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WORLD NEWS

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Shit is getting real in Lebanon. This time it's handheld radios -

More deadly blasts, apparently linked to electronic devices, hit Lebanon a day after pager attack

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/18/hezbollah-israel-pager-attack-lebanon-explosions/

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Brutal. Underhanded. But ingenious. Regardless of what you think of the morality, you do have to be impressed with the planning.

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Because of the recency with which these devices reached the targets, it stands to reason that this is a tactic born of the October 7 Hamas massacres. And it is targeted, which is more than I can say about the prosecution of the Gaza war. There were civilian losses and worse, some were children, but it doesn't appear to be at the same scale as it has been in Gaza.

It shows foresight and cold-blooded calculation. I can respect it even if I worry about possible escalation because of it.

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I thought I heard on NPR yesterday that Israel told the US that they were responsible. But maybe I misheard.

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Somehow, I doubt you misheard. This would be Israel's MO - counter terrorism by engaging in terrorism.

The madman theory also comes into play here. Israel can defend itself by getting Hamas and Hezbollah to slow down which, in its own seemingly warped logic, is restrained.

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HOW'S YOUR HAIR?

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50 today. Still have hair, on the longer side…a few grays but wear a hat most days regardless because of the sun.

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today is your birthday?

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Ya. Sigh.

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A belated Happy Birthday! The milestone ain't that bad. You could be nearly 15 years older. :raised eyebrow:

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Hopefully we get there…a lifetime of Cal fandom has taken years off my life.

Years.

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Dude, I've been a Cal fan longer than you've been alive. And yet, I've made it this far.

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Happy birthday, belatedly.

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Thank you my man.

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Happy Birthday Jimmy! Welcome to the 50+ club.

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Thank you BP!! Look forward to seeing you up in the Bay!

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ACT FOUR

FADE IN: INT. THE SITUATION ROOM - DAY

Leo and Fitzwallace are sitting across from each other.

LEO

This is always when you say something.

FITZWALLACE

Nah. Have you changed shampoo? You have, I can tell.

LEO

I like to look good for you.

FITZWALLACE

Well, I appreciate it. Can you tell when its peacetime and wartime anymore?

LEO

No.

FITZWALLCE

I don't know who the world's leading expert on welfare is, but any list of the top has got to include me and I can't tell when it's peacetime and wartime anymore.

LEO

Look, international law has always recognized certain protected persons who you couldn't attack. It's been this way since the Romans.

FITZWALLACE

In peacetime.

LEO

Yes.

FITZWALLACE

The battle of Agincourt this was the French fighting against the British archers, this was like a polo match. The battles were observed by heralds and they picked the winners. And if a soldier laid down his arm he was treated humanely.

LEO

Yeah.

FITZWALLACE

And the international laws that you're talking about, this is where a lot of them were written. At a time in a place where a person could tell between peacetime and wartime. The idea of targeting one person was ridiculous. It wouldn't have occurred to the French to try to kill William Pitt. That all changed after Pearl Harbor.

LEO

I don't like where this conversation's going.

FITZWALLACE

Leo.

LEO

In the Situation Room, Fitz?

FITZWALLACE

We killed Yamamoto. We shot down his plane.

LEO

We declared war.

FITZWALLACE

If Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been successful...

LEO

And the plot to kill Hitler was an internal rebellion.

FITZWALLACE

...there would've been statues built of an assassin. We'd have to explain that to our kids.

LEO

I'm going to get back to the office.

FITZWALLACE

We measure the success of a mission by two things: Was it successful and how few civilians did we hurt. They measure success by how many. Pregnant women are delivering bombs. You're talking to me about international laws? The laws of nature don't even apply here. I've been a soldier for 38 years. And I found an enemy I can kill. He can't cancel Shareef's trip, Leo. You've got to tell him he can't cancel it.

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You mean, DO YOU HAVE A BEAR HEAD?

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Getting thin on top, but fine. Also getting fairly grey.

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I still have it. I'm told that is a good thing, and I'm inclined to agree.

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I still wear it long, but it seems to fall out faster than it grows back so it’s getting shorter. Long since it’s mostly gray.

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54 and just a little bit of gray. I keep it short, 1.5 on the sides and 3.5 on the top, so it isn't visible when it's short. Mostly visible around the side burns area.

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53 silver on the sides trimmed with a 3-guard and a little sparse on the top that I hide with animated hand gestures and an annoying personality

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Once I start to bald on top (most likely given my mom's brothers), I'm just going to cut it all off. No guard and I'll do it myself.

