DBD 1.25.12 In which I completely and totally without exception finish the running into the ground of the Jumbaco joke

Mens gymnastics takes on nebraska and stanford:



BERKELEY – The No. 5 California men’s gymnastics team heads to familiar territory, traveling to the other side of the Bay for the Stanford Open on Jan. 28. The Golden Bears (1-1) will compete against No. 6 Stanford (1-1) and No. 9 Nebraska (3-2) at the Cardinal’s Burnham Pavilion.

In each of the first two meets of the 2012 campaign, Cal has faced off against rival Stanford with both of the rival squads earning one win apiece. Last week, the Cardinal avenged the season-opening loss to Cal by defeating the Bears 345.200-340.450 on Jan. 21 at Burnham Pavilion.

Just prior to last Saturday’s meet, an injury to Dennis Mannhart prevented him from competing, meaning that the Bears had to rearrange their line-up. Despite this sudden shake up, head coach Tim McNeill was pleased with the resiliency of the Bears. Stepping in was Jon Liu, who went up for the Bears on rings despite not having practiced much on them since arriving in Berkeley.

Bears impress at Senior Bowl:

Former Cal football standouts wide receiver Marvin Jones and offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz have looked impressive in the initial days of practice for the Senior Bowl, which takes place Saturday, Jan. 28, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.
Jones, who was a late addition to the roster, made a great first impression with coaches in the first day of practice. According to Tony Pauline of SI.com, Jones delivered much more than scouts expected. Pauline said that Jones stood out in one-on-one drills in particular.

“He probably runs the best routes of anyone on the North team, consistently separates from defensive backs and has made several outstanding receptions,” as written in Pauline’s article.

WBB takes on Stanford on Sat:

BERKELEY – The California Golden Bears (15-5, 6-2 Pac-12), who have yet to lose a game in the 2012 calendar year, head to The Farm for the Battle of the Bay Part 1, taking on the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal (17-1, 8-0 Pac-12) on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at Stanford.

The game will not be televised. However, there is a fan bus that will be headed to Stanford. For more details and to secure a seat, contact Jessica Dolan.

The Bears, who started conference play at 0-2, have now won six straight games, their first six-game win streak since they swept through the six rounds of the 2010 WNIT en route to their championship. The team, who closed out 2011 with two losses, has yet to lose a game in 2012.

Mens Crew blogs:

Meet Chris Yeager, a senior on California men’s crew. Yeager, who rows on the varsity eight, and sophomore Spencer Hall will be blogging throughout the 2012 campaign on CalBears.com. Below is the first installment of the blog that was written by Yeager.
Well, here I go with my first blog for CalBears.com! Let me start by telling you a little about myself. I am currently a senior here at Cal and will be graduating in May with a BA in geography. I’m originally from Westerville, Ohio, which is just north of Columbus. I grew up in a pretty standard suburb with a pretty standard, yet extraordinary, family. I first discovered rowing in the spring of 2005. My local club’s coach was doing some recruiting at my high school and he somehow convinced me to give it a try. A few short years later, I landed at SFO ready to begin my first year of college at Cal!

The time sure has flown by since then, but I have gained many great friends and unforgettable memories. My freshman year was tough at Cal. It was hard for me to adjust to the freedom of college while also learning that I needed to stay on track and focused with class and rowing. With the help of my friends and teammates, I made it through and am finally ready to begin my last semester.

WWP hosts speed inv:



Bear Bites
The No. 2-ranked Cal women’s water polo team (4-0), last year’s national runner-up at the 2011 NCAA Tournament, hosts the eight-team Cal Speedo Invitational, Jan. 27-28 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Bears will be competing in four matches in two days for the second weekend in a row, hosting Pomona (3 p.m.) and Cal Baptist (4:30 p.m.) in back-to-back matches Friday before playing Loyola Marymount and CS Monterey Bay Saturday. Last weekend at the Spartan Invitational in San Jose, Cal outscored its opponents, 49-22, led by seven goals apiece from junior Kirstn Mase and sophomore Kelly Mendoza in victories over Santa Clara (16-6), UC Davis (13-5), Pacific (9-4) and UC Santa Barbara (11-7). Freshman Tiera Schroeder was named the KAP 7 MPSF Newcomer of the Week after scoring three goals in her first collegiate matches.

About the Cal Speedo Invitational
The Cal Speedo Invitational features eight teams, five of which are ranked in the Collegiate Top 20 Preseason Poll. The invitational consists of No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 Cal, No. 5 San Jose State, No. 11 Loyola Marymount, No. 16 UC Davis, Cal Baptist, Pomona and Cal State Monterey Bay. There will be three matches Friday and eight matches Saturday with no tournament champion to be determined. The tournament schedule and results can be view by clicking on the following link (2012 California Speedo Invitational). On Friday, Jan. 27, Cal hosts Pomona at 3 p.m. in its home-opener, and then plays Cal Baptist at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Bears play Loyola Marymount at 3 p.m. and Cal State Monterey Bay at 7:30 p.m. Last season the Bears had a 3-0 record against this year’s Speedo Invitational opponents, outscoring Cal Baptist (16-8), CS Monterey Bay (18-1) and Loyola Marymount (9-7) by a margin of 43-16. Cal did not face Pomona in 2011.

