71 Comments

PRO

Expand full comment

Shohei Ohtani's historic 50-50 home run ball to be auctioned

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41438953/shohei-ohtani-historic-50-50-home-run-ball-auctioned

The coveted Shohei Ohtani 50-50 home run ball has been consigned to collectibles marketplace Goldin and bidding will begin Friday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star is the only player in baseball history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. He hit three home runs and stole two bases in the same game against the Miami Marlins on September 19 to achieve baseball history.

Expand full comment

Oops...

In late 2022, also with Goldin, Aaron Judge's American League record-breaking 62nd home run ball sold for $1.5 million. Seller Cory Youmans caught Judge's record-breaker at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, turned down a $3 million offer for the ball, and put it up for auction. The $1.5 million paid for Judge's 62nd is still the second-most-expensive baseball ever sold at auction.

Expand full comment

Padres!!

Expand full comment

Walk-off! Jacob Wilson’s first sends A’s home winners

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2024/9/24/24253610/walk-off-jacob-wilsons-first-sends-as-home-winners

Oakland walked-off the rival Rangers on Tuesday night at the Coliseum, sending Texas packing with an RBI knock in the bottom of the ninth to take game one of the final series ever played by the Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. Drink it all in, folks.

Tonight’s starting pitching duel saw an Oakland rookie facing a Texas veteran. While the Athletics went with first-year right-hander Mitch Spence to kick tonight off the Rangers had 13-year veteran Nathan Eovaldi on the mound for them in this one. Experience on the mound was not to Oakland’s advantage on the mound tonight.

Expand full comment

Dominant Webb and home run barrage rout D-Backs, 11-0

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/9/24/24253806/dominant-webb-home-run-barrage-rout-diamondbacks-11-0-sf-giants

What do you get your baseball team’s ace to celebrate his last start of the season? For the San Francisco Giants, they opted for a rare treat that Logan Webb always needs but rarely has enough of: Run support.

Webb threw six scoreless innings and the Giants hit five home runs in an 11-0 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was the team’s fifth win in a row and Webb’s 13th win on the season. This was Webb’s last start of the season, barring an unlikely ruling from Major League Baseball banning the Dodgers from the playoffs for competitive balance tax evasion. He finishes the season with a 13-10 record, a 3.47 ERA, and 174 strikeouts in 204.2 innings.

Expand full comment

Giants are at 79-79 with 4 games left to play.

Expand full comment

Dodgers bookend their loss to Padres with baffling plays

https://www.truebluela.com/2024/9/24/24253888/dodgers-triple-play-padres-loss-double-steal

Shohei Ohtani was on deck with nobody out in the ninth inning and the tying run on base. He did not bat.

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers dropped the opener of their series against the Padres on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. While Los Angeles still leads the National League West, their grip on the division doesn’t seem all that tight.

The shocker was a game-ending triple play by Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning, after the Dodgers opened the frame with three consecutive hits and a run, with the tying runs on base. They showed their most life of the night offensively, but the death was quick and painful, all while Shohei Ohtani waited on deck during the hottest stretch of his career.

Expand full comment

game-ending triple play!!!

Expand full comment

ugh...the one place he couldn't hit it, he did.

Expand full comment

clinch playoffs at the same time ..

Expand full comment
author

GREEN

Expand full comment

DAY

The SF concert last Fri was incredible!!

Expand full comment
Sep 25Liked by SGBear

Somewhere that’s…

I performed this yesterday for singing class.

Expand full comment

Kermit said it best. https://youtu.be/rRZ-IxZ46ng?si=aKA4DeWa7AbOPj93

Expand full comment

Kermit generally has a good perspective on any given topic.

Expand full comment
author

CAL

Expand full comment

Latest USNWR college rankings out. For public universities, Cal #2 to UCLA (17 and 15 for national universities). In their discussion of Cal it lists Earl Warren, Jonny Moseley, and John Cho as the notable alumni. That’s who they come up with?

Expand full comment
Sep 25·edited Sep 25

If you list Earl Warren, why not Jerry Brown? And if you list an athlete and an actor, why not also include Gregory Peck, Jared Goff, and Susanna Hoffs?

EDIT: Notable UCSC alums include Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Huey P. Newton, Susan Wojcicki, and Kathryn Sullivan. Just noting this to emphasize that the list of Cal alums for USNWR is ridiculous in its narrow grouping and choices.

Expand full comment

If Cal had beaten FSU, do we jump UCLA?

