DBD 8.27.09 When I Was A Frosh...

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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.

How excited should we be danzig?

Hana Cutura

The No. 6-ranked California volleyball team begins its 2009 campaign towards a school-record eighth-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance with three matches at the Nevada Marriott Courtyard/Fairfield Invitational. The Golden Bears are hungry to return to the NCAA national semifinal match after falling one match short a year ago. Cal set new school records for single-season winning percentage and defeated every team in the Pac-10 conference for the first time in school history in 2008. The Bears return plenty of firepower in 2009, led by two-time All-American senior outside hitter Hana Cutura. In the middle, Cal brings back senior Mindi Wiley, who led the team in blocks and posted the sixth-best single-season hitting percentage in program history a season ago. Defensively, the Bears will feature the prowess of senior libero Kristen Kathan. Kathan logged Cal’s third-highest single-season mark for digs in 2008 with 491 to her credit. Junior All-American setter Carli Lloyd returns to the lineup after placing third in the nation in assists per set and will help Cutura, Kathan and Wiley captain the Bears this season. A year wiser, Cal will also benefit from the presence of sophomores Tarah Murrey and Shannon Hawari, who will each contribute heavily in the regular Bear rotation.

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California junior forward Andrew Wiedeman was named a first-team Soccer America Men’s Preseason All-American, the magazine announced on Wednesday. The San Ramon, Calif., product is coming off a sophomore season in which he earned All-America honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and led the Golden Bears in points (29), goals (12) and game-winning goals (4).

Cal garnered the No. 7 ranking in Soccer America’s preseason poll announced on Aug. 25.

Wiedeman is also one of 38 players on the Watch List for this season’s Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy and earned a spot on College Soccer News’ preseason All-America team. His various 2008 accolades included NSCAA Far West All-Region and All-Pac-10 honors. He scored two goals, including the gamewinner, to give Cal a 3-2 overtime victory over UC Santa Barbara in the second round of the 2008 NCAA College Cup.

Dump your high school girlfriend like a runninback over thirty.

Don’t be afraid. College is the time to do everything. Obviously, I"m not suggesting doing things that will harm you or get you arrested, but get out of your comfort zone. Never again will you be allowed to make mistakes with only an “oops, I”m just a freshman" as an excuse to bail you out.

Katie Morgan

This Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The No. 16 California women’s soccer team is set to head north to Oregon for a nonconference game with perennial powerhouse No. 3 Portland. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Friday at the Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex. Both the Golden Bears and the Pilots won their respective season-opening games for the second consecutive season.

Last Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The Bears breezed past Nevada, 4-1, on Aug. 21at Edwards Stadium. 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. Morgan got the Bears on the board in the sixth minute and Kevorkian scored the ultimate gamewinner in the 59th minute. Morgan scored two more goals to distance the Bears, 4-0.

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/the-quad-countdown-no-9-california/

1. long article, so here’s the summary quote:

“I’ve got Cal right alongside Oregon in the Pac-10: good, potentially great, but still a shade below U.S.C. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; everyone is trying to catch up with the Trojans, and the Bears are quite firmly ensconced as a top 15 team in the country. Simply put, this team is stacked. Yes, the Golden Bears must get better quarterback play – something I never thought I would say about a Tedford-coached team. Riley is a proven winner, however, and will have the opportunity to put up some good numbers due to the attention Best is due to receive from defenses. Speaking of defense, Cal’s attack is right there with U.S.C. for the best unit in the Pac-10. No, the Golden Bears may not have the talent to match up with the Trojans, and Cal must rebuild its linebacker corps, but this group should be just as strong as it was a season ago, if not better. So I think very highly of this team.”

2. oh my goodness.

jh

Ranked #12. The #1 votes for Georgia and Utah are hilarious.

Here are votes for Cal by blog. Here’s CGB’s blogpoll post, in case you missed it.

Rank Team PPB
1 Florida (99) 24.8
2 Texas 23.4
3 Southern Cal 22.1
4 Oklahoma 22.1
5 Alabama 19.8
6 Ohio State 17.7
7 Penn State 17.7
8 LSU 16.0
9 Virginia Tech 15.9
10 Oklahoma State 15.8
11 Mississippi 15.8
12 California 14.0
13 Georgia (1) 12.3
14 Georgia Tech 10.6
15 Boise State 9.9
16 Oregon 9.7
17 TCU 8.8
18 Utah (1) 5.1
19 Florida State 5.0
20 Brigham Young 4.8
21 North Carolina 4.3
22 Iowa 4.2
23 Nebraska 3.6
24 Notre Dame 3.0
25 Miami (Florida) 2.0

It seems like we should talk about it.

