119 Comments

DBD Poll

Expand full comment

The poll won’t let me vote bc I’m not a paid subscriber so I mostly skip over it when I log on

Expand full comment
author

What? Really?

Expand full comment

Yes. It prompts me to subscribe ($) to be able to vote.

Expand full comment

Same.

Expand full comment

Out of habit I always have been clicking on the last one, but Punch Twist is no longer an option. Now I actually have to read the options.

Expand full comment

And we need an All of the Above option today.

Expand full comment

Probably need a "Didn't notice" choice for this one. I'm wondering what percentage of average Pitt or Georgia Tech fans (or students) even have Cal-furd's plea for inclusion on their radar?

Expand full comment

I doubt they care specifically for us but adding schools at a discount theoretically strengthens the conference. Any school that might slip through the cracks (Pitt, Boston College, Wake Forest, etc.) is absolutely aware and in favor of us joining.

Expand full comment

Some school administrators might buy the strength in numbers theory, although that's debatable, but outside the Athletic Directors offices, there's nothing about this that will grab casual fans/customers interest.

Expand full comment
author

PUNCH SGBEAR

Expand full comment
author

If Cal goes to the ACC, which away games would you like to see?

Expand full comment
author

Football (and looking forward to it): UNC, NC State, Miami, VA Tech, UVA, GA Tech, Clemson, BC, Pitt, Syracuse

Football (and not looking forward to the gameday experience): Duke, FSU, Wake Forest, Louisville

Expand full comment

Charlottesville is kind of a hike from DC (probably the closest airports for direct flights from the west coast?) but UVA's stadium is perfectly pleasant. I went a few years back for an early season SC visit, and the part that surprised me most was that folks were allowed to leave the stadium at the half to get a quick drink from their tailgate setup.

Expand full comment

That's way more civilized than anything I would have expected, anywhere in FBS.

Expand full comment
author

Duke could have one of the worst P5 stadiums. The seating bowl is broad and shallow, so the view isn't great from anywhere. It's half sunken into a hill, so there's nary a breeze there. There's no parking/tailgating anywhere near campus. And the stadium is tucked into a remote corner of campus, so it's a hike to get there. At least they got rid of the running track that used to be in it.

Expand full comment

Basketball: UNC and Dook.

Football: Clemson

Louisville, only so that I can visit friends I haven't seen in about 4 years.

Expand full comment
author

Embarcadero

Expand full comment

Buildings. No 3's GF's dad is the chief engineer of one of the buildings.

I remember going to the Punchline and Chevys in one of the buildings.

Expand full comment

The Punchline is close but not quite — it’s on the ground floor of the One Maritime complex one block north of EC.

Expand full comment

I wonder if they moved. I remember late 80s early 90s we went to a comedy club at one of the embarcaderos. I also remember Cobbs was I think by Ghirardelli square.

Expand full comment

And there was a Punchline in WC around that time.

Expand full comment

Heh,

I remember learning what that word meant.

Expand full comment

Who is "Heh"? 😉

Expand full comment

SGBear, obviously.

Expand full comment
author

A perfect movie

Expand full comment

Boogie Nights

Expand full comment

Space Balls

Expand full comment

Yes! And Airplane!

Expand full comment

Big Lebowski!

Expand full comment

Caddyshack

Expand full comment
author

Back to the Future, The Princess Bride, Groundhog's Day

Expand full comment

From different eras: His Girl Friday, The Last Picture Show and Inside Llewyn Davis

Expand full comment

Chinatown? Breaking Away?

Expand full comment

Definitely Chinatown. Problem is there are maybe two dozen movies (and that's not counting foreign films) I consider perfect and I wasn't about to name them all.

Expand full comment

For me, picking a great 1970's movie is easy - there is a Noir from late 40's maybe early 50's, but I couldn't think of the name fast enough to add it.

Expand full comment

Sorry, Wrong Number is another one from that period. Double Indemnity, also. Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

There's Mrs. Slug's favorite - Mildred Pierce, but that's 1945, so it probably doesn't fall into the period you described.

