On a wildly different note, today's post looks ahead to tonight's portion of Dancing with the Stars, featuring one of the greatest athletes in Cal history, Natalie Coughlin! She dances at 8:50 during tonight's broadcast. ABC has a brief bio of her on their DwS website. Her partner is Alec Mazo, who also graduated from Cal. He moved with his family from Russia to the Bay Area when he was 12. His specialty is Latin dancing and he was partnered with Kelly Monaco when they became the first ever Dancing with the Stars Champions in the show's inaugural season. If you want even more info about the show (such as a list of other participants) go to ABC's Dancing with the Stars website.
Fans may cast their votes for Coughlin and Mazo via telephone on Tuesday nights during and up to 30 minutes after the "Dancing with the Stars" performance shows. Their official voting number is 1-800-VOTE4-13 or 1-800-868-3413.
Go Natalie! Show the world that Bears can dance as well as they can swim, earn Nobel Prizes, and run over tromboners in the Stanford band.
After the jump we have quotes from Tedford and Riley at today's press conference, Wilner's assessment of Cal and Pac-10 quarterbacks, Oregon news, updates on past and potentially future Cal football players, and a smattering of other stories.
Many thanks to chicagoaubear for providing torrents of this weekend's past game as well as an HD Cal-Maryland torrent. Keep seeding, guys!
- In today's press conference Tedford and Riley talk about the Minnesota win, the loss of Boateng, and the trip up to the Autzen Zoo.
- Ray Ratto explains why the upcoming @Oregon, USC, and @UCLA games are crucial for the Bears.
- Jon Wilner ranks the Pac-10 quarterbacks. Locker is in first, with Riley way behind in second, and after that a huge gap until you get the jumble of QBs in the rest of the Pac-10. Wilner gives Cal a B+ for the win at Minnesota.
- Jeremy Ross now has the opportunity to make a difference as he inherits the third spot on the depth chart.
- Best is moving on up to the top of ESPN's Heisman Watch. If Best has a great day in Eugene and if Tebow is unimpressive this week, look for Best to take the top spot.
- Former Cal running back James Montgomery will miss the rest of the season after surgery to fix relieve acute compartment syndrome in his left leg. He was Washington State's top running back.
- Defensive end recruit Gabe King has moved to Eugene after some ineligibility issues in his home state of North Carolina. He still says Cal is his top choice.
- Thanks to AddictedToQuack's Morning Quack Fix for the following links (they have a fuller, though more irrelevant to Cal, list of links): Despite Masoli's poor passing game, there is no QB controversy at Oregon. Senior free safety TJ Ward is still not suiting up for practice (ankle) and seems doubtful for this weekend's matchup.
- Pat Christopher is 4th in DraftExpress.com's list of Pac-10 NBA prospects.
- No. 12 women's volleyball hosts No. 10 Stanford this Friday at 7pm for the Big Spike.
- Softball's fall schedule has been released.
- CalBears.com as a Q+A with sophomore forward Katie Suits.
- Five members of the Cal rugby team participated in the third annual Climb for a Cure, which supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
- Daily Cal profiles men's soccer's freshman striker Anthony Salciccia.