Yesterday opening game in the NIT was exciting for Cal. Real exciting. It was a nail-bitter. A Thriller. It came down to the wire. It was almost a barn-burner.
But of course I’m being condescending. When less than 2,000 fans show up for a major college basketball game, then why should I be excited? I wasn’t.
The real madness begins today. Read the rest of this entry »
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2:00 p.m.: And that’s all she wrote. ASU’s rally falls short and Cal lives to play another day. Can you say Battle of the Bay Part III tomorrow night at the Shark Tank?
It’s almost a given. Final: Cal 65, Devils 61. Read the rest of this entry »
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See that question up there? The title of this blog post? I’m going to say no. Especially not after the No. 10 Cal women’s basketball team lost to Washington on Sunday.
But still, as the Bears prepare for the Pac-10 Tournament down in San Jose, the general feeling that the team has—or at least coach Joanne Boyle has—is that Cal can still snag a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
“Win the tournament and get a two-seed,” said Boyle when asked what would be the ideal situation for the Bears at this weekend’s Pac-10 tournament.
But even if Cal can win three games in a row, upset No. 7 Stanford and take the conference tournament crown, can it get a two seed? It’s a long shot at best. Read the rest of this entry »
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One of the reasons why I think the Cal women’s soccer team hasn’t been able to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament is the talent level of the team.
That should change now that the Bears have inked two international players, Icelander Katrin Omarsdottir and Australian Clare Polkinghorne. Read the rest of this entry »
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The No. 9 Cal women’s basketball team has for the entire year tried to gain respect. I’m not doubting that the Bears deserve it. They do.
But Sunday’s loss to Washington highlights the reason why this team isn’t ready to take the Pac-10’s top spot from Stanford or to enter the national scene.
All the Bears had to do was beat a team that they had defeated by 26 points a month earlier to secure their first ever Pac-10 title. But they couldn’t even do that. Read the rest of this entry »
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It’s March 1. You know what that means? It’s almost time for Spring Ball.
The Cal football team has much to prove. Much to prove. I think Jeff Tedford has much to prove next year. Especially considering the fact that the Bears’ most recent recruiting class isn’t as star-studded or as eye-opening as it was in the past.
And no one should forget that monumental collapse that Cal suffered at the end of last season. An Armed Forces Bowl win over a so-so non-BCS team led by a young, exciting quarterback shouldn’t give Bears fans rose-colored glasses (in more than one sense of the word, if you get my drift).
In ESPN’s little spring prospectus, Cal is coming in as the sixth best team in the Pac-10. That’s a mighty fall for a team that on Oct. 8 of last year was ranked No. 2 in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
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Everyone knows that DeSean Jackson is fast. But the fastest? Maybe.
Jackson’s official 40 time at the NFL Combine (4.35 seconds) was the fastest of any receiver in Indianapolis. This should help D-Jax, especially when it comes to countering is small-frame. Jackson measured in at 5-foot-9 and 169 pounds. That’s extremely small into today’s NFL.
This has some scouts worried, as Gil Brandt, a current NFL.com analyst and former Dallas Cowboys scout told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“See, this is why it’s hard to grade somebody like that,” Brandt said. “But sometimes they ‘engage’ those (smaller) guys up on the line of scrimmage and they’re not strong enough to get off the bump.”
Jackson’s time, however, wasn’t the fastest unofficial time. That went to App. State’s Dexter Jackson, who some scouts clocked in at 4.27.
How did other Cal athletes do? Read the rest of this entry »
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First, I have to admit, that the first Cal-Stanford women’s basketball game this year was atrocious and almost unbearable to watch. And it wasn’t because the Bears were blown out (again) at Maples Pavilion.
As a reporter sitting next to me told me at halftime of that game, “This is bad for women’s basketball.” It was. At halftime, neither team was shooting well. Both squads were shooting under 40 percent (Cal was just at 20 percent). Something inside of me said, “No wonder no one watches this product.”
Then we turn to last Saturday’s game. The Bears lost, again. But this time, it was amazing. Read the rest of this entry »
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I kind of didn’t half believe the type of crowd that the Cal women’s basketball team was going to get for its matchup with No. 7 Stanford. But as I sit here in press row with just over 40 minutes before tipoff, I’m in awe.
There has to be already the Bears’ season average sitting in the Haas Pavilion stands. The team just got a rousing ovation as they left the court for its final talk before the game.
There are a lot of kids here, but what can you expect for a women’s hoops game? That’s its main draw.
To give you the scope of the magnitude of this game, columnists from the San Francisco Chronicle and from the San Jose Mercury-News are here. Also, I just passed by a sign reserving a seat for Pac-10 Commish Tom Hansen. Everyone is sending their big guns to this game.
People have bought into the hype of today’s contest. Read the rest of this entry »
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The NFL Combine starts tomorrow, and if you have the NFL Network, you can watch live coverage as hundreds of scouts taking notes on hundreds of NFL hopefuls as they run, jump and lift their way into a better draft spot.
Seven Cal football players received invites to Indianapolis. DeSean Jackson and Lavelle Hawkins obviously headline the group, but also attending the week-long camp is tailback Justin Forsett, tackle Mike Gibson, safety Thomas DeCoud, punter Andrew Larson and tight end Craig Stevens.
Of course, Jackson is the starling of the group, ESPN’s Todd McShay says that the diminutive wideout has the most to prove this week. Read the rest of this entry »
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