Last week, ragnarok posted an article detailing a plan for a complete restructuring of college football, reorganizing the current 120 Division 1-A teams into 10 conferences of 12 teams each. While it was a good plan, there were some basic objections that I had, such as:

1) The inclusion of non-BCS D-1A teams that never draw big crowds, and never contend for conference championships or at-large BCS bids doesn't make sense to me. Schools such as San Diego State and Idaho seem to serve as nothing more than easy wins for big time programs and even their WAC counterparts. The odds are that they won't ever contend for a championship, and schools that consistently draw crowds in the 15-20,000 range aren't really going to be able to compete with big-time programs.

2) In my opinion and in the opinion of the majority of the country, any new system implemented in college football needs to be based around a playoff. 12-team conferences aren't playoff friendly at all, because a 12 team conference needs two 6-team divisions, meaning that not all of the teams in the conference will play each other over the course of any given season. This means that a conference championship game at the end of the year would be necessary to determine which team represents that conference in the playoffs- which would push back the start of the college football playoffs a week, into the holidays, into finals, and possibly even into the NFL playoffs. 10 team conferences make it very clear who the champion is and allow every team to play every team, while leaving room for 3 OOC games. 

3) 10 divisions doesn't really fit well into a playoff system. You would need to have six teams that receive a bye into the 2nd round and have a 4 team first round. In short, the playoffs would be the length of a 16-team playoff (4 weeks) even though there would only be 10 teams involved. 

So, with these issues in mind, I designed an 80 team, 8 conference system that allows for each conference to send 1 representative to the NCAA playoffs (or 2, if the NCAA decides to go with a 16-team playoff system). The conference layout is as follows:

Here's a list of each conference and each team within it:

 

Pacific Coast Conference

 

1. California
2. Stanford
3. Hawaii
4. Fresno St.
5. Oregon
6. Oregon State
7. Washington
8. Washington St.
9. USC
10. UCLA

The PCC, the blue conference on the far left, is basically the Pac-10 minus the Arizona schools. It preserves the regional rivalries currently present in the Pac-10, and adds two WAC teams in Hawaii and Fresno St., which already is somewhat of a rivalry. Besides, I wouldn't exactly mind going to Honolulu every other year. 

Western Conference

1. Boise St.
2. Utah
3. BYU
4. Nevada
5. UNLV
6. Arizona
7. Arizona St.
8. New Mexico
9. Colorado
10. Colorado St.

 

 

This conference is a mix of the best of the MWC, WAC, and some middle-of-the-pack Big XII and Pac-10 teams (it's the red conference on the above map). I chose to add UNLV and Nevada instead of San Jose and San Diego State because 1) They draw better crowds, 2) It's already a pretty heated rivalry, and 3) I think 7 teams in California is a little much and doesn't really represent the number of high-caliber teams there are in the state. 

Midwestern Conference

 

1. Nebraska
2. Kansas
3. Kansas St.
4. Missouri
5. Illinois
6. Northwestern
7. Iowa
8. Iowa St.
9. Wisconsin
10. Minnesota

The Midwestern Conference, the light green conference on the map, is a blend of 5 Big 10 teams and 5 Big XII teams. The conference unites Iowa and Iowa St., keeps the Kansas-KSU and Kansas-Mizzou rivalries intact, and well as the Illinois-Northwestern and Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalries from the Big 10. All 10 teams a very close to each other as well, which is weird because I don't exactly think of Kansas and Wisconsin being close to each other. All of the distances are pretty much driveable, which should improve attendance throughout the conference.

Gulf Coast Conference

 

1. Texas
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas A&M
4. Baylor
5. TCU
6. SMU
7. UTEP
8. Oklahoma
9. Oklahoma St.
10. Louisiana St.

This conference is a powerhouse, plain and simple. There are at least 3 perennial national championship contenders in here (LSU, Texas, Oklahoma). The GCC is basically the best of the Big XII + some other teams in Texas + LSU. Granted, LSU is a little removed from the rest of the conference, but I couldn't really find another place for them to go. Also, I tried to keep LSU out of the Deep South Conference (coming up next) just to avoid having one conference totally stacked with teams that always seem to be in the top 15. 

