Idiots Write About Cal Football

"Cal Football" archive

Sunday 2 September

Cal 45, Tennessee 31 (09:13) - My write-up is over at Excuse Me For My Voice.... | 0 Comments

Sunday 12 August

Excuse Me For My Voice (18:24) - Ken Crawford, author of the excellent Bear Territory blog, has offered to join forces with myself and Phil, and we're... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Wednesday 24 January

Goodbye, Mike Dunbar (16:35) - Offensive Coordinator Mike Dunbar is leaving Cal to take an O.C. job at Minnesota. As many readers know, the Dunbar... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 16 January

Online Petitions are Dumb (12:32) - I think online petitions are dumb. Nobody listens to them, nobody cares. It's all a case of people patting themselves... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Monday 1 January

On the Rose Bowl (17:22) - That 23-9 loss to USC isn't looking so bad now, eh? Cal looked much better than Michigan looked today, I'll... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Sunday 31 December

How's That For a Holiday? (Cal 45, Texas A&M 10) (15:54) - If the 2004 Holiday Bowl was from hell, this one was from heaven. Cal looked like they did during the... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
The Phantasmagorical Brain of Dave Del Grande (10:51) - Dave Del Grande writes: There's no doubt in my mind the Bears would have won more than 10 games this... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Monday 11 December

Big Game Photos (12:08) - I am totally swamped, and my lips are still chapped from the Big Game. Still haven't had a chance to... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Tuesday 5 December

Smelly Tree-Hugging Hippies to Tedford: Drop Dead (11:28) - Walking to the Big Game, we passed by a bunch of hippies protesting the stadium development, which will require the... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Friday 24 November

Don't Buy Those Holiday Bowl Tickets Just Yet (19:46) - Today Oregon State beat Oregon, giving Oregon State three Pac-10 losses. This means that Cal must beat Stanford in order... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Wednesday 22 November

Conquest (USC 23, Cal 9) (13:25) - As has been discussed at length around the Web, this was a crushing psychological loss. In reality the game was... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 20 November

And Now, Your Moment of Zen (15:33) - From 24 years in the past....... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Saturday 18 November

Live Blog: Cal-USC (16:47) - C'mon... you didn't think we'd let The Most Meaningful Cal Game Since the Eisenhower Administration come to pass only to... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments
48 Years (11:04) - This is it. A play-in game for the Rose Bowl. One game, a single game, that Cal must win to... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 11 November

On the Couch (Arizona 24, Cal 20) (15:15) - This is the only Cal game I'm watching on television this entire year. I hate it. All I can do... | 0 Trackbacks | 9 Comments

Saturday 28 October

So What Does This Mean? (16:26) - USC loses to Oregon State. Other than suggesting that USC is more beatable than I previously hoped, I'm not sure... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Wednesday 25 October

Cal keeps the recruiting drive going (10:28) - Some good bye week news. Brandon Jackson, one of the most highly regarded backs from Oregon in recent years, is... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Saturday 21 October

Great Circle (Cal 31, Washington 24) (23:05) - When I say that Saturday's Cal-Washington match-up was memorable, it reminds me of one of my favorite moments in... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Wednesday 18 October

World's Largest Slingbox in Action (10:31) - I have a Slingbox. It's very cool. But if you've wondered what the World's Largest Slingbox looked like this weekend,... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Saturday 14 October

Picture In Your Mind... (Cal 21, Washington State 3) (18:08) - Interesting game, from what I could tell by listening to Joe Starkey on the radio. (I spent the entire second... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Monday 9 October

Quack Back (Cal 45, Oregon 24) (21:25) - It's so much easier to write these things when you're wringing your hands in misery at the terrible way... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Sunday 8 October

Welcome Back to the Top 10 (15:01) - Cal rises to 10 in the AP poll and 11 in the USA Today poll with their win over Oregon.... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments
Dante Rosario, Today's Worst Football Player in the World (10:32) - This week's winner of the Justin Tryon Award: Dante Rosario of Oregon, who head-butted DeSean Jackson on the sideline... | 0 Trackbacks | 6 Comments

Saturday 7 October

Moon Over Strawberry Canyon (23:45) - See the whole set of pictures here. Full blog entry coming Sunday. And good night!... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 30 September

If a Beaver Falls in the Forest... (Cal 41, Oregon State 13) (16:11) - Weird game. No TV, just the dulcet sounds of Joe Starkey on the radio. Starkey's voice is comforting, but he... | 0 Trackbacks | 6 Comments
TV-less Game Strategies (12:40) - Pretty simple. 1. KGO live MP3 stream 2. ESPN GameCast -- except, of course, that for some reason there's no... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Saturday 23 September

So That's Why They Were Ranked No. 9 (Cal 49, Arizona State 21) (18:39) - Two teams in the lower regions of the top 25 -- No. 21 and No. 22 -- and it's early... | 8 Comments
Justin Tryon, Worst College Football Player In The World (17:47) - Today I saw one of the most unsporstmanlike acts I've ever seen live at a college football game. Arizona... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Monday 18 September

Who Are We? Who's Gonna Win? (19:55) - If you haven't read History's Greatest Speeches, as Delivered by the Cal Mic Man yet, what the hell are you... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Sunday 17 September

Fight On, You Vikings (Cal 42, Portland State 16) (10:58) - Another week, another 42-17 game. No, wait, 16! Damn that inconsistent Portland State kicker! This was a beautiful day, sunny... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 9 September

Lost in the Fog (Cal 42, Minnesota 17) (22:05) - One of the things I love about early-season games at Memorial Stadium is the warm sunshine. Later in the year,... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Monday 4 September

The Polar World of Bruce Feldman (10:42) - Bruce Feldman, whom I've never heard of before, writes on ESPN.com: I feel so foolish. I bought into this whole... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Sunday 3 September

Idiots Talk About Sports: Knoxville Part Two (02:36) - A verbal recap of the Cal-Tennessee game; beers the size of your head stored in football-shaped containers; good Tennessee BBQ;... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Saturday 2 September

Photos from Rocky Top (Tennessee 35, Cal 18) (19:16) - Beautiful stadium, terrible game. More later. Also, here's a movie of Phil drinking a football full of beer.... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Friday 1 September

Idiots Talk About Sports: Knoxville Part One (20:24) - So we're in Knoxville for the Cal-Tennessee game. But we also visited the double-A Tennessee Smokies baseball team, played the... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Monday 28 August

Off to the East (20:12) - So a bit over a month ago, Phil and I discovered that we were expected to appear at a meeting... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Friday 25 August

Cal! USC! Look Away! (14:08) - Sports Illustrated presents their Pac-10 preview, in which they predict that USC will win the conference at 9-0, with Cal... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Saturday 5 August

What I Did on My Summer Vacation (09:03) - This year we went to the Lair of the Bear, the California Alumni Association's camp up in the Sierras. (It's... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Saturday 4 February

In the OC (22:35) - I was in Orange County today, but I'm talking about the Offensive Coordinator. The two big stories this week: Cal's... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Tuesday 31 January

Not So Big Game? (13:01) - The Chronicle reports that with the advent of the new Stanford Stadium, the days of Big Game tickets being allotted... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Thursday 22 December

Live! From My Couch! (17:01) - So here we are at the Las Vegas Bowl... Wait a second. We didn't go to Las Vegas. Phil and... | 0 Trackbacks | 10 Comments

Monday 5 December

2006 Schedule in Flux (11:59) - The 2006 schedule continues to float around. According to Dave Newhouse: Cal has revised its 2006 schedule. A home game... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Advice for Our Friends at Stanford... (03:05) - ... if you keep putting UC Davis on the schedule, you're going to have a really hard time holding on... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Sunday 4 December

Las Vegas-Bound (22:34) - Cal-BYU. Haven't I seen this game before, once or twice? I hope everyone who's going to see the game in... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
B(C)S (22:31) - Somewhere out there, there is probably a very insightful commentary on the BCS and its ability to put together compelling... | 0 Trackbacks | 9 Comments
What a Difference a Year Makes (13:48) - A year ago at this time, Jason and I -- well, mostly Jason -- were painstakingly counting down the moments... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 26 November

Asked and Answered (21:00) - Commenting on the likelihood of Cal appearing in the Las Vegas Bowl -- made ever more likely by Stanford's sliding-glass-door... | 0 Trackbacks | 14 Comments

Friday 25 November

Vega$ (16:34) - With Arizona's choke-job against ASU completed, this means Cal's most likely scenario is the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Thursday 24 November

Levy Mania Sweeps Nation (13:55) - Another awesome column from our resident Cal Bear Fan in the Mainstream Media, Mike Silver. (Hat tip: Michael Cruz.)... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Tuesday 22 November

2006 Cal Schedule Change (13:25) - At the USC game, they were handing out small sheets of paper with next year's schedule printed on it. The... | 0 Trackbacks | 7 Comments

Monday 21 November

Bowl Possibilities Explained, Sort Of (12:41) - Since this keeps coming up, I thought I'd try to summarize what Cal's bowl possibilities are. Basically, it all hinges... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Sunday 20 November

The Big Game, Part II (19:25) - So Cal wins its fourth straight Big Game, likely ends Stanford's season without a bowl, completes the University of... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Levy on Levy (11:20) - If you go now to ESPN.com's Cal-Stanford recap -- and you have a computer capable of playing ESPN Motion highlights... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Saturday 19 November

All Right Now (Cal 27, Stanford 3) (22:51) - Had a great time. More when I'm more awake. Nice to meet Kenny, Ken Crawford, and Michael Cruz. In... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Thursday 17 November

Levy to Start (20:32) - It's official, Steve Levy is your Big Game starter. I would bet you cash money that Ayoob will play, though.... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Whammy On (16:03) - Frequent readers of this Web site know that I have creepy, Jedi-like powers when it comes to laying down the... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Wednesday 16 November

Quratrebkca Ctronoservy (22:20) - Ray Ratto's column today is about Joe Ayoob, Steve Levy, and the Tedford dilemma. But he also takes a couple... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Tuesday 15 November

Heartwarming Ayoob Story (12:15) - This Tim Keown piece on ESPN is worth reading. Among other things, it exposes just how much better Tim Keown... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Monday 14 November

ESPN Rage (10:12) - The people who write blurbs for web sites are often not the site's best and brightest. (Present company excepted.) Can... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Sunday 13 November

Cal-USC Reading List (09:54) - L.A. Times: Spelled Backward, It's 'Boo Ya' Ray Ratto: Ayoob's confidence takes yet another hit Mercury News: Quarterback issue ahead... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Saturday 12 November

Outclassed (USC 35, Cal 10) (21:06) - For the first time since the Holiday Bowl (and only the second time since 2003), Cal played a game... | 0 Trackbacks | 10 Comments

Thursday 10 November

New Memorial Stadium Plan Unveiled (Updated) (16:03) - So, the new stadium plan is out, and it's much more complex that we originally thought. According to this... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Wednesday 9 November

12 (14:58) - If you don't know who Joe Roth was, you really need to learn.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Drum Roll Please.... (14:48) - Tomorrow's the day. On Thursday, UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau will unveil highlights of a master plan for an upgraded... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Tuesday 8 November

Antsy Cal-USC Week Thread (16:56) - Given that my previous Cal post generated 18 comments, I'm posting an empty message here to give all the Cal... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Sunday 6 November

Finding Fault (08:54) - You know what I think. And what the readers think. So whose fault is it for losing to Oregon, Coach... | 0 Trackbacks | 12 Comments

Saturday 5 November

Gift Horse (Oregon 27, Cal 20, OT) (17:22) - I don't have any idea where to begin. Oregon gave Cal this game. At Autzen freakin' Stadium, Oregon gave this... | 0 Trackbacks | 9 Comments

Thursday 3 November

Stadium Projects Once Again Compared and Contrasted (18:12) - As pointed out by resident gadfly seth, the Contra Costa Times reports on Cal's stadium plans (last item): Plans for... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Saturday 29 October

This is Familiar (22:56) - Turned on the Stanford-UCLA game. 17-3 Stanford? Holy crap! 24-3 Stanford with 8:30 to go? Double holy crap? Final Score:... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Tuesday 25 October

When In Doubt, Go to Your Happy Place (20:35) - I admit I am still steamed about being called a mean blogger, along with the misrepresentations of the rest of... | 0 Trackbacks | 10 Comments
Bloggerbacks! Stinkbomb! Lunatic Fringe! (15:13) - So Dave Albee of ANG newspapers just wrote a piece attacking Cal bloggers and likening them to the jerks who... | 1 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Sunday 23 October

Long Night's Journey Into More Night (Cal-WSU, Part II) (22:45) - As I've said before: I don't like night games at Memorial Stadium. It tends to be quite cold. It's hell... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments
Booya (Cal 42, Washington State 38) (00:32) - Wow. Night games suck. But what a great comeback, when all seemed lost. Sunday morning update: Brought the camera with... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Monday 17 October

Bites, Craps, Sucks (15:11) - So the 2005 version of the BCS standings came out today, and whaddaya know? It's still a joke. Notre Dame,... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments
Turned Over (Oregon State 23, Cal 20) (13:50) - Ugh. Not to reinforce the angry anti-Ayoob opinions of loyal reader (and unfrequent punctuator) Seth, but I've come to a... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Tuesday 11 October

Cal is Everywhere! (19:53) - I have no idea why, but there's a guy sitting in the first row of Comisk-- er, Overpriced Cell Phone... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Saturday 8 October

Doom Foretold (21:14) - Jason's already covered the high points -- such as they are -- in Cal's loss to UCLA. But watching Maurice... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments
Inaccurate (UCLA 47, Cal 40) (20:45) - It's easier to write these blogs when you witness a train wreck. First off, if Joe Ayoob is an accurate... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Friday 7 October

Shutout (Cal 28, Arizona 0) (12:47) - I've been busy this week, and I'm finding it hard to find a lot to say about Saturday's 28-0 Cal... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Friday 23 September

How to Beat a Team Named 'Aggies' (Cal 41, New Mexico State 13) (22:46) - This has got to be the least impressive 4-0 team I have ever seen. That said, you've got to look... | 0 Trackbacks | 8 Comments
Half and Half (Cal 35, Illinois 20) (11:14) - I've got to write about this game before the next game starts in eight hours... What a depressing first half.... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Tuesday 13 September

Here Comes The Sun (Cal 56, Washington 17) (15:17) - As we rolled off the ferry and began heading north toward Husky Stadium, it started to sprinkle. By the time... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Monday 5 September

Winning Ugly (Cal 41, Sac State 3) (15:32) - "It says something about how far Cal's come," I said to the guy who sits behind me at Memorial Stadium,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 22 August

Happy New Year from... El Paso? (13:49) - The Cal Bears are Sun Bowl-bound! The Cal Bears are Sun Bowl-bound! Which is a pretty neat trick, considering the... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Monday 15 August

We're Number... Something (12:44) - It's hard to believe it's less than three weeks before Cal begins its spirited 2005 season with a bone-crushing matchup... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Thursday 26 May

Stadium Projects Compared and Contrasted (15:48) - Following up on Cal's pre-pre-announcement of stadium renovations, earlier this month Cal moved on to a pre-announcement of the renovations.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Coaches' Rock Overturned (15:38) - The ramifications of the Great Cal Screwing of 2004 continue apace. Today the American Football Coaches Association announced that their... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Sunday 24 April

Bears Feel a Draft (12:59) - Ira Miller, one of the gems of the Chronicle sports section, explains why it's no mystery that Aaron Rodgers fell... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Saturday 23 April

Aaron Rodgers Held Hostage: Hour 4 (12:38) - So, in one of those pre-draft workouts for NFL scouts, did Aaron Rodgers accidentally kill a guy or something? Because... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Sunday 13 March

Lute Olson: Closet Cal Fan (13:03) - At this weekend's Pac-10 men's basketball tournament, University of Arizona head coach Lute Olson tackled the issue of East Coast... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Wednesday 9 February

Tribute To Titan (13:51) - So reports the Associated Press: Norm Chow finally found an opportunity that enticed him to leave the college ranks after... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 4 February

Early Pre-Announcement in Advance of Future Promises (19:55) - The University of California's Memorial Stadium has many charms. It's one of the most beautiful places to see a college... | 0 Trackbacks | 6 Comments

Wednesday 5 January

Number Nine (10:09) - And that's your Cal Football season wrap-up: ranked No. 9 in both polls, ranked sixth by Jeff Sagarin's crazy computer.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 4 January

Where Have You Gone, J Torchio? (14:46) - So Aaron Rodgers is leaving Cal for the NFL. I can't say that I blame him. Now, if I were... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Monday 3 January

The Bear Will Not Quit, The Bear Will Declare Early, However (19:36) - Eschewing the adage of wrapping things up on a high note, Aaron Rodgers plans to turn pro. Meaning that if... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 1 January

Betting for Dummies (16:25) - Readers familiar with my long, tortured history of Ill-Advised Sports Wagers will not be surprised to hear that on a... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Friday 31 December

Holiday from Hell (20:17) - So it turns out that, not to take anything away from the ingrates who voted in the polls or... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Fighting the Fight Song (13:55) - Before I get into the aftermath of the (blessedly rain-free) Holiday Bowl drubbing, let me post something a little brighter.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 21 December

Poll Killers (17:25) - Today the Associated Press did the ethical thing and forbade the BCS from using its College Football poll in determining... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 7 December

The Eyes of Texas are Upon You (15:54) - I updated my piece about Keith Whitmire of Dallas, Texas to include his deeply logical reply to my hate mail.... | 0 Trackbacks | 9 Comments

Monday 6 December

Poll Taxes (13:44) - At some point I will rant more about how it's unethical to rely on polls to decide the college football... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments
Now the Good News, Ted Heads (12:33) - ESPN's Ivan Maisel is reporting that Cal has signed Jeff Tedford to a new "five-year" (ho, ho) contract that guarantees... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments
Journalistic Disintegrity (11:46) - Read this piece (bugmenot) this morning and elevated my blood pressure. I flipped. Like a cheese omelet. Or maybe more... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Sunday 5 December

Post-Screwing Note (15:01) - So much for ending that 46-year wait for the Rose Bowl. Scattered thoughts: 1. The Pac-10 Conference ought to be... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Turn of the Screw (14:43) - It's official -- add AP voters and football coaches to the list of people I loathe. A couple of post-screwing... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Mid-Screwing Note (10:41) - The polls are out. Cal remains #4 in the country in both polls, but that doesn't matter -- Texas gained... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Pre-Screwing Note (10:25) - Thought I'd post this before Cal gets screwed by the BCS, or more accurately, by the polls. This, from the... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 4 December

Coach Knows Best (22:53) - During the ESPN telecast of tonight's Cal-Southern Miss contest, analyst Bob Davie spent a great deal of time -- usually... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 26 November

Hit the Road, Mack (21:51) - AP: "If you've got a vote, vote for us," [Texas coach Mack] Brown said, pleading directly to voters in The... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Tuesday 23 November

All Aboard the Crazy Train (03:56) - From the Things That Probably Bug Only Me Dept.: Went to the Big Game over the weekend. It was an... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 18 November

The Neighborhood of Section FF (20:26) - Since the mid-to-late '60s, my parents have had season tickets to Cal football at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. For most... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 9 November

Where the Big Boys Play (22:26) - Prior to Saturday's game, the last time I attended a football game in Berkeley, Cal was but an upstart program... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Sunday 7 November

Brilliant Thinking, Professor Morpheus! (17:00) - Jason was kind enough to offer me his extra ticket to yesterday's Cal-Oregon tilt out at Memorial Stadium (motto: today's... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Saturday 30 October

East Coast Bias Explained (21:05) - As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel room on the outskirts of Washington D.C. The clock has... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 12 May

The Mighty Golden Bear... (15:51) - I am tired of talking about the Giants. The terrible, terrible Giants -- made even more terrible by their steadfast...

Monday 29 September

University of Spoiled Children - Spoiled! (09:10) - I am a lifelong, born and raised, Cal Football fan. So you can imagine that I was pretty happy... | 0 Trackbacks

Monday 1 September

Small Time Acts Big Time (13:47) - I went to the first Cal football home game of the year this weekend. I've been going since I was... | 0 Trackbacks