Expand full comment
author

Class of 2025 Ke'Breion Winston has decommited from Cal.

https://twitter.com/kebre3xx/status/1838724291027964322

Expand full comment

I hear UNLV has an opening...

Expand full comment
author

Cal schedules Texas Southern - an FCS level HBCU. Hopefully they bring their band "Ocean of Soul" in 2025. How bad is Texas Southern - the lost to Rice 69-7. Rice lost to Houston 33-7, Sam Houston 34-14 (SMSU rose to FBS level last year), and Army 37-14.

Expand full comment
author

Texas Southern is a terrible FCS program. Like Merrimack, Texas A&M Commerce, Colgate levels. We'll break scoring records if we leave our 1st team in. BTW: the highest scores that Cal has put up is 127 vs. St. Mary's (1920). The modern era scoring record is 86 vs UOP

Expand full comment
author

Cal schedules 2026/2027 "home-and-not-home" with BYU. That's a... thing.

https://x.com/CalFootball/status/1838979957319663814?t=QezcSNfNNZivIvZuQXKOSQ&s=19

Expand full comment

Held off on my run this morning because it was raining. Just got home and turned on the TV while I wind down. Replay of Cal-WF in women’s soccer is on ACCN so I can see the late comeback to tie.

Expand full comment

*SPOILER ALERT*

Expand full comment

[FB] Woodson Named Campbell Trophy Semifinalist

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/25/football-woodson-named-campbell-trophy-semifinalist.aspx

California redshirt-senior safety Craig Woodson has been named a semifinalist for the 2024 William V. Campbell Trophy, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame announced Wednesday.

College football's premier scholar-athlete award recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.

Expand full comment

[MGOLF] Cal Takes Fourth At The Tindall

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/mens-golf-cal-takes-fourth-at-the-tindall.aspx

SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Daniel Heo and Charlie Berridge rounded out a pair of collegiate-low 54-hole scores as the California golf team placed fourth overall at The Tindall on Tuesday. The Golden Bears (-13) shot a third-round 286 (275-278-286 – 839), dropping to spots into sole possession of fourth at their season-opening event at Aldarra Golf Club.

Cal entered the final round in a tie for second place at 15-under-par and just five shots behind Utah, but it was the Utes who ran away with the tournament victory, shooting a 271 on Tuesday to finish at 33-under-par, 14 strokes better than second-place Pepperdine. South Carolina (-17) and UCLA (-11) finished third and fifth, respectively.

Expand full comment

[WBB] Women’s Basketball ACC Schedule Released

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/womens-basketball-acc-schedule-released.aspx

BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team's conference schedule for its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference was announced by the ACC office Tuesday.

The Golden Bears' conference schedule includes 10 games against teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament highlighted by a home matchup against Final Four participant North Carolina State on Jan. 9.

Expand full comment

[WTEN] Passola Folch Drops Qualifying Match At ITA All-Americans

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/womens-tennis-passola-folch-drops-qualifying-match-at-ita-all-americans.aspx

CARY, N.C. – California women's tennis junior Berta Passola Folch was one set away from advancing to the ITA All-American Championships singles main draw, but the Spaniard lost a three-setter in qualifying singles Tuesday to bow out of the tournament.

Passola Folch, ranked 106th in the ITA singles poll, won the first set but fell to Georgia's 11th-seeded and 75th-ranked Guillermina Grant 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at Cary Tennis Park.

Expand full comment

[MBB] Cal’s 2024-25 ACC Schedule Unveiled

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/mens-basketball-cals-2024-25-acc-schedule-unveiled.aspx

California's inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) men's basketball schedule for the 2024-25 season was unveiled Tuesday on the ACC Network's Nothing But Net show. With their nonconference slate announced earlier this month, the Golden Bears' full 2024-25 schedule is complete.

Expand full comment

Newellbany and I were trying to map out a path to the bubble…

*It involved sweeping the 7 nonconference games at Haas.

*Beating SDSU in San Jose.

*Winning at least one of @Vandy, @Mizzou, or @USC.

*Cobbling together a 9-11 ACC record.

*Winning 1 game in the ACCT…

Suffice it to say, it’s gonna be a challenge, especially with an entirely new team and so many unproven players at this level…but if they can defend and rebound better, you never know….

Expand full comment

Maybe they'll have a first round game in El Paso!

