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SGBear's avatar

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF LIFE

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SGBear's avatar

PRO

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SGBear's avatar

I would happily retire to sleep on a pile of money next to my supermodel wife, but Justin Verlander is not me

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/san-francisco-giants/news/giants-justin-verlander-makes-decision-retirement-plans/2bae32befaa83dc551166495

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O.Overall's avatar

The only guys that used to last that long were knuckleballers. Crazy he is a power pitcher and is still going! He has the elbow tendons of a giant kraken

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heyalumnigo's avatar

He should retire. Maybe the Dodgers will try to re-sign him as a reclaimation project. I hope not. They did fail with Syndergaard.

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FiatSlug's avatar

This is merely more evidence that athletes don't know when to hang it up.

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sycasey's avatar

The mentality that gets you to the top of the sport also makes it very hard to give it up.

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Wiata78's avatar

It was around 1991 when a guy at work said to me, forcefully, "If I were Bill Gates, I would've retired a long time ago!" Of course, that's why he wasn't Bill Gates.

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FiatSlug's avatar

Indeed. You make a pertinent point, often ignored by many.

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SGBear's avatar

Shoei Ohtani and associate implicated in multi-million dollar scandal. Again.

https://apnews.com/article/shohei-ohtani-lawsuit-hawaii-development-eee60fe3a5aaa467554ee3e388f6f06a

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Oakland Ballers, the best California pro baseball team, had a travel day.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Athletics drop Series Opener to the Rays, 7-4

https://www.athleticsnation.com/recaps/99254/athletics-drop-series-opener-to-the-rays-7-4

Fresh from taking two straight series’ on the road for the first time this season, the Athletics returned home to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento to take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Jeffrey Springs took the mound today against Ryan Pepiot for the Rays.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Deja Yu all over again: Giants drop another home game, 4-1

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/san-francisco-giants-scores-standings-nl-west/99333/deja-yu-all-over-again-giants-drop-another-home-game-4-1

The definitive moment of the San Francisco Giants’ 4-1 loss to the San Diego Padres came in the bottom of the third inning. Rookie right fielder Drew Gilbert singled for the first hit of his major league career, then stole second for the first stolen base of his major league career. And when the throw to second went into center field, he got thrown out trying to go to third, making the first out on the base paths of his major league career.

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sycasey's avatar

Amazing how terrible they are at home. Not exactly building the fan base here.

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FiatSlug's avatar

I'm less than certain that Bob Melvin is retained after this season. This season has looked like a train wreck starting in June.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Come on Giants, you had ONE job.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Yoshinobu Yamamoto gives up extra runs on extra rest in Dodgers’ loss to Angels

https://www.truebluela.com/dodgers-scores-standings/101342/dodgers-yoshinobu-yamamoto

Yoshinobu Yamamoto saw his start pushed back for an extra day rest, and had a rare clunker of a start in the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Angels on Monday night at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

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SGBear's avatar

FRY

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SGBear's avatar

UP

The full English/Scottish/Irish/Welsh/Cornish/Aussie/Kiwi breakfast is undefeated, especially after a heavy night

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CalGal2004's avatar

Key learning from Unit 3 meal plan: butter on fries. #freshmanfifteen

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Best fast food fries. Onward to 1000!

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SGBear's avatar

Weirdly, it's McDonald's. They are the gold standard.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

I agree, BUT, it was much better when they used beef tallow. They still are better than BK, Wendy's etc.

For premium fast food, Penn Station had super good crispy fries. And I do like 5 guys. Hate In 'N Out fries.

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SGBear's avatar

Truth.

In 'N Out's fries are made from fresh potatoes. This is one of the very rare instances where frozen is far superior to fresh. Fries from fresh potatoes are limp because they don't have enough nucleation sites on the outside of the fry to crisp up and have too much water inside to avoid steaming at 212 degrees rather than reach the Maillard reaction temperature point above 300 degrees.

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O.Overall's avatar

Yeah In N Out burgers are light years better than McD’s, but their fries are really subpar. I don’t think they have much impetus to change them ever tho

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Sometimes, I would get Arby's for RB sandwiches and then go by McD for fries. Arby's was only about .5 miles away and McD was just down the street from the house so it wasn't a big deal.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

I wonder if double frying would make the In N Out fries almost like the others. Five Guys and also I think Penn Station double fry. Also I think they use Peanut Oil.

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Macarolina's avatar

I find 5 Guys fries too greasy. I do like their commitment to Idaho potatoes though. If ever in Idaho, get a fresh potato from a nicer market, bake it, and behold the fluffy goodness. The shipping process does something to diminish the fluff factor.

