During the first half of the Cal men’s basketball team’s 70-49 blowout loss to Washington State on Thursday, it didn’t help the Bears that guard Patrick Christopher–the team’s second-leading scorer–bruised his left hip and limped into the locker room at halftime. He attempted to play in the second half, but the pain limited him to just five minutes in the period. (Click here to read more…)

Junior ace Tyson Ross will miss his scheduled showdown with fellow Preseason All-American pitcher Aaron Crow of No. 5 Missouri tomorrow. Ross did not travel with the Cal baseball team down to San Diego for the tournament this weekend due to unspecified illness.

“Tyson’s not throwing,” senior second baseman Josh Satin said. “He stayed back this weekend. He wasn’t feeling well.” (Click here to read more…)

It may take a few convincing wins over ranked teams for the Cal baseball team to elbow its way into the conversation in the stacked Pac-10, but today’s 14-4 thumping of No. 24 Fresno State in the opening game of the San Diego Invitational isn’t too bad of a start.

Starter Chris Petrini saw action for the first time since the beginning of the 2007 season, and threw 5 2/3 innings for the Bears, allowing four hits, four runs and five walks to go along with three strikeouts. His roughest inning was the first, in which he allowed the Bulldogs to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead. (Click here to read more…)

During a preseason media luncheon, coach Joanne Boyle mentioned landing a No. 2 or 3 seed in the Big Dance as one of Cal’s main goals for the 2007-2008 season.

It looks like the team is set to meet at least a portion of its rumored “oath.”

After beginning the season ranked No. 13 in the country, the Bears have climbed all the way to No. 9 in going from a potential to a likely three-seed. But Cal, “Can you take me higher?” The Bears were ranked No. 8 (AP) as recently as last week, and after dropping a heated contest to No. 7 Stanford, what are the chances that Cal might sneak in as a two?

Very slim. (Click here to read more…)

Two main news items out of Cal baseball following the team’s 2-0-1 opening weekend. First, starting catcher Charlie Cutler will miss 8-10 games because of a broken pinky finger on his left (catching) hand.  Cutler is optimistic and has all the confidence in the world in backup Dylan Tonneson, who went 1-for-4 on the weekend with a run scored.

Second, junior ace Tyson Ross received Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors from the conference for his opening day start against Kansas State. Despite intermittent rain, Ross went five one-hit innings against the Wildcats, walking one and striking out seven.  The only hit Ross allowed was a leadoff home run to Kansas State rightfielder Jordan Cruz. Transfer Daniel Wolford finished the game for Ross, throwing four no-hit innings in his first appearance for the Bears since he transferred from Long Beach State.  Wolford struck out five and walked three to earn his first save.

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? (Click here to read more…)

Has Rikus Pretorius been on the phone with Kobe Bryant lately?

During the Cal rugby team’s match against Utah, the senior flanker and captain sat out with an injured finger. His middle and ring fingers were taped together, and he is due for an MRI on Monday.

But Pretorius, who sustained the injury during the Bears’ match against British Columbia last week, doesn’t expect to miss any more game time due to injury — even if it’s a torn ligament.

Cal’s next match is on Saturday, March 1, against New Mexico.

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. (Click here to read more…)

Evans Diamond looked more like Spieker Aquatics Center by the time the second leg of the Cal-Utah Valley State doubleheader was called on account of darkness Saturday evening, with the Bears and Wolverines tied at 8-8 after nine innings.
(Click here to read more…)

The Cal baseball team’s junior first baseman David Cooper packed his whooping stick Saturday morning against Utah Valley State, smacking two long home runs in the Bears’ 12-1 victory in the first half of a doubleheader. Cooper went 2-for-4 and accounted for five of Cal’s 12 runs, smacking a line-drive home run over the 365-foot sign in left field to kick off the scoring in the second inning, then blasting a mammoth grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning that probably still hasn’t landed. (Click here to read more…)