286 Comments

Alec Baldwin interview tonight with Stephy....should be interesting.

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Maybe this is just me since we are about to play one of the most irrelevant games ever played in December but losing to a USC going through a full on implosion to finish 4-8 would propel this to the most underachieving and disappointing season since the 20 years I’ve been a fan.

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Yes, this.

And the ignominy of likely falling a game short of bowl eligibility bc you were the only team in over 800 games of CFB action to be drastically affected by a COVID breakout...

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Happy birthday to HeyStudentsBears!

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the bday agenda

- medium bike ride

- dinner at home + some drinking

- dinner in NYC on Sunday night

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What are you drinking?

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A city/town that is reputationally damaged by something bad that happened there (eg, Bhopal, Chernobyl, Fukushima).

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Johnstown

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Is that near Jonestown?

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PA is where the flood was...not in Guyana

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I don't think I've even heard of the flood. But Love Canal.

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It was ugly -IIRC late 1800's...Carnegie his steel barons & some other wealthy captains of industry played a big role in some dam bursting that wiped out the downriver town of Johnstown...ugly stuff...

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an old-timey disaster. Like Centralia

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Isla Vista

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College Station

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3 Mile Island, Verdun, Ruby Ridge, Kent St. University.

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Dresden

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Brownsville, TX

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Going way back I see

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Oklahoma City

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Kevin Durant isn't that bad.

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Palo Alto

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Dallas

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Waco

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Driving around ATX, I couldn't not think of the massacre whether I saw signs fit for Waco.

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Ties into my Branch answer :-)

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Koresh's other headquarters were La Verne, CA. (in fact, right on White Ave, across from Jason Y's house).

La Verne, CA being famous for being my hometown and where g.oso went to the nicer Catholic high school in town.

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Belushi

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If you're wondering what Jim's up to these days...

https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a38325911/jim-belushi-weed/

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to be honest, I was not

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that was awesome!

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AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I can't look.

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When the cost of an OSHA violation is less than the cost of refilling the pool...

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Quiz

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Which G5 school has the lowest ranking in the US News 2021 College ranking?

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Liberty

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This is correct. US News & Report lumps in the bottom tier all together (92 schools).

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Liberty might not have good academics, but don't worry - they're rapey, too!

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Which P5 school has the lowest ranking in the US News 2021 College ranking?

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I also wonder which P5 conference has the highest lowest member. Maybe either Pac-12 or Big 1X?

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Wazzu? WVU?

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Winner! West Virginia

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To be clear, WVU is the lowest P5 school, not the best-worst school in a conference, right?

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well there goes my guess for the original question of Oklahoma state.

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This isn't about academics, but I just learned that Oklahoma State is 4th in total NCAA team national championships, after U.C. Los Angles, Stanfurd, and U$C. That was a bit surprising to me.

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♪...Blue Ridge Mountains...♪

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Is this even possible to answer since they don't rank the bottom 100, they just group them all together?

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There is only 1 P5 school in that bottom tier.

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Boise State?

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They're down there, but I guess not P5

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Louisville?

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or Texas Tech?

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I'm going to guess it isn't one of the original Pac-12/Big-10/ACC schools since they were supposed to be strong academically.

Florida State? or Mississippi St?

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UConn?

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wait academics, not football. never mind

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I'm gonna show my biases here and guess Mississippi State.

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that would have been my second guess

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Kansas State

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Other college

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ASU's Jayden Daniels announces he's coming back next season

https://twitter.com/JayD__5/status/1466461504354406401

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Glad we don't have ASU on the docket...

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There's "ice cold" shooting. And then there is ASU's game against WSU.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401370904

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First one to 30 wins when they come to Haas.

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Move it to RSF and play to 21, winner keeps the court.

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It works for the football team. First to score 21 is something like 45-1 under Wilcox.

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Yeech!

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18-10 at the half. Sheesh. Maybe we'll finish 9th or 10th in the conference this year.

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21% FG, 11.5% 3s, and 25% free throws? Did they fit some small-diameter rims on the court? (WSU's 30% FG and 57% FTs point to yes)

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Utah goes with black tops/pants for Championship game.

