DBD 2.2.12 I Am A DBD Originalist

Front page thread on recruiting is where most of todays action will be I predict

Jog for Jill:

BERKELEY – On Sunday, March 11, spend the afternoon with the California Athletics family as Golden Bear student-athletes, staff, coaches and friends honor the late Jill Costello – a former coxswain on the Cal women’s crew who passed away from lung cancer on June 24, 2010 – in the third annual Jog for Jill.

Jill’s Legacy and the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation will host the third annual 5K on the Berkeley campus, starting and ending at Lower Sproul Plaza.

“This event is so important to Jill because it raises money for research, calls attention to lung cancer and brings us closer and closer to achieving her goal of ultimately ending this terrible disease,” former teammate Erica Bellis said. "Jill’s work and her story brought, and continues to bring, the most attention this disease has ever had. Jill did not just give a small push toward finding a cure for lung cancer, she gave a giant shove.

WBB heads to Arizona:

BERKELEY – The California Golden Bears (15-6, 6-3 Pac-12) try to remain in second place in the Pac-12 as they head to Arizona to take on the Arizona Wildcats (13-8, 2-7 Pac-12) on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. MT (6 p.m. PT) in Tucson. The Bears close out the trip on Saturday, Feb. 4 when they face the Arizona State Sun Devils (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12) at 2 p.m. MT (1 p.m. PT) in Tempe. This will be the only regular-season meeting this year between the Bears and the Arizona teams. The Bears had a six-game win streak snapped in their 74-71 overtime loss against No. 4 Stanford. Though the Bears now have four losses this season to teams ranked in the top-25, the Bears have lost those four games by a combined nine points.

The Bears scored 71 points in the Stanford game, the second-most scored against the Cardinal this season with only the Tennessee Volunteer’s managing to score more (80).

Mens Golf nearly gets first:

TUCSON, Ariz. – Cal (272-284-280 – 836, -16) battled host and eventual team champion Arizona (277-277-281 – 835, -17) throughout Tuesday’s third and final round of the Arizona Intercollegiate before eventually settling for second place one stroke behind the winners in a two-day, 54-hole event played at the par-71, 6,793-yard Arizona National Golf Club. Two seasons ago, Cal beat the Wildcats by a single stroke in the same event.

“This thing was close all the way, and I was really proud of how our guys were grinding,” head coach Steve Desimone said.

After leading for much of the event’s first 36 holes on Monday, Cal fell behind Arizona late in the second round and began Tuesday’s action two shots behind the Wildcats. The four-under par 280 the Golden Bears fired on Tuesday was a shot better than the 281 Arizona posted and the second-best round of the day but fell just short.

“I don’t know if anyone had more than a two or three shot lead at any time on the back nine,” Desimone said. “I believe we were pretty much chasing them all day. We didn’t make many putts and gave away too many shots. Eventually that catches up to you. We just didn’t get it done, simple as that.”

WWP hosts some schools:



Bear Bites In the toughest competition of the season, the No. 2-ranked Cal women’s water polo team (8-0) hosts No. 10 Hawaii (0-0) Thursday (Feb. 2, 4:30 p.m.) in its opening MPSF match before entering the eight-team Stanford Invitational, Feb. 4-5 at Avery Stadium. The Golden Bears will be competing in four matches in two days for the third weekend in a row and has a chance of facing No. 1-ranked Stanford Sunday. Cal plays No. 13 Michigan (10:50 a.m.) and No. 4 UCLA (6:30 p.m.) Saturday before again battling Hawaii Sunday at 8 a.m. If the Bears win their first three matches of the tournament they would likely face the top-ranked Cardinal in the championship match 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Last weekend at the Cal Speedo Invitational, Cal outscored its opponents, 64-19, with 17 different players scoring. Junior left-hander Breda Vosters leads the Bears in scoring with 10 goals in six matches, while senior Elizabeth McLaren and freshman Chris Baker have nine goals in eight matches. Freshman Tiera Schroeder was named the Jan. 23 KAP 7 MPSF Newcomer of the Week after three goals in her first collegiate matches at the Spartan Invitational.

MBB press conferesnces;

NinersNation talks new staidum plan in Santa Clara;

Back in early December, the San Francisco 49ers and the city of Santa Clara came up with $850 million worth of loans that they would use to pay for the team’s new stadium. The loans were subsequently approved by the Santa Clara Stadium Authority with the plan being for serious construction to begin this spring. The team has begun releasing prices for PSLs (they’re calling them Stadium Builder Licenses) on some of the club seats and will continue releasing pricing information.

