A Cal Fan's Notes

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A CAL FAN’S NOTES

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:11:00 +0000

WHY WE’LL MAKE THE FINAL FOUR

These are the finest moments of one’s life: The half hour leading up to a big Bear game where one can light a blazing fire, curl up on the couch, pour some Cab, grab SI or the NY Review of Books (for reading during commercials), and wait in blessed anticipation for the Bears to take the court, field, swimming pool (I made that up) whatever.

(Usually I contain my thoughts to the pigskin realm, but tonight I feel compelled to spout off about something I know nothing about--sort of like marriage). Hope springs eternal in us old Blues. We always expect the best but deep down know that we are going to get the worst.

It was in black and white on a truly fuzzy TV out in Conn Valley, that as a child, I waited with anticipation to watch the Bears take on Jerry Lucas and Havelecheck back in ’60. The expectations were as high as the disappointment was low. The Rose Bowl that year against Iowa was the same.

Like a child who can’t ride a horse as an adult, because of the horrible memories of being thrown as a kid, I fear to turn on any big game—basketball or football—which involves the Bears. But watching the Bears is like NASCAR. One pretends that he’s going to the track to see the skill and the race, but deep inside he knows that he’s there to witness a once in a lifetime, screaming metal accident.

Louisville is just the type of team to eviscerate Cal. They’ve been there before. They’ve got a killer, experienced, charming coach in Rick Pitino. And they have athletes who might not be reading Chaucer in English 1A.

On the other hand we’ve got what? A history of teasing loyal blues and then letting them down, just when we think we’ve turned the corner (First and goal from the nine yard line against SC with 1:32 comes to mind—but who’s keeping score).

If it’s not the same as it’s been in the past, this year will be different for five reasons. Four of them are Seniors and one of them is the coach, Mike Montgomery. There’s a lot of “athleticism” involved in college basketball. Let’s face it. An 18 year old Freshman like Carmello Anthony can come in and dominate a group of older kids.

Yet there is something to experience, team work and good coaching. At least old foggies like us would like to think so.

Jerome Randle can be shut down. But when he’s on he’s a hoot. Patrick Christopher could play next year in the NBA, though his ball handling skills sometimes let him down. Theo Robertson is just money. He’s got intangibles authors write about and coaches dream of. Jamaal Boynkin is an artist. I can forgive him his adoration of Obama, because he is such a poet with his left hand. He’s a painter and a true basketball “player.” Fundamentals be he.

Amoke has been suspended. I don’t know why. I don’t care. These kids drive me nuts. On your way to the Big Dance and you pull any knuckle headed stunt and you’ve lost folks like me. Not that he cares. Fact is, all focus should be on the Dance—nothing else—except mid-terms. Anyone who does anything to jeopardize that and let down his teammates is better off outta there.

So that brings in Gutierrez. Maybe he should start anyway. Maybe he will pick up three quick fouls and not play much. But he could be the wild card that puts us out in front to stay.

I don’t expect us to win a close game like the ones we’ve been watching these past two days (How do they know that all these games will be so close?) I expect a win by 11—only because we can get very hot.

Of course, three point shooting teams can go cold and get blown out. We’ve watched it happen to us before. But tonight, the advantage of having senior experience has a chance to play out—especially because it will be under the watchful eye of an experienced, professional, coach—the greatest since Pete Newell. Never underestimate the value of seniors in a team sport like basketball.

So I just wanted to get this out before the game started. I don’t want any of that “I told you so” stuff—or band wagon BS. Like the Bears, I want to put it on the line here first. We win tonight, and upset Duke (as we did with Jason) and move to the final four. There the carriage turns into a pumpkin, but what a wonderful ride it will be.

And if I’m wrong. I’ll still be right (See first paragraph). We are destined to be raised up only to be dropped on our Kiester—but maybe not tonight. OK. You heard it here 2nd. Make your reservations before it’s too late.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

BEARS 34 INDIANS 28

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:30:00 +0000

How sweet it is/was. We didn’t want the night to end. We just stood there watching the children storm the field. The Axe, like a lifeboat lost at sea, rising and falling amidst the crush of bodies. It doesn’t get any better than this. Well maybe it did in Pasadena on January 1, 1938 when Alabama went down—but that’s a little beyond our memory bank.

I quickly donned my “I told you so cap” and smiled from ear to ear. Anyone who knows me, knows I couldn’t predict an “A” in Professor Hearst’s Ed 110 class (where you graded yourself)— Still I was feeling pretty smug. I’d gone on record: Cal, 27 to 17.

The night after the SC debacle—and 8 days after the Oregon fiasco, when our record was 3 and 2, we’d scored 6 points to our opponents 72—my favorite writer—between swallowing vials of sleeping pills-- wrote (back on October 1st):
“Someone has to say it. The Bears go 10 and 2 and we’re still angry.”
That tall good looking guy continued:

“For the rest of the year (barring a total collapse) the point spread will be within a touchdown of everyone we play. And we’ll win way more than we lose….Big Game will really be big. Hopefully, Stanford wins a bunch and then we crush them and wreck their entire season.” Hmmmmmmmmm.

But wait. There’s more!

“We’re looking at 5 and two easily and a possible 7 love run the rest of the way. What could be bad about that?”

The least nasty e-mail riposte I got after those words was, “Get Real!”

All right. So I didn’t say 6 and one. There are word count requirements.

The second best joke of the week was about the Stanford Coach (pick your favorite) who kept telling his team about the importance of “Trust.” You’ve got to trust your teammates, trust your linemen, trust your defense trust your quarterback…. Until one player piped up and said, “Coach. You don’t have to tell us about the importance of Trust. We all have one.”

The best joke was Sarlatte’s at the Men’s luncheon (Which I missed for the first time in decades--due to a funeral)—in which he referred to Oakland Raiders receivers touching fewer balls than Ellen DeGeneres. Shigga-boom!!

Third best was my Stanford friend’s line, “When SC’s band played ‘March on to Vicotry’ I always thought they were holding up two fingers in the V for victory sign. Now I realize they were yelling “Go for Two.”

Saturday was nice, but how great was Sunday, with a fire blazing and the TIVO playing back a glorious Bear Victory? (For atmosphere, I like to clog up the toilet and flood the floor to get that real "College Stadium" experience). The Goobs doesn't appreciate it.

We left St. Helena on Saturday around 10am, trading in the orange, red, yellow, and purple vines for the brown and green of Stanford Eucalypti. We met the boys in lot 7 around noon, knowing that Andy’s M.O.A.T (Mother of all tailgates) was at the South end of the stadium. Still, there was plenty of time to sample wares and walk around the carnival like grounds.

Stanford at Big Game. So much booze. So few restrooms. (Of course, Memorial stadium is worse. Why we don’t rent some “executive porta potties—you know like you see at Golf tourneys and wine auctions—for our women is beyond me. It ain’t too bad for guys).

Everyone was lamenting that Best wouldn’t be playing. (One should never joke about head injuries, but if he can’t run for daylight the NFL, at least he can run for Congress).

The talk amongst us was about “tumbling.” Remember how we all had it in the 7th grade. We were taught how to fall—how to do summersaults—both forward and backward. Now no one can have an appropriate answer for landing on hard turf from 8 feet up, but when he dislocated his elbow, it did appeare that that didn’t have to take place. That he “fell” stiffly. The “Dog” suggested that maybe, as a track man and city lad, maybe Best hadn’t been playing tackle football with no pads all during grammar school the way we had. The question was, do many of these kids today know how to “fall” the way we were taught?

I mentioned it to Muncie and he agreed, adding this interesting sidelight. He said Jerry West had asked him if he had problem with his knees. Muncie said no. He’s from Pennsylvania and West is from Cheylan, West Virginia. “We walked and road bikes,” said Muncie. “We never rode in cars, like California kids. Our knees and legs got fully developed because we used them all the time.”

Hey. Makes sense to me. Some orthopedic surgeon ought to do a study.

Anyway, maybe it’s simply that guys are bigger and faster and stronger. But I like outside of the box theories. No doubt there are more out there.

For laughs, I’d like to see them go back to the single bar face mask. Today’s facemask is used as a weapon. Without that protection, tacklers would be forced to tackle the old fashioned way—with shoulders—around the thighs, instead of spearing into the chest.

Should hurdling be outlawed? Ned mentioned that in rugby you can’t leave your feet to tackle. It’s a penalty.

The one which is probably stupid, but worthy of thought is going back to some form of leather helmets.

Lastly, wouldn’t a rule change, which forced players to go both ways make the most sense. Do that, and all those 300 pounders would disappear in a nano second—reducing the number of injuries which are due to sheer mass falling via gravity on bones, tendons and ligaments.

But I digress.

The one bright spot which we thought might occur with Best out of there, would have been that Tedford would let Vareen carry the ball 20 to 25 times. (He carried 42 times for 193 yards). For whatever reason, (maybe because they are worried about his fragility) Cal has not let Best carry the ball 20 times a game. It has always been a mystery.

We’ve heard all the talk about a problematic O line (how could that be with 3 returnees from last year’s outstanding line), and 8 in the box etc.

The 8 in the box bit was inadvertently refuted by Dave Bush’s great article about Wiedeman still holding the Cal record with 16 interceptions. “Weed” played safety in a three deep—the way we played back then.

Ray Willsey ran a 6-2 defense. Six linemen, two linebackers and three deep. You could get away with that in college as teams didn’t throw like they do today. Of course, that meant EIGHT MEN IN THE BOX. Yet, teams still ran. How did they do that?

Anyway, back to the game. Stanford went up 14 zip before we knew what was happening. Our only hope was that Gearhart’s long run was a fluke and that often when teams go up in a hurry, the better team has a long time to come back.

We still didn’t light it up. 5 dropped passes in the first half didn’t help.
But despite Gearhart’s 61 yard TD dash, the D was playing well. With the score 14 to 3 and the Indians marching for their third score, Osuwu (fast down the field, slow through airport security lines) dropped a crucial third down pass for a first. That play turned the entire game, from a potential route, to keeping the Bears in it.
The stats tell the storey—well most of it. We held the ball for over 39 minutes. Why? Because Riley threw clutch passes and no interceptions (the lone pick was a tip off Vareen’s hand—stopping a drive at the Indians 9 yard line). And because WE RAN THE BALL—despite 8 MEN IN THE BOX!

BTW. Just to rub it in, back in the day one was never allowed to reach up with one hand to catch a pass. The law was, leave your feet and go for it with two hands. Why? Because you ain’t gonna catch it with one hand, and the best you can do is tip it—keeping it in the air so who can catch it? The D!!

Of course, receivers like Moss and Owens are so much bigger than in our day, and the ball is smaller, so one handed catches are being made—and are very in vogue, thanks to ESPN—but the down side was pointed out in the Big Game with that pick when we were down in scoring position. Tip the ball up in the air, and 10 times out of 9 (I’m a member of DAM—Mothers against Dyslexia) the wrong guy is going to catch it.

At the end of the game, both Tedford and Harbaugh made controversial calls—Harbaugh’s two calls were the more egregious.

First, Harbaugh went for it with 4th and 8, (despite having all three timeouts) and gave us the ball with 3:28 to go at the Indians 23.

After a first down, Tedford eschewed going for the touch from the Indians 11, and opted to have Riley take a knee in the middle of the field, giving D’Amato a chip shot field goal which went through with 2:42 remaining. Yes, he made Stanford have to score a touch (it was now 34-28) but had we tried to score, and turned the ball over on a fumble or interception, the Indians still would have had to have marched to our 35 (a minim 55 yards), in 2:42—in order to tie it with a field goal.

As it turned out, after the kick off return (following the field goal), Stanford took over on their own 42, meaning they had to go 58 yards to score a touchdown in 2:39. So, with hindsight, it was a toss-up. Stanford had to go the same distance in the same amount of time in order to change the outcome.

When one measures the risk reward of having gone for a score rather than a field goal—in retrospect—wouldn’t the better call would have been going for the score?
Cal’s D line pressured Luck on two successive plays, but he escaped and ran for 11 then 4 yards. They forced him out of the pocket on the third play, but he dumped it off to Gearhart (who was all alone) for his only reception of the day. Gearhart put on a one man show and carried tacklers (his private version of no child left behind) down to our 13.

With plenty of time to run Gearhart, Harbaugh kept the ball in Luck’s hand instead—called a pass which was picked off by Mohamed and Cal took a knee three times to end the game on their own 5 yard line.

Harbaugh is a great coach. He may not like the winters in South Bend, but if he goes he will do better than Weis.

But he made the classic “great coach” mistake at the end of the game. One, he put the game in the hand of a redshirt freshman, instead of relying on his horse. And two: (on the same lines) he opted for a “great play”—opted for out-thinking or out scheming his opponent—instead of putting the game on the shoulders of his best player. Gearhart should have been touching that ball in the closing drive.

We see a lot of that—coaches getting too smart. I think of all the classic “Non-genius” coaches, Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant, Webb Ewebank. They just gave the ball to their best athletes and let them win it. How they did it—they didn’t really care.

The geniuses “out-scheme” the opposition. Walsh made it work—but he also made sure his schemes revolved around Jerry Rice and Joe Montana.

Well it was as great day--turned night. As we froze in the Eucalyptus grove after the game and long into the night, not one of us noticed the temperature. Wins warm like no blazing fire ever can.

Wishing for a speedy recovery for Jahvid.
Happy Thanksgiving and
Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren, ‘70

"GIVE 'EM THE AXE THE AXE, THE AXE...

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:32:00 +0000

....."Give 'em the axe where? Right in the neck, the neck, the neck. Right in the neck. Right in the neck, Who?"

We all know who. The Stanford Indians--that's who! This famous college football yell is not politically correct, today. No doubt it's a bit too violent for today's tender-eared youth.

We know the name Indians is frowned upon by the PC crowd--which makes us want to use it even more—-but that’s another column.

Saturday is the Big Game. And each year a column with this title appears. Like the Game, itself, it's tradition.

Outsiders think we are so arrogant. No one in the country understands how two accademic institutions can refer to their contest as “The Big Game.”

Folks assume that for a game to be “Big” something has to be on the line-- the Conference Championship; the Rose Bowl; or the holiest of holies--The BCS (whatever that means) Championship. (Tecnically the Rose Bowl is on the line, an entire string theory of wins and losses in other games have to take place, so folks are probably kidding themselves).

That the BCS or somesuch thing has to be on the line is to miss the essence of college football. Despite the bad press, scandals and under the table activities we read about, first and foremost, college football is about student-athletes competing against one another.

Sure, there are some thugs. And, yes some kids are just passing through on the way to the pros. But for the vast majority of seniors, this is the last football game they will ever play.

So the combination of adrenaline, coupled with the "Ya ain't got nothing to lose" mentality inherent in one's final game, make for some extraordinary moments in sport.

We're not talking about a rivalry where each year Heisman Trophy Candidates rise up to accomplish Herculean feats.

No, from Hart and Patton stopping Skip Face short of the goal line on the last play, and sending the Bears to the Rose Bowl fifty years ago, to Kevin Moen knocking over the Stanford trombone player to win the '82 Big Game with no time left on the clock--the rivalry is rife with "Ordinary Joes" accomplishing extraordinary feats.

It's what makes it great. Is there any finer expression of athleticism than what was once referred to as "The Old College Try?” The Big Game is nothing, if not a show case for "The Old College Try."

The Beauty of "The Old College Try" is that it is not dependent upon physical prowess alone. Heart, determination, courage, guts and grit are the ingredients of "TOCT.” It does not rely upon superior genes or talent. It is a state of mind--dependent solely upon the depth of one's character and the size of one's heart.
"The Old College Try" is not delivered in a vacuum. It is witnessed by family. One of the finest "families" one could ever be associated with--Old Blues.

As you read these words, I will have disappeared from the earth as you know it. Thursday, I leave the Valley to join the "family" and will not re-surface until Sunday. My days and nights will be filled with other rummies like myself.

There are dozens of reunions throughout the City. Wherever one gathers, it is the best one of the week. For us, The Mother of them all is the Friday Men's lunch. It was started over 30 years ago at the now defunct New Pizza. It was mostly ruggers, and former footballers--boys, Coach Joe Marvin once called "The fellows who fought the Battle of Berkeley back in the 60's". We know what he meant.

That's when our school yell went from "Roll on you Bears" to "Ashes to ashes/Dust to dust/We hate to go on strike/But we must, we must!"