Oregon chooses cookie dough top and black pants

https://twitter.com/UtesEquipment/status/1466107414718021636?s=20

https://twitter.com/GoDucks/status/1466217072598212610

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Oregon's looks more akin to cookies n' cream or maybe "just rode my bike over fresh asphalt"

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They look like they're covered in those rubber pellets embedded in the turf

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Exactly, what a look to be going for.

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Notre Dame: If Marcus Freeman gets elevated to HC, eight of 10 position coaches have publicly noted that they will stay at ND.

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Rumors are that Freeman will get the job. If true, I wonder how much of that is communicating to the CFP committee that losing Kelley isn't such a big deal and that there is coaching stability in South Bend. Apparently, the committee is willing to consider the loss of a head coach when deciding which 4 teams make the playoff.

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As it turns out, LSU hired a total asshole that nobody likes. This may well work out for Notre Dame more than Louisiana State.

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He did get someone killed so just being an asshole is a compliment at this point.

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my favorite comment when his hiring was announced was "LSU video coordinator just entered the transfer portal"

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pqtm

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I'm a little nervous about the "players rallying around each other" phenomenon for Notre Dame.

They could sneak into the playoff (it just takes a Georgia win over Bama and one loss between Michigan, Cinci, and Oklahoma State) and we might have a scenario like Michigan basketball winning the 1989 championship. Emotion really, really matters in college sports.

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There’s about $18M reasons per school why UGA isn’t beating Alabama, and Iowa away from Kinnick is a different animal...even if they make the CFP, tough to see ND winning it, considering they’re really not very good.

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Oh Rly? I'm sure UGA will beat Bama, $18M be damned.

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Well if you’re sure, then I stand corrected Cugel! ;-)

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Worst Thing to Happen To Cal Sports

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Hiring Holmoe. I will never get my undergraduate years back ….

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I am so sorry for you and all the undergrads from this time...the Holmoe years were dark times...

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I recall how badly I wanted them to win, how loudly and forcefully I cheered and yelled in the stands in hopes of aiding that outcome, and how futile it all intimately was. Lessons in life from Cal fandom i suppose

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Not the worst but Mariucci getting the Niners job. I still believe that had he stayed he probably wins the Pac 10. Especially since the Pac 10 was so bad from 97-01.

I also feel like he had the personality to be a very good CFB coach and recruiter.

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They also could have hired him after letting Snyder go and took Gilbertson instead.

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Good point

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I recognize Sam Sagapolu as one of the cheeseheads. I wonder if all of the cheeseheads were for Cal OL.

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* former Cal OL.

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You see…another terrible commercial.

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I'd actually take the Mariucci commercial over the "You See" one any day...

At least it shows some outside the box thinking....albeit a low budget one.

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Very

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the calendar changed from 1959 to 1960

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Every little thing that kept us out of the Rose Bowl in 2004:

-Makonnen slipping on his cut instead of catching the go-ahead TD against USC

-The hurricane postponing that Southern Miss game

-ASU losing to Arizona on the last weekend, hurting our computer ratings

-Utah going undefeated and stealing an auto-bid to the BCS

-Mack Brown

And let's add that cursed Arizona game in 2006:

-Marshawn falling down inside the 5 on his breakaway

-Phantom pass interference call on Hughes' interception

-DeSean's big toe was out of bounds

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03-04 was my first year at Cal. That winter I visited a friend in NYC and went to the ESPN Zone alone to watch the Holiday Bowl while the friend II was visiting in NYC was working at a different bar that evening. I happened to meet some strangers who turned out to be Cal Alumni and we watched the game together. The next evening, my friend was again working bartending so I decided to jump on the train to head to Little Italy. Lo and behold, the same alumni I met the evening before were on the same train and also headed there. Such a strange and serendipitous experience! Of course, we ended up going to LIttle Italy and having dinner together that evening and I haven't seen them since.

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Well that ruined my day...thanks sy..... ;-) ;-)

My hatred for Urban Meyer & Alex Smith began in 2004 w/ that undefeated Utah season, and the hurricane absolutely daggered us...Bears house that team in Sept.

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Despite Utah going undefeated, despite ASU losing, what really cost us was that hurricane. If we play Southern Miss in September we win. Close or blowout, it probably doesn’t matter. The Big Game win was dominate enough that I believe had that been our last game of the season we would have made the Rose Bowl.

