139 Comments

I'm amused by this joke as well as the people who didn't get that it was a joke https://twitter.com/normcharlatan/status/1516073533344030724?s=20&t=LPlYK31JM2up_mEr2k8RkQ

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love that video of marshawn driving the zamboni

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Name a Cal player who you think was totally under-rated?

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You know a lot of people here will disagree - but in a weird way Goff was underrated while here was here (maybe overrated on draft day but that's another story). It seemed all many Cal fans only saw his flaws(small hands!), and not his skills; put a solid team around him and we'd be in contention for CFP let alone a Pac-12 title.

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The biggest strike against Sonny Dykes is that even with a QB like that the best he could manage was 7 wins and the Armed Forces Bowl.

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Agreed - NFL talent at QB, OL & WR….but oh that defense was inept….like the Larry Scott of Conference Commissioners…the Mike Williams of AD’s.

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Keith Smith

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KEITH. SMITH.

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This made me wonder where he ended up and I found this https://pamplinmedia.com/component/content/article?id=5280

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MSG - Matt Summers Gavin

He never made it to the NFL but anchored offensive line with Mitchell Schwartz at Cal. He played LG, RT and LT and was a very solid player.

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Apr 19, 2022·edited Apr 19, 2022

Steve Levy: if Tedford starts him in 05 after Longshore broke his ankle and over Ayoob we probably go 11-2. I think with Levy we comfortably beat UCLA on the road and beat Oregon.

He was the perfect game manager QB, with enough mobility that would have excelled with the talent that we had on the 05 roster.

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Not sure about UCLA. Ayoob wasn't bad in that game and we mostly lost it because the defense and special teams couldn't stop Maurice Drew.

But we probably do pick up the OSU and Oregon games. All we needed was competent QB play in those.

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Ayoob was 18-35 for 215, 2 TDs and a game losing interception on our last drive.

Also, Ayoob was terrible in the red zone, so we had to settle for a lot of short FGs.

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Well, again that stat line looks like Ayoob gave us a decent chance to win. We scored 40 points. The problem is that the D and ST gave up 47.

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Yeah, you’re right.

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Apr 19, 2022·edited Apr 19, 2022

Overall point still stands, though, since you can swap in the Oregon State game for UCLA . . . that's one where Ayoob was awful and we could have won with half-decent QB play. Flip that and Oregon (Ayoob also awful) and we get to 10-2 in the regular season. The bowl game would be different, so who knows how that goes?

EDIT: Scratch that, it was an 11-game regular season then. So it would have been a 9-2 regular season. And also maybe the bowl game wouldn't be different! If we win those it creates a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-10: Cal, Oregon, and UCLA. Could be we wind up in the Vegas Bowl anyway.

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It was so bad.

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Alex Funches.

DeRuyter comes in with a 3-4 defense, having Devante Downs & Ray Davidson as ILBs. At OLB, he had Cam Saffle and Cam Goode. The "Rush" OLB Saffle goes down with an injury and doesn't play, so in steps Funches. This was when DeRuyter's 3-4 was effectively a 4-3 because the "Rush" OLB almost always played on the line standing up and came after the QB. Downs goes down in an injury and Jordan K steps in marvelously. Then Goode goes down with an injury and the shuffle people around and settle on Tevin Paul as the jumbo run stopper/pressure guy, making Funches then play coverage rather than rush. Funches was first on the team for TFL, second on the team with sacks, but was also really really good at covering the boundary. Teams stopped doing sweeps, flats, and quick outs to his side. So his tackle stats weren't great - and Jordan K, Downs, Ray Davison, Weaver, and even Gerran Brown had much better tackle numbers.

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Prentice McGruder

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Good call.

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Robert Jordan

Tim Mixon

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While he was at Cal, CJ Anderson. I remember during his playing days feeling he was under-utilized. His pro career has, I believe, served to emphasize this.

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And I feel this way about Ashton Stredick now.

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Put Richard Rodgers in the same the cupboard. With the exception of that UCLA game, I was always puzzled why he wasn't incorporated into the offense. His pro career validated that feeling.

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Dykes incorporated RR into the offense by making him a RB smh

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Ryan Forehan-Kelly

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How well behaved is/are your pet(s) on a 19 point scale? 19=Good Boy/Girl, 1=demon spawn

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15 (Dog): Extremely sweet, loyal, and friendly, but can get pretty excited and isn't good at responding to commands while distracted.

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Oh yeah - the young boy is a Brittany spaniel and has an awful case of puppy ADD…if he’s distracted by a visitor/bird etc., there is NO getting through to him. But he’s so sweet, and that goes a long way towards his score.

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Cat: 19. Honestly, I think the lack of bush coverage in our new housing development has changed her. She is now content to just hang out with me. She follows me around, calls for me when she wakes up, and generally doesn't like to be away from me. This is after six years of being a bitchy POS prior to moving.

