DBD 9.3.10 IT'S FINALLY HERE!

Cal looking for more BearBackers

The California Department of Athletics unveiled their new “12,000 Strong by 2012” campaign, a push to increase their Bear Backer membership. The campaign rolled out in unison with a new website, CalBearBackers.com, that makes joining and staying involved in the program a much more streamlined experience.

Cal Bear Backers are a loyal group of supporters that help to afford the experiences of Golden Bear student-athletes. Their commitment is to provide our coaches and student-athletes with the resources necessary for competition, and the ability to contend for national championships on an annual basis.

[Old] Help the Jog for Jill 5k

On Sunday, Sept. 12, the second Jog For Jill 5K event, sponsored by the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), will take place at Golden Gate Park at 4 p.m. The event is in honor of the late Jill Costello, a former coxswain on the California women’s crew who passed away from lung cancer on June 24. Cal student-athletes, staff, friends and family are encouraged to join “Team Jill.” Nearly all 27 Golden Bear teams will have representation at the event.

After being diagnosed with the disease on June 6, 2009, Costello remained an active member on the rowing team through the 2010 season, coxing the varsity 8+ to a Pac-10 Championship and a helping the Golden Bears finish second overall at the NCAA Championships. The 2010 Pac-10 Athlete of the Year, Costello graduated last May with a degree in political economy and was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic second team. She accomplished all of this while undergoing 22 chemotherapy sessions and 14 days of radiation treatments.

McCovey Chronicles with a proposal for expanded rosters

I like the expanded rosters. The 40-man active roster should be permanent. Maybe this is just post-Darren Ford bliss, but I’d rather have a cadre of specialized bench players rather than a couple who need to fill multiple roles. I’d rather have a 15-man bullpen rather than watch hard-throwing relievers flame out every year from overuse.

Niners beat Chargers, finish preseason 4-0

Well that certainly went down to the wire. The 49ers wrapped up their 2010 preseason with a 17-14 victory over the San Diego Chargers and completed a perfect preseason. A perfect preseason really has no meaning given some of the crappy teams that went undefeated in the preseason. Nonetheless, 4-0 is better than nothing.

The good news to come out of this game was that aside from Jason Hill getting poked in the eye, the team seemed to avoid any major injuries. And considering that’s the real goal of preseason game #4, I’d say mission accomplished. The next step for the team will be to cut down to a 53-man roster and get ready for their season opener a week from Sunday at the Seattle Seahawks.

Silver and Black Pride previews final preseason game

Truth be told, I wish that the Northgate Broncos from Walnut Creek were taking the field in the stead of any able bodied Oakland Raiders tonight. In all fairness to the players who are trying to make the team, those on the bubble are really only trying to put some good tape together so that they can get picked up by some other team as a practice squad player or the 53rd player on their roster.

Dodgers fans look at James Loney

Oh, how I want James Loney to succeed. He was a key part of the Jacksonville Five in 2005, he hit .380 in Triple A in 2006, and in the final days of the season that year, in a pennant race, Loney tied Gil Hodges for the franchise record in RBI with nine against the Rockies in Coors Field. His grand slam off Ryan Dempster in Game 1 of the 2008 NLDS turned the tide of that series, helping the Dodgers to their first playoff series win in 20 years.

I screamed bloody murder when Loney didn’t make the club out of spring training in 2007. “He has nothing left to prove in the minors” was a popular refrain I shared back then, ignoring the fact that he hit a single home run in 261 plate appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, the same league in which he led all of baseball in batting average just one season before. Loney, along with Matt Kemp, came up in June 2007 to stay, and for the most part Loney has been entrenched in the Dodger lineup ever since. Loney has missed a grand total of five games since the beginning of the 2008 season.

Check out Avi’s intro to UC Davis football before the game!

1. Let’s be honest – we know nothing about the Aggies other than the fact that they’re from close by. What should we know?