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I did that once. I looked so much like my dad that it freaked my wife out. It looks like hats from here on out.

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After my last haircut, I looked in the mirror and I looked so much like my dad that it freaked ME out. But no hat for me. Embracing life.

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i do .5 or 1. on the sides. maybe 4 on top

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Just turned 40, and I barely have any gray hair at all. Maybe I find one once a month. But maybe this means I'm going to be bald, and I rather have gray hair than lose hair.

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What hair? I don't have very much on top.

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getting to be quite gray. in fact if i dont shave my facial hair/proto-beard is this the thing that looks the grayest.

so now my family/wife as pushing for me to shave more often. in the post-coronavirus world i have been shaving less than once a week. so we'll see ..

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That's the exact opposite of Mrs Slug and me. I had a beard for a few months after it turned gray. Mrs Slug wanted me to keep it. I took it off because I didn't like how it looked on me.

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Yeah, thinking about doing the same. Growing up, I was late to physically mature so everyone thought I was younger by a lot than my classmates. So, well into adulthood I wanted to look older, not younger. About ten years ago I got over that. Now nearing sixty, the white-gray beard is not doing it for me.

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DBD AV CLUB

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Kite Man - HBO/Max - 13/19

some funny super villain show that i found on HBO last night when i had logged into see something else.

this bumbling bad guy gets recruited the Legion of Doom since they need someone who flies and all the other bad guys are out of town at a conference. Kite Man is not really good at anything.

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

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Cal is getting 10X the media attention we got from "Pac12 network," which favored mostly the LA schools.

I hope fans, coaches, and the team ignore the media hype, but meanwhile hope it builds our brand.

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Locked on ACC's Kenton Gibbs thinks Cal will struggle due to all the miles of travel.

I will offer another hypothesis, based on a whopping 3 games of data:

The team had a better start in the Auburn game than the two home games. Maybe Wilcox's game prep is better for travel games than it is for home games!

PS Lawrence Ross did a great job representing Cal on Locked on ACC. I think he's here but I don't recall his handle.

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Yeah, they, the ACC and Eastern establishment, still don’t know what to make of us.

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Alpha1906

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Also, travel days prior to game definitely lend to singular focus/purpose.

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A good sign for this week.

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My Twitter feed has gone bananas thanks to the awakening of the Cal Twitter Burners. In the past, I could post something on Twitter and it would get a few dozen views. But over the past 48 hours, I have gained like over 100 followers and my posts are gaining thousands of views. One post got 18k views in 24 hours.

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When you start gaining revenue from your Cal Twitter content, don't forget about us little guys posting in DBD and WFC comment sections.

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Just playing teams in the east is helping us a lot, I think. Beating Auburn got positive attention from all the other fanbases in the region who hate Auburn. The upcoming FSU game has similar vibes: love or hate them, people pay attention to FSU, and the prospect of them going 0-4 by losing to Cal (of all teams) is pretty delicious.

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Great point. Imagine a lowly ranked team joining the Pac-12 and beating USC at home as major underdogs. That team is going to get some respect and recognition from the rest of the conference

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OUR FUMBLING TUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Trump's lockup on Trump Media expires tomorrow.

https://fortune.com/2024/09/18/donald-trump-media-truth-social-stock/

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Anybody not bound by a lock should sell now. As in NOW; immediately; there is no tomorrow. Because it may be worthless tomorrow.

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Taking his money and running. Leaving people who invested in the stock holding nothing of value.

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ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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This is a fun article, but the UW/Cal Lightning Bowl didn't make the list

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41265687/tales-surviving-college-football-rain-delays

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The shine is off Coach Prime's TV rating as viewership drops sharply

https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2024/colorado-deion-sanders-hype-tv-ratings-crater-1234797648

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Their ratings have dropped from the sugar high of last year, but they're still one of the more highly-rated programs in the country this year.

I'll also note that Cal's game against SDSU earned 938k viewers:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/

Really not bad at all for a late-night game against a G5 team. This strengthens the case that Cal's TV viewership was severely hamstrung by the awful Pac-12 TV coverage. Just being on ESPN is such a big help. Not saying Cal is some kind of ratings juggernaut, but I suspect we will be solidly above-average under a fairer TV deal, as opposed to near the bottom in the last couple of years (with all Pac-12 Network games counting for zero).

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The Pac-12 Network was the college sports equivalent of the Witness Protection program. An ignominious distinction that now belongs to Peacock, and those relegated to it.

I continue to be amazed that people have a hard time with the concept that in order for a team (any team) to be watched by very many people, it has to be possible for people to actually watch.

