DBD 11.17.2010 The Classy Bowl

In news we already knew, Mikey Mo is smart. But you can add a few more Bears to that list:

Cal’s second-team selections include Alex Lagemann (Jr., WR, 3.69, Media Studies), Ernest Owusu (Jr., DL, 3.32, Political Economy), Giorgio Tavecchio (Jr., PK, 3.69, Undeclared) and John Tyndall (Jr., FB, 3.08, Interdisciplinary Studies). Owusu’s selection follows his ESPN Academic All-District® 8 First-Team pick earlier this month.

Justin Cheadle (Jr., OL, 3.07, American Studies), Richard Fisher (Sr., OL, 3.10, Civil Engineering), Chris Guarnero (Sr., OL, 3.07, American Studies), Mitchell Schwartz (Jr., OL, 3.15, American Studies), Matt Summers-Gavin (So., OL, 3.35, Political Studies) and Beau Sweeney (So., QB, 3.27, American Studies) were selected honorable mention.

Men’s soccer discovers that when you win the Pac-10 you get a bunch of awards:

California’s A.J. Soares was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year, Golden Bears head coach Kevin Grimes earned his unprecedented fifth Pac-10 Coach of the Year award and six Bears claimed spots on the All-Pac-10 teams, conference commissioner Larry Scott announced on Tuesday. David Bingham, Servando Carrasco, Hector Jimenez and Davis Paul joined Soares on the All-Pac-10 first team, while Steve Birnbaum earned All-Pac-10 honorable mention.

and that may have been the key to her recruitment:

“Everywhere I went, there were Gushers,” Gray told Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times. “They filled every room up with Gushers.” Gray was clearly taken with the gesture, which helped separate Cal’s commitment to the power forward from the gaggle of other school’s aiming for her signature. The Washington Prep (Calif.) star grew up in a notoriously rough Los Angeles neighborhood, and it was an after-school coordinator who first drew her into basketball and out of a destructive path she said almost certainly would have led to a jail cell.

Faraudo covers men’s bball vs. CSUN

Winning the Classy Bowl sucks.

Chron previews Big Game by looking back at Shane’s 42 carries vs. Stanford last year:

In the 113th version of the Big Game on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, Vereen needs but 2 yards to reach 1,000 for the first time in his college career; he nearly made it last year with 952 yards, most of which came in relief of the injured Jahvid Best. “I want the victory on Saturday,” Vereen said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the 2 yards, get rolling. It’s a good motivation for any back to get 1,000. More important this week is playing well against a tough Stanford team.”

Here’s a good list of reasons to attend the Big Spike on Friday night:

The fourth-ranked California volleyball team has a chance to pull ahead in the race for the Pac-10 title as the Golden Bears host No. 2 Stanford in the 72nd Big Spike. Cal matched its program record for single-season conference wins (13) last weekend and now has the opportunity to secure the best record in school history as well. The Bears have not swept the season series over the Cardinal in 31 years; since a pair of wins in 1979.

Niners Nation looks at the 3rd down woes vs. the Rams

The 49ers just pulled off a heart-attack-inducing victory over the St. Louis Rams this past Sunday that saw more ups and downs than Kentwan Balmer running Mount Singletary. The game saw a heroic late-game performance by Troy Smith along with crucial plays made by his receivers. Smith threw for 356 yards on only 17 completions and was money when he needed to be.

Where Troy wasn’t “money” though was on third down. The team converted ZERO (that’s one less than one, for those scoring at home) third downs out of ELEVEN attempts…ten of which were passing plays by Smith.

Lakers beat the Bucks, Silver Screen and Roll looks further

I don’t remember exactly where I read it earlier today, but some idiot was talking about how tonight’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks was going to be different than most of the contests the Lakers have seen so far this season. Different, because unlike most of the opponents the Lakers have faced so far, Milwaukee is a superior defensive team (ranked #1 coming in) and a terrible offensive team (ranked #29 coming in), so the Lakers might struggle to score a bit more than usual, but should come through with some decent defense.

