Golden Nuggets: Rockets, Fundraising, and Cookie Dough Theft

That's one small step for man, but a giant leap for Oski-kind.

Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets! In this weekly write up, we try our best to cover all things Cal, Berkeley, Bearkeley UC Berkeley, University of Cal Berkeley, University of Berkeley at Cal, BerkeleyInspire, and California Berkeley University that happened more or less in the last week! Let’s dig in!

Bear Territory - Soon To Include Space

The Daily Cal uploaded a documentary to their Youtube Channel covering Space Enterprise at Berkeley, and their goal to beat Stanford to the moon to be the first student team to reach space! It’s a great 20 minutes and showcases many of the bright minds on campus working together towards a common objective, driving out to the middle of the Mojave Desert to watch things explode (hopefully not!). Looking forward to their launch in 2026!

Some Recruiting News

Cal Football has had a tough run of late with recruiting and the portal, and the latest update nearly broke me. I’m of course talking about their highly rated 4-Star DL Recruit, Ursu Samericanus who was caught on video this week shoplifting three gallons of chocolate chip cookie dough from a local Tahoe Store. It’s a tough break for Cal’s 2026 Recruiting Class, but hopefully they can get him on campus soon and get him the support he needs.

Cal Athletics Fund Update

Fresh off getting the keys, Ron Rivera started the Fight For California Crowdfund page and promptly raised $1,375,653 dollars + another $1 Million in match for Cal Football. An impressive week for the football team with 7 fans!

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Hot Links

• Everybody’s talking about, the Mets! Or the Met Gala. Some UC Berkeley Professors broke down the culture and the fashion of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” themed event.

• Berkeley News also profiled this years University Medalist, Asher Cohen

• And six UC Berkeley Alumni were named 2025 Pulitzer Prize Winners

• Last but not least, SF Gate profiled some Berkeley alums that built a dating app based on the popular dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror from the episode “Wouldn’t This Be A Bad Idea If Someone Made This Type Of Dating App”. Despite that, the app is apparently being used UC System wide.

• If you like Jon Bois style videos, Nuans Media released “Calculating Collapse: The Worst Chokes in College Football (2024)” Cal is featured for both Miami (boooo) and Stanford (yayyyyy!)

• The UC Berkeley Library will be hosting an exhibit on James Soong, a key figure in Taiwan’s democratization and modernization efforts at the East Asian Library. Check it out!

• Grant Marek at SF Gate wrote about the old Bear’s Lair, not the hollow vestige currently on campus

• And for those of you that play Connections: Sports Edition, Cal was featured yesterday. I’ll try not to make a big deal about our companion categories.

Golden Bear Honors

• The All-ACC Softball Team was released

  • Lagi Quiroga was named First Team

  • Tianna Bell was named Second Team

  • Mia Phillips was named to the All-Freshman Team

• Mykolas Alekna was named to the Bowerman Pre-Conference Championships Watchlist, making his 21st appearance on the list

• Mykolas was also named Gatorade Student Athlete of the Month

• Cal Athletics marked the 50th Anniversary of Women’s Rowing at UC Berkeley

• For Asian American-Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Cal Athletics profiled Carter Kim

Cal Athletics Recap

• Women’s Softball lost in the 2025 ACC Tournament to Georgia Tech

• Women’s Golf took 8th at the NCAA Gold Canyon Regional

• Women’s Water Polo lost to Hawaii

• Women’s Tennis lost to Georgia in the NCAA Championships Super Regional

• Baseball went 1-2 against Florida State (2-8, 5-0, 1-5)

• Men’s Golf was weather delayed in Reno but ends the First Round in 11th Place at the NCAA Reno Regional

Cal Pros Recap

• NBA

  • Jaylon Tyson got some minutes in a loss to the Pacers as the Cavaliers stare up at Indiana and a 3-1 deficit

  • Shareef Abdur-Rahim was named Golden Bear of the Year alongside his wife DeeDee Rahim

• NFL

  • The New Orleans City Council declared May 8th “Cam Jordan Day” for his devotion to the city and serving the community

  • Cam Bynum was profiled for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by the NFL

• NSWL

  • Alex Morgan continues to build Women’s Soccer by becoming a minority owner of San Diego Wave FC

• PGA

  • Colin Morikawa tied for 17th at the Truist Championship this past week. Max Homas tied for 30th while Ben An tied for 34th. Michael Kim withdrew with a back injury.

• MLB

  • Andrew Vaughn hit a home run in a win this week to lift the White Sox over the Mariners

Next Week in Bear Territory

• Men’s Golf wraps up at the NCAA Reno Regional (5/14)

• Track and Field starts the ACC Outdoor Championships (5/15-5/17)

• Baseball starts a three game series against Boston College (5/15-5/17) before heading to Durham for the ACC Tournament (5/20-5/25)

• Women’s Rowing starts the ACC Championships (5/16-5/17)

• Softball competes in the NCAA Regionals against Omaha (5/16)

• Men’s Rowing competes in the MPSF Championships (5/17-5/18)

Well that wraps it up for us this week. Thanks for reading, and never be afraid to tell me what I got wrong, forgot, or didn’t see! See you next week after I find the stuffed doll I attached to the SEB Rocket.