45 Comments

Tsunami warning received here at EBMWU at about 10:55 AM.

Even though our building is located on the edge of Oakland's Chinatown, I have no intention of "moving to higher ground", as I assume it will be largely fruitless. I work on the 6th floor of our building, which argues that there's about 60-70 feet below my floor and street level which is at 61 ft. above mean sea level. Casa de Slug is higher at about 350 feet.

I worry more about BART getting knocked out by flooding caused by inundation.

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We were driving across the GG bridge, heading into Marin County, which as many of you know, has a lot of low lying areas. Heard the warning, turned around and went back.

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Tsunami Warning cancelled as per sfchronicle.com

https://www.sfchronicle.com/

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Tsunami canceled. Must have found some old offensive Tweets.

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I am in Martinez right at the Bay Delta. The only advice we are giving each other is "save your work".

According to SF Gate, SF is supposed to feel some kind of impact at about 12:10pm. According to the same article, BART transbay service has stopped for now.

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So, we're skipping over December 5 and going to tomorrow's date already? I get that people want this week to be over with; I do, too. I guess I didn't expect time travel in the DBD.

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These are not the droids you're looking for. I can go about my business. Move along.

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We have known for a long time that the grasp of reality, including but not limited to time and place, or football, has been a somewhat loose concept with WtFC, and Cal/Berkley generally. <wink>

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DBD Logistics

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Imma be out of the country for the next two weeks. I'll have my computer, but there will almost certainly be days that I'm not DBDing. I'll publish the basic post each day though.

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remind us what fun trip you have planned?

we are going to Vietnam/Cambodia for 2 wks starting Dec 19.

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Hint about Cambodia: they will counterfeit anything of value, including drinking water. Do not buy bottled water from just any place, even if it looks legit. Spend the extra money and buy only from high end places. I've been to Cambodia three times and water security was a problem.

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That's sound advice when dealing with any 3rd world environment. When dealing with a situation with zero integrity and even less control or oversight, its important to keep in mind no one has your best interests even in mind, so you have to take on all the responsibility, and the risks.

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good to know. thanks

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Paris for a week. French Alps for a week.

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sounds amazing. bon voyage and bon appetit

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CAL

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Cal's 7-1 women's basketball team hosts 19th ranked Alabama tonight at 6:00. Big test for the Bears. https://calbears.com/news/2024/12/3/womens-basketball-cal-faces-first-ranked-opponent-in-no-19-alabama.aspx

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Go Bears!!!

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JFC. Who goes mano-a-mano with a polar bear?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewx20xrgj5o

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Someone who wants to protect someone he loves, apparently.

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[MSWIM] Bears Open Minnesota Invitational With Pair of Relay Wins

https://calbears.com/news/2024/12/4/mens-swimming-diving-bears-open-minnesota-invite-with-pair-of-relay-wins.aspx

MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 4 California men's swimming & diving team opened the first day of the Minnesota Invitational with wins after both relay teams earned first-place finishes. At the same time, the 800-yard freestyle relay team recorded an A-cut time to qualify for the 2025 NCAA Championships on Wednesday.

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[WSWIM] No. 9 Bears Make Immediate Impact At Minnesota Invitational

https://calbears.com/news/2024/12/4/womens-swimming-diving-no-9-bears-make-immediate-impact-at-minnesota-invitational.aspx

MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 9 California women's swimming & diving team made its presence felt immediately on Wednesday evening on the first night of the Minnesota Invitational, setting the pool record at the Jean K Freeman Aquatic Center in the 200-yard medley relay while qualifying for the 2025 NCAA Championships in the 800 freestyle relay.

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[FH] Bears Earn NFHCA All-Region Honors

https://calbears.com/news/2024/12/4/field-hockey-bears-earn-nfhca-all-region-honors.aspx

BERKELEY – The California field hockey team had two Golden Bears named to the 2024 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division I All-West Region Teams, as announced by the organization Wednesday.

Freshman Liz Klompmaker earned first-team honors while graduate student Canisha van Duyn received second-team recognition.

