A Cal Fan's Notes

WHY WASHINGTON HAD TO DECIMATE CAL

2012-01-31T14:01:00.000-08:00

(First off, aren’t you embarrassed you care what a bunch of 17 and 18 year old children do? These adolescents have never even voted in an election, yet they affect how we think about (the once) greatest University in the World. How pathetic are we?)

BTW: THIS IS NOT ONE MAN'S CONSPIRACY THEORY. GRANTED, I GET ALL MY KNOWLEDGE THROUGH RUMOR, BUT THIS IS WHAT IS BEING SAID AROUND THE LEAGUE.

Tomorrow is signing day. You’ve all seen the speculation. 5 Star McCarthy has left Cal for UCLA. 5 Star Thompson is de-committing and tweeted he’s going to Washington. 5 Star Arik Armstead opted for Oregon (he was ready to early enroll at Cal just two weeks ago, the day Kline did) And it looks like Treggs is going to UCLA and Dosier to WSU—but I can’t confirm that.

Had Lupoi stayed and the chips fallen correctly, Cal was set to have (not the #5 recruiting class) but the #1 recruiting class in the entire country! This was intolerable to Sarkesian and the rest of the Pac 12.

Make no mistake about it. This was not the fortunes of war. This was planned, deliberate, intentional, and pre-meditated. (In other words, a lot like my honeymoon).

Speculation around the league has far surpassed the simple gossip stage.

The Big Boys around the league had realized early on, what none of us had ever grasped completely. Should Cal ever become a legitimate launching pad for an NFL career—none of the other schools will be able to compete for young kids.

Cal is finally poised to offer more than any other school in the country.

Granted, the following isn't rocket science, but think about it from Sark's POV:

Perfect weather. We have neither the Arizona Desert, Baton Rouge’s humidity, nor Michigan’s winters. Located in the Bay Area we offer a couple more things to do than South Bend’s choice of either Arby’s Steakhouse, Red Lobster or Papa Murphy’s Pizza. Cal is as diverse, inclusive, tolerant and “un-racist” as any Campus in the country. Our sheepskin is worth its weight in gold (and don’t fool yourself. Most parents of inner city kids want their children to have that diploma more than that NFL ring—though they are seduced by the potential riches the NFL) . The traditions of Telegraph Ave. Free Speech, Activism and dissent (though a turn off to some kids’ parents) are appealing to many youngsters because they see those terms as code for “lots of sex.”

What we hadn’t had (until Tedford) was a competitive football program and (it kills me to admit this even matters—but apparently it does) even minorly competitive athletic facilities. It turns out that the new Simpson High Performance Center is really a draw.

We also had an outmoded stadium (which is a Cathedral to most of us) but probably demonstrated a lack of respect for intercollegiate athletics to potential recruits. Other schools could easily bad mouth us and denigrate our commitment to intercollegiate athletics due to our dated facilities.

Why go to a program which boasts splinters in its bleachers? Care to compare it to Oregon’s dedication to sports as defined by its facilities?

(Which would you rather do to prepare for the NFL? Workout on the latest ergonomic, high tech, titanium resistance machine, or go out to the barn like Milo of Croton, and lift the same calf every day until you can heft a full grown bull? You may get the same results, but which is likely to be more appealing?)

This year’s recruits clearly opted for the former. They could see that superior conditioning and re-hab facilities could make them superior athletes—and better their chances to play on Sunday.

Instinctively, it appears Tosh Lupoi read the market place and understood this, while the rest of us did not.

I don’t know when Mora (UCLA head coach) caught on (perhaps he just heard it from the different recruits) but speculation is that Sarkesian got it right away (his SC training might have helped) and he knew he had to do something.

Once Cal succeeds, there is no stopping the juggernaut. He couldn’t afford 3 five Star recruits (as many as are going to Alabama) go to a team in his own back yard. He had to think outside the box, and think big. Fortunately, the new Pac 12 TV contract allowed him to do just that.

His secret weapon was a young man named Justin Wilcox (former linebacker coach at Cal), who was (officially) coaching at Tennessee on December 30^th when Sark fired his Defensive Co-ordinator, Nick Holt, and hired Wilcox.

I know I have no credibility--despite Dumpster Muffin whispering in my ear, so for the sequence of events (which I had questioned in an earlier post), here’s an e-mail from Dumpster Muffin’s Horse: You can depend that this is from the Horse’s mouth, despite the fact that what usually appears here comes from the other end.

HORSE:

“In the event that you plan to write a follow-up piece to your blog on “L’Affaire Lupoi” I wanted to provide more authoritative information on the issues raised in your post”

After losing to Baylor 67-56 in the Alamo Bowl, Washington Coach Steve Sarkisian fired his former Defensive Coordinator, Nick Holt, and other members of his staff. Immediately Coach Tedford alerted Sandy Barbour that UW might hire Justin Wilcox (then Defensive Coordinator at Tennessee and Cal’s former Linebackers Coach) as their new DC. Given the friendship that existed between Wilcox and Tosh Lupoi Coach Tedford speculated Wilcox would come after Lupoi. Barbour and Tedford discussed what resources they had to preemptively make a retention offer to Lupoi. Tedford made an upgraded offer to Lupoi on January 2^nd; he accepted and assured Tedford that he was no longer interested in UW (the “bleed Blue and Gold” speech). Nevertheless, UW continued to pursue Lupoi, and Cal made a revised offer on January 10^th. Once again this was accepted by Lupoi, and Tedford received assurance that the “recruitment” was over. Once again, UW persisted in their efforts. On January 15th Cal made a final revised offer – a significant increase and very competitive with the rest of the Pac 12 and most of the rest of the nation (excluding the SEC), although well short of what UW was offering ($550,000). Tedford learned that Lupoi was going to UW on January 16^th.

HORSE CONTINUED:

“Why didn’t they ask us?” Cal supporters would have come up with the money

From the day that UW fired their defensive staff (December 30^th), Sandy Barbour has been in touch with members of the San Francisco Grid Club and its leadership about raising the resources to retain Lupoi and subsequently Coach Kiesau. Based on assurances that private fundraising would supply the necessary resources, Coach Tedford was able to proceed and make preemptive and counter offers to vulnerable staff members.

So let’s give credit where credit is due. On December 30th 2011, Tedford identified a potential problem, alerted the AD and they (discussed what resources they had) to solve it with a pre-emptive raise on January 2^nd.

Soon, I will have much more to add to this (regarding appropriateness, timing, accountability, and of course, Injurygate)—but that is for another day.

For the sake of brevity, know that Sandy has filed a grievance with Pac 12 Commissioner, Larry Scott. This will get us nowhere, but at least it is now on record.

With the new TV contract, Pac 12 Presidents and Athletic Directors must get together and re-write the rules of engagement for how we behave.

Should it be completely Laze Faire with assistant football coaches receiving salaries which could support an entire Varsity Soccer program, a woman’s gymnastic or Lacrosse team?

Do we want to be a part of this arms race? Do we have any choice now that we’ve committed half a billion dollars to new facilities? If we can’t become “unpregnant”, how are we going to plan to deal with this world, and who is going to develop that plan—and who is going to implement it?

Two weeks back, L’Affaire Lupoi pointed out many weaknesses in our approach to this new world. In the Next Cal Fan’s Notes, let’s talk about how we got this way, and what we might do about it.

Washington carved us a new one, but it didn't have to happen. And the problem is a lot bigger than just an AD or head football coach.

How to deal with the current situation? Simple. Drink Heavily! Until next time....

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

L’AFFAIRE LUPOI

2012-01-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

“Beat me,” said the masochist. “No I won’t,” replied the sadist.

This old punch line sums up the current relationship between Cal Alumni and the extant administration. We keep coming back for more—and they keep spanking us. We must like it, or why else do we put up with it?

Big Game October 20^th? I thought the Olmec God, Bolon Yokte, predicted the end of civilization during the 13th b'ak'tun, which won’t be here until December 21, 2012. How could he have been off by almost two months?

But the unmentionable sacrilege of Big Game in October could almost be explained away by other Athletic Directors from the Pac 8 Conference—er, Pac 12 kicking sand in our faces. No doubt Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State had our best interests at heart.

No one saw this coming?

Alas, we can’t blame them or Bolon Yokte for L’affaire Lupoi. That rests squarely on the administration and misplaced priorities

At first glance, it could be portrayed as a prudent decision. In these days of austerity, faculty unrest, higher student tuition, and the attempt to cut five sports, how can an athletic department ljustify paying an assistant coach, Tosh Lupoi, the $500,000?

Shouldn’t we applaud our school’s unwillingness to partake in the arms race which is destroying the concept of college football being played by “student athletes?”

That was my first reaction, too (after vomiting on the dog). Then I remembered how I touted Solyndra as a good investment and decided to take a second look.

Let’s review the bidding. (We masochists can’t get enough pain).

Thanks to Alumni like Barclay Simpson and dozens of others we just completed the Simpson High Performance center to the tune of $150,000,000 (hopefully, that’s all). I hear it’s better than the concrete floored weight room under the leaky stands at Edwards Stadium which we used.

The stadium is set to open this fall with Oak, Burlap and Zachery Running Wolf planning to cut the ribbon. Price tag, north of $ 340,000,000.

The State ain’t paying for that. We are, via ESL’s and ticket revenue.

Yes, the Regents put the good faith and credit of the University behind the bonds (don’t ask me how this is done—ask Petee) and if ticket sales don’t pay down the debt—the U gets left holding the bag. (In reality, the tax payers end up loosing as the Regents backed it--but it's complicated).

IN OTHER WORDS, WE ARE EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT.

There's no turning back.

Were I running the world (fat chance--I don't even run my house), we'd play ball as we did before the Wright Bros. Just local teams, St. Mary's, Santa Clara, Stanford, USF, and the L.A. squads for excitement, adventure, and oodles of silicon. It would take place on Saturday afternoons--I'd see my friends--tailgate and enjoy young men banging their heads together.

But that's not the commitment we made. We committed to go big time with half a BILLION dollars in facilities and we need some expertise in paying for them. We can't have amateur hours like losing revenue generating assets like Lupoi. (Note how hip I am. In this new modern world of Pac 12 football he's no long a human being--just like we alumni are no longer people--like the players--he's just a machine to crank out gold).

Give Tedford his due. He sold this plan on the basis that with upgraded facilities, we could compete recruiting-wise with the big boys. The recipe for football success is sometimes fairly simple. Get the players, add a pinch of coaching, (see Jim Harbaugh), attract a large fan base for home field advantage add a dose of student school spirit and presto: Double digit wins—big time bowls—big time revenues from TV and Radio, to say nothing of lots of tennis shoes and white helmets from sneaker companies.

Before the new conference realignments, Notre Dame claimed to bring in over $5,000,000 per week not counting TV money. The Bears brought in around $6,000,000 all year in TV revenue and what, $1,000,000 per game day? If someone will send me the actually figures, I’ll get them out immediately, but don’t have time tonight.

With the new Pac 12 contract it should be around $22,000,000 from TV, alone. Add to that an average of 50,000 fans per week (at $100 per fan—tics, food,souvenieres,parking-- for 6 home games that’s 5 million per game or an additional $30,000,000 in gross revenue). At 25,000 fans per week it’s half that.

Two out of three pieces are in alignment. The Simpson Center is up and running the Stadium is almost set to go.

All that is missing are the elite players. Well, we were just rated the 8^th leading recruiting class in the country.

(Inside the Athletic Department my source, Dumpster Muffin, (think of her as “Deep Throat”—I do) said the Bears’ Brain Trust could envision not just the third best, but perhaps the number one recruiting class in the Nation.

For the first time in History we had two five Star athletes (ok, for the first time since Forbes and I were there), and some big names were tilting slightly towards us. (Can you spell Arik Armstead?).

BTW, elite players can bring on problems of their own. We need to keep perspective. We've seen the scandals at other schools and major credit to Tedford for not dragging us down that road. Hopefully we can maintain it.

However, now we’ve lost one five Star (McCarthy) to UCLA due directly to Tosh’s departure and the other, Shaq Thompson is 50/50 to de-commit to UW.

What’s this tell us? Tosh Lupoi is literally worth his weight in gold.

Washington took its share of $22,000,000 and allocated $300,000 (assuming the guy he replaced was making 200 grand) and literally bought big time players (indirectly) by giving that money to Tosh.

On what are we spending our 22 million dollars?

Why did Lupoi go? Dumpster Muffin says he wanted to stay. It is true that he and Tedford occasionally butted heads. He wasn’t pleased at being sacrificed on the alter of injurygate. He may have had some issues with Prendergast. All this is tough to know for certain.

What we do know is a bump from $164,000 to a reported $500,000 ain’t bad for a kid his age. Who can compete with that?

Someone who has a half billion dollars in bricks and mortar on the line--that's who.

We all understand that an organization might not want to upset a salary structure by increasing one assistant well above the others.

But Tosh wasn’t just an assistant coach. He was a very high performing asset who was literally bringing dollars and cents to the bottom line. My guess is that 200 for coaching and a matching sum has recruiting head could have done the trick—maybe less—had we done it earlier.

All he needed was some love.

Why was no one minding the store? Why did no one go to him and say, “We are on a roll. We don’t want to lose you. What will it take to keep you here—long before he got the offer from Washington?

Why didn’t they structure his salary at x number of dollars for being an assistant coach and separate compensation for his recruiting prowess? He was named the recruiter of the year last year, did no one think any other school would notice?

Why did no one communicate to us, that it would be politically unpalatable to meet Washington’s offer, but perhaps a combination Cal/Alumni increase could do it?

Did they think after Rugby and Baseball the Alumni were all tapped out? If so, just another reason why that fiasco was handled so poorly.

Anyone who has raised a teenager knows what it is like to be held in contempt and treated with disdain (at least occasionally). Well that’s the way the administration treats us. We don’t count. They don’t come to us for help. They can’t see us. They can’t hear us.

We can tell by the un-returned phone calls, the unanswered e-mails, the 2^nd rate seating at ATT&T (imagine opposing teams on the 50 yard line seats), the lack of acknowledgement after pledges—even the lack of executive porta-potties for the ladies at Memorial Stadium after we began to sell out.

If you are displeased with this fiscally irresponsible decision let ‘em know. If you support it, do that too.

Sandy Barbour: athletic.director@berkeley.edu

Chancellor Birgeneau: chancellor@berkeley.edu

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

BIG GAME BLUES, TEXAS STYLE

2011-12-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

Job (the original, not Steven with an “s”) had it easy compared to us Cal fans. All he had to put up with was the following:

( All of Job's possessions) were destroyed; the 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys carried off by Sabeans, the 7000 sheep were burned up by 'The fire of God which fell from the sky,' the 3000 camels were stolen by the Chaldeans and the house of the firstborn collapsed, due to a mighty wind, killing all of Job's offspring.

That is nothing compared to having to lose to the Stanford State Indians on a rainy night in Palo Alto.

I was thinking of this while I attended the Occupy Stanford State demonstration last week. It was meticulously planned by Stanly Gatti, and featured Champagne fountains of exact replicas of “iced foreclosures”. Thomas Keller from the French Laundry catered the affair, and the Police were called in to apply truffle spray, bathed in garlic butter to break up the protest.

You can look it up on U tube.

Yes. The Bears played well and we can be proud of all of them. (See moral victories under “Kissing your sister on the porch—through a screen door”).

However, (As Coach Wild Bill Dutton used to shout regarding fumbling inside the five yard line) “Better you had died in childbirth than to fumble (or lose to Stanford State) inside the five.”

What a cross we bear.

My heart broke and my spirit was broken when I saw young Will Kapp carted off the field (broken ankle before the game had barely begun). He embodied all that is great about Cal--and the Big game.

I’m a huge Andrew Luck fan, but he was outplayed in the first half by a gutsy Zach Maynard. Now that the coaches have finally discovered that he is left handed and does better going to his left, he’s found his stride and has really comported himself well.

(Look how he—and the entire team played the following week. The Arizona State game was the most fun one of the season. We showed flashes of brilliance in all facets, and never gave up until we came away with a win. That was the Bear team we’ve all been looking for this year. Trouble is, when you cut your teeth on cupcakes like the Presbyterian Blue Hose, it’s hard to be prepared to play big time College football).

We old people who cut our teeth on coaches like Nibs Price, Pete Newell, Brutus Hamiltion, Pappy and Ray Willsey understand that. Some in the administration just don’t get it.

So now that we are headed down to San Diego to play Mac Brown and his frown of renown, why are old Blues, blue?

It’s a wonderful match up and one we have an outstanding chance of winning.

It’s because we are watching the demise of the tradition of Cal football—a tradition we loved so much. The graffiti is on the wall.

On August 21^st, 2010 (yes, well over a year ago) a tall good looking guy wrote in an article about how the Pac 12 would make alumni “quaint”.

“our opinions will not matter—not to the AD, the Chancellor and especially not to the conference. Decisions will be made on optimizing revenue—little else.

…….Suppose someone offers $10,000,000 to host and televise the Big Game. The only catch? We play it January 1st in Beijing. Luddites like us will want the traditional last game of the year in the Bay Area.

The suits will smile and pat us on the back and nod understandingly, pay a little lip service to the beauty of tradition, give us some balloons for the kids, and then go where the money is.”

Five days ago (December 11^th), the New York times reported:

Larry Scott, the Pacific-12 Conference commissioner, flew to Beijing on Sunday to start an apparently unprecedented effort by a college sports league to establish itself in a foreign country.

As my wife never tires of saying, “I hate it when you’re right.” (Ok, that only happened once).

This is the future. With the $220,000,000 TV contract, no donors will ever be able to give enough money to matter—let alone pip squeaks like moi.

They simply won’t have to worry about old Blues any more, because our contributions to the program are now dwarfed by the excessive of the TV revenues.

“Welcome to the 90’s, Mr. Bahnks.”

I know. I should get used to it, but it still makes me blue—and a blue, Old Blue is an ugly sight.