Deep South Conference

 

1. Arkansas
2. Mississippi
3. Mississippi St.
4. Alabama
5. Auburn
6. Florida St.
7. Tennessee
8. Vanderbilt
9. Kentucky
10. Memphis

OK, OK, I realize that this is basically the SEC. However, 3 of the best SEC teams (in Georgia, Florida, and LSU) are gone, which I hoped would level out the playing field for the rest of the conferences. However, any conference with Mississippi, Auburn, Alabama, Florida St., and Tennessee in it isn't exactly going to be weak. It preserves most SEC rivalries (I had to break up Bama-Florida for the same reason as I removed LSU from the conference). Considering that there's only one playoff berth per conference, it didn't seem fair to have UGa, Florida, Bama, Tennessee, and LSU battle it out for one spot when 3 of those teams probably deserve a bid in any given year. 

Southeastern Conference

 

 

1. Florida
2. South Florida
3. Miami
4. Georgia
5. Georgia Tech
6. South Carolina
7. Clemson
8. Duke
9. East Carolina
10. Wake Forest

This SEC is even more southeastern than the current SEC, and is a combination of ACC and SEC schools (plus one non-BCS school in ECU). I originally wanted to put North Carolina and NCSU in this conference, but it seemed that that would make the conference a little too strong considering that Florida, Clemson, and Georgia are already in it. So I switched in 2 other Carolina schools in Wake and ECU, hoping that those two would be a little less successful than the former. Duke and UNC will just have to schedule each other OOC, I guess. But Ga. Tech and UGa are in the same conference, so it kinda evens out.

Great Lakes Conference

 

1. Michigan
2. Michigan St.
3. Ohio St.
4. Cincinnati
5. Indiana
6. Purdue
7. Notre Dame
8. Pittsburgh
9. Louisville
10. Syracuse

Yay, ND finally joined a conference! And half of the Big East and the rest of the Big 10 come together to form the GLC. The Michigan-OSU and Michigan-MSU rivalries are kept intact, along with having all 3 Indiana schools finally in the same conference. Every single GLC city is probably within a 7-hour drive of the furthest one, so the geography pretty much works out perfectly. With the exception of Syracuse. The alternative to having Syracuse in the GLC was to switch in West Virginia from the Eastern Conference, but somehow I just felt that Michigan and WVU don't belong in the same conference. 

 

East Coast Conference

1. Penn St.
2. North Carolina
3. North Carolina St.
4. Maryland
5. West Virginia
6. Virginia
7. Virginia Tech
8. Boston College
9. Connecticut
10. Rutgers

The ECC is basically a collection of the untaken teams from the Big East, ACC, and Penn St. This conference is pretty powerful as well, but the locations of the teams in the Northeast doesn't really work out well. That's kind of unavoidable anyways since there aren't enough teams in the northeast to put together an entire conference, but I think that this particular arrangement of teams is about as close as it's gonna get. 
So, know that there are 8 conferences with 10 teams each, creating a playoff system is incredibly simple. At the end of the season, a rankings committee comes together to determine which of the 8 conference champions will be seeded #'s 1-8. 8 plays 1, 7 plays 2, and so on. The first round would be played at the home of the higher seed, and the second round could be played at a neutral site. The National Championship could be played at a different site every year, not even necessarily one of the current 4 in the rotation. And, if the NCAA ever decided to expand the playoffs to 16 teams, the top 2 teams from every conference could go to the playoffs, with the first 2 rounds being played at the home of the higher seed. 
And if worst comes to worst and the NCAA can't come up with a playoff system, well, the current BCS system would work just as well. Take the #1 and #2 teams from the rankings and put them in the national championship game, and send the other conference champions to BCS bowl just like today. 
Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

 

 

 

 

Poll

Which is a better conference layout?

0%

120 teams total, 10 12-team conferences

0 votes

33%

120 teams total, 12 10-team conferences

6 votes

11%

96 teams total, 8 12-team conferences

2 votes

55%

80 teams total, 8 10-team conferences

10 votes

18 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

It's time for the holidays (tonight was the first night of Hannukah and I'm stuffed with jew food)! And it's also bowl season! What could be better? Arizona beat BYU last night, Colorado St. beat a decent Fresno team in New Mexico, Wake Forest beat Navy in Washington, D.C., South Florida crushed Memphis on a baseball diamond in St. Pete, and Southern Miss beat Troy in OT today at the Superdome. And tomorrow Boise St. plays TCU in arguably the most intriguing of this year's bowl games: The San Diego Country Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. The SDCCUPB. God, we need a playoff sooo badly. That game's at 5 on ESPN. And now, some links!

