Well, technically it is the "Reading/Review/Recitation Week," but who actually studies during this week? If one of those "Rs" stood for pRocrastination, then I may buy it, but until then it is simply dead week to me.

Anyway, dead week is upon us and I would like to know what people actually do (or did) during their dead week . . . do people actually study?? I know people plan on studying, but it usually never happens. I always think that I am going to do the responsible thing and hit the books, but now that I am graduating in two weeks I am not going to even try lying to myself. I am going to accomplish very little (if anything) this week.

For all of you students and alums out there, what the f*** did you do during your dead week?

As the spring semester winds down, we get closer to the final events on the NCAA calendar: the division I softball and baseball tournaments. The softball tournament begins in four weeks (field is announced on May 13) and the baseball tournament begins in six weeks (field is announced on May 27). As you should know by now, our softball team is an absolute lock for the postseason and is in the running for the #1 overall national seed. As a matter of fact, the Cal softball team is so good right now that it would be a tragedy if they did not receive a national seed even if they lost every one of their remaining 9 regular season games (which hopefully won't happen). The baseball team is another story, they are 64th in RPI and are not ranked (or receiving votes) in the writers or coaches poll. If RPI was the only thing that counted in selecting the field of 64, then Cal would get the VERY LAST spot in the tournament, but because it is not the only factor, Cal needs a good showing in the final 4 weeks of the regular season to secure a berth in the NCAA baseball tournament.

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One Hundred and Forty Four years ago today, Governor Henry Haight signed the Organic Act of 1868 establishing the University of California, which was to begin operation in the fall of that year. There are so many people that have been touched by the University of California, and everyone should reflect on what Cal means to them on this important day.

Click Here to view last year's Charter Day video (just change 143 years to 144).

While this great institution has roots back to the private College of California (which was founded by Henry Durant in 1855), it was not until 1868—only 18 years after California was admitted to the union—that the university that we all know and love came into existence. The College of California and later the University of California was founded to try to civilize California and create opportunities to those who could not attend the elite universities of the east. This great university has done just that throughout the years; there is no other university on earth that has the diversity that can be found here and no other university has done more to advance human history and create opportunity than the University of California. No matter what people on the east coast say, or even those on the other side of the bay, this university is, without question, the single greatest university in the world. Many have tried to emulate what Cal has done, but no one has been able to replicate what has been done here in Berkeley. I was told a story fairly recently that a representative of the University of California was at a conference with representatives of many other universities around the country. A representative of the University of Texas came over to the Cal representative and told him that it is their goal to be Berkeley. They wanted to take our faculty and ideals and have UT replace UC . . . they failed because there cannot be another Berkeley, there cannot be another UC. This is the one and only University of California and I could not be more proud to be a part of this great institution and I know that I will cherish my short time here for the rest of my life. March 23, 1868 has proven to be one of the greatest days in human history because the shining light of the world and the glowing example of all educational institutions was founded.

This University shall be a family's glorious old mother, by whose hearth you shall love to sit down. Love her. It does a man good to love noble things, to attach his life to noble allegiances. It is a good thing to love the church, it is a good thing to love the state, it is a good thing to love one's home, it is a good thing to be loyal to one's father and mother, and after the same sort it is good to be loyal to the University, which stands in life for the purest things and the cleanest, loftiest ideals. Cheer for her; it will do your lungs good. Love her; it will do your heart and life good.

—Benjamin Ide Wheeler

Today is also an excellent day to learn our campus Alma Mater (if you do not already know it):

All Hail Blue and Gold,
Thy colors unfold
O’er loyal Californians,
Whose hearts are strong and bold.
All Hail Blue and Gold,
Thy strength ne’er shall fail;
For thee we’ll die,
All Hail! All Hail!

All Hail Blue and Gold,
To thee we shall cling;
O’er golden fields of poppies,
Thy praises we shall sing.
All Hail Blue and Gold,
On Breezes ye sail;
Thy sight we love!
All Hail! All Hail!

Click Here for music from the University of California Marching Band.

HAPPY CHARTER DAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAL!

GO BEARS!

Screw it, I am turning this into today's DBD to create a safe haven in in response to the impending dooooooooom. When something goes horribly wrong, grab a stress ball and look at the beautiful pictures of our historic football stadium. Doom? What doom?

Before you hit the bottle in anticipation of Signing Day, check out our glorious home away from home:

California Memorial Stadium on November 24, 1923: Stanfurd @ California.

View from the Student Section on September 4, 2010: UC Davis @ California.

West Bowl/Press Box. Rich people, old blues, and media will be sitting here. Perhaps they will make noise now?

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Isn't this exciting? I went to Google Maps and found streets that match up to all of the Pac-12 schools!! I am cool, aren't I?

California Golden Bears:

University (Ave./Dr.) of California (St.), Berkeley (Way)

UNIVERSITY AVENUE/DRIVE:

West End: Berkeley Pier/San Francisco Bay at the Berkeley Marina

East End: West edge of campus, University Drive continues through campus and ends at Gayley

CALIFORNIA STREET:

North End: Hopkins Street in North Berkeley, California becomes Monterey Ave.

South End: 62nd Street at the Oakland/Berkeley border, California becomes Occidental St. in Oakland

BERKELEY WAY:

West End: Chestnut Street near the intersection University Ave. and San Pablo Ave.

East End: West edge of campus at Oxford St.

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While we were all focusing on the DOOOOOOOOOOOOM surrounding the University of California, apparently one of our own has made it through to Hollywood (and I have reason to believe that he is on to the top 24) on American Idol. I personally haven't watched the show in years, but news of Kyle Crews making it to Hollywood lit up my Facebook news feed a few days ago. Kyle is a member of the UC Men's Octet and apparently in a fraternity (you will have to watch the YouTube video to understand why I brought that up). I EXPECT YOU ALL TO VOTE FOR KYLE CREWS BECAUSE IF HE WINS, IT WILL BE YET ANOTHER THING THAT CAL HAS THAT STANFURD DOES NOT. :D

We will have Berkelium, Californium, and an American Idol . . . those on the farm will still be waiting for Stanfurdium

HERE is a link to see him singing STANFURD GIRL

HERE is the audition on American Idol

It is obvious that the true American Idol is the jumbaco, but unfortunately Simon (even though he isn't a judge anymore) and Twist (thanks to yesterday's DBD) killed it.

Fight 'Em was written to honor the then "Big Game" rivalry between Cal and UW. With my intense hatred to UW right now (&@*& UW!), I thought it was the right time to put up the lyrics to this old and obscure Cal song. GO BEARS!!

Video is here. (Sorry Andy, took down the embed so that some of our readers could see new comments.)

LYRICS:

Down from the North

Comes the Purple and Gold

To skin our Golden Bear.

Washington's 'leven will never hold

The charge of our mighty Bear.

Our team on the field

Has a line of steel,

And every man is game;

When the strength

of the Blue and Gold they feel,

Those Northmen will be tame.

So fight, fight, fight, fight,

Fight, fight, fight, fight,

FIGHT! For the Blue and the Gold;

And the team on the field

Will not bend brake or yield

And will fight like Big C teams of old.

And every time they buck the linem

We're sure our team will hold.

For victory means fame

For California's name

So fight, fight, fight 'em California!

Rudolph, the blue-nosed reindeer

had a very shiny nose.

And if you ever saw him,

you would even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer

used to laugh and call him names. (like Tom Holmoe)

They never let poor Rudolph

join in any reindeer games. (like the Rose Bowl)

Then one foggy Spring Practice

Tedford came to say:

"Rudolph with your nose so bright,

won't you blind Stanfurd this fall?"

Then all the reindeer loved him

as they shouted out with glee, (Go Bears!)

Rudolph, the blue-nosed reindeer,

you'll go down in history! (Like Andy Smith!)

What are you all doing on this blog . . . it's Christmas for goodness sake!! Put down the computer, spend time with your family, and drink some eggnog. As a matter of fact, get some extra nog for 2012, I'm sure we'll need it.

GO BEARS!! BEAT THE LONGHORNS!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Short answer, yes. But I have to ask this question anyway: it is clear that Oregon, Stanfurd, and USC are the three best teams in the conference, but which two teams are deserving of a BCS bowl game (in this hypothetical, USC is not on probation)??? My argument is that #1 in the conference is Oregon, #2 is USC, and #3 is the 'Furd. Am I off base here?

Let's look at their records against one another: Oregon is 1-1 (def. 'Furd, losing to USC), USC is 1-1 (def. Oregon, losing to 'Furd), and Stanfurd is 1-1 (def. USC, losing to Oregon) creating a wonderful triangle at the top. HOWEVER, only one of the three games involving the top 3 was a blowout: Oregon defeating Stanfurd ON THE FARM 53-30. The other two games involving USC were nail biters and very easily could have gone either way . . . it was not out of the realm of possibility that USC defeats both Oregon and 'Furd being 2-0 (also, it wouldn't have been a shock for them to be 0-2 against those teams) and the same goes for the Ducks. Stanfurd, on the other hand, wasn't a bad call or a bone headed move away from 2-0 against USC and Oregon, the Ducks slaughtered them. They were, however, just a bad (or good) call away from being 0-2 in these games.

Now lets look at common opponents in the conference. All three teams defeated UW and Colorado handily (and all 3 will have defeated Ucla soon). Oregon and Stanfurd also defeated Wazzu and Oregon State with ease and both Stanfurd and USC defeated the Wildcats (close for Stanfurd in the 1st half and close for USC for the game). There is one other team that all three teams faced (and defeated) and that team is our wild card here: our sturdy California Golden Bears. Oregon and USC both defeated our Bears in humiliating Thursday night games on ESPN. The Big Game, while on ESPN, was not quite as humiliating. As a matter of fact, if it were not for some questionable calls, Cal could have very easily WON the 114th meeting of the rivals. The only real blemish on USC's conference schedule was the loss to Arizona State (when they were still good), a team that Oregon beat quite easily and Stanfurd did not face.

As for OOC schedule, USC and Stanfurd were 3-0 while Oregon was 2-1. USC defeated three FBS teams albeit two bad ones (Minnesota/Syracuse) and one overrated one (Notre Dame). Stanfurd also defeated three FBS teams: SJSU (basically an FCS opponent), Duke (horribly bad), and the same overrated Notre Dame squad. Now we get to Oregon, who fell to what is now the #1 team in the country and defeated a decent Nevada squad and an overmatched FCS opponent. Oregon is the only team in the top 3 that faced two teams that are now bowl eligible in their OOC schedule (#1 LSU and Nevada).

When I take all of this into account, I feel that Stanfurd is the third best team in the conference especially when one looks at the games in the second half of the season. Maybe I have no clue what I am talking about and I should just shut up, but I really think Stanfurd is overrated. What do you all think??

Tomorrow, Sunday October 16 at 1:00p at Maxwell Family Field (between Memorial Stadium and Bowles Hall) there will be an INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT game between our #12 Golden Bears and the #9 Trees. It is absolutely crucial that we get as many Cal fans to the game as humanely possible to cheer our Golden Bears onto victory and it is also important to get there early to deny Stanfurd fans access to Maxwell Field (they supposedly have a bus load of people coming). Please, do whatever you can to come out and support our team and invite as many friends as possible to come as well, it will go a long way in helping Cal beat Stanfurd on Sunday. Having those lobsterbacks come up and take over any Cal sporting event in Berkeley should make you sick to your stomach so I fully expect EVERY Cal fan in the Bay Area to come out and support our University of California Golden Bears!!

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the first time in a while, California Memorial Stadium kind of looks like a stadium again! Hooray! I am incredibly excited about next season when all of us get to see everything that has been done up close. Below is a few pictures I took on Friday along with the time lapse. Enjoy!

California Memorial Stadium time lapse from January 2011 to October 2011

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Teemu "One More" Selanne is officially back for another year.

It's about time that he announced his intention to return for the 2011–12 season. Just so he knows, I expect him to play another year after this one . . . I cannot except the fact that he may retire one day. The message from Teemu is a relatively quick one, but it is one that we all have been waiting for for some time now. 

Definitely ready for training camp to open and for the first preseason games in less than a week!!

As we all know, thanks to the economic situation in the United States, Ducks attendance has taken a pretty big hit from the 2008-09 season to the 2009-10 and 2010-11 season. In 2008-09, just the second season after their first championship, the Ducks averaged 16,991 tickets sold a game which is an average of 98.9% full. The economy really started to go into the toilet starting in the Fall of 2008—after season tickets had been sold for that season—making attendance good that season. HOWEVER, Anaheim failed to sell out in the playoffs in 2009, which I believe can be blamed at least in part on the economy.

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To San Diego Chargers Fans:

I'm sure that there are plenty of panicked blog posts around here about a possible relocation of the Chargers to Los Angeles and I thought I should come on here to have a frank discussion about what may happen in the coming years. Let me make myself very clear, I believe that the Chargers belong in San Diego and should remain in that city (or county) for the foreseeable future. I am the founder of "Bring Back the Los Angeles Rams" and I (along with my fellow administrators) have been following the situation in Los Angeles for years now and I think that we have a decent idea about what may happen.

If the Chargers were going to relocate to Los Angeles, why hasn't it happened already? Mr. Ed Roski and the Spanos clan apparently have a close working relationship and Roski's Majestic Realty has had a shovel-ready proposal in the City of Industry (about 15 minutes away from downtown LA and Anaheim, east and north respectively). If the Chargers were going to supposedly greener pastures in Los Angeles, why didn't they accept what Roski has been offering for years now and move 80 miles up the freeway? I believe that they are truly trying to make it work in San Diego. Your fair city has been an excellent home to the Chargers since their failed one year stint in Los Angeles and I see no reason to believe that the Chargers won't be supported in San Diego for years to come.

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Congratulations Angel fans! We currently purchase more tickets than 25 other major league teams!! Hooray!! I first put out a quick summary of the Angels attendance on April 29 and I decided to make an update. Going into the home stand against the Twins, the Angels average paid attendance is 39,090 a game (1,993,572 total) which is about 86.8% of the seats at Anaheim Stadium. That number is good for #5 in the majors (we were 4th at the end of April) making the Angels still the only team in the top 5 to not make the postseason last year. With the way things are going, there is no doubt in my mind that Arte will get his 9th year of 3,000,000 fans . . . 

Like before, I am going to list the top 5 teams in the major leagues by attendance figure along with the Dodgers and the Angels' AL West rivals. Enjoy.

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Time Lapse of the demolition/construction at Memorial Stadium from January to June.

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