Greetings from Rome...
Rugby
NBC Bay Area interviews Robert Paylor. It is his first time speaking publicly since his injury that paralyzed him in the Rugby 15s Championship game. I can’t embed the video, so do click on the link and show NBC support for their great story. Note, deep in the link is also a second video with additional interview footage.
Paylor spends eight hours a day doing physical therapy and rehabilitation to retrain his muscles. He’s also relearning how to do daily tasks most people take for granted. Simply getting into bed is challenging.
Paylor’s strength and stamina as an elite athlete are helping.
"I couldn’t be more proud of his character and the man he’s become," his father, Jeff Paylor, said.
"He is so positive, he is hardworking, he wants to sweat. In fact, he tells me, 'Make me sweat.' He just never gives up," said Adele Stadler, assistant supervisor of physical therapy at Craig Hospital.
Through it all Paylor is incredibly positive.
"Whenever I have trouble believing in myself, I have all these people who believe in me, and that allows me to have more courage, more bravery and fight," Paylor said.
Swimming
- All in all a whopping 13 medals, and multiple records, were won by Cal student athletes and alumni at the FINA games in Hungary. Daily Cal has the full recap.
- At the U.S. Open, a quartet of all Cal players (Matthew Josa, Mike Thomas, Nick Silverthorn and Long Gutierrez) won Gold in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Josa also won his own gold as well.
Baseball
- The Daily Cal has a summary of Bears playing Major League Baseball. This list was written presumably before Mark Canha made his return to the Oakland A’s last week, unfortunately replacing Michael Brady who returned to the minor leagues.
- Jack Hinrichsen, from Sacramento and frequent attender of Cal baseball games since childhood, has committed to the Bears for 2018!
- Time to get excited about next season... young stud Tanner Dodson was named the Batting Champion in the Cape Cod league as the regular season concluded. In 29 games he batted .365. As he did his freshmen season earlier this calendar year, he also pitched, and pitched well. Congrats!
Basketball
- Jaylen Brown making plays in the NBA Africa Game...
Poetry in motion... @FCHWPO off the glass to @AndreDrummond! #NBAAfricaGame #PhantomCam pic.twitter.com/tBSDNkGtjs
— NBA (@NBA) August 5, 2017
Football
- Jordan Duncan learned a lot from his high school offensive coordinator. Some obscure dude by the name of Brett Favre.
The Super Bowl champion had nothing but good things to say about his time being a mentor for Duncan.
"When Jordan was a ninth grader, we decided to bring him up to play with the varsity," Favre said. "Not because he was the biggest, fastest or the strongest but because he ran the best routes, knew what to do and, most importantly, caught the ball. He is a very bright kid in school and has a high football IQ. I am not surprised of anything Jordan achieves. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience of coaching and being a part of a state championship. Seeing Jordan and several others play at the next level gives me a sense of accomplishment that is similar but also different than when I was a player. Jordan has tremendous potential and work ethic, and I'll take that type of kid on my team any day."
- Golden Bear Report’s audio interview with Matt Anderson on the Cal special teams. Also, a text interview with Cameron Saffle.
- Darius Allensworth honors his late mentor and friend every time he steps onto the field.
- Bear Territory has the video of Justin Wilcox at Fall Camp talking quarterbacks, defensive line and Cal’s first full day in pads.
Vai Orsi!