DBD 12.20.11 Last Minute Christmas Gifts!

WOOO

On Monday night, the San Francisco 49ers hosted the James Harrison-less Pittsburgh Steelers at Candlestick Park. Two 10-3 playoff-bound teams colliding in a head-to-head match-up on the big stage with post-season implications on the line. All signs before the game pointed to a competitive, hard-nosed contest between two similarly built teams — and it did not disappoint.

The game was initially delayed by a power outage; a transformer blew at roughly 5:19 PT, postponing the 5:30 regularly scheduled kick off time a half hour. I expected lights to go out, but I thought they were going to be Ben Roethlisberger’s (which would’ve been the case had it not been for a lot of those quick releases). Right off the bat, I thought there were too many Terrible Towels in the stands but the Faithful countered with a strong presence.

With Patrick Willis still out, Larry Grant once again started alongside NaVorro Bowman. That defense started out hot early, ending the Steelers first drive with a Carlos Rogers interception — his 6th of the season. And the 49er D continued to be an enigma for offenses that like to move the ball on the ground. Before the game, the pre-game hype with Boomer and the guys was complimentary regarding the Niners front seven; calling it “perhaps the best in the league” and more.

Cal 70, UC Santa Barbara 50: Justin Cobbs Doesn’t Eat Chipotle, Saves The Day

With Richard Solomon out against a feisty UCSB team, Cal fans were justified feeling nervous. When it was announced about a hour before tip time that the talismanic Jorge Gutierrez would miss the game and that Harper Kamp and Robert Thurman would play despite food poisoning, I felt that Cal went from a solid favorite to arguably a slight, slight underdog, depending on how much Kamp could give on the court.

Justin Cobbs laughed at my lack of faith, to the tune of 25 points on 10-12 shooting and spectacular defense on NBA-ready guard Orlando Johnson. Whenever you average more than 2 points per shot you probably had a pretty amazing offensive game. And to play a major role in holding the other team’s best player to 9 points on 4-13 shooting? All while spending 38 minutes on the court? In his post game interview with Roxy, Monty described Cobbs’s effort as ‘spectacular,’ which is about as strong a superlative as you’ll ever hear him use.

It was a statement by both Cobbs and the Bears that this team is more than the triumvirate of Jorge, Harper and Allen Crabbe. David Kravish did an excellent job replacing Richard Solomon’s rebounding and interior defense, and played 34 key minutes. Brandon Smith chipped in seven assists. And while Emerson Murray, Bak Bak and Jeff Powers didn’t bring much offensively, they all kept up the defensive intensity

Yay, Gen

California Golden Bear redshirt sophomore forward Gennifer Brandon was named Bank of the West Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 12-18, Commissioner Larry Scott announced today. With the help of Brandon’s 24-point, 24-rebound performance, the Golden Bears nearly knocked off 12th-ranked Ohio State last week.

Brandon scored 24 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in the 77-75 setback to the Buckeyes in Berkeley. The 24 boards were a Haas Pavilion record and one shy of tying the all-time Pac-12 single game record. Brandon had a double-double in the first half alone, tallying 12 points and 12 boards in 12 minutes. For the game, she was 9-for-15 from the floor and 6-for-10 from the free throw line.

Cal vs. Dartmouth, 7:00 pm

The California Golden Bears (8-3) close out the non-conference portion of their schedule at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20 when they host the Dartmouth Big Green (2-7).

The Bears are 8-3 this season against non-Pac-12 opponents with their only three losses coming against ranked teams. The Bears losses were by a combined six points, falling to now-ranked No. 11 Rutgers 73-70 and to still-ranked No. 24 Texas, 61-60. The Bears nearly pulled off the upset over No. 12 Ohio State on Saturday. The Bears trailed by 14 points with five and a half minutes left in the game. Cal trailed by just two points with 20 seconds left in the game, and they had possession of the basketball. Cal got the ball in under the hoop, but never had a clean look at the basket. They threw up three shots in the final seconds, none of which fell in, with Ohio State holding on for the two-point victory.

The Bears are trying to win nine games against regular-season non-conference opponents for the fourth time in the last six years. The Bears went 9-1 in 2006-07 and 9-2 in both 2007-08 and 2008-09. Last year, Cal went 8-3 before jumping into Pac-10 action.

“True Friend” of Cal

Warren Hellman, a visionary leader and philanthropist, passed away Sunday at the age of 77, leaving a lasting impact on both Cal Athletics and the University as a whole.

“Warren lived his life with tremendous passion and remarkable compassion,” Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said. "His contributions helped people, ideas and causes at UC Berkeley, the Bay Area and the world. The Cal family for generations to come is indebted to him for his support of Berkeley and public higher education.

A member of the Golden Bear water polo team and a 1955 Cal graduate, Hellman was a lifelong supporter and advocate for Cal Athletics. He enjoyed getting to know student-athletes on a personal basis and hearing their inspiring stories.

“Cal Athletics will miss a true friend in Warren Hellman, who cared so deeply about our student-athletes and our University.” Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour said. “His vision and commitment to world-class programs truly benefited our entire department, from the need for fully-funded scholarships to hiring and retaining high-level coaches and building state-of-the-art facilities. He was dedicated to our student-athletes having the necessary conditions for success at Cal. Warren was so proud of the accomplishments of our aquatics programs overall, particularly last year when both our swimming teams won NCAA championships and our water polo squads were national runners up.”