Part and parcel with the new Pac 12 alignment is some sort of rotating schedule. It appears that (I’m not making this up) due to TV and scheduling requirements, the Big Game will occasionally be played in OCTOBER. That’s the Pac 12’s idea of going green—do whatever it takes to make a buck—even if it makes Blues, blue.

During the men’s luncheon on Friday before Big Game (if you weren’t there, you weren’t invited—no invitations—just good guys inviting good guys--and you need to get some new friends so you can go to the greatest lunch EVER), Dumpster Muffin (yes, she’s so ugly she looks like a man, which many of us think is rather kinky and cool), told me that Sandy Barbour had signed on for another 4 years (It may be five) at 500 grand per year.

Hey. We came in 3^rd in the Director’s Cup, so maybe this is a good thing. We should reward excellence.

However, being a Rugger, as well as a bench warmer for Willsey, and having been treated the way we were, it’s hard for some of us to get behind this, but our love of the Bears over-rules all.

Of course, with the new TV contract, neither the Chancellor nor anyone else needs to pay attention to the thoughts of any alumni. We’ve been reduced to insignificance.

The Big Game in October. League games in China. A “Moral” victory in the Big Game. Blue Hose on the Schedule. Reduction of Alumni influence. Weird allocation of funds. 11^th out of 12 academically in the Pac 12 (I’m sure that’s not correct, but have yet to see the Athletic Department’s response explaining it). You can understand why some Old Blues are Blue.

Yet, during the Men’s lunch before Big Game, the band roared in and the song leaders danced, and the yell leaders yelled, and the guys told lies, and all the petty stuff seemed to shrink to insignificance, as we relived what we once loved most.

We are Old Blues. Maybe too old. But Blue to the core and we will persevere and pass on the torch to the new wave. It doesn’t mean it should go unmentioned, however.

Remember: All those that came before us built this school. We benefited from what they gifted us. Tomorrow’s kids will benefit from what ESPN gives them. Let’s be open minded. It may be a greater gift than we ever thought of. Or maybe the Old Blues who came before us had it right. Time will tell.

Go bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

GIVE ‘EM THE AXE, THE AXE THE AXE… 2011

2011-11-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

In the days before they gave out participation trophies for occupying Oakland, a great yell summed up a great tradition.

....."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 State 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.

That the BCS or some such thing has to be on the line is to miss the essence of college football.

Despite the bad press coming out of Happy Valley, the Ohio State and Miami scandals 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.

(Naturally, that tradition as died as well with the addition of the 12^th game, but that too is another column. Let’s just pretend this is our last game, because for all intents and purposes the Big Game is the Sine Qua Non of a kid’s Cal experience.

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. (Though Andrew Luck could put on a show).

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 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 and red blazered Indians.

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". (Ok. He never used the word “jerks”—what footballer would?).

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).

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. (Can you imagine the number of anonymous accusers that would surface were one of us to run for office?)

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 AXE!.

BEARS CURE SINISTROPHOBIA VS. COUGARS

2011-11-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

How good was the Bear D on Saturday?

So good, that Mayor Michelle Quan (a Bear from my Day) publically apologized to the Washington State Cougars for the hard hits applied during Saturday’s 30 to 3 victory. She assumed the poor Cougars were aged bar flies being maliciously mauled by over-sexed college kids. As befitting her wit, she was half right.

She is against all violence unless it is conducted by ski masked youths dressed in black, and directed against shop owners of color, who happen to have glass storefronts in Oakland—but I digress.

Cal played its finest game of the season Saturday. It matters not that the opponent wasn’t up to snuff. One must measure improvement against oneself, not the opposition. (i.e., compared to myself, I’m a great spouse). Compared to my wife I have the grace and class of Ahrnoooooold, interviewing English speaking challenged au pairs.

But the real beauty of Saturday’s win in the rain, was that the coaching staff adapted to Zach Maynard’s skill set, rolled left constantly and let him succeed, BY FINALLY PUTTING HIM IN A POSITION WHERE HE COULD BE SUCCESSFUL.

That’s what teachers are for.

(Regular readers of A Cal Fan's Notes--both of you--might recognize a theme that has been touched on before).

Maynard’s first pass (to his bro) was an easy swing pass to the left and then he rolled left throughout the entire game. He continued to roll left and before throwing down the middle (one was a beaut to Miller) he looked left first. By my count he only threw right twice (incomplete) and once complete. (We even tried a roll out right just to keep the D honest). In fact, Maynard finally threw his first incomplete pass in the past three games while going left. One game does not a season make, but he’s got more talent than people are giving him credit for. I think he’s a winner, by nature.

It is true that thrice he had wide open receivers deep down field, and thrice he overthrew them. But that was most likely due to premature jaculation (google it before you let your dirty mind think impure thoughts). He was so unused to men being wide open (and having so much time) that (just like us at that age) he got excited and threw too early and too hard.

Look for at least two long TD throws this week against the Beavers. If the coaches stick with the game plan and let him go left (conquering their Sinistrophobia—fear of left-handedness), OSU should be another resounding W.

Apparently, Chip Kelly made some comment about the Bears being the best (or one of the best looking) teams in the Pac 12. (It’s possible he was referring to the white helmets, but I doubt it).

He may yet be proved right if the coaches continue to let the kids play to their strength. It’s easy to Monday morning QB, but (as the occupiers’ chant) “Give credit where credit is due,” Fits this game to a Tee.

This was far and away the best coached game of the year.

What did he do to offend his lineman? Tavecchio is such a good kid and everyone played such a complete game that it seems a shame to even bring up the fifth, (5^th), numero cinque, blocked extra point of the year. That does not count the three missed field goals. This is fixable. Buy your linemen a beer—or cappucino—whatever!

MFB (My Favorite Bear): Will Kapp got the thrill of a life time when he took a hand off trying to pick up a yard for a first, and leveled a DB, en route to a 43 yard touchdown run. He now leads the nation in touchdowns per carry (he scores once every 6 times he touches the pigskin). Of course he only has six carries this year, but let’s not nit pick.

Who’s Mike Manuel? 7 carries 29 yards. Looked good—don’t remember his name ever being called. Do Bears have too many good runners? Sofele, Anderson, DeBoski and now Manuel—all fighting for playing time—and the one who may be the best of the bunch, true freshman #5 Bigelow didn’t touch the ball from scrimmage at all. How can one be good enough to start and return kicks, but not carry the ball from scrimmage?

The D: Those kids can play—when put in a scheme that utilizes their talents. Great effort all day long.

Accademics. Still waiting for the Athletic Department to publically explain why we came in 11^th out of 12 Pac 12 schools in one academic rating regarding graduation rates. I assumed it can’t really be that bad as Tedford has made a real commitment to get his kids on a path to graduation.

Now I get all my knowledge through rumor, but here’s what one “Deep Throat” (we’ll call her Dumpster Muffin) sent me to clarify it a bit. She gave me permission to print the following. I’ve edited it a touch to protect the guilty:

…..You call attention to that embarrassing stat in order to make a very important point: we need to know more about this embarrassing statistic -- Cal is 11th out of 12 in Pac-12 academic ratings…

The data is based on the entering class of Fall 2004:

There were 13 freshman admitted in that cohort. Apparently, the NCAA does not include JC transfers or other transfer students in that calculation. (I'm not sure why, and I'll resist the temptation to over-interpret that point.)

Of the 13 freshman in the 2004 cohort, 4 graduated; 5 went to the NFL (after 3, 4 or 5 years), and 4 did not graduate. All told 4 of 13 graduated after 6 years, or 31%

The 4 year football Graduation Success Rate (Entering classes 2000-2004) is 54% . This includes 2 [out of 4] of Jeff Tedford's recruiting classes.

The overall Student Athletic Graduation Success Rate is 79%.

I need to find out what the overall student graduation rate is. I THINK (unverified) that it is quite comparable.

My take away is that the percentage will vary greatly from one year to the next in football, depending on the number who leave early for the NFL. I'm not condoning or explaining away the 54%, but I am trying to contextualize it. There's no question -- at least in my addled brain (what's left of it) -- that we must continue to press the leadership at Cal to be diligent about CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESS at Cal -- on the fields and in the classroom. This is an important form of responsibility / accountability that I believe Tedford takes seriously. (I believe this based on my many conversations with him about this subject over the past 10 years.) I THINK the position coaches have clauses in their contracts re graduation rates……

This subject bears watching.

The Stanford State Game: This is personal with me—I don’t ask others to agree. I want the Indians to win against the Ducks this weekend and to defeat LSU in the BCS championship game. The only thing I want more than that is for the Bears to Clobber Stanford State next week and deny the Indians the trip to that game. Schadenfreude is a bitch.

The end of an Era: One wants to say that what happened in Happy Valley (Pennsylvania, not Lafayette) is a tragedy—one that began in Memorial Stadium when Rip Engle was the Nitney Lions’ coach and St. Helena’ Jimmy Hunt was the Bears QB with one second left on the clock. Hunt threw it to the endzone and the bird (Jerry Bradly)—he swears he never pushed off—caught the ball for the winning TD. Engle was fired and a kid named Joe Paterno was hired.

Always admired Paterno and the program he ran, but firing him was absolutely the right thing. We all love our college teams, but some things have to be kept in proportion, and sadistic criminal acts against children should never, ever be covered up to protect anybody or anything. Especially a football program.

BTW when you google my name and Warren Jeffs pops up—that’s the other guy. Honest!

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

P.S. Remember: Men's lunch next Friday before we play the Indians.

Bruins Expose Bears’ Sinistrophobia

2011-11-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

Google it! We’ve got it. Sinistrophobia: a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of left-handedness.

This was pointed out to me by my tent mate, Dumpster Muffin, as we watched the game on our Sony Flat Screen from our tent while occupying Oakland. (As Robert Duvall said in A Pair of Lips Now, “I love the smell of urine in the morning.”) But I digress.

How else do you account for the fact that young Zack Maynard, for three quarters, completed every one of his passes while rolling left, but with the exception of the first play of the 4^th quarter (a completion to my favorite Bear, Will Kapp)—with the score 17-14—and the Bears driving--the coaches failed to call one (1) Uno (or is it una) ein ROLLOUT and throw LEFT.

And how did Kaperneck sneak away from the Niners and don Bruin Baby Blue? Didn’t we see that movie last year? Talk about Deja Vu all over again? Who teaches a defensive end (no need to mention names as this is clearly a schematic--read coaching--problem), to crash down the line of scrimmage and nail the fullback from the side—while the QB pulls the ball out of the back’s belly, and scampers—untouched and unharassed—around the end?

Sherlock Holmes had it right: “Elementary, my Dear Watson.” Someone has to have outside containment. Lech Walesa famously answered years ago when asked why he was leading the Gadansk (formerly Lenin Shipyard) strike, “if not me who?” (or was that John Edwards when asked who knocked up his chick?).

In the second half, Cattouse came up and made a couple of stops on those wide QB keepers, but are we to understand that a safety has containment? Better change the name of his position. Replaying the tape (Ok—Tivo) was embarrassing. Almost every time the defensive end crashed down the line and clobbered the running back from the side.

Trouble is—he didn’t have the ball. Reno redux.

Prince romped for 183 yards and we rarely touched him. Mostly, he just ran out of bounds. When Cleopatra failed to engage her fleet at Actium, Antony was toast. By disengaging the strongside defensive end and refusing to key him on the QB (and punish him every play—with or without the ball) we were toast and the poor kid looked bad.

It wasn’t the kid’s fault.

Clearly, he (and his replacement) were doing what they were told to do—just as Maynard was, standing in the pocket and throwing across his body to his right. Three of his Picks were from the pocket, two throwing right, and one down the middle.

EACH ONE OF HIS PASSES on his rolls to the left was complete. Here’s what some of us simply can’t understand. We were taught that when something works, you run it (or pass it) until they stop it. If off right tackle works—run it till they shut it down.

You take advantage of the adjustments they make to run something else which capitalizes on their adjustments. We simply never do this. As Serena might opine, “This is not attractive.”

We were in this game 17-14 (should have been 17 all except—I know you’re going to be shocked to read this—next thing we know we’ll hear that there’s gambling in Casablanca—but we (the entire team) blew a gimme field goal. A team that is 23 for 27 on extra points (the easiest play in football) and has failed on three makeable field goals, is not focused—not disciplined—not paying attention to detail. And that is not on the kids. It’s not on the kicker.

Games are not won on Saturday (Thanks, Coach Jim Lemon).

2 minute Offense: A tall good looking guy wrote last week that we need work on our two minute drill. Ok. He said it was embarrassing. Against the Bruins, we got the ball with 1:55 left in the first half. We called time out with 1:15 left. We’d gotten off two plays in 40 seconds. We then threw incomplete and had to punt with 1:11.

UCLA took over with 1:00 left. They ran 10 plays—the last one a punt.

Someone is wearing big boy pants and someone isn’t.

‘Nuff said.

QB: Call me Crazy but I think Maynard can do the job. But a coach’s job is to put a kid in a position where he can succeed. Maynard should be rolling left on most pass plays. And before you say something silly like “cutting the field in half”--two words: Roger Staubach. Or if you want four: Fran Tarkington.

These two rarely threw from the pocket in college. (In the early years, they couldn't throw left either). They rolled—right most of the time—and (just to keep defenses honest) occasionally left. Football was different back then, but it was generally understood that few college teams had the amount of linemen necessary to attempt pro-style drop back passing. It was too hard for the kids to see the field from the QB position, and too hard for the linemen to protect him adequately.

That has changed overtime. Stanford State’s Andrew Luck does not have to roll out. He’s a prototype drop back, pocket passer. Maynard isn’t—at this time.

No biggie. Very few are. So why not go with his strength? It must be due to Sinistrophobia.

COACHING: The Chron’s Crumpcracker threw Tedford under the bus after the game. Of course all the blogs are following suit. We needn't go there--yet.

(Wish they’d throw the Athletic Department under the bus for those White Helmets. Forget tradition. Forget old fuddy-duddies like moi. How about the expense at a time they’re cutting sports and demoting Rugby?

This is the height of irresponsibility. Home and away helmets are enough. We don’t need a third (white) set. Remember: these things cost $300 to $500 per—and there’s 100 kids on the team (though they all don’t travel).

GRADUATION RATES: It’s been said here ad naseum: Jeff Tedford has a lot of entries on the asset side of the ledger. But if last week’s report is true, that Cal is 11^th out of 12 in graduation rates, that makes it awfully hard to stay on the bus. But we all want to.

Now there has been some noise that those numbers are misleading, but if so, the Athletic Department should come out with a loud, strong, no nonsense statement explaining it. Absent that with the general dumbing down of the University on the Academic side, and the destruction of our once proud brand though the needless cutting of sports, something has to be done.

At the time, Coach Tedford earned the right to become the highest paid employee in the State of California. But with that Salary comes certain responsibilities—and they don’t all have to do with winning.

Much of it has to do with putting a program together we can all be proud of. We want kids graduating. We want a clean program (which he has produced). We want a disciplined, well coached team that puts out maximum effort—whatever their athletic skills are.

This is what is sorely lacking.

We understand we will never be a Miami, LSU, Texas or even SC. But we’d like to be able to play with them once in a while.

THE BILL OF ATTAINDER:

These kids are better than their record.

Maynard is better than his stats.

The D is better than the way they played against UCLA and the second half up in Oregon.

Eleven 20 year olds can kick extra points without them being blocked almost 20% of the time.

Kids should be graduating—or at least progressing towards a sheepskin.

Teams like the Blue Hose should NEVER be on a field with a team with a proud tradition like the Bears.

Opposing teams fans should not be on the 50 at ATT&T. Bear fans should have the plumb seats.

We now have more coaches, trainers and assistants, (I think it numbers 34) than Andy Smith had on any Wonder Team, or even Pete Eliot’s ’59 Rose Bowl team (OK, I’m exaggerating about Eliot’s squad, but not by much).

No more blaming assistant coaches (like Lopoi) for activities which were known to the entire program.

FROM HERE ON OUT: We still have a chance for a Bowl. And Stanford State is beatable. But we’ve got to get rid of the sweats, the anxiety, the shortness of breath, and the paranoia which all victims of Sinistrophobia deal with. We need some counseling from Zachery Running Wolf. (He of the So-Sue-Me tribe)--but at least he understands about the left.

Horace Greely almost got it right “Go Left young man.”

Roll Maynard left on 7 out of 10 pass plays and the Bears will present a formidable offense.

Sending Cal Students left? How difficult can it be?

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ’70.

ROOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LEFT YOU BEARS!

2011-10-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

Those of a certain age remember Jamie Sutton (and Earl Robinson before him—how many schools boast a starting Varsity bastketballer who doubled as a head yell leader) intoning, deeply , stentoriously, and oh so slowly, “Rooooooooollllllllllllllll on you Bears! Roooooooooooollllllllllll on you Bears!”

Yes, a few years later that yell was replaced by “Ashes to ashes/Dust to Dust/We hate to shut it down/But we must, we must!” Occupy Milpitas had nothing on us. They’re 40 years behind the times, but I digress.

Kudos to Tedford and the coaching staff for adapting to the obvious (As Professor Belquist used to opine “Reiteration of the obvious is often more important than elucidation of the obscure.”—and to think, some students thought we took that course because he favored athletes. Next thing you know, they’ll say that Professor Hearst’s Education 110 (or was it 1A), where you could grade yourself was some kind of Mick. But again, I digress.

Now some might say it didn’t take a Rocket Scientist like Zachery Running Wolf (with no trees left to sit in, he’s leading the Occupy Oakland be in), to realize that at Cal, students go left.

It’s how we roll.

But telling the other Zachery (he of the Maynard clan) that, that was his charge proved to be a minor stroke of genius.

He completed 5 of his first 6 passes he attempted while rolling out, and the one incompletion was a perfectly thrown ball that was dropped.

Not counting runs, Zachery threw or rolled left on at least 11 occasions (probably more than the entire season combined—but I don’t have the time to prove it).

He carried 10 times for 44 yards. (In the previous 6 games he’d carried a combined 33 times for a net of 21 yards). Hmmmmmmmm.

