How Cal Lost in The Rose Bowl, Part III
Click to read Part I and Part II of the Rose Bowl series.
As the game progressed, DeWayne Walker seemed to take into account the adjustments Cal was making to his UCLA defense. Here you can see him revert from the Cover 4 and go back to the Cover 2.
In a Cover 2 set, the corners do not cede space and make it much harder for offenses to find. Again, the key is to attack down the middle, as evidenced on the Stevens TD, or go to the areas the safeties are ceding you space. But you could see that receivers were missing routes or Longshore’s arm strength were decreasing. In either case, that option was not as strong as it was in the beginning.
Notice here that the spacing between corners is much smaller than it was in the original. So while the deep ball is there, the defensive backs now have a chance to spy the quarterback and make a play on the ball. This makes the quarterback’s job to thread the needle all the more important.
Now Nate does have one particular issue that defenses can keep an eye on.
Breaking News: Marshawn Lynch’s Car Involved in Hit-and-Run
This sadly does not involve a football cart, Beast Mode, or a stampeding herd of bison. Nope, this is serious business.
Multiple sources tell 2 On Your Side that the Buffalo Police Department is investigating a hit and run accident involving a car registered to Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch.
Sources close to the situation say it’s still unclear if Lynch was driving the car or whether he was even in the vehicle at the time of Saturday’s 3:30 a.m. accident.
According to them, Lynch’s car hit a female pedestrian at the corner of Delaware and Chippewa Streets.
Several staff members of a nearby bar tell us they saw a woman lying in the street for approximately 15 minutes, but they say the woman eventually got up under her own power and walked to an awaiting ambulance.
As soon as details fill in, I’ll update them, but let’s make sure not to rush to judgment until all the facts are in.
Women’s Field Hockey Profile: Andrea Lo, Part III
Today we conclude our three part piece covering the women’s field hockey team with upcoming senior Andrea Lo. If you’re new, you can catch up by reading Part I and Part II here. In this part we discuss the team dynamic, her favorite experiences and the bright future of this team. We’ll be back to regular programming next Monday after my week long graduation break.
Part III
How close are you to your teammates? Do you guys ever clash or are you all pretty tight with each other?
We all get along very well…even with the younger classes. It was much different my freshman year because we definitely weren’t close to our seniors, but this year especially we’re all very close.
We just have a great group of girls…very supportive and helpful of on another…our team chemistry is great.
Have any fun team/practice experiences on and off the field? You blog a lot about them, but are there any that really stand out to you?
Well during the preseason in August (before school starts) we practice everyday for 2 weeks to prepare for our season. Since it’s always pretty hot, we’ll take out a large plastic sheet and do slip and slide for a practice…we usually do that every year.
We’ll get crazy and do relays and other dumb things, but it’s all fun.
Off the field, I love going on trips. Staying at hotels and getting free meals is great. Plus sometimes we get days off so we can sight see and do touristy things.
Which places did you like the most? And which ones do you never want to go back to?
Freshman year we went to Maryland…so we got to drive around DC…shop…go to Georgetown…drive by the White House and the monuments. That was pretty cool.
Unfortunately for us, most of our conference is in the North Carolina area, so we always go there every year. We go to Davidson the most, and I can pretty much memorize the route to the hotel. It’s really not a fun place to go to because there’s nothing around there.
So there’s no Pac-10 in field hockey? That seems pretty strange to have a conference not organized by location.
Well our conference is called “Nor-Pac”…and it’s only us, Stanford and UOP from the west. Hockey isn’t big over here, so they had to pair us up with weaker Eastern teams.
Haha, the Eastern teams are weaker?
Well those put into our conference, yes. The best teams are from the east–Maryland, Wake Forest, Duke, UNC–they’re not in Nor-Pac. They see the West Coast as weaker, so they put us with weaker teams…and that’s frustrating because the level of competition during our season is lower.
If we had strong teams in our conference, I think we’d be much stronger. But we are definitely a team that is capable of being up there with the top–last season we beat Michigan, a top 5 team.
Damn, you think there’s some East Coast bias at work?
Oh yeah. I mean field hockey is starting to become more popular over here. Girls are discovering the game at earlier ages, but it’s all on the East Coast. They start a lot younger over there, just like ice hockey and lacrosse.