No parents wanted their kids to come to Cal back then. We were considered a bunch of Commie, Pinko, Weirdoes. It’s a wonder football survived.

Franze defined the lunch with this classic line: "No invitations. That means no jerks. Just good guys inviting good guys".

We gather to re-tell the same old, stories--laugh way too loud--and return to the halcyon days of yore when everything was possible, and no one could best us--neither footballer nor female.

(In truth, we lost way more times than we won--in both areas--but who's counting). At least we gave it "The Old College Try."

Ours is a friendship held together over the years--not through our triumphs, but through our failures. For that's where the laughs are. In the screw ups. In the errors in judgment. In the vain attempts to be more than we were.

Had we been suave. Had we been cool. Had we succeeded each time--in class--on the field--with the co-eds-- we'd have little to talk about. And nothing to laugh about.

When the sentence begins with "How 'bout the time......." you can be assured it has nothing to do with a triumph.

Mostly it has to do with some humiliating failure which the PCer's would consider a lowering of self-esteem--and which we consider too funny for words.

It is good that we are off by ourselves. The world would never approve of our past shenanigans. It certainly wouldn't approve of the way we laugh about them now. We’d never pass Obama’s background checks.

We were not nice boys. On the other hand, we were just that--boys. Doing things that boys do, and grown men can look back upon and laugh at. Maybe it's a guy thing. My kids don't believe me, but no truer words were ever spoken than when we tell them at their moments of failure, "Don't worry. We'll laugh about this later."

If only they knew that it's not succeeding that matters. Giving it the "Old College Try" does. GO BEARS. GIVE' EM THE AXE1

ON A CLEAR DAY, U C L A

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:32:00 +0000

We were hot. 35 points and 377 yards—and that was just in the first half! But hot was the Rose Bowl. Over 100 degrees—oddly no smog to protect us from the sun. Goobs had to buy a Bruin Hat (Gold with a Blue “B”) just to avoid heat stroke. Talking about heat stroke, hot was in the bar at the Newport Fairmont where we checked in. There were two distinguished distaffs with long blond hair, a plentitude of pulchritude, short midriff’s, tiny waists and tall, tall heels (but who was looking).

“They must be hookers,” my wife said. Then she pointed to three beautiful Asian women seated at a table with a couple of Pelican Island frat boys, totally “too-ed”, with motorcycle helmets at the ready. We assumed a porn flick was in the making.

We’re from a small town so we don’t get to see big city sin too often. We were agog. We haven’t experienced many women who refer to Pamela Anderson as “Twiggy.”

Of course, when we met Linda and the gang to watch the sun set over Catalina Island, at the Beach Comber, our favorite hidden restaurant-–Linda set us straight, “Jeff. They weren't hookers. This is O.C. (Orange County). Those are O.C. girls. That’s the look.”

Talk about being a country bumpkin.

Barbarella Babes. What could be better? We need to get out more often. I felt like it was the 1920’s and we assumed that if a woman wore lipstick or smoked she must be a woman of questionable morals—but I digress. Duh!

Our group boarded the bus at 8:30 for the trip to the Rose Bowl. How we wished the date were different.

Driver kept conning his way past cops and parking attendants until we got to the North West side of the Golf course, where Delapp had a tailgate in “lot” 6.
The heat was already doing us in. Would it affect the Bears?

We started on the 20 after the kick went out of the end zone. No comment. Still, my favorite author said boldly, “It will be 52-14.” Fans in the stands were unimpressed.

Best carried for three. Riley threw incomplete—then complete for a first. Vareen picked up 13. Riley completed a six yarder and Vereen ripped off a 42 yarder for the first score of the game.

It was to be like that most of the day (I was reminded of my favorite writer’s comment after the SC game):

“Someone has to say it. The Bears go 10 and 2 and we’re still angry.”

Both teams then traded series until UCLA was drving at the end of the first quarter. With a first at our 33, it looked like they might tie the game when Kevin Prince fumble while being sacked by Guytun. D.J. Holt picked it up and rambled 16 yards to the UCLA 43.

On first down Riley showed his stuff by tossing a 43 yard TD to Martin. Now that's how top 10 teams attack.

It seemed we were in control.

Alas, they still have that rule that after a score you have to kick off. Not good news for the Bears. UCLA returned it 50 yards for a first and 10 on our 39. In 4 plays UCLA brought it to 14-7.

Unwilling to play fair, after their TD, UCLA again kicked it out of the endzone, so we had to start on our own 20—once again.

We start a mini drive, but Anger finally gets off a 51 yarder and the quarter ends 14 to 7.

UCLA can’t do much better and punts. Vareen calls for a fair catch at the 6 (Is Thompson hurt?) Used to be the law that anything inside the 10 one let go, hoping for the touchback, and avoiding a fumble—-but Vareen hasn’t been returning so who’s to criticize.

He is the ultimate—complete football player. He can throw, run, field punts, block—he can do it all and did this game. He actually out statted Best 158 yards to 102 (they claim he lost 32 yards in the second half--we didn't see it).

The Bears put together an impressive march. Best lost three, then gained 22. He picked up 1 more—Vareen got six, then Riley picked up a first with a 17 yard scamper.
Then (from under center, as UCLA tried to stack up against the run), best went in motion and easily turned up field against a linebacker. Riley hit him perfectly in stride for a 51 yard TD.
Bears 21 to 7.

This time, we shut down the kick off return, only to give up a 74 yard touchdown on the first play afterwards, to keep them in it 21 to 14.

We are stalled, but Anger saved our backside us with a 72 yard punt (he averaged 50 for the day).

They pin us in with a punt at the 9. Best loses two. Then it happens. ESPN gets its highlight as Best makes one of the finest 92 yard runs you’ll ever see. The capper was that Riley raced down field (as Best was breaking tackles while moving laterally)and laid out the last defender who could have tackled Jahvid. Gotta love a QB like that.

They kicked a field goal and then we put together an 80 yard 7 play drive which was highlighted by a leaping acrobatic 24 yard catch by Marvin Jones in the End Zone. The half ended 35 to 17.

Best didn’t start the 2nd half and we were moaning and bitching, until we saw him emerge from the locker room. Apparently that run had emptied his tank and he was dehydrated.

Vareen was heroic in relief (as mentioned getting a career high) 158 yards on 18 carries.

It seemed UCLA always had the ball in the 2nd half and was always driving. Our D seemed porous, until it counted. 4 times they marched and 4 times they ended up kicking field goals. . Travecchio added one for us.

It was a classical “Bend don’t Break” D. As Ray Willsey used to say, “Football is played INSIDE the 20’s. The rest of the field is for the statisticians.” We gave ground, but held the line when it counted. Now that’s the mark of a good D.

Their QB, Kevin Prince, was outstanding. Sid’Quan was not playing (Bruised back or possible hip pointer?) and #15,Bryant Nnabuife played well enough to get all of our attention. “Who’s that?” Went the cry in the stands.

Still it was 38-26, when #26 Logan Paulson split the seems and was wide open for a touch. We stood up and screamed “Pick him up.” Prince tossed the sure TD. Did it stick in his fingers? The ball was short and Kendrick reached up and picked it up and returned it 68 yards for the back breaker. We were to learn later that Cal had only 10 men on the field for two plays in a row—hence the wide open tight end. But who’s counting?

On the two day bus ride back to the hotel (how do they live in that traffic down there?) the Goobs had the line of the weekend. Linda, referring to an odd hands to the face penalty called on Tyson Alualu, said, “What’s that funny penealty where they are called for using their hands like this?”

My wife, whom we all assumed was sound asleep in the front, uttered from closed eyes, “That would be fluffing the kicker.”

Suddenly we were back to the gals in the Bar.

Back to a Cal Fan’s Notes where my favorite author wrote after SC:

“So if you like Cal football, the rest of the season could be really thrilling. We’re looking at 5 and two easily and a possible 7 love run the rest of the way. What could be bad about that?”

He’s been wrong so many times before, but the first hurdle has been surmounted. With luck WSU Cougars (if we can’t beat team named after old gals who prey on young men in bars—is there a theme here--we’re in trouble), go down and then it’s five more games where we will never be more 7 point underdogs—-and could be favored in each--unless we pull the classic el foldo.

Don’t bet on it.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70
www.jeffwarren.com

A CAL FAN’S NOTES USC

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Bear Fans,

My wrists had just scabbed over when I got home late Saturday night and attempted the old Sylvia Plath two-step with the oven. Alas, being in Real Estate, we are broke and haven’t paid the gas bill in months so putting my head in the oven was as brilliant as trying to put it where my wife keeps telling me it is.

Ergo: like some of you I’ve had to live with the pain of our most recent Saturday Night Massacre.

Friends have been emailing me for an opinion and comments. They want answers. They have thoughts. So do I, but since this is a family medium I can’t print them.

Someone has to say it. The Bears go 10 and 2 and we’re still angry.

No. We’re not going to date the Centerfold. But the other girls in the back pages are hardly chopped liver.

Now that you know that Marajuana is clearly legal up here, let’s look at the bright side:

We do have a lot of athletes, and judging by what the rest of the teams on our schedule have done against the competition they’ve played, we have an outstanding chance to win each and every game—assuming we don’t go in the tank like the Desean-Marshawn group did a couple of years back.

Football can once again be fun for us fans. We no longer have to look at polls and watch useless games like Boise State vs. Sarah Lawrence in the hopes that Sarah upsets them and knocks them out of contention—that we might move up a notch or two.
We don’t have to hope that Tebow misses a game so Jahvid can move up in the Heisman rankings (I hate rooting against anybody!)

We don’t have to fret about Mac Brown and the pollsters jobbing us at the end of the year and robbing us of the Holy Grail.

For the rest of the year (barring a total collapse) the point spread will be within a touchdown of everyone we play. And we’ll win way more than we lose.
Now that the pressure’s off, finally we may win in Pasadena—just not in the game we want to be in.

We won’t be blasé about scoring over 50 points against Washington State.
We’ll point out that we beat the Huskies—and they beat SC.
We’re liable to sweep the Arizona schools.

Big Game will really be big. Hopefully, Stanford wins a bunch and then we crush them and wreck their entire season.

Why might this take place? Let’s look at some facts.

Jahvid Best isn’t any worse today than he was when the season started. (Though his toe may be giving him more problems than they are letting on). As marketing is king, he won’t get the Heisman but he’s clearly Heisman caliber. He does have to get the ball—however.

One of the most depressing stats was that in three years against SC, he’s carried 30 times for 90 yards. If it read 60 times for 180 yards—the three yard average would be the same but it wouldn’t hurt so. For it would have meant that he carried the ball 20 times a game.

I don’t think anyone beats SC with their best athlete carrying the ball 10 times each time they play.

The D played well against SC.

The O line did not protect as well as it should—or can. I think they will still be a great unit—especially if we run more.

But we can still be a very good team. And coming in tied for 2nd in the Pac 10 might be a lot of fun.

Today, we just aren’t a top 10 team—though some of us dreamers thought we would be.
Why aren’t we a top 10 team?

It’s foolish to point fingers at coaches or kids. There are just some things which top 10 teams do that other teams don’t. It’s that simple.

Top 10 teams do not miss field goals—and it takes a whole team to miss one.

Top ten teams take care of special teams—and don’t allow punt returns for scores.

Top ten teams kick off into the end zone.

Top ten teams don’t leave 7 seconds on the clock at the end of the half when they are trailing and in the red zone.

To 10 teams don’t go two weeks without a touch.

Top 10 teams play to their strength. They either run or pass--depending upon whether they have a Colt McCoy or Toby Gherhart (Interestingly, this year’s top 10ers pass more than run).

Top 10 teams hit.

Top 10 teams don’t give up sacks.

Top 10 teams don’t miss opportunities (we tried a playground trick play—which was very cool. Vareen pretended to run off the field, and just like we did as kids, stood on the sideline without leaving the field. He ran down—no one was anywhere near him—and the pass was over thrown. To be a top 10 team, we just have to make gimme plays like that. They don’t come around that often.

Top 10 teams go right at you on 4th and short or third and short and dare you to stop them.

Top 10 teams don’t beat a team like Miami in a bowl game, bring back more starters than they do, and then fall off the face of the earth while Miami plays tough teams and moves up to number 11.

Top 10 teams belong in the top 10 and act like it. They have a swagger. They know they are going to put a hit on the opposition, and they keep the pressure on them all game long until they break. Somehow we tend to let teams up off the mat and don’t pound them the way we might. No one is afraid of us.

Top 10 teams take risks and play with audacity. Pete Caroll went for it on 4th down four times!! He treats us with disdain.

Like you, I hate SC. We are so close to playing with them—(our D actually did)—yet we just don’t quite yet have it—in all phases of the game. Or we didn’t that day.
So if you like Cal football, the rest of the season could be really thrilling. We’re looking at 5 and two easily and a possible 7 love run the rest of the way. What could be bad about that?

I know. We were hoping for 12 and 0. That’s because we’re Bear fans and have no sense of reality.

10 and 2! Even worst case--8 and 4. For years we were praying for seasons like these. What have we become?

We're now our worst enemy. We actually think that foldout likes us and will dump Sean Connery and walk out on our arm.

Or not!!

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

A CAL FAN'S NOTES/OREGON 2009

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Bear Fans,

Several of you have written to ask what happened to a A Cal Fan’s Notes this week. I apologize for being late but my wrists have just heeled. Also I have casts on both feet for having attempted suicide by jumping out of my basement window.

If you think sharing a bed with Hillary Clinton is tough, how would you like to be a Cal fan? Or worse yet—-share a bed with Bill Clinton. But I digress.

We Cal fans are an interesting subspecies. Or maybe we are just stupid. Could it be the residual effects of the drug infested 60’s? I can’t remember. Could it be masochism? “Beat me!” said the masochist. “No I won’t,” replied the Sadist.

We just can’t seem to win for losing or lose for winning—-I can’t remember that either.

We go from 6th to 24th? Every other top 10 team which loses drops 10 to 12 spots. Bears can’t even get a break from the pollsters (that’s hardly news—see Mac Brown). But of course, I’m just whining and deflecting attention from the real issue. I may have a future as Speaker of the House.

Everyone is in shock. Everyone wants an explanation. Everyone wants to point fingers. Before you blame it on the coaches, have you ever been the parent of a teenager--or a 20 year old. But more on that later

What happened? Sure, Cal’s offense looked deader than the Public Option. But rather than talk specifics for a moment, let’s look at some ancillary incidents which probably had nothing to do with the game—or may have had everything to do with it.

One of the finest young men ever to don a Cal Uni, Jahvid Best mysteriously admitted to a reporter that he didn’t like playing in Autzen Stadium. He said something about being able to “hear the fans.” Rabbit ears we call it. Rabbit ears not only affects one’s ability to concentrate on the task at hand (hard to remember your assignment when you’re listening to someone compare your Mother to Dumpster Muffin), admitting it in public only encourages more of it—at higher decibels. Not a deciding factor—but not neat, either.

Our spies also tell us that young Kevin Riley (who had performed heroically in the first three games) also has grave misgivings about playing up there. Apparently, he doesn’t like it because he’s from the area and his friends think he’s a “traitor.”

Still, not definitive, but that attitude could cause one to press more than normal.
Speaking of those “in the know” (when you get to be our age “inside info” is thecoin of the realm—though no one we know knows nada—still, we always talk in whispers and in that conspiratorial tone like we’ve got the inside dope). It usually comes from one of the trainer’s son’s wife’s hair dresser.

The word was out even before the season that Oregon had nothing. We had heard, even before the loss to Boise State that they were "terrible"—that we would kill them.
If anyone had thought that and it permeated down to the kids on the team—that couldn’t be good.

Also, call it adrenalin, neuro-transmitters, dopamine or serotonin—when one has an adrenalin rush and it’s over—for whatever reason—the legs just won’t work. We saw it in Tennessee. On the opening kick off Tight end Craig Stevenson, the biggest, baddest, toughest kid on the team, got his bell rung on the opening kick off and staggered off the field like me leaving Stoney’s tailgate late at night.

With his loss, the entire team deflated like a whoopee cushion on Charles Barkley’s couch.

Unlike other sports, because football is so physical, you can just “see” it when a team has lost its fight and doesn’t “hit.”—especially the D. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and zero leather smacking sticking (am I dating myself?).

Conversely, what makes the Big Game so exciting is that even with average athletes, the adrenalin rush is so great (it being the last game of many kid’s careers) that bodies seem to fly through the air and smash into one another with reckless abandon.
Of course the Ducks were the perfect “trap game.” Who wouldn’t look past an inferior foe towards the big battle in Strawberry Canyon against SC?