Could it be? Just a shot in the Dark? Could it be we’ve hit upon something?

But Zachery’s exemplary play was not the determining factor. That went to the D. They simply dominated. The O line gets props too—but back to the D.

You know when you are watching a game on TV in a bar (not that I have, but I’ve heard this is true), though you can’t hear the announcers, one can just tell who’s winning by who seems to be pushing around whom on the field.

That was the case at ATT&T. Due to foot surgery, (something about sticking it in my mouth too often) I had to watch it on TV, and people kept coming over, so I couldn’t concentrate—yet one could get the overall flow. And the D (as it turned out in watching the tape) truly dominated all facets.

Four turnovers were faboo, but the telling stat was that Utah had just 13 yards rushing, and a minus-6 yards on the ground in the first half. Josh White came into the game averaging 111.8 yards a game. Our D held him to just 39 yards on 15 carries. Better yet, White had just 2 yards rushing on 7 carries going into the 4^th quarter.

‘Nough said.

The Utes were without their starting QB and it is clear they just aren’t a very good team—or are we better than we’ve shown?

Putting kids in a position where they can succeed pays dividends—and the Maynard transformation was proof positive of that axiom.

Are we as bad as SC made us look, or as we played in the 2^nd half up at Oregon? Or are we finding our stride?

The next three games will tell. We are playing decidedly mediocre teams but still it would be nice to go into Stanford 7-3.

Hope springs eternal.

On the downside, the stands were not full, and of course, it is clear that opponents have been given tickets on the 50 yardline (over in the bleacher section) which negates the home team advantage—besides relegating loyal Cal fans to lesser seats up top and in the end zones.

Apparently, giving Zachery Running Wolf that internship in the ticket office was not such a hot idea.

Letting Burlap and Oak design the travel unis has had its downside as well. But at least we are inclusive.

Never a dull moment when one lives and dies by his Bears.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Before the game, an infamous group of tailgaters gave Commodore Carl Stoney a membership in the Mariposa Hunter's Point Yacht Club, as a b’day present and thank you for the gazillion tailgates he has hosted over the years.

Capin’ Andy (Ned Anderson) is being inducted into the Cal Hall of Fame November 11^th. He came on a football scholarship but earned most of his fame on the Rugby pitch (and as an outstanding coach), so it is possible that some beer will be consumed that night. Be there or be Square.

Another great rugger, Young Scott Anderson is running the best Tailgate going: The Jim Beam at Pier 48—a nine iron from the stadium. Check it out Nov. 5^th vs. WSU.

Comcast has picked up the Cal/UCLA game (finally) to be played 4ish this Saturday. How can the biggest NCAA brand west of San Francisco, have a difficult time finding someone to televise us? Can we hire someone who understands media and marketing who can insure we are on TV everytime every game (especially next year’s Mills College slugfest).

On an ominous note--Here's a blog by Ted Miller on Graduation Rates. I hope this isn't accurate:

Stanford and Washington lead the Pac-12 in football graduation rates, while California and Arizona bring up the rear.

Here are the numbers.

1. Stanford, 87
2. Washington, 76
3. Arizona State, 64
4. Oregon, 63
5. Washington State, 62
5. Utah, 62
7. USC, 61
8. Oregon State, 60
9. UCLA, 59
9. Colorado, 59
11. California, 54
12. Arizona, 48

Note: These figures are the the NCAA’s "Graduation Success Rates," which include transfer and athletes who leave in good academic standing, unlike the federal rate, which does not count transfers. The GSR and federal rate calculations measure graduation over six years from initial college enrollment, so these numbers are for 2004.

Here's the NCAA's news release on the latest figures. And you can compare schools and see federal rates here.

The bad news for the Pac-12: Only Stanford and Washington exceed the average GSR -- 69 percent -- for the entering class of 2004.

Notre Dame was the No. 1 among FBS programs at 97 percent.

For all sports, the single-year GSR average is 82 percent, a new high for the NCAA.

Football and men's basketball -- the revenue sports -- are the lowest among NCAA sports.

Here are the sources he sided: We report--You Decide!

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_...-12-grad-rates

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/newmedia/pub...tes/index.html

If you get up to the Valley, stop by for some Cab. Red it is—but plentiful it is as well.

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

SC: COMEDY OR TRAGEDY?

2011-10-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Why Red in the best seats?

I realize that one need only read Macbeth to get the essence of what a Cal Fan’s Notes has become:

“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

So disregard everything from here on out.

That dark Dane, Hamlet was the original Cal fan:

“To be or not to be that is the question.”

Defying all logic, thee and me have decided to be and

“Therein lies the rub,”

as that Dane so aptly put it.

What the bard didn’t say (but oft gets credit for) is what causes us such pain:

“Expectation is the root of all heartache.”

Like jilted lovers, it seems every time Cal takes the field we are destined to have our hearts broken—due (mostly) to dashed expectations.

Truly,

“Now is the winter of our discontent.”

When it came to Thursday’s game, Macbeth nails it again,

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”

What a beautiful park. What a beautiful night. What wonderful people. What an ugly contest.

But it was more than just the action on the field.

Anytime we play SC one sees red (Ok Cardinal—whatever color that is). Our family’s hatred of them stems back at least to Cannamela breaking Olszewski’s leg—and perhaps back to rugby matches in 1910.

Last year was our (the Goobs and my) last trip down to Watts, to watch the Bears and Trojans battle. You see, they sit us (visitors) down past the end zone, on the Western side, probably 60 yards from the field.

It grates on some of us that they treat us visitors with such disdain.

Imagine my chagrin when I turned on the TV Thursday night (after foot surgery I’m bedridden and apparently still drugged out) for all I saw was red (see Pic) sitting at the 50 yard line. White hats one Thursday. Red on the 50 (at a “home” game) the next Thursday).

Who is running this asylum?

(I was also told that “Suites” which went unsold, could have been had for 6 grand. I’m not contradicting myself when I think those should have been peddled down south to SC-ites—that we might make some dough).

(On that note I’m informed that “Football is not making its numbers.”) After the Fresno State neutral site and Blue Hose debacle, if that’s accurate just think of the ramifications.

(I’m not sure it helped the brand to get blown out two Thursday nights in a row on ESPN either.)

I know. I’m petty. But it rankles.

We should be talking football not weirdness.

Speaking of weirdness, how ‘bout former Cal running back, Tracy Slocum being busted for pimping. As a former sex slave myself, I can attest to how degrading an abusive that business is. But I digress.

More weirdness: I’m told SC’s bland played during the entire warm up period. Nary a sound from our guys and gals. Someone complained and here’s what one band member wrote:

“Hey I'm in the Cal band and you can't blame us we would LOVE to play more

...but Tedford doesn't let us. When the team is on the field we CAN"T play. It doesn't matter if they are warming up or winning by 30 points. Only after a big play does Tedford let us play some Big C, but other than that you are only going to hear us during TDs and commercial breaks with no on field advertisements.”

Not during warm ups? Wow.

It’s tough to talk football when at the end of the first half we had a first down at the SC 46 with just over two minutes left:

Maynard completed a pass to Allen for18 to the SC 29. Sofeli gained one on a run. Pass complete to Marvin at the SC 17—first down. Pretty cool right?

Trouble is there were only 55 seconds on the clock. We ran three plays in a minute and 10 seconds!

This is not Big Boy football.

Yet, all anyone talks about is the interception on the next play. That was the least of it!

During a two minute drill—this is practiced EVERY day--D1 teams (or whatever we’re called today) have to run more than three plays in 1:10 seconds.

Since you think I’m just being negative, here’s the solution:

Unitas wrote the book: three plays to make 10 yards in the last 2 minutes of a half. That is the law. The other play stops the clock—in his day a throw out of bounds—today, a spike. (We’re not the only team college or pro that doesn’t understand this), but giving 6 seconds for each play--some 52 seconds—was wasted setting the line up and calling signals. We will not win if this is all we are capable of.

I never wanted these notes to be a “Bitch fest.” But when there are so few good things to talk about, what is a Cal Fan to do?

On the Positive side of the ledger, it appears that kids are graduating at a higher rate than before, and though there have been a couple of gun incidents, (which scare the hell out of me); the program has been relatively clean during the Tedford era. We should never downplay that.

As Polonius said to Laeretes,

“Neither a Tressel nor a Carroll be.”

In this day and age that is not to be taken lightly.

Plus, Thanks to (God rest his sole) Natty Bumpo’s father-in-law and Anne’s dad, Barcklay Simpson’s generous anchor gift, we will be moving into the Simpson Athletic complex soon. State of the Art is an understatement.

And memorial stadium is getting what my wife says I need sooner than later—a total makeover. Imagine. Over $300 million worth of Botox.

Coach Tedford has filled the seats and made Cal football relevant. No small accomplishment

Let’s not invoke Lear:

“Sharper than a serpent’s tooth is a thankless child,”

We owe him.

However, we are paying him—well. When he got his well earned raise to $2.5 mil, it was in the top five in the country.

Alas, that increased expectations. (See above).

No one expects Cal to win the BCS. It’s probably fair to say that most Alumni were in sync with Chancellor Lin Tien’s committee which (I’m paraphrasing here) found that being in the top 20 and being the finest University in the land were not inconsistent.

A win over Stanford every other year (Tedford did it 7 years in a row) and a Rose Bowl once every 10 years didn’t seem overly ambitious.

Didn’t Shylock sum us Alumni up?

“If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?”

D played very well, especially freshman cornerback, McClur who did a job on Woods.

D line contained the run and harassed Barkley

A truly ugly stat: SC outscored Cal an aggregate 92-3 in the first half of the last
four years.

No wins in 8 years?

The 4^th blocked kick of the year? Someone is not paying attention to detail. That has nothing to do with lack of athleticism. Does anyone think SC has better lineman on special teams than Cal?

I think the kids are not prepared. Games are won during the week and not on Saturdays--ok, Thursdays.

It’s clear we are not paying attention to the details which make a winner (did you love the Niner’s quote who said Harbaugh made them tuck in their shirts during meetings?)

Football is about repetition and attention to detail. Ask Lombardi. Ever hear the story of him spending 6 hours at a coach's conference on the Packer Sweep?

Finally, to his credit, Marvin Jones pointed to himself and said, “My bad” after calling for a fair catch inside his own five. (3^rd time this has happened) To his discredit, when Tedford came over to him on the sideline after the play, Jones walked right past his head coach and ignored him.

That may have been the most telling and upsetting play of the night.

From the ticket prices, to the seating, to the band, to the marketing, to the attitude, to the administration, if we don’t get it right, we will have writ a Tragedy of huge proportions.

When it comes to Cal football I know only two things: First, Brutus plea to Cassius,

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

We must act at some point.

And most important Balthazar’s words which so aptly sums up this particular screed:

“Note this before my notes: There’s not a note of mine that’s worth the noting.”

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

A CAL FAN’S NOTES/PRE SC

2011-10-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

(Check out announcements at end of article)

Woke up this morning with that hard to articulate feeling one has when he’s at work and suddenly realizes he can’t wait to get home because there is a Grisham Whodunit waiting for him, next to a soft single malt, neet---both to be shared in front of a hot fire. Only rather than anticipating a good read, it was the feeling one has on early fall Saturday mornings, when he knows the Bears are playing in Strawberry Canyon—especially when the foe is SC or Stanford.

That it’s a Thursday is odd—but not aweful.

The keen sense of anticipation—there’s nothing quite like it. The sporting green is read, oh so slowly and oh so lovingly—front to back—but saving the Cal stories for last. Reading about Cal the morning before a game is like getting a message after a tennis match or workout—it doesn’t get much better. After digesting the Green, The game day stories are a Cal fan’s Happy Ending.

Alas, for the first time since ’83 when The Goobs and I moved back to the coast from Nueva Jork, I will not be in the stands for an SC game. Last week they took the world’s ugliest foot, broke it and fused it in an attempt to make straight that which the Lord Hath made crooked. It’s what happens when one spends to much time putting his foot en la boca.

No idea whether it will work or not but it was worth it just for the Propofol they give you before you go under the knife. No wonder MJ was hooked on that stuff. The hallucinations are faboo. After I came to, I actually fantasized that the Bears wore white hats against the Ducks. Take it from me. The hallucinations are Ugly!

Michael Jackson. What a story. Only in America can a poor black boy grow up to be a rich white woman. As an athlete he’d a made a great jockey with his love of riding three year olds—but I digress.

I knew I was drugged out for no one who loves the University of California and her grand traditions could ever conceive of the world of “bling”—where the unis are the thing.

As Ray Willsey used to say (Yeah, I’ve got a million of his quotes), “Do your talking with your hats.” In today’s world, when it comes to hats, we’ve replaced hitting with hatting, but we be stylin’.

Of course it’s an old school thang.

So, I’m bedridden and won’t be in the parking lot tonight. To while away the time I’m reading the complete works of Plato. I’m 100 pages in already with only 1500 to go. Actually, it’s fun because there’s no quiz at the end.

I was surprised to find under Socrates definition of “The good life” there was no mention of tailgating before Cal Games with one’s old friends. (Of course he wanted to defeat Spartans not Trojans—that was Agamemnon’s gig).

Being together, telling stories, talking strategies, positing theories, 2^nd guessing every play—and downing suds—for some of us it doesn’t get any better. Clearly, we have no lives.

Why is SC only a 3 point favorite? See effects of Propofol above.

If Hanson to Richardson can torch us for 283 yards, one shutters to think about Barkley to Woods—future Sunday studs. (Of course, had this Woods met our Woods (Jerry), one trip across the middle would be his last—but again I digress).

Forget the last two blow outs (ok, I can’t either), under Tedford we have generally played SC tough. They have been exciting games and the Bears have risen up to at least scare the pin stripes off SC’s unis. Colonel Klink—er--Pete Carrol, He Haz seen nah-think, though most of his players were allowed only one hour of exercise a day, and the practice field was called the exercise yard.

You know you’re playing SC when the Refs, marching off penalties, refer to the distance as five to ten—with yards off for good behavior.

While you all are yucking it up together, I’ll be hobbling on crutches between the kitchen and the couch--with a handle of Stollee clinched between my teeth. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Not that you care what I think, but unfair criticism was leveled against Tedford for letting Maynard play with a thigh bruise. I’ve talked to people who know him well, and there was no way Zach was coming out of that game. He’s a baller.

He admitted to “happy feet” in such a big game. I was shocked that performing on a webcam against the Presbyterian Blue Hose, hadn’t prepared him for going against the #9 team in the country on National TV.

Speaking of National TV, hope someone tells him to keep his head up and not look dejected (no matter what he does) when he comes to the sideline. These kids forget that the camera might be on them every second.

Attempting to catch passes one handed (at least twice last week) are killing us. They need some schooling or discipline—and it’s hurting Maynard, big time.

Trojan games bring out the best and the worst in us. Worst: Bernie Keels fumbling a punt with 1:32; Pat Cannamela breaking Johnny Olszweski's leg, McKeever breaking Bates jaw when he was out of bounds. Best: Bobby Tuck in a gorilla suit and going into the huddle and Forbes (from the top of the L.A. Collesium) nailing Tommy Torjan with an apple core as he galloped by. We take our triumphs where we can find them.

One last note: Si disputed my contention that Ralphie the Buffalo was one of the most dramatic mascots in College Sports. He points out Santa Cruz’s Banana Slug also does a lap around the field before games--but she begins at 4am. (How they know she’s a she is a question I don’t want to know the answer to).

Stop by for some Cab if you get up this way. There’s plenty waiting for you. The only downside: It’s red.

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Steve Fineau’s trip here for Big Game He’s making great progress, but is still in a chair. Grealish suggests $100 tax-deductible donations to The Old Blues Rugby Club. He’s hoping $5,000-$7000 will get it done. Make checks (of any size) payable to "Old Blues RFC"

Old Blues R.F.C.

c/o Doug Cole

1896 School St

Moraga, Ca. 94556

For info contact: Steve Grealish, 415 254 9973 bonedaddyz@aol.com

Crossland needs an extra tic: 707-363-7003

Capin' Andy (Ned Anderson's) induction to the Cal Hall of fame is November 11th.

Tailgates:

CAA Tailgate: Located at Pier 48, adjacent to Parking Lot A.

Bears For Beam invites you to Jim Beam Tailgate at Pier 48

Also:
Cal pre-game party with Decks at Mission Rocks, a 15-minute walk from the Golden Bears’ new “home” field at AT&T Park. All-you-can-eat barbecue, beer, cocktails, crostini and waffle bites make for a tailgate worthy of the city. And when building a wine cellar, you want it to be how you want. Enter Meadowood’s sommeliers, ready to curate a tour through Napa based on your wine preferences. Also on the agenda are bubbly, massages, a cozy cottage and breakfast in bed.

Ferry Service from Vallejo has been modified to busses down, Ferry back tonight. Go to the website for details.

WHITE HATS? I SURRENDER

2011-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

It used to be that a chill ran up my spine when I turned on the TV and there was that Blue Helmet with the Golden C on the side ( or some reasonable facsimile there of). That was us. That was me. That was my father and my father’s father. That was my kids.

But Cal’s marketing department has taken that away. Who wears white hats on TV? South Carolina. Penn State? Stanford? Not the Bears. We are the loyal Golden Bears. Or were.

I knew the Pac 12 would render alumni like me “quaint”, (how awful are Thursday night games, when we want to take the family out to Strawberry Canyon on crisp fall Saturday afternoons) but I was unaware that the marketing department at Cal would add to the torture.

Did they focus group that? Did the new students from out of state say “Yeah. Blue and Gold is for fuddy duddies. We’re here. We’re paying the tuition. We want white hats on the road!” We don’t know from blue!

I guess when you’ve got a student body approaching 30% out of state and foreign, traditional colors don’t carry much weight.

(Don’t worry. Cal Monthly Magazine does the same thing: Writes “California” in purple, red, green and orange—eschewing out traditional colors.)

White travel unis are ok. We get that. But hats?