WOmens Swimming heads south:



BERKELEY – With its home schedule complete, the second-ranked California women’s swimming and diving team hits the road for its remaining regular-season meets, including this week’s two duals in Los Angeles. The Golden Bears (5-0, 5-0 in the Pac-12) battle the third-ranked USC Trojans (5-0, 4-0 Pac-12) at 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, and UCLA (4-2, 2-2 Pac-12) at noon on Saturday, Jan. 28.

Scouting the Golden Bears
• Cal closed its home schedule with a 169-114 dual-meet win over No. 24 Arizona State on Jan. 21 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Cal won 11 of 16 events, with seniors accounting for five of the individual victories on Senior Day. Liv Jensen won the 50- (22.56, NCAA B) and 100-yard freestyles (49.68, NCAA B), Sara Isakovic claimed the 200-yard butterfly (1:59.72, NCAA B), Molly Hayes captured the one-meter springboard (280.50, NCAA regional-qualifying score) and Shelley Harper won the 100-yard butterfly (54.95).
• The Bears ended the ASU meet by winning the 200-yard freestyle relay, with its all-senior squad of Sara Isakovic, Colleen Fotsch, Katherine Raatz and Liv Jensen clocking an NCAA B qualifying time of 1:32.16.

Former ruggers get USOC contracts:



BERKELEY – Former California All-Americans Blaine Scully and Colin Hawley have accepted contracts funded by the United States Olympic Committee to train full-time at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., with the U.S. National 7s Team.

By accepting these contracts, Scully and Hawley have placed themselves among the first-ever players to sign such deals with USA Rugby.

“We are both incredibly honored to be chosen for the USOC/USA Rugby contracts,” said Scully, who, with Hawley, played for the U.S. in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. “It is a validation for us as athletes and tremendous because this selection makes us an integral part to rugby’s move into the Olympic arena.”

Rugby Sevens is set to be reintroduced as a medal sport at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The U.S. won gold medals in rugby at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Games with six Golden Bears on those teams.

Having reread this DBD, I feel that it would have benefitted from an editor and more than 20 minutes of time spent. But I’m lazy and wanted to just get it up. Time for bed. Will finish links in the morning, unless somebody does them cough cough

When discussions take place about some of the Southland’s premier post players, the name Chris Reyes is not always included in the conversation.

The lack of recognition, however, does not bother the 6-foot-6, 205-pound senior from Damien. The perceived snub has served as plenty of motivation this season. Accordingly, Reyes is playing as well, if not better than most his peers in the greater Los Angeles area.

"Chris may not be ranked as high as the other guys, but he is just as good in my book,‘’ Damien coach Matt Dunn said. "He affects the game in so many ways, on both ends of the floor. Honestly, I think when people underestimate him, it’s a mistake. I’ve seen Chris make opponents pay for taking him lightly in the past. He plays with this uncanny fire.’’

As Reyes has gone, so have the Spartans (18-1 overall), No. 17 in the ESPNLosAngeles.com top 20 rankings. They have a test Wednesday in a showdown with visiting Chino Hills Ayala. The winner will be in the driver’s seat in the Sierra League standings.

The St. Mary’s-bound Reyes is shooting 62 percent from the field and is averaging a double-double per game with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Never one to back down from a challenge, he has also blocked an average of five shots on a nightly basis.

GO SPARTANS!

You crack me up, Twist.

Harbaugh calls out all of California:

But Harbaugh saved the best for last, when one reporter asked what he did after the loss to the Giants.

“Is it just California that everybody just wants to know how you feel? Care about what you thought, what you did, how you felt, how your pinky feels. Is that just a California thing? Back where I come from, nobody really cares. In my opinion, it is a California thing.”

Who is coming this weekend? Who may be at the Cal/Stanfurd game so we can keep an eye out and make sure that they are are welcome in Berkeley kind of on par to how Jordan Payton was treated in Seattle last week . . .

Twist, I am wholly impressed that you actually went out, bought, assembled and ate a Jumbaco. That’s what I call putting your mouth where your mouth is. Bravo!!!

after a good swim workout, i’m always hungry. so driving home from swimming at the gym tonight, as i was getting close to the jbox, i seriously thought about getting one too (dbd all up in brain). happily, i’ll leave the jumbaco as a meme/gif fantasy.