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Agreed, and I think we would have blown them out as well.

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Really if any one of those things goes differently we're in. That's what makes it so frustrating.

(Okay, I'm not sure if Mack Brown's groveling really had all that much impact in and of itself. It was just a rage-inducing thing for Cal fans to see.)

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Mack's groveling doesn't get the traction without the re-scheduling of the Cal/USM game...put Cal in such a tough spot...going on the road across the country to face a solid, bowl bound Southern Miss team in Hattiesburg in a nationally televised game.

I'm getting all mad at it again.....going for a walk.

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also not running the score up on S.Miss and Tedford not doing anything to counteract Mack.

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To$hgate

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Kevin Riley's attempt to run for a touchdown against Oregon State instead of throwing the ball away.

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Longshore breaking his ankle the weekend before. (I think it was)

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Two weeks, since we had a bye.

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too soon...

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Bruce Snyder being chased out by Bob Fucking Bockrath

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Probably this over Kevin Riley, considering what Snyder did at ASU

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Given the incoming recruits I think we content for the natty the next few years.

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Pete Newell's early retirement.

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Covid in 2 back to back seasons.

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Branch

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Davidians

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Cliff ... was a good receiver

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Jim Carrey

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Very early in his career he was in quite a good drama called Doing Time on Maple Drive.

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The Majestic is an underrated, quality Carrey flick by Frank ‘Shawshank Redemption’ Darabont...

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Alright damn it, that's NOT one of them:

The Truman Show

Man in the Moon (which I watched by myself since my wife hated Andy Kaufman)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

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I’ll agree with Eternal and Truman Show. I wasn’t a fan of Man in the Moon.

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You probably didn't like The King of Comedy either - BTW it's a crying shame Scorsese only has won one Oscar.

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Haven't seen The King of Comedy, tho if you like it, I probably won't ;-)

But agreed - Scorsese should have more than 1 Oscar, that's a fact.

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I disliked all 3 of those movies, tho Truman was almost good, and am pleased that my incongruence w/ Cugel’s movie taste continues....

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Wow, even Eternal Sunshine? That's a damn masterpiece.

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Specifically Sunshine...hated that movie, tho admittedly I should give it another go...maybe I wasn't in the proper frame of mind, a very realistic possibility....

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Has been in 3 great movies.

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Batman Forever, Fun with Dick and Jane, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone?

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haha, try again.

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Batman Forever, Fun with Dick and Jane, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

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Sigh

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Maybe you didn't hear him..

BATMAN FOREVER, FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, AND THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE

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Misjudged

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Cal football's ability. I thought we would go bowling.

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The capability of using even average (forget about good) judgement and reason of an alarmingly large number of people put in management and oversight positions in a wide variety of public and private entities.

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I publicly said Mac Jones was a horrible draft pick

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Same here.

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How many 9ers fans are wishing they took Mac Jones instead of Trey Lance?

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Just about everybody. (Though that may not be fair to Lance, who has hardly had a chance to prove himself.)

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Disagree, especially not at 3 once they make the trade up.

Mac Jones is Jimmy Garoppolo, they’re the same player...Mac was always going to look good early, bc he was the most game ready of the rookies.

Trey Lance will be the better QB in 5 years.

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I think the argument is more that they didn't need to trade away all those picks when they could have just kept them and drafted Mac.

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I don’t know about this. I thought Lance was a reach. I think the biggest QB bust will be Wilson and Lance.

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I see. Were you trying to stave off dehydration (hangover) or avoiding multiple trips to the bathroom during the night?

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I'm supposed to have less water in evening now since I can't make it thru the night without a bathroom trip :-/

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He'll also end up with additional liver damage because if he takes aspirin while drunk or nursing a hangover. Better to take ibuprofen and avoid the salicylates.

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And here I am commenting on an Onion article. Oy.

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Today in Covid

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I was just talking to my older daughter - the college arranged with Rite Aid to come to campus and give booster shots yesterday, they got 1000 students sorted out, which 1) is quite a lot for the 7 hours or so they were open, and 2) is half the student body. I think as much as anything it's a reflection of how much the kids do not want any repeats of last year.

