Archive for Archive for August, 2008
Sustained Groundedness: Tribute to Natalie Coughlin
I don’t get a chance to dap many fellow hapas (and even more exclusively, fellow half-Filipinos), so it’s tight to see Cal’s own Natalie Coughlin casually add another six medals to her mantle. While the cyborg called Michael Phelps reduces his competition to flailing penguins, Coughlin flew right under our noses to eleven medals. She’s […]
Worthless Cal Predictions
Lots of varying predictions about what Cal’s season is going to look like only confirms one thing: Someone on this list is going to look damned stupid. Phil Steele already set the bar by ranking Cal #2 in the conference, certainly above most normal expectations. However he also had Cal #5 last season, which was […]
Pathos of Nate Longshore
It seems football, more than any other sport, provides us with an interminable offseason of endless chatter that rinses and repeats the same old storylines. By the time we get to opening day we’re so exhausted of the cycle we’re just happy for the release of the kickoff. “He played admirably through three and a […]
The OC (Frank Cignetti at Fresno State, Part II)
After about a month’s break since publishing Part I of the series, we’re going to dive back into the basic tenets of what we can expect from our new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti. You’re getting all the nice political answers from Frank at Ted Miller’s blog, but here we’re going to dive into the trenches […]
Pac-10 Quarterback Analysis, Part III: The Situation Room
(Read Part I on Longshore and Part II on Pac-10 QBs here) Seems people demand it, but it looks like it’s time to figure out what Nate Longshore and his Pac-10 bretheren are truly capable of situationally. You’ve probably read about the situational practices Tedford is placing his quarterbacks through and how each of them […]
The Open Door Policy
I’d like to talk a lot about practice or the overall merit of it; not that I think it’ll have too much correlation with how Cal performs this season. But of course the usual rules are in effect–practice is closed except to a few beat reporters like Okanes from the Contra Costa Times and Andrew […]
The Longshore-Riley-Mansion Debate
MODERATOR: Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Wheeler Auditorium for tonight’s momentous Cal quarterback debate. Remember, Coach Tedford is monitoring this very closely as a testament to your strength of character. No personal attacks, let’s keep this civil and on-topic as to why each of you should be starting next season. Mr. Nate Longshore, my first […]
Give Me Bad Numbers: Pac-10 Quarterback Analysis, Part II
The college quarterback rating formula is absurdly reductionist. It overvalues completions rather than completion percentage, it overvalues touchdowns rather than drives, it overvalues interceptions by placing them all at the same value, and it really really really overvalues yardage without analyzing yards after catch. Almost all of the things plugged into the formula represent outcomes […]
What’s Coming Up
As we’re now only weeks away from the season opener, we’ll be going to shorter posts every day. I’m setting up a rough schedule of what the next three months of Bears Necessity will look like, and hopefully I will adhere my best to it, with an occasional surprise here and there. I also will […]
The Big Play
I hate this term. I hate this term more than Baby Boomers lamenting the thuggery of the NBA (and I really love basketball). I hate this term more than that dude from Florida with the billboards. I almost hate it more than that turdbox Skip Bayless. This term has dulled the minds of sports-loving Americans […]