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Macarolina's avatar

Fried cheese grits are delicious.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Culver's cheese curds are really good.

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SGBear's avatar

CAL

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sycasey's avatar

Per BI: Markeisha Everett, the head of Marketing for Cal Athletics, will be leaving at the end of the month.

https://bearinsider.com/forums/2/topics/128297

Seems very likely she was pushed out. The major donors and alums have been complaining about Cal's lack of action on marketing the program, even going so far as to fund their own marketing campaigns while going around the official marketing department. Lyons seems serious about fixing athletics.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

[VB] Cal Volleyball Announces 2025 Promotions

https://calbears.com/news/2025/8/11/cal-volleyball-announces-2025-promotions.aspx

California volleyball has announced its promotional schedule for the upcoming fall season, with the Golden Bears set to host a celebration or giveaway in 13 of their 14 home matches. Single-game, group and season tickets are available here.

To celebrate the team's alumni weekend (Oct. 3-5), Cal will have a jam-packed slate of events for fans to enjoy at Haas Pavilion. Prior to the Oct. 3 match against Louisville – which also serves as the Bears' ACC opener – Cal will retire the number of legendary Golden Bear setter Carli Lloyd, the 2010 AVCA National Player of the Year and three-time All-American who led the program to its only two NCAA Final Four appearances in history and helped Team USA win the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fans who arrive early will receive a commemorative Carli Lloyd t-shirt.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

[FB] Football Position Breakdown: Quarterbacks

https://calbears.com/news/2025/8/11/football-position-breakdown-quarterbacks.aspx

QB Notes:

Brown, who spent his first three seasons at Ohio State, recorded 331 career passing yards and three passing touchdowns at Ohio State from 2023-25. He appeared in nine games during Ohio State's national championship-winning season in 2024-25.

Sagapolutele was rated as a 5-star recruit and the No. 19 overall player (No. 4 QB) by On3 and a 4-star recruit according to 247, ESPN and Rivals. He was a 2024 Elite 11 finalist and a 2024 Elite 11 Rail Shot Challenge winner. As a senior at Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, HI, he completed 213-of-302 passes for 3,404 yards and 46 TDs with just 3 interceptions. He notched six games with 300+ yards passing and two games of 400+ yards passing. He also tallied five games with six TD passes and eight contests with multiple TD passes in 2024. In total, he recorded 10,653 yards passing in his prep career from 2022-24 to set Hawai'i all-time passing yards record.

Caminong appeared in one game - the LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk - for the Golden Bears last season. He threw for 57 yards and rushed for 18 yards.

Ingrassia led the College of San Mateo to the 2024 California junior college state championship after throwing for 1,590 yards and 13 touchdowns over 10 games in 2024.

Third-year signal caller Belay Brummel and a rookie Alonzo Esparza complete the quarterback room.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

[CAF] A Landmark Year: Gratitude To The Cal Family

https://calbears.com/news/2025/8/11/cal-athletics-fund-a-landmark-year-gratitude-to-the-cal-family.aspx

As Cal Athletics reflects on the 2024-25 year, the department extends its heartfelt thanks to the entire Cal family. This remarkable year was made possible by its unwavering belief in the mission and steadfast support of Cal student-athletes.

During the 2024-25 year, a record $82 million was given in support of Cal Athletics - the largest single year total in its history. It marked the fifth consecutive year Cal Athletics received at least $35 million in philanthropic support and included both the first- and third-largest commitments ever made to the department. Additionally, 64.8% of donors who made a gift in 2023-24 also made a gift in 2024-25 - reinforcing what has long been known: the Cal family shows up, year after year.

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SGBear's avatar

POLITICS

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SGBear's avatar

Newsom's social media person has a day. Still no Epstein Files

https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1955279652794306597

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SGBear's avatar

After being personally attacked by Trump, Paul Krugman responds with full broadsides.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-political-economy-of-incompetence

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dcblue's avatar

That will turn around once the Athletics are there.

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FiatSlug's avatar

You forgot the sarcasm font.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Will it though? Yes the Raiders do but that's just 8 or 9 games a year. I don't see the A's doing anything similar to the Raiders. Maybe the first time a visiting team visits, but every 2 years for NL teams?

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sycasey's avatar

I think he's being sarcastic. Vegas is going to be a bad market for MLB, I suspect.

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FiatSlug's avatar

Concur.

The Vegas market doesn't have the population to support an MLB team, in spite of its population growth in the last 30 years. What's worse is that Vegas has a water supply problem, especially in light of population growth. Metro Las Vegas has grown from about 973,000 in 1995 to about 3,000,000 in 2025.