Given that this is California, somebody is not happy about the process. A group in Santa Clara has opposed the current plan under the belief that it is sufficiently different from the original financing plans. They recently submitted a pair of referendum petitions each with 5,500 signatures challenging the development and financing plans for the project. Recently the Santa Clara City Council voted 5-2 to discard the petitions, contending its actions were immune from referendum.

Greg Knapp to be Raiders OC?

here you have it. The Oakland Raider offense that was semi-resurrected after Cable, Knapp and J-Russ ran it into the ground is back, with two exceptions. Tom Cable and JaMarcus Russell will not be in Oakland this year, or any other for that matter, but, Greg Knapp is reportedly back in Oakland. (Source: Wiki)

I am neutral on this one, but, am tilting toward, “What are you thinking?”.

Knapp is a well known West Coast offensive coordinator who’s best days were at the head of San Francisco and Atlanta’s offense from 2001-2006. Interestingly enough, he was replaced in Atlanta by Hue Jackson after he and Jim Mora Jr. were fired following the 2006 season.

This is a bit of a head-scratcher because the strength of this Raider team is power running and getting the receivers downfield.

He failed in Oakland and was stripped of his play calling duties by Tom Cable and then was one and done with Jim Mora Jr. in Seattle.

Dubs beat Kings:


Not Smart

My man Fantasy Junkie used to have this saying that the Warriors neither win the games they’re supposed to nor lose the games they’re supposed to. Let’s be honest. The Warriors are NOT making the playoffs this season. The absolute worst thing they can do is wind up with a lottery pick in the 8-14 range and lose the pick thanks to an absolutely idiotic trade that Chris Mullin made for some laptop-thief back in 2008 in the post-Baron Davis departure panic. Wins like this against bad teams only help the Warriors lose their draft pick in what is supposed to be a loaded draft class.
Monta Ellis getting picked by DeMarcus Cousins near half court, leading to a nice layup for Cousins.
21 assists to 18 turnovers for the Kings? There’s talent in Sa-crap-mento with Cousins, JT, and Tyreke, but the hoops IQ is definitely lacking on that roster. They’d be wise to grab a few playoff-tested vets to provide some tutelage for these guys, but I doubt that’ll ever happen. Again they’re not very smart.

Kings lose to Dubs, also have to live in Sacramento:

A lot of credit should go to the Warriors, particularly the Warriors bench, for winning them this game. Their energy and hustle drove their team to victory. Nate Robinson (11 points, 5 assists) got it started, while Brandon Rush (20 points, 4-5 from three) and Ekpe Udoh (6 points, 5 boards, 4 blocks) were huge contributors with their offense and defense respectively.

But it was the Kings that lost this game through their sloppy play all game. The Kings racked up a season-high 21 turnovers, and the Warriors capitalized on those mistakes. The worst part about those turnovers is that a lot of them were unforced errors, mental mistakes or just bad decisions. DeMarcus Cousins (4) and Tyreke Evans (5) were responsible for the majority of them.

Then there are the mistakes and bad decisions that don’t show up in the box score as turnovers. The ill-advised shots, the passing up of an open shot in order to take a more difficult one after some dribbling. Those are the type of mistakes that kill the Kings. It’s what leads to stretches like in the 4th quarter when the Kings didn’t score until the 6:43 mark, and by that time, all the momentum was going the Warriors way and despite the sincerest efforts of Isaiah “Cold Blooded” Thomas, the Kings couldn’t come back.

SSR talking practice:


As the Lakers prepare to go on their annual Grammys road trip, how much should we take out of the Lakers romping over a team as bad as the Charlotte Bobcats? Putting stock in a win like this, due the Lakers current deficiencies is no easy task.

One one hand, we should be glad to get the W, especially in such convincing fashion against a piss poor team. Wins are wins, and in a shortened, hectic season that afforded no real preparation, we should take what we can. But does the win give us any hint on real signs of progress heading into a roadie that could shape how the season may ultimately play out? There are some faults with these Lakers that are shown easily and definitively against good teams. Still, they are good enough to win at home, and to beat bad teams like they should. Whooping Michael Jordan’s joke of a team doesn’t help figure out questions the Lakers are going to have to answer if they truly fancy themselves contenders. They’ve yet to put it all together in many games that matter, and none away from Staples Center. Can they win on the road and can they do it against good teams?