Grace: Well, you’re not alone. Limited TV and media exposure tend to keep FCS schools under the radar, and UC Davis is no different. However, we recently made the jump from Division II to Division I FCS, and have played such major conference opponents as Stanford, TCU, Boise, and Fresno State — and now of course, Cal. Perhaps the most important thing to know about this team is that they’re coming off of a Great West Conference championship, beating traditional FCS powerhouses, including our rivals Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Sac State.

Jason: Davis and Cal actually have a pretty intertwined history. Davis started off as the Agricultural extension of Berkeley in 1905, hence the name Aggies. We are Big West for a majority of our sports, but Great West for football. We actually won the Great West title outright last year. Starting in 2003, we started the transition to D-1. Before we were Division II for all sports. As of 2007, UC Davis was Division 1 for all sports. We are in D-I AA for football, so you won’t be seeing the Ags in the Rose Bowl anytime soon. Something the Aggies and Bears have in common is that we’ve both beaten Stanford. UC Davis upset the Cardinal in 2005 20-17.

Go to Memorial Glade tonight at 7PM for the Pajamarino Rally (because you know it’s been far too long since you last Go-Bears’d with a large group of people). Dress code is pajama attire, though use your best judgement to see if what you have planned is proper. For example, see this Texts From Last Night submission referencing last year’s rally:

(661): i sleep in a fine layer of vodka and semen. i don’t know that that would appropriate for a pajama rally.

Plus, after the rally there’ll be a concert featuring William Fitzsimmons and his spectacular beard.

Conquest Chronicles, less than pleased with the offense.

I laughed at Bob Davie trying to make a comparison to the 2008 defense. Please, that was a special group that were mostly upper classmen. There are mostly under classmen on this defense who have barely seen the field with any meaningful playing time.

The Tampa 2 gives up a lot of yards but it also depends on the defense keeping the opposing offense out of the end zone.’SC having to see this type of offense early in the season will go a long way to defending the spread later on in the season. the question is will they learn from tonight. So, the team has a lot of work to do on defense. Monte Kiffin is about to earn his paycheck…

Block U is happppy!

Holy hell. You couldn’t ask for a better start to the 2010 season. This game had it all – a blowout in the making, a comeback, a missed FG as time expired (that didn’t actually happen due to a timeout) and an overtime UTAH WIN!

I’ll have more on the game later, but damn did the defense impress (for most of the game). It wasn’t always pretty, but whenever you beat the 15th ranked team in the nation, you’re doing something right.

Kaepernick looked good, Nevada defense looked BAD.

Colin Kaepernick completed 26-of-37 passes for 306 yards — his fifth career 300-yard game — and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 60 yards and two scores.

Afterward, the senior said he played “average.”

“I think overall we did a pretty good job,” Kaepernick said. “There were definitely a lot of times we weren’t on point and as crisp with what we were doing.”

To the chagrin of Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault, the Nevada defense looked even less crisp.

The unit that allowed 28.5 points per game last year, yielded 432 yards to the Football Championship Subdivision Eagles on Thursday. The defense was gashed for several big plays, a recurring problem the past few seasons.

…

Eagles running back Taiwan Jones (remember him?) compiled a career-high 322 all-purpose yards.

He scored on an 82-yard touchdown pass off a simple swing pass in the first quarter — making safety Corbin Louks miss an open-field tackle — and carved through the Pack defense for a 74-yard run later in the game.

Garnett and Black Attack:

How many TDs will Marcus Lattimore score this year?

Folks, I believe this is real this time. I’ve listened to lots of Spurrier’s interviews. He believes. You should, too.

Go. to. Hell. Georgia. Bulldogs.

Along the Olentangy:

Terrelle Pryor- 17/25 (68%), 247 yards, 3 TDs, 0 Int. The line speaks for itself. Terrelle’s performance was statistically impressive, and his physical ability was just as noteworthy. He’s finally at the point where the coaches trust him with the full cadre of offensive plays. Throughout the game, he ran 3-step, 5-step, and 7-step drops from under center, along with a group of passing plays from shotgun. TP has developed to where the offensive coaching staff can implement their full vision in the gameplan, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Since no one cares about what happened in the game, here’s an image of Seantrel Henderson, courtesy of The Great Barstoolio.