Russell White was arguably the best Cal talent ever. Sean Dawkins had a middling career, despite being the second best WR I witnessed in a Cal uniform, behind DeSean.
I still don't think he got a fair shake. His instincts were so good that he could anticipate where the play was going. In the old days he would have played middle LB in the NFL.
Re Grammy’s generally, my twins (9 yo girls) were so happy that Harry Styles won two Grammys - it was like their favorite team won the World Series! Except instead of baseball jerseys they are wearing glittery tights 😀
Also why were Coldplay and Beyoncé nominated for so much stuff? Even judged against similar music styles I don’t see how you can honestly say their new stuff was any good. They seem to have vaulted into U2 “perennial nominee” status, where they get accolades for anything they do just because they did it
Coldplay is like the epitome of a band that transitions from making music to making a commodity. What sucks is it's hard to avoid hearing them and their stupid sound.
On Saturday, it was a little late and I realized SNL was on.. so I put it on.. Just my luck, I tune in at the beginning of a Coldplay performance. Then after about 2 minutes of feeling a sickness and aggravation swelling inside me, it suddenly dawned on me: I can turn this off! I dont actually have to sit and watch this 45 year old man who is wearing a sleeveless shirt that barely comes down to his waste singing garbage designed to please narcissistic teen girls. So, I turned it off and never went back. Heard I missed some funny skits.
They weren’t up this year but I feel like every time they release an album they are automatically nominated, even though they haven’t actually been any good since Achtung Baby. Though my kids liked Bono as the lion in Sing 2!
Heh, for the past couple months, I been listening to either 1 or 2 albums that I haven't listened to (for the most part) every day after work. I have about 600 albums, almost all from 70's - early 80's. But if you knew about me, I didn't keep on buying vinyl from "ok" bands: 12 albums? I have their two best albums, period.
But have listened to some that were (and are) truly great that I didn't listen to for 25 years for some random reasons, loved them, but listened to a lot back in the day - rest of bands were CD, although not many of those are reasonably within a couple of years (not sure why).
We watched the Grammy for best Dance/Electronic music. I was quickly reminded of why I don't watch the Grammys. The pool of artists nominated is so damn shallow that it makes me wonder if the folks nominating actually listen to anything that isn't spinning in the top 40.
and there's nothing wrong with that as such... although people on twitter last night seemed very angry about the Harry Styles win, so it might be a niche view on my part
Does that even make sense though? Like does Taylor Swift need Trevor Noah to pump her up at some awards show? I think the industry would get more bang for its buck if they used it as an opportunity to promote newer and/or lesser known acts
Viola Davis won a Grammy for her memoir "Finding Me" for Best Audio Book, becoming the 18th EGOT winner. Others include John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, and Whoopi Goldberg.
While Tracy Morgan's character from 30 Rock made the accomplishment famous, it was Phillip Michael Thomas (Tubbs from Miami Vice) who actually coined it.
On Fri at Northstar the top of the mountain was windy and there was some snow so it was overcast. Mid mountain was mostly sunny. Conditions were good,.
On Sat, Heavenly was sunny all day. Beautiful view over the late. A little gusty at the top and the gondola closed down in the afternoon due to wind. Depending on the lift, the singles lines were between 2-10 min.
There was an incoming storm so I ended up leaving Sat night after UNC/Dook instead of skiing on Sun. Even then, there was chain control between Donner Lake and some small town I don't remember, probably about 25 mi away. I think they got around 10".
Decent run of results for teams I support this weekend: Everton got the new manager bounce and beat Arsenal, Union Berlin beat FC Mainz to briefly go top of the Bundesliga (Bayern went back to first on Sunday, but only by a point), and while it's not strictly professional, Scotland beat England in the Calcutta Cup game of the Six Nations - third year in a row, and the last time that happened was 70-71-27, so it's kind of a big deal.
Antonio Brown blames his aggressive, erratic behavior on a) years of head trauma from football, b) a tough childhood, c) drugs/alcohol, or d) teammate James Harrison?
Ex-NFL cornerback Vontae Davis was found sleeping by the side of the freeway after he crashed his Tesla into a pickup, the latter hitting a pedestrian who had to be hospitalized.
Including the regular season and playoffs, both the Chiefs and Eagles are 16 and 3, have scored a total of 546 points and both have averaged 4.6 yards per carry.