Available water supply from the Colorado River is likely to decline as the drought in the basin continues and allocations from the river are adjusted downwards.

As it is, Vegas takes groundwater from its aquifer to supplement Colorado River allocations. The conditions suggests that this is not sustainable over the long term.

My guess is that, as human developments tend to do, the environment will become over-extended resulting in eventual population collapse.

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sycasey's avatar

The biggest problem with Vegas is that there are basically no secondary markets outside of the city and its immediate suburbs. If you are in the Bay Area, then you get that market but also basically all of Northern California, including markets like Sacramento, Fresno, Monterey Bay, even Reno.

An NFL franchise can get away with basing their attendance around tourism (just a handful of home games and almost all on weekends), and the TV contracts are all national so the local ratings hardly matter. With MLB you need to get people to show up for 81 home dates and watch the games on local TV. Las Vegas kind of sucks for that. It's going to be instantly the smallest market in MLB (smaller than Milwaukee), and the secondary markets are unpopulated desert.

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dcblue's avatar

I didn’t do a good job, but you’re right.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Oh..that makes more sense.

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DC Trojan's avatar

oh gee that's too bad

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heyalumnigo's avatar

anyways...

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Wiata78's avatar

Decided to put this under Politics rather than Cal. But, it's both.

Pledge your support and stand up for UC

https://universityofcalifornia.quorum.us/campaign/standupforuc/?utm_source=ucwebsite&utm_medium=pledgebutton&utm_campaign=standupforuc&utm_content=mvt-em1

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Macarolina's avatar

maybe double post since some readers purposefully skip the politics subheading...

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SGBear's avatar

ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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SGBear's avatar

He’ll probably squib it here and it will all be over.

There’s the kickoff. It’s a squib.

And it’s fielded. It is fielded.

They’re they’re trying to lateral it.

There’s all kinds of laterals and it’s like rugby out there and it’s

THE BALL GAME IS OVER!

Maybe the ball game is over.

They’re still running it. This is a rugby play.

There are penalty flags all over the place and it’s

IT’S ALL OVER!

THE STANFORD TEAM HAS WON THIS BALL GAME!

[pause]

However, however [cross talk]

.. this game…

CAL THINKS THAT THEY HAVE A TOUCHDOWN

HE TOOK IT ALL THE WAY IN [sic] THE END ZONE [cross talk]

… I CAN’T BELIEVE… NOBODY… NOBODY KNOWS WHO HAS WON THIS GAME!

AND IT… seems to be a Cal victory.

I can’t believe this Joey, I just can’t believe it.

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SGBear's avatar

Stanford's version of The Play wasn't previously immortalized on the Internet. So I made it happen.

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Wiata78's avatar

Even though I took some German, I have trouble pronouncing schadenfreude.

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FiatSlug's avatar

Another German word seems to apply from the Stanfoo perspective - weltschmertz.

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FiatSlug's avatar

I call that willfully ignorant disbelief.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

I think there is a video floating around of it. I thought I had heard it before.

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AndyPanda's avatar

Hope Cal-Berkeley hasn't baked Calimony into their budget. That check could very well bounce!

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Macarolina's avatar

I had the same pinky thought when I heard about the billion amount. Surprised that he went for them first vs us-- more pile on for LA vs sticking it to the stinking hippies I guess (though of course we are next).

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SGBear's avatar

U Michigan and Olympic bronze medalist would rather not show the world an impression of his nubbins

https://apnews.com/article/gymnastics-olympic-frederick-richard-d74242666a57de649c7e79ae43070186

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heyalumnigo's avatar

Or his pommel horse?

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SGBear's avatar

Baylor sues Boston University because the former is easily confused and red/green colorblind

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2025/08/11/baylor-lawsuit-boston-university-logo-trademark-infringement/85617241007/

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Wiata78's avatar

Solution: One of them can start calling themselves "THE BU".

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FiatSlug's avatar

Let's see if there's a rush to the Patent Office.

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heyalumnigo's avatar

BRB..going to patent "THE BU"

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SGBear's avatar

John Mateer's Venmo account is public and it shows that he allegedly bet on NCAA football games, which is prohibited

https://x.com/Bryan_Aguada/status/1955050178810954230

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SGBear's avatar

Texas is a 2.5 point underdog @ Ohio State in Week 1 despite being #1

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45945260/longhorns-week-1-underdog-ohio-state-no-1-rank

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AndyPanda's avatar

3 point home field advantage is pretty normal. Texas as a .5 favorite in a neutral site game seems about right.

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SGBear's avatar

DBD AV CLUB

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