Cal Athletics: Crowdsourcing During the Depths of the Off-Season
What are you interested in reading more about?
Photo source UC Berkeley
The ‘official’ college sports off-season is shockingly short. The college baseball World Series wraps up in late June, just a few short weeks before college football ‘fall’ practice kicks off in early August. It’s rare when there’s not something happening in the world of college sports.
And there are absolutely Cal things worth paying attention to. Cal softball will be pushing for an NCAA at-large spot, Cal women’s water polo will be at the MPSF championships looking to pull an upset, and Cal rugby will be playing for a national title in two weeks.
But these are the slow days for Cal football and Cal basketball. Over the next few weeks, 2023-24 roster will solidify as the transfer portal market turns, and we’ll bring you all the Cal specific news. But I wouldn’t expect anything earth shattering.
Which means that between now and August we have time to explore topics that are a bit more esoteric. Over the next few weeks I’m hoping to catch up to the NCAA’s attempts to lobby the federal government in a desperate attempt to save amateurism. I’ve been working on an article expressing my . . . continued displeasure with Jim Knowlton and the Cal athletics administration. At some point, the Pac-12 will sign a TV deal and we’ll find out if the conference is really screwed, or only a little screwed. And there are still plenty of Mark Madsen nuggets worth talking about.
So consider this an open call for off-season topics that you’re interested in reading about. Whether it’s a short Q that I can A or a longer form topic worthy of discussion or a current event you’d like to hear more about, now is the time to find ways to get through a long summer off-season together. Maybe you’d like some film breakdown of Utah Valley’s pick and roll, or maybe you want Campanile Falcon Fan Fiction (just me?) or maybe all you want is some 2023 Cal football position previews. I can’t guarantee that myself or other W4C writers can fulfill every request, but we certainly try to give the people what they want.
What is still to come this school year:
National Championship or Bust:
Rugby 15s - D1A championship final on May 6th
Men's Rowing - IRA championship final on June 4th, national champs poised to repeat after beating UW this weekend (I should write a post on this)
Track and Field - mainly throwing with Mykolas Alekna (men's discus) and Anna Purchase (women's hammer) at NCAA championships on on June 7-10
NCAA Championships bound:
Women's Water Polo - should make semifinal, could make final
Beach Volleyball - should return for 2nd straight year (NCAA expanded field), could win a match
Women's Crew - should be in the tier above but has slipped a bit
Should make the bigger NCAA postseason:
Softball - would be the first time in the Chelsea Spencer era, could make noise in a regional if matchup is right
Men's Tennis - ranked No.28, would be first postseason under Kris Kwinta
Women's Tennis - ranked No.27, one of the key player missed some time but is now back to give Cal depth; probably a top-20 team at full strength
Men's Golf - No.50, team's got the talent (based on recruiting buzz) to be a national title contender but hasn't quite got the results...yet
Women's Golf - No.40
If they get hot and make then win the Pac-12 Tournament...
Baseball - early promise fizzled after losing ace to TJ, some of the other guys have started to pitch better and longer but not quite enough. Only top-8 makes the Pac-12 tourney, Cal (6-15 in Pac-12 play) need to make up ground on Arizona (9-12)
Also active:
Lacrosse (5-11) is in their first season under a new head coach in Jennifer Wong, recently won back-to-back matches for the first time in a few seasons, also beat Oregon twice this year so not the worst in the Pac
1. Athletic Department Finances. (A). Donor Support and Age Distribution: is there broad support, or are we relying on older donors only, what are the plans for the continued development and broadening of support? (B) the state of Sponsorships and the Learfield contract. (C) Projections.
2. Community Engagement and the absence of it. Why not expand Patrick Laird's Read for California? We have empty seats at almost every department event. Why not build our long term identity with communities from Sacramento to San Jose and out to Fresno with free tickets for school kids and high school athletes and their parents. We have already sunk the cost for the facilities. They will buy some merch and concessions and there will be more fans in the stands rooting for the teams. This is labor intensive but not expensive.
3. The state of Cal's NIL.. How much has been raised and spent. How does it work.
Thanks for asking and for the work you all do.