[Wojo] Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris to the Mavs in exchange for 2 picks and three picks including a 2029 first rounder. Irving is an unrestricted free agent after this season.
It is a pretty wild swing, but they definitely did not have the talent to win before the trade, so can understand wanting to do something. They need to add some defense too though
Should have kept Brunson. A bad move to try to cover up another bad move is a franchise killer. Kyrie will be a good soldier until he gets that extension, and then he's going to make life hell for them.
I understand the Mavs are trying to get some talent around Luka and are hoping to sign Kyrie in the offseason, but I don't see this going well. Some Mavs fans seem to think they're going to win it al.
Stayed there for a few weeks while I was traveling around. Got a place in a hostel right next to the Four Seasons. It was built so that part of the structure was made up by the Theodosian walls, dating to around 44O A.D. Liked Hagia Sophia, the underground cisterns, the remnants of the Hippodrome with the obelisk imported from Egypt. Also went to various mosques and the two castles on either side of the Bosporus Rumeli Hissar and Anadolu Hissar. They were built to prevent aid from the Black Sea coming to help the Byzantines during the siege by the Ottomans in 1453, and an enormous chain was hung across the golden horn to keep other reinforcements from arriving.
Most of the time yes for example during sieges by the Arabs over the centuries. Iirc though the Turks were trying to prevent Genoa or Venice or other western powers from aiding Constantinople. To be sure I'd have to read up on the siege or watch the docudrama The Ottomans on Netflix
I, too, had a nice time there...until I was drugged and robbed. (The DBD has heard this story before so I won't rehash it today.) Suffice it to say, I give Turkey zero stars as a travel destination.
Every time there's an earthquake outside the U.S. and lots of things collapse and many people die, I'm grateful for our building codes. The advocates of deregulation rarely seem to put two and two together in that way.
"As the disaster unfolded in southeast Turkey on Monday, it also played out across social media. Residents, including some who said they were trapped in the rubble, used Instagram and Twitter to post pleas for help. In several cases, victims included images or videos that showed them surrounded by debris. In others, people posted their addresses to direct rescue workers."
having seen some of the pictures earlier today of entire city blocks of collapsed apartment buildings, I fear that death toll is going to climb quite a bit.
But last night I did see turkeys fly. After a couple below freezing days, it warmed up so I went for a walk. Right at sunset the turkeys in a nearby park were flying up to roost for the night. Fun to see. Also got low-bridged by a barred owl.
I've got shoulder length hair so normally I would say that that was a possibility. But even though it had warmed up some, I was wearing a knit hat. Way back when, I remember being dive bombed sometimes when running Lake Merritt. Can't remember what kind of small black birds it was.
I would get occasionally swooped on by a mockingbird in one particular tree in my old neighborhood. Between that and the 3-4am "singing", they quickly dropped down my list of favorite birds
[WaPo] Department of Defense has notified Congress that there had been several previous incursions of Chinese surveillance balloons during the Trump administration.
Sky diver whose chute failed and slams into a house fares better than you'd think
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/a-skydiver-slammed-into-a-house-after-his-parachute-failed-he-survived/
NPR looks into who is behind all the "Jesus: He Gets Us" media campaign. It's the Hobby Lobby family.
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/03/1154359594/the-he-gets-us-campaign-promotes-jesus-but-whos-behind-it-and-whats-the-goal
Cal football players who were really great, but didn't pan out in the NFL
How about those that were good or contributory but not stars, but did pan out in the NFL:
David Binn.
Had one of the the longest tenures as a long-snappers in the NFL, if not the longest tenure.
Spent the bulk of his NFL career with San Diego.
Cal is QB U and RB U and LS U.
I'm still pretty shocked by how long Jeremy Ross lasted in the NFL.
Yeah he was such a good returner.
Craig Stevens had a long career too.
I guess it's like being a long snapper: having that one skill that will keep you employed for a long while.
Chris Conte
Scott Fujita
Mitchell Schwartz. He was definitely good in college but being a lineman he wasn't a star, but had just as solid career in the NFL.
Marvin Jones
I would consider him a star at Cal, although he was outshadowed by Keenan Allen in his final year.
I just added him because he was overshadowed by Keenan Allen and he wasn’t the fastest WR but he always had great hands.