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It was still baffling to me that Larry Scott didn't see this and try to get wider distribution for the network at any cost. He just stubbornly kept to his model that made it available on the local cable systems in the West, but hard to get everywhere else. At least Peacock is easy to get if you want to watch a game on there.

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I think that Larry Scott was emboldened by the BigTen's experience with getting DirecTV and Dish to cave on the carriage fees.

The university presidents didn't understand that the Pac-12 didn't have that kind of leverage. It's the university presidents who screwed the conference with their arrogance. Larry Scott helped it along, sure, but the buck rests with those guys who failed to properly understand the landscape and their position on it. I feel soiled that I even have to qualify my statement about Larry Scott: he was a snake oil salesman and if he ends up penniless it's fine with me.

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Yeah, the Big Ten had Fox behind its network. That was the difference.

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I was hoping OSU and WSU would benefit from the cancellation of next year’s Wake/Ole Miss game.

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Adrian Wojnarowski retires from ESPN, joins St. Bonaventure

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/41313868/adrian-wojnarowski-retires-espn-joins-st-bonaventure

ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski has agreed to become the general manager of the men's basketball program at St. Bonaventure, he told ESPN.

Wojnarowski is a St. Bonaventure graduate and has a strong relationship with the program, including as a fund raiser for the school's collective in recent years. He's a 1991 graduate of the school and a distinguished alumnus from the Jandoli School of Communication.

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Wojo was S-tier in terms of connections. If he said it, it was true.

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Sources: ACC, Clemson, FSU renew talks on revenue distribution

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41307506/acc-clemson-florida-state-renew-discussions-revenue-distribution-model

Talks between Clemson, Florida State and the ACC have ramped up in recent weeks, according to sources, on a proposal that would allot a greater share of revenue to schools based on brand valuation and television ratings, as well as potentially alter the expiration of the league's grant of rights -- which currently runs through 2036 -- in exchange for the Tigers and Seminoles dropping their lawsuits against the conference.

According to multiple sources within the league, the conversations are preliminary and the sides are not close to an agreement, but the conversations represent a strong signal that Florida State and Clemson are open to remaining in the conference under more favorable financial terms.

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This is not going to lead to a different TV package that replaces the tail end of the one the ACC has now.

But a revenue model based on brand valuation (whatever that is) and TV ratings is not going to help Cal unless it's weighted towards academics standing. We won't get more money for the performance of our non-revenue (Olympic) sports.

This is a face-saving proposal that *might* yield more money to FSU and Clemson, but it has no basis in reality in that it's not part of the GoR agreement.

Reality has bitch-slapped FSU and Clemson, now that their football teams have dropped off measurably from last year, and they're looking for an exit from that horrible and impetuous demand to be let go. And that's before we get to the probable reality that neither the SEC or the BigTen wants FSU and/or Clemson. The Big XII is only a little better in terms of revenue distributions, not SEC or BigTen better.

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This arrangement could make sense for all parties: FSU and Clemson get a little extra revenue for now (assuming they can remain near the top of the league in terms of performance), the lawsuits end, and the GOR gets shortened to 2030 to match up with those of the B1G and Big 12. If the last piece happens, then the ACC wouldn't be at a disadvantage in the event of potential defections; they'd be able to backfill with other teams from the Big 12.

I've kind of been expecting that 2030 would be the time for the next big realignment, and this would further support that idea.

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The only difficulty I find with 2030 being the next wave of realignment is that it will probably result in a restructuring of all conferences and there will be winnowing of schools in each of the Power conferences. Any school that's "underperforming" is likely to get kicked to the curb. I wouldn't count on Cal, Stanford, or SMU having a place in the ACC, especially since the revenue agreements won't have cost the ACC very much up to that point.

Tennessee announced that they are raising ticket prices 10% because of NIL costs. I fully expect the networks to push the NFL minor leagues concept to a more obvious level at that time. It sure looks to me like we're headed down that road.

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Can we join to negotiate better revenue too?

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From what I’ve seen, Cal may benefit from this as all ACC members would receive the tv viewership revenue distributions - no lockout for the new members unlike other portions of ACC revenues. So be sure to get everyone you know to turn our games! This also positions Cal for realignment too.

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How about our percent of a regular share is equal to our conference record.

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FSU and Clemson have also undercut their position with the current seasons they are having.

Eff 'em, I say.

