SB Nation User Blog: SoCal Oski

Always the bridesmaid ...

SoCal Oski — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:57:46 -0000

Todays effort by the women's tennis team has got me thinking ...

You know, being a Bear for over 20 years now (including 21 as an “Old Blue”), I’ve come to notice a few things about Cal.

Oh we do rock. We few, we happy few. We band of Bears. Despite their protestations to the contrary, others do begrudge us our admittance and membership in this exclusive Navy Blue and Gold club. And hell yeah, that feels kind of good.

And we come out of the true UC grinder stronger in a very proto-Nietzchean way. Both academically and athletically. Coming out of this crucible has given us an understanding of pain, un-met promises, and the agony of never grabbing that golden ring that most others will never know. Let’s face it, Cal sports is the epitome of the Stine*: the bait-and-switch; the three card monte; raising our hopes only to dash them at the end; being a bridesmaid but never the bride; etc etc etc.

Since my freshman year in 1982 I can almost count on two hands the number of times Cal sports exceeded expectations (note: that leaves out all Rugby wins). There was The Play. There was the first win over Fucla in hoops back with KJ and Leonard Taylor. There was the convincing Citrus Bowl win during the Bruce Snyder years. There was the “national championship” in the NIT. There was winning the Pac-8 championships in Hockey a few years back. There was beating Fucla in hoops in the Pac-10 tourney. There was the last-secone miracle goal against $C in the Water Polo championships two years back, And there was JT’s success.

Other than that? Unmet expectations, predictable collapse, nearly constant and uncountable disappointment, and strong but short efforts against other teams (such as today's noble effort by women's tennis).

But still, we cheer, we root, we hope, and we believe. Because that’s what being a Cal fan and an Old Blue is about. It’s about understanding that the effort is sometimes more important than the result. And it’s about respecting and bleeding true blue and gold. It’s about pride in ourselves, not just in the number of titles we’ve won, and realizing that we have to work – sometimes damned hard – for our accomplishments and our failures. It’s something Furds will not understand, and something Trojies and babybruins will mock. But it’s what makes us Golden Bears.

And let me tell you, Pilot, that aint easy. In fact, it usually sucks. But, here comes Nietzche again, and we understand, and deal, and accept, and are the better for it. Sometimes it’s a lot like being Belgian or Dutch – you know, the red-headed stepchildren. The ones who always get stomped but have moments of glory.

The best part of all of this is knowing that we earn what we get. Our wins (whether upsets or not) are sweet, and we don’t take them for granted. We’re not spoiled or complacent (except for Rugby), and we savor every success - both iIn sports and in life. Think about it, just getting in to UC, we have achieved! And proud we are of all of us.

So, Fucla may have their 102 championships (and counting). $C may have a total chokehold on the Pac-10 football titles. Furd may have the Axe -- and congratulations and good work to all of them. But we have the knowledge that no matter what else life may throw at us, it can never ever come close to the pain, hardship, struggle, and constant effort of being a Cal fan.

Hell, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Go. Bears.

* Stine: A term devised in 1985 based on a guy I know who would try and act mysteriously or unpredictably in order to gain an advantage in poker. It never worked, and so Stine is now used to denote any sort of twist of fate - usually in the negative.

Women's Tennis in Finals

SoCal Oski — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:09:04 -0000

The #8 Cal Women's Tennis team has made it to the NCAA Finals with a win over #5 Baylor to take on ... the #7 babybruins.

This is apparently the first time our Bears are in the finals, and to win it by beating Fucla would be even sweeter. How cool would that be? In my oh-so-humble opinion it would even taste sweeter than beating the Furd. Mainly because of their "first to 100" thing. Amazing as it seems, that whole thing made Fuclans even more annoying than expected.

The finals are tomorrow. Best of luck to the women.

The new look

SoCal Oski — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:19:56 -0000

I guess you can't halt progress

I gotta say, I am kinda stoked about the new format for SBN, and having you guys take over for TBIOOTF. Not that they were bad, but too infrequent and often too silent. Hopefully this will be a very lively place.

An interesting thing to note. After creating my SBN account I checked out some of the other sites on the network ... you know, on account of I'm nosy. Seems like I'm welcomed everywhere except one place. Evidently, I am banned from participating on babybruins nation -- which is really odd since I haven't "participated" there for almost 2 years.

I wear that as a badge of pride!

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming shennanigans and (hopefully) to participating as much as you'll tolerate.

Go Bears!

Thanks for the chatter

SoCal Oski — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:11:36 -0000

Win or lose, plenty of booze

Hey, Duck fans -

Thanks for being (for the most part) gracious hosts to those of us Cal fans / alumni who have stopped over here this week to talk about the game. A few raw nerves and ruffled feathers aside (pun intended), the talk was spirited and respectful.

That being said, I think it's pretty damned cool that both teams are in the position where this game has such passion, attention, and importance surrounding it. Certainly both programs (and the fans) can take pride in it.

Anyway, I look forward to a really exciting, well-played, clean, and injury-free game tomorrow. Get to the stadium and try and make it as intimidating as you seem to think it is - it adds to the whole atmosphere.

Just don't get too depressed when the Bears win!

And remember - win or lose, plenty of booze. Good luck on all of your games after this one.

Go Bears!

Water Polo: NorCal Tourney

SoCal Oski — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:08:01 -0000

Congrats

Good work to your boys on taking the NorCal Tourney title for the 3rd year. Once again it came to the two best teams, and once again it was a one-goal win.

We'll see your guys again a few times this season, likely ending up playing for the title again. Payback awaits!

Go Bears