Desmond Bishop
CJ Anderson, super bowl hero for the Broncos
Russell White was arguably the best Cal talent ever. Sean Dawkins had a middling career, despite being the second best WR I witnessed in a Cal uniform, behind DeSean.
Bryce Treggs
Jahvid Best (probably would have panned out if not for concussions)
100%
Chad Hansen
JJ Arrington
Zack Follett
Lavelle Hawkins
Kenny Lawler
Dave Barr
Rich Campbell
SQT
Weav, Russell White
I was hoping Weaver would become the next JJ Watt.
I still don't think he got a fair shake. His instincts were so good that he could anticipate where the play was going. In the old days he would have played middle LB in the NFL.
Unfortunately I think his style just isn't well suited to the modern NFL game. Not enough speed.
I agree. Similar to NBA, NFL has changed. It's all about the athleticism.
EGOT
Re Grammy’s generally, my twins (9 yo girls) were so happy that Harry Styles won two Grammys - it was like their favorite team won the World Series! Except instead of baseball jerseys they are wearing glittery tights 😀
Also why were Coldplay and Beyoncé nominated for so much stuff? Even judged against similar music styles I don’t see how you can honestly say their new stuff was any good. They seem to have vaulted into U2 “perennial nominee” status, where they get accolades for anything they do just because they did it
Coldplay is like the epitome of a band that transitions from making music to making a commodity. What sucks is it's hard to avoid hearing them and their stupid sound.
On Saturday, it was a little late and I realized SNL was on.. so I put it on.. Just my luck, I tune in at the beginning of a Coldplay performance. Then after about 2 minutes of feeling a sickness and aggravation swelling inside me, it suddenly dawned on me: I can turn this off! I dont actually have to sit and watch this 45 year old man who is wearing a sleeveless shirt that barely comes down to his waste singing garbage designed to please narcissistic teen girls. So, I turned it off and never went back. Heard I missed some funny skits.
He really looks like a hobo. Like he drops a deuce regularly on the escalator at Montgomery BART
U2? What a joke.
They weren’t up this year but I feel like every time they release an album they are automatically nominated, even though they haven’t actually been any good since Achtung Baby. Though my kids liked Bono as the lion in Sing 2!
Heh, for the past couple months, I been listening to either 1 or 2 albums that I haven't listened to (for the most part) every day after work. I have about 600 albums, almost all from 70's - early 80's. But if you knew about me, I didn't keep on buying vinyl from "ok" bands: 12 albums? I have their two best albums, period.
But have listened to some that were (and are) truly great that I didn't listen to for 25 years for some random reasons, loved them, but listened to a lot back in the day - rest of bands were CD, although not many of those are reasonably within a couple of years (not sure why).
U2 peaked with The Joshua Tree
;-)
Yup.
We watched the Grammy for best Dance/Electronic music. I was quickly reminded of why I don't watch the Grammys. The pool of artists nominated is so damn shallow that it makes me wonder if the folks nominating actually listen to anything that isn't spinning in the top 40.
I find that if I treat it as an industry lobbying awards show, it all makes much more sense - or it would if I watched it.
You are definitely right, I need to recalibrate. With some exception here and there, this is all about the industry promoting its money makers
and there's nothing wrong with that as such... although people on twitter last night seemed very angry about the Harry Styles win, so it might be a niche view on my part
Does that even make sense though? Like does Taylor Swift need Trevor Noah to pump her up at some awards show? I think the industry would get more bang for its buck if they used it as an opportunity to promote newer and/or lesser known acts
Yeah exactly, it is just super lazy.
Viola Davis won a Grammy for her memoir "Finding Me" for Best Audio Book, becoming the 18th EGOT winner. Others include John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, and Whoopi Goldberg.
While Tracy Morgan's character from 30 Rock made the accomplishment famous, it was Phillip Michael Thomas (Tubbs from Miami Vice) who actually coined it.
Snow
Cone
John
Informer, ya' no say daddy me Snow me I go blame
A leaky boom boom dam
I still enjoy seeing the In Living Color Jim Carrey parody of that one
White.
And 7 dwarfs.
JT
When my older daughter was little JT Snow was her favorite player. Never forget her unrestrained joy the day we saw him hit a grand slam.
He did save Darren Baker's life in that one World Series game.