Expand full comment

Dark Passage, perhaps.

Expand full comment

Good movie, but I think "Out of the Past" is better, from 1947:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039689/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_q_out%2520of%2520the

Expand full comment
author

Tell the DBD about how you reinvented yourself

Expand full comment

Got married and have a kid now. As soon as the kid came, that evening I went ahead and purchased some polo shirts off Amazon.

Expand full comment

What about cargo shorts and black crew socks?

Expand full comment

already there.

Expand full comment

Within a year I got married, got clean and sober had children and embarked on a teaching career.

Expand full comment
Aug 24, 2023·edited Aug 24, 2023Liked by SGBear

Reclaimed my birth name, returned home to the Bay Area from New Jersey where my Mom and step-father lived, and re-started my academic career at UC Santa Cruz. All within a space of 30 months.

Expand full comment
Aug 24, 2023Liked by SGBear

I was a military brat that moved a lot as a kid so was always explaining who I was to ppl. Perhaps as a result I really dug those socio-cultural anthro classes at Cal where they get into personal/cultural identity. Everyone is constantly reinventing themselves everyday; it’s just that most people are not aware this is happening, and are kind of mindlessly on auto-renew

Expand full comment

Interesting - that really only affected me once in Kansas City - other places were either ALL base kids (England) a 1/3 of base kids (Alabama) or didn't matter (El Segundo) - only horrible place was (Kansas City).

Expand full comment

Yes, my dad was in the war college and that was nice bc all kids were itinerants. Funny you say KC, the one place it was a bit hard for me was St Louis - I was the first new kid at the school in several years! Overall I don’t mean to say moving a lot affected me negatively; I actually liked it, was fun to go to a new place and see/explore/reset. But it did affect me in some ways, including by making more top of mind the way in which each person creates his/her own identity

Expand full comment
author

Phoenix

Expand full comment

Lights

Expand full comment

_______ 5.

Never forget the ingenuity and daring it took to "kidnap" the Tree.

Expand full comment

That was my freshman year! So cool

Expand full comment
author

CAL

Expand full comment

I've had the World Track and Field Champs on in the background. Former Bear Camryn Rogers wins gold in the women's hammer throw for Canada. Budapest is Bear Territory. USA gets silver and bronze.

Expand full comment

What’s the basic idea behind taking a G5ish share from the ACC - that we get to stay in the P4? I’m ok with that if all sports are in, but if it’s just football and basketball then fuck that

Expand full comment

1. Yes, staying in the P4 is by far the most important thing.

2. It's unclear what the full share will be . . . keep in mind that some reporting said it would be 30% of "Tier 1" rights. There should also be Tier 2/3 media rights, which would include ACC Network payouts, and there is a good argument that Cal/Stanford should receive a full share of that since they would be adding carriage in California by joining. We should wait to see what the actual full deal is before declaring it G5 level.

3. The share will ramp up over time (assuming the ACC survives).

Expand full comment

It's probably balanced against travel costs Cal would be otherwise on the hook for to send the non-revenue teams to other ACC campii. Not sure this is necessarily a bad thing.

Expand full comment

Isn't it only a G5 share with escalating payout amounts until we get a full share? No way it would be a G5 share forever.

Expand full comment

This is correct, based on reporting. The Cal/Stanford payouts would increase over time to full share.

Expand full comment

I don’t know, but I feel if it’s just football and bball it should be a no. Also we should be concerned about counterparty risk here. By the time the scaled up payments are supposed to happen, there is a pretty good chance the ACC won’t exist. We need something in this deal about what happens in a year or two when FSU and Clemson bolt to the SEC

Expand full comment

its not just the revenue sports. 18 sports will start in the ACC. A few more will stay in their current league (like the Water Polo teams). A half dozen sports need to find money or get chopped. Allegedly.

Expand full comment

How would Rugby be affected?

