DBD 1.16.2012

Niners Nation take.

After 18 19 weeks of football, we’re down to the final four and our beloved San Francisco 49ers are in the party. More importantly, they get to host the NFC Championship Game thanks to the New York Giants rout of the Green Bay Packers. The game was tight early on, but the Giants blew this one up and never looked back, winning 37-20. Aaron Rodgers never looked comfortable and the Packers offense was too inconsistent on a day when the Giants brought their A-game.

Now, we get a renewal of one of the classic NFL rivalries. It is of course a huge rematch of a great Week 10 matchup that saw the 49ers edge out the Giants 27-20. Alex Smith made some big plays in the passing game and Justin Smith had a huge deflection to stop the Giants short of a potential tying touchdown late.

While that is of great significance, it is particularly cool that this is a sort of historical rubber match. The 49ers and Giants have a strong playoff history, but two of their last three games are in the pantheon of all-time great games. The Giants won the 1991 NFC Championship Game in arguably the most heart-breaking 49ers loss ever. The 49ers returned the favor in a 2003 wild card game when they staged the greatest comeback in postseason history.

Link

There will be plenty of storylines, and thanks to the Packers losing we won’t have 10,000 stories about the 2005 NFL Draft. Instead, we’ll get a lot more pertinent football breakdowns to give us a better idea of what this matchup means. There are tons of great matchups in what I think could be a respectable sequel to the regular season matchup.

The 49ers secondary will face a group of receivers that are as good as any they have faced this season. While the Saints have a prolific offense, they spread the ball around to so many different players. The Giants can spread it around, but Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham bring some serious skills to the table.

Although the 49ers did get burned on some big plays yesterday, they also did some great work more often than not. Carlos Rogers, Chris Culliver and Tarell Brown all made huge plays yesterday, and could get just as many opportunities on Sunday. The 49ers secondary versus the Giants wide receivers will be one of the most important matchup of the day.

A storyline that will get a little bit of play is the weather report. The folks at weather.com are projecting a mix of light showers and steady run starting Wednesday and lasting through Sunday. The Giants aren’t an indoor attack like the Saints, but they will still look to pass frequently on Sunday. It will be interesting to see what a muddy field can do to slow that high flying attack.

And of course the history storyline will get as played out as anything. This will be the eighth postseason matchup between these two teams, which is the highest for the 49ers. They have had some epic contests (2003, 1991) and some one-sided beatdowns (1994, 1987). After last week, I think my heart could use a comfortable 49ers victory.

Nick’s take

I’ve talked recently about how Cal is capable of winning games by playing with different styles and paces, but you usually don’t see them prove it within the same game. Utah came into this game playing almost the slowest pace in the country. For 20 minutes Cal played their style, and it was ugly. Hideous. Not fun. But they still led 21-19 at halftime.

During the half the broadcast gave us a brief glimpse of the Cal locker room. It was a bit more nuanced, but Lindsay Gottleib’s message was basically “play faster!” That’s exactly what Cal did. They scored exactly double their first half total, forced Utah to play out of their comfort zone, and finished with a seven point road win to move to 4-2 in the Pac-12.

On the Packers loss

The Green Bay Packers defensive had its usual poor performance. Poor coverage and not enough of a pass rush led to a big game for Hakeem Nicks (165 yards, 2 touchdowns) and the Giants had 422 yards of offense. The two long touchdown passes to Nicks in the first half were especially embarrassing as Charlie Peprah failed to wrap up on one tackle, and the defensive backs failed to knock a Hail Mary pass down in the end zone.

The defense had been giving up yards, while forcing turnovers this season. However, they only had one interception by Morgan Burnett, and it ended up having no effect on the game. While the defense didn’t help much, it was the offensive struggles that lost them it.

Aaron Rodgers had a respectable 264 yards passing and 2 touchdowns (plus 66 yards rushing) but that wasn’t quite up to his usual great standards this season. His one interception was a meaningless pick in the final minute after the Packers were down by 17 points. Throughout the game the offense had missed opportunity after missed opportunity.

At least 8 drops by the receivers. Several receivers (Finley, Nelson, Crabtree, Starks, Grant) all had drops, but Finley was the only one I recall having multiple drops. He also missed a wide open catch early in the fourth quarter that could have kept them in the game. No single one of these lead to the loss, but it’s almost impossible to have that many missed opportunities and expect to win.

Johnson Wagner won the PGA TOUR event in Hawaii this weekend. I was startled by his moustache.

This is how he looked pre-moustache:

Since he won with the moustache, methinks he’s keeping it for at least another week.

GET EXCITED A’S FANS!