Was at the game and totally missed it. Wife told me about when I got home.
Snow was great up in Tahoe this weekend.
On Fri at Northstar the top of the mountain was windy and there was some snow so it was overcast. Mid mountain was mostly sunny. Conditions were good,.
On Sat, Heavenly was sunny all day. Beautiful view over the late. A little gusty at the top and the gondola closed down in the afternoon due to wind. Depending on the lift, the singles lines were between 2-10 min.
There was an incoming storm so I ended up leaving Sat night after UNC/Dook instead of skiing on Sun. Even then, there was chain control between Donner Lake and some small town I don't remember, probably about 25 mi away. I think they got around 10".
The Weather Channel just showed a couple clips from the Cal snow lab at Soda Springs. Plenty of snow.
PRO
Decent run of results for teams I support this weekend: Everton got the new manager bounce and beat Arsenal, Union Berlin beat FC Mainz to briefly go top of the Bundesliga (Bayern went back to first on Sunday, but only by a point), and while it's not strictly professional, Scotland beat England in the Calcutta Cup game of the Six Nations - third year in a row, and the last time that happened was 70-71-27, so it's kind of a big deal.
Doctor says that Carlos Correa's ankle is the worst he's ever seen
https://www.audacy.com/wfan/sports/mets/heyman-doctor-suggested-correa-has-worst-ankle-hes-seen
Antonio Brown blames his aggressive, erratic behavior on a) years of head trauma from football, b) a tough childhood, c) drugs/alcohol, or d) teammate James Harrison?
https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/pittsburgh-steelers-antonio-brown-james-harrison-cte
Who says Aaron Rodgers can't win on a Sunday in February?
https://twitter.com/attproam/status/1622330134555676673
He’s actually pretty tough on Sundays in February…
It’s the one’s in January that give him trouble.
Ex-NFL cornerback Vontae Davis was found sleeping by the side of the freeway after he crashed his Tesla into a pickup, the latter hitting a pedestrian who had to be hospitalized.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-11715889/Ex-NFL-star-Vontae-Davis-arrested-DUI-Florida-crashing-Tesla-pick-truck.html
WWWWWWWWaaaaaasssstttteeeeddddddd
Lower division pro hockey Quad City Storm wins by forfeit after their opponents failed to show up. Their opponent was the home team.
https://twitter.com/icetimecleve/status/1622361636303519746
haha..wow. Would've been funny if the QC Storm had an extra skater on the ice and gotten a too many men on the ice penalty.
Including the regular season and playoffs, both the Chiefs and Eagles are 16 and 3, have scored a total of 546 points and both have averaged 4.6 yards per carry.
https://clutchpoints.com/nfl-news-chiefs-eagles-stat-similarities-super-bowl
[Wojo] Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris to the Mavs in exchange for 2 picks and three picks including a 2029 first rounder. Irving is an unrestricted free agent after this season.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35594375/sources-nets-trading-star-guard-kyrie-irving-mavericks
It is a pretty wild swing, but they definitely did not have the talent to win before the trade, so can understand wanting to do something. They need to add some defense too though
Should have kept Brunson. A bad move to try to cover up another bad move is a franchise killer. Kyrie will be a good soldier until he gets that extension, and then he's going to make life hell for them.
I understand the Mavs are trying to get some talent around Luka and are hoping to sign Kyrie in the offseason, but I don't see this going well. Some Mavs fans seem to think they're going to win it al.
DROP
TURKEY
Spouse and I vacationed in Instanbul a decade ago. Beautiful place and amazing food.
Stayed there for a few weeks while I was traveling around. Got a place in a hostel right next to the Four Seasons. It was built so that part of the structure was made up by the Theodosian walls, dating to around 44O A.D. Liked Hagia Sophia, the underground cisterns, the remnants of the Hippodrome with the obelisk imported from Egypt. Also went to various mosques and the two castles on either side of the Bosporus Rumeli Hissar and Anadolu Hissar. They were built to prevent aid from the Black Sea coming to help the Byzantines during the siege by the Ottomans in 1453, and an enormous chain was hung across the golden horn to keep other reinforcements from arriving.
Wasn't the chain a defensive tactic to protect the fleet of Constantinople and not the other way around?