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Cal signed 14 of 15 recruits in the early signing period, ranking it 16th out of 17 in the ACC. However, I think the whole recruiting ranking scale is now obsolete. The early signing period is primarily for high school grads and transfers from JC. The portal period is now just started and that's where Cal will get the vast majority of its talent inflow. High school kids are fickle and will want to go a program that wins, has cool facilities, and has a flashy recruiting program. Portal is far less risky as you get players who have developed for one to five years - more known quantities rather than development lottery tickets. It's simply a smarter way to spend your NIL money. The roster limits change from 85 scholarship to 105 total players this year. Your better teams - which includes Cal - will have to trim 10 players from its roster, some of which will come through graduation, some will be bottom-of-the-roster walk-ons getting cut, and some will be guys who have hit their ceiling in development and won't be offered a continued spot on the team.

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"The roster limits change from 85 scholarship to 105 total players this year. "

Hold on a minute. What does this mean? Are scholarship counts in football rising from 85 to 105? If so, that has Title IX implications.

Also, my recollection is that FBS football rosters have been limited to 105 players (scholarship and non-scholarship) for many years now.

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Essentially, walk-ons will be eliminated. That doesn't mean the number of people changes in many cases, it just requires putting everyone on the roster on scholarship.

There have been exceptions to allow teams over the limit for injuries, etc., but the cap has not been a focus for most because they were low-cost walk-ons. Now those that were walkons will get scholarships, and enforcing the cap will prevent those with the wherewithal from warehousing talent, like happened prior to the 85 scholarship limit.

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Yes, there is a sea-change impact across essentially every team. This will be an incentive to specialize in some teams and drop others.

https://blog.sportsrecruits.com/2024/08/06/understanding-the-new-ncaa-scholarship-limits-what-it-means-for-your-recruiting-journey/

And the 105 limit has been known, but this next season is the first year it goes into action. Look at any football team's roster and it will be over 105 players.

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"Your better teams - which includes Cal." I wish.

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What I mean is that no matter how bad you think it can get at Cal, it can always be worse. Take the bottom of the MAC, for example which has roster sizes that are already only near 110. They are graduating about 20 and will probably go through the same walk-on cut program - which means they will have room for 30 players. The point that I didn't get to was that recruiting rankings are skewed toward number of players. If you're signing over 20 players this year, that's not necessarily a good sign.

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Gotcha.

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A product of the days when most of a team's additions were high school recruits, and the numbers were (hopefully) about level year over year, and there was relatively little turnover, and even fewer early departures.

While still a valuable data point, it has to be considered against a given team's strategy & needs, and the relative value after both the late signing day and the transfer portal concludes is much more valuable in evaluating the future than at this point, before the portal even opens officially.

But where some entries stay only 1-2 years, or 1-2 more years, for various reasons, and some now in college for 6-7 years (never mind 5!), whether at 1 or more places, regardless of path, any attempt at evaluating a team's talent acquisition and retention has to look at a lot more factors than just star-ratings and counting bodies.

Just another area where CFB is being dragged out of last century dark ages into the modern world.

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We hope

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We need to shed 10 spots. I think 18 are graduating, but 14 are incoming so that is net 4 reduction.

Then I'm looking at the roster and see about 7 guys with remaining eligibility that wont' be invited back. That's net 11 reduction.

Then I'm looking further down the roster and imagine there will be another half-dozen cuts - which will probably come from the bottom of the roster. I think we'll see a bunch of guys in the portal in the coming days as part of the necessary pruning process to the new 105 roster rules.

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Here's one of the reductions - voluntary or not. Brooklyn Cheek, a scholarship player who redshirted this year as a freshman and did not appear in any games. Cal's ending 3 deep at safeties was Williams/Crosby/Yaites and Woodson/Yaites/Sidney - with Miles Williams and Craig Woodson graduating.

https://twitter.com/brooklyncheek5/status/1864717362500636755

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PEAK

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PRO

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Lakers get blown out by Heat

https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2024/12/4/24313650/lakers-vs-heat-final-score-recap-stats-box-score-lebron-james-rui-hachimura-tyler-herro

Wednesday’s game was ugly for the Lakers, who were demolished 134-93 on the road against the Heat.

Miami went nuclear from deep, setting an all-time franchise record for 3-pointers made in a game with 24 threes.

LeBron James ended the game with 29 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Anthony Davis struggled again, scoring just eight points with seven rebounds and five assists. D’Angelo Russell notched 10 points with four assists. Rui Hachimura pitched in with 14 points, going six for seven from the field.

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ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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He was once arguably the most (certainly one of the most) desired and pursued OC for both OC & Head Coach openings. It will be interesting to see where he resurfaces. I hear Cal is looking to try using an OC in their future.

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DBD AV CLUB

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POLITICS

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