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USCD embarrassing the Bears...

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Cal hoops on v UCSD.

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Cal by 4 at half v UCSD, a team making the transition to D1 in the Big West. Observations from 1st half....Jordan Shepherd, a grad transfer from Oklahoma/UNCC has been solid and will probably lead this team in scoring...Fox had Hyder, Brown & Lars on the floor at one time, and the offense collapsed.

Not surprisingly, Cal is not very good. Lots of empty trips bc they settle for long jumpers and don't make many of them....they turn the ball over too much, and continue to miss FTs...

The team is 10-deep...it will be interesting to see if Fox can turn that depth into a positive with high intensity D...unfortunately, the early returns show a lot of guys getting beat 1-on-1.

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@Just saying we're 10-deep doesn't mean we have 10 players that are good...@

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Oh of course not…there may not be a legit P12 player among them…tho Rick Pitino could probably get this team to the Bubble, TBH.

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Slick Rick or his son? Maybe his son isn't Rick. But, a stripper fund would need to be established if Slick Rick were here.

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Rick, not Richard.

Coaches matter…systems matter. I bet Pitino could step off the plane at OAK, take a LYFT to Haas, spend a week installing the basics of his system, and get this team to the bubble… 18-13 w/ a win in the P12 Tourney…

Fox is awful - worst loss of his tenure to open season #3…brutal. And he doesn’t appear to be vaccinated either.

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Does Cal have the athleticism to play Papa Rick's havoc defense? I'm not sure. If not then we'd be giving up easy baskets. I think it's what Wyking tried to do? And it didn't go so well.

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"When the Levee Breaks" turns 50 today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwiTs60VoTM

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Led Zep's version is 50

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Frank Gore to fight Deron Williams: https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/32591490/ex-nfl-star-frank-gore-fight-ex-nba-star-deron-williams-boxing-match-jake-paul-tommy-fury-undercard If you were to ask me which modern football player is most likely to experience CTE, I'd probably say Gore. Not sure this new career turn is the most responsible one for him.

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A couple years ago, my coworker gave me a sweater that had shrunk in the wash. I wore it, and it was fine. Today, I put it on after many months (it's getting a bit chillier now), and I guess it shrank again, after the last time I washed it. (Could also be pandemic weight, but I don't think that would make my arms grow longer...)

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Making a mental picture and mentally chuckling.

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My friend tells me that you can take it to a dry cleaner to have them block it for you. Could be worth looking into.

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Maybe the cal offensive line can look into this.

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Washington DC

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worth a visit I guess

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Remember when I visited AND YOU LEFT THE CONTINENT?

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total coincidence

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Remember when I visited and we ate face bacon and drank whiskey? Good times

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yes indeed

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Go-go music

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Lived there for over a year back when the kids were little, so we went to places like the children's museum and an historical farm. Plenty to do, crazy traffic. My closest view of a road rage incident. Race relations were very different.

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I would love to live there for a year.

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Same.

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We had a family trip to NYC/Niagara/Philly/DC in 84. In DC we saw some of the monuments and the Smithsonian.

Back in 2011 I took No 1 on a trip to NYC to see Princeton on the way down to DC to see Georgetown. We did a few of the Smithsonians. Forgot exactly which ones but we did see Art, Air & Space, the one with all the things from TV shows. Also the National Archives I think.

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despite the disgraced name, my favorite is the Freer-Sackler Asian Art galleries

Air and Space is pretty impressive though

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Air and Space is undergoing a big renovation. A little is open but most is currently closed to the public.

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have you been to the BIG annex that is out in VA somewhere? i havent been to that

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I've been a couple times but it's been awhile now. That was the first of the venues to re-open after the pandemic closures.

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much easier to circulate the air for a start

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For my flight from Philly to LAX I was at Dulles for about 4+ hours. I was thinking of trying to get to the Annex since I haven't been there. I didn't realize it's not attached to the airport and would require an Uber or bus. And they closed earlier that day.

I do want to check it out sometime.

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I visit the Freer every time I hit the Mall. Parents lived in N. Virginia, my brother and sister still live there.

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have been to DC plenty over the years since it is an easy trip from NYC. the Beltway traffic is a real pain.

strangely the closest place for me to get Philz Coffee is one of their few east coast locations in Adams Morgan across from the Line Hotel where we end up staying for work.

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Been twice, most recently in about 2006 or 2007. We were able to get a tour of the Capitol through Sen. Feinstein's office. Our tour ended in the Senate chamber while it was in session, but on a break during debate on the Iraq War funding bill. My wife and I were in the gallery and I looked down and saw Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain talking to each other on the Senate floor. I pointed them out to my wife and said that one of those three would likely be our next president. Pretty cool.

