Welcome to the Daily Bear Dump, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you’re generally civil.
If awards were given to people on death's door, they wouldn't be given posthumously.
Also, see Jim Croce for an example of a recipient of a posthumous award. Croce was the first person to win Album of the Year (Grammy) posthumously for You Don't Mess Around With Jim.
Upsetting the Alameda Hornets on the road SR year in ‘92… at the time, they were the #1 ranked HS baseball team in the state for our small-high school division and had housed us earlier in the season...
We would make the playoffs but lose to Jason Kidd’s St. Joseph’s team in the first round. They would go on to win the league championship. In news that should come as no surprise, Albany HS did not make the playoffs that season ;-)
As I might have mentioned before, I tried running hurdles, expecting to grow taller. But didn't get tall enough. Kept it up anyway, and actually won one race! Against other shorter guys. Also scored points in the discus once, due to lack of competition.
I remember very very clearly being at a bonfire at Asilomar sometime near the end of senior year and one of the kids picking a flaming log out of the bonfire and casually lighting his cigarette with it then tossing it back in the flames. I cannot remember what I did yesterday at work but for some reason that moment from 27ish years ago is seared into my brain in HiDef
Thu night "calculus homework parties." i was a little advanced in math so i got a taste of how much fun seniors had on weeknights.
in our calculus class, homework was only due once a week on Fridays. so this one guy whose house had a big pool and hot tub hosted Thu night homework sessions. i either helped people for a while or just let people copy my homework and mostly just goofed around.
HAG and I were on the Academic Decathlon team our senior year. i recruited HAG onto the team since the special topic that year was the "history of flight." He was the anchor leg in the final Jeopardy style quiz round. i dont think we won anything or did particularly well. it was fun though.
I finally re-activated my cable after putting it on hold during the 9-week summer road trip so I was able to get caught back up on House of the Dragon, S2.
I don’t love the show - you need a f-ing Venn diagram to keep all the Targaryen MF’ers straight…but there was a really cool episode towards the end of S2…best episode of the show so far, IMO. Finished the season yesterday - not nearly as good as GoT’s…
I was looking at the standings and thinking the Cubs and Giants are pretty similar - lot of decent players but no real difference makers so the team is stuck hovering around .500. Maybe Bailey on the Giants or PCA on the Cubs ends up becoming a Judge-style difference maker; I think that is the hope.
I wonder how much Jung Ho Lee getting hurt is really hurting the Giants. They've had to replace him with rotating average OFs or OFs playing out of position. As far as I can tell, JHL was going to be a +WAR player.
This is, in a microcosm, why the Giants need to let Farhan go. There is little depth behind Lee and the Giants are incapable of playing better than .500 baseball.
There’s always the possibility that an ok team gets hot at the right time and wins the WS, like the 2011 Cards did after going 83-79. But not something you can count on!
Whatever lightning-in-a-bottle moment Farhan would have happened in 2021. That team overachieved in a way that looks more and more like a season long fluke.
The problem is, Farhan doesn’t build teams that can do that. His teams are old, slow and filled with retreads/platoon players that hit .240 and lack any elite hit tool.
Arizona last year had dynamic players like Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte…they had speed, they had a lights-out bullpen. Farhan has Conforto, Yaz, Wade, a useless Doval and a novelty act with twins. His roster is a joke. Ramos has exceeded expectations, while Bailey has fallen off a cliff.
And certainly not anything bearing any semblance to a sound strategy. I do feel the team is being better managed, but it isn't enough better to be effectively coached to be more than a fringe contender.
Auburn trip is getting real. Flying to Atlanta on the Thursday and driving down to Auburn early on the Saturday morning. Where's the tailgate? And what's hot in the ATL?
2024 marks the following anniversaries for Cal football:
The twentieth anniversary of Jeff Tedford’s 2004 squad that finished 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the the Pac-10 and with a number nine ranking in end of season polls. Along with the ’91 campaign, this was one of the two best years for Cal football in the last seventy years.