They were in disarray (suspending Blount after his Ali imitation), with a new coach, and a qb who couldn’t find the handle. But they were never without talent.

I think it’s wrong to blame Tedford. He’s our guy. We’ve go to back him and not chase him away just because some things don’t go our way. We need to mature as fans and realize that every team has days like Saturday. (Can anyone spell SC?)

But being fans—-I guess we are entitled to kibitz a bit and ask questions. It’s what makes it fun—and gets us through until the next week.

The game started out great. D’amato kicked down to the nine and Sofeli and Moncrease collided and forced a fumble—Sofeli got his bell rung.

We started on the 22. A pass was called, protection broke down as Riley was hit from behind. We lost 8. Two more incompletes and a field goal puts us up 3 zip.
After the kick off they go three and out—punt and we take over on our 41. Great field position. (And here, for this amature, is where the game turned. Best carries three times. He gains 6. Then 5 for a first. Then 4 for a 2nd an 6 and then….

And that was it. Two incompletes and we punt (a touchback) from the 44.
Best was to touch the ball only 13 times after that.

I know. I bang that drum to death.

“They had 8 men in the box. They shut him down,” they tell me.

No. When we next get the ball we throw on first, then throw again. Make a first. Throw on first and eventually punt. We never gave them the chance to shut Best down.

(And it does no good to tell some of us about too many men in the box. That’s how we grew up. On rainy, wet, muddy fields where throwing was an impossibility. You had to run—they knew it and stuck everybody up there and somehow someway one side won—ususally by just wearing down the other side. And yes. Both teams had too many men “in the box.”

However, it is fair to question the depth of the pass paterns--or at least the way the receivers ran them. Rarely did Riley throw (complete or not) to a spot where there was a one on one match up. On TV, it appeared that there were almost always more Ducks than Bears near the ball--as opposed to the two great throws and catches we saw last week where receivers were wide open.

Also, when it comes to imagination--how 'bout that first drive last week against Minnesota? That was poetry.

The next time Best carries he picks up 5 (but there’s a penalty). Then he carries for 11. Then he loses 4 but Vareen picks up 5. A penalty gives us a first so we-------pass. And a P.I. penalty in the end zone gives us a first at the 14—no. It is offset by a lose-your-cool taunting penalty by Tucker, so it’s still first at the 29.

Vareen loses two. Best gets one. An incomplete pass and then a missed field goal.
Is there a pattern emerging here?

Best starts out 5 carries for 31 yards. He then loses 4, Vareen gains 5, --then Vareen loses two and Bests gets 1. So the two of them go 4 for -2.
So we are 9 for 27 and best is 7 for 28. What am I missing here? This is not a shut down of the run.

Best then loses two and fumbles the exchange with Riley.

Next time he touches the ball he gains 10.

Next time he touches the ball he gains two. Then loses one. Then gains 9. (These were not consecutive).

The point? It is conceivable that we could have run against these guys. Trouble is once we throw on first down—if it is incomplete or a sack, we never run on 2nd down—ever. Walsh often did—knowing that the D was looking for the pass. He’d then have a 3rd and 3 or 4 as opposed to a 3rd and 10 or 15.

You saw the Oregon quotes. “We knew what they were doing on every play.”
On the other side of the Ball, Oregon did what we’ve (those of us at the top of CC & D) have always wondered about. They threw (maybe 10 times) to one of three recievers split to the side. Our DB lines up on the outside guy. The inside slot is left open. A linebacker is near the tight end or other inside wide receiver. And the safety is 15 to 18 yards from the first inside guy. We have always asked ourselves, “Why don’t they just run a five yard out?” Well they did better than that. They had the QB run like an option, then pass it to the outside guy. Then they hit the inside guy at the line. Then they ran a perfect feint and hit the tight end in the corner for a TD.

They milked that formation like no one ever has (I might add that the Bears are not the only team that often leaves the slot back uncovered for 15 yards). We’ve always wondered how teams get away with it--and never—never in all the games we’ve seen have we seen a team exploit it the way the Ducks did.

Last comment. Every day in practice we run the two minute drill. We practice it. We were down, 25 to 3 on our own 20 with 56 seconds. First play we were sacked. Fair enough. Is that reason to run away from the two minute offense? I know. We couldn’t afford an interception and a 32 to 3 halftime score, but I’m sorry. Best ran for 9 and then we took a time out with 12 seconds. Not great clock management. Worse: It looked like we’d given up.

Best did have a fumbled exchange with Riley. He lost yardage on three carries. But the rest of the time it was not only positive—he also cranked out gains of 6, 5, 4,5,9, 11, 10 and 9 yards. It’s not just about average yards per carry. That means that on at least 8 occasions he gave us a first down or put us in a short yardage situation—thereby giving us plenty of options and a decided advantage over the defense.

Ok. Nuff said.

Regardless of decisions on the field, 19 and 20 year olds are mercurial. Their hormones and insides are raging. You just never know where they are or what they are thinking. That’s what makes coaching so challenging. Each coach knows the x’s and o’s. But which coaches can get their teams up to play in every game week in and week out? That’s why I hate the Mountain West Teams like Boise and Utah, get any credit. Yes, they can win a big game here and there, but can they do it each and every week?

Tedford does a better job of this than most. We have to back him. He’s our guy and he’s brought us a long way. But from afar, I just wish that he would wear Best out one of these days. Run him till he can’t run anymore. He might be pleasantly surprised.

We can still win out. We can still beat SC. We can still go to the Rose Bowl. The 49ers may still call and ask me to play for them. My wife can still give up credit cards. Ok. Maybe I’m asking for a miracle. Still, it is unlikely that we will settle for 8 and 4, though it is possible. Hey, with kids—anything is.

Anyway, loving the Bears drives one to drink. I for one am swearing off alcohol. I just read that LSD is back in vogue and I think that’s the direction I’m headed in. Another afternoon like Saturday and I’ll be one of the grateful dead, anyway. Cue up the theme from M*A*S*H: "Suicide is Painless"

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70
www.Jeffwarren.com/

A CAL FAN’S NOTES/MINNESOTA

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:16:00 +0000

It was a perfect day. The Am Trac Express had only been two hours late leaving the Emeryville station. We were just past Promontory point on the way to the Bears Gophers game. The sun was setting. The rhythmic sway of the metal wheels on iron tracks had put my wife in a honeymoon mood. She was showering in our Cabin. The Champagne was chilling in the plastic ice bucket.

Suddenly my iphone rang. It was Coach Tedford. He and the team were already in Minneapolis. “You were right about last year,” he said. “Leaving late for Maryland was a mistake. It was worth it to get here two days early. The kids’ legs are rested and everyone is more relaxed—more focused. We aren’t so rushed.”

“And you’re right about marketing Best more. He’ll get the carries inside the 10 in the first half. To be a Heisman candidate, he deserves some of those easy TD’s. “

“Thanks. That was no big deal. You have so much more to worry about.”

“But I depend upon guys like you—guys schooled in the 60’s to help me coach today’s game. You just know so much more about football than we do."

The water from the shower went silent. Cindy was toweling off.

“It’s not that,” I stuttered. “It’s….

“No. From the top row of CC you can just see more of the field than I can down on the sidelines—encumbered by that head set and all. I’m gonna tell Syd Quan to hit harder—stop diving at those ankles. I’ve learned from Tennessee and won’t try to have our guys audible on every play with all that noise. We’ll just call it in the huddle, go out and run it—come what may. We’re gonna run more than two plays in a row—regardless of yardage. You were right.”

At that moment, Cindy came out of the shower wearing nothing but…….BEEEP. BEEEEEEEEEP. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

That rude alarm squeaked it’s high pitched wail and woke me up. It was 7am, Saturday before the 9am kick off. I wasn’t on the train after all. I was home, in bed in St. Helena.

Somehow, I’m not sure parts of that dream will ever become reality. Damn!
Well. It is game day. No sense to pout. Time to get up and go out to the Explorer in the back yard, open up the tailgate and start downing the brewski’s from the cooler I’d iced down the night before.

Petee, Linda, and the crew would be doing it back there on the Gopher Campus, and in a fit of solidarity, it was my job to show support by tailgating before kickoff—even it if it was in my own backyard basketball court and the neighbor’s rooster was still crowing. (On the subject of real time, game lik, simulation my wife drew the line at me stuffing towels in the toilet that it might overflow leaving an inch of water on the floor to simulate the men's head at the North end of Memorial Stadium).

Gophers won the toss and deferred. The first drive was Tedford and Ludwig serving up their best Michelanglo/Da Vinci Combo platter.

We started on our 20 after the touchback (whatever that is—apparently, that’s what happens after a kicker reaches the endzone with a kick off. (Who knew?).

(I’m not going to bore you with play-by-play, but this sequence is worth noting).

Vareen, starting for Best, went in motion, received a backward pass from Riley. He stood up to throw the double pass, but was thwarted. No prob. He took off up field and knocked off 15 for a first.

Next play was an end around to Isi Sofeli (genuine freshman with feet faster than a Psi U retreating down the fire escape of a sorority house when chased by a broom wielding house mother). Don’t ask where THAT visual came from.

Best then carried three times in a row (honest injun’) for a first—also a first this season. Riley threw to Ross for 7. Riley then ran a qb draw from the spread before giving to Ross on an end around. It was all magical-- mixed up and beautiful. There wasn’t a predictable call in the bunch.

Then that kid Best touched the ball and ran 33 yards where he was about to be pushed out at the one. Alas, he lept in the air and Fosburry flopped into the endzone for an ESPN top 10 play of the week TD.

Five different ball carriers on an opening drive. Now that’s imagination—the stuff Bowl Committees look for (besides coaches with southern accents).

Unfortunately, not only was our kick off a bit short, Minnesota ran a reverse and Cal’s two outside cover guys on the right side, pulled a three stooges collision and Hayo returned to the Cal 47. In fact, at the end of the first half, the Gophers had 6 possessions. Average starting point? Their own 47. Cal’s D played the entire first half on a 50 yard field! More credit to them.

Their first play was a Hook and Ladder—another razzle-dazzle after the reverse on the kick off. Let’s see. 11 plays, one attempted double pass; a QB draw; two end arounds: (or is it ends around?) a reverse; and a hook and ladder. This is why College football has stolen my heart from the pros. Great fun, no matter how you slice it.

The D forces a three and out. Best reals off 25. Riley goes up top to Tucker for 59 and he’s stopped at the two. Best takes it in. Yes. This is the
way God meant it to be. And people mock me for putting on the right colored boxers.
Kick off goes to the 16, and is returned to the 38 (better than their average spot of the first half). D. holds again. Three plays—minus ten yards. They punt.

We go three and out.

They start again at their 46. They drive. Alualu gets a sack. Quarter ends 14 love.

They score to make it 14 to 7 but we are dominating.

After the kick off we go 11 plays (Riley gets sacked twice) and a field goal is missed, keeping it 14 to 7.

Next drive Riley and Best trade off (with one Vareen carry for 3 yards) until best scampers in from 27 yards. A picture perfect drive of 5 runs and 5 passes.

Alas, the kickoff goes out of bounds and Minnessota starts at the 40, only 60 yards away from pay dirt.

They punt and we take over on our 7. We punt short, and after a personal foul penalty, they’ve got a first on our 29.

Cattouse (Ka Toose) (I always thought his name was spelled Cat House)lays out their great receiver, Decker, with one of the hardest hits you’ll ever see. Like a dead man who’s gun has to be pried from his fingers—miraculously--Decker hangs on to the ball—his lips are bleeding and he’s semi-conscious. He came back to hurt us in the 2nd half.

So though we controlled the game we go into the half leading only 21 to 14.

Kick off goes into the endzone for a touch back for the first time this year. Things are looking up as they go three and out.
Then the real weirdness starts.

Best carries for one yard. Then five. Riley comes up a yard short, and we have to punt. That is the last time Best will get a hand off until the 4th quarter. My wife tells me to shut up that I am scaring the dog. But I’m sure the coaches can hear me from the couch.

We punt. They go three and out. An no Best. We go three and out.

They march 77 yards to tie the game 21 all.

Riley throws four time (a holding penalty) and Anger makes the play of the day—a 53 yard punt down to their 2. It’s tied, but they’re deep in a hole. Advantage Cal.

They punt and Best gets his first hand off since the 2nd play of the half with 10:59 left in the game. He loses two.

Then with 3rd and 16 Riley makes his most important play of the season—a 35 yard pass to Ross for the first. He completes one to Curran for a first at the 32.

Then as I am yelling “will you run the damn ball!” at the top of my lungs, Riley hits Ross in the right corner for a first at the two. Best takes it in for the lead—28 to 21.

Riley was outstanding when we really needed it.

When we get the ball back, Best carries three times for nine yards (my wife was wrong—they could hear me), and Riley snuck for two to get a vital first. Miller then makes a spectacular one handed grab for a pick up of 25 to the 8. Best runs for three, takes a short pass for two and runs around right end for the score. Three touches—and another TD. Go figure!

Minnessota gets it back twice, but Hill intercepts one and Mohammad another to snuff out drives.

D line was awesome, especially Alualu. Heavy pressure on them.

Their Decker is a throwback. What an awesome receiver—even threw a TD pass. Speaking of which, in the red zone, twice Hagen (who usually makes some good plays) took his eyes off his man and allowed him to get behind him twice for scores. Very poor technique—whatever the coverage was--which one would assume was man down that close.

Bottom line? They almost took it to us in the third quarter. What separated the third quarter from the other three? Best took only two handoffs. Think about it. Name your back—Jimmy Brown, O.J., Smith, Payton, Sanders, Dickenson, it’s always the same—two yards, 1 yard, three yards, four yards—lose two, lose one—BOOM! 77 YARD TOUCH DOWN!

They need to touch it a lot to get a certain rhythm, and then they break it.
(As John McCay used to say, "of course he can carry it 22 times. It ain't heavy.)

Can’t say enough about Riley’s key plays on the road or the D lines
relentlessness. LB’s same thing. D backs got careless a couple of times.

Sid 'Quan had 7 tackles.

And kicking? Anger’s punt to the two saved our Bacon. Our kickoffs (both depth and coverage) hurt us. It’s why they still call it FOOTball. We need to concentrate on it. As Ray Willsey used to say, over and over and over again: “Stress the kicking game. For their the Breaks are made.”

Great win in a tough environment. Can’t wait for Coach Tedford’s call this week. Or am I dreaming?

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

A CAL FAN'S NOTES/EASTERN WASHINGTON

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:57:00 +0000

Bear Fans,

Presumably we scheduled Eastern Washington because Florida had tied up Troy and Vassar had a field hockey game already scheduled. What's with these flag football contests? I know--everybody does it. But why do we have to be like "Everybody else?" (Did you ever tell your kid that if he is honest, works hard and studies, some day he could grow up to be Mack Brown?)

Back in the Day, the non-conference games were Michigan, Pittsburg, Penn State, Army. Notre Dame, Air Force, Syracuse, Colorado, Texas, Indiana, Rice. Our lone "cupcake" was SJS, and they actually beat us in 1966, my Freshman year.

Eastern Washington is a so-called Division I subdivision school. Nothing wrong with that--per se--but it makes for an unequal playing field. I had enough trouble with Long Division--subdivision is out of my league--and should be out of ours as well.

As was expected, The Bears treated the Eagles like Congressman Duvall treated that lobbyist. They handed out a well deserved stern spanking.

It was a grand day. Woke up to pouring rain (we usually get weather up here in St. Helena about 10 hours before it hits the Bay, traveling south).

It was my kid's 22nd b'day so it was off to the Durant for brunch with a bevy of her beautiful buddies--Mimosas and tales a father doesn't want to hear. Unfortunately, she hangs with kids like we were-ruggers and other athletes--not a good combination. Why can't she fall for some computer nerds and leave the bad boys like we were alone?

(A couple of Ruggers came by and gave me their best Eddie Haskel as we shook hands and they pretended not to leer at the gals). Shouldn't have left my 12 gage in the truck.

What we thought was music to our ears as out of control 20 year old jocks-is somewhat less sonorous to a father's ears. Not only that. Guess who picked up the check? Somewhere God is laughing.

A slight drizzle permeated the tailgate, off and on-but was plenty bearable (pun intended).

