California Golden Blogs

YouTube Thursday - IT'S COUGAR WEEK, kind of.

2009-01-08T18:36:55Z

More like Cougar Day. We face WSU, but we also have UW on the horizon. If the weather cooperates and Cal can make it up there, this should be a great weekend for hoops. Cal is hoping to build off of its momentum from sweeping the Arizona schools.

First up, the Cougs:

WSU is currently being led by the Baynes Train, Aron Baynes:

There is also Taylor Rochestie to keep an eye on:

Don't forget, we are facing UW, too:

What? Another Isaiah Thomas? That UW B-Ball player thought he had a great name, up until like 4 years ago when the Knicks hired *that* Isaiah Thomas. Oh well. All good things must end. Kind of like how it was for my great-grandfather Adolf N. Hook. It was going so well and, well, yknow. The fact that the N stood for Hirohito didn't help, either.

But Thomas ain't the other one there.

When dealing with UW, you have to deal with Justin Dentmon. This is apparently some clips of him:

And their big C, Jon Brockman:

He apparently loves to eat:

I know, right Can't eat 22 pancakes? What a little pussy. I could do that! I mean I'm not 140 pounds for nothing! Or, alternatively, not 140 pounds.

Czech out UW's lockerroom:

Dude, I'm just happy that that Powder looking motherfucker, Applebee's ain't there anymore. He was like the Eckstein of college basketball! Ai!

But they still have Quincy Pondexter:

So, there you go, some of the players to keep an eye on this weekend. First up, WSU tonight and then UW over the weekend.

Of course, any discussion of the B3 Hammond Organ would not be complete without the undisputed king, Jimmy Smith. And Joey DeFrancesco (who is appearing at Yoshi's later this month) would be in the discussion.

But if you had to go after the pound for pound weirdest jazz organist, you have to go for Dr. Lonnie Smith. Is he a real doctor? I don't think so. He just decided to start calling himself that. And why does he wear a turbin? No idea, I think he just decided to do that. I saw him play in SF the other month and he is great, when he's focused on playing with the group. Here's a solid solo of his I just picked out:

Bee Tee Dubz, if you like that sax player there, he (Lou Donaldson) is coming to Yoshi's in Feb. See the link above. Go Bears!

Rulon Davis Highlights

2009-01-08T15:12:44Z

Rulon Davis Highlights

Soapbox Moment : The Following Teams Didn't Deserve Bowl Bids

2009-01-07T21:34:59Z

A lot of people complain that there are too many bowl games, but personally, I don't care. Most of these bowls are tourist-pandering exhibitions, and as long as enough people continue to pay enough attention to them so that they don't lose massive amounts of money, I'm fine with them. Sure, I didn't watch the International Bowl in Toronto between Buffalo and Connecticut, and I neither know nor care which team won, but some people *did*, and I'll bet they even had a good time. Really, who cares? I'm not the enemy of fun.

The NCAA, however, has often been accused of many things, including being an enemy of fun. In allowing football teams to participate in these postseason exhibitions, they set minimum standards such as "must not be on probation" and "must not have a losing record" and "only one win can be over a I-AA team" and such. Reasonable things, I would say. If a bowl game is a reward for a successful season, I say, in fact, that these standards aren't strict enough!

In particular, teams with 6-6 records (the very pinnacle of mediocrity) can, in most cases, be hardly said to have had successful seasons. And if they lose a bowl game, they suddenly have a 6-7 record, and now their "moderately successful season" has turned into a "losing season". Even worse, what if one of those wins was against a I-AA opponent? Now their record against I-A competition stands at a pathetic 5-7, a mere 42% winning percentage against teams playing with supposedly equal rules and equal access to resources. Successful? Hardly. Were I appointed NCAA President for a day, one of my acts would be to remove to rule allowing a team to count a I-AA win towards its bowl eligibile record. Wanna play an early-season patsy? Fine, but you should be able to win at least 6 of your remaining 11 games.

Given the currently lax rules, however, it should come as no surprise that 7 of the 13 teams who finished 6-6 this year managed to do so via a win over a I-AA team, including 5 who were granted bowl bids. Also not surprising: of the three 6-6 teams that lost their bowl games to finish 6-7, all three needed a win over a I-AA cupcake to even reach the postseason. The following is a list of all the teams who finished 6-6, ranked from most to least undeserving of a bowl bid:

#1 Memphis : Not a good season, really. Bad, actually. The Tigers needed a win over I-AA Nicholls State to finish the regular season with a 6-6 record, and none of their other 5 wins were very good either, with the best being over Southern Miss, 7-6 after a New Orleans Bowl victory. In addition, Memphis lost to 3(!) teams with losing records: Marshall, Louisville, and Central Florida. In no way did they deserve a bid to the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl, where they were unsurprisingly blown out by South Florida.

#2 Arkansas State : Thoroughly mediocre. A 6-6 record whose only win over a team with a winning record was over 7-6 Florida Atlantic, and FAU needed a Motor City Bowl win to reach a winning record. Other than that, the Red Wolves (yes, I had to look that up) managed to beat some of the dregs of the Sun Belt and demolish I-AA Texas Southern (83-10) to get to 6 wins, losing to a couple teams with losing records along the way. They were rightly not awarded a bowl bid.

#3 San Jose State : Not much better than Arkansas State. 6-6 with a win over I-AA UC Davis. Best win was over Hawai'i, now 7-7, though their worst loss was to 5-7 Stanford. With a schedule filled with acceptable losses and unimpressive wins, they were also denied a bowl bid.

#4 Bowling Green : OK, so they played a "big boy" schedule (no I-AA teams), but other than opening the season with an upset of 9-4 Pittsburgh, nothing about their 6-6 record suggests that they deserved a postseason reward. Losing to 6-7 Northern Illinois is probably the main reason why the Huskies got a bowl bid over BG, but I would bet that providing 2 of the 5 combined wins for Eastern Michigan and Miami (OH) had something to do with it as well. The Falcons watched the postseason from home, as they should.