The fiftieth anniversary of a Mike White coached team that finished 7-3-1, their best record in six years and good enough for third place in the conference. The Bears were led by All-American quarterback Steve Bartkowski.
The seventy-fifth anniversary of Pappy Waldorf’s 1949 Bears that went undefeated in the regular season (10-0) winning the conference title while outscoring their opponents 319-131. They lost in the Rose Bowl to Ohio State, 17-14. It was the second of three consecutive Bear teams to go undefeated in the regular season.
The one hundredth anniversary of Andy Smith’s final undefeated Wonder Team. The Bears finished 8-0-2. It also marked Cal football’s first full season in Memorial Stadium.
RE: the 1924 season, those two ties were against UW (7-7, in Seattle) and Stanfurd (20-20, at Cal Memorial).
The 1924 Big Game was the 2nd Big Game at Cal Memorial. The 1923 Big Game was the first such Big Game and the Inaugural game for Cal Memorial. All other 1923 season home games were played at California Field, which was just north of Bancroft Way. Hearst Gym now stands on the southern portion of what was California Field.
In the '24 Big Game Cal had gone up 20-6. The extra point was ruled to have gone wide. The Bears protested saying it was good. The ref reportedly told one player that it wouldn't matter (it was the 4th quarter). Furd then drove for two late TDs to tie it (there were no two-point conversations then.) In other words we should have been 9-0-1 and I'm still bitter.
By the way, two-point conversions were introduced to college football in 1958. IIRC, Cal did not attempt anything other than two-point conversions that year, going 14-for-28.
The California lacrosse team will welcome 10 freshmen to the 2025 squad, a group that combined to earn eight All-America prep selections, nine All-State honors and helped their teams capture five state titles.
The freshman group includes Audrey Crafts, Willow Cyr, Naomi Gan, Ardyn Henry, Alina Hsu, Charlie Iacobelli, Ashleigh Masterson, Ella Thomsen, Dahlen Vilbrandt and Isabella Wenstrand.
BERKELEY – California men's golf alumni Collin Morikawa and Byeong Hun An will play in the 2024 Presidents Cup, as they earned automatic qualifications for the U.S. Team and International Team, respectively, following the conclusion of the BMW Championship on Sunday. The Presidents Cup will be played at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada, on Sept. 24-29.
LIMA, Peru – Most of the California track & field team will be attending classes this week, but two members – sophomore Justin Pretre and freshman Valentina Savva – will have to delay their arrival on campus, as they will be representing Canada and Cyprus, respectively, at the World U20 Athletics Championships. This year's meet will be held from Aug. 27-31 at Estadio Nacional in Lima, Peru; fans can watch a live stream here.
It’s time once again for Oski Disciple’s question of the day.
Why do they only give posthumous awards to the deceased? Seems unfair.
Personally I'd rather receive prehumous awards.
Probably for legacy and their family.
it does seem a little unfair except that posthumous means "dead."
still maybe they should give it to people who are on death's door.
i suspect "why is everyone always at death's door?" will be an upcoming QOTD.
If awards were given to people on death's door, they wouldn't be given posthumously.
Also, see Jim Croce for an example of a recipient of a posthumous award. Croce was the first person to win Album of the Year (Grammy) posthumously for You Don't Mess Around With Jim.
MEMORABLE HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
My 3 second braul with another kid in the quad. I think maybe 1.5 swings were exchanged before a teacher broke it up. Intense.
Upsetting the Alameda Hornets on the road SR year in ‘92… at the time, they were the #1 ranked HS baseball team in the state for our small-high school division and had housed us earlier in the season...
We would make the playoffs but lose to Jason Kidd’s St. Joseph’s team in the first round. They would go on to win the league championship. In news that should come as no surprise, Albany HS did not make the playoffs that season ;-)
As I might have mentioned before, I tried running hurdles, expecting to grow taller. But didn't get tall enough. Kept it up anyway, and actually won one race! Against other shorter guys. Also scored points in the discus once, due to lack of competition.
