First Half.

What is nice about taking in a game at Witter Field is that you don't have assigned seats.  And you can generally sit wherever you want.  Now, a game like this, it was super packed and you couldn't exactly sit wherever you wanted.  Although, that didn't stop CalBandGreat from trying to sit in my lap.  It was, I guess, that sort of day where people tried to impose upon me. 

Because, as we tried to move to take in the game from a different angle we ran across Oski.......WHOTRIEDTOSTEALMYSCARF!

That's right, I was sartorially assaulted by Oski.  The Bear!  Not Oski Von Bearington, Oski Al-Oski, or even Oski Garrett.  Although Oski Garrett did give me the stink eye, but that was for a reason wholly unrelated to my scarf. 

First, Oski threatened to cut me in my throatal region if I didn't give up the scarf!

GET YOUR OWN DAMN SCARF, OSKI! I tried to say.  I mean you already have a headband, what more do you need?  WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED, MR. THE BEAR?!?!?!  What will satisfy your nearly unquenchable bloodlust for accessories!??!?!  I tried to resist, I did.

But what could I do?  Oski is a much beloved children's mascot and the embodiment of everything Cal.  I had no choice.

Yay, #1 in grand theft scarf.  I'm actually in tears here over the fashion larceny.  My cheeks burnt in humiliation.  Oski hadn't just taken my scarf, he had mauled my soul.  He had taken my childhood, my innocence, my 3rd favorite Cal scarf!

Can we really trust these ursine kleptomaniacs anymore?  I never really believed Stephan Colbert.  I mean Oski is Oksi.  Just because he disturbingly drinks through his eye doesn't mean he's bad.  But that was before he tried to take my scarf.  Now, I know the awful, awful truth about this fashion criminal.  Let it never be said that I didn't warn you. 

And now, for something completely different: some photos of rugby!

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Cal Rugby is one of the most dominant sports teams of our era.  But, let's be honest here, many of the teams that Cal plays against aren't really on the same level.  And, as much as I love to see 80-0 by halftime, you really want to see Cal take on a team of equal talent to give them a run for their money.  The University of British Columbia is one such team.

So, we streamed to Witter Field to take in the game.  Of course, first I decided to stop by the Rose Garden to see if, after the fierce rains, there were some beautiful roses.

But alas.....

DAMN YOU MONTH OF FEBRUARY!  WHY MUST YOU TAUNT ME SO?!?!??!

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Living in Berkeley, I have always seen the horse racing track by the freeway - specifically west of I-80 by Berkeley (Gillman exit).  I never knew the name of the place or had even seen the place when it was live.  It was always dark and empty when I would drive by.  I never saw horses running on the racetrack nor people in the stands.  I figured the place was closed.  Furthermore, I had hardly ever heard of anyone talk of horse racing.  The sport seemed like a once a year sport - specifically when the Kentucky Derby was raced.  Other than that, horse racing seemed sort of boring and something for the wealthy, and very stuffy uppercrust.  Something that TwistNHook might like, but definitely not something for me (for those of you that do know me you would probably agree). 

However, a culinary school friend of mine wanted to go because she liked horses.  So upon her suggestion I decided to go.  That of course, meant googling what the heck that place was called and finding out that they weren't closed but were very much open but by coincidence I had never driven by on a live day. 

That horse racing track west of I-80 in Berkeley is called Golden Gate Fields. 

Golden gate Fields.  I didn't bring my real camera so here's a picture from my phone.  That green structure on the grass is the scoreboard, well, I'm sure there's a real technical horse racing name for it but it lists the odds for the horses and the number of bets on the horses. The green tent in the foreground is where the jockeys are weighed.  The red and white pole on the far right is the finish line.

I went there today (Sunday, January 18, 2009) and surprisingly had a very good time.

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Well, you are screwed, then, because this is about the olympics.  It's been all football all the time around here and that's great, but it's bye week and so we figured let's take a look at something different.  Let's take a look back at the summer when many Cal athletes competed in the Beijing Olympics. 