Yeah, I think soccer still holds girl’s hearts out West, but it’s good to see field hockey make its mark.
How is next year’s team looking?
Jinx Removing
In my everyday life I’m a cold, secular rationalist. But I am superstitious about exactly one thing: sports. In my mind, part of what makes being a fan fun is suspending your disbelief and allowing the conceit that what you do, as a spectator, might have a small impact on outcomes. Of course, since football is a game of inches, small impacts are never really small. In that context superstition can be maddeningly consequential. So I think it’s very important that Cal fans figure out how not to jinx their Bears. Here are the rules I can think of. If you disagree or can think of others, please alert all of us in the comments.
Don’t Boo Your Bears
Avinash’s recent post on this subject got me thinking. In my humble opinion, the hallmark of fandom is loyalty. Loyalty doesn’t mean blind devotion. It’s ok to be disappointed or even disgusted by your team. But loyalty requires that you not turn on your team. If you boo your team, you’re turning on them. The football gods will assess your fandom as poor and appropriately reward you with poor performance. You don’t boo your family. You don’t boo your country (even in Berkeley). And you don’t boo your Alma Mater.
Don’t Wear Red
Ok, I know this one sounds obvious. But I’m not just talking about gameday here. Don’t wear red. Ever. Your wardrobe has no room for it. Aside from maybe holiday-themed neckties or undergarments, red clothing is totally unnecessarily. Get rid of it and (trust me) no one will notice.
Don’t Hook Up With Stanfurdites
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you say it would never happen. But at some point in your life you’re going to be tempted — be it out of lust, desperation, intoxication or pity (perhaps self-pity). Some Cardinal girl or guy (like it matters) will stroll up wearing a ridiculous costume made of cardboard tubing, sequins and glitter-glue and will say some boring nonsense meant to be cleverly ironic… and you’ll be tempted. But you’re better than that, and your Bears need you to stay strong even in moments of weakness.
Don’t Start “Roll On You Bears” Until Cal Crosses Midfield
This one kills me every time. Some drunk yahoo starts up Roll On as soon as Cal makes a first down at their own 33. This of course assures a 1.5 yard run, followed by two incompletions and a punt. If you don’t wait until Cal crosses the 50, you will make Cal not cross the 50.
Don’t Root for Stanfurd
Ever. Even if they’re beating U$C. Even if they’re up against Notre Dame or Texas or some other miserable excuse for an institution of higher learning. And don’t root for U$C unless they’re playing Stanfurd or Notre Dame or representing the conference in a bowl game. You can root for UCLA occasionally, but do it with condescension.
Don’t Miss Games
Depending on where you live, you can’t always attend the games. But you can always either watch them or at least listen to them. Living in New York, this rule hasn’t always been easy for me to follow, especially during the Holmoe years when only a couple games would be available on TV here each season. But it is crucial. And don’t make exceptions for weddings. Your friends should know to not schedule their weddings on Fall Saturdays. Case in point: I attended a wedding instead of watching the OSU game last year. Trust me, you don’t want something like that on your conscience.
Women’s Field Hockey Profile: Andrea Lo, Part II
Part I of my interview with Andrea was on last Friday. In this part of the interview we delved into the mental and physical work it takes to be a college field hockey athlete. (Again, my parts are italicized, her parts are in bold).
So describe the intensity of the college field hockey team. What’s your workout regimen like?
It’s definitely waaaaay more intense then high school and anything I’ve ever done. During the season, we practice 4 days a week for 3 hours, and on top of that we have our game on the weekend. Add in weight lifting and running.
Plus we travel a few times during season so missing school and trying to catch up is a part of athlete life. We pretty much don’t have a social life during season because we’re so busy, and we don’t get to go out that often.
Spring (offseason) is always fun, but it has been way better this time. We used to have spring practices at 6am…absolutely brutal. This year we had it later in the afternoon…so it’s a lot better…plus we can go out the night before and have time to recover haha.
Was there anything in your game you really had to improve on? and how difficult was it for you to adjust to this new schedule?
First thing was the fitness. We really stress the fitness part; I had to just bear down and get in shape. As for the hockey part, I felt like I had a pretty good skill set, so I pretty much just practice practice. I mean, I’m still working on the same couple things even to this day. I’m going to be a senior this season and I’m still improving my game.
I understand you’ve made a switch from your traditional position?