Women's Basketball Game Cancelled:

 

Monday's women's basketball game between No. 9 California and No. 7 Baylor has been cancelled due to inclement weather that has prevented Baylor from traveling to Berkeley. Baylor played at Oregon on Saturday, winning 81-71. Due to ice and snow in Eugene, Ore., the team was not able to fly to the Bay Area. The possiblity of a rescheduled date is still being explored. 

Women's V-Ball Players Named AVCA All-Americans:

The California volleyball team had two players honored as the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced the 28th annual AVCA Division I All-American Teams for women's volleyball today. Junior outside hitterHana Cutura became a two-time All-American with her selection to the first team and sophomore setter Carli Lloydreceived her first All-America nod and became Cal's first All-American setter with her selection to the second team. While Lloyd is Cal's sixth AVCA All-American, the pair receives Cal's 10th and 11th All-America honors, marking just the second time in school history that the Golden Bears have had two players selected in the same year.

Men's Basketball Beats Nevada:

 

 Jerome Randle had 23 points and tied a season high with eight assists, Patrick Christopherscored 16 points and California overcame a sloppy offensive performance in the first half to beat Nevada 75-66 on Saturday afternoon.

Jamal Boykin and Theo Robertson added 10 points apiece for the Bears (8-2), who won despite missing 13 of their first 19 shots and failing to score off an offensive rebound in the first half.

Nevada's Armon Johnson scored 27 of his career-high 33 points in the second half, including 13 in the final 2:26, but the Wolfpack (6-5) couldn't get much else going late in their first road game since Dec. 2. Nevada had won three straight going in but haven't won at Berkeley since the 1983-84 season.

This has been posted previously, but the 3rd OOC game next year will be against Eastern Washington:

Briefly: Cal has reached an agreement to play Eastern Washington next season, completing a 12-game schedule that includes no bye week. As the schedule stands now, the Bears open with a home game against Maryland on Sept. 5 and play every week until the season finale against Stanford on Nov. 21. Cal will try to make adjustments, but Tedford has said he’d like to keep the Big Game as the traditional season-ender.

The Men's BB Team plays Colgate tomorrow at Haas. The gametime was originally 8PM, but I'm not sure if they'll change it because the women's game was cancelled. I can't imagine that they would change the gametime on such short notice even though 8 PM is a little later than most games usually start.  There was a great crowd for the Nevada game, make sure you get out there and support the Bears! 

 

 

I started my day off by going to the Cal Vs. UCLA Water Polo game. 

 

The Cal bench.

At halftime of the Water Polo game, my friend and I decided to skip the 2nd half and go check out the band's concert @Sproul Plaza. Cheerleaders.

The Best Damn Band in the Land.

More Cheerleaders.

 

 The Tubas March up to the Stadium with the rest of the band. 

An amazing (in my opinion) shot of the campanile.

I sit in the bluezone, but in order to get a free shirt I had to head up and around the stadium as opposed to walking to section L via the west Concourse like I usually do. So, I ended up with this awesome shot of the stadium an hour before gametime.

From my seats.

bRUIN band warming up.

The California Banner.

The Student Section filling up.

The UCLA Pregame show.

And now, the pacesetter of college marching bands, the pride of California, the University of California Marching Band! *BOOM*

Script Cal.

Student Section at Kickoff.

Full stadium panorama. 

The halftime show was by far the most epic I've seen in the last 2 years. 

Sweet Victory!

I would have taken more photos of the game itself, but when they actually play, I actually watch instead of taking pictures. Whatever. Go Bears!

In the recent weeks, ESPN's Ted Miller has been doing Best Case/Worst Case scenarios for other Pac-Ten schools such as UCLA, WSU, and a few others. He hasn't done one for Cal yet, so I thought I would make one of my own.

 

             Worst Case

Michigan State, August 30: Kevin Riley throws for 3 INTs and 1 TD while Jahvid Best runs for a measly 30 yards in the first half. Spartans QB Brian Hoyer throws for 2 TDs and tailback Javon Ringer runs for one, making the score 21-7 going into halftime. Longshore comes out to start the third quarter to mixed cheers from Olsonist and boos from the crowd. Longshore looks decent throughout the third, leading a six minute drive up the field that results in a Marvin Jones. The defense quiets MSU for the third quarter, holding the Spartans to a field goal. But Tedford leave Longshore in for the 4th quarter, where he promptly throws two INTs, one of which is run back 65 yards for a touchdown. The Spartans win, 31-14.