Expand full comment
Aug 24, 2023·edited Aug 24, 2023

FS makes a good point about Title IX, but Jack Clark said repeatedly back in 2010 that they would take care of establishing a *varsity level* women's rugby program and funding it. I betcha he'd make the same pledge today. Cal women's rugby is currently a recreational sport, not a varsity sport. That's a critical difference when it comes to Title IX.

Cal's athletic administration could allow such a promotion to happen and it would make a difference in Title IX compliance.

Expand full comment

hard to say... they dont have expense issues but they are a major Title 9 problem because of their numbers that need to be offset by opportunities for women's teams.

Expand full comment

Go Bears!!!

Expand full comment
author

Depth chart released. Sam Jackson V named the starter

https://twitter.com/CalFootball/status/1694742766411206793

Expand full comment
author
author

Some things that I note:

Lots of "or" notations to keep UNT guessing

OLB Myles Williams (not to be confused with DB Miles Williams) is an "or" first stringer

RB depth is already thinned out. Injuries might be an issue

KEO gets the start over Sergio Allen

RS-FR Jordan King gets the "or" 2nd string nod along with Mavin Anderson

I weigh more than our true freshman long snapper. [PTSD flashback of Stanfurd blocking the XP]

Expand full comment
author

Cal MPOLO ranked #1 in preseason poll

https://twitter.com/calwaterpolo/status/1694519167700156777

Expand full comment

@only becuase no other ACC schools have a water polo team@

Expand full comment
author

New Bern is a city in North Carolina. It is perhaps most famous for being the birthplace of Pepsi and the location of its headquarters until 1970. It is named after Bern - the Swiss Canton and city. The two cities have the same coat of arms - a bear walking up a hill with red tongue and claws, except the one for Bern also has a red pecker sticking out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Bern

Expand full comment

About thirty years ago I visited Bern for a day and went by the bear pit. It was truly sad but it has apparently been much upgraded since then.

Expand full comment
author

PRO

Expand full comment
author

Nats' Stephen Strasburg makes it official - retires.

Expand full comment
author

Ohtani done with pitching for rest of season with a torn UCL in his throwing arm

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38248633/angels-shohei-ohtani-elbow-tear-pitch-again-season

Expand full comment

As a baseball fan, I find that sad. It's hard to see a rare talent suffer serious injury.

Expand full comment

Ah I feel bad for the guy. He has to stop being a SP obviously. Maybe he can be a DH and closer? Probably not getting 10 years / 500 million anymore

Expand full comment

Also seems like he should just immediately go get that second TJ since the Halos are toast

Expand full comment
author

Lionel Messi inspires a Miami comeback from 2-0 deficit to win in PKs to reach US Open Cup Final.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/670651

Expand full comment
author

Messi will be playing for the US Open Cup trophy. The 1993 winner of the US Open Cup trophy was San Francisco's Taqueria El Farolito on Mission Street.

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/messi-us-open-cup-el-farolito-soccer-18326484.php

Expand full comment
author

DBD STREET JOURNAL

Expand full comment
author

Fox news used the 1st Amendment as their main defense in their defamation case brought by J6 rioter Ray Epps who Tucker Carlson falsely claimed was an FBI plant to create a false flag event. Is Fox News a money-printing machine that creates personal outrage on bad-faith content to generate viewership and advertising? I'm not saying that; I'm just asking questions here.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/12/media/fox-news-defamation-ray-epps/index.html

Expand full comment

“Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?“ - Barry Judd in High Fidelity

Expand full comment
author

It's officially Pumpkin Spice season. Starbucks put it back on the menu today, the 20th anniversary of its drink. Also, a grande Pumpkin Spice has 390 calories.

https://www.starbucks.com/menu/product/418/hot?parent=%2Fdrinks%2Fhot-coffees%2Flattes

Expand full comment

Doesn't anybody care about the TRUE meaning of Pumpkin Spice Latte Season?!?!