Once again it is evidence of the disdain with which the University holds its traditional fan base. The demeaning of Rugby and baseball was bad enough, but now they’re just piling on.

That’s the trouble with the 21 million in TV revenue. It renders us (who were once an important financial base of the sports programs) insignificant.

If kids in Cleveland and Kuala Lumpur think Bears in white hats are kool, traditionalists be damned. They are now the market.

In the old days, when we were getting drubbed (as we did in the 2nd half), at least one could feel for those kids in the blue and gold as they fought their hardest to keep their heads above water.

Now, how can one identify with them as they lose? Without traditional colors, there is absolutely no identification or empathy factor. They’ve become faceless automatons with no connection to us.

And in days when the athletic department doesn’t have enough money for balls and bats and gymnastics, ought we to be spending $285 per helmet for a “new look.”

Here’s a cost analysis done at the University of Indiana on what it costs to outfit a College player. And don’t say Nike Pays for it. This stuff is budgeted for someplace—either in kind or out of pocket.

-Helmet: $285
- Face mask: $20
- Mouth guard: $5
- Chin strap: $10
- Shoulder pads: $350
- Game jersey: $95
- Practice jersey: $40
- T-Shirts: $24 (2 shirts @ $12/ea.)
- Gloves: $200 (8 pairs @ $25/pair)
- Game pants: $85- Practice pants: $40
- Knee brace: $1,200 (2 @ $600/ea.)
- Pant pads: $20- Hex pad girdle: $32
- Shoes: $275 (5 pairs -- 3 for practice, 2 styles for games -- @ $55/ea.)
- Socks: $50 (10 pairs @ $5/ea.)
Total: $2,731

I don’t know how accurate these numbers are, but there are 100 kids on the team, so you do the math. This extra set of helmets ran around 30 grand. Does that fit with the mission of Athletics at Cal?

Due to the austerity programs and cutbacks at Cal, wouldn’t it have been Kooler to wear last year’s unis, just to show how much money we are saving? Now that smacks of class. What a great message that would have been to the campus community.

In fact, the Ducks are so fashion consciousness, thanks to Phil Knight, we ought to wear muddy practice uniforms just to stick it to them.

(Do you know there is no dirt in Autzene? We’ve had the tour of the locker rooms ($25,000 lockers with drying racks etc.) Everything is synthetic. Big screen TV’s, lounges, you name it. t’s like playing on the moon. There is no dirt or mud anywhere.)

As to the game itself, we are who we are. What’s to say?

Last week a tall good looking guy (who was making the point that the job of coaches is to put players in positions where they can succeed) wrote (remembering the word of another Bear (Bryant) : “Remember. When it works, they (the players) did it. When it doesn’t work, we did it.”

Today Coach Tedford was quoted, “We need to coach better and put them in a better position” That was classy. I’ll setter for co-incidence, or the influence of Mars in retro-grade and the correct alignment of the stars—but whatever the reason, his was as classy statement. Attitudes like that will go a long way to moving the program forward.

The announcers had to bring up last year’s faking of injuries and mentioning (perhaps our finest assistant coach) Tod Lupoi’s involvement. Tedford got testy in the papers and said, “We’ve put it behind us.” No. We haven’t.

If I were Lupoi’s parents I’d be mad as hell at the Cal administration.

That wasn’t some rogue coach’s action. It came from the top or was known at the top, or should have been known at the top.

Harry Truman never said “The buck stops with Alben Barkley.”

If Tedford wants to put an end to it, he should exculpate Lupoi and say that ultimately he’s responsible and Lopoi should never have been thrown under the (white?) bus.

Maynard was off. He rushed throws (as he’s done all season), but at least he doesn’t take sacks.

Allen (as athletic as he is) has to stop with the one handed attempts over the middle. These guys are so big and so athletic, that they can make great one handed catches. Still, the odds are against it, and the rule once was, never one hand because you are likely to tip it up in the air, leading to an interception.

The great small receivers of the past Raymond Berry, Lance Allworth, Billy Wilson (yes they were all white and not nearly as talented as Allen) used two hands ALWAYS. Remember: There are more one handed drops than catches.

Pleased Tedford attempted a score with 35 seconds to go at the end of the first have. THAT shows some confidence in the kids. We got within field goal range but it was blocked—BTW a team which doesn’t have enough pride to prevent blocked kicks is not going to upset a lot of better teams.

The laxness in the kicking game shows a lack of attention to detail
throughout.

Glad to see that Maynard rolled on the attempted two point conversion. It was unsuccessful, but it puts pressure on the D, just like it would have last week when we were on the 2 against the Huskies.

That begs the question: If it’s good when going for two, why not when one is on the two and driving?

In sum, we are just as good as we are. We have some play makers and some studs on D. But we don’t have their speed and we are simply not in their league.

That's why, if we can't win, can't we at least have memories and tradition?

That’s why we like it that Tedford is graduating the players. We need something to point to. I still see us giving Stanford trouble. SC, I just don’t know.

Go Bears. White hats? I surrender,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

FOOTBALL INSIDE THE 20

2011-09-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

(While driving down to a game about 12 years ago I asked my 10 year old daughter, Cody, if she had a boy friend. She replied, “I’m like Tony Gonzales. I’m always open.” I couldn’t wait to hear what she’d say at 16).

The Huskie humiliation has rekindled thoughts on Tight ends, goal line offense, systems vs. athletes, and Monday morning quarterbacking in general. These thoughts are not likely to get my parking pass moved from the D lot back into the A lot with the other ESLers or ESPers or whatever we’re called.

Tired of Ray Willsey clichés? Here is a beaut: “Football is played inside the 20’s. The rest of the field is for the statisticians.” Ray liked blocking and tackling. We never had much speed back in the day, but his boys could hit. In ’68 when we ended up ranked 16th (after being as high as 7th) Ray said, “We could have gone undefeated—if only we’d played each game in a phone booth.”

Well, the game has changed. The players are bigger, faster, and much more “athletic” than the ones that suited up for Cosmic Ray. No rocket science there.

But he and all the greats knew their football. (I know lots of folks can’t understand why anyone could equate Ray with the “greats,”). However, he understood the game. He knew fundamentals. He had an amazing career coaching in the pros.

He knew what it took to win. He just couldn’t get parents of children in the 60’s to send their kids to a school filled with commie-pinko-radical-long haired-sybaritic-hedonistic-drugged out Berkeley-ites.

Sure, we kids loved Cal—but neither Midwestern conservative white parents, nor inner-city black parents who worried about their kids being far from home, were about to entrust them to anarchy inherent in the Cal experience. But I digress.

Football, in the era of wide open pass crazy “run and shoot”—spread—pistol—gattling gun—whatever they call these offensives, is probably more entertaining than it was in the grind-it-out-single wing Woody Hayes days.

Today, speed is king. (If you sense a touch of penis envy here, you’re right. I was slower than Sarah Palin on a geography quiz).

But as one nears the goal line, speed’s effectiveness gets lessened as the field gets shorter. Between the 20’s there can be a lot of pushing and shoving giving a QB time enough to turn it into a two-man game: One DB isolated against one receiver. If the throw is on target, the quicker guy wins and the other 20 players are rendered moot.

Inside the 20’s speed begins to recede in importance to brute strength, size, technique and sheer desire.

Cal is not the only team faced with this challenge. All teams, pro and college, which rely on the spread have difficulty in short yardage situations. The tight end is key down close, and chances are he isn’t even utilized as a true tight end, on the march down the field.

Tight ends don’t get the 10,000 hours they used to. Though their athleticism is greater, their skills have diminished over the years.

Modern coaches misunderstand a fundamental principle of short yardage. Slow developing plays, though providing more blockers, allow defenses to penetrate into the backfield, thus negating the advantage of “short yardage.” If you’re at the two, handing the ball off to a deep back at the five, defeats the purpose. Generally, it is better to give it to the first man through on a quick hitter, than it is to wait for a play to develop.

“Timing passes” are everyone’s favorite because when executed properly they cannot be stopped. The QB throws to a spot before the receiver has even turned around. What chance does a DB have? None. With the new rules, even a man my age could can a perfectly timed pass against a far superior DB.

The trouble with timing passes is that they tend to take away the natural advantage that an offensive receiver’s athletic ability might have over a defender.

Brady rarely threw Moss timing passes when they were inside the 20. He just put it up there and let Moss athleticism win the day.

The timed “out” to Allen failed against the Huskies, though it succeeded against the Buffs. Statistically, it will always succeed x number of times and fail y number of times.

However, if a QB rolls out of the pocket while the wide out does an “out”, he can either throw it to him, run it, throw it to another receiver, or throw it to his original target after an “adjustment”—the DB comes up fearing a run leaving the wide receiver free—or the wide receiver pivots back inside the DB towards the post.

Were you the QB, which play would you prefer?

If you were the defensive co-coordinator which play would you rather have run against you?

Timing passes aren’t wrong. They’re immensely effective. But they should be used on first or 2nd down—never on 4th.

Playing the red in roulette is always 50/50 (forgetting 0/00). But spreading the chips around gives one better odds on getting a return—albeit a smaller one. When all one needs is two yards, which way should he go?

None of us who were sitting in the end zone against SC when we had the ball on the 9 with 1:47 to go will forget that. The last play was a timing pattern to a lesser receiver who got knocked off his route. Rogers threw it to the perfect spot, but the kid wasn’t there.

Which would you rather have. Rogers throwing to a spot on 4th down, or Rogers rolling right with several options, including the run?

It’s tough. Do you go with the clever play, or the better athlete? It’s chess—and easy to 2^nd guess.

The question has already been asked why Sofeli was in the game instead of the much bigger and stronger Anderson in that short yardage situation. Coach Tedford said the DB “crashed” down the line and forced the play inside (intimating someone didn’t execute his block).

I like and respect what Tedford has done for the program, but he needs a new PR guy.

Years ago I shot a Ford commercial with Bear Bryant down in the L.A. Coliseum. In between sips of Wild Turkey, and pinching the actresses, he said, “Remember. When it works, they (the players) did it. When it doesn’t work, I did it.”

I thought that was a little stroke of genius.

How often do coaches say “we had a good plan, we just didn’t execute it well?”

Much better to say, “We (the coaches) didn’t prepare them properly.” Or “We didn’t spend enough time on goal line offense.” Or “We should have given our DB more help on their receiver.”

Remember the Buff’s coach who had the ball inside the 20 in overtime and ran four plays—only one of them to Richardson, who was having a career day? And he threw it to the left, far side, though most of his success had been to right, near side?

That was an example of a coach who likes his system more than his athletes. Think Walsh used Rice as a decoy on crucial plays?

Anyway, it’s all Monday morning quarterbacking—what we old curmudgeons do instead of drinking ourselves to death after yet another loss of a game we could have won. Why we want to still win so badly is a mystery. It’s habit. One none of us seem able to kick.

Speaking of kicking: St. Helena High’s star soccer player, Manual Gomes, in his first football game ever last week, missed a 52 yard field goal. Pulled it, but it had the distance. Due to a penalty, he then made a 47 yarder. I don’t know why that interests me, but it does.

(Stop by for a glass of Cab (or two) if you get up this way).

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

BEARS DARN STOCKINGS—HOSE, HOSE.

2011-09-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

What’s the difference between Barely There and Blue Hose? Barley There has more runs. Rim shot--shigga boom! (Ask your spouse. She’ll explain).

I thought of boycotting the game against tiny Presbyterian College (the infamous "Blue Hose") but I was curious: Would we take any penalties or opt to forgive them their trespasses? Would we be talking about very close gains or vericose veins? Do Hosers say they are going to the gam or going to the game?

It was a totally schizoid day. The weather was perfect—the opponent not. The Bears were hot—the beer was cold. Big win for Jeff Tedford—big loss for College football. Bears played clean—fans felt dirty.

By the fourth quarter, there were so few people left that instead of “Hail to California,” the band played “Tea for One.”

Arrived late at George and Janet’s “Tailgate” on the 5^th floor of the coolest five story building in SF. Even the Chron’s (Bear & classmate) Bruce Jenkins raved about the view from the terrace in his post game column.

Late due to a funeral for one of the last real farmers in the Napa Valley. It was a tribute to authenticity, neighborliness and a bygone farming culture.

Andy Smith would have been right at home and understood every word.

Went to meet other friends for a Tailgate in parking lot “A”—where those of us who have ESL’s or ESP or ESPN or whatever those ticket things are called were sent passes with our season tix.

It wasn’t until I noticed that I was in Lot “D” that I realized the Administration is still reading “A Cal Fan’s Notes.”

If there’s a better ball park in America we haven’t seen it.

It was Golden Bear, Doug Shorenstein’s dad, Walter, who saved the Giants and set the stage for St. Helena’s Peter Magowan et al (ok SF claims him too) to build the most fan friendly venue in the land.

(Bear, Larry Baer is taking over after the Giants Spring which ousted Bill Neukom in a bloodless coup d’etat). As my new garbage man, Muammar Gaddafi opined, “As they say in baseball, Payback’s a pitch.” (Or something like that—he has an accent). Guess he heard about the parking pass.

Former Bear, Baer made some phone calls during the re-institution of Baseball—but I digress.

Like mis-matched socks, mis-matched teams are in Serena’s words “Unattractive inside—and out.” Some people spent too much time praying with themselves.

All the Colleges are doing it—hoping to get to 6 wins in order to go to a Bowl Game wherein the University will spend more money than they are paid for going there.

Though my kids were never allowed to use the word, I will: “It sucks.”

Playing a school with 1200 kids (that’s only 1166 more than we have coaches and “staff”—check out the team pic) is (to quote another Golden Bear) “Inherently unequal.” I assume the winner goes up against the IFC intramural champs in a flag football phantasma (on a neutral site of course).

Yes, it was thrilling to see Bigelow return the 2^nd half kickoff 88 yards for a score, but was it right? Catching on to the schizophrenia?

And what about the kid? As an athlete wouldn’t he have rather broken in against an SEC opponent or (dropping the “E”) SC?

Athletes only want to compete against the best because only the best brings out the best in them. (See Jessee Owen’s article about competing in the ’36 Olympics against Luz Long on that one).

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22198/53607-brother-luz-told-jesse-owens

We were thrilled that Coach Tedford surpassed Andy Smith. We remember well the audaciousness of the first play of his first game against Baylor—double pass to a Freshman for a Touch Down.

We loved how he boldly volunteered to play a ranked team, Kansas State, on the road in some special “Summer” Bowl to open up the ’03 season. And had that thrilling win over Virgenia Tech. He had challenged the program to excel—and radically changed the culture at Cal.

He richly deserved his two Pac 10 Coach of the year awards.

We will never forget how Mac Brown unjustly conned him out of the ’05 Rose Bowl game. We are grateful that he’s brought sellout crowds to Memorial Stadium. And like Andy Smith who was the impetus for moving the Stadium from down near Hearst Gym, to Strawberry Canyon. Coach Tedford is the raison d’ etre for the new High Performance Center and new Stadium as well.

He’s proved loyal. He could have left many times over for greener pastures and fewer tree sitters.

Most important, He graduates his kids and the program looks to be clean, though in the sordid world of College Football today, who knows what that means—but to some of us it’s vitally important.

His teary eyes and humility were both touching and genuine.

Jeff deserved to enter history with a victory over SC, Ohio State, Tennessee or even Standford State. I remember how Ray Willsey hated to play San Jose State (with apologies to their outstanding alumni and my friends) Ray just felt they weren’t in our league—then they went and beat us in ’66.

This is grating because my entire argument regarding the Rugby/Baseball debacle was that we should help Rugby to save Cal—not the other way around.

The argument is built upon two great lines—one from a poem and one from Andy Smith:

To Wit:

“You don’t go down with a short hard fall you just sort of shuffle along,

Till you lighten your load with the moral code, till you can’t tell right from wrong.”

And Andy Smith’s admonition which is carved on the back of the bench in Memorial Stadium,

“It is far better to lose than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal.”

The contention was that the Chancellor’s approach to lowering the bar at Cal, academically and admissions-wise (all money driven) and the administration’s decision to punish Rugby, rather than reward and celebrate excellence was yet another marker in the continued dumbing down of the school we all love so much.

Scheduling teams whose student bodies are barely bigger than just our men’s and women’s sports programs, further erodes of our character and mission.

That others do it? Just because the other kids get to stay out past midnight doesn’t mean our kids can.

The argument was that everyone would get a chance to play. I don’t know. The first team played the entire first half and we were up 49 to 12. Glad I’m not a parent of any of those 2^nd and 3^rd stringers.

The game is supposed to be student-centric—not TV-centric. This entire Pac 27 (or whatever we are going to be) is going to be a disaster for kids.

The endless pursuit of lucre is changing our focus and will surely hurt the ones who are supposed to benefit the most—the children.

As to the game and armchair observations it’s probably best if we wait until next week against the Huskies—when we get away from flag and get back to tackle football.

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

ROCKIE MOUNTAIN HIGH (AND LOWS)

2011-09-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Thoughts from an itinerant fan the week after a great win in Colorado and before we play the Presbyterian Blue Hose (One assumes the only reason we didn’t schedule Pippy Long Stockings is that she had a prior commitment).

Before Amtrak descends into the City of Denver the last tunnel you pass through is two miles long. It’s a metaphor for being a Cal fan. You have no idea where you’re going, why you’re doing it, when you will get there, and you’re left completely in the dark wondering why you decided to take this route in the first place.

“Country” an ardent Buff’s fan, from Stone Gap, Virginia meets me at the station. Stone Gap? It’s at the westernmost point in the state. “Y’all can stahy-and with one foot in Virgin-ya, one foot in Tan-nass-see, and pah-eiss on Kentucky.”

He knows his football.

More than that he and Connie know tailgating. We’re talking gas grills, tents, tables, chairs, flowers, steaks marinated all night, hors d'oeuvres up the wazoo and maybe a beer or two—or three—that is if you’ve finished your Bloody Mary.

RG had a Cal Tailgate going just outside Folsom Stadium as well. LOTS of Bears have kids who’ve attended Colorado so there is much camaraderie. The annual tailgate trophy was presented (we’ve got photographic proof), though I have no idea what the trophy is for or how one wins it.

Day started off poorly, however with an e-mail from Jennifer Kapp that Will wouldn’t be playing due to a concussion. Can’t tell you what a thrill it is to watch a kid play, knowing that you watched his father play three years (when you were a kid) and actually got his Chin Strap in the tunnel after the ’58 Big Game (when Patton and Hart stopped Skip Face from scoring a two point conversion—sending Kapp and the boys to the ’59 Rose Bowl against Randy Duncan and Iowa).

Everyone wants to get into the stadium in time to see Ralphie the Buffalo run around the field. That mean, tough looking Buffalo sprinting furiously around the field is actually a chick. Besides, after as few beers, she was kinda cute.

Wikipedia describes it thusly: The team of "Ralphie Runners," who are varsity student-athletes, run Ralphie around Folsom Field in a horse shoe pattern before each half of each home game. It takes five Ralphie Handlers to run her around the field: two up front on each side to steer her around the field, two in the back on each side to help guide her, and one in far back to control her speed, called the "loop" position. Ralphie can reach speeds of 25 miles per hour

Must admit it’s awfully dramatic and gets the adrenalin going.

(BTW What Wikipedia doesn’t tell you we learned from one of RG’s pals who was an original handler of Ralphie I back in the late 60’s. Apparently the guys were drinking so much and running so much that they were constantly puking—“Ralphing” as we called it back then. So they named her “Ralphie.” As Casey Stengel used to say, “Ya’ kin look it up.”)

Between the beers and buffalos a football game broke out. And what a game it was.

I’ll leave it to others to get the stats right and the meat and potatoes of what happened. But here are a few random thoughts:

HOW GOOD ARE WE? Maybe the most interesting thing that happened, (Next to Zach Maynard’s game winning toss to Bro Allen), however, might have been that Fresno State scored 29 against Nebraska and actually led at half-time. We manhandled the Bull Dogs.

Nahhhh! We can’t be in Nebraska’s league (though they may try to join ours), but it does make for some fun tailgate talk.

DOES STANFORD STATE HAVE THE BEST QB IN THE BAY AREA? (ok. It is disingenuous to compare Maynard to Luck after two games against two (probably) inferior teams, but Napa’s Kevin Crossland hired Zach Maynard two summers ago (Coach Andy was trying to get alumni to hire these kids for $15 bucks an hour just to do yard work, move furniture, paint—whatever), and told me back then that the kid has what it takes and would become the starter.

I was skeptical, but clearly Croz saw what we’re all seeing—the composure, leadership, and gun slinging swagger (not to be confused with cockiness) that is simply willing Cal to win all by himself.

Wins over the Bull Dogs and Buffs does not a great team make—but ……….

BACK TO BASICS: Remember (I’m going to write this every week) Ray Willsey’s redundant admonition “Stress the kicking game for there the breaks are made."

How important was that first blocked extra point? Buffs send it into overtime with a gimmie field goal. And they knew that they had that for the last 4 plays, allowing them to try things they might not have had they known they needed to score a TD.

ET TU BRUTE: “I come to praise Marc Anthony, not to bury him.” (Or did Marc Antony say that about Caesar?) Before folks bury him for being unable to cover Richardson one on one, someone ought to check out the defensive scheme.

We put no pressure on Hansen and he had a career day. The best explanation I heard for that was that they are a great “screening” team so we didn’t want to blitz line backers, but, yikes: Hawaii sacked him 7 times.

Thee and me could have gained 284 yards working alone against any DB when a QB has that much time.

My guess is that Anthony comes back big. Anyone remember a kid named Syd'Quan Thompson against Tennessee a few years back?

Before you blame the kid, check the scheme.

DEFENSE ANYONE? D stepped up Big in overtime, though Buff coach made the classic coaching mistake—helping us out immensely. Richardson had treated Marc Anthony, the way Burton had treated Liz Taylor. He was having his way with him, doing whatever he pleased.

Then on their last series, Richardson was out on first down. He came back in on 2^nd down, but they didn’t throw to him. On 3^rd down he lined up on the left side, away from Anthony. The long cross field pass was errant and Williams actually should have intercepted.

In other words, Coach Jon Embree got too cute. He outthought himself. He should have lined Richardson up against Antony, and gone mano a mano and see who won—3 plays in a row.

Certain coaches do this often. They like their system better than their players. Others realize that if you have Jerry Rice—that’s whose getting the ball in go-to situations.

DROPS AND PROPS: Tight end play was like marriage. It was the Agony and the Ecstasy all wrapped up in one. Some drops, then two TD’s, one in which Miller Carried the kid into the end zone, as though he were an accordion grinder’s monkey on his back.

RUNNING FROM THE RUN: One thing I can’t figure. Can we run? Not once did we run three plays in a row—except in the 4^th quarter, and on the 3^rd play Anderson took it in for a 19 yard TD.

This is a blatant “trend” in our offense. If we get stopped for little or no gain on first down, it’s ALWAYS a pass next play. If that is incomplete—it’s NEVER a run on third down. Ergo: Defenses know with 90% certainty whether we are going to run or pass. This has been going on for years.

ROCKIE MOUNTAIN LOW: Leaving Sunday morning (September 11^th) was just creepy. Going to the airport. Being in the airport. I wasn’t afraid of nefarious activity it just brought up images I didn’t care to think about.

My friend, Dick Cawley went down over Lockerbie on Flight 103.

Mark Bingham was a rugger and an American hero. I met him, but never knew him. How many thousands of lives were saved because he (or one of his fellow passengers) shouted, “Let’s roll.”

I never knew Brent Woodall, but saw him play. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all their family members. They were great, great golden Bears—in every aspect of the word.

CHOO CHOOING TO COLORADO

2011-09-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

I’m a sucker for trains. Ok. As a Cal fan, I’m a sucker for a lot of things. For example, when I play poker, I can never figure out which one of the other players is the pigeon.

Speaking of suckers, we even paid 75 smackeroos (think I was so stupid I’d pay 95?—I’m nobody’s fool) to sit in upper deck (corner of the endzone), to attend the Cal/Fresno State shoot out—ooh—bad word for Candlestick Park.

So Wednesday morning at 9am I boarded the Chicago Zephyr for Denver in the hopes that I would arrive in Boulder by at least the Second half on Saturday. It was scheduled to arrive Thursday night.

I last rode Amtrak to watch Cal blow one to Maryland. I came away with two truisms from that experience.

NEVER fly to the east coast the Friday before a noon (9am California time) Saturday game. And before you praise Obama Care, ride Amtrak to see what it is like when the government attempts to deliver a service.

That 4 day trip (scheduled to be 3 days) featured the rudest, meanest railroad workers I had ever met. (Are they lucky Wisconsin Governor, Scot Walker wasn’t on board).

The classic was when I was standing behind a women who was waiting to be seated for breakfast. The porter shouted at her, “Sit here. “

“Where?” she said.

“Here!” he shouted louder.

“Are you pointing?” she said.

“Yes I am. Are you DEAF!” He shouted back.

“No.” She said quietly. “I’m Blind.”

She was. She had a red tipped cane, which she had folded up. This actually happened. Folks have a different attitude about their jobs when they can’t get fired. But I digress.

Boarding a train in Emeryville is like reading Sandburg’s “Chicago.” “Hog Butcher to the world” comes to mind as one glides out through the old industrial areas of the east Bay. Graffiti mars the underpasses and rusted pipes, abandoned wharfs and cyclone fences escort us through what was once a thriving industrial section of the Bay.

I don’t know what makes me more excited--the fact that I’m glimpsing a part of the Bay which Jack London once knew, or the fact that I can suck down a bloody Mary at 9:30 with no one busting my chops.

We pass a forgotten forest of Eucalypti (planted that we’d have enough wood for railroad ties, no less), and see tankers pulling up to the pipes which connect like clogged arteries back to the refinery.

Green waters and more rotted wharfs mark our entrance to Martinez, where one can think of only one word: Dimaggio.

The grandeur of the Carquinez Bridge is awesome. The grace and sweep of the second span is awe inspiring. I get dizzy as we pass under.

Soon we are crossing the longest train trestle west of the Mississippi as we look Eastward at the boat Graveyard as thoughts of heroic 19 year old sailors, whose courage we will never comprehend, waft through one’s mind and the awesomeness of the Greatest Generation comes once again to the fore.

As one slowly chugs up the 2.5% grade into the Sierra’s (2.5 feet for every 100 feet, we are told), Memories of The Bear/ Bull Dog shoot out (there I go again) emerge.

Zach Maynard: The real deal. He is taller than the game itself. Missed on some passes, but threw early almost every time. Most young QB’s hang on to the ball to long. If he stays injury free, Big Game could be one for the ages.

Kicking: First PAT low and blocked. 2^nd, simply blocked. Angle (the punter) running right and kicking rugby style (which is cool, but didn’t work) to avoid the fearsome rush.

How Ray Wilsey used to bore us with his redundant, redundant, redundant iteration: “Stress the kicking game—for there the breaks are made.” Was there ever a single kick blocked during his tenure?

FreshmanOLB #40 Chris McCain. Didn’t make a play, but started the second half when the game was still close 19-14. That tells you something. 6’6” and 233 he looks like Ted Hendricks and he’s got that “thang” which makes a player a player. Watch him.

Keenan Allen: Dropped a 3^rd down gimmie, and long pass completed to him down near goal line called back due to penalty. The Bros will complete some loooooooooong throws, before this year is out.

O line: Criticized in paper, but appeared to open some holes which Sofeli missed. Run game could be good over time.

D-Backs appeared athletic and there was one crushing hit. Hard to tell.

Candlestick Park was not a great Cal day experience. You know you’re not at Strawberry Canyon when a uniformed Cop pedals by on his bike through the parking lot, and rings a little bell (yes just like the ones we had has kids on the handlebars), to move folks aside to let traffic through.

Odd Venue. . Maybe they were trying to make the stadium balanced but it didn’t work. Cal Band all alone in North End Zone. Fresno Band in South End Zone. Cal spirit group in upper deck above Fresno Band. Cheer leaders at 10 yard line at Northwest section. Spread out. No spirit.

We like to be with one another, not spread out: That’s code for old guys like to point out young chicks to one another—pretending to talk football.

No one I asked, Administrators, donors or fans seemed to know how guarantee worked.

One plan was to charge out of state students and foreign students three times the ticket price we paid. I assume it was successful.

There was talk that we needed to sell 10,,000 tix or wouldn’t get the Million Dollar Guarantee. . So did we buy up the last thou or so? Did we lose money, or did we just not make as much as we had hoped? Inquiring minds want to know.

Clearly there were more Bull Dogs than Bears present. That’s what happens when a brand gets damaged.

As the athletic department is learning, rebuilding a brand is a lot more difficult than destroying it with the sports cut boondoggle.

However, wins will go a long way towards repairing that damage.

Will we win?

Well if Charlie Crocker and Theodore Judah with the aid of hard working Chinese and Irish laborers could blast tunnels through pure granite, just so Old Blues like moi can ride through them on an iron horse, anything is possible—at least this early in the season.

Old Blues are nothing if not faithful. If it’s true that “Had ye the faith of a mustard seed you could move mountains,” imagine how we might rock in Bolder!

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

P.S. Attendants on this trip were much more polite before. I wonder if that is because the majority of them were women this time?

Girding One's Loins for Fresno State

2011-09-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Imagine taking this quiz just a few years ago?

Which Statement is ludicrously false and could never happen to a major University with a proud (if modestly successful) football tradition:

A). Cal will open its 2011 season, not in Strawberry Canyon, but in Candlestick Park.
B). Cal will play Fresno State.
C). Kick off will be at 4pm.
D). Presbyterian College will also be on the schedule
E). Due to a TV contract, Cal will play SC on a Thursday night
F). The Athletic Department will send a letter begging for ticket buyers to support the Bears against the Bull Dogs, but will not send a letter asking for donations for Rugby or Baseball which they have unilaterally decided to cut
G). All of the above.

This isn’t your father’s Golden Bear program. And certainly not your father’s University.

But maybe that is how it should be. The world is changing and perhaps Cal has to change with it---or not.

I can’t speak for others regarding why they love the Golden Bears or why they cherish those Saturday afternoon games in Memorial Stadium.

Back in a Universe, far, far away, before we ran out through that tunnel for our first Freshman game, Truck Cullom would tell us the story of the legendary Andy Smith and how his ashes are scattered on that field. We were considered lucky and felt honored to represent such an outstanding school with such a rich heritage.

Few of us were thinking agents and ESPN top 10 plays didn’t exist.

Though we wanted to win every game—all games shrank to insignificance under the shadow of The Big Game.

Though we were rarely a force on the national college football landscape, we could occasionally contend for a Rose Bowl birth and we developed an uncanny psychosis which made Polly Anna look like Torquemada.

As fans, so severe was our detachment from reality that we could stand at the North End of the Stadium and shout in ecstasy after the late, great John Erby shouted “I smell roses,”—following a defeat of San Jose State. We would not win another game that year. Yet after losing the Big Game we turned to one another and dutifully said, “Wait ‘till next year.” Worse, we believed it.

Of course, in 1962 rather than Presbyterian College, Fresno, and Colorado, our non conference games were against Missouri, Pittsburgh, Duke (when they were a powerhouse with All American JayWilkenson—Bud’s kid), Pen State and Kansas. Only Kansas scored over 30 points--the rest of the games we were competitive.

We viewed our mission differently back then. It wasn’t considered honorable to play lower division schools. Oh we weren’t biased against Religious schools. Ray Willsey didn’t shy away from laying home and home against Catholics--like Notre Dame.

(Maybe a mismatch on the gridiron, but not as much of a mis-match as when they played us in Rugby and Threbes, Harry, Botch, Dzura, Igor and the boys trounced them (if memory serves) 45 to 3(someone will correct the score)--the equivalent of winning around 90 to 6 in Football).

Today, it’s about playing cream puffs (though the Bull Dogs could give a rude awakening to the Bears. They have a great program, but we have so many more resources regarding recruiting, it should be no contest—yet we may get battered).

In the hopes of padding schedules to get into Bowl Games—the majority of which lose money for the University—but that’s another story (Read Death to the BCS by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan for the details) we are actively looking for teams we think we can beat.

Cal is not alone in this. The SEC schools and Big Ten have been going the non-conference cream puff route as well. It’s just that in the old days it was fun to be “different.” It was never the "Cal Way." We prided ourselves on that.

Tedford gets high marks for filling the stadium, leading the drive for the High Performance Center, and getting the money for the new Stadium. Apparently the academic side is on the upswing as well.

And Larry Scott pulled off the most lucrative TV contract in the country for the new Pac 12--netting over 20 mil per school. per year.

They’ve both done what they were hired to do and deserve credit.

It’s just that Luddites like some of us have a different view. We love college football because we love Cal. We want to win in the worst way and pray for a Rose Bowl before we die—which can’t come too soon for some of us.

It’s just at what cost?

I don’t count, because St. Helena is an hour and a half from Cal. So I’m prejudiced. I love waking up on Saturday morning, slooooooooowly reading the Green Sheet, eating breakfast, packing the cooler and driving down through the oranges, reds, purples, and yellows of fall’s changing vineyards.

I go to see my friends and run into others I haven’t seen in years. Tailgating is a sacred joy. I revel over friends’ kids playing—still upset Mooch didn’t give Drew Bennett a shot—and am thrilled that Kapp’s kid may start this Saturday.

Since many of us are married, Saturday in Memorial Stadium is the only day of the week when our opinions count.

We love “talking football.” There’s not a thing we don’t know and a thing we couldn’t do better than any coach or any player in the country. It’s what “fandom” is all about.

We are second guessers and inveterate armchair quarterbacks.

We know we should have run when the coach chose to pass, and verse visa (which is vice versa, vice versa). We always go for it on 4th and short—unless the coach does—then, if we don’t make it—we blame him for gambling unnecessarily.

We never “settle” for a field goal when a TD is remotely possible. If we do assent to a field goal, we wouldn’t hook a gimmie to the left or push it to the right—ever!

All of our kick offs go into the end zone, and in five decades of fandom, never once have we missed an open field tackle.

We know how to score in the red zone, when to go to the tight end, and when a draw play is called for. It is gospel to us that If only we’d run a reverse, we’d score every time. We know exactly when to blitz and would never get called for a holding penalty on a crucial down.

If only the coaches and the players were as smart as us we would never lose.

This is why we are fans. We like each other and listen to each other, even though no one else does or will.

We’ll be at Candlestick on Saturday, awkwardly talking on cell phones trying to find our Buds (or drink them) for tailgating. No idea where we’re sitting. Even if it’s on the 50, no place is as good as the top of CC on the west side where one has the perfect angle to watch the holes open up, check the secondary, and between plays gaze at the awe inspiring view of the Golden Gate.

Saturday football doesn’t get any better than that.

It is true that the administration has made it difficult for us to love Cal. The way they treated donors, alumni and fans has been a turn off to many. Cutting sports without allowing us to save them was—if not mean—certainly misguided.

But like that year we only won one game, we keep coming back for more. Remember, we are not “Golden Bears.” The operative word is “Loyal” Golden Bears.

We are different than the Trojans and the Indians. No one calls them “Loyal” Trojans, or “Loyal” Stanford Indidans (or whatever they go by these days).

Like Job, yearly we are tested. Unlike Job (many mistake the book BTW) we don’t give up. We hang in and (so far) take what is dished out and keep coming back for more.

Mixing biblical metaphors, will we ever see the promised land—er Rose Bowl? Qien Sabes?

Is it more important that we reach a BCS Bowl or that we have a great Saturday, with a 1pm kick off, tailgating and mingling with friends?

At one time (minus a few “Time is Time” Speedy Thomas’s) we had pretensions to being a school of student athletes. That may still be the case. But remember: Every time they say the new TV package is good for "exposure," that is code for saying some Manchild, inner City Kid might be willing to come to Cal because he sees us on TV.

If the kid is a true “student-athlete,” it’s worth it. If the kid is a stud who will get us to the BCS but cares not a whit about Andy Smith or Cal—well, you be the judge.

And if the Bull Dogs have us for lunch, we can always say, "Wait 'till next year." Or better yet, "Wait 'tll Presbyterian!" It's only two weeks away.

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

P.S, Notice the lack of a faceguard on Ricter's helmet. Fewer concussions in those days because players tackled with their shoulders, not their helmet--leading with the faceguard.

CAL. WHERE ARE YOUR NATIVE SONS AND DAUGHTERS?

2011-07-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

The State Legislature seems poised to cut more funding from The University of California system, which will almost certainly cause another rise in tuition.

Legislator bashing is the latest indoor sport at Cal this year. Talk to any dean or faculty member and they will tell you that the California State Legislature is eviscerating the University of California by instituting draconian budget cuts. The cuts are draconian, but the blame is misplaced.

Presumably the legislature reflects the will of the people of the State of California. The question then becomes, “Why aren’t citizens of this state demanding that their legislature comes up with the money to adequately fund our UC system?”

I submit that the fault lies with the University, and its departure from its charter as a Land Grant University, and more specifically its departure from the California Master Plan for education (completed in 1960 under the direction of the revered Clark Kerr).

Clark Kerr’s stated goal was to balance the “competing demands of fostering excellence and guaranteeing educational access for all.”

Since I know it best, I will focus on Cal, but the crisis holds true for the entire University system.

My grandfather graduated from Cal in 1912. My parents graduated from there during the War and I graduated in 1970. Recently, my three kids did likewise. I bow to no man in my love for Cal. As a family, we are the classic example of all that is great about California Public education.

Each generation got a world class education and was able to obtain a higher standard of living than the previous one. (The jury is still out on whether my children will do better than my generation did).

When my youngest graduated in 2009, there was palpable evidence in the Greek Theater that somehow Cal had gotten off course, vis a vis its mission as far as taxpaying citizens are concerned.

Despite dozens of banners flying, there was not one American Flag, nor was there the California State flag.

Three major speakers addressed us. One was a Dean with a stentorian British accent. Another was a woman with a beautiful French accent. Robert Reich, from New Jersey, gave the keynote address.

Chancellor Birgeneau is from Canada and the student speaker (they don’t have a “valedictorian” in the traditional sense), was born in New Delhi, and lives in Ottawa, Canada. She was sensational, frankly as were all the speakers.

But it interested me that there was not a California Driver’s license among the lot of them.

We’re not talking skin color here. And this is not about Xenophobia.

Most of us support Cal’s embracing of diversity, but my guess is most of the State’s citizen’s want it based on merit, not simply pigmentation.

Chancellor Birgeneau has often boasted that over 40% of Cal’s students have at least one parent who was born in a foreign country.

He is actively recruiting out of state and foreign students because they pay over $33,000 in tuition as opposed to around $12,000 for in State students. Roughly a third of this year’s entering Cal freshman class will be out of state or foreign.

Each time a wealthy kid from Texas or New York is admitted, a deserving Asian, Latino, or African American from California is denied.

To add insult to injury, the University is adapting a new admissions plan which overrides the Master Plan’s goal of “Admitting the top 12.5%” of all High School students.

Under the new guidelines the top 9% of every high school senior class in the state will be admitted to at least one campus. This means students from under-performing schools with a B average and below 1500 SAT scores, but who are in the top 9% of their graduating class will be admitted ahead of students with an A average and above 2000 in the SAT’s who attended a more difficult school, but weren’t in their class’ top 9%.

Imagine a Latino kid with a 4.0 gpa and 2000 on his SAT’s who attends St. Helena, Acalanes or Lowell high school, being denied admission so that another kid at an underperforming school can be admitted with a 3.0 average and 1400 on his SAT’s?

This dumbing down of the campii is grossly unfair to those children who are working hard and deserve to get in.

Tax payers are being asked to subsidize the education of foreign students, underperforming minorities, out of state students, even children here illegally. Is it any wonder they don’t demand that more of their tax dollars go to higher education?

We are a generous people. We are willing to pay for an educational system that rewards merit and is California-centric. This is not about Xenophobia or racism. It’s about the ability to send our own children (of whatever color) to an institution we, the tax payers, are funding.

When the UC system is returned to the citizens of California and not a place which displaces tax payers’ children in favor of foreign born or out of state students, then and only then will the citizens of this state demand that their representatives fund an educational system that is built to satisfy their needs, desires and aspirations. Cal abandoned its own people. Is it any wonder they’ve abandoned Cal?

WHY CAL SPORTS WERE RE-INSTATED

2011-05-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

Back on September 28^th when Cal announced it would cut five sports and demote the poster child for Varsity excellence, Rugby, to a club sport--my favorite author wrote:

“They say we are running a deficit of $10,000,000 to $13,000,000. They want to get down to $5,000,000 by 2014. So we have to save $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 million.

Well let’s see. Larry Scott, the new president of the Pac 12 is on record as saying that the new TV contract should be north of $100,000,000. I’ve heard (this is unverified) that the current one is $70,000,000 and some expect to double it to $140,000,000. That comes to around $9,000,000 to $12,000,000 per school.

The vaunted championship game (two divisions of six teams—another thing which goes against our grain, but what can we do about it?), will generate around $10,000,000 or about $1,000,000 per school.

Seems to me the creation of the Pac 12 takes care of the Chancellor’s request to save $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 million with another $5,000,000 or so to spare.

Won’t the new Stadium increase revenues? If not, why are we building it?

So what is really going on?”

Here’s an except from College Hotline, today May 3, 2011:

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2011/05/03/pac-12-tv-deal-the-details/

ESPN and Fox will be co-rightsholders.

* Games will be shown on Fox, ABC, FX, Fox Sports Net, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.
* The contract includes the Pac-12 football championship game, which will be shown alternately on Fox and ABC.

* The deal is worth approx $3 billion … or approx $250 million per year … or approx $21 million per school per year.

* The deal starts in 2012-13 and covers 12 years.

* The league will form its own network — and be the sole owner (unlike Big Ten Network partnership with Fox).

* The conference will also create a digital channel, like ESPN3.

* The conference is expected to formally announce the deal Wednesday in Phoenix, where it’s holding its annual spring meetings.

I want to publically apologize to all loyal Golden Bears who have no life and actually read these screeds.

Once again I was wrong. I was guessing—anticipating what appeared to be a “conservative” outcome. Mea Culpa. Please forgive me.

That tall handsome guy also wrote:

"We needn’t point fingers nor cast blame. These are good, hardworking people. Under financial stress good people can make bad decisions. It doesn’t make them bad people.

Who among us hasn’t made a short sighted, unsound decision during financial duress? Does using the equity in one’s house as an ATM card, because “This market is different” ring a bell?

Why don’t we just fix it without pointing fingers?

First: What’s the real problem?

My grandfather used to recite a poem that contained these lines:

“You don't go down with a hard, short fall; you just sort of shuffle along,
And lighten your load of the moral code, till you can't tell the right from the wrong."

That’s what we fear is happening at Cal today. That we are taking a slippery slope towards mediocrity and no one is telling the Golden Bear he has no clothes.

This has been going on for decades. The pursuit of money is clouding our thinking. You can't lose your moral compass in one area and retain it in another.

A former administrator and good friend of mind is telling folks that, as a Former Trustee, it is disloyal and “not constructive” for me to criticize the University we all love.

From my Grandfather’s graduation in 1912 to when my dad played for Doc in the 40’s, till I played for him in the 60’s, to the time my youngest graduated in 2008, we have never NOT supported Cal. If those of us who have proven our loyalty through our pocket books and our devotion are not allowed to speak up and dissent, who is?

Sometimes support comes in the form of pointing out painful truths.

Sometimes that dress does make your butt look big.

It’s part of the code: “Friends don’t let friends wear Speedos.”

And this “Speedo” is truly ugly.

Failing to recognize Rugby for its pursuit of excellence and rewarding it appropriately is another sign of degrading the values we all used to hold dear…..

,,,,,What puzzles us the most, is why weren’t we alumni allowed to help? Those administrators involved will tell you’ve they’ve been working on this for 18 months. The question another friend posed is: “Why didn’t you do like a judge does in court and say, ‘this is the way I’m leaning. You’ve got 60 days to change my mind?’”

We were never included in the discussion. The Chancellor’s own committee recommended that the University give benchmarks and time tables to the various sports in an attempt to save the $4,000,000 in question by 2014. Why was that not done?

It’s another sign of descending into mediocrity.

Another line from “The Lure of the Tropics” goes like this:

“I started off to be honest, with everything on the square,
But a man can't fool with the Golden Rule in a crowd that won't play fair.
It's a choice of riding a dirty race, or of being an also ran,
My only hope was to steal and dope the horse of the other man.”

We haven’t played fair with the university. We handcuffed them. We demanded excellence without providing the financial support necessary to achieve it. We, the people of California, didn’t give them the funds. We Alumni didn’t give them the funds to support the sports we cherish. They erred in not giving us the opportunity (though it was one of the Committee’s recommendations) to help them out of this mess.

Hopefully, We’ve both learned a lesson.

Now all we want is the opportunity to make it right. I’m sure all five sports will step up to the plate (if they don’t, fair enough) but Rugby for one is prepared to fund itself and promote Women’s rugby was well."

We can all applaud the Chancellor’s decision to cut back the University’s financial commitment to sports.

These are tough times. Education comes first. We support responsible budgeting and financial practices.

Cal told us they took a year an a half to arrive at the decisions they did. I don’t doubt it. But how could they not figure in the potential gains from this contract? How could they not include the alumni?

I have over 500 e-mails to back that up. I have no idea how many e-mails both the Chancellor and the
Athletic Director received.

However, I’m arrogant enough to believe that the hundreds, perhaps thousands of e-mails the administration received played a huge part.

Now all sports are back. In another Cal Fan’s Notes we (The Tape Worm and I) will address how we got there.

So, if you love Cal, don’t be strangers. Continue to let them know what you think. It has an impact! As (my favorite author wrote in the first week) “Help Rugby to save Cal.” We are on a track driven by money which is dumbing down the U. We are way up in foreign students, and out of state students because they pay more than in-state students. We’re now (against the going to admit the top 9% of any high school—qualified or not—in the State. That means an Hispanic kid who is in the top 30 percent at Acalanes or St. Helena—won’t get in because another Hispanic in Fresno got in because he was in the top 9% of his class, and maybe read one book in his entire life.

California Tax payers (and their children) are getting royally screwed. I’ll address that next time.

For now, let’s follow Lincoln in his second Inaugural Address. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up theUNIVERSITY’S wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all ALUMNI AND ADMINISTRATORS.”

Don’t forget. This is all about Andy Smith. (BTW this pic is me and Pappy,, not Andy Smith, but he loved Coach Smith). It’s engraved on the back of the Bench in Memorial Stadium:

“Winning is not everything; it is far better to play the game squarely and lose than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal."

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

BOB ALBO: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

2011-03-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

The poster child for character was Sir Thomas More. Henry the VIII cut off his head because Sir Thomas More refused to grant a divorce from Kathrine of Aragon--that he might marry Anne Boleyn. He was imortalized in Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons."

We said good bye to a modern day Sir Thomas on Sunday.

No one has ever forgotten the first time he shook hands with Bob Albo. Albo’s grip was as strong as his smile was wide. You had the sense of what it must have been liked to shake hands with the rail splitting Abe Lincoln.

If memory serves (highly unlikely) he first bruised my hand at the Lair of the Bear in 1967. A 20 year old Staffer, I was Pine Toxxing toilets and washing dishes (did we wash our hands in between?) and he had brought Marge and the kids up for 7^th week along with the Culloms, Ricksen twins, Ditzlers, Maynes, Najerians, Tucks, Blues Rogers et al.

It was a week to remember—and savor.

Mosher, Olsen, Forbes, I and others were revved up for the intense camper staff Volley Ball and Softball games. (Fortunately, there was no camper staff basketball). As the last one to captain both the basketball and baseball teams in as single year, I’m not sure anyone of us wanted to challenge that giant for position under the boards.

Like Bluto, in the Popeye cartoons, Bob’s face sported a perpetual shadow. The huge grin softened it. I remember being amazed that an old man like that (I now realize he was only 13 years older than me) could hit a baseball so far.

With an upright stance like Will Clark, and no wasted motion, he pounded the ball to the far reaches of center field. (We had a short porch in right and he could have easily reached the trees, but he never pulled it, instinctively knowing that, that would be unsporting). We were to learn that integrity was his middle name.

Bob had played Basketball with the Ricksens, Baseball for George Wolfman, and though no one (save Rupe and John) could keep up with NCAA doubles champs, Mayne and Diztler, Albo could hold his own on the tennis court as well.

When my kids were down at John Gardner's Tennis camp the Camp Doctor? Bob Albo--he loved that he was friends with Maggie and Jim Pop and was now taking care of their grandchildren.

He was a favorite of Dr. John Najerian ( who before he went off to fame as a kidney transplant surgeon at Mayo—(legend had it) never played during the regular season in 1950, due to Med school—yet starred in Pappy’s third consecutive Rose Bowl).

Oddly, at the Saturday night Show around the campfire, Albo, got up on stage and did the most amazing card tricks. No wonder his grip was so strong.

He was the consummate Cal fan—always there to support whomever needed it.

I first introduced him to Cindy at the Garbage State Bowl when Cal came east to play Temple in 1979.

I last saw him at Bud Murray’s Funeral here in Napa. He waved and I looked forward to seeing him at the reception. He didn’t make it. Hips too painful.

When the greatest athlete to come to Cal since Craig Morton, Rick Bennet was in that horrific automobile accident (riding in a car on his way up to visit the Lair), the first one at his side at the Med Center was Bob Albo.

According to Truck, though they never thought he’d walk again they performed a non-surgical operation “Popping his pelvis back into place” before they got down to the nitty-gritty stuff.

Eventually, Bennet ended up not only walking, but (thought he never regained the blinding speed he once had, he was able to practice with the team). Just another bit of magic from Dr. Bob.

Yes, he not only did magic tricks, he was a renowned magician. He wrote 15 books on the subject and his private collection is now housed at the David Copperfield Museum in Vegas.

His lecture on Magic was called: The History of Mystery.

If magic and his private practice weren’t enough, he was also the team doctor for the Warriors and the Raiders.

Like his friends, Bob was an unbelievable loyal friend. He once told me, “Anyone ever says anything bad about Al Davis—punch ‘em in the nose. No one knows what a great man Al Davis actually is.”

(I always guessed his admiration for Al was due to Al’s commitment to equality. As an assistant at SC, Al recruited the first black qb, Willie Wood, at a major college-- He hired Tom Flores, the NFL's first Latino head coach and Art Shell, the first modern day black head coach. He drafted Eldridge Dickey, the first Black quarterback taken in the first round. But I digress.)

Bob saw character—not skin color. The most eloquent speaker at his over flow service at The Claremont Country Club was Earl Robinson—Bob’s long time friend and one of the few Black Athlete’s at Cal in the 50’s.

Bob Coached Freshman Basketball and Baseball after he graduated and Earl was one of his star pupils. How great was Earl? Not only was he a two sport star, he also was the head Yell leader when Cal last went to the Rose Bowl. But again, I digress.

(Speaking of digressing.....In another Albo/Davis story, Cindy and I were having dinner with the Stoneys at Trader Vics. Al Davis was next to us. When he left, the Maitre’d came back and asked us our names. She said Mr. Davis was on the phone and wanted to know who the people were who talking about Bob Albo--they must "be important").

Of course, when talking about Albo one must always digress. He was a whirling dervish with so many aspects to his personality that it is natural to wander when thinking of him.

Of course, he was a genius—and married one—Marge, the daughter of Nobel Laureate, Wendell Stanley. As Earl said in his talk, “Bob’s last words to me were, ‘I love my wife.’"

That was Bob.

All the heroic adjectives one can think of apply to Bob. Next to “integrity” the one most appropriate is generous.

A few years back, when Bennet’s kid, Drew, was playing for the Titans they came out to play the Raiders. My son, JJ begged to go, so I called Bob. He’d get me the tickets (on the 50 naturally) as long as I promised to bring JJ early enough to go down on the field before the game to watch the Raiders warm up.

That was Bob.

Years ago, when Bob had a chance to buy a lake front property at Tahoe at a great price, rather than keep it to himself, he called his “second father” the late BobTuck and they bought it together. Bob idolized “Babba.” They had literally pounded nails together to help build the Lair and Baba might have helped out on a few business ventures.

The house was called “Shrangri-La.” Until it burned down some time back, thanks to the largess of the Tuck and Albo families, my kids got to experience true, old style Tahoe—the way it once was.

(When Babba was tragically run over by a car, 5 steps from his office, it was Albo who worked frantically on him to save his life). Think about that for a moment.

When my mother was in the Med Center with serious heart problems, Albo stopped by—just to make sure.

That was Bob. JJ's grandma (and his old tennis nemesis) was important to him.

Understand: We weren’t having dinner at each other’s homes, nor meeting for drinks after work. But we were Bears and belonged to the same tribe. Bob was just being Bob—loyal to a fellow golden Bear.

When my niece, “Came out” at a debutante ball in the City, who was there in white tie and tails, at the mike, introducing the young women and their escorts? Bob-- a man for all seasons.

I never asked Marge, Bob Jr., Doug, or Debbie, but my guess is Bob needed little sleep. Like Mozart or Napolean, he must have gotten by on three or four hours a night. How else could he have accomplished so much.

“Da Vinci,” Carl said. “That’s the closest comparison.” Sounds outlandish—but it is right on point. He was a renaissance man who knew the code.

When Cal cut Baseball and Rugby, Bob went apoplectic. He released a statement to the media;

Inside Bay Area reported: “I think this is gender-biased,” he said in accusing Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, Athletic Director Sandy Barbour and the Academic Senate. “They could have diverted some of those stupid funds that they’re putting up there on the hill to make an Olympic center. What the heck is that? I’m all for upgrading Memorial Stadium, and having a weight room and all the other aspects of it, but an Olympic center is $30-$40-million. What are we putting that thing in for….. “you have done the university a great disservice. You and the rest of your so-called committee should be ashamed.”

I knew great minds think alike!

Yet, a loyal Golden Bear to the end, he asked that donations be made out to the Cal Athletic Department. (We’re making ours out to Baseball).

That was Bob.

One is not supposed to count, but the crowd at the Clarement CC was the largest I’ve ever witnessed. And we’ve attended more “celebrations of life” there than we care to count.

It was a Cal (and professional sports) Hall of fame crowd. (Nobody begrudged Plunkett his inadvertent choice of undergraduate institutions, as he and Kapp fought their way through the crowd).

Jim Otto told how Bob phoned his wife every day for two months when he was in intensive care in a Salt Lake Hospital.

Bob was inducted into the Cal Hall of fame in 2007 the same year as Hawley. Two physical giants—two gigantic personalities.

Think of those 7^th week campers. Great athletes all. Successful professionals. Great citizens. Loyal Friends. Loyal Golden Bears. And they all stayed married to their wives.

We were blessed. All who knew that group are blessed to have been in their orbit. And blessed that Marge and the kids were so patient with Dad when he shared so much of his time with us.

Professional illustrator, coach, Hall of famer, Magician, Surgeon, loyal friend and loyal Golden Bear. They truly broke the mold after they made Bob Albo. We shall not see his like again, for a long, long time.

How lucky we were to have known him.

Go Bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

A LETTER FROM CARL STONEY

2011-03-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

Stoney's last good day on the diamond

OK, Boys and Girls,

Time to pony up and get this done. I am working on the Save Cal
Baseball Committee headed by Stu Gordon and Dwight Barker to bring the
team back for next year and for the rest of time.

The Chancellor has told us that we need to demonstrate pledges of close to $10 million.

(Right now we have $5-6 million - and increasing daily.)

So we are mobilizing everybody to do whatever he/she can to reach our goal, and we
have until March 31. (The time is driven by the Pac-12 - hopefully not
Pac-11 - and its 2012 scheduling requirements.)

The Committee has spent many hours going over/expanding the prospect list, and we do think this
is doable, but we need to capture many, many new - and old - donors. So
hence this email and the attached pledge form.

For "pledge accounting purposes" a five-year pledge will count
toward our goal. So, for example, a 10k pledge over five years is as
good as a 10k check written right now. And that example, 2k/yr. for
five years, is the target pledge I/we would like you to seriously
consider. And please note that whatever you give is 100% tax-deductible
(and, of course, if baseball is not reinstated this spring for next
year, your pledge will be extinguished).

Obviously, if you can give more, that would be HUGELY APPRECIATED! And if that target is too high
at this point, please consider giving whatever you can, as it all adds
up.

Moreover, the sheer # of people signing pledge forms could carry
the day if we get close, e.g., several thousand people accumulating to
say, $8.5 million, might be sufficient, as it would support a rationale
that many/most might continue to give at that level or higher after the
the five years.

(Experienced fund-raising professionals confirm that this is an accurate phenomenon.) And please forward this email to whomever you think might participate with us. (BTW, you will note on
the form that the University will ensure that all monies donated to
baseball will be so used, with quarterly reports so confirming, i.e.,
total transparency.)

PLEASE give this your near-term attention. You can/should PDF or
fax your signed form to Stu Gordon as indicated on the form (and please
cc me if you would). Finally, Stu is meeting again with the Chancellor
on Wednesday, March 9, so, while March 31 remains the "drop dead date,"
if you can return the form by March 9, it would add to an "early show of
force" for his meeting with the Chancellor.

Thanks so much and Go Bears!
Carl

Carl's e-mail is CStoney@reedsmith.com
Stu Gordon: sgordon@gordonrees.com

RUGBY WINS, CAL LOSES

2011-02-16T17:22:00.001-08:00

Wow. At first I was so excited I poured myself a double. Then I had another. Then Cindy (The Goobs) called me down for breakfast.

Rugby had been re-instated as a full fledged varsity sort. I planned to pen a “healing piece” that would be second only to Lincoln’s 2^nd Inaugural address:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the University’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and ……………..to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among administrators and alumni.

It had a nice ring—just the right amount of poetry. And of course it would make moi appear far more wise, gracious, and magnanimous than I actually felt.

Alas, reading the Chancellor’s comments in the paper sobered me up.

This was no win. No athlete can rejoice in temporal victories when his fellow competitors are getting swindled out of their Cal legacies by people who are just passin' through and don't get what it means to be a Bear.

What has happened to the University we all love so much?

Why the slide into mediocrity—the duplicity—the lack of transparency—the lack of cooperation?

Dealing with this current administration has been like dating a sorority girl before the ubiquity of the pill. Each party said it wanted one thing when apparently deep down it wanted just the opposite.

Though I may have relied upon the “You-can-trust-me-I’ll-just-lie-on-the-top-of-the-covers” gambit a time or two, myself, I can’t stand to see it used against my baseball brethren.

And how about the Chancellor’s statement?

The paper said:

“He said he sent a message to athletic department supporters 16 months ago that these cuts might be necessary and little was done to retain them until the announcement was made.

‘My message engendered virtually no response for an entire year,” he said. “The responses only came after the announcement of the cutting of sports. These sports had a full year to raise funds. But until the actual reality of no longer continuing the varsity sports was on the table, it was not until then that we got this wonderful response that we got now’.”

Hosni Mubarak’s speech writer moved to Berkeley. Who’dda thunk it?

To make matters truly Orwellian, we got an e-mail which said February has been declared Bear Backers Fan Appreciation Month.

Who knew that when Macbeth said “Nothing is but what is not” he was referring to Cal.

Loyal Golden Bears do not distort the truth nor dabble in doublespeak. When the Chancellor “sent a message to athletic supporters 16 months ago” it was that he was forming a commission to decide the best way to deal with financial strains on the Athletic Department. We all waited patiently for the recommendations.

The commission recommended that the department establish benchmarks and timelines for raising money for each sport, to overcome the “problem.”

They never did that.

Worse, they were never specific about what needed to be raised by when. Frank Yeary told me personally in the first week of August it was 100 million. Sandy allowed as how we could do it with 80 million.

Both statements were psycobabble.

Athletic revenues are actually increasing!!

Due to Pac 12 TV contracts and the outstanding success of Oregon and Stanford, (giving each Pac 10 school an unexpected $3,000,000 this year) our cash flow is on the upswing. These contracts will bring in between 6 and 12 million incremental dollars to Cal next year.

Despite the Chancellor, AD, Yeary and Mogoluf claims to the contrary we will be bringing more revenue than ever before.

Of course, we should cut expenses to be prudent. But (I’m not making this up) Sandy told the grid club that with the new Pac 12 conference, expenses would increase as men’s basketball would probably need charters. This is what we are dealing with.

One of the most sordid aspects of this entire fiasco is an e-mail forwarded to me from former Congressmen Pete McClosky. In a totally unselfish act he and some Stanford Alumni joined together to form a Truck Cullom Memorial fund for Rugby.

These are all retired guys without a lot of extra dough.

Here’s the e-mail to Beth, Truck’s daughter:

Beth: It looks like we have struck out on the initiative with Cal. We have a little over $25,000 in the fund, but can't get a letter back from the Chancellor. Can you and your brother do anything, or suggest anything we old Stanford respecters of rugby and your Dad can do? Pete McCloskey

What an insult to a great public servant and war hero.

Why didn’t the University help us raise dough for all five sports? As my friend wrote,

“I assume all of you saw the clearly articulated fund raising budget for each sport, the bi-monthly status report on how the fund pledges were going - showing "raised to date" , "still required" etc...... What??? You didn't see that either? Not even a half-assed junior manager in a real business would neglect to stipulate clear goals and metrics for success……”

My friend makes a good point.

Baseball is circulating a letter which purports an amazing amount of skullduggery on the administration’s part. It’s not pretty.

Unmentioned in their letter are the following:

Did you know that money was raised for lights at Edwards but turned down?

Did you know that Berkeley businesses got together to promote Cal Sports (on their own)—did up mock schedules posters etc to place in restaurants and stores—and an e-mail exists where the Athletic Department threatened legal action if they went forward? (I’ve been sitting on this since September in the hopes it wouldn’t be necessary to bring it up).

Did you know that the some of the finest men in the world—former Presidents of the Board of Trustees—worked assiduously, politely, prudently, reasonably with the Chancellor trying to just set up “benchmarks and timelines,” but were effectively shut out—after all their work and donations and hours put in over the past oh so many years?

They found they had no clout. Why?

Did you know The Chancellor has identified 150 major donors who have given at least one million dollars and are capable of giving that much again and he has openly boasted that they are on his side—so the rest of us can pound sand?

So much for power to the people

What he may not be aware of though, is that his original support amongst these donors is weakening—now that everyone has seen how shabbily those who love this school have been treated.

Remember my grandfather’s favorite poem

You don’t go down with a short hard fall you just sort of shuffle along

Till you lighten your load with the moral code, till you can’t tell right from wrong.

The University we love has lost its moral compass. It’s promoting classes that make sock dolls for finals; “diversity” classes which (under the guise of academic rigor) require children to go to gay bars and get “picked up” or walk across campus holding hands with members of the same sex; which offer classes in TV series like “Mad Men”, Scrabble and my favorite, Professor Barsky (who led the faculty senate’s attack against athletics), is teaching a class on “Photography of Campus Demonstrations.” Teaching kids to photograph demonstrators! That means the university is subsidizing “snitches” who will be documenting demonstrations for use by the police.

Mubarak’s people are here.

And we’re sending tax dollars their way! (Though they’re taking out of state and foreign kids at the expense of in state kids because they pay more money).

This is why I’ve always maintained this is about helping Rugby to Save Cal.
“When you lighten your load from the moral code, you can’t tell right from wrong.” When excellence is demeaned--when the poster child for excellence (Rugby) gets trifled with—you know the path to mediocrity is the one they’ve chosen.

If we continue to dumb down this school, If we continue on a path towards mediocrity, backed by duplicity, next thing you know we will be scheduling tiny Division 1AA religious schools with student bodies of 1200 kids and names like “Blue Hose”—and saying “Trust me. I’ll keep my pj’s on—this is big time Division 1A football.”

“It is better to lose than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal”, Andy Smith

WILL CAL DO THE RIGHT THING?

2011-01-26T11:01:00.001-08:00

According to today’s Chron, Monday is D-Day for Cal sports. Let’s be optimistic. Many folks have talked of giving the Chancellor a face saving way of straightening out the Rugby/Baseball/women’s sports debacle.

Now he has it. Some 15 million has been pledged by alumni to bring back all five all sports. That will easily become 20. The Chron also reported that each Pac 10 team will receive about $3,000,000 from the Bowl games. The new Pac 12 Championship game will produce at least an additional $1,000,000 for each school. The new Pac 12 Contract will bring in 10 to 12 mill for each school (5 to 6 mill incremental).

According to the Chancellor we need $4,000,000 per year to bring back the five sports. Here’s a simple, back of the envelope solution. For the next 10 years take 1 mill from the increased Bowl Revenues: $500,000 from the new Pac 12 Championship game revenues: $500,000 from increased marketing revenues and athletic department cuts (efficiencies): and 2 mill per year from the Alumni. By that time the Stadium should be built and the endowment program in full swing.

It’s a win/win for everybody.

If the Chancellor and Athletic director fail to go this simple route, this will be why: A sense of misplaced priorities.

For weeks, I’ve been lamenting the relentless dumbing down of the school we love. Here is Rugby, the poster child for excellence, being downgraded and America’s pastime being cut, while classes like Peace and Conflict Studies (where the final consists of making a “sock doll” for an Afghan orphanage); courses on the TV show Mad Men, Scrabble (where you have to memorize ALL the two letter words), and “Diversity” (for the mid-term my daughter had to “come out” to her parents, go to a gay bar and get picked up, or walk across campus holding hands with another girl) masquerade as academic activities.

Cal’s newest class—for which we are committing paying Professor Brian Barsky around $150,000 to “teach” children how to take digital camera pics of demonstrations on Campus—is yet another example of misplaced priorities.

Normally, this would be just another example of the wasted money at Cal, but Professor Barsky is the one Chancellor Birgeneau is referring to when he speaks of “faculty pressure” to cut sports. Barsky led the faculty senate vote (90 some odd members voted out of almost 2,000) which called for the reduction of spending in the athletic department.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Chancellor is paying him somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000 to teach children how to take pictures of other kids “demonstrating” at Cal—and giving them academic credit for what other students can (and do, do for free)—with no talent—no less.

Since I know you think I’m making this up, check out the complete story at SFGATE.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/27/BA9N1GGG8G.DTL

I hope professor Barsky discloses to his students that they will be seen by other students as “rat finks” and snitches for the police will certainly subpoena any pictures they take of demonstrators and use that to prosecute and harass “student agitators.”

That’s what happened back in the 60’s. Authorities used members of the Alumni Association to identify students who were photographed in Sproul Plaza attending rallies. Your’re right. That’s how I know.

Though it is important to be able to compete, Cal’s salaries for the past five years have been out of control.

http://ucpay.globl.org/index.php?campus=Berkeley&name=anne+barbour&title=&base=&overtime=&extra=&gross=%3E244%2C999&year=2009&s=gross

Our Athletic director makes $470,000. The fifth highest salary on Campus—ahead of the Chancellor’s $428,000. In 2005 she made $243,000. I don’t begrudge her the money, but for that kind of dough we should expect a solution that doesn’t involve cutting sports for children, nor demeaning excellence by downgrading rugby.

(BTW if you take the top 111 wage earners getting more than $245,000 (the threshold for which they want their increased pensions, no less), they all have jumps similar to hers—not quite as dramatic, but going up from $100,000 to $200,000 over a five year span). Look it up.

I want to be kind and reasonable, but at that pay scale she shouldn’t she be required to come up with better ideas, stronger marketing, more efficient departments, across the board cuts—anything but cutting sports for kids?

This issue is bigger than Athletics. It is about what we stand for as a University community. Will we pursue excellence, or will we continue to back slide into bureaucratic mediocrity?

I’m betting the Chancellor and Athletic Director will to the right thing and let us all join together and rally around and support the school we love. Then we can all bury the hatchet and go bring the Axe back to Cal.

We’ll find out on Monday. Here’s hoping.

Go Bears

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

“It's Better to Lose than to Win at the Sacrifice of an Ideal," Andy Smith

2010-11-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

When the demotion of Rugby and the elimination of baseball et al. were first announced I began a series based on two lines from one of my grandfather’s favorite poems:

You don’t go down with a short hard fall, you just sort of shuffle along

‘Till you lighten your load with the moral code, ‘till you can’t tell right from wrong.

It was my contention that the Chancellor’s approach to lowering the bar at Cal, academically and admissions-wise (and the Athletic Director’s decision to punish Rugby, rather than reward and celebrate excellence) was yet another marker in the continued dumbing down of the school we all love so much.

The hypothesis was that millions of dollars are being wasted in salaries for professors who are teaching classes where making sock dolls constitutes a final; where “therapy” trumps academic rigor; to say nothing of promoting classes on TV shows like Mad Men, and the Scrabble class my daughter took, where for the midterm she had to memorize all the two letter words.

Add to that the exorbitant waste in bloated administration (compare the number of pages under “Deans and administration” in your yearbook to today’s Blue and Gold)—and one can see that it is foolish and “political” to grandstand by demoting Rugby and cutting baseball .

It’s like the TSA patting down passengers in public, while allowing baggage handlers and all other airport personal to go into the bowels of the airport with nothing more than the swipe of an ID card. All style—no substance. Looks good to the outside—means nothing in reality.

Even Bain found $75 to $100 million in outright waste.

But the most galling fact was the blatant dishonesty regarding our AD’s approach to Rugby.

We are supposed to be teachers. We are supposed to be educators. We are supposed to be setting an example based on character and integrity, so these kids come out with more than a sheepskin and the promise of a 6 figure job working 20 hours a day on Wall St.

Rugby was designated “Varsity Club” due to Title IX. No one disputes that. (To review: Once women sports were cut we were switched to another “prong” on Title IX which bases participation on proportionality of the student body. With 800 athletes, and a ratio of say 53% women to 47% men, the number of athletes is theoretically required to mirror that).

The 64 male spots which Rugby took up were supposed to help alleviate the current imbalance.

Here’s the dishonesty: In an effort to placate snotty Old Blues like me, they said, “No one will ever know.” Wink, wink. Details had to be worked out, but basically Coach Clark’s boys would get access to the athletic study Center, training facilities, locker rooms, athletic trainers, equipment etc. (Of course, donors would have to pay for it all). The only thing different would be that Rugby would report to a Vice Chancellor instead of the Athletic Director—making it a club sport (for the first time in history despite the AD’s claims to the contrary), and we could still play for and add to our 25 National championships.

Many fair minded men, women, and major donors thought that was a reasonable solution.

Some called or e-mailed me and said, “What’s the big deal? Please go along with this and don’t make waves.”

Jack Clark’s Big Deal is “validation.” As he said, “What part of me doesn’t look like Varsity to you.” Tough to argue with that.

The real “Big Deal?” It was always blatantly dishonest to take this approach, but I kept my mouth shut until the Oregon fiasco.

Our AD and Chancellor were gaming the system. They were saying we’re a “club” sport—but we’re “wink, wink” Varsity too. As a club, we don’t count under Title IX—even though everything’s the same as when we were Varsity! “Wink, wink.”

Boy are we smart! No one will ever figure it out. We can be Varsity and Club and no one will ever know!

You don’t go down with a short hard fall, you just sort of shuffle along

‘Till you lighten your load with the moral code, ‘till you can’t tell right from wrong.

And that’s what caused the Oregon Fiasco. An institutional mentality that it is ok to flaunt the spirit of the law as long as you adhere to the “letter of the law.”

It starts at the top. Institutional attitudes set the tonality for those underneath.

The Chancellor and the AD created a working environment where respect for the law and the truth could be flaunted as long as it was “politically correct”--or brought in revenue (see selling desks to out of state students while denying local tax payers' kids).

Sock doll finals, Scrabble classes, Therapy classes, Diversity classes, Mad Men classes, bloated administration—all of it could be justified as long as we all “winked” together and pretended that they were necessary to produce a holistic educational environment.

Teachers got paid—they were happy.

Administrators got jobs for life—they were happy.

Kids didn’t have to study or flunk out—they were happy.

Parents got kids who graduated—they were happy.

Rugby would be “Varsity Club”—Title IX would be happy.

Everyone was happy except that tiny minority of people who took Professor Richmond’s Shakespeare class (and others of integrity) who bought into Polonius' words to Laertes, “This above all, to thine own self be true.”

Or my grandfather’s admonition to us: “It doesn’t matter how rich a man is, how kind, how loving, how generous. The only thing that counts is a man’s character. And a man’s character is defined by his refusal to lie.”

For some, this entire charade regarding Rugby and cutting baseball has been one big lie.

It boiled over in the Oregon Fiasco, when students from the University of California, “Faked” injuries so that our team could slow down the Oregon juggernaut.

Many of my friends—good people all—considered it gamesmanship—not much different than the Oregon Coaches setting up for five seconds—checking out the Cal defense—then having each of their players turn to the sideline for instructions on the next play.

Gamesmanship? Cheating? For some it’s a tough call. My bet is that for my grandmother and your grandfather it is not a tough call. They weren’t into the situational ethics that are so in vogue today.

Can a student ask for time during a 3 hour physics final so that he can be treated for indigestion. Should the test be stopped until he's taken care of? Can others work while he's being attended to?

“It's Better to Lose than to Win at the Sacrifice of an Ideal,” Coach Andy Smith

By trying to “game the system” regarding Rugby, the Chancellor and The AD set an example that it is OK to “Look for the loop hole” as my friend says. That it is OK (in an educational institution) to take short cuts and violate the spirit of the law (Title IX)—as long as you don’t violate the letter of the law.

“Everything will be the same, except you won’t report to the AD. You still have Varsity status, but you’re a club.” Wink, wink.

Hello fake injuries to allow for substitutions.

Tedford has a lot going for him on the asset side of the ledger. I’m not here to throw him under the bus. Think of all he's done for graduation rates.

But (if the Chron reported it right—a big if). Sandy was way out of line throwing a 29 year old assistant coach (a kid, really) under the bus.

She suspended defensive coach Tosh Lopoi for one game for directing his kids to fake injuries so that the clock would stop and substitutions could be made.

Anyone who knows Tosh knows that he is a class act, perhaps the best recruiter we have, and a wonderful, young, loyal golden Bear.

Don't lay it on Tedford. The Chancellor and the AD set the tonality. They should not be surprised that others did what they have been doing.

Which is worse? Faking an injury or calling classes with sock doll finals academic courses? You decide.

Which is worse? Penalizing excellence (in the name of Rugby) or tossing a 29 year old kid under the bus for doing the same thing you have done? Bending the rules just a bit.

Our AD and Chancellor are using gamesmanship to skirt Title IX. Yet, they have the audacity to suspend a kid for following their lead?

(I’m not giving Tedford a pass here. Clearly, as the one in charge, it happened on his watch. But he’s only reflecting the culture he’s been hired to protect and promote).

It’s better to lose than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal. (These words of Andy Smith are engraved on the back of the stone bench in Memorial Stadium).

I don’t know what happened, but I know who was responsible. Could it have happened under Robert Gordon Sproul or Benjamin Ide Wheeler?

The Oregon fiasco was not a firable offense. But it was wrong. And throwing a kid under the bus was not the grown up way to handle it. Our AD looked bush league.

And Yes, I was in school when scandals happened. Did the head coach know? I don’t know, but I do know that he took responsibility and that when Arleigh Williams said he would have to fire two of Ray Willsey’s coaches, Ray said, “If you fire them, you fire me.” And he was gone.

I know it wasn't just Tedford which caused this problem.

What I know is that the greatest university in the world has chosen to opt for style over substance and is now in the business of promoting dishonest policies from the classroom to the football field—and throwing underlings under the bus when “irregularities” come to light.

As a proud alumnus, this does not sit well on any front.

The lack of institutional control in the classroom and on the athletic fields is unbecoming of an institution of our stature.

It’s no secret that the finest men you will ever meet met with the Chancellor last week. Instead of coming away with an “I’ve never seen such passion. We can do it together attitude. I’m spending everyday for the next 10 months making this happen….” Position—we get a FAQ from the AD justifying her and the Chancellor’s anemic actions. Why are they stone walling us? What gives?

The Chancellor said "no more cuts." This group pointed out that there is still an imbalance regarding men and women. What about our "moral obligation to support Title IX?

Both the Chancellor and the AD will be gone in a year or two. We are still here to pick up the pieces.

According to an Article in the Sac Bee which lists the salaries of 1,900 faculty members and administrators (none is under $102,000)

http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/?name=anne+barbour&agency=UC+BERKELEY&salarylevel=

http://calpensions.com/2010/11/29/uc-pensions-from-free-lunch-to-years-of-pain/

our AD made $470,000 in 2009. The Chancellor actually makes less. That these two could make almost a million dollars a year between them and the best they could do is demean excellence, promote mediocrity, and embarrass the greatest university in the nation in front of the world does not sit well with some of us.

How many remains to be seen.

You don’t go down with a short hard fall, you just sort of shuffle along

‘Till you lighten your load with the moral code, ‘till you can’t tell right from wrong.

Go bears,

Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

THE SMELL OF VICTORY

2010-11-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Did you hear Ronnie Lot on the Radio last week? Talking about the Giants he went on and on about the aroma—the smell of victory. It permeates everything, he said. It is infectious. He talked about Super Bowl in ’81 and said afterwards he got to meet Duke Snider and Whitey Ford. He met Reggie. He found himself sought out by champions. He said the Giants’ Championship would impact positively on the 49ers and the Warriors.

He’s been there. I take him at his word.

And if he’s right, then the opposite must be true.

I was thinking of that as the Bears barely edged WSU last week and got dominated by SC and OSU. (Kudos, however, for the kids pulling it together on Sat. against Ducks).

Cal’s decision to cut Baseball and demote Rugby has repercussions beyond the actual sports cut. It affects all athletes on campus and all coaches. It says a lot about us as an institution.

Good management starts at the top. That’s where the tone is set—whether we’re talking about British Petroleum or the Raiders. Management decisions send messages to all concerned.

When a management team elects to punish excellence (in the name of Rugby) instead of rewarding it, it sends a signal to all coaches and athletes in the program that it’s ok to be mediocre. It advertises to the world that we are about something else besides excellence.

And as Ronnie Lott said, it’s infectious. Excellence breeds excellence—mediocrity, mediocrity.

Coaches and kids need to know that their hard work and sacrifices will be rewarded—not ignored, punished, or downgraded.

This, by the way, is a university wide problem—not just the Athletic Department’s.

It’s why we should ALL help Rugby to Save Cal.

You’ve read about the sock dolls my daughter made for her final in professor Americ Azevedo’s “Peace and Conflicts Studies” class, and the Chron reported on the class dedicated to the TV series “Mad Men.”

I didn’t tell you about my daughter’s “Diversity” Class. Cindy calls it the Noah’s Ark Class, because it was limited to “two of each.” Two Asians, Two Blacks, Two Latinos, Two Homosexuals, etc. My kid was one of the “Honkey bitches.”

She would attend class regularly to be berated and screamed at for “White privilege.” In class each pair would take turns at the black board (grease easel?) while others shouted out stereotypes to them. They’d be required write them on the wall: “Chink, Nigger, White Bitch, Slant eyes, has rhythm, lazy, shiftless, privileged, can’t dance, greaser, Spic”--you get the idea.

My favorite “mid-term” was when they had to either go to a gay bar and get picked up: Come “out” to their parents: or walk across campus holding hands with a member of the same sex.

This professor is getting paid six figures to promote such rigorous academic standards while Rugby is being penalized for promoting excellence . Don’t say they’re not connected.

For years, we’ve been dumbing down the school across the board.

When someone thinks the answer to a budget crisis is simply to take sports away from children, it lacks subtlety. It is not nuanced enough. It shows a lack of imagination and creativity. It’s unprofessional. Besides, as you’ve seen, there are plenty of (therapy) classes (and a plethora of redundant administrators) we could eliminate if we wanted to trim our budgets.

I’m surprised the faculty hasn’t interceded here to tell the Chancellor this is not what they meant at all. (I’ve received e-mails from faculty members who are appalled by the Chancellor’s direction). What the faculty wanted was to reign in the run-away expenses, contracts, travel, equipment, and general “arms race” prevalent in all college athletics.

I don’t think the Chancellor or Sandy are bad people or incompetent. I think they made a mistake when acting under extreme financial pressure. Understandably, they erred in the heat of battle.

They don’t understand certain subtleties which define this school.

(It's one of the reasons the Chancellor doesn't understand the opposition to his proposal to sell seats to out of state students while denying them to off spring of in-state residents).

See, they don’t know what it is like to take Bonehead English, or about reading Chaucer in that first English 1A class where every other kid in the room is smarter than you are.

They’ve never sat in a Physics 10 lecture hall with 500 kids, scared to death that you are apt to be one of the 40% of the Freshman that will flunk out that year.

They haven’t been overwhelmed by the sexual laxness and abundance of chemical substances which were never a part of the small towns so many of us grew up in.

Navigating the mine fields of Sproul Plaza and bringing half formed ideas back to Thanksgiving dinners is a uniquely Cal thing. Sure all kids who go away to College get exposed to new ideas, but it’s not the same anywhere as it is at Cal.

Cal is so big, so scary, so daunting that those of us that survived it feel a special kinship. We know we belong to a tribe—a tribe that is like no other—-no other in the land. Outsiders can never understand our culture--what makes us so different.

There are tougher schools in the World. There may be prettier campii. But no other University combines the academic rigors, the Darwinian Survival credo, the competitive ethos, the opportunity to experiment with untested lifestyles, the ability to discover one’s own voice, the diversity of thought, country of origin, economic background and skin color that Cal does. NOBODY.

Like New York, “If you can make it there….” (And yes, we each know the tragic stories of those who couldn’t make it and died too young).

That’s why we are different. And that’s why the Administration erred. They couldn’t compute the psychic math.

The last Chancellor who was a Physicist, Glenn Seaborg, literally created the PFC (Pacific Coast Conference). He truly knew the value of athletics to a campus. My Grandfather sat with him at the '59 Rose Bowl. (Under him, we won the NCAA tourney as well). A Nobel Prize Winner, Chancellor Seaborg understood the importance of pursuit of excellence in all fields of endeavor.

The solution to inter-collegiate athletics needs to be a comprehensive one. It lies in generating more revenues via licensing, stadium naming rights, contracts with apparel companies, TV dollars, ticket revenues, and general advertising, marketing and promotion.

It requires trimming fat in the athletic department (we hear 5 million, easily), and trimming fat all across the board in each sport.

It means reviewing travel costs, scheduling, scholarships and squad sizes. It means factoring in the new Pac 12 contract (they say they have, but that “expenses will be rising too.” What kind of a statement is that?)

(Remember: with a 70 million dollar budget a 5% across the board cut means $3,500,000, just about they’re saving by demoting Rugby and cutting the others.

Both Tedford and Montgomery are stand up guys. I’m still surprised that they haven’t gone to Sandy and said, “This is wrong. We’ll each cut back 5% so you can make your numbers.” It must be tearing their guts out that they’ve been unable to do this—or maybe they have and we don’t know.

I just can't see Nibbs Price, Brutus Hamilton, Pete Newell, Pappy Waldorf or Andy Smith standing by doing nothing while other coaches' sports were cut.

In short, t’s about increasing revenues and cutting costs—-not cutting children’s sports.

The oddest thing is, why aren't they talking to us?

They were willing to spend two years (and spend $2,000,000) talking to Dumpster Muffin, Zacery Running Wolf, Burlap and the Tree Sitters. We can't even get an e-mail back--unless it's a "bot."

Oh, there have been some meetings and lots of back channel stuff. But not once has the Chancellor or AD come out and said, "It's my priority to work with Alumni to solve this debacle and make sure we don't cut any sports."

As a kid, our coach Mr. Carpy used to bench us if we showed up to a game without our baseball cap, belt, or our shoes unshined. “A fella who cares enough to look like a ball player might just be a ball player,” he told us.

A University which embraces excellence is on the way to being excellent. A university which honors winners, just might become a winner—across the board.

Alas, the opposite is equally true—as we’re all seeing.

Go Bears,
Jeffrey Earl Warren ‘70

UPDATES: Baseball seems to think that they are getting a number from the Chancellor which if it can be met, will bring it back. Whether that number is reasonable or not remains to be seen.

Rugby has a plan to be self-funded and include Women’s Rugby (which Sandy is resisting). But the issue Varsity Status has not been resolved.
(I’m told) Rugby will NOT be a member of the B C society if it is demoted to “Varsity Club.”

I think the Big C Society erred in sending out their ‘UC Berekely Intercollegiate Athletics FAQ” without thoroughly identifying it’s source. It looks like it is coming from Big C. It contains many errors and is the administration’s take—not fact based. Example: Rugby was NEVER a club sport. Big C should not be telling people that Rugby was a “Club” sport when it never was.

A member of the Athletic Department verified that Cal has, if not the smallest, one of the smallest contracts with Niki in the Conference.

ESP licenses are being impacted. It's affecting finances. One $200,000 check has already been returned. This debacle needs to be resolved soon.

There is a lot of back channel activity going on. We’ll know more soon. This IS NOT
over.

"Gimme a C"

2010-11-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Jim Pop was dying. We all knew it. No one talked about it. The big C was taking its course. His left leg was swelling and, despite his protestations to the contrary he was not going to beat IT. He'd just turned 71 in the Spring of '91. The question was would he make it to Christmas.

Jim Pop was different from thee and me. He was truly old school. He cared. He believed in heroes and symbols. He was a patriot and proud of it. He was loyal, true and proud. The only thing he was prouder of than being a Marine (if you don't count being married to Maggie) was that he was a Golden Bear. He loved his school. He loved all things Cal. He was the definition of "Loyal Old Blue".

But there was a gap. A hole he'd been unable to fill. And silently it ate at him. Oh, he was an accomplished student-dean's list--went on to Harvard Business School. He was a leader--president of his Fraternity House, Senior Hall of Fame; a member of all the prestigious clubs, Order of the Golden Bear, Skull & Keys, Beta Beta, among others that shall go unnamed.

And he had lettered in 5 sports. Freshman basketball, the Ramblers (JV football) and three years in rugby, where he was also the captain. But Rugby was considered a "Minor Sport". One received a Circle C for that-not the Holy Grail: A Big "C". (Big C's were awarded for Football, Baseball, Basketball, Tennis and Track. Everything else was considered a "minor" sport and received Little or circle C's).

Despite all his accomplishments, his heart was forever broken for he'd failed to be awarded a Varsity letter.

It was never a question of toughness. Rugby coaching legend Doc Hudson put on Jim Pop's application for the Marines "He'd tackle a Truck". But size, academics or student "orgs" always seemed to intercede when all he really wanted to do was to run out of that tunnel in memorial stadium with a leather helmet on his head.

By chance, I had heard a few years earlier that a friend of mine had been awarded and honorary Big C. One night, after hearing Jim Pop lament that his two greatest regrets were that he didn't receive a purple heart and that he hadn't won his Big C, it hit me.

Though over the years I had been tempted to graze his cheek with a thirty ought six, I realized that was probably ought of the question. At 71 it was too late for the Purple Heart.

So I called by friend "Boomer", a great defensive back and rugger from the early fifties and said, "Who do I have to sleep with to get Jim Pop an honorary Big C?"

Besides being an amazing bass player, Boomer had played Rugby into his early 50's and knew something about love of sports and love of Cal.

"No one deserves a Big C more than Jimmy", he said. "Let me make a couple of calls.

Each spring, the Big C Society has its annual banquet. Eventually, Boomer called back and said that a Surprise Honorary Big C letterman's sweater would await Jim Pop at their banquet at the Claremont Country Club. All I had to do was get Jim Pop down, without telling him why.

I concocted a story saying that Cal was going to name a crew boat after our friend Gary, who had done so much to endow the crew (as a sidebar, that actually happened later, but how was I to know?). Jim Pop demurred-too difficult-too tiring-but being a loyal Blue he felt he couldn't let Gary down.

As we drove down, I had to fight off tears as Jim Pop mentioned how a few years back, the Ricksen twins (Tennis and Basketball stars) had said they were working on getting Big C's awarded to anyone who lettered three years in a "minor" sport. Jim Pop would have qualified. "But it never happened", he said as he hung his head despairingly. Then talking to himself, "I really thought I had a chance". And he shook his head.

Barely able to see through the tears, I made it to the Claremont. The dining room was packed. Football head coach Bruce Snyder was awarded an honorary Big C. And then it happened.

Boomer read a citation, citing Jim Pop's athletic accomplishments, and like a housewife on Queen for a Day, Jim pop took the podium with tears streaming down his face. The kids, black, white, Asian and (unlike in his day) women, gave a standing ovation to this over the hill jock.

He put on his sweater with the 15 bumble bee stripes (representing the 15 positions on a rugby team) and wouldn't take it off.

We drove back to St. Helena. The next morning Jim Pop hobbled into the kitchen with his sweater on.

"Hop-a-long, I never slept. I wore my sweater to bed and stayed up all night long. I can't believe it. I've got a Big C."

He wore it every day of his life for the following six months. He made it to Christmas and wore it on Christmas day. January 13th he left us-the sweater next to his bed.

I attended a Big C executive board meeting last week. "Kids these days won't wear their sweaters", I was told. "It doesn't mean anything."

Really?