Golden Nuggets: Like Father, Like Son

Following in his father's footsteps, Shane Vereen is exploring the world of sports-related television production.  In addition to summer school and offseason workouts, he works twice per week at CSN Bay Area as an intern.  Though he's a budding star, he prefers to be a typical intern while he's at the office.

"It's remarkable. He's just Shane to us," CSN Bay Area news executive Doug Brown said. "We don't treat him any differently than any other intern. Around here, he's just one of 20 interns we have that is willing to rip scripts and all the other stuff that interns are supposed to be doing."

The fact that Vereen was interested in an internship says a lot about his perspective. He is expected to have an NFL career someday, whether he leaves Cal after this season as a junior or waits until the 2012 draft. But Vereen says he wants his life to be about more than football, and broadcasting is something that has always interested him. His father, Henry, works in the television industry as a video engineer.

"I understand that football is just one part of my life," Vereen said. "When that is all said and done, I'm not going to sit at home and do nothing. Anything can happen. You can get hurt anytime. It's good to have options, especially an option that I've been interested in for a long time."

One of the highlights of Vereen's internship so far was holding the microphone for a news conference with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom during an event to kick off the World Cup. He returned to the newsroom and worked with producers to put the story together, just like a regular field reporter.

"It's really remarkable to think he could possibly be a first- or second-round pick," Brown said. "He seems like he's engaged. He's always in the edit bays, trying to learn. He's always eager to help out. No task is too big or too small for him."

After the jump the fan-favorite Cal Football Women's Huddle returns, Cal earns another top-ten Director's Cup finish, two-time national championship-winning gymnastics coach Barry Weiner retires, Kyle Boller gets married, and more.

Cal earned its fifth straight Director's Cup top-ten finish, coming in at ninth for 2009-10.  Stanford (1) and UCLA (4) were also among the top ten.

Football

• Athlon, Lindy's, and Sporting News predict Cal will finish 7th, 8th, and 7th, respectively, in the conference this season.  The future is bright, though, as they are very impressed with recruits such as Chris Martin, Gabe King, and Keenan Allen.  Athlon predicts Cal will end up in the Emerald Bowl Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl with an intriguing matchup against Fresno State.
• On Friday Kyle Boller will marry the infamous former Miss California Carrie Prejean.
• The annual Cal Football Women's Huddle will take place on Friday, July 30th.  The roundtable posts from 2009 and 2008 provide some insight into what it's like at this fan favorite event.