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Beavers catch Covid and are unlikely to be invited to any New Years Day Bowl.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/first-cases-of-covid-19-discovered-in-canadian-wildlife-1.5689318

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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House Republicans honor Rosa Parks in a tweet, which is ironic since they're trying to make it illegal to learn about who she is.

https://twitter.com/HouseGOP/status/1466172885849059331

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Apparently they're working on making grammar illegal too

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PRO

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[NHL] Lemiuex suspended for biting Tkachuk. This is not a repeat from 1995.

https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/article256242632.html

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[MLB] Giants resign Alex Woods for 2 years

https://twitter.com/SFGiants/status/1466120084183678976

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And Alex Cobb...

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What an interesting Zaidi special. An older (34) guy who is frequently injured and doesn't have overpowering stuff. But he doesn't walk many, strikes out a fair share of batters, and is a ground ball pitcher. But he's available for $10m/year after the Orioles and age destroyed his contract value. Perhaps the Giants defense will make him look like a star.

https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=9504

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SFGate alluded to the fact that he could be adversely affected by the impending pitch clock, as he works slower than Damien Moore on a breakaway....

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A baseball lockout on Dec. 1 has effectively no real impact. If it isn't resolved by March, then we have a whole other situation. But that so many people with so much money can't get this right is not encouraging by any stretch, but it does help shed light on why so many other unfathomable mistakes are made in baseball.

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Yup. Not time to panic until Spring Training is delayed.

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Exactly...if they’re still locked out in March, we got troubles.

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73 days until when pitchers and catchers report...

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That can be pushed back a month with no real adverse affects. ~10-15% of the pitchers in MLB can pitch consistently, and they have been working out all along anyway. A couple of intra-squad games and they will be ready. The rest, as has been demonstrated repeatedly over the last several years, are wildly inconsistent at best, and not able to go multiple innings appearance after appearance at any time. A handful of outings in spring training obviously isn't going to fix it, or it would have before now.

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Enough pitchers do off season throwing now that this should work. Many come in already having thrown some since at least Jan or even middle of Dec.

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I have so much respect for the partnership that the NBA owners and players have built. They're light years ahead of the other three leagues.

The MLB situation is just sad, right now. There is no trust. None.

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MLB has always had the worst relationship between owners and players of all the major sports leagues.

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I’m actually more on the players side than in years past...the owners are making ungodly amounts of money, so them crying poor is insulting.

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In a fight between players and owners, I’ll always be on the players side, regardless of sport.

That being said, it seems that MLB has always had issues between the owners and players, much more so than the other sports.

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Agree. Throwing out caps and floors is kind of ridiculous while profits rise. Only way you get to a cap is if revenue picture changes dramatically, which it hasn’t at least not yet. Demanding stuff like this is just a waste of time. Eventually some deal will be done that trades enhanced luxury tax for penalties on tanking teams (eg, cut revenue sharing of teams that don’t spend), but otherwise keeps system relatively the same. Unfortunately labor lawyers and negotiators are all about brinksmanship. If you aren’t nuking the place you aren’t trying. Whatever

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CAL

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I saw an MLB channel interview with Marcus Semien at his Texas introduction. He can't wear number ten anymore so he switching to two, which is the number he said his dad wore while playing football at Cal.

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Yet another awful move by the A's low balling this kid.

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Anyone want to guess attendance on Saturday.

Over/under at 15,000

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38000

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22,589. There's my oddly specific guess.

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I think there will be more than 15K just in $C fans alone.

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I think that's how many band members they travel with

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If Lincoln Riley were coaching the game, sure but I doubt that many travel for this game. Maybe they will do they can rub it in our faces that they got Lincoln Riley?

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He'll be there tho...

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Somebody call Jeff Gillooly.

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That always reminds me of The Understudy Seinfeld episode with Bette Midler…

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GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Bears vs. OSU tonight in men's BB. Will we reach 4-4 and 1-0 in conference?

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There aren't many games Cal 'should' win. But this is one of those games. Favored by 3, us coming off a decent win while they've lost 5 in a row. Let's hope the trends don't reverse.

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ASU looks awful too and Stanford is no great shakes. The bottom of the conference is pretty crowded.

