I can see it now: Cal football nation is ready to throw a fit because everyone’s favorite quarterback has sat out two practices this week with a pulled pectoral muscle.

Nate Longshore suffered the injury last Wednesday, felt uncomfortable last Friday and still participated in the Bears’ first workout in full pads last Saturday, according to Bear Talk.

This may be the time for Cal fans to start calling for backup Kevin Riley’s name (like they haven’t already).

But a few things about the quarterback situation first. (Click here to read more…)

I don’t think anyone would claim that football, basketball, and baseball players don’t have intense practice regimens. The same cannot be said for golfers.

In fact, most people probably assume that golfers have it the easiest of the athletes.

They get to laze around at the country club, hit the links every now and again, right?

Wrong. (Click here to read more…)

Today’s story on Red Bulls winger Luke Sassano didn’t include half the conversation we shared over the phone. I didn’t want to hold him for too long from his usual running drills, but we spoke a good 20 minutes, and naturally, not all of it made the paper.

Before we get to the leftovers, I’ll be getting in touch with the other recent graduates on their professional endeavors, so if there’s anything you might wish to be answered by guys like FC Lorient midfielder Andrew Jacobson, 1860 Munich back Steve Purdy or Javier Ayala-Hil, please let me know.

Now on with the rest from Sassano:

(Click here to read more…)

Today marks the first time in 12 years that the Cal baseball team (21-7-1, 4-2 in the Pac-10) has ascended to a program-high No. 5 national ranking. Moving to No. 1 is Miami (26-2), in the midst of a 13-game winning streak. Where did erstwhile No. 1 Arizona State go?  After losing the weekend series with now-No. 10 Stanford, the Sun Devils dropped to No. 2.  And wouldn’t ya know it, the Card are coming to Berkeley this afternoon to play the Bears at 2:30 p.m. at Evans Diamond. The preseason No.1 and No. 2, UCLA and Arizona, both dropped out of the rankings, leaving Cal, ASU and Leyland Stanford Junior University as the only Pac-10 teams remaining in the Baseball America top-25.

Every Sunday, the Cal baseball team nominates a pitcher and player of the week based on performances in the previous week’s games. If Kevin Miller isn’t the Bears’ pitcher of the week tomorrow, somebody’s taken a few too many Blake Smith fastballs to the head.

Miller pitched two scoreless innings to get the win against Fresno State on Wednesday, then replaced Craig Bennigson in the top of the third today and proceeded to throw a career-high 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to lead Cal to a 9-3 victory and improve his own record to 5-0.

This was just the latest installment in what has been a phenomenal season for the right-hander from San Jose. As a true freshman, Miller has pitched 38.2 innings, struck out 38 batters and has yet to allow an earned run.
(Click here to read more…)

A couple years ago, center back Steve Purdy made all the splash by signing with 1860 Munich a month or so following the end of his senior season with Cal. To put that in perspective, it’s like signing with the Clippers (Bayern Munich, stacked roster and all, are the Lakers of the Bundesliga), except the other team in Los Angeles play in the NBDL, except linking second division soccer in Europe to the NBDL is a faulty comparison. To be fair, half the teams play at a second-tier level in the United States’ fixed league systems, so it’s somewhat fitting to say he’s signed with a Mets-equivalent when they were irrelevant.

Midfielder Andrew Jacobson also grabbed headlines when he signed with French club FC Lorient earlier this year. He’s got all the tools to make it at the next level, and here’s hoping Jacobson will make an impact for U.S. soccer some time down the road (translation: for the National Team).

Now, it’s senior Luke Sassano’s turn. In a few minutes, the midfielder will likely start at midfielder for New York Red Bulls in their season opener, as injuries have given Sassano the chance to feed balls to forward Jozy Altidore. (Okay, that didn’t come out exactly the way I wanted it to.) If you subscribe to Fox Soccer Channel, tune in now for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff. Join me for some channel-flipping for the next 90 minutes between the New York opener and UCLA-Memphis. (Click here to read more…)

Tyson Ross didn’t seem like he was at his best today against Oregon State. That’s all right, though. Ross on a decent day is still better than about 90 percent of college pitchers on the best day of their careers.

The No. 7 Cal baseball team’s ace had some uncharacteristic trouble locating his fastball in the middle innings, gave up seven hits and walked three Beavers hitters in seven innings. But he allowed just two runs, stranded 10 runners and pitched himself out of a couple of jams in the early innings to lead the Bears to a 5-2 win over the two-time defending national champions and improve his own record to 5-0.
(Click here to read more…)

As I’m sure you’ve all heard, Sandy Barbour has pulled off yet another great hire in former Stanford and Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery. This comes as a bit of a surprise—in the week since Ben Braun has been fired, names such as Denver Nuggets assistant Mike Dunlap, Washington State coach Tony Bennett, Villanova coach Jay Wright and Pitt coach Jamie Dixon have oft been mentioned as leading potential candidates. St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett and Nevada coach Mark Fox were also possibilities.

But none would’ve been as perfect of a fit as Montgomery is for the job. He is a track record of success at the college level, he has coached in the NBA (albeit not so successfully), he can compete with the Lute Olsons and Tim Floyds to lure recruits, and he has the name to generate the type of excitement for the program—both within the Bay Area community and on the national stage—that has been absent for years.

Whether Montgomery will have actual success here remains to be seen—he is a grind-it-out, controlling, defensive-minded coach that will be very unlike anything the Bears are used to. Jerome Randle for one won’t be too pleased—if he thought he couldn’t play his type of ball in Braun’s system, he hasn’t experienced anything yet. Regardless, in terms of rejuvenating the program, Montgomery is pretty much perfect.

Here are some notes following today’s practice:

Offensive tackle Mike Tepper will return to the left side after starting 13 games at right tackle last season, coach Jeff Tedford confirmed. The redshirt senior is merely returning to the position he occupied as a sophomore two years ago, when he returned from a broken fibula.

Tedford also offered his thoughts on the relatively green receiving corps. (Click here to read more…)

In a world where mediocrity in sports is celebrated (see the CBI) sometimes true achievements get lost in the fray.

This was the case last Saturday when coach Peter Wright achieved his 200^th career win with the Bears. When Cal defeated No. 15 Arizona State 4-3 last week (an equally impressive feat) there were no streamers or balloons, no camera crews or press conference, just another hard fought victory for a great tennis coach. (Click here to read more…)