#5 Northern Illinois : Besides a win over 1-AA Indiana State, the Huskies beat 5 cruddy MAC teams, the best of whom was 6-6 Bowling Green. The worst loss was probably to 5-7 Tennessee, but nothing about their résumé suggests that they deserved a bid to the Independence Bowl, which they lost to Louisiana Tech.

#6 Louisiana-Lafayette : Another mediocre Sun Belt team, the Rajin' Cajuns at least managed 6 wins over terrible I-A teams without having to drop down a level in competition. Their best win, however, was over 6-6 Arkansas State, and losses to 5-7 Kansas State and 5-7 UTEP sure didn't help. The bowl season did not miss them.

#7 Florida Atlantic : Until their Motor City Bowl win over 8-5 Central Michigan, the Owls' best win was over 6-6 Louisiana-Lafayette. No I-AA teams on the schedule, though, and only one loss to a team with a losing record, 5-7 Middle Tennessee State.

#8 Southern Miss : No I-AA teams on the schedule, and the win over 9-5 East Carolina was pretty good, but 4 losses to teams with losing records (Auburn, Marshall, UTEP and Memphis) is a lot. Still, they managed to beat 8-5 Troy in the New Orleans Bowl, so that's two decent wins this season.

#9 Kentucky : The Wildcats finished the regular season without a win over a team with a winning record, and one of their 6 wins was over I-AA Norfolk State. The loss @ 5-7 Tennessee is the only this close to a black mark on the résumé, however, and they DID play an SEC conference schedule, so their bid to the Liberty Bowl seems at least somewhat justified, especially after they beat 9-5 East Carolina in that game.

#10 Colorado State : This is the first team on the list whom I can say had a pretty good case for a bowl bid. Yeah, they needed a win over I-AA Sac State to get to 6, but the win over 8-5 Houston was pretty good, the win over 7-5 Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl not bad, and the loss to 5-7 Colorado almost acceptable. Additionally, they played a pretty tough schedule, with the other 5 losses coming to Cal, TCU, Utah, BYU and Air Force, just 14 losses between the 5 of them.

#11 Notre Dame : The Irish bumbled along this year, beating bad teams but not defeating any worthy opponents until November, where they won at 8-5 Navy, only to fall to 3-9 Syracuse at home the next week. No I-AA opponents, however (though San Diego State is close), and the Hawai'i Bowl blowout of Hawai'i raised this season's grade from "meh" to "meh+".

#12 North Carolina State : Initially, the Wolfpack look pretty bad, finishing the season 6-7 after a Papajohns.com Bowl loss to Rutgers, and needing a win over I-AA William & Mary to get even there, but their level of competition was quite good. No losses to teams with losing records, and they record 4 wins over teams with winning records (8-5 Wake Forest, 8-5 North Carolina, 9-5 East Carolina and 7-6 Miami).

#13 Vanderbilt : Vandy was tough this year, and though their 7-6 final record wasn't spectacular, they accomplished a lot in getting there. No wins over I-AA teams, 5(!) wins over teams with winning records (7-6 South Carolina, 10-3 Rice, 9-4 Mississippi, 7-6 Kentucky, 9-5 Boston College), and three losses that, while to teams with losing records (4-8 Mississippi State, 4-8 Duke, 5-7 Tennessee), all were major conference teams, and none, not even Duke, were completely awful. The Music City Bowl win over 9-5 Boston College was a surprise, but it shouldn't have been a huge one.

----------

So that's 13 6-6 teams, 9 of whom earned bowl bids. Eliminate them all from the postseason, and you have to dump 5 bowl games. If we keep the top 4 teams (the ones I thought were "worthy" of a bowl bid) you still have to dump 3 games, and if we merely eliminate the 7 teams that used a win over a I-AA team to get to .500, you still have to eliminate 2 bowl games. I would be OK with any of these scenarios. Would you miss the Humanitarian Bowl, or the International Bowl, or the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl? I know I wouldn't. Does Florida need 7 bowl games? Does Texas need 5? Does Detroit need 1? (OK, OK, Detroit needs all the help it can get right now...)

Look, I'm not saying there are necessarily too many bowl games; I think all these glorified exhibitions are fun. I *am* saying that we should be careful to avoid rewarding mediocrity; a bowl bid should be something that a team has to earn, something special, a reward for achievement. After all, who wants to join a club that would have anyone at all as a member?

Basketball: Cal Sweeps Arizona Schools

2009-01-07T14:01:18Z

Basketball: Cal Sweeps Arizona Schools

Jahvid Best 2008 Highlights

2009-01-07T13:39:12Z

Jahvid Best 2008 Highlights

Is This What Journalism In The 21st Century Has Come To?

2009-01-07T01:11:34Z

Is This What Journalism In The 21st Century Has Come To?

The rumor currently floating around is that oft-injured uber-OLinejokester Mike Tepper has been granted a 6th year of eligibility. This appears to stem solely from his Facebook status, which reads as follows:

"Mike Tepper
will be coming back to Berkeley for a 6th year! Fuck yes!!

Maybe he's just happy that he is going to finally get that triple major in astronomy that he always wanted, but it could also mean that he's referring to football eligibility. Just wanted to put that out there, because as blogs it's our jobs to report any and all rumor slash innuendo as rock hard fact. Go us!

Remembering the Seniors: Nate Longshore

2009-01-06T15:36:44Z

We thought we should go senior by senior and take a gander at their Cal career. Some photos. Some videos. Some stats. And if HydroTech has any personal stories of his time with the team, he'd share them. We start with Nate Longshore.

This site has often been accused of adoring Nate Longshore. "J'Accuse d'Longshore" was often the rallying cry of our detractors. Maybe. Depending on what I actually just said there, it's unclear to me. I took Spanish in high school.