If you use a Mastercard to buy it

And use coupon code: 3TLRXE3N

Holly And The Ivy by St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir

Seven days ’til game day!

Kickoff – Cal vs. Texas Wed., Dec. 28 (5:00 p.m. PT)
Cal (7-5, 4-5 Pac-12) and Texas (7-5, 4-5 Big 12) will meet for the first time in 41 years in the 2011 Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. Both teams enter the game with identical overall and conference records. Cal finished fourth in the North division of the Pac-12, while Texas tied for sixth in the Big 12. Only two seasons ago, the Longhorns played in the BCS National Championship Game, falling 37-21 to Alabama at The Rose Bowl.

Cal finished the 2011 campaign with three victories in its final four contests, with its only loss during the stretch by a slim 31-28 margin on the road to a Stanford team that is headed to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State after finishing the regular season ranked No. 4 in the BCS Standings, AP Top 25 and USA Today Poll. The Bears started their final month of the regular season with home victories over Washington State and Oregon State, and finished November with an emphatic 47-38 road victory in their regular-season finale over an Arizona State team that had been nationally ranked most of the season.

Texas began its 2011 season with four straight victories and was 6-2 before dropping three of its final four regular-season contests. Two of the three losses came to nationally-ranked teams on the road at Kansas State and against Baylor at home. The Longhorns also fell on the road at Missouri. The lone win during the stretch came in their rival game at Texas Tech.

Texas holds an all-time series lead of 4-0 over Cal, and was ranked in the nation’s top 10 in each previous meeting, including the last matchup in 1970 in Austin when a second-ranked Longhorns club prevailed, 56-15. A No. 10 UT team also took the first meeting in 1959 in Austin, 33-0, while the other games were contested in Berkeley with No. 4 Texas squads winning 28-3 in 1961 and 17-0 in 1969.

Cal and Texas will see more of each other in the near future as the teams have scheduled a home-and-home series for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, with the Bears visiting Austin on Sept. 12, 2015, and UT making a return trip to Berkeley on Sept. 10, 2016.

For Christmas morning? Was thinking of going just out of interest. Like Grace Cathedral or something?

I also know there’s Midnight Mass, but I hear that involves showing up several hours early.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XIUDJ8

Supposedly provides ambient noise to help you fall asleep

A couple of Cal mentions in this article:

What we learned from the CIF state-bowl championships:

* De La Salle-Concord’s defense is the best I’ve seen in the region since 1984. After his team shut out the nation’s No. 6 team Westlake-Westlake Village 35-0 in the Open Division, De La Salle defensive coordinator Terry Eidson almost agreed. “If you said it was the best defense we’ve ever had, you’d get no argument from me,” Eidson said.

* It had five shutouts, allowed 7.8 points per game and its first-string didn’t give up a touchdown in the postseason. Besides having the best linebacker trio in the state – Cal-bound Michael Barton and blue-chip juniors Michael Hutchings and David Moffitt – the Spartans “swarm and were relentless,” Eidson said. “We didn’t cause a lot of turnovers, but always had four guys around the ball.”
…
* De La Salle’s top offensive lineman Luc Hamilton, like most in Alumbaugh’s system, won’t play in college. At 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, he’s not big enough for Division I. He’ll play rugby at Cal. Hamilton said he feels as if he has played at the highest level of football. “There’s just no other football like De La Salle,” he said. “We play to our potential. We finished it right.”

sup

A novel conversation piece and cocktail party icebreaker, the Gin & Titonic Ice Cube Tray is made of ice blue, food-safe synthetic rubber and features four ocean liners and four icebergs. Created by Fred & Friends, the home design firm whose goal is to "put a smile on your face," this ice cube tray (measuring 5.8 by 1.2 by 6.2 inches) is sure to add some grim humor to your next event—the iceberg shaped ice cube floats while the Titanic-inspired ocean liner gently lists. Packed in a recyclable clear box, the Gin & Titonic ice cube tray is perfect for your next Oscar party and makes a great gift for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet fans.

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[1]

Builders broke ground in November on more houses than at any time in the past 19 months, led by a surge in multifamily units, signaling the market is stabilizing heading into 2012.

Starts increased 9.3 percent to a 685,000 annual rate, exceeding the highest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the most since April 2010, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, also climbed to a more than one-year high.

Work on multifamily units like apartments and townhouses is growing as the rental market improves. Single-family-home construction may be starting to strengthen as lower home prices and borrowing costs near record lows draw in some buyers, even as builders face competition from existing houses as another wave of foreclosures throws more marked-down properties on the market.

Actually, these kinda suck

Enter the e-gift. E-commerce research firm Elastic Path estimates 27% of shoppers will make a present of a virtual gift such as e-books, apps or Facebook credits this year. The number of retail chains offering gift cards sent via email or cellphone has also jumped, with more than half now offering such options, according to surveys from CreditCards.com and Bankrate.com. “People feel more comfortable buying and receiving digital gifts,” says Judd Lillestrand, chief executive of gift-card comparison site ScripSmart.

Daily deal vouchers

Digital content

E-tickets

Gift cards