Golden Nuggets: Robot Fight Club and HBD Golden Nuggets
The photoshops were pretty tame this week considering what else I saw on r/berkeley.
Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets, our weekly recap article where we try to highlight all the fun, funny, or interesting things you might have missed roughly over the last week across Bear Territory (the whole damn world of course).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOLDEN NUGGETS
Dear reader, it was just one calendar year or so ago that I messaged Rob, full of College GameDay spirit and said, “What can I do around here besides just make memes?” which lead to you now reading these weekly recap articles peppered with memes, Oski Photoshops, and other stuff to help the week pass a little more quickly. Join me now for a quick look back at the year that was! Happy Birthday Golden Nuggets!
The most clicked link over the the last year was this piece from the beginning of the season where Jon Wilner highlighted all the changes in the Cal Admin and how everyone was finally driving in the same direction (because Ron has the keys!).
The most liked post of the last year funnily enough was nearly a year to the date!
The most commented post was from a few weeks ago discussing the Gold Out (have you got your Gold Gear yet?)
On average, each post about 8 likes and 3 comments, which are good year 1 numbers, but I will be sitting down soon with Rob to talk about a raise so I’d appreciate juicing those numbers just a bit. I’m expecting about a 15% raise on my $0 salary. So thanks for helping me pump those numbers up.
Now for the stuff you actually care about (and thanks for reading all the fun stuff I’ve found over the last year!).
ROBOT FIGHT CLUB
Last week on Reddit over at r/berkeley, a crosspost of two robots fighting? boxing? was posted because it featured none other than a Berkeley Robot fighting a Stanford Robot. I can’t believe I forgot to include it here last week, but here it is in all its glory.
Real Steel baby! Hosted by Ultimate Fighting Bots (UCBerkeley vs Stanford)
byu/RollingMeteors inberkeley
To learn a bit more, I did some googling to save you a step. “Ultimate Fighting Bots is the world’s first robot combat league where humans pilot robots in real-time battles, live from underground arenas in San Francisco or from anywhere on the planet.” UFB 3 occurred two weeks ago on October 3rd and included the above fight between UC Berkeley and Stanford. I guess the way this works is that you can host a fight between these robots and then control them remotely from the comfort of your home using Nintendo Switch Joy Cons? Man, the 21st century is incredible. I don’t know who won, but uhhh lets say Cal did so we all feel better!
Senior Day
Cal Women’s Soccer celebrated Senior Day this past week. Congrats to Teagan Wy, Alex Klos, Lumi Kostmayer, CocoThistle, Noelle Bond-Flasza, and Mia Fontana!
Hot Links
UC Berkeley, home to Macarthur Geniuses
Teresa Puthussery, a UC Berkeley scientist whose insights into the retina could one day help those with vision loss regain their sight, has been named a 2025 MacArthur “genius” Fellow. Read the Berkeley News article here.
Stop Me If This Sounds Familiar
The Times Higher Education, a British Magazine, named UC Berkeley the #1 Public University in the US and the #3 Public University Globally.
Enjoy Retirement Sam
Sam Juha, owner of Cheese “n” Stuff announced that he is handing down the to-go sandwich shop to his nephew Chuck Juha. You can read more in the Daily Cal. Chuck promises no significant changes beyond an enhanced social media presence.
Chez Panisse Expansion
The SF Chronicle looked into the plans for Chez Panisse’s planned expansion. You can read about them here. I for one am excited to try some of their new chicken nuggets.
Butterfly in the Sky….
Reading Rainbow is back, and the first episode was recorded in the Berkeley library. Read more about the returning series hosted by Mychal Threets, a librarian who blew up on TikTok recently.
Alex Morgan Foundation Goal Cup
Goal Cup is a celebrity soccer event benefiting the Alex Morgan Foundation and Mia Hamm Foundation. On January 17, 2026, Alex Morgan and Mia Hamm will lead two star-studded teams at USC Rawlinson Stadium, coming together to benefit their foundations through a day of competition, entertainment, and community impact. Learn more here.
Golden Bear Honors
Teagan Wy was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Midseason Top 100 Players List
Teagan Wy was also named Gatorade Student Athlete of the Month
Teagan Wy was also named ACC Defensive Player of the Week
Michael Rodriguez (Track and Field) was highlighted for Latino Heritage Month
Giancarlo Mota Morfin (Soccer) was also highlighted for Latino Heritage Month
Emma Jackson was highlighted for Latina Heritage Month
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was ranked the #5 on the Top 10 Freshman QBs in College Football by ESPN
Mikayla Hayden was the first Cal Volleyball player to post a kills-blocks double-double since 2018
Puff Morris (Women’s Basketball) was also named the Preseason All-Freshman
Liza Klompmaker (Field Hockey) was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week
Delphine Ayitey-Hammon (Field Hockey) was named ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week
Naomi Xu (Tennis) qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship
Cal Athletics Recap
Women’s Soccer tied against #1 Virginia (2-2) and beat Virginia Tech (1-0)
Men’s Tennis competed at UC Davis in the Aggie Invitational (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
Men’s Cross Country placed 7th while Women’s Cross Country placed 5th at the Bill Dellinger Invitational
Women’s Tennis competed at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5)
Men’s Swimming competed at the Triton Invitational (Day 1, Day 2)
Women’s Swimming competed at the Triton Invitational (Day 1, Day 2
Rugby 7s destroyed Stanford (66-0), beat Oregon (24-10, 43-0), beat UCLA (35-10), beat Grand Canyon (38-5, 55-0), and beat San Diego (47-7, 31-5)
Men’s Soccer lost to Wake Forest (1-2)
Women’s Golf competed in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate in Scotland (Day 1, Day 2)
Men’s Golf competed in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate (Day 1, Day 2)
Cal Pros Recap
Football
Desean Jackson is getting into the clothing business. Aaron Rodgers threw for 235 yards and 2 TDs. Teddye Buchanan recorded a sack of Matthew Stafford. JAred Goff threw for 203 yards and 2 TDs.
Baseball
Andrew Vaughn. Andrew Vaughn. Andrew Vaughn.
Soccer
Sydney Collins was called up to Team Canada ahead of their international friendlies.
Next Week in Bear Territory
Men’s and Women’s Golf continue at the St. Andrews Links Collegiate (10/15)
Men’s Tennis competes at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships (10/16-10/21)
Women’s Soccer competes at Miami (10/16) and Florida State (10/19)
Volleyball competes at Miami (10/16) and at home against Florida State (10/18)
Field Hockey competes at Louisville (10/17) and at Wake Forest (10/19)
Men’s Water Polo competes at Stanford (10/17)
Football takes on the Carolina Tarbillbelichicks (10/17)
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country competes in the Bronco Invitational (10/18)
Men’s Soccer competes at Radford (10/22)
And so we find ourselves again at the end of Golden Nuggets. I appreciate you all reading this, and I have a ton of fun writing it. Last week’s most clicked link the SF Chronicle looking at what it’ll take to keep Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. This week, we’ll end on one of my favorite posts from my least favorite websites, LinkedIn, where Rich Lyons embraced the Calgorithm.
Love these roundups, B! You truly bleed Blue and Gold, and keep me in tune with the wide-ranging success of our athletes across all sports. Go Bears!
Raise! Raise! Raise! Raise!