DBD 07.26.2010: Youtube!

YO Predicts Cal at 7

No. 7: Cal. The Bears finished in sixth place in the Pac-10 last season (tied for fifth with USC; lost head-to-head matchup). Is there really any reason to believe they will be better this season? There were only a few bright spots from their disappointing defense, and two of those — defensive end Tyson Alualu and cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson — have taken their talents to the NFL. Meanwhile, the offense looks like it could be a lot like last year — strong running game, suspect passing game.

YO Predicts UW at 6

No. 6: Washington. Yes, the Huskies were much more respectable last season. Yes, Jake Locker is one of the most dynamic and best quarterbacks in the country.

But those who are picking Washington to finish in the upper half of the Pac-10 and even in the preseason rankings may be jumping the gun just a bit.

YO predicts Az at 5

No. 5: Arizona. It was as late as November last season and the Wildcats controlled their own destiny to win the Pac-10 title. But a visit to Cal derailed those hopes, as the Bears sent Arizona packing with a 24-16 victory. A 44-41 loss in a whale of a game the following week against Oregon put the conference title out of reach, but the Wildcats responded by beating Arizona State and USC — both on the road — to close out the regular season.

Niners Nation Looks at Dashon Goldson

Now here is a hard player to gauge. It would seem a lot have taken a collective drink from the Dashon Goldson kool-aid, which is completely fine. He played well in the second half of the season. Heck, he played better than well. He played like a pretty great safety. But can he continue such play?

Last season, Goldson ended up with two sacks, six passes deflected, four interceptions and three forced fumbles. Not bad, right? But most of them came in the second half of the season. He seemed to struggle a bit early on, but something “clicked” and he started playing seemingly above the level we all thought he could. I mean, we expected an improvement but I don’t think anyone saw that drastic of an improvement.

A list of Niner-related links

Over at SB Nation Bay Area I’ll be posting a full training camp primer for the 49ers and the Raiders in the coming days – make sure you’re going over there consistently. It’s a pretty cool site and I’m glad to be a part of it. Anyway – still no 49ers news. I only have a couple of links for you, but it should be plenty, I think! Without further ado, let’s get to your links.

Interview with Raider Lamarr Houston

Today I had the opportunity to interview Oakland Raider Rookie Defensive Tackle LaMarr Houston. By his own admission, he is a man of few words who likes to let his actions speak. Believe me when I tell you that this young Raider is passionate about playing football.

Giants-Fishies preview

When I look at the Marlins roster, it just makes me irritated at the Padres. Seriously. The Marlins are the team that was supposed to have a keg of good young pitching on tap. The Marlins were supposed to have young, competent hitters all throughout the lineup. Then I look at their roster, and both things are still true. Fourth place and hovering around .500 for most of the season. The Padres have one guy with an on-base percentage above .330 in the starting lineup. Even accounting for Petco National Park, that’s hard to believe. First place, and they haven’t lost for 24 straight games. I don’t get it.

Trade deadline look at A’s and Giants

The Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants have been two of the hottest teams in baseball in the month of July. The A’s are 9-3 since being swept by the Yankees and are siting 7.5 games back of the Rangers with a lot of baseball left to be played. Since losing their July opening series at Colorado, the Giants have gone 15-3 and climbed all the way to a mere 3 games back of the Padres.

What does all this mean? Well, we’re fast approaching the 2010 MLB Trade Deadline, which is always active around the league. The A’s and the Giants find themselves in intriguing positions. Both are certainly not out of their respective races, and both are playing extremely well. And yet, it’s rather difficult to forecast whether either will be a buyer or seller as Sunday July 31 approaches.

Daily Cal: Can Cal fans still brag about the Play?

Yes

The story needs no retelling. You’ve already seen it once, twice, maybe a hundred times. With four seconds left in the 1982 Big Game, 10 Cal players added their names to a list that includes Jesus, Muhammad and Annie Sullivan.

Can I get a “hell yeah!?”

Ed Yevelev weighs in on Martin’s transfer

After deliberation, a supremely talented athlete opts to leave his local team and take his talent down to Florida.

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before.

Okay, so this past week’s recruiting ‘decision’ hardly resembles LeBron’s move to Miami – in magnitude or (thankfully) in coverage.

For recruiting experts among the blue and gold faithful, incoming freshman Chris Martin’s departure to Gainseville may scream a potential repeat of Ndamukong Suh – the dominant defensive tackle at Nebraska who nearly played at Cal.