The Sharks lost

Coming into tonight’s game Antti Niemi’s career line against the Blackhawks was a sparkling 4-1-1 with a 2.32 GAA and .926 SV%.

He lived up those previous performances with some stellar saves, but defensive breakdowns and a swarming Chicago attack would render his efforts fruitless as the Sharks suffered their first regulation loss of the calendar year.

Joe Pavelski, Jamie McGinn, and Tommy Wingels would score for the Sharks, as Wingels scored his first NHL regulation goal of his NHL career. The Blackhawks top line of Jonathan Toews, Viktor Stalberg, and Patrick Kane were all over the ice and scoreboard tonight, putting in one of the more dominating performances against the Sharks top line in the last 30 days.

The Warriors won

No interesting notes to add tonight.

The Kings suck

1. Blowout in Philadelphia

The Kings got beat in every single quarter of this game, but really broke out in the 2nd half. The offense was stagnant, and the defense was even worse. Philadelphia was getting everything they wanted inside or out, and showcased how a team plays basketball, getting 30 assists on 47 made baskets.

2. Even Worse Blowout in Dallas

I fortunately did not have to watch this game. Franchise low 23 points in a half, 60 points in the game, 25.6% shooting from the field. Just flat out embarrassing.

but am watching 9-5 tonight… if you’ve never seen this movie, you should as it’s a simply brilliant capturing of the “ethos” of the turn of the decade in 1980. This was Dolly Parton’s first movie ever playing buxom secretary Dora Lee… It was a break for Jane Fonda in she plays a nervous steno pooler Judy… AndLilly Tomlin is in her prime playing under-appreciated glue-that-holds-the-office-together Violet … and Dabney Coleman is at his best playing the “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” Franklin Hart, a persona he mastered in this time period (he would follow-up with his brilliant role as director Ron Carlisle in Tootsie).

Anyway, this movie came out before many of you were born (my hip just started hurting), but it has aged very well, almost as a time capsule piece… and it has some of the funniest lines…

Without giving anything away, there is scene where the ladies think Violet may have killed Frank Hart. Violet is uncharacteristically freaking out which gives us this exchange:

Violet: Oh, God. They know about the rat poison. I might as well just turn myself in.
Doralee: Violet, it was an accident.
Violet: I’m a murderer.
Judy: No, you’re not.
Violet: I’m a murderess. I’m gonna go to the pen. My poor kids. I’m gonna lose my job.
Judy: Violet, stop this.
Violet: I’m no fool. I’ve killed the boss, you think they’re not gonna fire me for a thing like that?

This was a HUGE hit in 1980 grossing over $100M at the box office and almost $60M in rentals. Only Star Wars The Empire Strikes back made more money!

And of course the title song was a #1 hit on both the country and pop charts at the same time. Dolly was only the second woman to achieve this. Little note, Dolly got the idea for the sound of the typewriter by sort of strumming her false fingernails!

And that my friends is today’s completely random “FiatLux takes a trip down amnesia lane to his childhood…”

Thanks for the DBD and the links 49er16

6:00 pm on Newstalk 910 AM

Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and guard Brittany Boyd from women’s basketball, men’s basketball coach Mike Montgomery and swimmer Nolan Koon are lined up to be guests on Monday’s Cal Coaches Corner. The program airs from 6-7 p.m. on NewsTalk 910 and is broadcast live from the Paragon at the Claremont Hotel, Club and Spa.

Boyd, a freshman who was rated the nation’s No. 38 recruit coming out of Berkeley High School last year, had 13 points and six rebounds in the Bears’ 63-56 victory at Utah Sunday. For the season, she is contributing 8.5 ppg and 3.1 rpg, to go with 78 assists and 36 steals.

With the win over the Utes, Cal improved to 13-5 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-12, with Washington and Washington State visiting Haas Pavilion this week. Saturday’s WSU game will be another Cal Kids’ Day and will tip off at 3:30 p.m.

Cal sophomore Tyler Pullen pulls in a 2nd place finish

California sophomore Tyler Pullen saved his best for last as he placed second on the platform Sunday (Jan. 15) during the final day of the three-day Bruins Stanford Diving Invitational held at the Avery Aquatic Center. Pullen, from Pleasanton, trailed only Stanford’s Taylor Sishc and recorded a score of 295.55 for his best finish of the weekend.
It was Pullen’s highest place finish of the season other than winning the one-meter board (308.93) in the Oct. 21 dual meet versus Utah.

Other Golden Bears finishers on the platform at Stanford included freshman Thomas Selby placing fifth with a score of 257.80 and sophomore Grayson Huston finishing sixth with a mark of 248.95.

2012 home opener

No. 1 UCLA defeated the Cal women’s gymnastics team, 196.675-192.500 in front of 736 fans inside Haas Pavilion in the 2012 home opener Sunday afternoon.

Juniors Madisyn O’Brien and Mariesah Pierce led the Bears and tied for sixth place overall in the vault with identical scores of 9.825. California posted a team score of 48.850 in the event, higher than all of the Bears’ scores in the event last season. UCLA’s Vanessa Zamarripa captured the vault title with a perfect score of 10.000, while teammates Olivia Courtney and Samantha Peszek tied for second place with a score of 9.925.

This in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal by “Dr.” Charles K. Ross implying Tebow is getting special treatment because he is white.

Tim Tebow: What’s Race Got to Do With It?

For proof of this “Dr.” Ross pulls up some current examples of black QBs like Tebow who didn’t get the benefit of the doubt:

There have been numerous black quarterbacks that would have liked to be given the patience and opportunity Tebow has been afforded in Denver. In 1953 the Chicago Bears signed undrafted Willie Thrower from Michigan State and he made his NFL debut against the San Francisco 49ers in October. Coach George Halas allowed him to throw one pass, which he completed, taking the Bears from the sixteen yard line to the four yard line of the 49ers. Strangely, Thrower was replaced by George Blanda and several days later placed on waivers and released, with no explanation from coach Halas.

In 1955 Charlie Brackins was drafted in the sixteenth round by the Green Bay Packers out of Prairie View A&M, in a game against the Cleveland Browns he was inserted with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter. Brackins threw two incomplete passes and never played again, he was given his unconditional release and not signed by another team.

So there you go. Great, contemporary examples… because as we all know, nothing has changed in the last 50 years in the American sports landscape, particularly in the NFL… (now we need some folks to cugel the comments section)

This is one of the lamest contributed columns I have ever read in the Wall Street Journal. I’m only surprised that it’s not in the New York Times.

Wooooooooooooo!! The (Anaheim) Ducks decided to not be terrible any more!!

Unfortunately, it’s too little to late.

In a game that head coach Bruce Boudreau claimed would tell the Ducks just how far they’ve come, they came to play. While the 4-2 score in itself was nice, what was even better was just how thoroughly the Ducks dominated this game. They drew first blood on a great perseverance goal from Nick Bonino and kept pouring it on, even after the Canucks tied things up in the first. In the second period, the Ducks pulled away on goals from Bobby Ryan and Jason Blake, and Blake added another early in the third as a dagger that put the Ducks up 4-1. While Vancouver scored late in the third, the outcome was never really in doubt.

All in all, a pretty decent day for Anaheim fans: both LA and SJ lose while Anaheim wins! :D

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/15/colbert-super-pac-attack-romney-is-a-serial-killer/

The Super PAC founded by Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert has launched its first ad in South Carolina attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as "Mitt the Ripper" for his record of destroying businesses as the head of Bain Capital.

Speaking at the Iowa State Fair last year, Romney asserted that "corporations are people."

The ad released Sunday by Colbert’s former Super PAC — renamed Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC — contends that if corporations are people "then Mitt Romney is a serial killer."

"He’s Mitt the Ripper," the ad, narrated by actor John Lithgow, declares.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/business/global/the-battle-against-food-waste.html?_r=2&ref=global

Around the world, a staggering one-third of food — or about 1.3 billion tons each year — is wasted, a study commissioned by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimated last year.

Environmentalists have campaigned aggressively against the waste of water and energy, but little attention is paid to the squandering of a product, food, that uses plenty of both.

The Food and Agriculture research, which was carried out at the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, estimated that in Europe and North America, 280 to 300 kilograms of food, or 620 to 660 pounds, per person are wasted each year. That is more than twice the figure for developing regions like sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

In the developed world, consumers account for about one-third of the waste, discarding even food that is still edible.

The problem is a "‘disposing is cheaper than using or re-using’ attitude in industrialized countries," the U.N. agency’s report says.

In developing countries, the problems are slightly different. Because of inadequate technology, most of the waste occurs before it gets to the consumer, while the food is being grown, processed and distributed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N8wkVA4_8s
new wes anderson movie.

http://calfootballblog.com/2012/01/13/arik-armstead-to-cal/

Cal Football Blog found an Arik K. Armstead enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley.

If the current verbals stand, would this be Tedford’s first class with three 5* guys?

Spielberg during his acceptance speech worrying that he was going to get played off… As if that would ever happen. Can you think of a bigger career-limiting move than cutting off Steven Spielberg while he gives an acceptance speech.

In general I hate these award shows.

fyi, tosh = dooooooooooooooom