The point is, if you hate anybody speaking positively of Nate Longshore, I suggest you stop reading. Immediately. I LOVE NATE LONGSHORE AND THE REST OF THE LONGSHORE IMMEDIATE FAMILY PLUS A SMATTERING OF HIS COUSINS! Didn't I tell you to stop reading immediately. You never listen to me, do you?

via www.natelongshore.org

Stats Overview	Passing
YEAR	CMP	ATT	YDS	CMP%	YPA	LNG	TD	INT	SACK	RAT
2005	8	11	131	72.7	11.91	44	1	1	0	184.58
2006	227	377	3021	60.2	8.01	62	24	13	12	141.63
2007	230	384	2580	59.9	6.72	49	16	13	6	123.32
2008	83	143	930	58.0	6.50	50	9	4	5	127.84
Projected	90	155	1008	58.0	6.50	50	10	4	5	127.84

TwistNHook: I know that a lot and I mean a LOT of ink has been spilled on the negatives of Nate, none of which has been spilled at his sadly neglected blog. But in this retrospective roundtable, let's try to remember the good times. The great times. Like the Oregon 2006 game or the Oregon 2007 game. Or, hell, even the Oregon 2008 game. He seemed to have a knack for playing great against Oregon all throughout his career. We should have taped an Oregon jersey to all the Miami players. In 2006, he helped engineer a whupping of them. In 2007, his play wasn't as good, it being on the road and all, but he still helped guide the team to victory, no matter how slim. And in 2008, he came in for an injured Kevin Riley and threw the ball surprisingly well considering the elements. The weather was crazzy that day, but he managed to move the ball and again guide the team to a solid victory.

So, what are your positive memories of Nate Longshore?

Yellow Fever: I liked Tennessee 07, and Oregon 07. Before the ankle injury. That was good.

Oh, and hey, I did join the "We Still Love you, Nate Longshore!" group on Facebook yesterday

TwistNHook: Yes, Tennessee 07 was a great game by Nate. I think when I think of Nate Longshore, the first thing that will come to mind is how he always pumped his fingers into the air. Because God is a Cal fan.

CBKWit: UCLA '06. One of the best QB performances I have ever seen, at any level. I would say that, Rodgers '04 @ SC, and Rodgers '03 in the second half of the insight bowl are the 3 best QB performances of the Tedford era, in no particular order.

I would also argue that UCLA '06 was the pinnacle of Longshore's career - it was our 8th straight win, we were rolling teams along the way, and it immediately preceded the loses to Arizona and USC.

Ragnarok: Well, I think it's gotta be either that game or Oregon '07. Statistically, Nate may not have performed at quite so high a level, but beating a Top 15 on the road has to count for a lot more than beating a Karl Dorrell-coached team at home. Not only was it a steady, gutsy performance (plus, 0 turnovers to Oregon's 4), but it was also the largest 4th-quarter comeback of the Tedford Era.

Really, Nate has owned Oregon throughout his career. In 3 games against the Ducks (all Cal victories), Longshore completed 55 of 96 passes for 610 yards, throwing for 6 touchdowns and just 1 interception, rushing for a touchdown as well. Remember, too, that all three games were broadcast on ABC, and Oregon was ranked all three times.

CBKWit: Yes, I would agree that the 2007 Oregon game was the bigger win - arguably that was the biggest win of the Tedford era. Beating USC in 2003 put us on the map, and road wins at top 15 teams Michigan State and UW in 2002 showed that Tedford was for real, but Cal was flying under the radar in those instances. When have we gone on the road and beaten a top 10 team with a lot on the line? We haven't had a huge number of opportunities, but we lost at USC in 2004, at Tennessee and USC in 2006 and at USC in 2008. Oregon was the exception and, regardless of the collapsed that quickly ensued, it seemed like a turning point for the program.

That said, while Nate led us to victory and certainly outplayed a legitimate Heisman candidate in Dennis Dixon, he wasn't spectacular. He didn't see a wide open DeSean on the first play of the game, threw short to a wiiiiiide open DeSean on his first TD, and overthrew DeSean after Best recovered the fumbled kick off. Even though we started 5-0 and had arguably the best resume in the country with wins at home against Tennessee and on the road against Oregon, Nate didn't seem quite right, and missed a number of throws.

via patrickdonohue.freedomblogging.com
He missed MAYBE one throw against UCLA in 2006. He threw only 3 incomplete passes out of 24; one was a perfect 50 yard strike to Robert Jordan, who was 10 yards behind the defense and let it bounce right off his hands. Another was HydroTech's favorite pass of the game, a ball he threw away to avoid pressure. The last incompletion I cannot recall - it may have been another throw-away, or perhaps he had 1 bad pass out of 24.

Watching that game, I felt sure Nate was going to be Tedford's next 1st round pick. He was spectacular, and while he certainly led us to bigger victories, he never looked as good as he did in that game.

HydroTech: Ya know, everyone ONLY remembers Longshore's pick-6 to lose the UCLA game in 2007, but nobody remembers that he started the game on fire. He was 8/9 in the first quarter and lead the team right down the field for a touchdown. He was also 8/10 in the second quarter with another touchdown pass. Overall, Longshore, despite his injury, was a scorching 16/19 and 2 TDs. Nobody ever remembers this.

Hindsight is (supposedly) 20/20 and nowadays, the Cal Fan consensus seems to be that Longshore shouldn't have started against UCLA in 2007. Of course, the reasoning behind this notion is solely because of Longshore's game-ending pick-6. However, if you had asked any Cal fan at halftime whether Tedford made a mistake in playing Longshore, the answer would have undoubtedly been a No.

So let's try to remember the good times. They are so often forgotten because they are expected, much more common than the bad and essentially taken for granted. On the other hand, the bad is rarer and more memorable because of the pain and agony. Unfortunately for Longshore, his career in the minds of Cal fans will probably fall prey to this mental trend of only remembering the bad. This is unfortunate because Longshore certainly had many great games. Aside from the ones already mentioned, Minnesota in 2006 comes to mind. Longshore finished that game 22/31 with 300 yards and 4 TD passes after the entire team got drubbed the week before against Tennessee. Even in Big Game 2007, Longshore, despite some early struggles threw some extremely clutch strikes right down the pipe to Hawkins which could have tied or won the game had they not been dropped. Longshore's career seems to be a big game of "what-if."

via i.cdn.turner.com

What if he hadn't gotten injured in 2007? Cal might have gone to a BCS bowl. Cal certainly had the talent and the team was performing like a BCS team.

What if Longshore hadn't gotten injured in 2005? Longshore might have been even better in 2006 and Cal might have gone to a BCS bowl in 2006.

If you think about it, Cal has been lucky to have Longshore as its QB for the past few years. He certainly hasn't ever been the weak link of the teams. He was always a solid player and contributor. With Longshore at the helm, Cal notched a 10 win season in 2006 which could have been an even better season with some luck and if Longshore hadn't gotten injured in 2005. In 2007 with Longshore at the helm, Cal was possibly on its way to a BCS bowl.

And just think what his career might have been if he hadn't been injured. He could have been a four year starter (2005-2008). Statistically, he could have been one of Cal's top 5 QBs ever. He might have even been Tedford's next NFL 1st round pick.

Longshore is a good QB. Cal fans might have had expectations set a bit too high after seeing Rodgers and not knowing at the time that he was such a talent. I hope Cal fans nowadays can see past the negative memories of 2007 and can remember the positives. There are so many positives and great memories due to Longshore. He should shine pleasantly in the memories of Cal Fans for years to come. He certainly will shine in my memory.

TwistNHook: Is "shine in my memory" what the kids are calling "include in spank tank" these days?

via assets.espn.go.com

So, what are your memories of Nate Longshore and his long-defunct blog?

Fiesta Bowl Open Thread

2009-01-06T00:00:06Z

Use this thread to discuss the Fiesta Bowl. The game starts at 5 PM Pacific Standard Time and is being broadcast on Fox. It pains me to say this, because I've never warmed to those continual runners up from the midwest, but Go Buckeyes! Beat The Longhorns!

Poll

Who do you think will win in the Fiesta Bowl?

A Cal Men' Basketball Non-Conference Season Review

2009-01-04T23:00:05Z

Use this thread as an open thread for the game today against ASU:

Arizona State Sun Devils (12-1, 1-0) at California Golden Bears (12-2, 1-0)
Sunday, Jan. 4, 5:00 p.m., Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, Calif.
Radio: KYOU (1550 AM) TV: Comcast SportsNet California

via grfx.cstv.com

December has come to a close, January has just started up, the bowl games are beginning to wind down, and Cal fans have a long nine months until Cal football starts up again. But fear not, readers desperate for their Golden Bear fix: the end of football season only means that we're smack dab in the middle of basketball season!

In fact, it's been basketball season for nearly two months now, but I'm guessing a lot of people haven't really noticed, or only gave the teams' blowouts of Colgate and Texas-Pan American cursory attention. I don't blame you. But now, with Pac-10 play upon us, it's time to catch up with the team; with Mike Montgomery now the Bears' head coach, there hasn't been a better time to become a Cal basketball fan in quite a long time.

So how are our Bears sitting right now? Pretty good, actually. They're 12-2, undefeated at home, and owners of a couple of nice road wins against a schedule that, while not the most difficult in the world (Sagarin rates it only 233rd out of 347) was better than I expected back in June (I'd give it a 'B-', or maybe even a solid 'B'). Sure, home wins over Texas-Pan American, North Carolina A&T, Colgate and Dartmouth are all not only forgettable but RPI-killers as well, but teams like Pacific, USF, DePaul, Nevada and Portland all provided good, mid-level competition at home, and thankfully the Bears didn't lose any of these games; USF came within 5 points of winning at USC, and Portland, a team the Bears beat by 20, not only beat Washington, but Oregon needed overtime at home to get past them.

If the Bears find themselves on the NCAA tournament bubble, however, there are only 4 games on their non-conference schedule that the committee might look at: the Global Sports Classic at Las Vegas vs. UNLV and Florida State, the Big 12 / Pac-10 Hardwood Challenge at Missouri, and a road game Utah. The Bears won at 8-5 Utah and 12-2 UNLV, vs. the Rebels in convincing fashion, were nipped by a 12-2 Florida State team on a neutral court, and got blown out at 11-2 Missouri, admittedly their worst performance of the year. Still, losing on the road isn't nearly as bad as losing at home (and to quality, major-conference teams, no less), and the two road scalps they picked up are starting to look pretty good too. Utah has wins over Oregon, Ole Miss and now Gonzaga, while UNLV has picked up wins over Arizona and at Louisville.

Overall, it's a decent résumé. In fact, Joe Lunardi, ESPN's resident Bracketologist, had Cal as one of his last 4 teams in the field of 65 (an 11 seed) in his most recent bracket back on December 23rd. Are they a tournament team? There's no way to know that yet. Still, they've put themselves in a good position, and a decent run in Pac-10 conference play should secure the ticket to the Big Dance that's eluded them since Leon Powe turned pro. What's a decent run? I'd say 9-9 gets them in the tourney; 8-10 is pretty borderline, and they'd probably need a good showing in the Pac-10 tournament to feel comfortable.

Friday night's win against Arizona was a good start, however. I don't know that Cal will make the NCAA tournament this year, but I do know that I'm very, very excited about Cal Basketball for the first time in quite a few years.

Poll

How excited are you about the Cal men's basketball season?

Cal beats Arizona - in Basketball!

2009-01-04T06:10:02Z

Cal football doesn't usually struggle with Arizona in Berkeley (Tuscon is another, far more bitter story), so beating the Wildcats in football doesn't illicit too much excitement. Beating the Wildcats in basketball? Now that's rare, as Cal was sporting a 2-18 record against Arizona over the last 10 years coming into last night's game. I derive special pleasure from watching Arizona go down in Haas, partly because it happens so infrequently, and partly because Lute Olson's teams were such whiners when things didn't go their way (I'm looking at you, Luke Walton.) Of course, things generally did go their way, especially because the refs had just a liiiiiiiiitle more respect for Lute Olson than they did for Ben Braun. That's why games like the 2004 victory over a ranked UA team stand out, with freshman Leon Powe going for 21 & 12 fouling out Channing Frye in the process.

via grfx.cstv.com

If Friday night's 69-55 victory was special and memorable, it was for different reasons. There's such a history of futility against these punks that 10 straight victories at Haas wouldn't seem repetitive. I also really enjoyed saying "The game's over! Your players are on the bench! Time to leave," to some loudmouth Arizona hecklers sitting in the middle of a Cal section when, with about 2 minutes left and Cal up a 15 or so, the Arizona coach pulled out Jordan Hill, Nic Wise, and Chase Budinger. But instead of savoring a rare upset victory against a powerhouse opponent, as we occasionally experienced in the later Braun years, I left Haas with a newfound sense of confidence and optimism. This didn't feel like a single happy blip in an otherwise lost season; it felt like the beginning of things to come.

I felt pretty good a year ago, sitting at 1-0 in conference play after an inspired victory over USC and some decent heckling of OJ Mayo ("Slice it OJ! Stab it through the hoop!"). Two days later Cal fell to UCLA, and there's a decent chance we'll lose to ASU tomorrow, as they bring the conference's best player, James Harden, across the bay after walloping Stanford last night. Still, this victory felt different than previous wins against Arizona, or last year's conference opener against USC. Cal looked good. They looked confident, in control. They clearly had a game plan (what a concept!) and decisively executed it. If they didn't have Arizona's talent (and they don't: Chris Mullin was sitting in the front row scouting Arizona's next lottery pick, forward Jordan Hill), they more than made up it with coaching, defense, and efficient ball movement.

Arizona played a 1-1-3 zone for most of the night, in order to protect Hill, Budinger, and Wise from chasing Cal players on defense. Arizona doesn't have much depth behind their 3 stars, and to keep them on the floor for 39, 39, and 34 minutes, as they respectively did last night, Arizona needs to limit their fatigue by playing a zone. Cal knew how to attack it. Harper Kamp received the ball in the high post, occupying the middle of the 3 baseline defenders. He then gave a bounce pass to a cutting wing (generally Patrick Christopher, who matched his uniform with 23 points) who found the basket unobstructed, with the post defender occupied at the top of the key and the baseline wing defender late to leave his perimeter responsibilities. Kamp had a career high 5 assists using this play, all in the second half. When Arizona started sagging their perimeter defenders, either to stop Randle from getting to the basket or to prevent against back door cuts from Cal wings, the Bears showed great patience and spacing to knock down three pointers; Theo Robertson was 3-5 from beyond the arc, making all three (I believe) in the second half. It was remarkable to watch a Cal team employ and execute an offensive game plan with such patience and precision; it reminded me of watching a senior laden WSU team systematically destroy Cal in the second half at Haas last year. Being on the other side was a new, pleasant experience.

Arizona's zone kept their stars on the floor but could not ultimately mask their limited depth. The Wildcats eventually cut Cal's second half lead to 4 with under 10 minutes to play, but did so with Randle and Christopher enjoying an extended rest on the Cal bench. Once Randle and Christopher returned, they wasted little time in breaking the game open against the fatigued Wildcats with a collection of open threes, back door dunks, and a wicked alley-oop.

via extras.mnginteractive.com

Patrick Christopher has always been a good player - he was rated among the top 50 recruits 3 years ago, contributed a bit as a freshman, and enjoyed a breakout year with 15 points per game last year. He is now a really good player. He's the most athletic player on the team (save perhaps for a 5'6 Jerome Randle), and gets 1-2 alley-oops a game from Randle as they run the floor in transition. He's become a decent shooter (2-4 from beyond the arc last night) and is a great finisher from 10 feet in, scoring from the baseline with a variety of runners, banks, lay-ins, and dunks. Perhaps most importantly, he has become our lock-down defender, repeatedly staying in front of ball handlers as they try to drive to the rim.

via extras.mnginteractive.com

He checked Chase Budinger for a large portion of the game and held him to 9 points, most of them coming before he rejected Budinger's baseline jumper late in the first half. Budinger disappeared for the rest of the game. I had heard rumors that Budinger is soft, and was curious to find out why. The reason: Budinger is soft. He doesn't play much defense and looked really uncomfortable taking the ball to the hoop. He gets knocked around pretty easily and seems afraid of going for balls in traffic. Basically, he's an easily intimidated jump shooter. I'll take Patrick Christopher.

via farm2.static.flickr.com via www.bestweekever.tv

Chase Budinger

As Monty put it, "Patrick is taking it personal, taking some pride in his defense." He's unquestionably Cal's best player, and while he's not as dominant as Powe or as smooth offensively as Anderson, he may be Cal's most complete player in a while.

If you're going to the ASU game on Sunday (only $15 bucks if you're a football season ticket holder!), you'll see an great match-up when Christopher defends James Harden. Unlike Budinger, Harden is not just a jump shooter, and it will take Christopher's best effort to hold Harden below his 23 point per game average. Randle and Robertson will likely take the lead offensively so Christopher can keep his legs for the defensive end.

A win against ASU would put Cal in great position to hit the 9-9 conference mark the likely need in order to make the NCAA tournament. A few months ago, this seemed very unlikely, and if you haven't seen Cal play this season, you owe it to yourself to check them out. Unlike seasons past, last night's good start might lead to bigger things.

Bowl Game Blowout! V

2009-01-02T20:10:47Z

Use this as an open thread for today's games.

Part I, II, III, IV

via www.libertybowl.org

What bowl?: The AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Who's playing? Kentucky WIldcats vs. East Carolina Pirates.
When is it? January 2, 5:00 PM EST.
Where is it? Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee.
Why should you watch? Because you're not sure what the hell happened to the Pirates after beating Virginia Tech and West Virginia to open the season, and you love watching the SEC lose.

via www.nola.com

What bowl?: The Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Who's playing? #4 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. #6 Utah Utes.
When is it? January 2, 8:00 PM EST.
Where is it? The New Orleans Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Why should you watch? Because you want to see if Utah is for real, you enjoy the coaching stylings of Nick Saban, and you love watching the SEC lose. Even though they probably won't.

via www.internationalbowl.org

What bowl?: The International Bowl.
Who's playing? Buffalo Bulls vs. Connecticut Huskies.
When is it? January 3, 12:00 PM EST.
Where is it? The Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
Why should you watch? Because you wonder why anyone in Canada would be interested in these two teams, you'd probably rather watch the CFL instead, or you're Canadian. Eh?

via www.fiestabowl.org

What bowl?: The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Who's playing? #10 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. #3 Texas Longhorns.
When is it? January 5, 8:00 PM EST.
Where is it? University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Why should you watch? Because you love watching the Big Ten faceplant in big games, you're not sure what the hype is over Terrelle Pryor (is he really anything more than a bigger Juice Williams?), and you want to take notes and see if the Longhorns are more impressive than Oklahoma, Florida, or USC.

via www.gmacbowl.com

What bowl?: The GMAC Bowl.
Who's playing? #22 Ball State Cardinals vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
When is it? January 6, 8:00 PM EST.
Where is it? Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.
Why should you watch? Because you're not sure where Ball State is, you're happy to see that the bowl's sponsor is still solvent and eligible for funds from the Federal Reserve, and you want to see if Tulsa's offense is as good as they say.

via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net

What bowl?: The FedEx BCS National Championship Game.
Who's playing? #1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. #2 Florida Gators.
When is it? January 8, 8:00 PM EST.
Where is it? Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Why should you watch? Because it's the national championship game, you want to see the mighty SEC fall, you want to see if Oklahoma faceplants in another big game, and if you're not interested in this game, then why are you even reading this?

Poll

Which of these bowl games are you looking forward to the most?

DBD 1.02.08 Cotton Bowl Open Thread

2009-01-02T19:31:22Z

On right now: Cotton Bowl, Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss
5 ET/2 PT: Liberty Bowl, East Carolina vs Kentucky
8 ET/5 PT: Sugar Bowl, Alabama vs Utah

Image via i9.photobucket.com

Impressive stats on USC from Doc Saturday.

This is not another line about USC against the Big Ten; I respect the Big Ten and I respect Penn State's near-perfect run through it, which is what makes SC's routine dominance so impressive in that context. Since 2003, the Trojans are 19-1 against teams from the other BCS conferences (including Notre Dame) by an average margin of 25.1 points per game, and since the '06 Rose Bowl loss to Texas have taken 12 straight non-conference games by at least two touchdowns. At least as impressive as the Pac-10's 5-0 bowl record is the fact that random teams from the conference are able to actually beat USC every now and then, because nobody else comes close.

Gene Wojciechowski, the crappy ESPN columnist who is the voice of rationalization, won't give up that he was wrong on Favre vs Rodgers.

Rodgers played well this season. He played hurt. He played in the blinding light of the post-Favre era and did so with poise and heart. If he stays healthy (he played much of the season with a shoulder injury), the Packers have themselves a quarterback.

But Favre played well, too -- not as often as Rodgers did, but well enough that the Jets were 8-3 after beating the then-undefeated Tennessee Titans on the road. You remember: That was the same week the Packers got beat 51-29 by New Orleans to drop to 5-6 and start a five-game losing streak. Weird. I don't remember getting any "Favre's washed up" e-mails then.

Turns out Favre played hurt, too. No surprise there. But a now-diagnosed torn biceps tendon affected his arm strength down the stretch.

His critics say he looked old. Duh -- he's 39. But isn't there the possibility that he simply looked injured? Big difference.

The mistake people make is trying to compare Rodgers' season with Favre's. Rodgers had more passing yards, more touchdowns, fewer interceptions, more rushing yards and a higher passer rating -- so he's clearly the better quarterback.

But do wins count for anything? Favre's Jets had nine compared to the Packers' six. They beat three playoff-bound teams; the Packers defeated one. Favre's Jets gagged away their division lead in the last month, but they still had a chance at the playoffs. The Packers were officially eliminated with two weeks remaining in the season.

New Year's Day Bowls Open Thread

2009-01-01T19:19:53Z

We apologize for being late on the ball here. My excuse is that I was up buying fried chicken from a gas station at 6 in the morning. Which was AWESOME! But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, use this post to discuss all the crazyness of today's games. Follow the scores live here, too.

Bowl Game Blowout! IV

2008-12-31T18:36:43Z

(Use this as an Open Thread for all the 12.31 Bowl Games. Go Bears!)

Parts I, II, III

via www.chick-fil-abowl.com

What bowl?: The Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
Who's playing? #14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. LSU Tigers.
When is it? December 31, 7:30 PM EST.
Where is it? Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
Why should you watch? Because you love the option, you love watching the SEC lose, and you've never quite understood the whole dynamic of Atlanta natives being much more amped up about college sports than pro sports. So it'll be fun to see the Yellow Jackets in a de facto home game.

via images.outbackbowl.com

What bowl?: The Outback Bowl.
Who's playing? South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Iowa Hawkeyes.
When is it? January 1, 11:00 AM EST.
Where is it? Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Why should you watch? Because you love Bloomin' Onions, you enjoyed the offensive stylings of Steve Spurrier back when he had a real team, you're not sure what the hubbub is over Kirk Ferentz, and you need something to watch on television while recovering from the hangover you got from partying too hard the night before. Happy New Year, people!

via www.fcsports.com

What bowl?: The Capital One Bowl.
Who's playing? #15 Georgia Bulldogs vs. #18 Michigan State Spartans.
When is it? January 1, 1:00 PM EST.
Where is it? Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
Why should you watch? Because you can't get enough Javon Ringer, you want the Spartans to win to make our OOC scheduling look that much better, you love watching the SEC lose, and you want to personalize your own credit card with airline miles, rewards points, and a low rate.

via www.gatorbowl.com

What bowl?: The Konica Minolta Gator Bowl.
Who's playing? Clemson Tigers vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers.
When is it? January 1, 1:00 PM EST.
Where is it? Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
Why should you watch? Because you love the name Dabo Sweeney. DABO! Man, what a name. Other than that, there is no reason to watch this game when you could watch the Capital One Bowl instead.

via www.tournamentofroses.com

What bowl?: The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi.
Who's playing? #5 USC Trojans vs. #8 Penn State Nittany Lions.
When is it? January 1, 4:30 PM EST.
Where is it? Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Why should you watch? Because it's the Rose Bowl and you either want USC to win to uphold Pac-10 pride, or you want to see USC lose because you hate them more than you want the conference to look better. And honestly, who the hell cares about conference pride anyway? F USC. Go Penn State.

via fedexorangebowlmerch.com

What bowl?: The FedEx Orange Bowl.
Who's playing? #12 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. #19 Virginia Tech Hokies.
When is it? January 1, 8:30 PM EST.
Where is it? Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Why should you watch? Because you've wondered if a BCS game is played, and no one cares, did it really happen?

via www2.attcottonbowl.com

What bowl?: The Cotton Bowl.
Who's playing? #7 Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. #25 Mississippi Rebels.
When is it? January 2, 2:00 PM EST.
Where is it? The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.
Why should you watch? Because you enjoy the offensive stylings of the Red Raiders, you're wildly entertained by Mike Leach's advice on dating, you want to see Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, and you love that they're going up against a coach whose last name is Nutt.

Poll

Which of these bowl games are you looking forward to the most?

Emerald Bowl Highlights

2008-12-31T18:33:35Z

Emerald Bowl Highlights

CGB Emerald Bowl Tailgate Recap

2008-12-30T23:24:14Z

aka: "Meeting Internet People In Real Life, and Then Shotgunning Cheap Beers With Them"

I'll admit, I was a little apprehensive when planning this tailgate. I had no real idea if 5 people or 50 people would show up. I couldn't know whether the weather would hold. I had never tailgated at AT&T park before, and wasn't sure what it would be like. My wife even got a ticket to the CAA event (where a number of my friends would be), and I had fears of the event being me and 4 other dudes drinking beer under a tent in the rain for 4 hours. Would people show up? Would they even be able to find the tailgate? Would everyone bring chips, and no one bring dip (the Alanis Morissette definition of irony)? I had no way of knowing.

Thankfully, people did show up. Calfan and his friend Rishi (no, not that Rishi) found me almost as soon as I got out of the car, actually, and the TheNick pulled up next to me soon after. Setup went pretty quickly, actually, as it basically consisted of unloading my car and putting up the EZ-Up tent (big, BIG shout-out to OskiWeeWee for hooking us up with the tent).

Maybe we'll get a bigger sign next time; hopefully, no one had too much trouble finding us.

After that, it was pretty much your standard tailgate, except that I was meeting pretty much everyone for the very first time. People I see on the internet every day, but had no idea what they were like in person. Turns out, Rishi (the real one) looks nothing like the guy in his avatar picture (though royrules22 does uncannily resemble Jughead, and HydroTech has been accurately described as 'an anthropomorphic "Script Cal" logo' in the past). I gotta say, it was pretty cool meeting y'all.

I also really enjoyed meeting all the lurkers and semi-lurkers (those who have accounts but almost never comment) who stopped by. We get lots of comments from a solid core of readers, but it's pretty cool knowing that more of you are out there, and I'm glad some of you felt welcome enough to stop by and say "hey".

We had to put the tarp over the tent to cover the corporate logo printed on it.

Notables from the event:

Favorite Tailgate Contribution - I loved the dogs and the chips and dip, but I especially appreciate the inspired soul who brought by an entire box of See's candy. ¡Muchas Gracias!

Strangest Tailgate Contribution - Diet Pomegranate 7-Up? Really? AndBears says it's actually pretty good, but I haven't had the inclination to try any yet (I've got most of a 2-litre bottle leftover in my garage).

Best Surprise - Meeting people that I only know from the internet, and having some of them turn out to be Real Live Girls! Yes, it's true, there are real girls on the internet!! Very cool.

Worst Surprise - Bringing my propane grill, but totally forgetting both propane and matches (the starter on the grill broke the first time I used it, but I guess that's what $40 a Target buys you).

Tailgate Savior - My friend Kevin, who coincidentally happened to by tailgating only 50 feet away. Kevin came through in a big way with an extra propane tank and an extra lighter, saving us all from a meal of cold (but thankfully precooked) hot dogs and sausages.

Worst Moment - Standing in line for the Port-O-Potty behind a couple of girls having an extended conversation about their Uggs and how their $200+ jeans made their butts look. This went on for, like, 10 minutes. I wanted to stab myself in my eye with my beer bottle.

Best Moment - Watching Rishi and HolmoePhobe spill their cheap beer everywhere while shotgunning Silver Bullets. I later joined in, but I just had to take pictures first.

My favorite part of this picture is the faces of the onlookers in the background.

Final Tally Of Leftovers - I brought a cooler of about a dozen assorted quality beers that were in my fridge, including Newcastle, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Heineken, and Pyramid Hefeweizen. I came home loaded up with 1 Newcastle, 1 Mirror Pond, 1 Red Tail, 5 Heineken Keg Cans, 6 Diet Cokes, a package of Hebrew National hot dogs, a box of Cheeze-Its Party Mix, unopened bags of Tortilla Chips, Lay's Sour Cream and Onion and Dorito's Nacho Cheese Chips, 2 tubs of dip, and the aforementioned bottle of Diet Pomegranate 7-Up. Awesome! If we do this again, I'll have to unload all of this stuff back on you people.

Thanks also to HydroTech and CBKWit, who made an effort to swing by the tailgate even though they both had other plans for the day. I know some of you guys had wanted to meet them, and I was glad not to be the only GoldenBlogger present. To those of you who missed out on meeting TwistNHook, well, some might say you lucked out, but I'm sure he'll make an appearance at a future event. Keeping him away from Cal football seems to be something only his wife can manage. As for those of you who want to meet Yellow Fever, well, he lives in New York now, so the odds of that happening anytime soon are not great.

Finally, a big thanks to my wife, AndBears, who did a lot of the planning for the event, and did basically all the work in designing and getting printed our new banners. Thanks, babe!

So, did the rest of you guys have fun? Should we do this again sometime soon? I'd be open to doing more stuff like this if there's enough interest. Let me know what you think, and how I can improve the planning in the future.

Reveling in Victory

2008-12-29T22:10:19Z

Still reveling, two days later. Before I wax sentimental about Mack and Follet and Felder and all the rest, let's start with the hilarious. Ordinarily I don't pay much attention to the video board announcements at halftime, but the first one caught my eye:

"Watch the Fake, Alamar!" -- Your friends in QQ

I was so stunned by the simple brilliance of the message that I froze, paralyzed with laughter for 30 seconds before I thought to snap a picture. By the time I recovered it was too late and the message was gone forever. If anyone was quick enough to grab a shot, or if anyone knows the identities of the brave young alums who paid for it, please post it here. I only wish that they had paid for an extra dozen words or so, in order to clarify that you can defend fakes with more than 10 players on the field. Hopefully Alamar learned his lesson after the Maurice Jones-Drew game in 2005, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Ahh memories.

Happier times, for my sake:

Well, we won. It was often, like our season as a whole, a weird, underwhelming, frustrating game. It was choppy and sloppy, a highly flawed affair by a painfully flawed team. Yet, when the game ended, we had a victory over a "name" opponent in prime-time on ESPN. Instead of highlighting our mostly futile passing game, the post-game recaps and clips served as a de facto Heisman introduction for Jahvid Best. I suppose the message is, if you're the reveling, glass-half-full type, "it may have been an underwhelming performance, but at least this guy plays for our team, and he'll play for us again next year."

It was encouraging to watch the offensive line have its best game since perhaps UCLA. Stanford and UW were dominating performances, no doubt, but this was the first time in a while that the offensive line took over against a decent opponent. Losing Alex Mack is a huge blow, but if the line avoids decimating injuries that it couldn't this year, it should be better as a whole next year.

The Nate Longshore era, for better or for worse, is over, and the final performance was fittingly mixed. On the one hand, turnovers (as they generally do) essentially determined the game - with the game 95% complete, the teams were tied at 17 with 1 turnover apiece when the second Miami turnover gave the Bears the deciding touchdown. Miami's quarterback Jacory Harris had two turnovers while Nasty Nate had zero, and in a game when the points-off-turnovers margin is also the margin of victory, that's a pretty big deal. You also saw Nate's experience on display in the 4th quarter, when Boateng lined up on the wrong side of the formation. Nate moved Nyan over to the other side, which paid off when Best ran a sweep to the same side for a big gain. Perhaps a less experienced quarterback makes the same correction, but Riley certainly didn't adjust his receivers during the USC game on his TD pass to Vereen.

On the other hand, our 5th year senior QB was often outplayed by a true freshman making his second career start. Cal fans were certainly spoiled by 1st round picks Boller and Rodgers, but this is a remarkable turn of events following Nate's terrific 3,000 yard campaign in 2006, and especially puzzling given Tedford's acumen with quarterbacks. Nate looked jittery and unsettled, as he often has since his ankle injury at Oregon last year. Our offensive line gave Nate plenty of time, and while our receivers slipped a few times on good passes (a comeback route on the near sideline comes to mind), Nate badly missed a number of reads and throws. To make matters worse, Miami often played our receivers man to man with no safety help. Short of leaving a wide receiver completely alone and uncovered, there was nothing more Miami could do to show a complete lack of respect for our passing game. That Best was able to run for nearly 10 yards a carry with 8 or 9 defenders in the box is remarkable. That Nasty Nate struggled so much with ample protection and a defense basically ignoring our passing game was troubling. Thanks to Danzig, let's remember the good times:

The defense played another strong game, led by the usual suspects: Syd, Alualu, Rulon, Felder, and of course Follett. There were a few too many third down conversions given up (Miami went 7-19 and 2-2 on 4th down), and I could have done without the corner blitz from the strong side, which never resulted in a sack and often took our best cover guy, Syd, out of the secondary. Hagan had a so-so game and appeared to be benched for Conte after giving up the fade touchdown, which was a little disappointing after his fantastic season. Still, holding an offense to 3.7 yards a rush and 4.7 yards per passing attempt is pretty fantastic.

Best's 40 yard touchdown run was the play of the game early, when it looked like we might blow the game wide open. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way, and with less than 5 minutes to go we found ourselves in the unenviable position of potentially wasting Best's spectacular performance and sending our seniors out with a deflating loss. Miami had the ball with the game tied and a chance to drive the field for the winning score. You know what happened next.

Throughout his career, Zack Follett has made enormous plays in critical situations: the huge hit and forced fumble on Ainge, which set the tone for the Tennessee game and 2007 season, and the forced fumble at Maryland to start the second half, which gave us a (ultimately wasted) chance to get back in the game, come immediately to my mind. His hit and forced fumble on Jacory Harris wasn't unusual, not when you have 10+ sacks and 5 forced fumbles on the year, and it clearly isn't out of character for Follett to alter the course or outcome of the game. It was simply the perfect ending to a fantastic Cal career.

We are in better position to compensate for the loss of our senior linebackers than we were with our receivers last year. In Young and Mohamed, we essentially have 2 returning starters, and a lot of slightly experienced young talent in Holt, Kendricks, and Bishop among others. Mohamed had a strong game with a great interception and a crucial tackle on Miami's final drive, wrapping up the ball carrier with a blocker between them to keep the clock running and kill 30 seconds in the game's final minute. What is not so clear at the moment is who will replace Follett's remarkable penchant to step up in the biggest moments. Someone will make the tackles, but I doubt anyone will immediately replicate Follett's impact.

via d.yimg.com

It was the last game for one of my all-time favorite bears, Alex Mack. It seems like he's been here forever, because he's been so good for so long, and it was moving to see him run around the edge of the field after the game, soaking up the victory and slapping hands and giving hugs to Cal fans for the last time, as if he did not want his Cal career to end. I didn't want it to end, either.

via d.yimg.com

Reveling for the last time in 2008, GO BEARS!

Emerald Bowl Torrent

2008-12-29T21:09:41Z

Emerald Bowl Torrent

Want to watch the Emerald Bowl again? Did you miss one of the ESPN replays of it? Want to mourn/celebrate Nate's final game at Cal? Well, here's your chance . Don't forget to continue seeding after you download it. Try to achieve at least a 1.00 ratio.