Starting with, of course, Natalie Coughlin:

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Part I

In the previous installment, we looked at some of the history of how this team came together and what it might look like in the future.  But now, let's take a look at what this team is today and what it might be able to accomplish this year.  The first place to start is, of course, with Coach Joanne Boyle.  And the first place to start with her is to start here:

Four and a half years earlier, she was midway through her ninth year as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Duke University, where she’d played in the 1980s, when on November 28, 2001, after jogging on the Durham campus, she was felled by a brain hemorrhage. She spent 13 days in Duke University Hospital— many of them in intensive care—as friends and family held vigil. Her life flickered and her fate seemed up for grabs. An abnormal cluster of blood vessels was spotted in her brain. Surgeons removed the bunched vessels and gave her body a chance to right itself. Joanne Boyle did her part. She had to learn to walk again, to feed herself, to speak. She exercised with excruciating repetition to regain her motor skills. And by late winter 2002, she rejoined the Blue Devils and helped coach them to the NCAA Final Four.

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Part I

Part II

Part III

Well, then.  If this Better Know An Olympian is anything like it's namesake, it'll be incredibly dated in 30 years.  But if this Better Know An Olympian is anything like all the other shlock I write, it'll be an insult not only to the fine men and women who represent Cal in the games, but also America.  And every English teacher I ever had.

Sorry, Mrs. Doke!  Sorry!

via www.lifeinthefastlane.ca

PIG OLYMPICS!

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Part I

Part II

When I started this, 2 weeks ago, Cal had 39 Olympians.  Now, we have 45.  You'd think that was cause for celebration, but it just means MORE work for me!  STOP BEING SO GOOD AT PRODUCING OLYMPIANS, CAL!!!  Also, does anybody know anywhere of a website that ranks Olympians by school attended?  I really wanna know if 45 is the high point. 

To this mid-90s gamer (Final Fantasy 4 life!), the most confusing thing is when hated arch-rivals Mario and Sonic started working together for the Olympics.  Is Crash Bandicoot going to show up, too?????

via blog.wired.com

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It's summer.  Summer is long and there is little sports news to report.  Thus, we here at the CGB are having a hard time filling content this summer.  Even though we're from an elite academic institution (so very elite!), the #1 public university in America (we're #1!), and the best UC of the UCs (although UCR is a darn close 2nd), we're running out of ideas.  EPIC PHAIL.  So with our creativity shot, and desperation settling in, we've turned to other sports and players that are only tangentially related to Cal.  Please excuse our failure to provide you with hi kwality Cal blogging that u have come 2 expekt from graduates of such a elite akademik instutushun.  With that, we now present you with a post on arena football.

So on Saturday night, I found myself in the hot California central valley with not much to do on a Saturday night.  Being a bit bored, I thought I might go to an arena football game since it was only $11 for a cheap end zone ticket.

I had never been to an arena football game before but thought I'd give one a try.  There is an arena football team in Stockton, CA called the Stockton Lightning.  For those of you who don't know where Stockton is, it's about 40 miles south of Sacramento.  There's not a lot in Stockton, yet there happens to be a minor league hockey team or something, a minor league baseball team, and an arena football team.  Oh, and Stockton is the hometown of former Cal Bear Lavelle Hawkins, and current Cal Bear Tad Smith... and yours truly.

Incidentally, former Cal offensive lineman Bryan Deemer is supposedly on the Stockton Lightning so I figured I had someone to root for at the game.  But then I on the online roster that he is inactive.  Bummer.

On the other hand, Lavelle Hawkins' cousin, Ruben Jackson, is a WR for the Lightning.  Ruben Jackson went to Oregon State.  This is his rookie year in the arena league. 

Because there were no other Cal players on the roster, I figured I'd root for Ruben Jackson since he is somewhat related to Lavelle Hawkins, and Hawk went to Cal, so... by the strange laws of loyalty, that means I'm rooting for Ruben.  Or something.

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