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FSU/Clemson: shit our lawsuits aren't going well

ACC: hahaha

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FSU/Clemson: shit our lawsuits aren't going well

FSU: Shit or seasons isn't going well

ACC: hahaha

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PRO

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[McDaniels, 2 days ago]: Tua isn't going on the IR

https://www.nfl.com/news/dolphins-placing-qb-tua-tagovailoa-concussion-on-injured-reserve

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A’s beat Cubs behind three home runs

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2024/9/17/24247724/as-beat-cubs-behind-three-home-runs

Back in the win column, baby. The A’s defeated the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field, beating the playoff hopefuls and playing spoiler for a Cubs team desperate for wins down the stretch.

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Giants beat Baltimore 10-0

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ICYMI: 3 days ago, Heliot Ramos became the first righty to homer into McCovey Cove

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41279736/ramos-becomes-1st-righty-batter-homer-mccovey-cove

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I was at the first NLDS game Dodgers vs Giants and Posey's HR would've easily gone into McCovey Cove if it didn't hit one of the light columns.

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Marlins ambush Dodgers and win old-fashioned slugfest

https://www.truebluela.com/2024/9/17/24247734/bobby-miller-dodgers-marlins

A slugfest Dodgers loss against the Marlins by an 11-9 score was the story of the most disappointing pitchers of a first-place team allowing the most damage they could against a last-place team. Miami batted around Bobby Miller and Michael Grove to set up only their 29th home win of the season.

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CAL

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🐻 Go Bears! 🐻

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[MBB] Cal To Host ‘Open Gym With Men’s Basketball’

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/17/mens-basketball-cal-to-host-open-gym-with-mens-basketball.aspx

BERKELEY – California head coach Mark Madsen is offering fans an early look at his 2024-25 squad at "Open Gym with Cal Men's Basketball" on Friday, Sept. 27.

The Golden Bears will play an intersquad scrimmage inside Haas Pavilion, with Madsen mic'd up throughout. No tickets are required for fans to attend, and doors – Entry 3 of Haas Pavilion – open at 6 p.m. PT with the event running from approximately 6:30-8:30 p.m. PT. Players and coaches will be available for a post-event autograph session.

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Oh this reminds me of the Late Night with MBB back in the early 90s. I may try to head in for this.

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[WSOC] Bears Open ACC Schedule At NC State, No. 13 Wake Forest

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/17/womens-soccer-bears-open-acc-schedule-at-nc-state-no-10-wake-forest1.aspx

BERKELEY- The inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season for the California women's soccer team begins this week as the Golden Bears head to North Carolina to take on NC State and No. 13 Wake Forest.

Cal (7-1-1) takes a six-match win streak and seven-match unbeaten streak over to the East Coast and has already matched its win total from last season. This will be the Bears' first contest with the Wolfpack since 1998 and their first with Wake Forest since 2003.

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[FB] Cal Visits Florida State For First ACC Game

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/17/football-cal-visits-florida-state-for-first-acc-game.aspx

The Cal­ifornia football team takes to the road for its first ACC game with a 4 p.m. PT kickoff at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. The Golden Bears (3-0) and Seminoles (0-3) will meet for the first time in history.

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Go!

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Bears!

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BEARS!

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It’s time again for Oski Disciple’s Bear Facts.

Back up running back Frank Brunk etched his name into California football lore as the hero of an October 15, 1949 clash between the Golden Bears and U$C. The two teams entered the contest unbeaten and ranked 9th and 12th respectively, though the Trojans were slight favorites as the Bears had been beset by a rash of injuries. Before a sell out crowd of 81,500 in Memorial Stadium, Brunk’s spectacular 102-yard kickoff return put Cal in front 14-10 late in the game. The Sturdy Golden Ones would go on to win, 16-10 en route to the conference title and a second consecutive Rose Bowl appearance. At the end of the previous day’s practice, as the Bears worked on kickoff returns, head Coach Pappy Waldorf conceived the idea of mixing things up and having his men return the ball up the middle rather than head for the sidelines. That’s exactly what Brunk did as he weaved his way to glory in what became known as “The Battle of Brunk’s Run.”

Oski Disciple’s Bear Facts appears Tuesday through Thursday on the DBD throughout the 2024 college football season. This feature is brought to you by a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation

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That sellout crowd attendance figure includes a feature not seen since the Waldorf era - temporary bleachers on the East Rim. The 1947 game vs. Navy (won by the Golden Bears, 14-7), had a similar attendance figure.

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We could get back to that.

PAC 12 was death by thousand cuts.

We need to be a Top Twenty program with the saame resolve as our academic reputation.

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Great fact, Oski!

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