Expand full comment

ISWYDT

Expand full comment

[WGYM]14 Bears Named CGA Academic All-Americans

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/mens-gymnastics-14-bears-named-cga-academic-all-americans.aspx

The 2024 California men's gymnastics squad landed 14 men on the College Gymnastics Association's (CGA) Academic All-America list Tuesday, surpassing the previous year's total by one. As a team, the Golden Bears posted an average GPA of 3.28, also an improvement on the 2023 season.

Expand full comment

[MTEN] Overbeck Reaches Main Draw Singles In Tulsa

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/overbeck-reaches-main-draw-singles-in-tulsa.aspx

TULSA, Okla. – California men's tennis senior Carl Emil Overbeck continued his strong start to the season when he won Tuesday to advance to the singles main draw at the ITA All-American Championships at the Case Tennis Center. The Dane, ranked 56th in the ITA singles poll, defeated North Carolina State's 90th-ranked Martin Borisiouk 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in the second round of qualifying to move onto Wednesday's main draw.

Expand full comment

[WSOC] No. 22 Cal Set For First ACC Home Matches

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/24/womens-soccer-no-22-cal-set-for-first-acc-home-matches.aspx

Fresh off its first ranking of the season, the No. 22 California women's soccer returns to Edwards Stadium for its first two ACC home contests. The Golden Bears will face No. 16 Pitt on Thursday followed by a Sunday matinee with Miami.

Cal (8-1-2, 1-1-0), winner of seven of its last nine matches, takes a nine-match unbeaten streak into the weekend. The 16th-ranked Panthers come to California after seeing their six-match win streak ended by No. 8 North Carolina, and the Hurricanes, who play No. 6 Stanford on Thursday, are looking for their first ACC victory.

Expand full comment

full ACC schedule is out for Mens Basketball. making some plans to go to UNC and maybe Duke.

Jan 15 Cal at North Carolina

Jan 18 Cal at NC State

Feb 12 Cal at Duke

Expand full comment
Sep 25·edited Sep 25

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

The 1920 Golden Bears outscored opponents 510-14. The 496-point positive differential is still a record for the university. No other California team has topped the 500 point mark. The fourteen points allowed is the second lowest total against a Bear team only bettered by the 1923 squad which yielded but seven points all season. (Some skeptics doubt that a Justin Wilcox-coached team could top this record.)

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 Nabisco Cookies and Snacks.

Expand full comment
Sep 25·edited Sep 25

The 510 points is even more amazing when you realize that this is the point total in NINE games, which also included the 1921 Rose Bowl. The 1920 Wonder Team averaged 56.66667 points per game.

The 1920 Wonder Team also set the all-time Cal football record of points scored against an opponent in one game, a 127-0 shellacking of St. Mary's at California Field on October 9. Other games scores that season -

Cal 88, Mare Island Marines 0 (October 2, California Field)

Cal 79, Nevada 7 (October 16, California Field)

Cal 63, Utah 0 (October 23, California Field)

The 1920 Big Game score was California 38, Stanfurd 0 (November 20, California Field)

Cal played Ohio State in the 1921 Rose Bowl, winning 28-0.

Expand full comment

Looks like the only road trip, other than to the Rose Bowl, was up to Corvallis to play Oregon State on October 30. The Bears got back on the train home with a 17-7 win.

Was home cooking (and 4 of 8 games against non division IA opponents) a factor?

Expand full comment

One could speculate that Cal might have run up the score a few times (Oski Disciple can probably provide first hand perspective on that), but in those days there probably wasn't much of a second string to sub in.

Expand full comment

I posit that it didn't matter. The second string of Andy Smith's teams were just as capable as the first string.

Expand full comment

yep. I imagine that everyone on the team got plenty of field time.

Expand full comment

I raised that point only because in that era, a lot of teams didn't have a full second string, and everyone was a 2 way player. Andy Smith wouldn't recognize a 2020's roster of ~110+ players, 85 on scholarship, and a travel roster of 55-65.

Expand full comment
author

[POLITICAL STUFF HERE]

Expand full comment
author

[Poll] Nebraska US Senate Race: Incumbent Deb Fisher (R) is essentially tied with Independent-but-really-a-Democrat Dan Osborn

https://www.newsweek.com/nebraska-independent-overtakes-republican-senator-new-poll-1959123

Expand full comment
author

Second would-be-Trump-assassin is assigned Judge Cannon for his case. Watch now to see how fast this case will go compared to the Mar-a-Lago case.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/24/ryan-routh-aileen-cannon-charged-00180836

Expand full comment
author

Kevin Roberts, the mastermind of Project 2025, allegedly told people at a dinner party that he killed his neighbor's pitbull with a shovel because it barked too much

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/24/project-2025-kevin-roberts-killed-dog

Expand full comment

The cruelty is the point with these American Nazis.