He’s playing for Wonju Dongbu in Korea. Currently, the team’s 35 – 7 and well on their way to winning the regular season championship (season’s only ’bout 50 games long).

Averaging ’bout 19 and 8.

Doing his thing inside yesterday.

On the front page of Dongbu’s website.

Unfortunately, they list him as being from “Cal State-Berkeley.”

saw this tweet: https://twitter.com/#!/boomtho/status/161738767181426688
made me laugh.

Rod Benson @boomtho
Just downloaded “Instinctively” by Yoon Jong Shin. I think it was my final step to becoming fully Korean.

The song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1snUegXSD7U

Wilner’s picking Cal to finish 2nd in Pac12N

2. Cal: An unconventional (and, admittedly, possibly erroneous) pick. I’m not sure there’s much difference between Cal, Stanford and Washington — except the Bears return both a veteran quarterback in Zach Maynard and their top playmakers (Keenan Allen and Isi Sofele). The defense should be decent and possibly very good if the touted young linemen become impact players.

Nowhere did that blurb address the OL. I believe we’ll have a new C, RG (Galas?), and LT, to go with our LG Schwenke (played a lot of games, but is he good?) and RT MSG (who should be at G). Isi’s come along ways and Maynard’s certainly a veteran, but that’s a lof of n00bnes there.

UO back in/still in the mix for Shaq?

Thompson, from Sacramento’s Grant High School, has told the Sacramento Bee that he has narrowed his decision to Cal, UW and Oregon.

"I don’t know what I’m doing to do," Thompson told ESPN.com. "I know this is a business and everyone has to do what’s best for them, but this one still hurts. I’ve known Tosh forever. He has been recruiting me for the last three years and, even though he won’t be my position coach, he’s a big reason I got interested in Cal in the first place."

Thompson was trading Twitter messages with several Oregon players this week — including Thomas, freshman receiver B.J. Kelley and LaMichael James, the Ducks’ career rushing leader — which generated some excitement among UO fans online and on the social media site. (For the record, Thompson also communicated via Twitter with athletes connected to UCLA and Washington.)

"Suddenly Oregon jumped back in the mix (for Thompson) when they were all but eliminated," DuckTerritory.com reported.

Not long ago, the Ducks were also thought to be out of the running for Armstead, a 6-foot-8, 285-pound native of Elk Grove, Calif.

The recruitment of Armstead has been just as unpredictable. Cal, Auburn, Notre Dame and Oregon are generally thought to be his top schools.

It would be nice if Cal had half of the media coverage that UO gets up north.

I hope he can deliver…

The president’s calls to deny tax breaks to companies that outsource and provide a tax credit to companies that bring jobs back home are good ones. The real challenge will be to ensure that those repatriated jobs are good-paying jobs. The president called for better job training and education, but a skills gap isn’t the main problem. Employers aren’t going to do a lot more hiring until consumers buy more products. Demand is unlikely to recover until Congress agrees to more federal spending, including aid to states for hiring.

Mr. Obama’s idea to use half of the savings from winding down the wars for public-works projects is laudable and could put hundreds of thousands back to work. Republicans are sure to insist that the money be used for deficit reduction, setting up another battle to simply do the obviously right thing. Mr. Obama has pushed banks and Congress to make it easier for borrowers who are current in their payments to refinance. On Tuesday night, he called — finally — for a full investigation of the lending abuses that inflated the bubble and led to the crash. That is the best hope for getting meaningful redress for borrowers.

In addition to his longstanding call to let the high-end Bush-era tax cuts expire, Mr. Obama called for a "Buffett rule" to ensure that millionaires pay an effective rate of at least 30 percent, ensuring that they never pay less than the middle class. "You can call this class warfare all you want," he said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense." We agree.

extending his time with the team by 0.

Unless he and the Giants renegotiate before the end of the 2013 season – which the team still considers possible – Lincecum will be eligible to sell himself to the highest bidder for 2014 and beyond. The deep-pocketed teams no doubt will play and perhaps even salivate at the prospect of signing the two-time Cy Young winner, especially if Matt Cain is off the market.

If the Giants sense that Lincecum will walk as a free agent and choose to trade him before this deal expires, they can, though he secured the right to reject a certain number of teams each year.

The only potential losers are fans who are dying to see Lincecum stay in San Francisco for his entire career and were hoping the sides could forge a much longer contract.

Sources said Lincecum and the Giants discussed deals beyond two years. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, Lincecum rejected a five-year offer worth at least $100 million, which only feeds fans’ fears that the 27-year-old right-hander wants out after 2013 because of a perennially weak offense.

2012 Giants by salary:

Barry Zito: $19M
Tim Lincecum: $18M
Matt Cain: $15.33 (last year of contract)
Aaron Rowand: $13.6M (food and per diem now courtesy of the Miami Marlins)
Aubrey Huff: $10M