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@did you scope out sites in the Capitol for an insurrection?@

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No, but I did try on a Viking helmet to see if it fit.

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That is very cool!

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my trip to Senate chamber in 1987 was much less exciting.

Robert Byrd from WV was going on and on about the 125th anniv of his great state. there was NO ONE in attendance and nobody cared.

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Ah, democracy.

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I miss it.

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Been there a few times. Most notably on the classic 8th grade field trip. Felt like shit one of the days where we had to get up for an early mass at a basilica (has an underground museum, I forget the name of the place) so my teacher let me nap in the back in the hopes my body would start functioning again (it did).

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I've only been once on a family trip with my cousins in 1985 or 86. I remember visiting New York City, then DC. Saw Smithsonian, Washington and Jefferson Memorials. Vietnam Memorial (then it was new-ish), Monticello, Mt. Vernon. Maybe I'll go back next year.

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I was getting the annual inspection for my car and the 20ish kid doing the inspection assumed I couldn't speak English well, and thought it would be helpful to yell at me.

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many years ago I was going by the Capitol on my run home. I stopped to see some politician giving a press conference on the east plaza. A Capitol police officer came up to me and hassled me saying I really didn't want to get into it with him when I explained I just wanted to see what was going on. And this was well before 9/11 and I'm sure me in my t-shirt and shorts was a big safety risk.

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Cal Alumni Club

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CAA now requires that CAA officers check vaccine cards for indoor events that might get more than 50 people. Uh. No. I'm not setting myself up for a fight. This ain't Berkeley.

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do you regularly have functions that big? most CAC stuff around here does not get that many people

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We have a giant annual gala (where one year only my friend TK and I were the only ones at our table who actually attended Cal and another year we were a bunch of 35+ year old alums. . . and the second youngest table). a big send off meeting for incoming Bears and we used to have viewing parties back when . . . we were better.

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Big Game viewing.

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semi-related, going to this in person Cal even tonight

Please join Chancellor Carol T. Christ and Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer Rich Lyons for a panel discussion about innovation and entrepreneurship with other inspired and inspiring UC Berkeley speakers.

Our distinguished panel will discuss how Berkeley approaches innovation and entrepreneurship in the intersecting and ever-changing landscapes of business and tech — always with Cal’s trademark resilience and commitment to the public good in mind. Additional panelists will be announced soon.

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i was on a call w/ SGBear not too long ago on Zoom to answer questions for newly admitted students.

way back when i first moved to NYC (early 2000's) the local Cal Alumni club had a small budget for a "new student reception" that was in Apr in between the time the kids got admitted and were supposed to decide. it was low budget but a very impactful event.

nowadays they send official Cal people and it is not quite the same.

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there's been a similar change recently for SC alumni groups - the new-ish administration basically blew up the existing relationships with regional alumni group and the annual "SCend Off" seems to have been a casualty of that change.

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Do you participate in your local alumni association events? Shanghai's 99% tend to be tech and business talks and occasionally mixers with other university alumni associations. But they're almost all big wastes of time as people "network" for no good reason. And 85% of people at these mixers lie about who they are "Oh! you went to Berkeley! What year?" "Oh I didn't really go" same questions about UCLA, Stanford, Yale, Harvard etc.

I did play on the Cal alumni basketball team this year - and when we were regularly decent at football we used to have large viewing parties, but now i'm the only one stupid enough to wake up at 3am to watch.

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i find the Cal only ones to be of more value even though it is harder to find these events. because of the small population in far away places there is a greater sense of commonality when you meet someone from Cal and you dont have to take forever to understand what a special place it was

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Yeah - and honestly hanging out with the basketball people was way more fun than the networking ones. A bunch of 22-28 year old Chinese kids who went to Cal for undergrad - so they "got" the Top Dog/Fat Slice/etc. life a lot more than people who only attended for grad school.

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You should go to the Tahoe one at Garwoods! The dude who owns Garwoods is an Old Blue.

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DBD Test Kitchen

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I miss being able to post pics because I would bless you all with the magnificent club sandwich I had sitting by a hotel pool today. First covid plane trip today!

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Throw it on the gram/bird app.

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Gomae. Blanch some spinach in boiling water for 20 seconds. Rinse in cold, gentle running. The rinse takes out the excess iron that makes spinach "chalky" in texture. Put it onto a plastic wrap, roll up, squeeze out water from both ends - keeping the whole thing in a long spinach tube. Chill in fridge for a few hours. After chilled, slice off ends, cut into 1 inch lengths, stack on end, add 2 drops of toasted sesame oil and 2 drops soy sauce. Top with a few white sesame seeds. So good that people will fight over the last pieces.

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Spinach nuggets

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DBD AV Club

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The Harder They Fall: great cast, ok direction, needed to be either grittier or more stylish to really slap. 13/19 WB

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High Town...season 1 was really good....season 2 not bad either. Check it out on STARZ.

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I've been watching it. This and Ordinary Joe I think are the two new shows I've been watching.

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Our Crumbling Democracy

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Rittenhouse case: District Attorney torpedoes his own case vs. Kyle Rittenhouse as witness admits to pointing gun at Rittenhouse just before getting shot

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1053567574/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-gaige-grosskreutz-testimony-kenosha

https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1457778454062006277

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Probably still guilty of some weapons violations but the higher charges won't stick.

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Most stupid, reckless things people do aren't crimes.

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Yeah, I never really thought serious criminal charges against him were going to stick.

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very cool. very legal.

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Today in Covid 19

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Pro

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LV Raiders release 2020 1st round pick Damon Arnette after he threatens to kill a fan with a gun who trolled him on Twitter DMs. Warning: harsh language (NSFW).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8M2rOhxPgY

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Raiders having a tough one this month.

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All of my sports luck is being concentrated on one team . . .my least important team (Fulham! #COYW)

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Yikes

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In response to the request to use the word "dong" more frequently: KAaron Rodgers' fiancee implies that her beau has a big dong.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/shailene-woodley-defends-anti-vaxxer-fiance-aaron-rodgers-and-his-penis-size

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That is just sad.

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Haha...this just popped up on my youtube feed. Brett Farve and the Bears Superfans talking about the 100 anniversary of the NFL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUnLwM1JfKI&ab_channel=NBCSports

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Oh I had a thought last night watching Monday Night Football, Bears vs. Steelers (exciting game btw): Which NFL fans are the most loyal with the least reason? Not sure it's Bear fans, but I'm sure they're near the top.

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SoCal Raider fans. Not only did the team leave more than 25 years ago, they mostly haven't won much of anything lately.

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Fair, I think Raider fandom is it's own thing (attached to an image, more than a region). Most fans are either local fans of a team, or of the team where they grew up.

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Once the Raiders left, L.A. had no more team, so a lot of them just didn't switch allegiances. Oakland isn't a long flight (neither is Vegas).

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I remember when the Superfans first debuted on SNL it was during the Pawlawski's Bears. We were saying they needed to have him on a show talking about Da Cal Bears.

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As expected, DeSean Jackson signed with Raiders. I thought he was coming back to the bay area but realized they now play in Vegas. I'm sure Jackson will enjoy life in Vegas.

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The Hawks couldn’t keep up with Stephen Curry in Warriors 127-113 victory

https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2021/11/9/22771446/golden-state-warriors-stephen-curry-trae-young-atlanta-hawks-john-collins-gary-payton

The Golden State Warriors entered Monday’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks with the best record in the NBA. Working on a four-game winning streak, the Warriors hoped to keep their winning ways going against one of their biggest challenges of the season. After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Hawks came into Chase Center looking to bounce back from a tough loss in Phoenix on Saturday.

On the second half of their first back-to-back of the season, the Warriors turned to Stephen Curry to carry them to victory. Curry scored the Warriors first 10 points and put them ahead 10-3. Then, Chase Center stood still for a moment.

Chasing Bogdan Bogdanovic around a screen, Curry appeared to jam his left arm against the Hawks guard. Running back the next possession, Curry was favoring his arm heavily. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr quickly called timeout, and Curry met with team trainers. Luckily, the star guard avoided any serious injury and was able to remain in the game. In his postgame press conference, Curry revealed that he jammed his shoulder but did not feel a need to seek treatment after the game.

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i was expecting them to lose on the 2nd night of a back-to-back

nice to see them back to their winning ways

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I realize the schedule has been weak lately, but they really have "the look" this season. A team that could actually win it all, and that's even before Klay comes back.

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The schedule looks weak because the teams the Warriors have played have all lost to the Warriors.

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Well most of the teams they've played were not expected to be good. Only the Lakers, Clippers, and Hawks were projected as playoff teams (and for the Clippers a lot depends on when Kawhi Leonard comes bak).

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The bench definitely looks much better than in years past. GP2, Bjelica, JP, DLee, Otto Porter Jr, JTA. They look closer to the 2015ish bench than the 2019 bench.

I think this is the key to success with this Warriors team vs the last few teams.

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Yeah, they seem to run like 10 deep with useful players, which is a shocking development given what the roster looked like for the last two years.

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in the days of old w/ all the championships it was defense and bench scoring that regularly paved the way to victory.

presumably when Klay is back,Jordan Poole comes off the bench and goes bananas!

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Josh Allen picked off by Josh Allen

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1457442542824267781

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I believe he also got sacked by Josh Allen.

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As good as Will Smith hitting a HR off of Will Smith.

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Other College

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Nebraska's Scott Frost cleans house midseason of nearly everyone (except Scott Frost). Toni Tuioti keeps job.

https://twitter.com/joshtweeterson/status/1457832069921443842?s=21

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Can any other college please take the attention off the Cal bears please

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There have been dumpster fires on every Pac-12 campus this year, and I'm confident there will be more.

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(That prediction sure didn't need to age long to age well!)

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I want them to get attention and forces the university or someone to make a statement and end all the myths and assumptions.

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I think it is funny that you believe any national or state attention is even on Cal. Our football program is barely relevant in the Bay Area.

Most people are probably talking about UW or Nebraska right now.

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Recruiters are paying attention. Recruits will be reminded of the episode by those recruiters.

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Exactly. The only people who are going to become familiar with it are recruits who will want nothing to do with this type of off-the-field headache.

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Here you go..

Washington coach Jimmy Lake suspended after getting physical with player

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/washington-coach-jimmy-lake-suspended-after-getting-physical-with-player-in-loss-to-rival-oregon/

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Jimmy Lake

✅Says sorry to everyone and their cousin

✅Says committed to being better

❎Says "that's not me"

https://twitter.com/CoachLakeUDUB/status/1457859028902502401

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All after he denied hitting the kid.

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Jimmy Lake has been a huge disaster and disappointment at UW. I can’t believe how bad he has been as a HC.

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Yeah I thought he was going to keep the UW machine going buuuut nope

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Definitely a coaching issue...the quality of player hasn't really dropped off...UW has, and will continue to get, physically gifted players that will play, and play well, on Sundays. Elijah Molden being the latest example.

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Cal

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Why does Cal have a 2 PM start for basketball?

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Double header with WBB afterward.

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Cheapest tickets on seatgeek are $8 each including fees.

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Go bear

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Over the weekend I saw a first - saw a guy running wearing a U.C. Merced shirt - go Bobcats. Yesterday saw a guy in a UCSB shirt - go Gauchos.

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I had a UC Riverside sweatshirt in high school, but my dad worked there.

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In case you missed it from the front page, there's this. Yeah.

https://twitter.com/ChaseGarbers/status/1457913852578779144

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eh, I think the frustration is no other program is doing this.

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I think that's right.

I also think that Cal is showing its incompetence in handling COVID testing for its student-athletes.

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But trying to pin the blame of that incompetence on the CoB.

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Avinash replied to a Wilner tweet here and based on currently available information seems to be the crux of the issue.

https://twitter.com/avinashkunnath/status/1458140142925848577

The AD has likely not been doing a good job with regular testing or with communicating requirements to the athletes. I realize that City of Berkeley makes it tougher with an adversarial relationship and stricter COVID standards, but those are the given circumstances of Cal and you need to work within them.

Not the first time we've seen this kind of "fend for themselves" attitude applied to the football team and it coming back to bite Cal in the butt. The APR issues under Tedford are a result of this, as was the academic scandal under Holmoe that forced a forfeited season. Not sure if this attitude will ever change.

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Part of the problem is that Cal and/or CoB are not proactively making statements about why their policy was executed correctly. So there is no message aside from players, coaches, parents, and reporters who are angry that Cal wasn't able to field a competitive team when everyone else was. Into the void moves all kinds of speculation.

This kind of laissez-faire AD approach doesn't work in big-time college football, which is a lesson Cal has repeatedly refused to learn. If you're not going to commit then just drop out of the Pac-12 already.

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I get that, but OTOH, you don't choose to play college football if you're not competitive. And that's where the tension lies.

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Yup. No one should be shocked that Division 1 athletes are viewing this primarily through the lens of competition and see it as unfair that they get hurdles placed in front of them while their competitors don't.

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If we don't test anyone we won't have positive Covid results and we can all play...

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Also bad news for the U$C game. Santa Clara womens soccer has a 1st round NCAA tournament game @SCU vs STANFORD. Got completely shafted by the committee as the defending champs. Have to probably go to that at 1pm. I'll definitely be at the big game no questions asked and will see everyone there, hopefully in tailgate and in the stadium.

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You know what. I'm going to stay out of the Covid discussions. What's done is done. On to USC!

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Not so fast. The shitshow for Cal football and COVID is only just beginning after what happened yesterday LOL

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I think it is mostly ending. Players should be able come back for the SC game, we only have 2 games left after SC. Some players will be upset and enter the transfer portal. We will probably lose a few more HS recruits that people will try to blame on Covid rather than our record.

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Since the SC game won't be until in December, there should be time to get some players ready.

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Yes, this. Good point on the transfers...given how easy it is to transfer nowadays, I fear Wilcox is looking at the potential of major defections by kids who become disillusioned with the Berkeley machine.

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You're not the boss of me!

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