Cal Spring Scrimmage Pt 1

Cal Spring Scrimmage Pt 2

Yes…it’s really 4-something in the morning.

No…I’m not going on a 3-mile run.

Yes…this is Psycho Teething Baby’s fault.

No…I’m not kidding.

Yes…I so lied when I told rags it would get better.

No…I’m not sorry.

Yes…I see lotsa pretty blinking lights right now.

No…I don’t. Does it count if my eyes are closed?

Cal alum Charlie Wi shoots final round 66 to vault into T-4 finish at Canadian Open. Charlie won $165,750. Charlie is 45th in the FedEx Cup points standings and has 9 top 25 finishes (3 top 10s) in 18 starts this season.

Another Cal alum, Peter Tomasulo, also shot a final round 66 at the Nationwide Tour event in Columbus, Ohio. Peter finished in a T-17 after starting the day at T-48. He remains 8th in the Nationwide Tour money list.

Kershaw stymies the Mets as LA takes 3 of 4 from NY

Much like Chad Billingsley earlier in the week, Clayton Kershaw came through for the Dodgers when the absolutely had to have their starter pitch deep into the game, leading the Dodgers to a 1-0 victory over the Mets. Kershaw pitched eight scoreless innings, and would have pitched the ninth had his spot in the batting order not come up in the eighth inning.

Angels acquire Dan Haren from Arizona for Joe Sanuders and 3 minor leaguers.

Halos Heaven weighs in:

Tony Reagins is such a tease. First he exasperates the fanbase with a pointless trade for Alberto Callaspo, then he pulls off this stunner, both in the same weekend. This is the trade he meant to do last August when he acquired Scott Kazmir: buy low on a starting pitcher, sell high on a couple of promising prospects. Obviously the little detail about Kazmir being broken wrecked that plan, but Dan Haren’s tough season is merely a statistical fluctuation. Forget 2010 for the moment and consider the near future, the middle-term. We can’t know what the Angels gave up in Pat Corbin and (presumably) Tyler Skaggs for another five years, but we can talk about the next two seasons.

What question does everyone want me to ask?

Media access?
Is Vereen going to be on special teams?
Thoughts on Tyson getting drafted so high?
CHRIS MARTIN!?!?!? (Someone will beat me to that, I’m sure)

[1]

“I’m very disappointed in Lane Kiffin’s approach to this. Typically speaking, when coaches are interested in hiring or discussing potential employment from coaches on respective staffs there is a courtesy call made from the head coach or athletic director indicating there is an interest in talking to the assistant. So I am very disappointed in the lack of professionalism on behalf of Lane.‘’
—Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, to the Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt. Fisher’s running backs coach, Kennedy Pola, was heisted Saturday by USC coach Kiffin (to be the Trojans’ offensive coordinator) less than a week before Titans training camp convenes.

Kiffin responded by saying he reached out to Pola on Friday to see if he had any interest in the job. If you believe the first contact between Kiffin and Pola was Friday, well, you’re not really in touch with anything on this planet.

What exacerbates the problem of ripping off a coach under contract six days before training camp is that USC product Fisher is a Trojan through and through. Fisher has friends throughout pro and college football and now he’s going to be in the position of telling them all: Be leery of Lane Kiffin.

I mean, how many more stupid things does Lane Kiffin have to do before he realizes you don’t win by knifing good people in the back?

Pretty soon Kiffin’s going to be so unpopular in the NFL that, should he burn his college bridges completely, only Al Davis will hire him in the pros.

Just a guess. But he may have already burned that bridge.

Libertango is a great song, no denying that!

FtF: News is slower than…

•A Ray Ratto lunch at Korea BBQ All You Can Eat Buffet.
•Adam Foote.
•Teemu Selanne’s offseason decisions.
•The line behind Doug Wilson at Ultimate Tanning Salon.
•One full episode of Gray’s Anatomy.
•The time it takes Don Cherry to apologize for an offhand remark about Europeans.
•Completing Mass Effect 2 on Insanity.
•Just about anything outside of intercourse.

other commentors:

…Joe Thornton on a breakaway.
…an Asian dude’s playoff beard.
by TnSD11 on Jul 25, 2010 12:10 PM EDT reply actions

…finding Waldo in a Zetterberg wedding picture.
…a Sami Salo workplace safety class.
…time during a Twilight movie.
by SteveDave on Jul 25, 2010 8:43 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs

…Dany Heatley in the playoffs :(

Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup.

Twitter! rmorse05
by sharks in oc on Jul 25, 2010 1:18 PM EDT reply actions

UC GSIs dont get paid as much:

As the University of California tries to absorb massive cuts in state funding, a recent UC report shows that without addressing the many financial challenges graduate students face, the academic quality of the entire UC system could slowly erode.

The report, as well as a recent survey of UC Berkeley graduate students, found many concerns about graduate students’ level of compensation, working conditions, child services and affordable housing.

Kristine Lilly is a great player:

Not a lot of people know who Kristine Lilly is. For even the most avid sports fans, women’s soccer just doesn’t tend to be a major point of interest.

But Cal forward Alex Morgan knows exactly how fortunate she is to know be playing alongside someone who was arguably the best women’s soccer player in the world at one point.

“I’m playing with one of my idols, when I was younger,” Morgan said of the former national team captain. “I never dreamt of playing with her.”

Campus trying to conserve water:

Amid global concern that water will one day become a scarce and precious resource, UC Berkeley’s Office of Sustainability is attempting to overcome technical complexities and financial strains in order to implement programs projected to save up to 53 million gallons of water and $4 million.

In response to consecutive years of drought, Joanna Zhang, a water associate for the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability, published a report in March detailing the campus’s current water conservation plans and goals. The report used and expanded upon data from UC Berkeley alumna Jubilee Daniels’ 2005 master’s thesis, which has inspired some campus water conservation initiatives.

One large-scale project is the replacement of faucet aerators to reduce the rate of water flow – an inexpensive way to reduce water use because aerators are donated by East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD), leaving only the cost of labor, said Lisa McNeilly, director of the Office of Sustainability.

Controversy over DNA Testing:

Amid ongoing controversy surrounding a UC Berkeley program asking incoming students to submit DNA samples for testing, a state bill has been introduced that, if passed, would prevent CSU schools from requesting genetic material from students and would urge UC schools to do so as well.

The bill was originally introduced by a former assemblyman in December 2008 to address the needs of English learners in state schools, but, in a procedure called “gut and amend,” California State Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, rewrote the bill on June 24 in a last-minute effort to ban non-medical related requests for DNA at CSUs.

The new bill is a response to a campus program, launched by the College of Letters and Science in May, that sends cotton swabs to incoming students and offers to test their DNA samples for their ability to tolerate alcohol, metabolize lactose and absorb folic acid.

AC Transit employees deplyoing a sick out:

Hundreds of AC Transit employees have not been showing up for work each day throughout the past week since a new contract took effect July 18, resulting in increased delays for riders and furthering disputes between the agency and union workers.

The daily absences of about 200 employees – approximately 20 percent of all employees – has become the next phase in an ongoing battle between the agency and some 1,750 Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 workers. AC Transit officials have deemed the absences a “sick-out,” but union workers insist the action has not been organized and is the result of “impossible” work structures under the new contract.

AC Transit officials have said the new three-year contract does not significantly vary from the old one, but union workers say the new contract forces bus operators to work difficult hours, does not allow them to choose bus routes as the old contract did and forces them to drive routes for which they have not received training.

Thanks, Kodiak for bring all those stories over. Ohio Bear, too. And iVinishe for a great DBD topic.

It’s likely the last time I’ll be working for the football team as a HydroTech. =/

Pyongyang stomps its feet and holds its breath:

yongyang has strongly protested the exercises, calling them a provocation and threatening retaliation. In flourishes of rhetoric typical of the regime, it vowed to respond with a “sacred war” and a “powerful nuclear deterrence.”

“Should the U.S. imperialists and (South Korea) finally ignite a new war of aggression … (North Korea) will mobilize the tremendous military potential including its nuclear deterrence for self-defense and thus wipe out the aggressors,” North Korea’s defense chief, Kim Yong Chun, said in Pyongyang on Monday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim also reiterated the country’s threat to bolster its nuclear deterrence. North Korea often cites the U.S. military presence in the region, with nuclear-powered warships like the George Washington, as a key reason behind its drive to build atomic weapons.

Pyongyang’s latest rhetoric was seen by most as bluster: South Korea’s Defense Ministry reported no significant moves by the North Korean military since the maneuvers began Sunday.

But the threats carry extra weight following the sinking of the Cheonan, which dramatically intensified tensions on the Korean peninsula. The ship sank near the Koreas’ western sea border, a scene of three bloody inter-Korean maritime battles in the past decade, most recently in November.

Wilner recycles:

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2010/07/26/pac-10-expansion-previewing-the-division-debate-part-ii-football-football-football/

Another way to arrange divisions is to split the natural rivals (for instance, Cal in one division, Stanford in the other) but with the assurance that they would play every year.

This format, which has become known as the "Zipper Plan," would assure every school of a game against USC or UCLA every year and a trip to Southern California every two years. "We’re looking at several ‘Zipper’ options," Scott said.

One variation, the "California Zipper," would place one Bay Area school and one L.A. school with the Oregons and Washingtons in the North and one Bay Area school and one L.A. school with Utah, Colorado and the Arizona schools in the South.

Critics of the "zipper" arrangement believe the natural rivals must be paired together, but the concept is gaining traction within league circles. Bowlsby said the schools Stanford plays every year are more important to him than divisional alignment. In other words, he’s fine with Cal being in a different division as long as the Big Game is played every year.

Bellotti said he favors the "zipper" format, and believes it can be tweaked to preserve longtime rivalries. He suggested that in an eight-game conference schedule, teams would play five games within their division and could include one or two traditional games on an annual basis from outside their division.

"Either way, they’re going to have to protect the rivalries," Bellotti said. "No way in the world could Oregon not play Oregon State or Washington. Fiscally, it would not make sense. Just like Cal wants to play Stanford and USC and UCLA."

Regardless of the league’s shape, Cal, Stanford, USC and UCLA have played each other every year since 1936 (excluding World War II years) — and they want the tradition to continue.

Pairing the California quartet in the South with the Arizona schools would solve the issue, but the core problem would still exist because the more games between the California schools, the fewer opportunities for everyone else to play USC and UCLA.

The reality, in Scott’s words, is this: "Not every team is going to be thrilled."

An interesting idea is the conference sharing the TV money amongst everyone.

Uncle Ted’s big moments:

California: If the Bears cap a 4-0 start with a win at Arizona, it seems likely they will be a factor in the conference race.

At this point of the season, they’d only have 3 road games left (Wazzu, USC, and OSU).

New Ford Explorer will get same mileage as a V-6 Camry

Here’s a bold claim: The new Ford Explorer with the Ecoboost turbocharged 2-liter engine will have fuel efficiency on par with a Toyota Camry V-6.

Although Ford hasn’t disclosed yet its predicted fuel mileage figures for the 2011 Explorer, a V-6 Camry gets 20 miles a gallon in the city, 29 on the highway, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

Is Richard Simmons’ appearance on Who’s Line is it Anyway. I laughed until I cried the first time I saw it, and it’s still my go-to video if I’m having a bad day.

Link

Three prospects being pursued by Cal — and many others — exceled Sunday night as the Drew Gooden Oakland Soldiers routed the Iowa Barnstormers 86-66 in the championship game of the Fab 48 tournament in Las Vegas. – BearTalk

4 out of 5 starters from Drew Gooden’s Soldiers hold Cal scholarship offers. They are Jabari Brown, Brandon Ashely {2012}, Nick Johnson, and Kyle Wiltjer.

Just moments ago Federal Express delivered my 2010 Cal Football Season Tickets!!!!!!!!

Leaked intelligence documents covering a six year period paint bleaker picture of Afghanistan war

A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal.

The secret documents, released on the Internet by an organization called WikiLeaks, are a daily diary of an American-led force often starved for resources and attention as it struggled against an insurgency that grew larger, better coordinated and more deadly each year.

…

The documents — some 92,000 reports spanning parts of two administrations from January 2004 through December 2009 — illustrate in mosaic detail why, after the United States has spent almost $300 billion on the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001.

Wilner posts our TV schedule

Sept. 4: vs. UC Davis (tba)
Sept. 11: vs. Colorado, 12:30 p.m. (CSNBA)
Sept. 17: at Nevada, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sept. 25: at Arizona (tba)
Oct. 2: BYE
Oct. 9: vs. UCLA (tba)
Oct. 16: at USC, 12:30 (CSNBA)
Oct. 23: vs. ASU (tba)
Oct. 30: at Oregon State (tba)
Nov. 6: at Washington State (tba)
Nov. 13: vs. Oregon (tba)
Nov. 20: vs. Stanford, 12:30 p.m. (CSNBA)
Nov. 27: vs. Washington (none)

SPOILER ALERT

I thought it was an excellent episode – Not a ton of plot development but it set up lots of interesting emotional/character issues.

If anyone saw the movie, why, at the end of the movie, didn’t they just wait for the President to wake up and talk to him?