I guess it all sounds kind of logical, but that moron couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, we saw another shootout eerily similar to all the other Laker contests this season. Tonight, once again riding the hot hand of Shannon Brown and the rest of the bench, the Lakers were the victors, but only because they topped the 1.16 points per possession (PPP) the previously woeful Bucks put up with an obscene 1.28 PPP for the purple and gold. Nice job putting points on the board Lakers, but you really need to figure out how to put the clamps down.

Sactown Royalty sees the real problem: godawful defense

Last night, Geoff Petrie told longtime season ticket holders, our heroic section214 among them, that offense is the real struggle for the Kings right now.

Offense is a bit of a struggle for the Kings: the team is No. 16 in the league in offense, with a just-above-the-mean 106.8 points scored every 100 possessions. The team isn’t shooting particularly well, currently at 25th in the NBA in effective field goal percentage, but has been fantastic overall in limiting turnovers and rebounding on offense. The offense could certainly be better if the big men were more efficient (read: fewer long jumpers) and the wings and guards took better shots (read: fewer contested jumpers off the dribble). This could be a top-10 offense, if everything clicks.

But, uh, Geoff? Bossman? The Kings have the league’s worst defense, playing against the league’s softest schedule. No team — NO TEAM — allows more points per possessions than the Kings. No team — NO TEAM — allows teams to shoot better from the floor. The Kings are worse than average at creating turnovers, limiting opponent free throws and even defensive rebounding.

UCLA 57, Pacific 44

Pacific is easily my 2nd favorite NCAA team on the planet, so it was depressing to see that the Tigers couldn’t even keep it close against UCLA. Still, they outrebounded the Bruins, forced more turnovers and earned more free throws, so I’m going to chalk this one up to the fact that they went 3-23 from three. Ouch. Also, Reeves Nelson scares me, but on the other hand I think Harper can take him.

Washington 98, Eastern Washington 72

Good team from Washington beats mediocre team from Washington by normal amount.

Washington St. 88, Idaho 71

Decent team from Washington beats bad team from very near Washington by decent amount

New Mexico 76, ASU 62

I’m not particularly optimistic about Cal’s chances against the Lobos on Saturday night, but at least it’s not at the Pit. Nothing particularly revolutionary about their win over the Sun Devils – from the looks of the box score they mostly just shot the ball better.

McC identifies a key question: will Panda start at 3rd next year?

Figure it out now, and send a team of Navy SEALs to escort him through the offseason if you need to. If Pablo starts at third, it closes a lineup opening. If Sandoval isn’t starting, the offseason is a free-for-all that can include anyone from Uribe to Adrian Beltre. But if the Giants go to great lengths to put someone else at third base, that could leave a McCovey/Cepeda-sized mess at first if Sandoval impresses the Giants with his return to form and Brandon Belt performs as expected in AAA.

Well, the Giants could always put Sandoval in left, like they did with Cepeda. That would be one way to boost ticket sales.

Athletics Nation looks at Adrian Beltre

I know that free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre would cost the A’s a lot of money and they already have a pretty good defensive third baseman in Kevin Kouzmanoff, but Billy Beane has talked a lot about getting players who fit this current team perfectly.

The thing is, the A’s are starving for offense in any way, shape or form. And while Beltre isn’t exactly a “thumper” per se, he’s a HUGE upgrade over anything the A’s have and he’s also possibly the best third baseman defensively in baseball.

Rule of Tree wonders what our deal is. The comment section is a little bare, they could use some company!

What’s Brock Mansion’s deal?