Washington State, September 6: Kevin Riley reverses his MSU performance and plays all 4 quarters, throwing for 2 TDs without a turnover. Jahvid Best runs for a touchdown and causes a fumble  on a punt return. The Cougs offense is quiet until the fourth quarter, when they try to mount a comeback from a 24-7 deficit. Gary Rogers throws a TD to Brandon Gibson and Michael Bumpus to make it 24-21, but the Bears rally back with a Seawright FG and another Jahvid Best TD. Bears beat the Cougars, 34-21.

Maryland, September 13: Everything goes wrong for the Bears today. Everything. Having to wake up at 4AM Pacific Time for a 9AM PT game, Cal comes out completely flat against a speedy Maryland team. Kevin Riley gets sacked 3 times in the first quarter and Jahvid Best turns the ball over on the Bears' 14 yardline, resulting in a Terps TD . Maryland adds two FGs to their lead before halftime, and all Cal can come up with is a FG before the half. The game goes the same way for the second half, and Maryland wins 30-10.

Colorado State, September 27: The Bears are fresh and motivated coming off a tough loss and then a bye week, and Jahvid Best runs for a career best 220 yards all over a helpless CSU defense. Longshore comes in midway through the second quarter and stays in the game, finishing with 3 TDs & no INTs. Bears win, 42-10. 

Arizona State, October 4th: Rudy Carpenter comes to Strawberry Canyon and stomps all over a lackluster Cal secondary. The Bears do sack him 3 times, but he makes up for it by throwing for 4 touchdowns in a not-so-close 35-13 ASU victory as Shane Vereen scores his first TD of the year and Seawright adds 2 more FGs. 

Arizona, October 18: The Bears don't usually play well in Tucson. They don't end that trend tonight. Riley throws for 1 TD but gets picked off twice, Willie Tuitama throws for 3 TDs, and the Wildcats fans don't even rush the field like the did in 2006 as they beat a now 2-4 Golden Bear team, 35-10.

UCLA, October 25: The Bears are angry with themselves, and they take it out on the Bruins without mercy. The D-Line sacks 3rd-String QB Kevin Craft a whopping 7 times, and Kevin Riley throws for 3 TDs while getting picked off only once. Longshore plays the 4th quarter and leads the bears on a 55 yard drive resulting in a field goal, and the Bears win 31-17. 

Oregon, November 1: The Ducks offense is just as high-powered as it was last year and Nate Costa throws right through Cal's inexperienced secondary. Riley doesn't have his best night, either. He throws 2 INTs without a touchdown and completes only 8 of 19 pass attempts. Ducks beat the Bears, 33-10.

USC, November 8: Jeff Tedford has never won in Los Angeles. This year is not the year. Joe McKnight and C.J. Gable run for a touchdown each and Mark Sanchez passes for 2, while Riley throws a touchdown to Jones and gets picked off once in the third quarter. The Trojans roll 34-10. 

Oregon State, November 15: The Bears would be down in the dumps at this point and Oregon State doesn't feel like changing that. Sean Canfield throws for a touchdown and the Beavs add 4 field goals, while Cal's Jahvid Best runs for one touchdown and Riley throws in another one. The Beavs win a tight one, 19-14. 

Stanford, November 22: The Bears are really mad now. Their once promising season has turned into a long, drawn-out nightmare and all they want is to crush their biggest rival. Jim Harbaugh's team isn't really capable of stopping the Bears offense, and the Bears are more than happy to take advantage of that. Riley throws for 2, Best runs for 2, and Seawright adds 6 points of his own as the Bears trounce the 'Furd, 34-3. 

Washington, December 6: As doubt begins to build in Berkeley about Jeff Tedford's future, the Bears are eager to make on end-of-season statement about what type of team they should have been. Jake Locker throws 3 touchdowns, but Kevin Riley throws 4 in the game of his career. Best adds a touchdown of his own, and the Bears Roll On, 41-24.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that ugly worst case. But it was an absolute worst-case scenario, and I think that everyone on this blog will agree a lot more with the best case than they do with the worst case.

