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While most Cal fans remember Alex Lagemann and Michael Costanzo for Big Game heroics and laying the wood on opposing players, respectively, their up-and-coming music careers have earned them a swath of new fans.
During their time on the football team under coach Jeff Tedford, wide receiver Alex Lagemann (Class of 2011), defensive lineman Michael Costanzo (2010) and wide receiver Ian Albrecht (2011) did not necessarily distinguish themselves on the playing field, but they did discover a shared interest in music and performing. Thus was the band Radical Something born two years ago.
"It started when I got bored as a junior in college and started rapping," said Lagemann, a Saratoga native. "I've always liked poetry. Ian really fostered the development of it, and I met Mike. We've traveled the world now because of music, and I never thought I'd pick up a guitar."
...Along with lead singer Josh Cocktail, whom the three former Golden Bears met at a recording studio in New York in 2011, Lagemann, Costanzo and Albrecht share a house in Carson, close to the Los Angeles music scene. Also living in the "Rad Pad" is Joe Nash, who handles the band's photography and videos.
Costanzo does a little of everything - producer, bass, keyboard, drums, DJ. Lagemann is the rapper of the group and plays a little guitar. Albrecht is not in the band proper but serves as its creative director.
In addition to touring throughout the US and Europe, they have enjoyed commercial success as well.
In fact, Radical Something's album "No Sweat" ranked No. 6 on iTunes for the week of Feb. 26, sitting between Gotye at No. 5 and Whitney Houston at No. 7.
"My mom just loved to see that," said Lagemann, adding that Radical Something also had the No. 9 "Heat Seeker" album on Billboard's chart for the same time period.
After the jump softball prepares for a battle with conference and national title implications and Green Bay marks Aaron Rodgers Day on its calendars.
Football
- Mark your calendars: December 12th (12.12.12) has been declared Aaron Rodgers day in Wisconsin.
- Looking ahead to the 2013 NFL Draft, Mel Kiper ranks the top-5 juniors and seniors by position. Keenan Allen is the lone Cal representative at second in the junior WR list.
- Keenan Allen is 18th on Mel Kiper's first Big Board of the 2013 draft.
- SFGate breaks down the Pac-12 QBs into "the haves," "the might haves," and the "your guess is as good as mine." The Bears sit in the middle category.
- SportingNews released its ranking of all FBS coaches. Tedford sits near the middle at 57th.
- Ted Miller continues to name each team's under-the-radar player. He chooses C.J. Anderson, who should be much more productive this season than he was in 2011.
- Uncle Ted pulls quotes from all 12 of the conference's coaches from Tuesday's teleconference.
- Coach Tedford spoke about updates from spring ball, what he would like from a playoff system, and a mid-season Big Game.
- The Pac-12 Network has hired Rick Neuheisal, Trent Lott, and Summer Sanders as their chief on-air personalities. The network will announce its 35-game football schedule next month.
- Once again the Bears were unanimously voted as the best team in the nation.
- Coach Ninemire believes this is the best team she has ever coached, even better than the 2002 national-championship-winning squad.
- The Amateur Softball Association has named Valerie Arioto and Jolene Henderson as finalists for the 2012 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award.
- Though lacking a warmup area and sufficient locker rooms in the past, the SAHPC upgrades should allow Cal to host an NCAA softball regional.
- The men's team looks to win its first conference title since 2009 at this weekend's Pac-12 Championships.
- Meanwhile the top-ranked women's team hopes to bring home a fifth consecutive conference crown.