Most of the time yes for example during sieges by the Arabs over the centuries. Iirc though the Turks were trying to prevent Genoa or Venice or other western powers from aiding Constantinople. To be sure I'd have to read up on the siege or watch the docudrama The Ottomans on Netflix
Recommended
I, too, had a nice time there...until I was drugged and robbed. (The DBD has heard this story before so I won't rehash it today.) Suffice it to say, I give Turkey zero stars as a travel destination.
Every time there's an earthquake outside the U.S. and lots of things collapse and many people die, I'm grateful for our building codes. The advocates of deregulation rarely seem to put two and two together in that way.
was talking to the missus earlier and she said almost exactly the same thing
Southern Turkey suffers a series of earthquakes, including a 7.8 and a 7.5 quake. More than 1,800 people killed and thousands are injured.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-earthquake-latest-020623/index.html
Relevant from the WaPo -
"As the disaster unfolded in southeast Turkey on Monday, it also played out across social media. Residents, including some who said they were trapped in the rubble, used Instagram and Twitter to post pleas for help. In several cases, victims included images or videos that showed them surrounded by debris. In others, people posted their addresses to direct rescue workers."
Here's hoping this helps people get rescued.
having seen some of the pictures earlier today of entire city blocks of collapsed apartment buildings, I fear that death toll is going to climb quite a bit.
Most likely
Meanwhile, Buffalo NY hit by a 3.8 magnitude quake
https://abcnews.go.com/US/38-magnitude-earthquake-hits-upstate-new-york/
As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
"The turkeys are hitting the ground like wet cement."
How do they get high up on trees?
Wild turkeys can fly. They haven't been raised for dinner tables. Hence, they are slimmer and they can achieve flight as nature intended.
That makes sense.
So meat turkey is solid and wild turkey is liquid.
pqtm
I get the reference.
But last night I did see turkeys fly. After a couple below freezing days, it warmed up so I went for a walk. Right at sunset the turkeys in a nearby park were flying up to roost for the night. Fun to see. Also got low-bridged by a barred owl.
Did the barred owl mistake your hair for prey?
I've got shoulder length hair so normally I would say that that was a possibility. But even though it had warmed up some, I was wearing a knit hat. Way back when, I remember being dive bombed sometimes when running Lake Merritt. Can't remember what kind of small black birds it was.
I would get occasionally swooped on by a mockingbird in one particular tree in my old neighborhood. Between that and the 3-4am "singing", they quickly dropped down my list of favorite birds
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
George Santos - the 2023 Grammy Winner for Best Audio Book - has been accused of Sexual Harassment in his Capitol Office
https://twitter.com/DerekMyers/status/1621618743620018176
That's 2023 EGOT winner George Santos.
[WaPo] Department of Defense has notified Congress that there had been several previous incursions of Chinese surveillance balloons during the Trump administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/05/china-spy-balloon-gop/
Trump and others deny it in a social media post that included all caps, which probably means it's true.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-tries-to-deny-that-spy-balloons-also-flew-over-us-during-his-presidency?ref=wrap
Oh course it's true! At least 3 times.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
Turning Point USA holds an anti-affirmative action bake sale at Clemson.
https://twitter.com/Popitics1/status/1621673777510719488
Of course they did
https://twitter.com/Stanford_GOP/status/1619213047301832704
Jaden Rashada has no NIL.
https://theathletic.com/4149181/2023/02/06/jaden-rashada-nil/
Sad. so sad.
CAL
Go Bears!!!
[WPolo] #4 Cal loses to #1 Stanfurd 14-8, after the Card poured it on in the 3rd by outscoring the Bears 7-2.
https://calbears.com/news/2023/2/5/womens-water-polo-no-4-bears-fall-to-no-1-stanford.aspx
[WBB] Cal loses at Wazzu 70-60. Cal drops to 2-10 in conference.
https://calbears.com/news/2023/2/5/womens-basketball-cal-falls-at-washington-state-70-60.aspx
[MBB] Cal almost scores 50 points vs. Utes. @Good for you@
https://calbears.com/news/2023/2/5/mens-basketball-cal-downed-by-runnin-utes-on-road.aspx
It was halftime when I got home. Both teams had abysmal shooting percentages. I tried to watch but didn't last long. Decided I'd rather make dinner.
Couldn't watch. We started melting down with around 4:00 left in the 1st half. Didn't bother to watch the 2nd half. Yawn.