I remember very very clearly being at a bonfire at Asilomar sometime near the end of senior year and one of the kids picking a flaming log out of the bonfire and casually lighting his cigarette with it then tossing it back in the flames. I cannot remember what I did yesterday at work but for some reason that moment from 27ish years ago is seared into my brain in HiDef
Thu night "calculus homework parties." i was a little advanced in math so i got a taste of how much fun seniors had on weeknights.
in our calculus class, homework was only due once a week on Fridays. so this one guy whose house had a big pool and hot tub hosted Thu night homework sessions. i either helped people for a while or just let people copy my homework and mostly just goofed around.
Cutting class to go to the demonstrations at Cal, especially for People's Park (back when it was something worth preserving).
Academic Olympiad. Sonoma County 1985, Gold medal in Speech. It meant something for a socially phobic kid who struggled with stuttering.
That's an achievement to be proud of. Well done.
That's awesome!
HAG and I were on the Academic Decathlon team our senior year. i recruited HAG onto the team since the special topic that year was the "history of flight." He was the anchor leg in the final Jeopardy style quiz round. i dont think we won anything or did particularly well. it was fun though.
That was a lot of fun.
Nice!
DBD AV CLUB
I finally re-activated my cable after putting it on hold during the 9-week summer road trip so I was able to get caught back up on House of the Dragon, S2.
I don’t love the show - you need a f-ing Venn diagram to keep all the Targaryen MF’ers straight…but there was a really cool episode towards the end of S2…best episode of the show so far, IMO. Finished the season yesterday - not nearly as good as GoT’s…
On to Bad Monkey with Vince Vaughn on AppleTV
Bad Monkey's not bad. Fletch lite vibes.
ELSEWHERE IIN COLLEGE
PRO
I was looking at the standings and thinking the Cubs and Giants are pretty similar - lot of decent players but no real difference makers so the team is stuck hovering around .500. Maybe Bailey on the Giants or PCA on the Cubs ends up becoming a Judge-style difference maker; I think that is the hope.
I wonder how much Jung Ho Lee getting hurt is really hurting the Giants. They've had to replace him with rotating average OFs or OFs playing out of position. As far as I can tell, JHL was going to be a +WAR player.
This is, in a microcosm, why the Giants need to let Farhan go. There is little depth behind Lee and the Giants are incapable of playing better than .500 baseball.
The Giants simply can not be taken seriously as a legit contender until they move on from Farhan.
There’s always the possibility that an ok team gets hot at the right time and wins the WS, like the 2011 Cards did after going 83-79. But not something you can count on!
that's what the Dbacks almost did last year, and are trying to do now. Their current run is impressive.
Whatever lightning-in-a-bottle moment Farhan would have happened in 2021. That team overachieved in a way that looks more and more like a season long fluke.
Agreed. Like Arizona last year.
The problem is, Farhan doesn’t build teams that can do that. His teams are old, slow and filled with retreads/platoon players that hit .240 and lack any elite hit tool.
Arizona last year had dynamic players like Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte…they had speed, they had a lights-out bullpen. Farhan has Conforto, Yaz, Wade, a useless Doval and a novelty act with twins. His roster is a joke. Ramos has exceeded expectations, while Bailey has fallen off a cliff.
And certainly not anything bearing any semblance to a sound strategy. I do feel the team is being better managed, but it isn't enough better to be effectively coached to be more than a fringe contender.
Dodgers, Giants, A's do well on an off-day.
CAL
Auburn trip is getting real. Flying to Atlanta on the Thursday and driving down to Auburn early on the Saturday morning. Where's the tailgate? And what's hot in the ATL?
2024 marks the following anniversaries for Cal football:
The twentieth anniversary of Jeff Tedford’s 2004 squad that finished 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the the Pac-10 and with a number nine ranking in end of season polls. Along with the ’91 campaign, this was one of the two best years for Cal football in the last seventy years.