Expand full comment

What is the true meaning of Pumpkin Spice Latte Season? Asking for a friend.

Expand full comment

Oh. Read that again with Charlie Brown's voice in your head...

Expand full comment

Or maybe Linus Van Pelt's?

Expand full comment

If you can find the right biblical passage...maybe there's something in Genesis about spices.

Expand full comment

Ah yes, basic bitch season is upon us.

Expand full comment

some of use live that basic bitch life year round

Expand full comment

Too soon

Expand full comment
author

DBD AV CLUB

Expand full comment
Aug 24, 2023·edited Aug 24, 2023

Watching S2 of the Bear - so good! S1 was solid, but S2 is significantly better on all levels. Can really feel the actors and writers getting a better grip on the characters. The ep when Richie learns how to be a front of the house guy was absolutely excellent

Expand full comment

The Christmas episode sucked beyond belief, so much shouting and general awfulness. I get what they were trying to do but if they could've condensed that into 15 minutes instead of an hour or whatever, the impact would've been really good and not mentally exhausting. The Missus and I had to take a break from the show after that episode and it was a solid month before we could finish the season.

Expand full comment

Yeah that one was really heavy. I watched in bits, but can see how taking it all in at once may have been a lot. Felt a bit like they were asked to do an extra episode so did that as a one off. But still! Rounded out several characters’ back stories/motivations, and was well done - Sigourney was great

Expand full comment

Took awhile for me to be convinced to watch it. Glad I did. Great show.

Expand full comment
author

OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

Expand full comment
author

DOJ announces it is pursuing 718 law enforcement actions related to Covid loan fraud totaling $836m

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/23/covid-aid-fraud-justice/

Expand full comment

Full employment act for lawyers and law clerks. Considering most of the money is already spent, and unrecoverable, this may wind up costing more than its worth.

Expand full comment

generally speaking DoJ doesn't incur the cost of actions that won't pay off. You don't need to worry about whether funds are specifically recoverable when you can fine the shit out of people.

Expand full comment

You can fine people and businesses (which might be out of business by the time), but if they can't pay, its just a side show to a circus. I agree, there was doubtless intentional capitalizing on an opportunity to defraud, as well as well intended people who got in over their head; I just wonder if this is the best use of resources, vs moving forward. And the size of my tax bill confirms that we generally need to do a better job of not throwing good money after bad, the potential for a free for all not withstanding.

Expand full comment

At the risk of sounding naive, these people broke the law. there's another $8b or so in sketchy transactions under investigation, so the scale is bigger than $830m. Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but if you had 200 people averaging high GS13 pay that's about $140k a day in pursuing people who potentially broke the law. You and I are helping to pay $50m A DAY for DoD fuel use. These DoJ enforcement efforts are a rounding error by comparison.

Expand full comment
author

Eight Republican - not including Trump - held the first GOP debate last night.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/23/politics/takeaways-republican-debate/index.html

Expand full comment
Aug 24, 2023·edited Aug 24, 2023

Omg, we need open primaries so that what some idiotic fringe goons think about the world is not a decider for who gets a 50% chance at being POTUS

Expand full comment

That would require an act of Congress, wouldn't it?

Expand full comment

Yes but why were we not focused on this from 20-22 when we had all three of the presidency/senate/house??? If the answer rhymes with schmenate schmilibuster I am going to scream into a paper bag.

Someone needs to tend to the inner workings of our democracy so that we can still function, and it obviously will not be the Republicans

Expand full comment
Aug 24, 2023·edited Aug 24, 2023

Because Boomer Democrat politicians are too fucking polite. Need I say more?

See also "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" (The West Wing, S1E19) for an example of deference that hamstrings progress.

Expand full comment
author

Trump to surrender in Georgia today ahead of noon deadline

Expand full comment
author

ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

Expand full comment
author

"There is no reason to panic" says guy who has everything to lose if people panic

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38247471/texas-ross-bjork-backs-jimbo-fisher-one-bad-season

Expand full comment