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My cat is the same way. When in the house she wants to be with us. When out of the house, she'll lay out in the front or back yard for a while, but eventually meows to get back in.

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Old girl: 15

Young boy: 10

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Bagel

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too bad the bagel shop on telegraph closed. the place that replaced it is extremely underwhelming

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Asiago

Onion

Garlic

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Sesame

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anything sweet

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Cinnamon Raisin, Blueberry, Everything.

Always with cream cheese, if it's available. Otherwise, butter.

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I like cinnamon raisin with butter and bacon.

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Everything, Bacon, Egg, Cheese

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You like the Kosher version I see.

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Everything bagel with vegetable cream cheese, a slice of tomato and a few slices of onion.

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Toasted Sesame with cream cheese.

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Been really into the salt & pepper bagel from Boichik these days.

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Confession: I prefer Beauty's to Boichik

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I may have to try this place.

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That's ok. They do great bagels too. Boichik happens to be in my neighborhood.

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You live in a nice neighborhood!

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Never heard of Beauty's so I looked it up. Apparently they converted to a Wise Sons. Yelp reviews say good, but not as good. What say you, TBB?

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I really love their breakfast sandwiches (on a bialy when available). I usually get the mushroom one, but I recently tried the other one, and the egg was so perfect. Also, multiple potato options!

I realize that most people want to know which place's bagels are better. Both are good haha.

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Their bagels are so good.

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Pricey. At first I was questioning whether I needed a $3.50 bagel, but I've see the light. We gotta grip of them for an Easter potlock. Fools didn't eat them, so we got to keep them all for ourselves and are eating through them this week.

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Yes that's true. They are. I've only been there 3 times, I think, and the last time was traveling for work.

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Onion, toasted. Lox schmear, a few slivers of red onion, and a slice of tomato.

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Yeah, that sounds good.

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Plain, toasted with cream cheese

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Montreal style or bust

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I know not of which you speak, but I'll be in Montreal in a couple of weeks so now I know what I'm having for breakfast.

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Good bye New York,

Hello Montreal...

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Elsewhere in college

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This seems pretty on brand, literally

https://twitter.com/SportsBizMiss/status/1516413988132827140

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John Daly is still alive?

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and living his best life, it seems

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A school with an off-campus football stadium

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UMass played in Gillette Stadium when they first moved up to FBS. It was 2 hours away from Amherst. That, um, didn't work out and they're back on campus now.

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fUCLA

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USF

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Apr 19, 2022·edited Apr 19, 2022

Was momentarily confused till I realized you're talking about the South Fla version.

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San Diego State

Pitt

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I believe the new SD St stadium being built is on campus.

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Sort of. It's being built on the same site as Jack Murph/Qualcomm Stadium. But they're creating a whole new part of the SDSU campus there at Mission Valley, with a tram thingy to connect it to the main campus.

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Apr 19, 2022·edited Apr 19, 2022

This is correct. The old Q/Murph site is now part of the SDSU West Campus site that is being developed. While it will have some student housing, it will mostly be for grad students. The San Diego trolley has always had a stop at the Q/Murph site and SDSU so the thought is students can ride the trolley to the stadium on game day.

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U Miami. Over 20 miles and 45 minutes drive. That's comparable in distance and time driving from the far side of the Golden Gate Bridge to Memorial Stadium. What a hassle.

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UNLV.

Is ASU on or off campus?

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Don't know if U$C is technically on campus or not. Don't know if Exposition park is part of campus.

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UC of Los Angeles

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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A Federal Judge threw out the public transportation mask mandate. This may shock you - but the judge threw it out based on a technicality because the statue defining the CDC are to identify, contain, and destroy diseases - citing that masks don't actively destroy diseases. She was 33 years old and deemed not qualified to be a judge by the Bar Association when she was appointed by Trump administration. Good thing she'll only be in for a lifetime.

https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/wearing-a-mask-cleans-nothing-federal-judge-previously-deemed-not-qualified-by-american-bar-association-puts-a-stop-to-airplane-and-public-transit-mask-mandate/

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I hope they are appealing - even if you think Covid is declining I don’t think you want to let this stand as even persuasive non-binding precedent

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That's a good point. I'm not sure the mask mandate actually makes that much of a difference for population-level outcomes, but . . . this seems like a bad reason to overturn the CDC's policy.

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Gov. DeSantis (R-FL) has raised over $100m for his reelection campaign. Challenger Charlie Crist has raised $8.2m.

https://www.winknews.com/2022/04/18/gov-desantis-has-raised-more-than-100m-for-his-reelection-campaign/

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It's looking like he's becoming the Republicans' next chosen one.