“Hands Off UC” represents a broad coalition of Californians — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — coming together to oppose a misguided and over-reaching legislative attack on UC under the false guise of reform.

Senate Constitutional Amendment 21 (SCA 21), authored by state Senators Leland Yee of San Francisco, Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield, and Gloria Romero of Los Angeles, proposes to undo more than 140 years of successful, independent governance by the University of California, placing it under direct control of the state Legislature. A similar and equally harmful companion bill (ACA 24) has been introduced in the state Assembly by Assemblymembers Brian Nestande of Palm Desert and Anthony Portantino of La Canada/Flintridge.

By eliminating the autonomy of the UC Board of Regents and placing the UC system under direct legislative control, SCA 21 and ACA 24 would cause irreparable harm to California’s world-class public universities. Among the deleterious effects that we can anticipate from SCA 21 & ACA 24 are:

diminishing UC’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest leaders, academics and researchers;
exposing UC governance to the corrosive influence of partisan politics;
subjecting decisions regarding academic and scientific research to political calculation;
devaluing UC’s hard-earned and well-deserved international reputation as an institution of integrity, innovation, and independence;
reducing educational quality and the quality of scientific research; and,
increasing UC’s vulnerability to the state’s own budget instability.
Of particular concern is the fact that the proposed UC power grab represents an unproven, untested, unnecessary “solution” in search of a problem. Under 140 years of independent leadership by the UC Board of Regents, California now boasts one of the most accomplished and respected public university systems in the world, and many of its 10 undergraduate universities consistently rank among the best in the nation.

While UC receives a relatively small and steadily declining subsidy from the state, it has instituted meaningful reforms to improve accountability and transparency, significantly cut institutional costs, and held student tuition below the average of what comparable universities charge.

Simply put, it’s hard to imagine the justification for such a drastic and sweeping proposal.

Above all, the University of California must remain true to its mission, which is firmly and historically rooted in its independence. UC must continue to compete to maintain its position as a world-class academic and research institution. This is truer now than ever before as we work to restore California to economic health. UC has always been one of California’s primary economic drivers, pushing innovation, creating thousands of jobs, spinning off hundreds of new businesses, and educating our future work force. We should not take lightly any attempt to weaken UC’s ability to compete and succeed and, in turn, weaken California’s future.

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Get used to abstinence – frosh women date upperclassmen, upper class women don’t date frosh men

I don’t want to hear any more excuses out of you, Avi!

Heres a freshman pro tip.

DONT LISTEN TO ANYTHING RISHI IS SAYING.

CoCoTimes big on Cal:

A QUIET, SUNNY day ushered in the start of classes at Cal on Wednesday.

One laptop-toting student surfed the Internet in peace on the steps of Sproul Plaza. Cable companies and banks politely wooed freshmen along Bancroft. Students got reacquainted near the Campanile: “I can’t believe I don’t have your number,” a sly guy said to a blonde coed.

Up the hill at Memorial Stadium, however, something extraordinary was taking shape, something besides the overdue construction of a training center at Ye Ole Oak Grove:

The Cal football team was practicing for what finally could be The Season.

This wasn’t training camp anymore. This was “go” time, as it should be.

So when star running back Jahvid Best got pushed to the turf by defensive end Cameron Jordan on a run up the middle, well, that was frightening. But that’s getting game-ready.

“It’s part of the game. We’re not going to gasp every time the guy gets hit,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said of Best. “He’s a football player.”

A couple months from now — heck, try Oct. 3, when USC comes to town — Cal’s campus will be knee-deep in football frenzy and squarely in the national spotlight.

Article on OLine:

Cal has brought in some of the best offensive line classes in the nation in recent years. The Bears are starting to reap the benefits.

Cal coach Jeff Tedford said Wednesday that redshirt freshman Matt Summers-Gavin and sophomore Justin Cheadle had earned starting spots at offensive guard. With sophomore Mitchell Schwartz slated to start at right tackle, the Bears will feature three of the five offensive linemen who made up their offensive line class of 2007 that was ranked sixth in the country by scout.com.