Talk was of Oregon and Dennis Erickson at Arizona State being thrilled with the morning headlines that the State of California was going to release 17,000 felons early. What a recruiting bonanza!

The injured tight end, Spencer Ladner (6'7", 253lbs) , is thought by insiders to be a legitimate Sunday player. Unlikely we'll have him for SC.

We won the toss and deferred. Tavechio kicked off to the 5. Three and out and we took over on their 35. Best for 11, Riley to Holley for 21. First at their three. Best gets 2 to the one, then Riley sneaks it over.

What's to complain about? Hey. Look up curmudgeon in the dictionary.

Just because one day I hope to be reincarnated as someone's ex-wife, I wonder why Best didn't get the opportunity to score. He's the horse. For marketing purposes he needs some scores for the Heisman run. Or is that stupid? High marks to Tedford for not having best in the 2nd halves, when we are way up-no sense risking injury or falsely padding stats, but is it wrong to let him get the initial scores-especially when we are down inside the 10? Riley doesn't need a qb sneak for a score to boost his confidence.

(For Comparison, note that Tebow had 4tds against Troy). Is it wrong to let Best get these early scores? Vereen (a real player as well) had three TD's to Best's two. For the season, Vereen has 4 to best's five. Would it be so bad were those numbers 6 to three or 7 to two in Best's favor?

Or is it smart coaching to keep Best humble and spread it around to all the players?
Given what Tedford has done for us over the past 7 years, I one has to defer to the boss, but as a marketeer by trade, I vote for building up the stats in the first half.

Taveccio kicks off to the 9, and exceptional coverage gives them a first on the 17. Alas, they go on an 83 yard, 11 play drive to tie it up. Visions of Appalachian State/Michegan dance in our head.

On first down best rips off 27 yards, but then we go three an out.
The eagles run eight plays before punting. Best goes 75 yards to pay dirt, but (barely) stepped out at the 30. Damn!

We control the ball as the quarter ends 7 to7.

After a 9 yard pick up by Best, Vareen comes in and carries 3 out of 4 plays (one 11 yd. Pass from Riley to Holly and we go up 14 to 7 and the spanking begins to get intense.

After a short drive by the Eagles, at 3rd and one on our 36, EW QB is sacked-fumbles and Kendrick picks it up at mid field and is running for a touchdown, but looks up at the screen (the world's only "Snow White" vision-it's dwarf size) and gets caught from behind at the five.

To o prove I've got my head up my assumptions, Best gets three carries in a row from the 5, and on the third he looks up while receiving a pitchout to the left (can't handle the public option?) and fumbles the ball. We recover, and Freshman D'Amato kicks the field goal to bring it to 17 to 7.

After the kick off, EW (I so want to write EWE) has a 4th and one on their own 38. They go for it and Mike Muhommad defenses the pass and the route is on.
Riley takes off for 13. Best picks up al couple, then goes deep down the left sideline. Unfair. Riley hits him in stride and we are up 24 to 7 with 5:57 left in the first half.

We kick off, and trade punts a couple of times as the half ends. Riley gets sacked for the first time this season (I think).

Vareen returns the 2nd half kick off 37 yards. Best knocks of 20. Vareen picks up 4, then Isi Sofeli zips for 14. (He later runs 22 yards for a TD). Best is Fast. Isi Sofeli is really fast. Of course, "fast" is relative. I wouldn't want to stand behind him in an airport security line.

We walk away with it in the 2nd half, thanks to their second failure at 4th and one among other things, and Vareen, Covan Deboski-Johnson (Can't these parents make up their minds?), and Sofili all shine. Best may be Best, but our depth is the finest ever at running back since Marlin McKeever (or was it Mike?) broke Steve Bates jaw when he was out of bounds (that's a joke for those of you from the Beta House-who are having someone read this to you).

At any rate, Lb Michael Kendricks (besides costing himself a TD by looking up at the TV screen had another monster game, giving him 26 tackles for two games. Our linebackers (last year's are all in the NFL) have not dropped off a bit. The O line still moves people around and opens big holes for all those backs. We won't know until SC, but this may be Tedford's best O line of them all. Fun to watch #22, Kapp's kid Will, come in and stick his head into a defensive end's gut. Live is good.

Anger still punting well. Would be great to get kick offs into the endzone--and that may come back to haunt. Riley looks verrrrrrrrrrrrrry comfortable, and DB 's are scheduled to be the best in the country-but we haven't played anyone-and won't for a while, so who knows.

Still and all, it is a delight to see us win the ones we should. Two road games coming up, Minnesota, and then the trap game-Oregon up there-before SC. But today we are numero Siete in USA and Ocho in AP (Fox News' O'Riely has us as #2 just behind the Pennsylvania Pinheads).

Life is good. The program is on the rise. The stadium is full (58,000), Al Davis DOESN'T own the team, and young men are excelling at what they love most. What can be bad?

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren '70

A CAL FAN'S NOTES/ THESE ARE NOT YOUR FATHER'S BEARS

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:12:00 +0000

These are not your father’s Bears. If you don’t believe it by the number of athletes on the sideline—you should have seen the half time show. A group of students recited a military oath to defend the Constitution. These students were volunteering to enlist in all four services. We’re all so proud of them. They got a standing ovation from 62,000 fans. Definitely not your Father’s Cal Bears.
Can’t stand these 7pm starts—though playing under the lights is awfully sexy. It brings a certain high school excitement to it. (Did I just write that?)

Went to the gym to try to pass the time. Saw replay of Blount’s sucker punch more times than I could count. Ducks let down Pac 10—bad! Then to a yoga class—not my idea—not my area of expertise. Left 30 minutes into it to go watch the Giants. My idea of “Stretch” is Willy McCovey at first.

Tried to watch college games on TV—Ohio State and Navy, Minnessota and Syracuse (at least the Gophers pulled it out meaning the bears will play at least one team with a win this year). Nervous as Elizabeth Taylor in a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, at 1:30 I jumped behind the wheel and hit the road.

The Goobs had to go to a wedding of a friend. It’s in our Pre-Nup. On Saturdays in the fall, she does the Brides—I do the Bears.

Tailgates lived up to their billing. Great to get back in touch with so many Beers—er, Bears).

Daughter Cody (she graduated in June but is still in school—go figure) came by to mooch some tickets. She was one of the youngest fans I saw. Actually, it was interesting that there were none of the older—grandfathely fans—one is so used to seeing. All I saw were young people like us—and younger ones still. ‘Tiz a puzzlement.

Didn’t see Kapp before the game which was probably just as well. Can you imagine him (off tequila) waiting for his kid, Will’s, first game in Memorial Stadium? I’m sure the ADHD ward was alerted at Cowell. Where is Cowell Hospital these days, anyway? It used to be near where we were tailgating.

An hour before kickoff, head for the cyclone fences that are protecting the hole in the ground which will one day be the Athletic Performance Center, and enter the Stadium.

Burn some incense for Dumpster Muffin, Burlap, and Oak, and then head up to my seats at the top of D. (See Pics)
Tavecchio kicked off to around the five. He was criticized after the game, but it was a pretty stiff wind—which changed directions as the game went on.

Terps went three and out with a couple of penalties.

Best picked up five, then ran an up route and Riley hit him on the money, maybe a step short and it was broken up, but the ball looked nice. In fact, I’m not sure Riley missed any obviously open receivers. It wasn’t one of those games where you shouted “He’s open deep” or “he threw to the wrong man.”

(Four words you always wanted to see in the same paragraph but were afraid wouldn’t—and hope you will see often? “Riley. Four Touchdown passes.”) Riley threw for 298 yards and th0ugh he was 1 for 5 in the first quarter, for the most part he looked calm and composed as he slowly dissected the Terps’ D.

Another change from last year: Receivers made at least 4 outstanding catches—making Riley look even better, as they are supposed to do. Marvin Jones looks like he can really play.

The Terps went three and out and then punted again.

We started at 10.06 left in the first quarter and at 9:54 Best had crossed the goal line from 73 yards away. Anyone who thinks Best takes 12 seconds to go 73 yards better check his Timex.

It was an amazing run, but for the first time in my life I think the free safety actually gained ground on Best and almost stopped him. Pre-game jitters forced me to forget to TIVO the game, so I couldn’t check that out.

Best ran the ball only 10 times for 137 yards. (Of course, his last moment on the field was with 10:03 to go in the third quarter. So he had 178 total yards (23 receiving, 18 on one kickoff) in less than 40 minutes of play.

We greedy fans wanted him back in (HEISMAN, HEISMAN), but protecting him from injury was the right move—and Shane Vereen is a big time player. He got 10 carries for 48 yards.

O line on a roll—244 yards. Dominated after the first drive. Good pass protection.

D? No ints, but some nice “defenses” as they call breaking it up these days.

Five kickers: (two punters one field goaler, and two kicker offers—performed well—though kickoffs didn’t reach end zone.

Best (pun intended) indication that Cal may have what it takes? #30 Linebacker Mychal Hendricks. Not only did he have 12 tackles (7 solos) he bent a couple of Terps backward with some vicious hits. Ultimately, football is a physical game and if we can be known for knocking the snot out of some of these running backs and receivers—folks on the national scene will start taking the bears seriously.

Next week is a flag football contest against Eastern Washington. No sense putting on pads and getting anyone hurt.

We are not the only ones guilty of this, but How ‘bout the BCS says anyone plays a Division III team (don’t give me this Division I Football Championship Subdivision stuff)—if I want Orwellian obfuscation of language, I can turn on Senate Hearings on CSPAN—they automatically forfeit their right to a BCS Bowl Bid? Think that would affect Florida’s or Boise State’s choice of non conference opponents?

Anyway, we are lucky. Who knows how the season will unfold.? But right now we have a LOT of good young players—playing very poised ball (only three unimportant penalties—not bad for a first game).

It’s waaaaaaaaaay to early to say whether Joe Kapp will get to hit that Tequila in the first week of ‘010, but this one could be a fun ride.

(Come to think of it, my father’s Bears went to Three consecutive Rose Bowls—maybe I should re-think this).

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

Jeffrey Earl Warren
James Warren & Son
1414 Main St.
St. Helena, Ca.
94574
707-963-2748

________________________________________

A CAL FAN'S NOTES/GETTING READY FOR MARYLAND

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Cal Fans,
I can't stand it. I was hopping not to get sucked in by the hype, but I'm a cheap date. A few free promises of end of year rankings, 10 win seasons, even BCS (whatever that is) Bowls--to say nothing of the Rose Bowl, and I roll over and open my wallet (it could be worse). I can be had--and have been.

The excitement is rising and it's only Monday—now Wednesday. (This working for a living interrupts everything).

You know you're hooked when you can't wait until Thursday night to watch the Oregon/Boise State game. When was the last time you couldn't wait to watch a team called Ducks play on a blue rug?

Why do we care about Oregon? Because we've drunk the Kal Kool Aid. We know that to be nationally ranked we have to beat good teams and we also know that if it's a toss up between Cal and a Mountain West Conference team like Boise State at the end of the season, the jerky writers and coaches will chose the Cowboys (shades of Mack Brown) over Cal any day.

Though their win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl was maybe the most "fun" college game ever (hook and Ladder (no it's not hook and lateral-though that's what happens), Statue of Liberty and other assorted craziness no MCW teams belong in the BCS. Their conference, and hence their schedules are just not as demanding as Pac 10, SEC or Big 10 Ball.

And as we face Oregon in the 4th game, we want them undefeated and highly ranked so it looks better when we beat them on our way to going into SC undefeated. That is assuming we don’t pull a Desean Jackson and lay down against Eastern Washington. Remember the pre-Tedford days when we didn’t have to worry about all this craziness?

I can’t help myself. Like you, when the paper comes (ok, the Comical) I read the Green Sheet from cover to cover (both pages) saving the Cal coverage for last. I read it slowly and fawn over every word. You think I would have learned by now.

But how can you not love ‘em? Will Kapp (that’s a name, not a question) is the number two fullback, as an undersized walk on. It’s all the things we love. Kapp’s kid and we’ll be looking for #22 for the first time since the “Dawg Man” (Rick Bennet) wore it back in the 60’s when our school yell went from “Roll on You Bears” to “Ashes to ashes/Dust to dust/We hate to shut it down/But we must we must!”

Dumpster Muffin and Zachery Running Wolf (he of the “So-Sue-Me” tribe) would have loved to have jumped out of their trees to have joined us back in the Day when Cal was the Epicenter of protest. Back then, we knew how to do it right.

Riley is insane—wonderfully so. Jahvid Best is as good as there is in College football, though we fear (paranoid fans that we are) injury will cut his year short. The inexperience (and cast on the hand of Syd’Quan) upon which Tennessee capitalized back there for two td’s, will finally reach fruition, three years later, or we will be an above average team which plays in a minor bowl?

It’s still too hot up here in St. Helena to be fall, but the light is reminiscent of football.

Talked to Stoney about his Tailgate this Saturday. He wanted to start at 6. I said that was only an hour before the 7pm kickoff. “6am, you fool!” He yelled. Not a bad time to start downing brewskies, but we compromised at 3pm. Linda and her group is having an early lunch in order to make Stoney’s tailgate on time.

It will be 10pm Maryland time for their kids when Tavecchio kicks off (or Best receives). When we played last year (after my 4 day train ride) it was 9am our time—and we arrived only a few hours before. So this game may be about legs—and “terroir” as we say in the wine country (or dirt as you say in yours) is in our favor. Bears will score over 40.

Now being a Bear fan (like you) I’m certifiably insane. But this year (unlike the year Ken Jowett appeared at the first tailgate in a blue blazer and tie, proclaiming “This is the year we go to the Rose Bowl”—it was the year before Tedford when we barely won one game—against Rutgers,for God's sake) may possibly, conceivably, perhaps, maybe, be different. Why? N Not Best. Not Riley. Not the returning D line, or perhaps the best O line ever.

If it is different it will be because Tedford has more numbers than ever before. Credit goes to him and the program he built. Perhaps we have more—better—players than we have EVER had on this campus.

Not only are the players better, the practices are better. Think Baseball. Suppose you had only one pitcher who could throw in the 90’s and all the rest threw in the 80’s. Some times the team gets to get batting practice against the 90mph guy. Most time, they’re swinging aginst guys who throw in the 80’s. Alas, all starting pitchers throw in the 90’s. So what happens if all your arms throw in the 90’s during practice? You get the point.

Every practice makes every player better because the talent level is so much bigger and faster and more skilled than ever before.

How far can we go? Who cares. (Us—Duh!) All I know is that if things go according to plan, we will all be watching a bunch of games we care nothing about (Texas Tech vs. Texas) to see what it does to us in the polls.

For Bear fans, it’s a new way to watch the game. In some ways I liked it better when we were just hoping for a close win, a moral victory, or maybe even an actual win.

Time have changed. Can we change with it? I don’t know, but it could be fun trying.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

CBS: A TRIBUTE TO LOREN AND COLIN

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:35:00 +0000

Click the Underlined Title above. It's as good as it gets when it comes to Fathers and Sons.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren '70

Coaches Dinner

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:23:00 +0000

HEY, GUYS! GET THE WORD OUT. IT'S TIME FOR THE ....

4TH ANNUAL COACH'S APPRECIATION DINNER

AT THE COLUMBO CLUB

5321 CLAREMONT, OAKLAND (Near The World Famous ‘Kingfish‘)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4TH, COCKTAILS 5:30 DINNER 7:00

SPONSORED BY THE CAL EXTRA POINT CLUB

(previously known as The Football Restricted Fund)

$50 includes Dinner and Open Bar!

Honor the Cal Football Staff and graduating seniors in a relaxed social atmosphere. Hook up with old friends and celebrate another winning season and bowl game victory. Find out how you can join the EXTRA POINT CLUB, and be eligible for exclusive Cal Football events. Help aid Coach Tedford's program-building projects, such as career mentoring for graduating seniors. Plan you trip to the Minnesota game. Rehash old fraternity lies.

$50 per head benefits THE CAL EXTRA POINT CLUB

Please RSVP to Debbie Schram at 510-642-3857 or dschram@berkeley.edu

Emerald Bowl Events

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:58:00 +0000

First, Great news from Grealish:

To everyone,
Good news from Steve Finau. We're hoping to see him next football season in Berkeley. He says he doesn't want to come until he can walk off the plane.
Distribute this to all who know him.
Thanks for all your help.
Steve Grealish

(From Country Cole)
Guys,

Please send this out to all of your CAL Football Friends and Party Animals.

