Golden Nuggets: November 6 - 12
If I load this thing up with links the mods will get confused and I can sneak in some WEIRD memes.
Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets! We got a big week and a lot to distract you from. Let’s talk about the fun stuff you might have missed last week!
We’ve Never Been More Back
Forbes listed UC Berkeley as the TOP Public University in the World and the 5th Best University in the World. The UC System showed out on the public universities ranking, taking #1 UC Berkeley, #2 UCLA and #3 UC San Diego. I have to imagine that UC Berkeley took the #1 spot given the extra $10 Million they now have while UCLA lost out given the mysterious $10 Million hole they find themselves in.
Football as The Great Escape
SF Chronicle Sunday Columnist Carl Nolte wrote a great recap on the atmosphere of a Cal Football Saturday, making the trek from the City to spend a day in Berkeley and meeting many Cal Fans, including our own Nick Kranz. The pay-walled article is here and talks about how football can provide a brief respite from, well, everything else going in the world.
Speaking of Football
The team had a pretty good week, beating Wake Forest on Friday and collecting a cabinet of awards over the weekend. Fernando Mendoza was named of the Davey O’Brien Award’s Eight Best QBs of the week. Oh and the ACC Quarterback of the Week (again). Oh and a Manning Award Star of the Week (again, and as of press time appears to be on the way to winning it again). Fernando also picked up a top performer of the week honor from Kirk Herbstreit. Xavier Carlton was named Defensive Lineman of the Week and Ryan Coe was named Specialist of the Week. Nohl Williams continues to catch things in his orbit, catching his nation leading 7th interception Friday, and finding himself as a Bednarick Award semifinalist. Oh, and today (November 12th) is Coach Wilcox’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Coach!
The Transit War Begins
Following the Game Time announcement for the Big Game at 12:30, CalTrain innocently invited all 50 Stanford fans to take CalTrain to the game to Berkeley. BART responded in kind that axes aren’t allowed on the BART and as such it would be staying in Berkeley. MUNI quietly hummed along not really paying attention to much of anything.
Sailing, Sailing, Sailing the Stoney Burke Regatta
New Write for California Writer John Mayfield covered the Cal Sailing Team at the 2024 Stoney Burke Regatta. Read more below and welcome to the team John!
Catch the Sailing Team again on November 20th at the Big Sail!
Cal Women’s Soccer Awards
Cal Women’s Soccer wrapped up their regular season last week and the awards started rolling in. Karlie Lema and Teagan Wy earned First and Second Team All ACC honors. Karlie Lema was also named ACC Offensive Player of the Year for scoring the most goals in the top Women’s Soccer conference in the country. Congrats Karlie and Teagan. Post season play begins this Saturday, November 16th in Malibu as the Golden Bears take on #7 Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Championship.
Survive and Advance…and Advance
Meanwhile on the Men’s side, Cal Men’s Soccer started the ACC Championship with a flash, knocking off 6th Seed North Carolina in the First Round before knocking off the 2nd Seed Duke in the Second Round. Cal next faces 7th seed Clemson on Thursday, November 14th. Good luck and Go Bears!
School Haas Rock
Cal Women’s Basketball hosted one of the all time best games early in the year, the School Haas Rock which brings elementary school students from around the East Bay to Berkeley for a day game. Cal won handily with their largest margin (52 points!) in 9 years.
The Big Bad Wolf
The Rausser College of Natural Resources (note your writer is a proud CNR Grad) in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has created the California Wolf Project. The goal of this collaboration is “to better understand the social and ecological factors that shape wolf populations and inform management decisions.” Researchers and agency staff hope to learn and help the species continue to recover and grow beyond the 7 wolf packs that currently roam the state. Read more on the program’s website!
Hey There Mr. Blue Sky
As Twitter, or X, or…whatever it’ll be called in a few months continues to decline and gets worse as a product, a lot of the Calgorithm is picking up for greener pastures and bluer skies. While some, like your author, will continue to post incomprehensible memes to Twitter, other have begun the move. Grant Marek, Editor in Chief of SFGate put together the Calgorithm Starter Pack, putting all your favorite burner follows into one easy to follow list. If you want to get on the list, let Grant know on Bluesky and he’ll get you hooked up.
But If You’re Gonna Stay on Twitter…
I just found a new account that might be worth following if you don’t like Stanford Basketball Alumni. Now Presenting, Did Dwight Powell get hit in the face tonight? an account dedicated to doing the hard hitting journalism and letting you know if Dwight Powell got hit in the face during a basketball game.
Cal Athletics Roundup
Women’s Basketball trounced Idaho State 88-36 and beat San Jose State. Men’s Basketball trounced Cal Poly 91-73. Men’s Swimming and Diving beat Stanford, but lost to ASU. Women’s Swimming and Diving lost to Stanford and beat ASU. Cal Football beat Wake Forest 46-36. Volleyball lost to #16 Georgia Tech but beat Clemson. Men’s Soccer beat North Carolina and Duke in the ACC Championship and face Clemson Thursday.
Cal Pros Roundup
Fardaws Aimaq was one of 15 athletes selected to Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team preliminary roster ahead of the second window of the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup Qualifiers 2025 in Saskatoon this November. Congrats Daws! Jared Goff and Cameron Jordan exchanged deodorant tips. Marshawn went fishing and crabbing. Cam Bynum was inspired by breakdancing. Cam also appeared on Pablo Torre’s podcast. Kenny Lawler had a field day, scoring not just one, or even two, but three touchdowns for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
That’s it for this week. Absolutely nothing else happened. If I forgot something Cal related, drop it in the comments, or come tell me what I missed on Blue Sky.