I’ve always played forward, but since I came here I’ve been put at midfield. I actually like midfield better. I’m more of a passer/distributor then taking it myself .
I’m guessing forward is more of an attack mentality, to find the best shot–did you have any difficulty transitioning into a less aggressive role, or did you grow into it pretty easily?
Should College Athletes be Booed?
So I’m staring at pictures of 3-4 defenses, trying to dissect what exactly to expect from next year’s defensive them, when Hydrotech comes along and troutslaps me with these nuggets from the San Francisco meeting.
*Tedford emphasized that no player on the team should ever get booed. The players are giving their best and have enough to deal with between school, practices, and the games, than to deal with negative, malicious, and non-supportive fan behavior.
I wrote about this idea in their comments, but I’m going to expand upon it here…
To think that Cal alum who have to travel from across the country to visit some of these games, who shell out ticket packages are at $100-$1200 now this year for big seats, will support their teams throughout the rough times unquestionably and dutifully regardless of the team’s continuous struggles (and unlike in previous years, the struggles were not aberrations), is a little far-fetched. Booing is usually reserved for opposing teams, but in college we often reserve our frustrations for our own athletes. Not because we don’t like our team, but it’s really hard to identify who we’re facing and who we’re playing on any given day. Can the casual fans name any of the players from the teams we faced outside of their QBs? Exactly.
I like the idea behind it, to keep sports positive to help the athletes work, but fans at Cal are pretty fairweather. There are a plethora of sporting options handed to them–Giants, Sharks, 49ers, As, Warriors are available to the locals, and others from across the country can turn to their sports. If one team fails, they move to the next one or they bemoan the time they’re wasting watching Cal. It’s not like USC/UCLA or the Deep South–Cal is in a region where pro sports trump college sports. The relative positivism of college sports fans is dissipated by the skeptic realism of pro sports fans. Whenever we suffer they take out our frustrations on the players. Sometimes it’s deserved (the last two games of the season were paaaain), but oftentimes you can’t really tell who to blame. So we boo hoping it’ll motivate the team, when often it has the opposite effect.
Now, I do think there are ways to solve this, although none of the solutions I offer are going to make Tedford very happy. The first thing I’d do is start opening up practices. As it is now, Cal fans only get their taste of the team through the 12-13 games we play every season, and the squiggles of info we grab from the Bear Insider or the Golden Blogs. Our team is a blank slate to our fans, so we learn what we know from ESPN Monday Morning Quarterbacks.
So open it up. Give access to everyone. Let’s see how hard these guys work, give them an audience that they can grow accustomed to and develop from. How much easier would it be for Cal players to handle pressure situtations if they had a crowd behind them in practice? Performing for a thousand diehards might not be the same as performing for seventy thousand, but it’s a step in the right direction for positive player development. The team needs to know the fans have their backs, rather than being an implacable mass that shows up on gameday to cheer them on.
USC holds open practices. Florida holds open practices. They haven’t done so badly have they?
Speaking of positivity…
Tedford acknowledged that the media, fan chat boards, and bloggers must remain positive because it does and has had an effect on recruiting.
Now I agree about this…for the most part. I think sometimes we get carried away by terrible spins, because then our passion feels like a labor, a job, a painful job. I even got sick from it last year. It’s even worse than being the casual fan who boos, because you have to try to write about it with a level head. And it’s hard.
However, to say that media, message boards and bloggers have had an effect on recruiting probably has some faulty reasoning behind it. Are recruits really saying no because Blogger Madmen like me wrote up on unconfirmed (and I emphasize “UNCONFIRMED”) rumors of players quitting on Tedford back in November? Or are recruits saying no because Cal let Washington run up 340 yards on them, never put up more than 23 points in the last six games of the season with some of the best offensive talent in the league, and stumbled from #1 in the country to the Armed Forces Bowl?
A 1-6 collapse speaks for itself.
I don’t have much of an opinion about the question above (I only get disgusted when players do something stupid), so I turn the discussion over to my readers: Should college athletes be booed? Why or why not?
(Image from Play in CA)
The Bears Are Roaring: Week of 5/21
Big movement brewing to Gold Out Memorial Stadium (with the students in blue to have a Gold C form the stadium). I was thinking about travelling next fall, but if the fans keep on coming up with great suggestions like this, I might just buy season tickets. I’ll have to ponder it.