The CAL Football Coaches have rented the Warfield in San Francisco for post game party/ dance and concert.
The cost is $20 per person, Tickets are available at Ticket master.

It won't be too often we actually get a bowl game in SF. We should all plan on going.

Thanks for getting the word out.

Country

Cal Bowl Big Show Feat Tightwad Hill Band,Jeff Tedford & Golden Bears
The Warfield
San Francisco, CA
Sat, Dec 27, 2008 09:00 PM

Party with Coach Jeff Tedford, Athletic Director Sandy Barbour,
Cal football players and their parents after the game with great music, drinks, and fun.
"Tightwad Hill" is a rock 'n' roll cover band featuring members of the Cal Football staff and Cal Marching Band.
Come listen to Jeff sing like Barry Manilow.
Don't miss this event. All ages welcome.

(from Larry Shikuma)
Going to the emerald Bowl? Need a tailgate?

Subject: Cal events at the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco

Official Emerald Bowl
Pre-Game Cal Tailgate
The California Golden Bears take on the Miami Hurricanes

Don't miss the event of the weekend—the official Cal tailgate! Register online before Wednesday, Dec 24 at midnight for a discounted price. A limited number of walk-ups will be available at the tailgate entrance at a higher price.

Date of Game: Saturday, December 27, 2008
Game Time: 5 p.m. PST
Tailgate Time: 2:30 p.m. PST
Tailgate Location: Pier 48 at AT&T Park, San Francisco

Enjoy the entire Cal Marching Band, Dance Team, Oski, a pep-talk from Athletic Director Sandy Barbour and more. Register for either beverages only or beverages with food. Special pricing is available for young alumni, students, families and youths.

Details and RSVP

Saturday, Dec 27
Post-game event

Cal Bowl Big Show featuring "Tightwad Hill"
9 p.m. - 2 a.m. | RSVP

Congratulations to Alex Mack
California Alumni Association would like to congratulate Alex Mack on winning the Draddy Trophy as football's top scholar-athlete. More

GO BEARS!
For a full list of Cal Emerald Bowl events, visit alumni.berkeley.edu/athletics .
Friday, Dec 26

Emerald Bowl Pep Rally
11 - 11:30 a.m. | No cost
Yerba Buena Gardens

Emerald Bowl Kick-Off Luncheon
12 - 2 p.m. | RSVP
Westin St. Francis Hotel on Union Square

Cal Spirit Rally
7 p.m. | No cost
San Francisco Marriott Hotel (Cal Team Hotel), Yerba Buena Ballroom

Bears, Billiards & Brews
8 p.m. - 12 a.m. | No cost
Jillian's @ Metreon

Visit calbears.com for more information on the Emerald Bowl or to find official Emerald Bowl merchandise .

A program of the California Alumni Association
1 Alumni House, Berkeley CA 94720-7520 | Phone: (888) CAL.ALUM | Fax: (510) 642.6252
View in web browser | forward to a friend

"GIVE 'EM THE AXE"

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:10:00 +0000

"Give 'em the axe where? Right in the neck, the neck, the neck. Right in the neck. Right in the neck, Who?"

We all kno w who. The Stanford Indians--that's who! This famous college football yell is not politically correct, today. No doubt it's a bit too violent for today's tender-eared youth.

We know the name Indians is frowned upon by the PC crowd--which makes us want to use it even more—but that’s another column.

Saturday is the Big Game. And each year a column with this title appears. Like the Game, itself, it's tradition.

Outsiders think we are so arrogant. No one in the country understands how two unranked schools can refer to their contest as “The Big Game.”
Folks assume that for a game to be “Big” something has to be on the line-- the Conference Championship; the Rose Bowl; or the holiest of holies--The BCS (whatever that means) Championship.

That, of course, is to miss20the essence of college football. Despite the bad press, scandals and under the table activities we read about, first and foremost, college football is about student-athletes competing against one another.

Sure, there are some thugs. And, yes some kids are just passing through on the way to the pros. But for the vast majority of seniors, this is the last football game they will ever play.

So the combination of adrenaline, coupled with the "Ya ain't got nothing to lose" mentality inherent in one's final game, make for some extraordinary moments in sport.

We're not talking about a rivalry where each year Heisman Trophy Candidates rise up to accomplish Herculean feats.

No, from Hart and Patton stopping Skip Face short of the goal line on the last play, and sending the Bears to the Rose Bowl fifty years ago, to Kevin Moen knocking over the Stanford trombone player to win the '82 Big Game with no time left on the clock--the rivalry is rife with "Ordinary Joes" accomplishing extraordinary feats.

It's what makes it great. Is there any finer expression of athleticism than what was once referred to as "The Old College Try?” The Big Game is nothing, if not a show case for "TOCT."

The Beauty of "The Old College Try" is that it is not dependent upon physical prowess alone. Heart, determination, courage, guts and grit are the ingredients of "TOCT.” It does not rely upon superior genes or talent. It is a state of mind--dependent solely upon the depth of one's character and the size of one's heart.
"The Old College Try" is not delivered in a vacuum. It is witnessed by family. One of the finest "families" one could ever be associated with--Old Blues.

As you read these words, I will have disappeared from the earth as you know it. Thursday, I leave the Valley to join the "family" and will not re-surface until Sunday. My days and nights will be filled with other rummies like myself.

There are dozens of reunions throughout the City. Wherever one gathers, it is the best one of the week. For us, The Mother of them all is the Friday Men's lunch. It was started over 30 years ago at the now defunct New Pizza. It was mostly ruggers, and former footballers--boys, Coach Joe Marvin once called "The fellows who fought the Battle of Berkeley back in the 60's". We know what he meant.

That's when our school yell went from "Roll on you Bears" to "Ashes to ashes/Dust to dust/We hate to go on strike/But we must, we must!"

No parents wanted their kids to come to Cal back then. We were considered a bunch of Commie, Pinko, Weirdoes. It’s a wonder football survived.

My friend defined the lunch with this classic line: "No invitations. That means no jerks. Just good=2 0guys inviting good guys".
We gather to re-tell the same old, stories--laugh way too loud--and return to the halcyon days of yore when everything was possible, and no one could best us--neither footballer nor female.

(In truth, we lost way more times than we won--in both areas--but who's counting). At least we gave it "The Old College Try."

Ours is a friendship held together over the years--not through our triumphs, but through our failures. For that's where the laughs are. In the screw ups. In the errors in judgment. In the vain attempts to be more than we were.

Had we been suave. Had we been cool. Had we succeeded each time--in class--on the field--with the co-eds-- we'd have little to talk about. And nothing to laugh about.

When the sentence begins with "How 'bout the time......." you can be assured it has nothing to do with a triumph.

Mostly it has to do with some humiliating failure which the PCer's would consider a lowering of self-esteem--and which we consider too funny for words.

It is good that we are off by ourselves. The world would never approve of our past shenanigans. It certainly wouldn't approve of the way we laugh about them now. We’d never pass Obama’s background checks.

We were not nice boys. On the other hand, we were just that--boys. Doing things that boys do, and grown men can look back upon and laugh at. Maybe it's a guy thing. My kids don't believe me, but no truer words were ever spoken than when we tell them at their moments of failure, "Don't worry. We'll laugh about this later." If only they knew that it's not succeeding that matters. Giving it the "Old College Try" does. GO BEARS. GIVE' EM THE AXE1

Much sadness during this week of joy. For a great article on Pete Newell and his passing on Monday read Bruce Jenkins, A Man Who Was A Legend Even to Other Legends

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/18/SPGM1468HJ.DTL

Alas, we lost another Giant with the passing of John Erby. Here's a note "Jeans" sent me on Coach Erby. He was a true American hero and a great man.

John Erby, veterans advocate, dies
He won honors in Vietnam War
By Rebecca Goodman • rgoodman@enquirer.com • November 14, 2008

WEST CHESTER TWP - John W. Erby lost part of his right leg in Vietnam. He came home with a prosthesis and a new outlook on life.

"I realized then that no matter how bad you think you have it, there's someone not far away who has it so much worse," Mr. Erby told The Enquirer in 2005. "So I figured, 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get up and go help someone. That'll make you feel better.' That's been my philosophy."

Mr. Erby spent the rest of his life advocating for veterans and teaching schoolchildren to be good citizens.

He was adjutant of Chapter 156 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and president of Chapter 10 of the Vietnam Veterans of America. He served on the governor's Office of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and was active with JROTC and ROTC programs. In 2005 he was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

Mr. Erby, 68, died unexpectedly in his sleep Sunday at his home in West Chester Township.

He was a 27-year-old first lieutenant and a platoon leader with the 25th Army Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1968 when he came under mortar fire in the Battle for Fire Support Base Burt. He received two Purple Hearts and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm, awarded by the South Vietnamese government for heroic deeds while fighting the enemy.

After the war, Mr. Erby was hired to be the assistant line coach at the University of California, Berkeley, where he had played football and received a bachelor's degree in criminology. He became the first African-American football coach in the PAC-8 conference. He left the job in 1972 and went to work for Levi Strauss, retiring in 1997.

Mr. Erby enjoyed taking students to see the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. He also wrote a program called "Veterans in the Classroom" that told the story of sacrifices made by veterans of the Vietnam War. He presented it at schools in Greater Cincinnati. He also taught flag folding and etiquette.

A native of Rosston, Ark., he was born on May 7, 1940, to Mary T. Harvey and John Erby. He was raised in Fresno, Calif., by his grandparents Willie and Ida Harvey.

Mr. Erby enjoyed listening to jazz, reading mystery novels, rooting for the Chicago Bears, golfing and cooking.

Survivors include his wife of 39 years, Delores Erby; two daughters, Kimberly G. and Shannon N. Erby, both of California; five brothers, Terrell and Bruce Thomas, Bill Self and Dolphus Trotter and Bill Gray; and four sisters, Wilma Francis, Gwen Williams, Bennie Lee and Chrystal Headlam.

Visitation is 10 a.m. today followed by the funeral at noon at Hodapp Funeral Home, 8815 Cincinnati-Columbus Road (U.S. 42) in West Chester Township. Mr. Erby's remains were cremated.

Memorial gifts are suggested to Joseph House Home for Homeless Vets, 1522 Republic St., Cincinnati, OH 45202; Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 10, 8418 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45215; or the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Department of Ohio, 35 E. Chestnut St., Suite 408, Columbus, OH 43215.

And don't forget to Vote for Alex Mack. You can do it once a day at this link:

http://football.seniorclassaward.com/10755/playercard.aspx

A Good Time on the Way to A Good Time

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:02:00 +0000

So many tailgates, so little time. Actually, the line is Bobby Tuck's. So apropos. He said it at the UCLA game a couple weeks back.

What a day that was. The glorious weather defined it to a tee. Before the game, The brotherhood gathered (no, they can only be identified on pain of death, or having a blind date with a girl from Stanford) passed around the correct inside info. It would be Riley.

What a ways we've come. For many of us, Cal vs. UCLA means having to face Mecca in hopes of an upset. That Saturday it was reversed. We were the 17 point favorites and deserving of the honor.

How Tedford has changed things.

The 59 Rose Bowl team was honored for the 50th anniversary of that '58 season. As a 10 year old, I saw every home game that year and watched the Rose Bowl, live, on black and white TV. After Hart and Patton Stopped Skip Face's two point conversion attempt in the Big Game to put us in the Rose Bowl, Joe Kapp signed my program and gave me his Chin Strap. At Ten, that was about as good as it got. (After Saturday that may be the best it's been in 50 years).

Today, the fumble at the goal line in Pasadena would have been reversed as Hart clearly crossed the plain, but Iowa, behind Randy Duncan probably would have won anyway. Funny how Cal Fans fixate on "What-could-have-beens.

What a fun team that was. The late Ron Wheatcroft was my hero. I would wear #81 for the rest of my life, until I arrived at Cal some 8 years later. Freshman coach Truck Cullom said "No exceptions." Numbers were handed out by positions (alphabetically). Being a "W", I was saddled with #89 that Freshman season, and being a Green Weeney (Sout team red-shirt), #47 the following year. Had I only had #81 (Karma) I would have won the Heisman for sure. I tried to tell them.

Last week, it was a monsoon and the opportunistic Bear defense flexed its muscle and led us to a fine win in weather which many feared would give the Ducks an advantage.

Tried to avoid the rain by standing under the trees, until I realized there weren't any.

Now we were back in the top 25 and playing for a Rose Bowl spot in November. Little did we know as we prepared for the Road Trip to SC that the "What-could-have-beens" would raise their ugly heads again. But I'm ahead of myself.
We were 22 point underdogs to SC. How did that happen?

Rooting for the Bears against SC was like pulling for MCain against Obama. In order to win, each and every battle ground state was going to have to go our way.

Despite our thoughts, the grown ups in Vegas thought the odds were long. Troubling.

Our den mother, Linda, had arranged for a group of us to stay at the Fairmontin Newport. A bus would drive us to SC.

We met with other Bear fans for drinks at The Beach Comber, an isolated bar on the beach in Chrystal Bay State Park. We were ordered not to miss the 4:30 sunset. Not wanting to arouse Linda's ire by being late, Stoney and Carlisle managed to get there by 1:30. Whew. What to do for three hours until the sun sets? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

We caught up with them and other fans around 4. We hashed and rehashed and hashed again all the possibilities--who would play, whether we should pass or run--what had to happen for us to get to the Rose Bowl, and lastly, why in the premiere soccer State in the Union, and belonging to a University dedicated to attracting "under-represented minorities", we can't recruit a Latino (or foreign born) soccer player who can kick off into the end zone.

It's hard for those of us raised in Northern California to believe that real people actually live, swim, run and dine on a beach as a part of their everyday lives. To us it's Fantasy Land.

Once the sun set ,dinner was ordered and we once again repeated everything we'd said over margaritas before dinner.

Eight am Saturday morning found us jogging (ok waddling) from the Newport Pier to the Balboa Pier. The air was fresh, the setting un-real. During the run we talked a little Cal football.

Now it was time for Brunch at Mutt Lynch's and a (Larry Blake's Ratskeller sized) schooner of beer. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen after 10 o'clock.

Flat screened TV's on every wall played the nation's games. The omelets were outstanding, and the waitresses dressed as though Hooters was for sissies. "Having a good time on the way to a good time," opined Stoney. I'm not sure what the Jesuits concept of Heaven is, but this was pretty close.

The excitement building up to kick off was electric.

Twenty-four of us piled into a van (once it would have been a Volkswagon--now we are old and so tres chic, that we get individual seats) and headed to a Macdonald's just outside the stadium--not for the happy meal-but to park.

Before arriving at our designated tailgate, we walked around and noted that every SUV had a flat screen TV in the back. In fact the only thing "flat" in L.A. appeared to be the screened TV's.

Cal folk in L.A. Once again, the heirs of Eldridge Cleaver meet the heirs of Elder Cleavage.

The Game? First, who saw it in the seats SC gives us? Not only are they deep behind the endzone, they are off in the corner facing east, so one has to turn at an angle just to watch the game, where the nearest part of the endzone is 60 yards away. It is so bush league.

One would think the Chancellor's could get together and solve that one. It's way too disrespectful (The year with Rogers on the 9 yard line with 1:32 to go, we were all down there in that end zone where visiting teams usually sit). Perhaps they thought that was way to fair.

(We cheated and traded a couple Franklins to sit on the 50). We hadn't come all this way to only estimate what was going on between the lines.

Our D played its heart out. Probably, the better team won. That being said, their first touch was a drop in the endzone. Are we whiners or do a disproportionate amount of calls go against us? Yes, they were flagged more, but the crucial ones?

Here's a $50 tip for free. When a play is anywhere close in the endzone for a Touch (a foot in bounds, crossing the plain, juggled ball etc.) and the coach doesn't want to waste a time out on a challenge, designate someone (right defensive end, for example) to jump off sides as they line up for the hurried up PAT. The penalty is only half the distance, and they're gonna kick it anyway. That would give a coach (and the boys upstairs) time to look at replays which might make a challenge wise. Of course, one wouldn't do that late in the game where a two point conversion would make a difference.

Secondly, the lineman downfield on our TD pass. Of course, we couldn't see it from the stands, but on my TIVO, the stadium announcers did a good job. NOT ONE interior lineman was beyond the line of scrimmage. The best the refs could come up with was to say that Ross, the inside receiver, was on the line of scrimmage (making him ineligible), however, the ball is on the 27 and he has his foot behind the 28-Boetang (the outside guy) is on the 27. BOGUS, BUSH LEAGUE CALL.

