Cal Fan Appreciation Day 2010 IV

Part I

Part II

Part III

Whew!  Lots of action going on this year.  Last we left out, we were meeting some of the younger players.  They might not contribute in 2010, but perhaps in 2011, 2012, or 2013 we'll look back at the photos and say "Remember when Bartolo looked so young!" as we did with Vereen and Mohamed from 2007. 

Next, we stumbled onto the kickers.  We saw our good friend Giorgio Tavecchio. 

He was speaking fluent Italian with another person as we approached.  I told him, quite brashly, that, I, too, was fluent in Italian and if he wanted to hear any.  I was admonished not to say any bad words, but I assured him I would not do anything untoward.  Of course, he might have doubted me when I broke out my fluent Italian, consisting of the ever classic "THATSA SPICYA MEATABALLLLA."  So racist.  So very racist.  

And with that delightfully casual racism against the Italians, we enter the final part of the Cal Fan Appreciation Day.

More photos of the kickers:

Punter Bryan Anger with long snapper Branden Madueno:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-61 (via ja_williams)

I told Anger that he was probably the best player on the team.  That might be true, actually!  We mentioned how awesome Nick Harris was (mostly how we wished we still had one of those Harris For Heisman shirts) and he said how he was practicing with Harris.  He's been practicing with Harris for a while, so hopefully he continues to develop.

Loggy:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-63 (via ja_williams)

Adrian Lee and Isaac Lapite:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-62 (via ja_williams)

Then, we bumped into Steve Williams, future DB extraordinare.  We asked him if he knew the stakeboarder Steve Williams, but he said he only knew the pro wrestler Steve Williams.  It is unclear to me whether he meant Dr. Death Steve Williams:

via stupidcelebrities.net

Or Stone Cold Steve Austin, whose real name is Steve Williams:

via www.wrestleinfo.com

Either way, he seemed like a really nice guy:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-65 (via ja_williams)

Keith Browner:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-71 (via ja_williams)

Speaking of nice guys, you cannot forget Recruiting Superstar Tosh Lupoi.  I told him he should ask for a raise.  He should!  A woman standing next to him laughed uproariously at that, so perhaps it was on her mind also.

Then, Gabe King came rolling by.  We stopped him and told him we hated the NCAA.  With the entirety of his surprisingly boyish charm (I say surprising, because he is a massive human being), he said he was cleared to play:

So, at 12:55 PM on August 28, 2010, CGB broke the news that King was NCAA eligible.  ThThen, at 1:48 PM, Jonathon Okanes of the Contra Costa Times decided to follow suit.  Heyo!

Tyre Ellison:

Then, we decided to make a bee line for Mike Mohamed.  The line was still fairly long:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-80 (via ja_williams)

On the way was the Senior Defense table, including an excited Bryant Nnabuife:

And DJ Big Red:

2010 Cal Football Fan Day-79 (via ja_williams)

Chris Conte and Derrick Hill:

TAKE OFF THAT RED WATCH:

We finally bit the bullet and just waited for Mohamed:

I thanked him for the great Big Game interception.  I told him I knew he did it just for me and I was really honored.  Getting a chance to get a nice photo with Mike Mohamed was a great exclamation point on a great day.  The team seemed nice and loose and many of them seemed to believe we had a "shot" against UC Davis.  Hope they are right.  GO BEARS!