DeSean Jackson sits down to set the record straight about his attitude: “The top-notch guys, the guys who really go out there and make big plays, and expect the ball to always be in their hands when the game’s on the line, I definitely feel like you have to have, not a chip on your shoulder, but you have to have that within yourself…You’ve gotta want the ball. You gotta know when it’s a crucial time, you gotta step up for your teammates and for yourself and make big things happen. If you’re a coach, you don’t want your go-to receiver to not want the ball . . . the best of the best receivers want to be in that position.”
Aaron Rodgers’s dad speaks: While he said he respects Favre, Ed Rodgers said the fact that Favre has kept the door of returning open, “doesn’t help the matter…He retired and the Packers are turning to Aaron and think that’s where the focus should be,” Ed Rodgers said. “I have looked at Packers chat rooms and I think about 70 percent of the comments are that the fans love Brett. But he has decided to leave and it’s now Aaron’s turn. I think there is support for him in Green Bay.”
More straight from DeSean here. Bears with Fangs has some NCAA/NFL video game Tha1 exclusive coverage here and here.
Mike Montgomery on the coaches’s tour from the Marin Independent Journal: At Stanford, Montgomery had a smaller pool of high school players to recruit from because of that school’s higher and stricter academic standards. At Cal, Montgomery will take over a program with lower expectations. At the age of 61, he aims to build the Cal program the same way he built Stanford’s when he started there at the age of 41. If Tedford can turn Cal’s football fortunes around, why can’t Montgomery, who is wiser and has a better working knowledge of the Pac-10, do the same in basketball? They could be the most dynamic duo in Berkeley since “war” and “protests” in the ’70s. “What’s going to help is success,” Montgomery said. “Jeff winning in football has to be huge because football generally is the bell cow. It’s the one (program) that drives the engine. It’s more visible. It’s easier. It’s once a week. It’s Saturday and the sun’s out. It’s a campus thing. Hopefully, we can chip in. I’m sure there are people who would really love to compete at the highlight level in basketball at Cal (nationally). It’s obviously not easy and that’s what our challenge is.”
Tedford and his alma mater are not getting along, from the Merced Sun Star: The short version is that Hill, a stubborn guy by his own admission, has fallen out with Cal coach Jeff Tedford — former Fresno State player and Hill assistant. SCHEIDT LAUGHED hearing that story and suggested that some parts probably were true. From there, you see Scheidt become close to Tedford, taking his team to Cal’s camp every summer and even adopting a chunk of the Cal offense. So the story around town is that Scheidt has become persona non grata with Hill — because of his close association with Tedford. See, that tale comes with the added suspicion that perhaps Scheidt is pushing his most talented players towards Cal.
And if you follow those bread crumbs, Hill theoretically would be showing his displeasure by ignoring possible Merced recruits. That’s what you hear on the street and at the games. “I know there maybe have been some issues between coach Tedford and coach Hill,” Scheidt said, “but I certainly hope I’m not part of it.
You can listen to some of Tedford’s part here.
Cal women’s tennis surprised with upsets everywhere, but we ended up losing to our obnoxious kids down in Westwood.
And if you want a chance to watch Cal Rugby in action, you can watch the replay of their championship beatdown on ESPNU tonight as their usual dominant self.
Announcements for this Week
This is more of an announcement day, because I have finals going on and graduation coming up and all that crap. It must be taken care of, so, you know, busy times.
The Bears Necessity Forums have been relaunched. It should hopefully be a breeding ground for deeper discussion for my readers. The time I’m going to be spending on this site will be a bit more restrictive the next few months until football season starts, so hopefully it’ll help to keep us connected with one another. Right now it’s me talking to myself, so it’s kinda lame. Add into the discussion and start your own threads, although try and keep the Longshore/Riley debates in that one thread I set up. Hope to see some of you guys there! And it’s also the best place to contribute to this site.
Also I want to set up a mailbag column, but that can only happen through stronger reader interaction. Contact me at bearsnecessity2008 at gmail dot com or leave some questions/topics you want me to address in the comments, and I’ll try my best to answer your questions. If no questions come by, I’m going to start setting up fake mailbags, a la The Sports Guy, and that’s no fun at all.
For now, here’s your musical interlude: Gob Bluth’s favorite cello players.