10 to 10 is an entirely different ball game-but we always think that.

We were going with Alex Mack as our only first string O lineman. Their defensive speed was just too much for us. The O line, usually so dominant just couldn't open any holes, and we couldn't get to the outside. Maualuga can play.

(Speaking of Mack, my daughter says we should go to this link and vote once a day to help him win a senior class football award).

http://football.seniorclassaward.com/10755/playercard.aspx

Secondly, their DB's make statements when they hit. Mays is all world. All too often, our DB's dive for the runner's legs and (no sense naming names) some guys missed some big time tackles. Maybe we're just not big enough to be that physical. But they took us to school in that area.

Jahvid Best appears to be hampered somewhat. That explosive burst as he pulls away from guys (even on short gains) doesn't quite seem to be there-at least when viewed from the stands.

At game's end SC had the ball deep in our territory (as we had rightly eschewed a punt and gone for it on 4th down). Pete Carrol didn't try to pass for a score-but he didn't take a knee either.

It was a grey area, but for those of us who were in the stands in New York when Joe Pisarchcek, handed off with just seconds left, and the Eagles scooped up the fumble for a winning score, one has to wonder why he was running it rather than playing it safe. BCS, anyone?

Anyway, it was a quiet ride back to Newport Beach where we hit the hotel bar and saw the horrid replay's we hadn't seen in the stands. We hashed and rehashed and hashed again all the possibilities.

Then we hit the sack and reconnoitered the following morning for 8am Mass (ok, for brunch at Mutt Lynch's) down at the beach. Somehow the music didn't seem as good. The women didn't look as pretty. And the food wasn't like the morning before when "we were having a good time on the way to a good time."

We hashed and rehashed and hashed again all the possibilities. Then drove to the airport to come home and watch the replays and hash and rehash all the possibilities.

The only thing good about all those margin calls and the economic meltdown is that it leaves time for important stuff-like hashing, rehashing and hashing all over again what might have been. If you have a spare one, please fed ex it to me. I need to get a life

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren '70

From Detox to Botox

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Whoever said, “Never go to bed angry,” never pulled for the Bears. It is irrational but inevitable.

As I collect my thoughts here at “Duffy’s” (a famous detox center in Calistoga), I’m trying to master the 13 Step Program. Bill Wilson’s original 12 step program had to be expanded to 13 —just for Bear fans.

You know step #1. “We admit we are powerless over Cal—that our lives have become unmanageable.

The second step, we are all familiar with. “We believed that a Power greater than ourselves (beer at tailgates) could restore us to sanity.”

I could recite the next 11 steps, but any Cal Fan knows them by heart. As for #8, “Making a list of all persons we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all….” I publically apologize to my wife (and driving her upstairs to do her crossword puzzle in peace), for shouting more than once “Just catch the damn ball!”

Take it from an old slow white guy—of all the ingredients that go into making a play a success, blocking, timing, throwing, deception—the easiest of them all is catching the rock. That receivers or db’s stretch one hand up and tip a ball (thinking they can bring it down and catch it—is one of the plagues of the modern game.

Those of us who grew up on Raymond Berry, Lance Allworth, Fred Belitnikoff, even the sainted Jerry Rice, cringe every time we watch an otherwise outstanding athlete, reach one paw out thinking they will make a circus catch. Bucky Pope, the Cawtaba Claw, could do it and perhaps a few others in today’s modern game (Moss and Owens unfortunately come to mind), but for most it can’t be done.

The consequences, as we saw Saturday night in the desert, are catastrophic. Tipping the ball into the air resulted in what (by all laws of physics) it is intended to do—keeping the ball afloat, longer, before it hits the ground. Alas, that means others have a chance to catch it as well.

And when a loan receiver is in a defensive secondary—guess what? There are more of them than of you. It’s why it turned into another interception. (Alas, in one of life’s great ironies, we missed our one opportunity to return the favor in the first half, and it could have put the game away).

When we were kids the law was simple: If you can’t catch it with two hands—don’t touch it. The tipped pass, interception was a killer. Our dropped tip pass interception opportunity, a back breaker.

Saturday night I counted a legitimate 11 dropped passes. Oh sure, some would have been great catches, but not one of the 11 could not have been caught.

So before one goes after Riley or Longshore, he ought to take that into consideration. Yes, the passes could have been a bit better, but at this level catches have to be made.

Remember Swan and Bradshaw in the Miami Super Bowl against Dallas? It turned into a route, but two super catches in the End zone by Swan made all the difference. No one noticed what a different game it might have been had he not leapt, twisted, and cradled the ball—with two hands, of course.

Give Arizona its due. Their secondary is made up of grown ups. They could hit and they could defend.

It makes one wonder why we refuse to run the ball a second time if we don’t make a minimum of five yards on first. Look at the numbers. We rarely have third and short. If we run on first down, and don’t make five yards we always (yes always--with one exception Sat night) pass on second down. If it’s complete we get the first. If not, it’s third and long. If we gain 7or 8 on first, yes we will run on 2nd.

This has been a trend over the years, and clearly opposing defensive coaches are on to it.

One could count on one hand the times we have run three times in a row in any one game, ever—unless we were attempting to use up time.

So much for the arm chair quarterbacking.

Best did not play in the 4th so one assumes he reinjured that arm. That must be awfully painful. Speaking of injuries, because of injuries to defensive linemen Rulon Davis and Kendrick Payne and a limited Tyson Alualu, the Bears were forced to burn the redshirt year of freshman Trevor Guyton on Saturday. He looks like he’s going to be a player, but there is no doubt that depth is affecting us—as it is all teams—look at UCLA this season.

Tomorrow is UCLA. We’re favored by 17. They beat Stanford, who beat Arizona. Go figure.

By any measurement, we are almost sure to have a successful season—one we would have died for back in the 90’s before Tedford got here. The Rose Bowl is still conceivable—BCS unlikely.

Anyway, if we can’t iron out the wrinkles, there’s always Botox—-we’ve already got Detox.

Like the addicts that we are, we just have to try to handle this one Saturday at a time. Fear of the D.T.’s keeps us addicted and we set ourselves up for punishment week after week. We can’t give it up. We should probably all avoid Fridays, for their nearness to Saturday’s intoxicates us with the temptation to head on down to Strawberry Canyon on Saturdays where hope beats eternal—-but disappointment hides behind every tree.

Hey! Come to think of it, there are no trees. Maybe tomorrow will be different! Here’s hoping.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:37:00 +0000

Just received my first phone call of the week that wasn’t a margin call. And this is Thursday.

Looks like the same task force which was assigned to bail out the Bears after the tragic loss to Oregon St. last year is in charge of bailing out the Government this year.

Stocks are a bit like the Bears. If we get to 7 should we sell?

After Saturday’s defeat of a game ASU team, one has to like the Bears chances for this year. We have a lot of speed and a lot of talent—especially on defense. (I seem to remember Tedford saying we had less talent but more chemistry—but it appears some talent is there).

Are we an elite top ten team? Only time will tell. But we are good—at least we have been better, by a lot, than anyone we’ve played ( I know we lost to Maryland, but if you were choosing up sides, you’d chose us). In time, I think the shutting down of that Michigan offense will look really huge—of course I thought Maryland must be a good team because they beat us, then they went and lost another (after rising to 27 in the rankings) to some Podunk team, so who knows.

Saturday was a day any Cal fan could relate to. I woke up early, full of eager anticipation. The light was like the Bears—golden. It was sunny in St. Helena—cloudy at game time down in Berkeley.

There’s nothing like football in the fall, especially when the sun is out and the game is at 12:30.

That is our natural rhythm. For an entire century, Cal fans could wake up on a Saturday morning in the fall and know that at 12:30 or one o’clock, they could be in Strawberry Canyon and view college football in perhaps the most picturesque venue in the country.

There was a time when Saturday morning’s meant gin fizz parties and then walks to the Stadium, up through the Blind School, past the fraternities and sororities—dodging footballs tossed in the streets and enduring the hoots and hollers of drunken fraternity boys as they pea cocked around in front of the co-eds.

The hustle and bustle of game day generated an excitement all its own. You could count on it. Fall Saturdays were like Levis, comfortable—always there—always dependable.

Alas, we got our wish. Gladstone messed with our heads and hired Tedford. Sandy insured we'd keep him--and that changed everything. Suddenly, we got good.

Except we soon learned, that in order to compete with the Big Boys we had to act like the Big Boys (that’s code for spend money the way the SC’s, Nebraska’s, Tennessee’s and Miami’s do). And there’s only one place to get that kind of money: The dreaded one-eyed Moloch, TV.

Once one sells her soul to the device which started when that English bloke, Edwin Belin first patented the transmission of photographs via wires, one is on Madison Ave. time, not his own or his school’s. Men in grey flannel suits call the shots—and Universities across the land dance to their tune. The dollars are too big to do otherwise.

Ergo: we all receive tickets in the mail with the ubiquitous TBA stamped where 12:30pm once went. Kick off times are as erratic as a politicians promises. They can change four or five times before they are put into play. Sometimes, even game day changes—and we take it. We have no choice.

That’s how we end up having one season with Big Game after Thanksgiving, and another with three games on, a bye, two games on, another bye—six games on—a break for thanksgiving—and finally the end of the season against Stan……no Washington. Go Figure!

Madison Ave. owns us. But as Dr. Laura says, “You chose him honey. Now ya gotta stay with him for the sake of the kiddoes.”

Bye’s have their advantages—maybe Best (due we dare refer to this week as “Best’s Bye”--will be able to play on two weeks rest (having once dislocated my knee on a golf course—don’t ask—I would tend to doubt it, but we can be hopeful).

Anyway, the kick off time for ASU was “Old School.” I called Stoney to see what time the tailgate would begin. “Hey, 9:30 at the latest. This is an important Game!”

He was right of course. We wouldn’t be upholding our end if we waited until 10am to drink beer. Everyone’s got to sacrifice for the sake of the team.

The drive down to Cal was “Old School” as well. Fall in the Napa Valley is post card perfect.

Stopped by “The Boys” tailgate in Bowles hall parking lot (everyone is dislocated thanks to Ayr, Burlap, Dumpster Muffin and the grandstanding Mayor of Berkely (an ex-bear, to boot).

One of the brotherhood (I could tell you his name but then I’d have to kill you) said the decision had been made—Longshore. We tossed it back and forth (for some unknown reason coach Tedford never calls us to ask our advice), and the consensus was that Riley can make plays—is a winner, a gamer and perhaps has the brighter future, but his past performances had been inconsistent, so Longshore deserves a shot. He does throw a pretty ball. However, it’s like making a pass at a costumed gal at a Halloween party in San Francisco. You many connect—-just not necessarily with whom you intended.

When I walked on the field with the Sons of California (low turnout due to the weather I guess), to let the team run out between us, I mentioned that I’d heard Nate was going to start. They all told me that the announcer had already announced Riley—and that as usual I didn’t know diddley-squat.

When #6 took the field after the kick off, I held my tongue. (Little did they know that the “Brotherhood” still operates even after the purge of the 60’s. In every massacre there’s always at least one survivor).

This was a game which demonstrated that Tedford is building a program, not just an occasional good football team.

Longshore played well. The second half was hum drum, but the defense bailed us out. Actually, Bryan Anger bailed us out with an unbelievable 71 yard punt down to the four yard line with four minutes to go. The dreaded TD followed by an on-side kick, seemed a bit more distant. When he punts, the ball appears to go above the rim of the stadium.

Vareen filled in admirablely for Best getting almost 100 yards. Looks like injuries on the O line are preventing us from breaking out the way we will towards the end of the year, should Tepper and others return.

The D was superlative. (We can’t forget that the Wildcats were picked 15th in the pre-season. As an aside, the coaches’ poll had Michigan St. at 24 when we beat them).

The DB’s are playing some ball. #26 Hagan looks like a future star. #17 Conte comes in and shuts ‘em down (even got a pick on a beautiful break to the ball) #11 Catthouse (like the old Indian joke, “Why do you ask, two dogs barking,” was he named…..oh never mind)---played a tough safety and got a pick, The ubiquitous #5 Syd’quan Thompson will play on Sundays.

The LB’s are living up to their pre season billing. Follet is always around the ball. The only thing we lack are some Ronnie Lott type sticks. They could come.
Cameron Jordan had two sacks, forced a fumble and three tackles for losses. He was Pac 10 Defensive player of the week. Anger was special teams player (7 punts—47.4 yd/punt).

Said it before—will say it again—-my guess is that we have more good football players than ever before. (Last year a scout for the Eagles took notes on 17 players. I don’t know how many are still here, and maybe we have fewer pro prospects, but we have what appears to be more good college players than ever before. Again, time will tell.

But for a team with untested receivers, an unresolved qb situation, and injuries to our best back (Best) top tackle (Tepper) and top defensive end (Roulon Davis) we ain’t too bad. Some folks are stepping up, and that kind of depth has not been seen in our lifetime—maybe.

On the other hand, as the Sty said, "Arizona has "trap" written all over it."k Hopefully, he was talking about his golf game.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70
www.jeffwarren.com/

A CAL FAN'T NOTES/COLORADO STATE

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Why we go to Cal games:

1). At Stoney’s tailgate John Siamas(Si) pulls me aside to inform me that Oregon St Freshman, Jacquizz Rodgers, who led the upset of USC on Thursday night, should get a trophy for most Scrabble points in a first name. “It’s the Double Z that clinched it,” Si whispers. What? Syd’Quan Thomson’s chopped liver?

2.) Each time Roulon Jones makes a stop, Kingwell Tuck leads a cheer up in CC, Ruuuuu Lonnnnn…..you Bears….. Ruuuuuuuu Lonnnnnnnnnn, you Bears.” (In another “Bears only” tragedy, time runs out in the half, players run off the field, officials review the last play and decide to put one second on the clock, Cal defense comes back on the field and stuffs the Rams for a loss, but Davis gets hurt and is out for 2 months). He will be missed—as he was last year.

3.) A lost, distinguished looking gentleman (that’s code for even older than I am) struggles up the hill at Bowles Hall to Buddy and the group’s tailgate and says, “Is that you Jeff? I’m looking for (former tackle) Ernie Voight.” Turns out to be Coach Ray Willsey. He’s out for a Pappy’s Boys (soon to be Pappy’s Boy) function.

Ray was amazing. He was our coach in the 60’s when the Cal school yell went from “Rollllllllllllllllllll on you Bears….” To “Ashes to Ashes/Dust to Dust/ We hate to shut it down/But we must we must.”

Imagine what it was like trying to recruit a kid to Cal in the late 60’s. Parents just wouldn’t let their kids come--Too many commie, pinko, wierdos. Today’s posers, Zachery Running Wolf (no doubt on a Ward Churchill scholarship), and Dumpster Muffin, despite her flirtations with Mayor Tom, couldn’t hold a Garf Wilson candle, to the crazies we dealt with daily, back in the day. As Ackie boy said years ago, “There’d be no football at the University of California if it weren’t for Ray Wilsey.”

We reminisced how there was a time when second string qb’s (My memory’s hazy, but I recall #2 QB’s-- Gabe Arriaga, Gus Gianulias, Larry Balliet, Jim, Hunt, and Jerry Walters,all getting a chance to start on defense while also being the second best QB on the team.

In irony of ironies, Ray (who was the first coach to truly integrate the Cal football team in 1967) kept with the tradition and started Bernie Keels (a qb from South Carolina) as a defensive safety. With 1:32 left in the SC game, he fumbled a punt, and SC kicked the winning field goal.
Hey. It happens.

But what was worse was a kid took the mic from the cheer leaders after the game and ranted and raved that it was racism which prevented Bernie from being the starting qb, and we’d have won were he #1. A nice young kid, Bernie was actually #3 or #4 in ability that year, and was given every opportunity to start. How Ray was able to take the abuse back then, is beyond me. He had his critics, but he did so much and got such little credit.

Of course an actual football game broke out in the middle of all these reminisces over beers in the various parking lots (does anyone in the country have worse tailgating facilities than we do these days?) and, as Art Arlett used to opine over the loud speaker, “It was a great day for California.”

Special teams dominated (which is so often the case when you just have more athletes than the other squad). Tedford has really increased the numbers of excellent athletes now wearing the blue and gold.

Speaking of which our unis were blue on blue this week after wearing Gold tops and Blue pants in the opener, against MSU. It was white on White on the Road against WSU, and White on Yellow back east against Maryland. Who’s our fashion consultant? Gold swooshes are all the rage. Always a hint of color. With changes each week can the bumble bee stripes be far behind?

Speaking of which, nice to see Curley named to the Bay Area Hall of Fame. (If you thought the train trip to Maryland was an ugly story, don’t ask about the 43 hr bus ride I took from NY to Dallas for Morton’s wedding back in the ‘70’s). Now that was an adventure. I think I still have the can of “Billy Beer.”

Syd’quan Thomson (another competitor for the all Scrabble squad), is dominating. His punt return for a TD showed how well he sees the field. With three pics so far, he’ll be playing on Sunday’s next year.

Riley’s a gamer and can scramble, but something’s just a hair off. Longshore came in and showed well, though with a 28-0 lead there was no pressure.

We’ve got ASU at home on Saturday and are 121/2 point favorites. How scary is that?
Maryland and Michegan St. are knocking on the door of the top 25. Cal is a good team. How good, is tough to tell.

Jahvid’s dislocated elbow is not likely to heal as fast as they’d like. He’s quite a kid.

In a touching gesture the Bears wore BB on the backs of their helmets for Bob Briggs (Cal Band's legendary director). There was a moment of silence as we all said good bye to one of the greats.

On the issue of travel and cement legs (not criticizing—just think some grad student ought to really look into it), Bob sent me this:

Jeffrey,

I just did some checking and and found out from an L.A. Times article, dated August 28, 2008, that the Trojan's charter arrived Thursday evening in Charlottesville. There's no doubt in my mind that if what the Bears did was truly the way to go, then SC would have done it too.
I enjoyed your trip description.
Go Bears!!!

Bob

Great people. Great stories. Great wit. Great weather. Great Stadium. Great Day. Topped off by great football.

We’ve got more than we ever deserved.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70
www.jeffwarren.com

Sons of California Reunion Bar-b-que is Saturday before the ASU game at 10am.

Matt's Golf Tourney is Friday at Tilden. RSVP if you haven't already.

Here's an article on the game from a real writer

http://www.contracostatimes.com/colleges/ci_10585956

TRAIN LAND TO TERP LAND

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:39:00 +0000

It's such a "Boola Boola" thing. Taking the train to an away game. I could see myself--raccoon coat, Cal pennant on a stick, Freshman beanie on my pate, and a hip flask filled with scotch.

Wanting to appear mature, I decided I didn't need the coat, pennant or Beanie. Three out of four ain't bad.

As an eighth grader I'd been bitten by Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie. Like Simon and Garfunkel I wanted to look for America, and Am Trak--from beautiful downtown Emeryville (would I have time for a couple of hands at the Key Club?) to Union Station in D.C. was just the ticket. Besides isn't "Let's take the train," man code for "Bloodies for breakfast--no questions asked?"

Little did I realize that most train riders were more trans-fat than trans-continental.

The Goobs would fly to New York join our two daughters for a girlie, girlie girl week, while Dadeo counted corn stalks in Iowa.

It would be 69 hours of bliss, starting at 8:55 am Tuesday and ending at 1pm on Friday--almost in time to catch Lefty Stern and Sandy Barbour's V.I.P tour of Annapolis. Each leg of the trip, I could put down my book and fantasize about the glorious Bear victory, and how many places we would move up in the rankings.

Would Best be on the Heisman Watch after Saturday? Would Riley have a breakout game? Would Alex Mack add a few pancakes to his collection? None of that foolish family or business stuff could take my mind off the Bears for four straight days. Ah….Heaven!

"Not so fast Kowalski!"

As the Goobs said to eldest daughter Casey upon arriving in the Big Apple, "Guess what happened to Dad?"

The Casers would reply without batting an eye, "He forgot his phone."

"How did you know that?"

"Because it is the single most important thing he needed to take with him."

Damn kids.

As we pulled out of Emeryville, I patted my pocket for my phone. Oh, I found the Altoids in the metal box-about the same shape-but no phone. After ripping everything apart, I sank to my knees and cried dried tears which wouldn't come. With dumb luck, the phone was in my car. With my luck, it was on the bench in the station.

I had to keep in touch with the office, confirm hotels and car rentals--to say nothing of tracking down Linda, Mary, Buz, Ras and the bunch at errant tailgates in an unknown land.

Little did I know that the same Gods who were watching over me would have "Bear Duty" come Saturday--but I'm ahead of myself.

I was on a big time Bucket List Adventure. Nothing could wreck this trip, even though I deserved to be shot. The Zephyr to Chicago and Capitol Limited to D.C. was an opportunity I couldn't afford to pass up.

Well, not exactly. With a return flight at $139, and a deluxe sleeper (one with a shower and private toilet) at just over two grand, one could definitely afford to pass it up.

Judging by the size of our sleeper, that came to about $500 per square foot, but who's counting? My grammar school pal, Johnny Drews joined me, so splitting the cost made it fairly reasonable. Plus they threw in what they called "meals."

I report. You decide.

Of course they didn't tell us that the shower and the toilet were in the same water-proof stall. This may be the age of multi-tasking, but I'm not sure this is what we had in mind.

Oh well. At least we could start out as two happy guys and arrive in D.C. as one happy couple.

I won't bore you with the details (if you have no life, go to www.jeffwarren.com/ and go to Weekly St. Helena Star Column "ALLL ABOARD!!! for the gory details of the first half of the trip)

Despite all the glories of this fabulous trip, whatever your politics; whatever your opinion of Government sponsored Health Care, ride the government subsidized Amtrak before you cast your vote. But I digress.

Met up with the Cal group around midnight, Friday in the Hotel Bar. We were only 13 hours late. Not sure they waited for me before having a drink.

Don't ask why we were that late. Suffice it to say, Accurate information on Amtrak is an oxymoron. Amtrak is a lot like China. What they tell you, and what is true don't necessarily jive. The words "customer" and "service" are never to be found in the same sentence. As Churchill said, "Civil Servants are neither."

(My favorite was when the elderly lady in front of me asked where she should sit in the dining car. The porter pointed to a place and yelled, right here. She said "Are you pointing?" He interrupted and yelled back, "Yes, I am. Are you deaf?" She replied, politely, "No I'm blind." She had the red tipped cane, but apparently was making it difficult on the union workers).

Come Saturday morning the adrenalin was flowing. We met the Stretch family for a tailgate before the game.

The Stadium was withing walking distance. The weather oppressively hot.

The Stadium was packed. Unlike at SC, our seats were actually in the Stadium-down around the 10.

We (the team) were flat. For three quarters they pushed us around on offense and defense. Receivers had difficulty getting separation. Riley was not on (though I have to be nice as he told my daughter, a senior at Cal, her father was "Kick ass" or was it "Bad ass") for taking the train. I didn't like the language, but liked the compliment.

Holes were not opened up. Their QB threw well, and we couldn't get pressure.

Seeing Sandy in the Hotel afterwards, I asked what the NCAA rule was regarding when a team can leave town before a home game. She said 48 hours and said they did everything right and the kids had been working on an Eastern "Schedule" all weak--that they had an 8pm curfew the night before.

I'm no expert. Let's face it. SC came in and slaughtered Virginia a couple of weeks ago. Clearly teams have flown east and won.

But some grad student ought to look it up and do some analysis.

It appeared our kids had no legs. Someone should ask the kids--or ask the pros--or ask anyone who has made these trips (Tennessee vs. UCLA comes to mind this year), to see how travel affects play.

I have no idea what the reality is. I didnt' travel. I do remember Hawley talking about "cement legs" on the road. Was that due to travel-jet lag?

Also, and I know this is above my pay scale, the traveling squad lifted weights Friday morning.

My kid,JJ, a walk on at Notre Dame under Willingham, said walk ons and redshirts lifted on Friday--actually it was their toughest day, but the travel squad did not. Doesn't mean they're right. Just means there are different approaches.

Is it fair to look into whether lifing on Friday is a good idea or not?

We all know about adrenalin. We know about the hypothalamus and the fight or flight response. We know about serotonin, dopamine, and epinephron.

From Wikipedia: Epinephrine is a "fight or flight" hormone, and plays a central role in the short-term stress reaction. It is released from the adrenal glands when danger threatens or in an emergency. Such triggers may be threatening, exciting, or environmental stressor conditions such as high noise levels, or bright light.

Point is, as a kid I can recall barely clearing the uprights when kicking extra points in practice. On Friday nights, the ball not only went over the uprights, it went across the street and into the house on the other side of the street.

Epinephrine is what allows old ladies to lift cars off kids--you've all read about it.

Alas, it doesn't last. It's about quick bursts. The question (and I assume they've studied this and I've got my head up my…..) is does lifting on Friday use up that stored nervous energy, a bi-product of epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, etc which begins to form some 48 hours before actual game time?

It's important that kids stay in class, but for one game a year, on the east coast, should we go back 48 hours early, instead of arriving at 4pm for a 12 o'clock game the next day?

My question was not well received.

Perhaps it has nothing to do with it. I'm surely no expert. But why not research it closely and make a decision based on those facts? If we want to be big time, shouldn't we be experts in this area?

Maybe they had just been reading the press clippings from the week before. But they are much more athletic than Maryland.

They fought back hard--Riley eventually had over 400 yards, and the receivers made some great catches. However, it was against a pre-vent defense, so that has to be taken into consideration.

My guess, is that this is a good team. One that can beat SC-certainly one that can play with them.

`Lastly, I'm a Riley guy. I think he's a gamer, I know he's a winner, and he should be the starter. But Saturday was not his day (despite his 4th quarter stats). No prob. Were I running the world, I'd have put in the next guy and give him a shot. (On the other hand, I can't even remember a cell phone, so consider the source).

I come from a time when Football was considered a daily competition--with no job secure, no matter what. Building confidence is important. But there are lots of ways to do that.

We are supposed to be preparing these kids for life after college. In the job world, it's simple: Don't make your sales quotas, and your territory goes to someone else. Don't get enough new business, they hire someone who will.

Tedford is the man. He knows what he's doing. He brought us to where we are. We shouldn't second guess. He has earned a lot of latitude. We should let him know we're backing him whomever he plays--or if he plays both.

He should know that he has our support no matter who he plays or what he decides. Dumpster Muffin may differ with this opinion. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates (a former Bear) doesn't care what the bears do as long as they go left.

This is a good team. We are going to have a fun season. No doubt we will win some games we should lose and verse visa (which is vice versa, vice versa).

Anyway, it's great to be a Bear and be back in my own bed. And my bad luck, my phone was in the car--so I have to continue working--making and returning calls.

Go bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren '70

A Nation of Laws, not Men

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:52:00 +0000

Turn on any sports show this week and all the chatter will be about young the Univeristy of Washington Quarterback tossing the ball in jubilation after scoring a last second touchdown. With two seconds to go, Jake Locker crossed the goal line and brought the score to 27, 28. A simple extra point ties it and sends this game into overtime.

Let the record reflect: Young Locker was not taunting the opposition. He was not showing off. He did not throw or kick the ball into the stands. He simply threw it down over his back shoulder in a show of unadulterated joy.

By all accounts this boy is the poster child for "Student Athlete." His reputation is that he's modest, kind, studious and a leader of men. Not your typical flashy show off which stains so much of sports, today.

Apparently, the refs didn't read his resume. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After the penalty, the ensuing extra point attempt was blocked. BYU won.

The loss is being pinned on the officials for their interpretation of a rule, instituted this year, to curb unsportsmanlike displays of exuberance.

In all the media, the mantra is the same: The officials over reacted-the NCAA instituted another stupid, unenforceable rule. "Let the kids have fun", is the chant over the airways.

These words from ESPN writer Jim Caple are typical of the Media's attitude:

"Doesn't a 15-yard penalty seem a trifle excessive? You're telling me that celebration demands the most onerous penalty you can give a team? That reacting to a successful play with pure joy is as bad as maliciously hitting a player out of bounds or clipping him below the knees or doing anything that might result in a severe injury? Please.

It was one of the absolute worst calls I've ever seen in football.

Mr. Caple, of course, misses the point. This young man is a college student. By all accounts an exemplary kid--one we would all like to have representing our families, town, or state.

His transgression was minor compared to other transgressions by players both on and off the field. (Rapes, muggings, theft, and shootings are almost common place among college football players, these days).

Yet, its consequences were huge. It could (eventually) cost Coach Willingham his job, and the University millions of dollars in TV revenues if they get ranked lower than they might have, had they won (unranked UCLA beat 18th ranked Tennessee and found themselves in the top 25). BYU was ranked 15th. Where would a win have put the Huskies?

So, the refs and the NCAA rules committee become the fall boys for this "over-reaction" to a minor transgression.

Of course, there's a group of Athletes who played in St. Helena from 1960 to 1965 who might have another opinion. If they do, it's because they played for a Coach, George Davis, who was emphatic that referees were like ordinary people--they want to be noticed. Ergo: We not were to give them a reason to drop a flag on us.

Coach Davis was emphatic. We were in the midst of a record setting win streak. He knew that, being human, what ref wouldn't' want to be able to tell the story about how he reffed the game where St. Helena lost? "That's just human nature," Coach Davis would tell us.

So our orders were clear. No one was to say, "Hey Ref." It was always to be "Mr. Referee, Sir." If you were being held by an opposing player, you were not to complain. You were to say, "Mr. Referee, Sir, could you please watch number 85. He's holding me."

I know. I once told a ref that I didn't' catch a ball he called complete. (He got mad, and told me to let him make the calls). Coach Davis refused a 15 yard penalty in our favor, because the ref had made a mistake. We were not like other teams.

Jake Locker is a college student. Universities are supposed to teach character above anything else. Good or bad, the rule is there.

In his famous address at the Lyceum, in Springfield, Abe Lincoln spoke of, "the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country: the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts;"
He exorted his listeners, "never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others."

Though there were, indeed bad laws, (which should be repealed as soon as possible, until then, he said "let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap--let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges… in short, let it become the political religion of the nation"

All coaches ought to tell that to their kids. "Hey, the rule has changed this year, if you score, leave the ball on the ground--no celebrating of any kind anywhere."

An don't tell me it can't be done. For the first hundred years of football, until the me generation erupted in the 60's, no one ever, ever celebrated a Touchdown. It was considered bush league.

As a parent, my heart goes out to the young man. But as a footballer who learned at the knee of the Master, there's only one reason to play--otherwise, it's just a game of football.

Jeffrey Earl Warren
James Warren & Son
1414 Main St.
St. Helena, Ca.
94574
707-963-2748

COUGARS EXPOSED

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:08:00 +0000

"Cougar". My kids tell me a cougar is an aged chick who goes into a bar to pick up young boys in their 20's. Alas, when we were that age, Cougars didn't exist--or if they did, they failed to come out at night at Cal. My guess is had they prowled the Rat Skellar after a rugby game, they might have had an opportunity to bag some desperate, if inexperienced, prey. And like all Cougars, they never would have liked us for our minds.

WSU ought to think about a name change. For the Bears did to WSU, what the bar fly Cougars want those 20 something's to do to them. And as with Cougars everywhere, it wasn't pretty. Certain games need to be played with the lights out.

This abomination was done in plain day light. Not a good idea.

Someone asked if they are that bad, or we are that good? My guess is that it is more the former than the latter--at this stage--though hopefully, as the season goes on, this question will be obvious to all concerned. To reverse it, like all Cougars, parts of us are terrific. It's still too early to tell whether the whole package is the real deal--or will stand up to the light of day.

Jahvid Best is now being touted as a Heisman Trophy Candidate. When you take a ball on the first play and go 80 yards and then a bit later knock off an 86 yard td, there is some reason to believe that you might be in that elite category. (14 carries, 200 yards). Coaches and we old guys have always held out hopes that the chosen one will find his way to our campus. But let's not anoint anyone too soon--though Jahvid is worthy of our finest thoughts.

When you love a school situated in a community where the Mayor of the Town thinks the chosen one is named Ayr, Dumpster Muffin, or Burlap it's hard to "keep the faith." No one in Knoxville, Miami, or South Bend has to split loyalties like we do.

Now we have some areas that need improvement. Riley is a gamer and is the proper starter. But he was 6 for 14. Some of his misses, especially on the deep routes taught all armchair qb's why Tedford was not in a hurry to run away from Longshore. The right kid is starting, but no one should sell Longshore short. He has an incredibly accurate arm.

To whom he throws it, is worth arguing about.

"They kicked my butt on every aspect of the game. They came out and they hit me and hit me and hit me. Every play of the game, they hit me. I got shut out in the sack department, but like I said, they hit me in the mouth every single play."

Actually, that was a quote from the game two years ago in Pullman. But was it applicable to Saturday? We did look physical. A huge imporvement from last year.

I couldn't get local quotes, as due to the fact that I am taking the train on Tuesday back to D.C. for the Cal Maryland Game, that "working thing" kept me from going to the WSU game this weekend. (Both my wife and I made the same mistake. Neither of us married rich, so someone has to pay for those three tuitions).

So I didn't make the trip and like most of you I saw the game on TV. Not exactly right. Unlike most of you, I saw the game on my neighbor's TV, because here in St. Helena our antenna doesn't get all these funny stations. My neighbor has cable. Better than that, he has a winery. So if one has to suffer, watching a game on someone else's TV, it's not a bad idea to do it at a famous winemaker's house. One doesn't have to watch the game alone. There is always a glass nearby with something "red" (sorry Bears) to keep you company.

The game speaks for itself. There is nothing a couch potato can add. Interestingly, the kicking had a slight drop off, but the boys up front did their work and made lots of big plays. On the other hand, the game was mistake filled-especially in the kicking game.

Still, we almost hit for the cycle. No, we didn't get a safety, but we scored almost every other way possible, via defense, a blocked field goal, a field goal, through the air, on the ground. It's true we didn't score via the fumble-rooskie, or the hidden ball trick, but to mix metaphors, most of the bases were covered.

Four Picks (and Sid Q'uan Thompson dropped one-despite getting two)-by the D means a lot. The D line shut them down again. We got some sacks, It looked like we had a few hits worthy of the highlight reel.

No one criticizes one of the biggest wins in Cal History.

Well, Tomorrow I head down to within a nine iron of the Key Club in Emmeryville to catch a train headed for Chicago and then D.C. It's 69 hours of bliss until I get back there (theoretically) in time for the Cal Maryland Game. (As one friend said, you'll get there on Friday-you just don't know which one).

It's a bucket list thing. I've never taken a train across the U.S. I've always wanted to cross the U.S. on the ground. (That's code for being able to have a bloody Mary on Wednesday's with breakfast, and not hearing a word of complaint).

The books? Johnny Coleman gave me the best, NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD, Steve Ambrose's book about the men who built the railroad. And of course, since it is an Odyssey, why not read about the ultimate one, Odysseus' Odyssey as told by Homer. The only difference between Odysseus and me, if Circe and those others Sirens care to tempt me, unlike Odysseus, (with those Cougars in mind) chances are I will not tie myself to the mast in order to avoid all temptations.

I've always wanted to be hustled by a novogenarian.

Jahvid Best is being talked about in Heisman circles-not neat (though he deserves it). We remember what happened last year when one of our athletes was touted in the Heisman race.

Me thinks with Jahvid it will be different.

The O line is coming into its own. The D line with those 4 backers may be making a name for themselves.

It's way too early. There are lots of questions. But like all foolish Bear fans, despite any rational reason why, I'm boarding that train for the Rose Bowl Express. All Aboard!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren '70
www.jeffwarren.com

A CAL FAN'S NOTES/APRES MICHIGAN STATE

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:29:00 +0000

"Shane! Shane! Come Back."

That was the plaintive cry at the end of one of the great Westerns of all time. We could hear those voices again, on Saturday, as 11 Michigan State Spartans shouted it in vain as Mr. Vereen scooted 81 yards for a touchdown to thwart their comeback.

His run solidified that we'd have two 100 yard backs on the afternoon-but didn't guarantee that we'd get a W. Hey it's the Bears. We were nervous until the final gun.

Opening day is always electric. Though the 5pm start time can never feel right. We want to get up early, have a big breakfast, load up the car, drive down the valley through the vines, and get to the tailgate by 11 for a 1pm kick off. That's Cal football-Pappy Waldorf Style. Alas, it's not the 50's.

The times they are a changin' and we have to change,too-tv revenue, you know.
Stoney's and so many other tailgates were moved to Boalt Hall parking lot. Where did they move the folks who were used to parking there?

Kleeburger parking lot was now the North Entrance to the stadium-there are no Western Gates as the fences around the 4, (that's right) four tree sitters cut out all use of the Western gates.

We went through a season with lots of tree sitters and no inconvenience to us, the fans. They were just there-and odd curiosity.

Then someone in the Chancellor's office decided to eliminate some---but not all of the trespassers: The result a disaster for any civilized peoples.

It was Socrates who first said that the only thing worse than the crime committed by a criminal is the State which won't punish that crime. Lucky for him he drank the hemlock before he lived to see how wimpy the University has become in the face of a crime against property and people.

We can't do anything about Judge Miller's incompetence and her inability to apply the 8th Amendment (Speedy trials) to the University. But we could easily clear out the tree sitters and open up the gates so that 62,000 lives are not put in jeopardy in case there were a disaster like a fire or quake. Forcing everyone to enter and exit only the North and South Gates (that 4 snot nosed kids can sit in trees), is an embarrassment-worse-it is incredibly unsafe in case of a disaster. This has not been the Chancellor's finest moment.

Still, nothing could dampen out enthusiasm as we kibitzed over beer and chips as to the status of our team and the outlook for this year.

Once inside (security was backed up like trying to get into the Olympics in Beijing), the beauty of the lights in the fading sunlight, the cool weather, and the emerald green of the artificial turf made it all worthwhile.

Riley started. Where was Best? Shane Vereen was the deep back. Tedford, (ever the riverboat gambler) had Riley throw a backwards lateral pass to Vereen. What was this? Oh my God! A double pass, not unlike the one Tedford called in his very first game against Baylor. The Audacity was back.

Vereen was a little slow getting his throw off (nice arm though) and the deep back caught up to the receiver, who almost made the grab. It didn't work, but showed that at least someone at the University has some guts.

We didn't move on that first drive and Anger came in to punt. Now we sit in the very top row of section D-by choice. I swear the punt was higher than we were. The crowd let out an audible ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. When the ball came down 56 yards later all we could think was that the redshirt punter will be playing on Sundays next year. What a leg.

Speaking of punting, our first score came on a perfectly blocked punt by Nnabuife. Pure poetry.

We seemed in control and led 17 zip when with 6 minutes to go in the half, Longshore came in. His first pass was a 55 yard beauty. He threw complete again. We were down in scoring territory. He looked masterful.

Then he threw in the dreaded middle, and at the goal line a Sparten picked it off and would have gone 100 yards for a touch had not Best dragged him down around mid-field.

The D held and Longshore came back in. He threw over the middle again and was picked and the kid ran it in for a score. 17 to 7. Suddenly………

Would Tedford stick with Longshore? Riley returned and all our hearts went out to Longshore. Did he make bad judgments, or were the pass plays across the middle poor choices? It won't matter. Fate has chosen to caste a palor over a fine young athlete, who may yet play on Sundays-somewhere.

(From the Cal Web page) After struggling on offense for three quarters, Michigan State converted three third downs and got a roughing-the-punter penalty during a 97-yard drive that ended with Ringer's 10-yard TD run with 10:45 to play, pulling within 24-21.

Cal replied with its own lengthy drive ending in Ta'ufo'ou's (he of the incredible vowel movement) scoring catch with 5:45 left. Michigan State trimmed the lead to seven points, but Vereen then broke his impressive scoring run on an innocuous first-down play.

Then real tragedy almost struck. A freshman cornerback apparently made an interception which would have sealed the win for Cal. Jubilantly he ran down the field holding the ball high above his head before tossing it victoriously away.
However, a replay showed the child "trapped" the ball and never did catch it. That act of hot dogging and obfuscating the truth almost robbed all of his teammates of a well deserved victory. Imagine thinking one had won fair and square, only to go into the film room and see that fooling the officials, not honest play had won the game.

The whole team and coaching staff would have been let down. Hagen is young, and one can perhaps forgive his exuberance-once. But just because certain University officials are showing al lack of character in dealing with the law and the Tree sitters, doesn't mean our students need follow their bad example.

We wouldn't tolerate and English Major faking it on a test and I'm sure Tedford isn't about to tolerate a student athlete pretending to do something he didn't. Remember Andy Smith's words on back of that bench in Memorial Stadium:

We don't want men who will lie down bravely to die
But men who will fight valiantly to live.
Winning is not everything,
And it is far better to Play the game squarely and lose
Than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal

Is That not the Cal Football that we love?!

The weather turned chilly as the sky turned black. The Bears played well and stuffed a major running game. We should break into the top 25 and have much to be proud of. The talent level is unknowable at this point. Receivers didn't seem to get open-though balls were dropped. Riley is clearly a gamer-the 25 yard pass in the 4th when he was being tackled was just a "play"-the way great ones make plays which aren't always so pretty.
Next week, it's the Palouse, which this cowboy will have to watch on TV as he's headed back to Maryland on the train the following Tuesday, and has to make some pretense of earning a living.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren '70

Cal vs. Michigan St.

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Most men dream of lucre and power. But when you’re a Bear fan, one has different fantasies. You know it’s that time of year when your dreams turn from red corvettes to secret liaisons with Dumpster Muffin and Burlap. It’s not the amore which excites one. It’s the sheer thrill of removing the splinters afterwards that counts.

Dendrophilia (look it up) should be legalized between consenting adults.

In my dream, just at that crucial moment, Mayor Tom Bates arrives and whisks sweet Dumpster Muffin away. They exchange pants suits. Alas, the So-Sue-Me tribe’s, Zachery Running Wolf, appears on the scene and proposes marriage—to Mayor Bates. It’s then that I wake up in a sweat and realize that the season is about to begin.

To love Cal is to awake often in the middle of the night replaying horrors of games past. Mac Brown is often featured, as is SC losing to UCLA (despite UCLA losing 7 fumbles) and DENYING the Bears the Rose Bowl in ’75. Speaking of SC, dare we mention someone’s fumbled punt in ’69 with 1:32 seconds left? Sometimes it’s Grieb tackling Dummit on the five and watching the ref (on his back) signaling Touch Down! It can be Brad Williams getting out of bounds to stop the clock so the Indians can kick a game winning field goal, or DeShean stepping on the line at Arizona State (Why bring up the P.I. penalty?)—we can go on, but it is why we don’t have dreams—we have nightmares.

Still, Pollyanna’s that we are, we start each season filled with hope and grinning ear to ear. (I’ll never forget esteemed professor, Ken Jowett, appearing at Stoney’s tailgate on opening day in Blue Blazer and Cal Tie to make a statement that this was the year we were headed to Pasadena. Ken’s a brilliant political scientist—but prognosticator he’s not. That year we barely beat Rutgers in the last game for our one win of the season.

Of course, Tedford was the result, so maybe Ken was on to something.
Alas, the game is at 5pm (we need the TV revenues) so our body clocks will be a little out of whack, but at this age, most things aren’t working the way they once were, so what’s a little bad timing?

I get all my knowledge through rumor, but by every account of anyone who knew anything, Tedford was sticking with Longshore up until about 10 days ago. Either Riley has had a wonderful camp, or Tedford has handled the situation masterfully. Either way, we are on our way and it is in the hands of the gods.

Those who know much more than I have repeated that Tedford has abandoned the 5 star recruits and all the baggage (agents, possee’s, ESPN, parents etc.) for good players who can fit the system, and team concept needed to win at this level. A total stranger told me on Maui last Christmas (in an unsolicited conversation) that Tom Osborne A.D. at Nebraska was doing just that.

Word is Tedford has loaded up on lineman and is letting them duke it out like gladiators to find the furstest with the mostest.

Remembering the O line we had with Rogers and Aarington? If the above is true, that may not be a bad way to go.

One of my spies says that Running back Coach Ron Gould had two offers (one for a perennial BCS contender) and turned them down because he has the best two backs in the country. Time will tell.

Greg points out last time we played Michigan St. was back there. It was Tedford’s first year. They were ranked 15th and we walked in and whomped ‘em 46 to 22.

The Big 10. So much better than Sac State or William & Mary. Real Football, on a real Saturday , a real opponent, with real tailgates, real fans, real expectations, and real appeals still going on about fake issues. Ah Cal—Emily Dickensen said Hope is a thing with Feathers. Woody Allen corrected her saying the thing with feathers was his nephew and he’s in an institution in Zurich—but I digress.

For 48 hours at least—hope is ours--and no one—not even Ayr-- can take it away.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

http://www.ibabuzz.com/beartalk/2008/08/28/a-twist-as-the-season-nears/

http://www.dailycal.org/article/102392/plaintiffs_resubmit_appeal_in_athleti
c_center_laws

We've Got A QB

jwson@aol.com (Jeff Warren) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Bears,
This will be the shortest CAl Fan's notes of the Year. I just recieved this. I'ts 9:45pm on Thursday. Probably all of you know this already. But in case you missed it here's the Haps on Riley and Longshore. As I am unqualified to judge, I have no comment, but I know it will give us much to talk about at the new tailgate site: (If you have been in Afhanistan for the past year, trust me--no more Tail Gates at Kleeburger).

All I know is that the butterflies are coming. We're inside of 10 days. On the 8th, I'm on the train to cross America to watch the Maryland game.
Next Saturday, we will watch the harvest progress as we drive down to see the Bears against Duffy Dougherety's Michigan State Spartans. Is he still coach? Did Magaffy catch Randy Humprhire's pass against Michegan or Michegant St. I thin Michegan. Any.......

I've got the jitters. Are we just stupid--typical Cal fans who have high hopes with nothing to hope for?

Maybe.

On the other hand (and I get all my knowledge through rumor) it may be that we have a LOT of offensive linemen. If that is accurate--good things may happen--no matter what else happens on the field.

We are fortunate to be under the radar.

Be patient. Don't look for BIG PLAYS (though with Best we may be pleasantly surprised). If we've got a line--and the cancers have gone--it may be a fun year. On the other hand, maybe we'll be like the Sainted John Erby the year after we beat San Jose State, and he took the balcony (remember that in the north endzone) and yelled, "I smell Roses". Probably I'm wrong, but that may have been the only game Hall of Famer Marv Levy Won that year.

Go Bears, and stop by for a beer,

Jeffrey Earl Warren '70

____________________________________________________-
This is from Steve:

Just so you can see the announcements for yourself...

Oakland Trib

Big news

By Jonathan Okanes
Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 7:26 pm in Training
camp
8 Comments »

Jeff Tedford has just named Kevin Riley the starting
quarterback. He said Nate Longshore will also play
against Michigan State. Much more to come….

SF Comical

Riley wins starting QB job at Cal

Thursday, August 21, 2008

(08-21) 20:26 PDT Berkeley, Calif. (AP) --

Kevin Riley will start the season opener at
quarterback for California against Michigan State with
former starter Nate Longshore expected to play as a
reserve.

Kevin Riley will start for Cal in the season opener
vs. M...Kevin Riley has won the nod as the starting QB
at Cal.

Coach Jeff Tedford made the announcement about his
quarterbacks after practice on Thursday. The Golden
Bears open the season Aug. 30 at home against the
Spartans.

"We feel like both of them have had great camps, but
Kevin's going to take the first snaps and we'll see
how it goes from there," Tedford said. "Nate will play
in the game. I don't know exactly when, but Kevin will
start."

Riley saw action in four games last year as a redshirt
freshman, throwing for 563 yards and five touchdowns.

In Riley's first career start last season, he tried to
run with the ball in the final seconds instead of
throwing it away, costing the Bears the chance at a
game-tying field goal in a 31-28 loss to Oregon State.
Cal would have been in position to move up to No. 1 in
the poll with a win, but instead lost six of its final
regular season games.

Riley did excel in the Armed Forces Bowl for Cal,
entering with a 21-0 deficit in the second quarter and
leading the Bears to a 42-36 victory over Air Force.
Riley was 16-for-19 for 269 yards and three touchdowns
to earn MVP honors in the game.

"I'm just getting ready for Michigan State," Riley
said. "It's an honor to be named the starter,
especially after what Nate's done at Cal. We're in
good hands having two good quarterbacks here. I just
have to prepare, watch film and get ready for this
game."

Longshore ranks fourth all-time at Cal in passing
efficiency (133.1), sixth in passing touchdowns (62)
and seventh in passing yardage (5,732). He is also
second all-time at Cal with 18 victories as a starting
quarterback.