In their continuing quest to do what Cal football seeming can’t, Cal men’s water polo beat USC again.  This time they won the National Championship!  Glory be to our fish! 

I don’t know all that much about water polo, but I know enough to see that this was a fairly exciting game.  Cal was down 4-2 at half and then roared back to go up 6-4 with just a few minutes remaining.  USC gets the 5th goal and then horrifically ties it up with only 2 seconds left.  Overtime for our valiant fish? 

No.  

For with a mere 2 seconds left, Cal made a desperation strike at the goal.  The ball bounced off of the outstretched hands of a Trojan defender to score the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNING GOAL.  Truly an exciting game.  

Here are video highlights.

Now, if only we could beat USC 7-6 for the National Championship in football.  Congratulations to the Cal Water Polo team. 

GO BEARS! 

Walt Harris is out as Stanfurd’s football coach.

I’m of two minds about this.  First, the team has gone from ‘mediocre’ under Buddy Teevens to ‘embarassing on a national level’ under Harris.  Teeven’s teams were not good, and his firing was justified, but they never went 1-11, and they certainly never lost at home to UC Davis.  They never managed to beat Cal, but they never caused their fans to openly question whether Stanfurd should continue to be our rival.

Harris had a lot working against him.  Due to academic restrictions and poor recruiting by Teevens, he didn’t have a lot of D 1-A talent to work with, and when injuries hit several of his best players, there simply wasn’t a lot to work with.  Then, there was the added pressure of trying to fill the new, scaled-down Stanfurd Stadium, which they never managed to do.  Finally, with Harris’ boss, Ted Leland, stepping down as Athletic Director, there was the pressure to impress the new boss, Bob Bowlsby, who did not hire him and had nothing invested in seeing him succeed.

Still, 2 years is an awful short amount of time to fire a football coach.  Teevens was clearly a bad choice the moment he was hired, and he got 3 years.  Coaches will tell you they need 4 years to get their program installed and get their own recruits into school and on the field, and Harris was not given the chance.  It sets a bad precedent, and certainly hurts recruiting even further; why would you go to Stanfurd if you didn’t think the coach who recruited you would be there when you graduated?

In short, Stanfurd was not good, and Harris wasn’t winning, but he had won in the past, and it seems like he was never even given the chance to do that on the Farm.  Here’s hoping the next coaching hire works out, because I want to kill Stanfurd every year, and we can’t do that if they drop down to D I-AA.

Well, for me it was more of a mosey. A meander, really.  Stuck in Row 73, I found myself waiting in traffic as every Old Blue in existence slowly made their way towards the exit in front of me.  While the throng of students pulsated with the excitement of yet another Big Game win, I tried to refrain from moving in any way too fast lest I leave one of my elder comptriots with a heart attack.  So, it was not the best "Rush The Field" ever, I’ll admit.  

But still, how many opportunities will you have to be on the field surrounded by thousands of fans and players.  When I was in the band, we used to practice on the field all the time.  There’d even be players practicing around us.  Once, Nick Harris even conducted a song for us (the song consisting mostly of yelled marraige proposals).   But even with all those days, this opportunity to rush the field was special. 

There are some confused by the rushing of the field.  At first, I was a bit shocked that the students did.  I’ve only rushed the field 3 times (UCLA 2000, Big Game 2002, and USC 2003).  Well, honestly, I’ve only rushed once, bc in UCLA 2000 and Big Game 2002, I was in the band.  And they don’t let the band rush the field.  If you look at all three of those victories, you can see why we rushed.  Triple OT victory over UCLA in a game we were not expected to win.  First Big Game victory since the Republican Revolution (Cal over Stanford was part of the Contract With America, right?).  Triple OT victory over USC. 

This game did not quite capture that excitement.   With the winds the way they were, Longshore was having lots of trouble throwing the ball et al.  Also, hes regressed epically since UCLA.  Our defense was having trouble up until the 4th quarter.  We barely beat a team we shoulda blown out.  I get it.  But in 2000, