SB Nation User Blog: TwistNHook

DBD 12.10.09 SFJazz Hotplate Show Tonight

TwistNHook — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:40:56 -0000

Sick show tonight. I can't make it, because its a Thursday night, but for those who live in the City and dont have early mornings tomorrow, I suggest you go.

It's SpaceHeater plays Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Here is more information:

via www.sfjazz.org

SFJazz has a new series wherein modern musicians reinterpret the work of previous icons. And they've picked some great musicians here. Firstly, Rahsaan Roland Kirk is a legend. An icon. A personal inspiration to me. He could play up to 3 saxes at once! Unbelievable. He was remarkably creative. Always pushing the boundaries, always creating. Fresh, fresh, fresh. He himself was not adverse to reinterpreting the music of others. Here he is playing "Say A Little Prayer" (the first few minutes is him talking, which he was wont to do):

He could play a myriad of instruments. His fluting was the direct inspiration for Jethro Tull's fluting, which led to a lot of anger and resentment by Kirk, who felt they had gotten rich based off his technique. Here he is fluting LoverMan:

And this guy is going to be reinterpreted by SpaceHeater's Blast Furnace. They do a good mixture of instrumental jazz with electronica. It should be good. I'm having trouble finding a quality video here for them. The songs I love of theirs do not appear to be on YouTube. Blech.

The show is at 9 at Amnesia in the Mission. Find the info here on this Google Map. So, go if you can! Support local musicians! Support SFJazz! Its only $5! What do you have to lose?

Mens BBall beats Pacific:

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) - Patrick Christopher had game-high totals of 22 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday night to lead California to a 79-54 victory over Pacific.

The Stockton Showcase turned into a showcase for Cal's shooters as the Bears shot 53 percent in the first Division I basketball game played at Stockton Arena. The crowd of 8,704 was the largest ever for a Pacific home game.

Jerome Randle had 15 points and six assists for the Bears (6-3), who took command early in the first half and extended their lead throughout the game.

The Golden Bears wasted no time in taking a stranglehold on the game, taking a 10-point lead seven minutes into the contest. Christopher helped Cal gain that early lead when he connected on the first five shots that he took. Sophomore center Max Zhang helped out, as well, swishing two outside shots. Randle scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half.

The Bears never let the Tigers get back in the game. Cal went into the locker room at the half with a 14-point lead.

Cal v. Washington Report Card

TwistNHook — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:19:01 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	1.406	2.188	1.969	0.677	0.531	1.469	0.896	0.302	0.875	0.708	0.490
Grade	D+	C+	C	D-	D-	D+	D	D-	D	D-	D-

There are so many times I want to quit this blog. I ask myself is it worth it? Are risking many Hydrotech Face Punchings worth it? But the amazing community we have here usually inspires me to the do all the work. And working on the Report Card post is usually one of my most favorite posts to put together. Seeing what all you people have written is always a lot of fun.

Fun was not the word that came to mind doing the Report Card post this time. You guys certainly know how to express your opinion and, well, given how the game went, I'm sure you can imagine what went on. If you like positive, optimistic things like daisies riding unicorns and ponies snuggling with rainbows, I suggest you read NO further. But if you like pessimistic things and are full of self-loathing, well, then you are a Cal fan and probably added something to this Report Card. You may read on.

I think PolarBear91 hits the right note here in his "overall" thought:

Worst. Episode. Ever.

Tough to disagree, Mr. Bear91. Tough to disagree.

Gameday Experience

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I watched in front of my laptop and had to contain my anger from smashing my keyboard. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. MY LAPTOP COST ME GOOD MONEY. I DON'T WANT TO BREAK ITTTTTTTTT.

OhioBear - I promped by daughter to do another "Go Bears." It's not "Goo Bay" anymore. It came out "Go Bars." After watching the game, that's what I wanted to do.

Kodiak - Well, the baby was squirrelly and just wouldn't settled down to let me watch the game in peace. Little did I know that the little angel had my best interests in mind and was only fussing in an attempt to preserve my sanity. I did sample our Xmas limoncello to make sure that it was fit to give out as gifts...and sort of briefly lost all feeling in my teeth. Unlike our team, it's more potent than it looks. I might be rambling now...Still can't feel my teeth. Damn. This would be the time to see if I could chew through a 2x4. Life is tough sometimes as a Cal fan.

Blackandoldgold - If you like hearing foghorn, this was your game. In other words, terrible.

Swamphunter - Why the fuck did we have to slouch on the job NOW? I'm so pissed that we had to lose to the fucking puppy dogs that I'm going against what I said earlier and doing a report card for this loss. We should have killed these mother fuckers and instead they run all over us.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Unfortunately, I go to UW for grad school now and made it to this game thinking "hey, it can't be worse than 2007, right?" The crowd was pumped. The whole UW team was pumped. It was the last home game for the seniors (and possibly Jake Locker), and it was probably a bit colder than most Cal players were accustomed to, but man ... what was that?

I guess I had seen this before against Oregon and USC. In fact, this was really just a blend of those two games. The saddest thing about this game was that, unlike 2007, I never got the feeling (whatever that's worth) that the players quit, and still, 42-10. What a beatdown.

Oh, and since we're talking about the gameday experience. A small minority of fans were woofing/barking when UW did something good. I mean, I get it, the Huskies, but really, you see Cal fans growling like a bear every time we get a first down or score?

Last thing, they kept on chanting "one more year" for Jake Locker. I think this was a good send-off for him since they're not playing in a bowl game. My guess is he's gone, but what do I know?

beson - We went over to a friend's house to watch the game and barbeque. Our usual MO is to take shots after every Cal touchdown. Last year, I got obliterated. This year, my friend made blue jello shots. I was anticipating another rough Sunday morning. Unfortunately it was rough in other more horrible ways. The jello shots made for celebrating became jello shots of sadness and frustration.

ososdeoro - Auspiciously tweaked my back playing tennis in the morning.

Golden Rationality Award

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
osodeoro	1.417
polarbear91	1.722
grinandbearit	1.927
Haas8388	2.007
sec119	2.016

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
c98	0
prd74	0.364
blackandoldgold	0.485
WTFFFFFFFFFFFF	0.545
polarbear91	0.652

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
Kodiak	1.758
Manwich	1.667
socalbears	1.500
beson	1.470
grinandbearit	1.348

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - A few flickers, but mostly bad Riley. In his defense, the protection had something to do with that. And once the game got out of hand, the D could just tee off on him. Even so, it's really disappointing to see him regress and be inconsistent with his accuracy, decision-making, and ball security.

Swamphunter - Short-hops and wide throws. The only bright spots were when Riley was throwing the ball, though.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

grinandbearit - I don't like to put too much blame on him since our OL sucks, but his throws were definitely off and sometimes he threw some scary passes to well-covered WRs. He did have a couple of nice runs, and I think he should continue to pull it down and run with it rather than sitting back in a collapsing pocket while loosely holding onto the ball.

That is one thing I really dislike about Riley is that he doesn't have a very good sense for ball security. Maybe he needs to sit down with Coach Gould and get a lesson or two on what the RBs do.

Haas8338 - Riley seems like a good guy and has improved from last year, but, and this is a BIG BUT, he is not good enough to lead a top Pac10 team. I won't use the term "inconsistent" anymore, he just is not very good.

beson - Riley definitely had some pretty terrible throws but I think most of the blame has to go to the O line which just sucked. Sure Riley should have made the throws when he wasn't pressured, but I can't really blame him for having lack of confidence in his line.

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Vereen ran for 92 yards on 16 carries, but it was a fairly quiet 92 given the avalanche that poured over us. Vereen did a nice job, basically the only bright spot in an otherwise pathetic night.
Haas8338 - Vereen did what he could do in the circumstances. Pass blocking needs work that is for sure.

grinandberait - The effort is consistently there, and I just feel bad when I see Vereen run towards the line and hesitate because he knows he has nowhere to run because of our ____ty OL.

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - It's nice to have a former QB providing commentary. Apparently, some of Riley's struggles weren't just inaccuracy, but the receivers running sloppy routes. Which is pretty sad considering we really can't use the "young" excuse at this point in the season.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Marvin Jones is clearly our go-to guy. I was disappointed "they" didn't get Miller more involved. Everyone else is just a clone of a mediocre WR. Marvin is our #1 WR, and he gets open and makes catches more often ... I wonder what all the other WRs are doing differently. Running bad routes? I can't really say because I've never really sat down and followed the WRs on their routes during games, especially not on TV because you usually can't see this happening.

Good thing is that I didn't see too many huge drops except for one possible TD catch that looked to be fairly well defended.

Run blocking

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I walked past a Chinese restaurant that prominently displayed the sign "NO MSG". You speak truth Chinese restaurant - so much painful truth.

Kodiak - Inconsistent push. In fairness, UW rolled the dice and bet that Bad Riley wouldn't be able to beat them if they crowded the line and run blitzed frequently. Sadly enough, that's been a pretty safe bet all year.

Blackandoldgold - The only thing worse was the Great Stink of 1858.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated.

Haas8338 - Even with MSG this line is only mediocre. Schwartz can dominate at times, but Tepper is up and down and the center and two guards were aweful. The Mutts' 340 lb DT (Taamu?) just abused our 260 lb center (shocking) and the guards didn't help much. Cheadle looks pretty darn stout, but man does he get manhandled at times...WTF?

Pass protection

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Up and down. Riley was under pressure a lot, but UW was blitzing multiple guys on obvious passing downs. Chess match win for the UW coaches because we never seemed to have the right call or protection.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated. I believe in this so much right now that it deserves to be said twice.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - 5 sacks... much more pressures and knockdowns. And it wasn't like it was close. The D-line was coming straight through. Marshall needs to go, I think.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Haas8338 - Tepper better start working out at guard because the NFL just wrote him off at tackle. Guarnero is just overmatched physically, simple as that.

Horrible preformance.

ososdeoro - sack, sack, sack. 3-step drop anyone. Oh yeah, that goes under coaching.

Run defense

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Meh. We held Polk under a hundy but it seemed like we let him get away too much. We didn't have an answer for Locker's running, really.

Blackandoldgold - I can't do this anymore. Too depressing...

stevy - Washington never ran it that much. Defending locker on broken plays is tough, but they need to wrap up and not arm tackle.

Haas8338 - Take away Locker's running and it was a decent performance.

sec119 - I'm not sure if run defense counts the same as Locker scrambling for 15 yards at a time, but either way it was bad.

Pass rush

via calbearsonline.com

c98 - sucked.

beson - The pass rush seemed decent but Locker's escapability killed us. Everytime we got a good rush, it seemed like it was at the expense of containment and Locker made us pay.

sec119 - From snap to whistle, Locker had time to re-tie his shoes, drink some gatorade, and bake a souffle before the pass rush got within five yards of him.

Kodiak - Well, haven't really had one all year, so can't expect it to miraculously appear now. Even when we blitzed, they picked it up pretty easily. We could really use some playmakers who know how to put the QB in the grass.

stevy - Horrid. With this D-line, the 3-4 is ineffective in getting pressure. The outside linebackers almost never got pressure on Locker making it easy for him to dominate the game.

Pass Defense

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Tough game for Nbufie. For all that people have been screaming all year for more aggressive D...More blitzing + man coverage = DB's getting burned for long gains/TD's. Maybe the coaches know that besides Syd, our coverage is a bit questionable and that's why they usually play zone. It'll be addition by subtraction when Johnson and Ezeff leave. It's really disappointing for two seniors to be non-factors, much less liabilities.

c98 - sucked.

ososdeoro - Good God. It seemed like the linebackers were told to: a) pick a receiver to cover; b) cover said receiver for five yards; c) stop and turn around to see if Locker is going to run while receiver goes on his merry way; d) "protect" the astroturf five yards downfield from any Huskies who might bother to venture in his general direction. The first TD pass coverage really wasn't that bad. That said, you give a guy a permanent 10-yard cushion and you're letting him receive the ball anywhere he wants to.

Haas8338 - Locker was on target, to his credit, but he was not pressured and our coverage seemed confused at times.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Special Teams

via calbearsonline.com

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked.

stevy - Goal for next year: GET A CONSISTENT KICKER. And Sofele was ineffective on returns. Once, he got a whole 5 yards on a short kick. Not good.

grinandbearit - Kick coverage is still pretty weak, and we missed a not-that-long FG in the first half. I wonder if Tedford will ever consider having someone else coach special teams.

Also, is it standard for college teams to send one guy to loop behind all the other kick coverage personnel acting as a trailer just in case everyone else fails to tackle the returner? I don't remember seeing any team play prevent on kickoffs.

Anger is still decent. Whew.

Haas8338 - Alamar may be the worst coach in college football.

ososdeoro - Just Gawd-fucking-awful. Nice to see Anger finally get off some good punts when we didn't need them anymore. Kickoff coverage sucks(tm) and now punt coverage does too. Nice FG try by D'Amato, er, not.

Coaching

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - We were not ready to play. Credit to Washington, obvi, because they played well. But we had no answer. We seemingly had few, if any, adjustments to the offensive onslaught. And we had no answer to getting hit in the mouth by Washington. A lackluster performance from a team that didn't seem ready to play - coaches have to take some blame for that.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - Ludwig is still undecided about what type of offense he wants for Cal. Will they do short pases? will they run the ball? will they do long every down? Cal's offense has no identity and that's a huge problem. If Ludwig is back next year, he MUST decide what type of offense he wants to run. This flip flopping from game to game is hurting offensive production.

grinandbearit - I don't know what to say here because I can't tell what the root causes are of the problems we have. So I guess I'll just list some questions:

1) Our run blocking is piss poor, so is it the coach's fault or the talent?
2) When in the WildBear formation, why do we fake the sweep with Sofele 95% of the time and then have Vereen pause for a few seconds and then run forward into our crappy OL?
3) Playcalling: we ran the ball on 3rd and 23 ... it must have taken UW off guard because who in his right mind would've thought we would make anywhere near 23 yards on a run play with our OL?

ososodeoro - Not a one of them earned their pay in this one. Every other team seemed to have answers for U-Dub (even the Dawg wins were close), why didn't ours?

sec119 - I never would have thought there'd be a game I give the special teams the highest grade. Talk about damning by faint praise! At this point, 50/50 on field goals is on-par for field goals.

Overall

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf - Time to start drinking.

OhioBear - I haven't been this angry since Washington 2007. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by the Pac-10 champion on the road is one thing. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by a team that was 3-5 in the Pac-10 and 4-7 overall coming into the game is quite another. No excuse for a performance like this.

Maybe we left our heart at stanfurd stadium 2 weeks ago.

Kodiak - Well, it stunk, but I can live with it if the game serves as a wake-up call. As nice as it would have been to finish tied for 2nd with a chance at a 10-win season, could we honestly have said that we've been happy with the team this year? Instead, there's no question that Tedford will have to take a long look at his coaching staff, player evaluations, and what's been done from spring through winter to get the guys ready to play.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked hard.

stevy - Horrid game. Where did the Cal team that played so well against Stanford go? The team needs some to do serious soul searching in the off season.

grinandbearit - Keys to winning given our current set of problems:
- recruit some good defensive players this coming offseason
- get our OL mad before games so that they spark our running game so that we can keep our defense off the field and control the clock.
- start kicking all kickoffs out of bounds until we find someone who can consistently kick it past the 15.
- perfect the fake FG, especially when the FG is longer than 35 yards
- maybe our OL is just 2-3 good guys away from being good ... wouldn't that be great?

beson - Oh juju. Of course we lost after I celebrated USC and their all but assured poinsetta bowl berth.

Manwich - We can't get pumped up for big games other than the Big Game. I take back everything I said before, the optimism I had for containing Luck/Gerhart evaporated in a second. I'm beginning to think the PAC-10 has passed Tedford and Carroll by in terms of philosophy.

Before it was run the pro-style and the bend don't break and it worked. Now we're seeing our opponents run more option based attacks with mobile quarterbacks. It's time to change philosophies, otherwise, Tedford will become a Bobby Bowden, stuck with loyal assistants and doomed to middle of the PAC-10.

sec119 - I have very little to say that might be positive about this stinker of a game. That it occurred at the end of the season tells me that maybe we didn't learn much from our prior losses, nor am I hopeful about next year.

Cal v. Pacific Men's Basketball Open Thread 12.9.09

TwistNHook — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:43:07 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

about 1 month ago: California's Theo Robertson looks to pass away from Chico State's Dario Sims, foreground, and Jason Conrad, back, during the first half of an NCAA college exhibition basketball game Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Browse more photos »

Tonight is the Cal-Pacific Men's Basketball game. Here is the broadcast information:

California Golden Bears (5-3) at Pacific Tigers (6-1)
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 7:00 p.m. (PT), Stockton Arena, Stockton, Calif.
Radio: KFRC 1550 AM TV: Big West TV

This is apparently a free audio feed.

Yes, BigWest TV. What is BigWestTV? Avi knows, because Avi knows all. Oh Omnipresent Avinash, tell us how to follow tonight's game?

The only way to watch tonight's game is by subscribing to http://www.bigwest.org/tv/ I've heard the service is kinda wonky though, so you might want to post links to the audio stream for everyone else (http://www.kfrc.com/).

Jagdip Dhillon of RecordNet takes a closer look at the game from a Pacific angle:

Thomason said his team is better on defense and more athletically equipped to guard Cal's excellent backcourt, which features point guard Jerome Randle (20 points and five assists) and Patrick Christopher (14.8 points and five rebounds). The duo combined for 42 points last year against Pacific, so Demetrece Young and Joe Ford will have to find a way to slow them down.

Christopher said zone defenses have been Cal's weakness this season.

"We aren't playing our best basketball, because some of our guys have been injured," Christopher said. "Teams have been zoning us, and trying to figure that out is something we've been trying to do as a team."

Thomason has used an attacking 3-2 zone with Ford up top at times this season, but he said the Tigers would have to guard Cal one-on-one for long stretches to be competitive.

Montgomery, who spent 18 seasons at Stanford and is in his second year at Cal, said Pacific will present a well-coached challenge for his team.

"They're not going to back off at all," Montgomery said at his weekly news conference Monday. "It's a big game for them to get a Pac-10 school in Stockton. We're going to have to be ready to play."

Farudo has a scouting report on Pacific and info on Theo's return:

Coach Mike Montgomery said Monday that Robertson probably won’t start tonight. But that will happen soon, likely in the Bears’ next game — Dec. 22 at Kansas.

"Jorge gives us such a dimension off the bench," Montgomery said of sophomore Jorge Gutierrez, who has started the past six games while Robertson let his injured right foot heal. "I like Jorge because you can plug him in at the 3, you can plug him in at the 2, you can even use him at the 1. It gives you more flexibility."

That flexibility comes into play when the Bears decide to shift to a smaller lineup. Robertson is a natural small forward, but also plays at the 4. In those situations, Jamal Boykin can move to the 5, and Gutierrez can go at any of the three perimeter spots.

"I’m not saying it’s great that Theo was out, but just to let people get a chance to be out there playing," senior point guard Jerome Randle said. "With Jorge, we see he’s able to do a lot of other things other than coming off the bench giving us a lot of defense. He can score. I think he’s better for this team right now when he comes off the bench because he’s very fiery."

Gutierrez worked hard on his shot in the off-season and he entered this week ranked second in the Pac-10 in 3-point accuracy at 53.3 percent. He’s already made as many 3-pointers (8) as all last season, when he converted just 30.8 percent.

"He’s gotten better," Montgomery said. "He’s not pure. But it’s going in, so it’s good."

Randle believes the difference is merely confidence.

"I know a lot of times he second-guesses his shots. I tell him, if I create and draw the defense and you’re open for a shot and you don’t shoot the ball, I’m going to be mad," Randle said. "He takes the shot now. He’s not hesitating. He looks pretty good now. He’s making jump shots."

GO BEARS!

Poll

Who you got?

Cal

22 votes

Pacific

2 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed

DBD 12.9.09 What took you so long, Internet?

TwistNHook — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:14:57 -0000

via laughingsquid.com

"I pity the fool who don’t phone home"

How am I just hearing of this (via CalBandGreat) in 2009 and not like whenever Al Gore initially invented the introwebs? This shoulda been one of the first things he worked on. That and crushing the dreams of small business owners everywhere with onerous environmental regulations.

Men's BBall to take on Pacific:

California Golden Bears (5-3) at Pacific Tigers (6-1)
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 7:00 p.m. (PT), Stockton Arena, Stockton, Calif.
Radio: KFRC 1550 AM TV: Big West TV

Still trying to get its starters fully healthy, California stays local this week facing Pacific in Stockton. The Golden Bears are coming off of an 82-63 victory against Iowa State last Saturday. Cal and Pacific tip off on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Stockton Arena.

Senior guard Patrick Christopher and sophomore forward Omondi Amoke each tallied double-doubles - the second and third of the season for Cal. It was the third time in the last four games that Amoke has paced the Bears on the boards. For Christopher, it was his second 20-point outing of the season, and he tied his career high with 11 rebounds. He is 16th on the all-time scoring chart with 1,272 points. He is tied for 10th on Cal's list for career three-pointers with 122.

Senior guard Jerome Randle boasted 18 points against the Cyclones. Randle now has 1,345 career points and is 13th all-time in school history. Randle is three three-pointers away from second on Cal's all-time three-point list. He currently has 180. Randle is also fourth on Cal's all-time assist list with 414. He remains Cal's leading scorer, averaging 20.1 ppg - fifth best in the Pac-10.

Sophomore guard Jorge Gutierrez came up two points shy of tying his personal best against Iowa State. He finished the game with 12 points, and tied his season high in rebounds with four.

Aaron Rodgers Open Thread vs Baltimore

TwistNHook — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:27:14 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

It's only awkward if we let it be awkward, Alex.

Browse more photos »

Cal Goldenboy and facial hair enthusiast Aaron Rodgers is oonce again back in the national spotlight. On Monday Night Football on ESPN at 8:30 PM EST/5:30 PM PST, he takes on the vaunted Baltimore Ravens defense.

Acme Packing Company breaks it down.

QB Aaron Rodgers vs. the Ravens pass D. Based on the yardage rankings, this looks like a matchup that would favor Rodgers. But the Ravens have held opposing QBs to a rating of 79.0, with 12 TDs (12th fewest) and 12 INTs (7th most). Their pass defense is currently ranked No. 5 overall by Football Outsiders, which would be the best pass defense he's faced so far this season. Though they have lost both starting CB Fabian Washington (torn ACL) and star pass rusher LB Terrell Suggs (torn MCL) in recent weeks. Those injuries are similar to what the Packers have gone through, except LB Aaron Kampman is gone for the season and Suggs should return later this month. In their 2 games without Suggs, who has 3.5 of their 21 sacks on the season, the Ravens were without a sack against the Colts or Steelers, which should help the struggling o-line avoid any disaster. This is a tough matchup for Rodgers, but he's been good to outstanding in every game this season and I wouldn't bet against him.