Throw in starting center Chris Guarnero and backup Dominic Galas — each of whom was considered a top recruit — and it appears the Bears are ready to capitalize on their recruiting efforts.

“All those good classes that came in, those guys are playing at a fairly young age,” Tedford said. “They’re not completely new. They know the offense. I feel like there’s a good mix there.”

After breaking training camp Monday, Cal held its first practice of the regular season Wednesday. Players were assigned to scout teams, and the Bears began to install their game plan for the season opener against Maryland on Sept. 5.

Cal’s coaching staff met Tuesday to resolve some of the position battles that took place during camp. Summers-Gavin beat out Mark Boskovich at left guard, and Cheadle got the nod over Chet Teofilo at right guard.

Article on the Cal-Ender:

Most Cal teams face a powerhouse once or twice a year. The football team faces USC once a year, the basketball team sees UCLA twice annually, the volleyball team? Stanford, UCLA and Washington fit the “powerhouse” description, and that’s just the Pac-10.

By participating in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, the Bears face three volleyball juggernauts in four days. Coach Rich Feller’s squad will be greeted with No. 2 Texas on Sept. 3, No. 20 St. Louis the following day and No. 7 Hawaii on Sept. 6. The Longhorns, Billikens and Rainbow Wahine combined for an 89-13 record last year and advanced to the final four, second round and regional final, respectively.

The Bears will face 2008 All-Tournament players Destinee Hooker, Lauren Paolini and Michelle Kocher of Texas, as well as Kanani Danielson from Hawaii. Now, football fans, let’s talk about strength of schedule.

Notebook: Competition:

Wednesday marked the Cal football team’s first practice preparing for Maryland. Kevin Riley was the clear-cut starter under center, but most areas of the depth chart that were up in the air prior to Tuesday’s day off stayed there.

Competitions at kickoff and fullback are still open. Coach Jeff Tedford said that the team is going to evaluate the kickers for a couple more days by putting them through more game situations. Fullbacks Brian Holley, Will Kapp and John Tyndall could rotate during games or according to game plans, although Tedford said that Holley will most likely start the season opener against the Terrapins.

“They all have a real good feel for the game,” Tedford said of the fullbacks. “They’re all tough guys who give great effort.”

As of right now, the receivers are still in a rotation as well. Tedford and receivers coach Kevin Daft have both said that they feel confident about the entire group, and Daft said that, while the Bears played a rotation of six or seven receivers last year because the team was short on experience and looking for somebody to emerge as a go-to option, this season they might play six or seven because there’s so much experience.

“Very pleased with the progress,” Daft said. “If you’d told me we’d be at this point at the end of last season, I’d take it 10 times out of 10 because I feel like they’ve all gotten so much better.”

Daily Cal on Isi Sofele:

Everything about Isi Sofele is big.

His family-three brothers and four sisters.

His style of play-fast, fast and faster. On a team that boasts names like Jahvid Best, coaches and players still speak of Sofele’s insane speed.

His numbers in high school are huge too-2,000 yards and 30 rushing touchdowns during his senior year alone.

Everything about Isi Sofele is big. Except for Isi Sofele.

Sofele is the Cal football team’s shortest player, listed at 5-foot-7, and in reality he comes in a bit under that. He looks like someone’s kid brother in pads, and he plays like he’s watched Rudy a hundred times growing up. The image is made more ridiculous by the fact that Sofele spent fall camp working out with the wide receivers. The difference between throwing a ball to Nyan Boateng and Sofele feels like five feet.

or was this already mentioned?

Link to stream

i woke up early today bc i thought i had class at 9.30. Turns out not until 11

SportingNews.com’s best of the Pac-10 recognizes Cal numerous times.

California OT MIKE TEPPER says: “It’s the moment right after the play starts. The play begins and you execute the blocking assignment, when, all of a sudden, a blur of No. 4 goes flashing right by you. You run down the field following as he makes defenders look absolutely ridiculous. You can do nothing but smile and chuckle.”

Arm: Kevin Riley, California

In man-to-man coverage: Syd’Quan Thompson, California

Controversy: California QBs: Kevin Riley vs. Brock Mansion

Defensive line: California

Linebackers: California

Play: Sprint draw to California RB Jahvid Best

Blog: bruinsnation.com

WHAT WHAT WHAT?! I’m going to be sick.