ClipsNation previews Utah:


January 17th, 2012 in Salt Lake City – Utah 108, Clippers 79 – Recap Box Score
The Big Picture:

On back to back nights Sunday and Monday, the Clippers beat the team with the second best record in the West on the road, and then beat the team with the best record in the West in LA. So what’s next? Only a trip to the city where they’ve suffered a decades long nightmare of futility. The Clippers have lost 42 games in their last 43 trips to Salt Lake City, including an embarrassing 108-79 drubbing just two weeks ago. But there’s plenty of reason to think tonight could be different. For one thing, the Clippers played that first meeting without Chris Paul and Mo Williams. The Clippers have three players with a PER over 20 this season, and they’re two of them, so they make a difference. For another thing, the Clippers are simply playing great basketball right now. They’re shooting lights out, they’re getting good spacing, they’re getting great interior play from DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, and Chris Paul is once again Chris Paul after missing five games. The Clippers were 11-4 in January, and three of the four losses occurred while Paul was out of the lineup, or still rusty from his layoff. They would certainly have been 13-2 had Paul not gotten hurt, if not better. The good news about heading to Utah is that there’s little chance of the Clippers getting complacent and letting up against the Jazz — not when they have such a history of losing in Utah. They’ll want this one.

Sharks crush Blue Jackets:


With the All-Star break behind them, the Sharks wanted to get off to a good start with less than half a season to play.

They did that, and more.

The Sharks came out of the gates with guns-a-blazin’, spurred in part by an early dirty hit on their marquee player. Just twenty seconds into the first period, the Sharks would head to the power play after Jarred Boll threw a high elbow on Joe Thornton, which connected with Thornton’s head. After the game, Thornton said that Boll’s early actions definitely got the Sharks moving.

“It wakes you up and lets you know that you’re in a game,” said Thornton of the elbow. “We need these points, it was a scrappy game, and it was a good way to start the post-All-Star break.”

Yay for links! But…it looks like we are once again a house divided!

ghjk

More accurate words have never been written on this site.

as a great example of how to be a terrible Cal fan, a terrible sportswriter, and a terrible representative of your university all in one go!

Don’t look back in anger

Well, stop. This recruiting freefall was the reality check: Cal has never been, and will likely never become, an elite football program.

Elite programs don’t see their signing class drop from No. 10 to No. "Who Cares?" in a span of two weeks. They also don’t base their entire recruiting strategy around one man, even if that one man seemed like the consummate Cal lifer. Remember that aphorism about the eggs? The Bears’ basket just broke, and Washington was there to catch a shiny golden orb.

Comments are gold, though!

This is the worst Cal sports article i have ever read.

Hey Jack, you’re totally right: Why would anyone ever want to aspire to something better than what they have right now in life? People shouldn’t try to leave the ghetto or look for a better job. Definitely don’t vote in any sort of election – what good would that do?

And our football team shouldn’t expect to ever become elite. We can just ignore the fact that Oregon has shrugged off 100 years of mediocrity to become an elite program in just the last decade. The same decade where Cal was neck-and-neck to achieve the same result, if not for a huge discrepancy in money.

You see, because that’s exactly why Cal fans should expect to become elite. With the new SAHPC and new Pac 12 TV revenues, Oregon/Nike’s money advantage is somewhat muted. We’re invested: A highly paid coach, brand new facilities and nearly a decade of future NFL draftees on the sidelines of Memorial Stadium (or did we “luck” into having the 2nd most NFL players of any school in the Pac 12? http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/…. Remind me which of those 28 guys you wouldn’t classify as “top-shelf talent”?

Cal has everything going for it: A chance to compete in the Pac 12, and a chance to go to the NFL or end up with a Cal diploma as a consolation prize. With new facilities and more money, we’re finally on an even playing field with the rest of the conference. As a Cal football fan, I expect great things from the guys we have.

But then again, you don’t want to hear any of that. From the sound of it, you’re pretty happy stumbling through life status quo. You picked Cal because your parents picked it, and you’re just stoked that there happens to be a park, some yoga and a view of a bridge nearby. Sounds average to me, but I suppose that’s what you’re shooting for.

Apparently elite sports writers don’t come to Cal either.

UCSF scientists declare war on sugar in food

Like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is a toxic, addictive substance that should be highly regulated with taxes, laws on where and to whom it can be advertised, and even age-restricted sales, says a team of UCSF scientists.

In a paper published in Nature on Wednesday, they argue that increased global consumption of sugar is primarily responsible for a whole range of chronic diseases that are reaching epidemic levels around the world.

Lustig said he realizes that there will likely be heavy resistance to the idea of largely removing sugar from American diets – and resistance not just from the food and beverage industries, but from the public at large.

“Everybody yells, ‘Nanny state, this guy is trying to control our food,’ " Lustig said. “But it’s already being controlled. It limits consumer choice when so much of our food is controlled by these industries. I’m actually trying to undo the nanny state.”

I’m inclined to agree…would love to see plenty of tax on HFCS.