Zack Follett will be at the game today!

[...] Driving to the bay tomoro for cal game..

But he won't be on the sidelines...

whos got 2 tickets for this cal game tomorrow

...but why wouldn't Zack wanna be on the sidelines???

called and asked and they said they cant do anything for me! but they hit me up to donate to the new facility NEAT

Ohhhh, it's because college athletics is just as "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" as professional sports. Look, I know that Zack had a rough run in the NFL(although he was making progress, and his career was sadly cut short by injury).  I know he doesn't have the cachet of an Aaron Rodgers or a Jahvid Best... but come on! Zack was the heart and soul of a very successful Cal defense! He was a fan favorite, and just a huge part of many of our Cal football experiences - and it's not like it was all that long ago!! I know it's a tight squeeze down on the baseball pitch, but they can't find a space him for him to fit onto the sideline? Hell, they can't even get him a damn ticket?? That's just wrong.

I get, I get it. Zack isn't a sexy alum. He wouldn't get ESPN camera time if he's on the sidelines, like Aaron or Jahvid or Marshawn would.He's not who recruits want to see when they're trying to make their big decisions.  But is there nothing to be said for loyalty?  For school pride? 

There is, of course, the question of "where does it stop? If Zack is a yes, can JJ Arrington get in? How about Vince D'Amato?  What about 'walk-on-who-never-played-but-gosh-he-was-a-nice-kid'?  I know, ya gotta draw the line somewhere, especially at a primetime game.  But hey, how high does the line get drawn?  What does it come down to?  Is NFL glory?(Yes.)  Is it fame?(Yes.) Is it money?(Yes.)  Is it...

...never mind. 

Obviously, I want the famous NFL alums on the sidelines - it looks good, it builds our brand, it brings in recruits, and dammit if it doesn't just make us feel good about ourselves!  I'm not mad about that at all, I absolutely love it when they visit!  Heck, the Browns are playing the Raiders on Sunday, maybe we'll see Alex Mack there :)  I know there have to be some rules about this sort of thing, and clearly I'm not the one to make them, but... 

I just don't buy it.  To leave Zack Follett out in the cold, to brush off someone who's meant SO much to this team so recently... it's just not right.

But hey, at least they had the courtesy to ask him for money, right? 

I guess they didn't want him feeling left out.

On April 7th, the Cal Rugby reserve grade took on the Bear Cubs of Santa Rosa Junior College.  While the matchup may sound more like a mismatch, the Bear Cubs fielded a strong side, and nothing came easily for the Golden Bears.  After the jump, photos of the action!

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It's everywhere we look - print, television, the Web.  It's coming from local media, fans, even the Athletic Department.  Retrospectives, sharing of memories, taking of mementos... you'd think it was Demolition Day at old Yankee Stadium.  Why does everyone hear Memorial's swan song... when it's not actually being sung?

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Y'all know I hate the Furd as much as anyone, probably even more than is healthy.  And though some of you may not believe it, i DO hate the USC football team.  When those two play, I just can't watch.  But I was out with friends having dinner after the game, and the game was on, so we watched.  And it sickens me to say it, but dammit, the Furd-SC game was a hell of a game to watch.  And this was clearly the play of the game:

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It's 10:33pm, and I'm about six songs into a once-in-a-millenium experience. 

This DBD is being written on October 10, 2010.   At precisely 10:10pm, on 10/10/10, I pressed "play" on my stereo and began listening to "Ten" - the first album from the Seattle quintet known as Pearl Jam.  If you know the album, then you know that the greatest Pearl Jam song, "Jeremy", is awesoming my face off at this moment.  For some reason, it's nice to know that somewhere in this Pacific Time Zone of ours, someone is rocking out with me, possibly to the exact same song.  If this album has yet to change your life, you need to rectify that situation immediately. Go listen to it.

Oh, and if you want to say it doesn't count because it wasn't 10:10 on the 24-hour clock, consider yourself kicked in your proverbial balls.

So it was my first night back in town after 3 months on the road.  I'm watching a little TV, trying to shake the weird feeling of being back home for the first time in a long time.  It's late, this infomercial comes on for Juvenon, which is apparently the latest and greatest "anti-aging" supplement.  Here's a clip of commercial for the stuff:

As you can see, it looks like a regular bullshit ad for a bullshit "all-natural" product that promises the moon and delivers significantly less.  But as I'm watching the video, they say that's it's based on research done at UC BERKELEY.  Woah, woah, woah - hold the phone!  Is the name of our noble university being dragged through the mud to to sell garbage?  So I look it up, and apparently is is indeed based on research from our noble institution.  According to this official university press release, the big brain is Dr. Bruce Ames, UC Berkeley professor and researcher at Children's Hospital Oakland. 

Dr. Bruce Ames is a big-time scientist who's done big-time things in his time at Cal.  Dude is legit.  With 400+ publications to his name, he's one of the most cited scientists in the world.  The research on which this product is based was published in scientific journals, withstood the rigors of peer review, etc.  He and other researchers apparently started Juvenon back in '99 to license the patent that the University has on the research.  Now, some would say that this is no different than the founding of Genentech, for example.  But things that a company like Genentech would license would to through the FDA, etc. etc.  It wouldn't have the dreaded "bullshit detector" label that Juvenon has:

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

This makes me feel awfully wary about this stuff.  Hell, even Dr. Andrew Weil is selling it !!  It's gotta be bulls*** if he's got his hands in it...

What's that?  Dr. Weil?  Oh, you know, that new age guru guy:

via naturalcollection.typepad.com

I know, I know, some people go in for his stuff, so maybe it's not fair to lump him in with the crazies, but you get the drift. So clearly, the alarms are going off in my head here.  I keep searching the website, and I see another statement I just don't know what to make heads or tails of:

Our product is marketed as a dietary supplement, which means that it can be marketed without obtaining advance approval from the FDA and without being subjected to the pre-market clearance requirements that apply to drugs. Nevertheless, Juvenon® requires rigorous pre-clinical and clinical testing of its products and maintains an active research program.

So it it's got a long history of clinical trials - clearly, since the initial press release regarding the scientific research was from 2002 - but then why not get FDA approval?  Why go the "dietary supplement" route?  There's just a lot less credibility that way...

So how do you feel about this, CGB?  Looking at the company's advisory board, there seem to be some good people behind this... but with no FDA approval, and a cheesy infomercial to boot, how credible can this stuff really be?  The Golden Bear in me says to just assume that this is just another feather in our scientific cap... but the skeptic in me looks at the late-night TV clips, the overly glowing testimonials(though that one has a couple of interesting clips from Dr. Ames) and just makes me shake my head. 

Is this a blow to our scientific reputation?

In other completely unrelated news, today's my birthday!  And SOMEONE got himself a pretty sweet gift - a ticket to go see Lady Gaga tonight!!!  Suck it haters!!

Tonight, Cal completed their trampling of the state of Utah with a victory over the Lady Cougars(I know it's redundant, but that's what they're called!) of BYU.   I caught the game with Calnet and some other friends - another fun Cal victory, and it really gave us a good glimpse of the future of the team.  After the jump: the write-up, some photos, and some video.

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The Winter Olympics are upon us, and we've all got Olympic Fever!  ...well okay, national interest in the Winter Olympics isn't usually fever-grade in this country - but we've definitely got an Olympic Cold, or at least the Olympic Sniffles!    As exciting as the US-Canada Olympic rivalry is,  the real Battle of the Border is the annual set of rugby matches between Cal and the University of British Columbia.  Repping Vancouver, the UBC Thunderbirds were no doubt brimming with national pride and hoping to continue the dominance over the Americans that their compatriots achieved in hockey ice dancing.  The Bears were hoping to do what they do best: win.  The result of the clash was a hard-fought battle indeed.  After the jump, photos of the ensuing action!

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Yesterday, Mark "Big Mac" McGwire came clean.  Steroids.  He used 'em.  As a longtime McGwire fan, it was tough for me to hear, but 'fessing up was what he had to do, for himself and for the Cardinals.  Though all the details were difficult to bear, one little tidbit brought joy to my heart: McGwire started juicing during the '89-'90 offseason.  The offseason - that is to say, after the A's had alreaqdy won the World Series.  I was so happy - the '89 World Series victory was clean!!  Well... okay, clean for McGwire's part, which is a huge relief to me.  I'm sure Canseco was juicing, but that dude is a douchebag and a freak, so whatevs.  The point is, McGwire was clean for the '89 Series.  If you happen to disagree, I WILL FIGHT YOU.

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In general, we all know there's little to love about the Big East.  They're a basketball conference masquerading as a football conference.  They'll have one good team a year (Rutgers 2006. Cincinnati 2009) but generally they play lackluster football.  They're not even tied to a BCS Bowl!  They're the redheaded stepchild of the BCS family.

But... is there something that we can learn from them?  More after the jump.

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Hey all, BearStage here.  If you know me, then... you probably live in the East Bay.  Horrible jokes aside, I've noticed that it's already 12:35 Pacific Time, and there's no DBD!  I noted this is in the 4th of July thread.  I was going to do nothing - I swear.  Then Yes We Cannon sarcastically asks if I volunteered... and that got me thinking - which is never a good thing. 

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