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If no fans go, was there even a game?

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A tree falls in a forest. If no one was there, would the sound even be heard?

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exactly

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Chase Garbers non-committal about returning for another season

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

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Former Cal QB commit Adrian Martinez enters transfer portal...

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I would not be surprised if he enters the portal if his draft stock doesn't improve. He really needs to have a great game against USC.

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He isn’t being drafted so I think he has no choice really but to come back to Cal or transfer.

I am betting he transfers to SDSU but I think it would be very interesting if he transfers to ucla.

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I think there is virtually zero chance of him being drafted or even making a team as an UDFA. I think the deciding factor is whether Wilcox & staff will offer him a post-graduate opportunity or start rebuilding under Kai Milner. However, not playing Milner in the Arizona game makes me think that he'll be back. Then again, Musgrave has done a thing or two that have left me scratching my head.

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Agreed - will be shocked if Garbers ever sniffs an NFL roster...I think Chase will check out his options but at the end of the day, will be back to break all of Cal's QB records. Wilcox/Garbers is like Shanahan with Jimmy G - he's the only QB he can win with, which is telling for all the wrong reasons.

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Yeah, I would be excited about turning the page to a new QB were it not for the AZ game. Please no more of that ever again

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Musgrave's contract expires next month, so he might not even be the OC next year.

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Yeah but I'd hate to see who Wilcox would bring in if Musgrave left

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I'd rather go through the growing pains of the Milner era than have Chase return because if he does, 2023 will just be a repeat of 2021

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I dunno. I like winning football games.

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SDSU makes more sense. They don't even have a starting QB listed on their depth chart for the CCG vs Utah St.

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I agree and here is another wild card, I could see Christopher Brooks transferring to sdsu. He is from San Diego and he would more than likely be the starter in a run heavy offense.

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In honor of the Cal/USC game... James Bethea

"Y'ALL READY?!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fShwQlANc#t=21s

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I'm having a hard time getting excited about this one. The regular season is technically over, a bowl game is out of reach, and the Bears always seem to struggle against USC no matter how awful the Trojans are. I'll record it and watch it on Sunday morning but...meh.

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It's still gameday. There aren't very many of those, regardless of the circumstances. I'm betting some of the players are looking forward to a chance to play. Undoubtedly, some of the band kids too. Probably some family members glad to see someone's first or last major minutes. It's kind of like 3rd tier bowl games. These same matchups would be big deals if the same teams played in the first month of the season, vs the last one.

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If I were playing on the field or in the band, I'd be pumped for another game. And I'd be excited if I were attending (or more specifically, attending the tailgate). But 2500 miles away at the tail of a disappointing season...meh.

That said, I'm already looking forward to the 2022 season and hopefully attending the ND game (barring some Covid-22 breakout that decimates the planet).

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Yeah, this is the last one of only 12 games in a year. We will have to wait 9 months until next Cal football game. So let's enjoy this game.

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I actually will enjoy the next 9 months without a Cal football game more than I will enjoy Saturday....mostly bc I will not be there to enjoy the gameday festivities....

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haha you can look at it that way too.

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Let's pretend this is the Pac12 championship game we've all dreamed about

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This is a good idea!

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in the meantime, it sounds like the SC team and staff are coming apart at the seams:

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Are there any decommits coming our way?

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If Cal doesn't beat this USC team on Senior Day, at home, with a QB starting his 34th game, they probably wont sniff a win for the next 15 years.

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Agreed. No excuses - we have to win this. I don't want to be talking Sunday morning about how Musgrave didn't adjust.

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We've lost to 3 teams that fired their coaches mid-season and another who was otherwise winless this season--Cal has no problem losing to teams coming apart at the seams.

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Observation: Beating Cal is associated with have a terrible football season.

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This will make losing to SC even more frustrating.

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So Cal is gonna lose is what you're saying...

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The antithesis to "So, you're saying there's a chance..."

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And so we can hang out at the tailgate!!!

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Are you going to be at the tailgate?

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Yes, and I'm bringing people.

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Is that a threat?

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At least you'll have bulgogi tortas

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I'm going to bring some egg rolls so he can have those along with the tortas.

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