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Juicing The Juice (or Putting the $ in U$C)
Hopefully you’ve been following the O.J. Mayo mess down at U$C, which has the potential to have a profound impact on the future of both Pac-10 basketball and football. The facts are still developing and it’s way too early to draw conclusions regarding the allegations. It’s also too early to try to figure out the potential long-term implications for U$C athletics. The long and short of the story is that a certain Mayo frenemy, Louis Johnson, has accused Mayo of accepting some $30K in improper gifts during his time as a U$C and high school student. Mayo’s defense apparently amounts to an insistence that he wouldn’t “sell out” for such a small sum. The NCAA has reportedly opened an investigation with Johnson’s cooperation. In the meantime, a judge recently ordered Reggie Bush to sit for a deposition next month regarding allegations that he too received illegal benefits while at U$C. For the uninitiated, that’s a big deal because it means Bush has to either tell the truth or face the consequences of perjuring himself.
My own motivation in comenting on this story isn’t to rant about U$C cheating. On the contrary, I take for granted that U$C cheats, and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. When you’re the underdog in a lopsided rivalry like that between U$C and Cal, the best you have going for you is knowing you can still occasionally beat the other side despite all their dirty tricks. It wouldn’t be half as much fun if U$C were just USC.
I do, however, think it’s worthwhile pondering the conflicting interests at play when contemplating sanctions for U$C’s shenanigans. On one hand, I find it ridiculous that Cal was slapped with draconian sanctions in 2002 because a couple of under-productive WR’s didn’t go to class. Meanwhile, when it comes to allegations that Reggie Bush accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal gifts, the NCAA just throws up its hands and says they can’t do anything because they lack subpoena power? Give me a break.
On the other hand, denying Cal its unlikely postseason berth in 2002 denied the school a chance to end a several-years-long bowl draught and compete in a lower-tier bowl. A similar sanction at U$C would likely deny the school and the entire conference a BCS berth (if not national championship) and accompanying multi-million dollar payout. So the cynic in me understands why the powers that be are reticent to poke their heads into certain holes.
Of course justice should prevail or such cynical concerns. But here’s my question: Is it good for Cal if U$C basketball or football are hit with serious sanctions? Is it good for our conference if our poster boy and cash-cow gets taken down? And more importantly, isn’t our rivalry better off if we just agree that U$C is a den of cheats and then beat the pants off them anyway?
Women’s Field Hockey Profile: Andrea Lo, Part I
Andrea Lo is one of Cal’s returning seniors on the women’s field hockey team. Originally from Vancouver, her attacking skills in high school helped bring her to the Golden Bears, where she has taken on a strong facilitating role at midfield. She also has a blog she updates during the season (and sometimes off of it), and you can go to Cal Athletics to track her in action!
I sat down with Andrea to talk about her transition to Cal, her training regimen, field hockey strategy, and other relevant issues.
(Note: This is a long interview, but we really enjoyed talking to each other, so why cut it off? The first part will run this Friday, Part II next Friday will deal with the nuts and bolts of field hockey, and Part III about personal experiences the Friday after.)
My part of the conversation is in italics, Andrea’s is in bold.
BN: How did you first get interested in field hockey? And when did you get serious about it?
Andrea: When I was in 4th grade one of my friend’s parents decided to coach a team, and just asked my friends and me if we wanted to try the sport out. None of us had heard of field hockey, so we just thought it would be cool to play.
During high school I started playing on regional teams and elite teams…so that’s when I began playing in high level competitions.
I think most of our audience isn’t familiar about field hockey–how hard was it for you to learn and develop into the rules of the game?
It did take some time for me to adjust simply because I had been playing ice hockey since I was young. I think playing ice hockey helped as well, because it’s the same concept of hitting a ball into a net.
Are there any other fundamental differences between the two sports, other than the playing surface and the physical contact?
They’re entirely different sports. Field hockey is more like soccer in terms of number of players on the field…positions (forwards, mids, defense). The sticks are very different. The skills are very different. People think that just because they’re both “hockey” that they’re similar.
Yeah, I think that’s a common misnomer among the public–my dad played field hockey in India and in his college years, so I kind of get the differences.
Oh cool! Did you ever play?
I played a little pickup when I travelled there, and proceeded to stink up the joint.
Haha, that’s awesome.
When did you start realizing, “Hey, I could be good at this”?