Between Hans Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney, the Bears boast some impressively named backup quarterbacks. If only they had the skills and experience to match. Mansion, who threw seven passes all of last season, was thrust into the starting role when Kevin Riley went down with a season-ending knee injury against Oregon State. He was 12-for-24 with two interceptions in his first start at Washington State, a Cal win, and followed that up with a dreadful performance in the Bears’ 15-13 loss to No. 1 Oregon. Mansion completed 10 of his 28 passes for 69 yards against the Ducks. “I feel like I was playing a little too fast,” Mansion told reporters after the game. Jeff Tedford has a magic touch when it comes to developing quarterbacks, but if the Bears upset Stanford in the Big Game, don’t expect Mansion to be the reason.

Also, I hadn’t seen this till Bk97’s Golden Nuggets post

Clancy was named coordinator of the week by Rivals

Publicly, Oregon coach Chip Kelly dismissed any concerns about his offense after a 15-13 victory over Cal, but in private, perhaps Kelly is concerned opponents have 60 minutes of game film of a defense stifling LaMichael James, Darron Thomas and the rest of the Ducks’ offense.

Cal didn’t win the game, but Pendergast’s defense may have turned in the best performance of any team this season. The Bears held Oregon to 162 rushing yards, 155 passing yards and just one offensive touchdown.

Two protesters from Southside riots found not guilty

Two protesters involved in the Feb. 26 Southside riot were acquitted of all charges Monday following a short deliberation by jurors.

The defendants – Zachary Miller, an alumnus of UC Berkeley, and Marika Goodrich, a senior at the time of the riot – had been charged with misdemeanors and were arrested during the protest.

Small protests precede Regents’ meeting at UCSF

As a prelude to Wednesday’s planned protests to be staged during the UC Board of Regents meeting at UC San Francisco, a small protest was held at UC Berkeley throughout Tuesday morning and afternoon, which included efforts to shut down a campus administrative building.

About 40 protesters first gathered with banners and signs at the east entrance of California Hall at around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday morning in an attempt to block the building’s entrances and prevent administrative staff from reaching their offices.

But officers from both UCPD and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office had already surrounded the building by 6:30 a.m. and set up a barricade by the building’s west entrance to prevent protesters from blocking that side. Throughout the morning, police were able to escort administrators to and from the building past protesters holding banners with messages including “Hey administrators: join us/resign.”

Regents, labor coalition clash over agreement

Embroiled in legal conflict since September 2009, the Coalition of University Employees Teamsters, a group representing nearly 14,000 of the UC’s clerical workforce, continues to allege that the UC Board of Regents violated the terms of a labor agreement.

The Temporary Layoffs Effects Agreement, which was entered into beginning December 2009, mandated that certain coalition employees take 11 to 16 unpaid furlough days throughout the 2009-10 fiscal year to combat the fiscal crisis faced by the UC, amounting to nearly $13 million in labor cuts.

Student Collective opens grocery store

After two months of moving, preparation, planning and fundraising, the Berkeley Student Food Collective opened a cooperatively run grocery store at its 2400 Bancroft Way location Monday.

The collective opened the store with the goal of providing “local, humane, ecologically sound and ethically produced” food to Berkeley students and residents, according to collective members.

Products sold in the store will all be “fair, environmentally sustainable, local and community-based and humane,” in accordance with guidelines from the Real Food Challenge, an organization whose objective is to make campus food more sustainable nationwide, according to Program Director Bree O’Keane.

Golden State of Mind reports from the owners luncheon

I had the fortunate circumstance to attend the Warriors Media Luncheon yesterday at The Epic Roasthouse on The Embarcadero, hosted by new owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. I came away with the impression that Warriors fans were lucky — really lucky — that Chris Cohan said no to Larry Ellison and picked these guys. And you’re gonna love Guber and his forthcoming “idears”. Here’s my report (read: excessively long, full dissection, “soup to nuts”). There are also links to the major beatwriters’ articles on Lacob/Gruber at the end of this. And I will answer any questions you might have in the comments, as best as I can.