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It is going to be great to see him and trump fight it out. I think once trump starts losing a few primaries to DeSantis he will pull out the old rigged primary election card that he played in Iowa when he lost to Cruz and of course the 2020 election. If he does, it will be interesting to see what the GQP does and if trumps base boycotts DeSantis in the general election.

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I still think Trump will eventually bow out and never officially run, that way he can keep all the money he's grifted since he lost the election

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Yeah, That's my take as well.

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Hope it is ugly! Fight! Fight! Fight!

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Oooh, yeah...and the loser starts a third party bid called the Freedom America Party or some such!

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Keep beating the "culture war" drum

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PRO

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Can’t wait until they outlaw the shift next year. Baseball is so boring when everyone’s hitting .219.

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Hitters need to channel Wee Willy Keeler. Umps policing where guys stand in the field is the spectacle I do not want to see

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The Arizona Diamondbacks sure appear to be the worst hitting baseball club in a long time.

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Oh geez. Only 2 players hitting above the Mendoza line and one of them just barely (0.212).

https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/_/name/ari/table/batting/sort/avg/dir/desc

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They loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the 9th of a 1-0 game and went strikeout/pop out/flyout...lose 1-0.

Poor Trey Lovullo.

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Nats are not too great either. MadBum had them no hit for 4 2/3 today before unraveling a bit after a dropped pop up.

I watched the beginning of the O's and A's last night. Got a bit of nostalgia because one of the between inning shots was from Redwood Regional Park looking down at the Mormon Temple and the sunset across the bay.

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Ya, tho they’ve got a full on superstar in Soto…he could outpace the D’backs on his own.

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Even if I'm not watching the game I try to check in on his ABs.

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Must not have been a national broadcast. Otherwise they would've used the Treasure Island night shot looking Westbound on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge.

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It was the local regional network that shows Nats and O's games.

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Or the Minnesota Twins when trying to hit sliders. Both Heaney and Kershaw shut them down on sliders. They were bad.

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Have you ever seen two red cards on the same tackle? Now you have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03A63nsGovI&t=95s

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was that one for the spike and the other for flopping by rolling around like a toddler down a hill?

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ICYMI: The Double-A affiliate of the LA Angels - the Mobile (AL) BayBears was bought and relocated to the far northern part of the state and renamed the Rocket City Trash Pandas in 2020.

https://www.milb.com/rocket-city

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I'm going to the OKC Dodgers vs the Sacramento River Cats game tonight and Sun afternoon. My friend and I bought tickets while the lockout was going strong because we thought this might be the only baseball we could watch for a few months.

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We are hoping to go to a Trash Pandas game this summer! (my husband is an Angels fan)

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Looks like it's outside Huntsville. The Huntsville Stars were the A's double-A affiliate, back in the day. Canseco and others came through there.

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TIL: The IPL - the pro cricket league in India - has 10 teams. Of those 10 teams, none of the official mascots are animals. One's mascot is the Kings, another is the Super Kings. One is Royals, another is Royal Challengers - the latter being a liquor brand, kinda like the Jim Beam-ers. One is Titans, one is Super Giantsl. One is the Sun Risers, named after the TV Channel Sun TV. Delhi's mascot is unoriginally the Capitals. Mumbai's is confusingly "Indians" and is perhaps the only time that it's not un-PC to have an Indian mascot. And my favorite is the Kolkata Knight Riders - literally named after the 1980s TV series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Premier_League#Current_teams

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I think it would be great if Mumbai adopted Cleveland Indians' "Chief Wahoo" as their mascot.

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I think Rishi just wanted a reason to post pictures of their cheerleaders.

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I googled IPL Cheerleaders for... you know... research. WHATS WITH ALL THE WHITE LADIES?

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your Goan trash, CHENNAI SUPER KINGS FOREVER

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Rain and baseball in the Big Apple

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/4/18/23031292/giants-mets-preview-logan-webb-max-scherzer

The San Francisco Giants are in the midst of 11 road games in 11 days, and their next stop is the city they called home from 1883 until 1957: New York.

But New York has a problem: rain.

The Giants and New York Mets were supposed to start a four-game series on Monday. Instead, that game got rained out long before it was supposed to start — and long before the rain began to fall, for that matter.

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Rain? That's nothing. Albany woke up to 3 inches of snow today. So we're into third winter, now.

See, after about four months of straight-up winter, we get the Spring of Deception, then second winter, then Fool's Spring, and now it's after Easter and we get third winter. It's awesome.

After this will be mud/pothole season, then The Pollening. It's fine. Really. No, it's great. I'm very happy. Totally great.