Expand full comment
author

ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

Expand full comment
author

PAC-12/MWC legal issues over poaching/scheduling

https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP/status/1838705582779568227

Expand full comment
Sep 25·edited Sep 25

Gloria Nevarez is clearly looking out for her conference's member institutions. She understood, very clearly, the changing landscape of FBS football and the primary pitfalls in keeping the MWC together. Even so, it did not prevent defections.

The Pac-2 is proving that there is no honor among thieves when it comes to FBS football.

Expand full comment
author

UNLV's starting QB allegedly went to coach asking for $300k to stay. They said no, so he cleared out his locker and declared a redshirt season. We'll see where he transfers to, because those are the suckers who tampered with him. Welcome to the NIL/tampering era of college football.

https://x.com/PalomaFOX5News/status/1838802285423718419

Expand full comment
author

Update: journalist says Sluka got paid NIL, but thought his market value went up

Sluka's brother responded in a now deleted tweet that this wasn't true.

https://imgur.com/EGrMqr3

Sluka's dad then said Sluka never got paid his $100k

https://x.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1838948515113767100

Expand full comment
author

Update: NIL collective said "it was a verbal agreement and it's worth the paper it's not written on"

Expand full comment

Well...there it is!

Expand full comment

in my view, the only way the NIL stuff doesn't screw up a team is if you do a flat rate for everyone on the team. Would be even better to make it nothing if also don't graduate. Sure you will miss out on what looks like generational talents when they are 18, but how many of those pan out?

Expand full comment

"Would be even better to make it nothing if also don't graduate."

Wouldn't that constitute restraint of trade? Not sure I should comment further.

The sentence quoted also suggests that in the age of NIL, colleges and universities ought to reconsider the role of athletics within the academic setting. What is appropriate for an institution whose primary mission is higher education? And how does athletics fit into that mission? Is it a part of the mission or is it separate?

I'm not offering an opinion here, only throwing out the question. I have found myself vacillating on this question between two very different positions - (1) colleges and universities should get out of the business of for-profit intercollegiate athletics or (2) for-profit intercollegiate athletics can enrich and embellish the educational experience of non-athletes and athletes alike.

It would solve a number of mission-related questions to withdraw from for-profit intercollegiate athletics. But such action carries with it a backlash that is likely to be immense and could damage the academic mission.

So, I remain uncertain how we navigate this new landscape as fans.

Expand full comment

I entirely agree with your post. I put in the 'graduate', but there are nuances to what that could mean that would preclude a 'restraint of trade' idea.

Expand full comment

My view is that the scholarship era (scholarship, team meals, etc. as total compensation for playing services) was tried, relied upon as the model of ethical recruitment and found to be wanting in the courts. We aren't returning to that model, so what other options exist outside of the current NIL model?

What other options exist except where players are effectively free agents as it is now?

The relationship with student-athletes is evolving rapidly, it seems, and I'm doubtful that there will be much in the way of certainty for some time to come.

Expand full comment

The obvious model is a slot model, similar to the MLB draft signing slot values. That took a LOT of work to get to, and given that CFB is dealing with a large, disorganized bunch of high $ investors/boosters that want to win, or at least obtain players they think will win, and MLB is a fixed size number of managers, most of whom want to milk their franchise for all they can, and don't care about winning, it will be even harder to come to common ground on the wage scale for QBs.

Expand full comment

Except the market value of all the players isn't remotely close to equal, so of course the potential for opportunities for Name, Image, & Likeness business ventures is not close to the same. And since its transactional, graduating in a few years does NOT affect the value today of an appearance, or a name on a jersey.

Expand full comment

I don't disagree, but individual negotiations with each 'marketable' player will end up every year with the situation that UNLV is having right now.

Expand full comment

That's not a bug, it's a feature of NIL.

Expand full comment

The comments:

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw QB not get the NIL that was promised. I guess it's pretty serious.

Expand full comment
author

DBD AV CLUB

Expand full comment

The Bear Season 2. I just finished the Christmas episode. HOLY SHIT! So much going on and so many loud noises. I imagine the sound guys had a hell of a time getting all the mixing done properly. I hope they won an award for that episode. 19/19 WB Hulu(?)

Expand full comment

Follow up from the game broadcast Sat. The announcers were terrible. Not just FSU homers, but seemed to not really understand the nuances of current rules.

Expand full comment