 

          Best Case

Michigan State, August 30: The Bears run out of North Tunnel looking to redeem themselves from last year's second-half nightmare, and they do. The new-look defense shuts down MSU's running game, and Jahvid Best runs for two touchdowns. Riley plays the entire first half and going into halftime, the Bears lead 17-7. Nate Longshore starts the second half, and throws a touchdown and an interception. Riley comes back in for the 4th quarter and throws another TD, giving himself 2 on the night. Bears win, 35-17. 

Washington State, September 6: The Bears go up north looking to show the country that the MSU victory wasn't a fluke, and they do. Riley plays the whole game this time, throwing for 280 yards, 2 TDs and one INT. Best and Vereen add a TD each, and the Bears crush the Cougs on the road, 34-7. 

Maryland, September 13: This game is a sloppier one, but the Bears clearly have the edge over an overpowered Terrapin squad. Riley, having established himself as the clear starter, plays the whole game again, throwing for 3 TDs and 1 interception. Jahvid Best goes scoreless, but David Seawright makes up for him by nailing two 45 yard-plus kicks. Bears win, 27-10. 

Colorado State, September 27: The Bears come out strong and dominate an intimidated CSU team. Best makes up for his lackluster performance and runs for 2 TDs, while Riley throws for 1 and runs one in himself on a QB keeper. Final score: Bears 37, Rams 3. The Golden Bears improve to 4-0 and are ranked 17th in the nation. 

Arizona State, October 4: The Bears are red-hot, and the Sun Devils are coming off a heartbreaking one-touchdown loss to Georgia. Jahvid Best continues his dominance of defenses with 2 more touchdowns and 145 yards, while Riley throws for 190 yards and a touchdown. The Sun Devils rally late in the game but Bob Gregory's defense saves the game by causing a late fumble, and the Bears win 27-21.

Arizona, October 18th: The Bears are practically unstoppable right now, and they beat Willie Tuitama and the Wildcats into the ground. Riley throws 2, Best runs for 2, Seawright kicks 2, and the Bears only have 2 games left before their matchup with undefeated USC at the Coliseum. Final Score: California 34, Arizona 13. 

UCLA, October 25th: The Bruins still don't have a half-decent quarterback and the Bears have 2. This shows early as Worrell Williams causes a fumble on Kevin Craft halfway through the first quarter, and Kevin Riley finishes the act with a 27-yard strike to a wide-open Marvin Jones in the Endzone. The other 3 quarters go similarly, and the Bears improve to 7-0 by beating UCLA by a score of 37-17. The next morning when the AP Poll comes out, they find themselves ranked number 7.

Oregon, November 1: The Week before the Cal-USC game has never been a good week for fans in Berkeley. The Bears realize this, however, and they don't take a talented Oregon team for granted. Tedford knows that even though his team is 7-0, another trap-game loss could have die-hard Bears fans screaming for his head. Tedford keeps the team focused, and a customary Cal-Oregon offensive battle ensues, with Nate Costa and Kevin Riley each throwing 4 touchdowns. Jahvid Best runs for one, but Nate Costa scores on an option play and the game is tied. In overtime, the Bears get a stop and win the game on a Seawright 34-yarder. The AP Poll on November 2, 2008 goes something like this:

#1 Georgia, #2 USC, #3 Florida, #4 California.

USC, November 8: This is obviously the most important game of the season for the Bears, and they need it if they have any Rose Bowl or National Championship hopes. The Trojans, Pete Caroll, and the vile Trojan fanbase create on of the most intimidating environments in the game when the Bears come to town, and Kevin Riley has to squeeze his legs together as to not crap his pants. The Bears start off terribly; after Jahvid Best is tackled at the 9 yard line on the kickoff return, Kevin Riley gets picked off and Joe McKnight runs the ball in on the next play. At the half, the Trojans lead the Bears 24-7, the Bears' touchdown coming on a spectacular 66 yard run by Best. The Bears do mount a fourth quarter rally but it comes up short, and the Trojans beat the Bears 34-21. The Bears drop to #9 in the polls. 

Oregon State, November 15: The Bears are disappointed but not discouraged going into Corvallis, and they trounce an OSU team that ruined their national title hopes last year. Riley throws for 2 touchdowns, Best runs for 2 touchdowns, and the Bears are winning big at the end of the third. In a moment of pity for his star-turned-bench-warmer, Tedford puts in Longshore and Longshore doesn't disappoint the 1,000-ish Cal fans that made the trip to the middle of nowhere. He throws one touchdown to Layrelle Cunningham and the Bears fly home happy having beaten the Beavs 38-16.

Stanford, November 22: The result of this game is probably comparable to what would happen if TwistNHook asked Marshawn Lynch to marry him.

Need I say more? Bears over the Cardinal, by a whopping 47-7. Roll On You Bears!

Washington, December 6: At this point in the season, I think this game shouldn't pose too much of a threat to the boys in Blue and Gold. I'm actually looking forward to seeing locker play live, but I think the Bears come away with yet another easy victory. Best scores 1 TD, and Longshore plays three whole quarters, while throwing 3 touchdowns and *GASP* no interceptions. The Bears beat the Dogs 34-10, and they finish the season 11-1 behind an undefeated USC team.

Oh yeah, did I mention that they started construction on the SAHPC the day after the Michigan State game? 

Anyways, the Bears go on to earn an at-large bid to the Fiesta Bowl, where they tromp some team from the East Coast by a lot. Nate Longshore gets drafted with the 25th pick of the second round of the 2009 NFL draft, and becomes a sort of Kyle Boller 2.0 

Remember, folks, that is the best case scenario and the worst case scenario. What I think will likely happen is somewhere in between the two, with a record between 10-2 and 8-4. Hopefully, the best case scenario plays out and we all fly home from Glendale happy with a BCS win. Go Bears!

Poll

Which is more likely?

44%

My Best Case Scenario

15 votes

2%

My Worst Case Scenario

1 votes

52%

My TwistNHook asking Marshawn Lynch to Marry Him Scenario

18 votes

34 votes | Poll has closed

From SF Gate:

(07-02) 13:12 PDT BERKELEY -- Three of the Memorial Stadium tree-sitters left their perches today and Tuesday night, leaving just four protesters making a stand against UC's plans to build an athletic training center in the grove, UC Berkeley officials said.

The three protesters, who have not been identified, climbed down from the trees late Tuesday night, campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said. One of them was arrested by campus police while the other two climbed up a different tree, he said.

After talking to police this morning, the two came down. All three have been charged with trespassing and violating a court order to abandon the protest in the grove, Mogulof said.

The protesters' reasons for leaving the 19-month-old tree-sit were not immediately available.

The fate of the oak grove hinges on the outcome of a lawsuit brought by the City of Berkeley, the Panoramic Hill Association and oak tree supporters. A judge is expected to rule in the next few weeks whether the university can go ahead with plans to build a $140 million sports training center next to the stadium.

Wow. And thats from Carolyn Jones. And it isn`t completely one-sided. 4 TO GO, PEOPLE! GET THOSE CHAINSAWS READY!

(Ed Note:  I turned this into the link dump for today, because it seemed like a good survey of recent Cal events.  And something related to the Iraq war, but let's try to stay on message here.  We're fighting our own seemingly intractable battle in Berkeley here!  So, dump away!)

I'm no lawyer, but don't you need a reason to file an appeal? And doesn't the reason have to be something a little better than "they didn't want to build the gym across the street, they wanted to build it here"? And doesn't the UC have the right to cut down trees on its own property? I mean, there is no CRIME being committed here. Anyway, take a look at this email. Are they grasping at straws? Conceding defeat? Just wasting time like they always do? I have absolutely no idea, but check it out.

What: Please come to Berkeley City Council Meeting to ask the city to continue the lawsuit and appeal the lawsuit decision! And also call, fax, and email your city councilmember and the mayor.

Where: 2134 MLK Way

When: Monday June 30th 5pm (please arrive before 5pm to get on the speaker's list... even if you don't want to speak we need supporters to show up!)

Details below.................

Dear friends of Memorial Oak Grove,

We have a *major* request: please come to a special session of Berkeley City Council on Monday (tomorrow!) at 5pm (please arrive before 5pm!) to ask the city of Berkeley to continue its lawsuit to save Memorial Oak Grove and also to file an appeal. And if you can, please call and/or email city council members and the mayor.

As you may have heard, UC is attempting to modify its construction plan for the training facility to meet Judge Miller's objections, and UC will ask Judge Miller to lift the injunction on cutting the grove on
Tuesday.

That means UC could bring chainsaws to the grove as early as Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning!

Right now, it is *crucial* that the city of Berkeley stay the course on
this lawsuit and file an appeal ASAP. It is possible that an appeals
court could uphold the injunction on treecutting, and we need the city of Berkely to stand up for our community and the oaks.

An independent UC Boalt Hall attorney named Antonio Rossman - who has successfully litigated similar cases in the past - has written an independent analysis of the lawsuit, and he indicates there's a strong possibility of success on appeal, for example on the issue of whether UC has properly considered alternatives to cutting the grove... Please read Rossman's article...

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/issue/2008-06-19/article/30363?headline=News-Analysis-The-Stadium-Decision-An-Initial-Assessment-

As Rossman indicates:

"In general, the courts have vigorously enforced the need for a genuine examination of alternatives that pose real, not false, choices....
Suffice it to contemplate at this time the stadium decision, if taken to the court of appeal, will provide worthy “alternatives” material for
that tribunal."

As Oak Grove supporters have been stating since the beginning of this campaign, UC could save the oaks and build the gym somewhere else, such as under Maxwell Family Field, and satisfy everyone's needs. The fact that UC did not study genuine alternative sites for the athlete center in its Environmental Impact Report leaves open a good chance of success at appeal.

You can also call or email Berkeley city council members and the
Mayor... the sooner you can do this, the better!

Please let them know in your own words:

* Berkeley should follow through on this lawsuit, with the beloved
 Memorial Oak Grove at stake and also people's safety and the concerns of the community!
* We have an excellent chance of winning an appeal on Alternative
 Locations and other issues - please specifically reference the Rossman article!
* We need to file the appeal as soon as possible so that UC cannot
 start cutting trees if Judge Miller lifts the injunction!

Well, I love to hear them say stuff about the UC bringing chainsaws to the grove on tuesday or wednesday. It warms me heart. Anyway, we should be writing emails and sending letters to our city council telling them NOT to file an appeal.

 

And in other news:

-Star RB recruit Dasarte Yarnway will make a decision sometime in the next few weeks. He is considering (in order) Cal, Oregon, Arizona State. He also was quoted as saying "Cal has the best academics in the world. I have a great relationship with the coaches and it's just a comfortable place for me."

-The facebook group about the Gold Out has 1407 members.

-Someone edited the California Memorial Stadium article on Wikipedia. Now, it doesn't look like it was written by a fifth grader. And there is a link to the California Golden Blogs!  Go to Wikipedia and type in "California  Memorial Stadium" and scroll down until you get to "Gold Out".

-Someone posted a comment on Youtube on the "California Football 2008 Season Tickets" video. He said he was from Michigan State, and that 10,000 fans were expected to turn up in Berkeley for the game. He's probably full of crap, though.

-George Bush will spend another $162,000,000,000 on the war in Iraq. Asshole.

 

OK. So, we've been hearing ideas and reading articles and fanposts for the last month talking about a possible "Gold Out" for the opening game against Michigan State. A united fan base, more supportive, visually intimidating, the list of Pros goes on and on.

We saw what the Neyland Stadium "Orange Out" can do to a team. The sight, the support from the fans, and the entire spectacle of the whole thing basically caused every single Golden Bears to crap his pants. Now imagine what it would to to MSU.

Here are some things that us Cal fans can do to actually get the ball rolling for this project:

-Go to Cal stores and ask them to put signs in their windows and mention the Gold Out to customers.

- Have some kind of large banner behind a TV camera at the Oak Grove saying "Gold Out Vs. Michigan State 8-30-08".

-Bombard the AD with emails encouraging them to get a sponsor to hand out free gold shirts.

-A facebook group called "Lets Gold Out Memorial Stadium"  has almost 1,400 members (including Nyan Boateng, Tracy Slocum, a few other Golden Bears).

-Rivals.com published an article about the gold out, which can be found Here.

People, this idea is no longer just an idea. It has media coverage, blog coverage, facebook coverage, and soon, hopefully, coverage in stores and shops that sell Cal apparel and maybe even a little bit of TV coverage. Keep on telling your friends! Email the AD! Email Coach Tedford! Spread the word! Post about the Gold Out on other Cal blogs. As a Fanbase, this would be our shining moment of the Tedford era! Let's not let this opportunity slip away.

GOLD OUT!!!