The fiftieth anniversary of a Mike White coached team that finished 7-3-1, their best record in six years and good enough for third place in the conference. The Bears were led by All-American quarterback Steve Bartkowski.
The seventy-fifth anniversary of Pappy Waldorf’s 1949 Bears that went undefeated in the regular season (10-0) winning the conference title while outscoring their opponents 319-131. They lost in the Rose Bowl to Ohio State, 17-14. It was the second of three consecutive Bear teams to go undefeated in the regular season.
The one hundredth anniversary of Andy Smith’s final undefeated Wonder Team. The Bears finished 8-0-2. It also marked Cal football’s first full season in Memorial Stadium.
RE: the 1924 season, those two ties were against UW (7-7, in Seattle) and Stanfurd (20-20, at Cal Memorial).
The 1924 Big Game was the 2nd Big Game at Cal Memorial. The 1923 Big Game was the first such Big Game and the Inaugural game for Cal Memorial. All other 1923 season home games were played at California Field, which was just north of Bancroft Way. Hearst Gym now stands on the southern portion of what was California Field.
In the '24 Big Game Cal had gone up 20-6. The extra point was ruled to have gone wide. The Bears protested saying it was good. The ref reportedly told one player that it wouldn't matter (it was the 4th quarter). Furd then drove for two late TDs to tie it (there were no two-point conversations then.) In other words we should have been 9-0-1 and I'm still bitter.
So am I. ;-)
By the way, two-point conversions were introduced to college football in 1958. IIRC, Cal did not attempt anything other than two-point conversions that year, going 14-for-28.
Looks like ACC conference schedules come out middle sept. Waiting for UNC/Dook game dates so I can buy tickets.
https://twitter.com/DonnaDitota1/status/1826958784385675417
Go BEARS!
[LAX] 10 Freshmen Join The Bears
https://calbears.com/news/2024/8/26/lacrosse-10-freshmen-join-the-bears.aspx
The California lacrosse team will welcome 10 freshmen to the 2025 squad, a group that combined to earn eight All-America prep selections, nine All-State honors and helped their teams capture five state titles.
The freshman group includes Audrey Crafts, Willow Cyr, Naomi Gan, Ardyn Henry, Alina Hsu, Charlie Iacobelli, Ashleigh Masterson, Ella Thomsen, Dahlen Vilbrandt and Isabella Wenstrand.
[MGOLF] Morikawa, An Secure Spots In Presidents Cup
https://calbears.com/news/2024/8/26/mens-golf-morikawa-an-secure-spots-in-presidents-cup.aspx
BERKELEY – California men's golf alumni Collin Morikawa and Byeong Hun An will play in the 2024 Presidents Cup, as they earned automatic qualifications for the U.S. Team and International Team, respectively, following the conclusion of the BMW Championship on Sunday. The Presidents Cup will be played at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada, on Sept. 24-29.
[T&F] Pair Of Bears Headed To World U20 Championships
https://calbears.com/news/2024/8/26/track-field-pair-of-bears-headed-to-world-u20-championships.aspx
LIMA, Peru – Most of the California track & field team will be attending classes this week, but two members – sophomore Justin Pretre and freshman Valentina Savva – will have to delay their arrival on campus, as they will be representing Canada and Cyprus, respectively, at the World U20 Athletics Championships. This year's meet will be held from Aug. 27-31 at Estadio Nacional in Lima, Peru; fans can watch a live stream here.
[WSOC] Cal Routs USF 6-1
https://calbears.com/news/2024/8/25/womens-soccer-cal-routs-usf-6-1.aspx
SAN FRANCISCO – Five different Golden Bears scored in the California women's soccer team's 6-1 win over San Francisco Sunday night.
With its first road win of the season Cal improves to 2-1-1 while the Dons drop to 2-2-0.