Use this thread to discuss the game and Aaron Rodger's maturation as a quality NFL quarterback. Make us proud, Aaron! Make us proud! GO BEARS!

PS The contents of this thread should, in no way, reflect any interest in my part on a Green Bay victory. I fully retain my hatred from the 1990s, but have made an exception for Aaron Rodgers. Go Rodgers and Go Ravens!

NFL Week Week 13 Open Thread

TwistNHook — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:16:05 -0000

Tons of action this weekend, so use this Fanpost to discuss all the NFL action in Week 13.

California-Washington Fourth Quarter Thread

TwistNHook — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:14:57 -0000

Use this thread to discuss all the Cal-UW 12.5.09 Fourth Quarter action. Last regular season in game open thread. Last regular season CGB Insta-poll. I feel like we are sharing a moment here. Don't forget to vote in the CGB Insta-poll. GO BEARS!

Poll

How is Cal playing against UW?

Cal is playing very well

2 votes

Cal is playing moderately well

1 votes

Cal is playing moderately poorly

1 votes

Cal is playing very poorly

82 votes

86 votes | Poll has closed

California-Washington Third Quarter Thread

TwistNHook — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:11:04 -0000

This is why you finish the season with the Big Game. Washington didn't want to be in Strawberry Canyon last year, and it's clear Cal doesn't want to be here today.

Use this thread to discuss all the Cal-UW 12.5.09 Third Quarter Action. Last regular season halftime of the year. Hope it was a great halftime. Don't forget to vote in the CGB Insta-poll. GO BEARS!

Poll

How is Cal playing against UW?

Cal is playing very well

6 votes

Cal is playing moderately well

0 votes

Cal is playing moderately poorly

5 votes

Cal is playing very poorly

79 votes

90 votes | Poll has closed

California-Washington Second Quarter Thread

TwistNHook — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:08:51 -0000

Use this thread to discuss all the second quarter action in the Cal-UW 12.5.09 game. Last regular season of the game, boys. Let's go out with a bang! Don't forget to vote in the CGB Insta-poll.

Poll

How is Cal playing against UW?

California-Washington Pregame and First Quarter Thread

TwistNHook — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:05:15 -0000

Line: Cal by 7

TV: CSN California (CSN+ in many areas, check your cable/satellite provider), Fox Sports Northwest, Fox College Sports Pacific
CSN California is channel 104 in Sacramento/Davis/Central Valley, channel 89 in the Bay Area (and Twist reports 721 is working too). Check the comments for stream links.

Radio: KGO 810 AM (San Francisco), KALX 90.7 FM, KGIL 1260 AM (Los Angeles), XSURF 540 AM (San Diego), KESP 970 AM (Modesto), KTKZ 1380 AM (Sacramento). Cal Student Radio: KALX 90.7 FM (Berkeley)

Announcers: Barry Tompkins (Play-By-Play), Mike Pawlawski (Analyst) for CSN California broadcast

Injury report: Matt Summers-Gavin (out), Jahvid Best (out), Syd'Quan Thompson (probable)

Use this thread to discuss all the pregame and first quarter action in the Cal-UW 12.5.09 game. This is our last regular season game of the year, so try to hold back a tear as you comment. Don't forget to vote in the CGB Insta-Poll.

(For those who want to discuss USC-Arizona or Florida-Alabama, scroll down the frontpage to the SEC Championship open thread.)

Poll

How do you think Cal will play against UW?

Cal will play very well

14 votes

Cal will play moderately well

16 votes

Cal will play moderately poorly

2 votes

Cal will play very poorly

3 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed