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Surprise Party!!

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we had an interesting Fri night after Thxgiving.

my wife and I were in NYC having a boozy brunch w/ my sister-in-law. we came home to a surprise 25th anniversary party that the kids put together. there were about 40 people from all parts of life, mostly local.

all the guests had trivia questions from 1998. it was a contest between the 2 of us and the loser got a pie of whipped cream in the face. needless to say, the game was rigged and i got the pie in the face.

instructions for trivia contest ...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zAZgKsN3jgyNRdin8

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Well, the kids are nothing if not rising to the occasion in knowing an opportunity to have fun with the Old Man. Apparently.

I hope Mrs HSB enjoyed herself, too.

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that sounds fun!

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what a nice gesture from the kids!

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Happy 25th Anniversary and kudos to the kids! 🥳

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what fun!

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PRO

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Meddlesome owner Tepper is also a problem in Carolina.

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Chargers' defense suddenly becomes good again, but their offense dooms the team in their 20-10 loss to Baltimore

https://apnews.com/article/chargers-ravens-c4b32410226b6d2bf2637ef48050bf46

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Hurts and Eagles beat Josh Allen, Bills 37-34 in OT

https://apnews.com/article/eagles-bills-score-hurts-allen-overtime-d273964bebaa5769d80a4b323a3a2eb9

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I guess the Eagles have to be considered the best team right now, but it would be nice to see them win a game comfortably and not by the skin of their teeth every week.

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I was shocked that Philly managed to hit that 59-yard field goal in a frigid, driving rain at the end of regulation. Very, very impressive

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"Extra something" cooking technique

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perhaps perfectly well known ..

when making any sort of tomato sauce, especially for pasta/Italian food, i cook thinly sliced onions in olive oil for a minute or two before adding the tomatoes or tomato sauce.

this even helps enhance store bought pasta sauce and gives great results for something that is a very minor and quick cooking step.

makes for decent meals in a ski house or Airbnb when you dont have access to your entire kitchen full of stuff.

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first year I cooked half of the thanksgiving dishes:

*soy marinated strip steaks (generally I choose to sous vide the secondary protein so it's automated)

*garlic miso butter mashed potatoes (pre-roast a head of garlic in the oven at 375 for 50 mins + two tablespoons of miso will give you an extra dimension)

*gochujang brown butter brussel sprouts (idk if most people do this but i roast the leaves separately for half the time so you get an extra textural contrast; each half brussel is 475 for 15 or so mins; leaves on a separate sheet pan for 7 or so so they brown but don't burn)

last two recipes are variations off bon appetit

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I finish my salmon where I drizzle honey on top and then take a blowtorch to it. The caramelized honey and crunchy fish bits are delightful.

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I need to try this. My culinary blowtorch is underutilized

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step 1: acquire blowtorch [eyeballs]

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that picture at the top of the page is deeply disturbing

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Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023

It also reminds me of a portion of the video for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q

Go to about 3:20 in the video. I know, the reference is kinda out there.

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I don't even need to go and look, I remember exactly the bit that you were talking about

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Yes, yes it is.

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😳

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ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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The anti-vax Florida Surgeon General has a no-show $250k/year tenured professorship at U Florida.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/27/joe-ladapo-university-of-florida-00128541

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former USC DC Alex Grinch sold his place for around $4.5m. He used to live in Lincoln Riley's neighborhood.

https://www.compass.com/listing/769-v-a-del-monte-palos-verdes-estates-ca-90274/1443470041615824217/

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not the most interesting house that I ever saw, but perfectly inoffensive, and what a lovely view from the various balconies.

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Michigan State lost to Penn State. They gained 53 yards for the entire game on 47 offensive plays.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401520435

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Iowa bearely beats Nebraska 13-10, opens as a 23.5 point underdog to Michigan. I'm taking Michigan and the points, thank you.

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After that offensive frenzy in the first half (17 total points!) it looked like they might hit the over

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Luke Bottari returned to Utah to be fifth-string walk-on rather than the fourth-string walk-on QB at Cal. It paid off because he lead Utah to a 23-17 win over Colorado.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401524067

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Colorado started the season 3-0 and got as high as #19 in week 4. They then went 1-8, only barely beating ASU. Colorado State lost on Saturday, which means that all of Colorado's wins were against sub-500 teams.

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Turns out the Pac-12 was pretty tough this year.

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Couldn't happen to a nicer coach.

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Stanfurd leads Notre Dame after 1Q, then nature rights itself as Irish win 56-23. Notre Dame only threw the ball 15 times because Audric Estime ran 25 times for 238 yards and 4 TDs.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401524065

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Stanfurd ends season #108 in RPI rankings, only 8 spots ahead of Idaho.

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Arizona smashes ASU 59-23. ASU QBs end season with 8 TDs, 14 INTs. DeCarlos Brooks ends with second most yards as a RB. Dario Longhetto perfect on XPs and goes 69% on FGs. Slater Zellers doesn't let Stanford block XP.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401524064

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Washington pips Wazzu 24-21 on 42 yard game-ending FG after a jet-sweep on 4-1 from own 29 yard line with 75 seconds left in the game.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap/_/gameId/401524068

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Oregon doesn't do enough - rises to #5, FSU rises to #4, OSU falls to #6. Arizona is now #14

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

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presumably the game vs UW (#3) will boost them into the top 4 if they win.

although you never know .. maybe Ohio State will sneak back in by not playing.

UW hasnt looked all that good in recent weeks and given that they are playing on a neutral field i would say Oregon has the slight edge.

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Washington has a strong air of "pulling wins out of their ass and getting high on their own supply," but you know, that's one way to become a national championship team as long as your luck stays good.

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IMO the only real threat to Oregon (If they win) is if Alabama beats Georgia and the committee wants to have two SEC teams in the top four.

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right .. because the perception that SEC >> other conferences.

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perhaps i am old-fashioned but in a system where not everyone can play everyone .. it seems fair that if you are not the best team in your conference, you cant be the best team in the country.

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One thing I've always found fascinating about the national championship is the insistence that you can't just have the conference winners play one another for the natty. Works in just about any other sport worldwide, and even in FCS for that matter. (Fwiw, I think it's fair enough for fans and the powers that be to say that they don't _want_ to have a playoff of conference winners, but it's not logically defensible to say it can't be done.)

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It still seems silly that they designed a playoff system that was always destined to leave out at least one of the power conferences every year.

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COACHING CAROUSEL

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4th longest-tenured head coach in FBS Rick Stockstill fired from Middle Tennessee after 18 seasons.

https://theathletic.com/5093782/2023/11/27/rick-stockstill-fired-middle-tennessee/

Making Justin Wilcox now the 26th longest-tenured head coach in the FBS

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

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JW is currently 86th in career winning percentage (.462) among active head coaches, and 77th among head coaches with current team.

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Indiana HC Tom Allen was entitled to a $20.8m buyout if fired before Dec 1, but $8.0m after. Indiana couldn't wait, so they fired him on the 26th with a settlement of $15.5m that doesn't get lowered with future earnings.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38983344/indiana-coach-tom-allen-fired-3rd-straight-losing-season

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seems like an odd choice. do people think that they have someone in mind that will be off-the-market if they wait too long? some other thing forcing their hand?

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It's always best to get it done earlier than later. Once the top end jobs are filled, the pecking order for mid-tier teams goes out the window.

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I'd rather take some of that Dec 1 savings and dangle it as a signing bonus to the coach I'm trying to recruit vs pay it to someone you want to go away-- build some trust (that you will announce the fire/new hire on Dec 1) and motivation (bonus, can be structured with some payout gates).

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MS State hires Jeff Lebby as HC. Lebby was previously Oklahoma's OC and, weirdly enough, Ole Miss' OC.

https://twitter.com/hailstatefb/status/1728908703779475862

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Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023Author

The whole weird thing that went on at Texas A&M with Ross Bork, Mark Stoops, and Mike Elko

https://twitter.com/ThreeTechPod/status/1728649567535587412

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And if you subscribe to Split Zone Duo, you'll get the whole insider story on how this went down. Basically, Bjork should not be left alone to make decisions without first gaining consensus from the oil barons.

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Oregon State's Jonathan Smith becomes MSU's head coach

https://twitter.com/MSU_Football/status/1728477761935938013

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fUCLA completely dropped the ball not firing Chip Kelly after ASU and hiring local kid Jonathan Smith.

Now they'll have to play against him.

Cal laying the wood on the Bruins has left the fUCLA f-wads in ruins...love it.

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losing a good coach is bad enough, but being Oregon State and losing your coach to a team in the Big +/- Ten must be an extra large helping of salt on the wound.

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Cal fans of a certain vintage understand how OSU fans feel. This situation reminds me of when Bruce Snyder was effectively chased off to Arizona State in January 1992 after a big Citrus Bowl win and a Top 10 final ranking.

Fuck You, Bob Bockrath.

For the OSU fans, it's Fuck You, Larry Scott and George Kliavkoff!

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Yup, though in Cal's case the problems are almost always of our own making. OSU had a hand in the Pac-12's demise (as everyone did), but they did mostly get screwed by outside forces here.

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agreed- I really felt for OSU when I heard the news. Also understood why Smith couldn't stay.

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OSU people are really hurt because he kept making it sound like he might stay/really wanted to, then basically gave an interview with MSU press immediately saying he always planned to leave (while clearly not knowing anything about the place).

Funny thing is it seems like UCLA coulda had him if they moved on chip decisively.

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Time you were born

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3:29 pm

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Don't remember the exact time but it was around noon (PST).

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6:21am PST, on the day I was due. Never not efficient.

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12:57am

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1151p.

i was born on Dec 2 right before midnight and i am told that back then the cutoff for school enrollments was Dec 3.

therefore i was almost always the youngest person in my class growing up.

i might be my birthday this upcoming Sat. we are going to Boston for a camp reunion for our younger child and have dinner reservations at one of our favorite sushi places, Uni.

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I was held back a year when in kindergarten. I went from being the youngest in my class to the oldest.

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I once knew but would have to look it up now.

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Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023Author

10:19pm PST

A few weeks ago I noticed that Es99's birth certificate mistakenly lists her birth as 12:58am rather than 12:58pm. I'm not going to fix it because it doesn't make any meaningful difference

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8:55 PM Pacific Standard Time.

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6:30 am Pacific Time

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CAL

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I saw Stefan McClure in the stands at the Rose Bowl. Did others see any other former players in the stands or sidelines? I'm sure there were some.

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Confirmed Spencer Hagen and Traveon Beck

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With a couple miles left in my run this morning I saw a guy wearing a UCLA sweatshirt coming toward me on a bike. I thought about yelling Go Bears or something not so polite as we passed. I contented myself by just chuckling under my breath.

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Nov 27, 2023Liked by Berkelium97

It me. Sharing the Novel.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/93584700

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Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023

I am sure I speak for others when I say we miss the days of CGB and Nam Le. Lots of good writers through the years and you stand out among the pack of 'em. RIP Pac-12. Go Bears! 33-7!

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Nice addition to your writings. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks!

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I don't think any of the guys would have a problem with me sharing it in the comments on main but I feel weird about it and still want to be a good member of the community so I want to try to be on the DBD more. Anyway, enjoy the report (and thanks if you were someone who donated to the trip lmao)

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Last week's and this week's posts were <chef's kiss.gif>. We didn't make it down because my kids wanted to leave. Do I disown them?

BTW, your tweets aren't visible.

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I think due to my privacy settings on twitter since i'm locked, but if you would like to see those i'll upload them elsewhere later! Thanks for reading!!

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no problem. Just letting you know in case it was unintentional.

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Nov 27, 2023Liked by SGBear

Go Bears! 🏉

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BONUS “ON THIS DAY” On this day in 1936 in Memorial Stadium the Golden Bears defeated Vassar, 41-6. The Cal attack was led by quarterback Capistrano Kowalski who connected on 20 of 22 passes including two touchdown passes to his favorite receiver, Freddy “Five Fingers” Magoo. The stout Bear defense was anchored by All-American linebacker Methuselah “Steamroller” O’Leary who intercepted two passes and forced three fumbles. Cal end Dashiell Firefly knocked Vassar’s much lauded quarterback, Hazel Rumplepuss out of the game with a vicious tackle early in the third quarter. Vassar had entered the game unbeaten with victories the previous three weeks against Army, Notre Dame and U$C. After the game Vassar Head Coach Jezebel Cunningham called the Bears, “the best f*cking team we’ve faced all year.” Vassar would end their season the following weekend with a brawl-marred 0-0 tie with Bryn Mawr while Cal would win the annual Big Game, 99-1/2 with Bear kicker Ptomaine “The Toe” Horowitz connecting on a school record 20 field goals (by mutual agreement of both schools, quarters were 45 minutes long that day). California head coach Oski Oskiwitz retired at the end of the season to pursue a career as a mascot.

DBD has celebrated 100 years of football in Strawberry Canyon with this daily feature that appeared throughout the football season. Thanks for reading and Go Bears!

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this is why i come to the dbd: to learn

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as it happens, I have a t-shirt that reads "Vassar Football: Undefeated since 1861"

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Vassar was no walk-over. The Brewers won the Seven Sisters championships four years in a row and Poughkeepsie police had a hard time containing fans, who were well known hooligans.

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"well known hooligans" buddy you have no idea

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Cal ends regular season ranked #64 in RPI. Next season, we play UC Davis (#159), Auburn (#60), SDSU (#112), Miami (#48), NC State (#23), Stanfurd (#108), Syracuse (#73), Florida State (#5), Pitt (#122), SMU (#27), Wake Forest (#96), and TBD (?).

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I'd like to see Cal and Stanf*rd play OSU and Wazzu as non-conference opponents in future years. Cal could also cut down on the early season travel for non-conference games by playing other California and West of the Mississippi schools.

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So do we have an opening for next year? We only play eight ACC schools, not the Pac-12 nine.

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Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023

By my count, Cal does have an opening. So far, Cal's only OOC opponents are vs UC Davis (Aug 31), at Auburn (Sep 07), and vs San Diego State (Sep 14). The actual schedule for the ACC slate hasn't been announced yet. If past practice is an indicator, the Big Game should be Nov. 23 (Saturday before Thanksgiving).

That leaves, presumably, November 30 (Saturday after Thanksgiving) and 2 bye weeks that fall somewhere between September 21 and November 16. Of those 9 weekends, only 7 will be occupied by ACC games that do not include Stanf*rd.

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Some of us old folks would be good with Furd being the last regular season game of the year as had been in the past.

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Ya gotta figure Oregon State and Washington State will be scrambling for opponents this year while they figure out their deal. Seems like we should schedule one of them, hopefully we're just waiting for the ACC schedule to come out, as you say.

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I wonder if we say we scheduled a game for the sat after Thanksgiving, like UCLA did with FSU, then would the ACC work around that?

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Hire a new DC and 8-4 is well within grasp

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You know this means we're playing UCLA in the Holiday Bowl.

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Also build a giant moat around Jaydn Ott to keep the poachers away.

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BOWL ELIGIBLE, BABY

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i thought i'd be silly for flying in just for the game but everything before the game kept coming up Milhouse and the game itself was just so damn fun, no notes

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I live in Orange County and I was so excited to go to this game, but on Saturday afternoon I was so tired and didn't really want to drive to the game. Thought about bailing out but I am so glad I went. It was one of the most enjoyable games I attended

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Seems like everyone is projecting us to play in the Independence Bowl.

Takeaway #1: Ironic name for what could have been our fate after the collapse of the Pac-12.

Takeaway #2: Would have liked to be in the LA Bowl so I could take the little one to a Cal Bowl Game, but he's far too young for that anyways.

Takeaway #3: Cal Bowl Game on my birthday.

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Apparently it's likely the LA Bowl.

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Better than the Independence Bowl. I'll see if i can get my kids to go.

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We’ll see you there!

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ESPN projects us playing in that bowl versus either Texas Tech of Central Florida*. Never played the latter before so it'd be my choice.

*Unless UCF stands for University of Coastal France

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some part of Coastal France could probably qualify for the ACC. they might even be closer than we are??!!

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Speaking of Cal games on a birthday, our Sturdy Golden Bears gifted to me the perfect topper to my birthday by beating UCLA, 33-7.

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Happy BDay!

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Thanks!

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an excellent present! happy belated!

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Thanks!

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Many happy returns.

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Thanks!

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Happy Birthday!

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Thanks!

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That was a cathartic beatdown of a coattail-riding saboteur of the conference. Still, the joy was somewhat muted by the historical significance of the final Pac-12 conference game. All those rivalries, in-jokes, and familial relationships with fellow Pac-12 schools (okay, mostly Pac-10 schools) are now gone

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I tuned in because it was last pac12 after dark game ever (sob) and I was not disappointed

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My kids and I were in the UCLA donors box since a friend's husband and son went to a baseball tournament and it cleared out early in the 4th, as did most of the stands. Ironically they sat us right next to a Cal fan, his UCLA wife, and two little girls that were dressed up in Cal gear. We were not so quietly cheering for the Cal scores.

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DBD AV CLUB

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Watched "Everything Everywhere All At Once". ?/19. WOW that movie was weird! Not sure I could accurately tell anyone what it was about unless I watched it again and took notes. The parts that I did understand were fantastic and in big parts funny. Still, wow...

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I'm not proud to report that I've been watching the Golden Bachelor.

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OUR CRUMBLNG DEMOCRACY

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