not only with the football facilities, but also the campus in general. He saw enough of Maryland to know he can see himself there.”

Who knew that we would ever had such a big problem with the Terps.

Updates on freshmen including Allan Bridgford, Deandre Coleman, and Mark Brazinski

starlet. He was an Elite 11 guy.

Sure, his size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) and intelligence are huge pluses, but just in breaking down what we’ve seen from him in camp thus far, and Bridgford raises some questions.

His release might have been fine against high school corners, but Bridgford is going to need to get the football out much sooner if he wants to complete eight-yard stop routes in the Pac-10.

Aside from that, I really have nothing bad to write about Bridgford. His arm strength could be better, but that will no doubt change in Cal’s weight room.

This makes me happy:

Man I feel like doing another statistics fan post like the one I did earlier in the year, but I don’t know what to do it on. Any suggestions? Bonus points if it involves graphs!

(As you can see I’m fascinated by stats…)

Coming back from a 12 hour flight from China, seeing my newly mailed Cal home tickets on my desk.

By contrast, Dragonball Evolution, which I watched on the flight, made me very very sad.

http://www.bearswithfangs.com/2009/08/maryland-preview-interview-with-testudo.html

1) The Vegas lines are already favoring Cal by 21 for the opener. Thoughts? Too high? Not nearly high enough?
Not a doubt in my mind that that’s too high. Maryland might not win, but three touchdowns is is definitely too big of a margin; this team is of the same quality, if not better than, last year’s Terps.

Seriously, don’t go to sleep on the Terps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gscay1-yRNo

What upsets me over this race is not necessarily the act. The spanish runner knocked her down and everyone saw it. She was disqualified and neither she nor her country disputed it.

What sucked was that the Ethiopian runner was a favorite to win the race, was leading the race on the last lap and was THEN knocked down. The spanish runner was DQed, but the Ethiopian runner came in dead last because of the incident. No rematch, no nothing. She was leading the race and at least would have medaled.

Now is that a fair trade off? The guilty party is just DQed while the person set to win the race finishes last? Shouldn’t there be a more equitable punishment b/c this would be a great loophole to take out the best runner in each race.. for a minimal sacrifice.

I hope that Spanish runner gets a long suspension and a suspension from the Worlds next year.

A while back there was lots of discussion about the Round Robin and its effect on the Pac-10.

I did some poking into the numbers and turned it into a fan post that yielded, to me at least, some surprising results. I encourage everyone to go on and check it out: http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/8/24/998857/meditations-on-the-12th-game.

…And now, back to your regularly scheduled inanity!

DANZIG WAS RIGHT

The blogger who lobbed “skank” and “ho” accusations at model Liskula Cohen from behind the presumed anonymity of her Blogger account, only to have her identity revealed by Google under court order, tells the New York Daily News she now plans to sue the Mountain View search giant for $15 million.

Jack’s first bath (well…in a tub).

I think I saw on Miller’s blog the other day that a Pac10 rep said that “Colorado and Utah” would have to be included in any Pac10 expansion talk. Anyone else see this? I’d search the link but I have to go change a diaper.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4419631&name=West_Recruiting

Otis Yelverton, or ‘Coach O’ as he’s known, coached at Northern Guilford before recently taking a head coaching position at Oakridge Military School. Coach O took the players on a series of unofficial visits this past summer that included stops at Alabama, Maryland, Oregon, Oregon State and Cal to name a few.

The visits to Oregon and Cal made a strong impression and the two schools have a chance to score big when decision time rolls around.

Sounds like a fun fanpost topic

Meridian International Sports Cafe at 2050 University is the new “upscale” sports bar in Berk. Haven’t been there for a gameday obviously but I did grab lunch there one day and unless you like overpriced crappy food, a snobby SLOW wait staff, and hanging out with a bunch of douche bags I would say avoid at all costs. I like what they are trying to do, class up downtown Berkeley but the staff can be really rude. Check out the reviews on yelp, this place is d-bag central.

Bears Lair – The most fun bar for gamedays. Mostly Cal students and young alumni, a few stinky homeless, it’s loud, obnoxious, it’s the most crowded, you will wait for beer at least 5-10 minutes unless you know a bartender. If you want to get rowdy with other Cal fans, drink a lot of beer, scare opposing fans this is the place. Outdoor patio is cool and they usually cover every game. No hard alcohol.

Henry’s – Older crowd, more expensive, more opposing fans. Really the only gameday bar that serves liquor. I have started to like Henry’s more and more now that they have turned their parking lot into a patio for gamedays. The bar is crowded but there are beer tents and Jack and Coke tents in back. They have all the games. More mellow than Bears Lair.

Manny’s Taproom – Used to be Raleigh’s, still pretty much the same. Best place to go if you want to eat while you watch. Best selection of beer. No hard alcohol. More family orientated, less TV’s than the other bars. Beer garden in back is really nice but I think they only have one TV back there. Probably your best bet for getting a table but it probably won’t have a good view (if any) of the games. The staff is pretty slow but I think they will have another bar opened in their beer garden. The girls that work here are the hottest.

Kips – 1 TV. Skip it unless you just want to get drunk quick.

Blakes – See Kips

Everything else – Too far away.