But before I give you my fly-on-the-wall-ish rendition, there’s no reason to wait until Thanksgiving to give thanks. For me to be invited by the Warriors to attend this schindig ranks right up there with attending the NBA Draft, Summer League, and Warriors Media Day. Thank you to GSoM founders Fantasy Junkie and Atma Brother ONE. Thank you to SB Nation. Thank you to Dan Martinez and Raymond Ridder of the Warriors. Thank you to Sheed of WarriorsWorld for keeping me company. Thank you to ShamSports for making me feel like it’s okay to post excessively long posts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I always win the classy bowl. It’s because Im so classy!

A military coup in Madagascar

Col Charles Andrianasoavina, who made the announcement, was one of the officers behind a coup that brought Andre Rajoelina to power last year.

The situation is unclear but Reuters news agency quoted military police chief as saying other senior officers would intervene if it was a mutiny.

Hey Twist. Coco Crisp is looking for a personal assistant

Hi,

My name is Covelli Crisp (Coco Crisp), i am a professional baseball player. Looking for a live-in personal assistant (Female) that can help simplify my life.

Appointment scheduling
Bill payment scheduling
Maintaining and updating contact lists
Dinner parties
Away home care
Provisioning and house setup
Travel planning
Dinner reservations
Personal shopping
Tickets to entertainment events
Manage invitations
Culinary ability
Light house work, etc…

‘Wizard of Oz’ remake?

Whenever you remake a revered Hollywood film, there’s bound to be controversy, but going right to the original material is certainly an interesting approach. Warner Bros is in early talks with Robert Zemeckis to direct a live-action remake of the The Wizard of Oz and plans to use the original script from the 1939 classic. Warner Bros owns the screenplay because Ted Turner bought it along with the MGM library before Warner Bros bought Turner’s empire. This latest Oz twist comes as Disney is trying very hard to mount The Great And Powerful Oz. Sam Raimi is developing that film while he simultaneously develops World of Warcraft for Warner Bros and Legendary. Disney and Raimi want Robert Downey Jr as their star. The original Wizard of Oz script had a total of 19 writers (seems not much has changed in Hollywood) with many of them uncredited, including Bert Lahr who played the film’s Cowardly Lion. This wouldn’t be the first hugely high-profile remake for Zemeckis; he’s in the middle of a Yellow Submarine animated redux for Disney, scheduled for a 2012 release. Also, after working for years in performance-capture animation, Zemeckis has been moving toward a return to a live-action films, attaching himself to Timeless also at Warner Bros.

50 greatest trick plays

Wrong balls, flea-flicks, and stupendous fakes—might not sound like something you’d want to be a part of, but you’re damn sure going to look out of curiosity.

FDA plans on banning alcoholic energy drinks

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce a virtual ban of alcoholic energy drinks, even as a leading manufacturer is pulling its products off the market.

The FDA is expected to say Wednesday that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic drinks, a move that would effectively ban them from sale. College students have been hospitalized after drinking the beverages, including the popular Four Loko, and four states have banned the drinks.

Green Lantern trailer

Get ready comic book fans, the Green Lantern trailer is finally here and it is worth saving the universe for!

The film stars Ryan Reynolds, People’s newly-minted “Sexiest Man Alive,” as Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern. Ryan is clearly not putting his new sexy title to waste by showing off his toned body in the skintight Green Lantern rubber suit.

sportspickle SportsPickle
Just do the opposite of what Lebron does and you’ll be fine. RT @TigerWoods What’s up everyone. Finally decided to try out twitter!

Typical furd grad

Expanded MLB playoffs?

The year 2012 might or might not bring global catastrophe as foretold by Mayan filmmaker Roland Emmerich. But it does seem likely Major League Baseball will expand its postseason by then, if comments coming from the GM meetings in Florida are an accurate indication.

http://philsteele.com/Blogs/2010/Nov%2010/DBNov17.html

PHIL’S FORECAST : CALIFORNIA 24 STANFORD 23