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Freddie Freeman homers against Braves, Clayton Kershaw wins 100th at Dodger Stadium

https://www.truebluela.com/2022/4/18/23031413/freddie-freeman-home-run-clayton-kershaw-100-wins-dodger-stadium-dodgers-braves

Monday night at Dodger Stadium saw something old and something new, to borrow a phrase, but it was all blue. Another big inning propelled the Dodgers, this time 7-4 against the Braves on milestone nights for Clayton Kershaw and Freddie Freeman.

After getting presented his 2021 Silver Slugger Award before Monday’s game, Freeman saw two pitches in the strike zone in his first at-bat against his former team, hitting the second one over the wall in left center for the first run of the game.

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Braves manager Brian Snitker's decision to use Sean Newcomb in a high leverage situation actually got challenged by the Braves beat people. Newcomb (who used to be a highly touted prospect that the Braves got from the Angels for Andrelton Simmons) got DFA'ed this morning. He actually tossed me a ball before the game last night, and clearly me wishing him luck in return did not help him at all.

I went to the game with my entire family (and possibly ate too many Dodger Dogs since they are free for baseline club) since my sister's wedding is this weekend and she was also able to flex her ability to get good sports tickets to my parents. The last time that the four of us went to a Braves game was back in 2003 and Barry Bonds hit a walkoff homer.

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A's win 5-1 after scoring 4 runs in a 2-out situation in the bottom of the 6th thanks to some costly Orioles errors

https://twitter.com/Athletics/status/1516277346910703617

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Game #11: A’s capitalize on errors to win home opener

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2022/4/18/23031616/game-11-oakland-as-baltimore-orioles-score-result

Defense wins ballgames.

That truth was on full display Monday at the Coliseum, as the Oakland A’s defeated the Baltimore Orioles to win their 2022 home opener. The final score was 5-1 and the defense made all the difference, with the A’s lineup benefiting from four unearned runs while their fielders threw out two Orioles runners at the plate.

Those bonus runs all came in the 6th inning, and all with two outs already on the board. Baltimore flubbed two grounders during that frame, giving Oakland all the help they needed to post a crooked number and take the lead for good.

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Steph drops 34 off the bench as the Dubs cruise to another easy victory

https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1516275878241570816

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New Death Lineup nickname. Tim Kawakami of The Athletic came up with "Death and Maxes" since 4 are on max contracts. I like it.

https://theathletic.com/3254504/2022/04/18/kawakami-why-this-is-steph-currys-best-defensive-season-and-why-the-warriors-absolutely-need-it/

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@Warriors should sweep because they have a bench player that would start on 29 other teams.@

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When the game started I expected the refs to call things super tight when Jokic had the ball. And after like 4 possessions he had 4 FTs. But the refs seemed to loosen it up as the game went on.

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And he got ejected in the 4th. Draymond is excellent at harassing him in the paint.

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Draymond is a like a smarter and way more skilled version of Rodman, love that guy

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[NFL] Browns being investigated for tanking during the '16 and '17 seasons, the two seasons that Hue Jackson went a combined 1-31.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/04/18/browns-investigation-alleged-tanking

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Are they going to investigate Wyking Jones too?

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I think it is the Fox hire that really proves that Cal is tanking the mens basketball program.

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Exactly.

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CAL

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[SB] ICYMI: Friday's win was because of a Furd screw up. This will never get old.

https://twitter.com/Avery03971727/status/1515128113990012937

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I saw it on Friday and watched it again just now. Long live the walk-off pickle!

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Crazy trivia. There were two season since WWII that Cal successfully kicked only a single extra point 1950 and 1958. The 1950 season was Pappy Waldorf's third straight Rose Bowl season when they went 9-0-1 during the regular season - but had a TERRIBLE kicker who went 1 for 26! In 1958, college introduced the two point rule. Cal, like many others, mostly went for 2. They attempted 28 two-point conversions, scoring 13 times. Cal only tried to kick a one-pointer twice, making 1.

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Apr 19, 2022·edited Apr 19, 2022Author

[FB] Who holds the all-time career points who was never a kicker? [Edit: non-QB]

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Goff? Cal's all-time TD leader, so he seems like an obvious pick

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Sorry. I should have said "non-QBs".

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Apr 19, 2022Liked by SGBear

Russell White?

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Correct. What makes this more impressive is that he was academically ineligible in 1989, didn't have a redshirt year, and wasn't a starter his sophomore year.

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[WGolf] After the first round of the Pac-12 Championship, the Bears are in 11th place - only ahead of Utah, which doesn't have a women's golf team. 🙁

https://calbears.com/documents/2022/4/18/Round_1_Team_Leaderboard_Pac_12_Championships.pdf

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Ultimately the Pac-12 does not matter (Bears are a lock to make the NCAA Regional), but it's still weird that Cal is using a lineup where arguably their best and most experienced golfers, who both played last week, were rested.

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