Golden Nuggets: On Treating UCLA Like a Playoff Game

Football

All three videos essentially talk about how the team is spending Thanksgiving, the short week, and how the UCLA game is being treated as an elimination game.

• I’m not sure I’m ready to relive the Big Game (Still have Nick’s article up on another tab but haven’t read it yet) but here’s Nam’s novel on it.

Years from now, on my worst nights when my brain is unforgiving and decides to dredge up my most painful memories for little to no reason at all, there will be the lasting visual of the 2017 Big Game: of hope fluttering in the air for that long moment; Ross Bowers’ pass on the way to an open receiver; the Bears about to take the lead late in the fourth quarter; the Axe heading home after seven seasons a hostage, Stanford Stadium ripe for storming.

And I will wake up numb and near catatonic, the way I sat for the final 7:25 of this one, knowing all of it turned in three seconds. A few days later, I haven’t yet figured out if that crushing feeling of hope being plucked from the air or the slow, inevitable steamroller of the Stanford offense to run out the clock was worse – the football equivalent of choosing between death by decapitation or death by drowning.

Then, the glum, silent walk back to the car, with all Blue and Gold minds cursing alike, chalking up another war story to share.

Sigh.

• Nam also has his five keys for beating UCLA up online.
• Daily Cal’s Andrew Wild has some thoughts about whether the team can truly improve next season and thinks the UCLA game can help answer that.

Bears on the Diamond

• The Pac-12 released the schedules for both Baseball and Softball (These links are both set to filter only Cal’s games). I haven’t seen them on the Cal Athletics site yet, but you can view them above from the Pac-12. I’ll have more analysis on the schedules once Cal publishes them on their website, since I can’t really tell which games are neutral site and which are home games.

Misc.

• Daily Cal wraps up the disappointing loss by the Men’s Soccer team in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. I usually don’t post recaps, but it does impress me how the Daily Cal gives us quotes from players and coaches, with solid analysis, since usually Olympic Sport recaps from other sources don’t do that.
• Similarly, I’m posting a recap of Volleyball getting it handed to them at home by USC and UCLA, since they noted some things I didn’t even know... like Cal’s head coach wasn’t even around for either game. (The article doesn’t say why) They have two more games at home before the season ends, and Bailee Huizenga wants you to attend!
• Men’s Water Polo received a bunch of awards before they hit the NCAA Tournament, including a MPSF Player of the Year award for Luca Cupido! A few players also made the All-MPSF teams.

Enjoy Cal MBB vs. VCU. Go Bears.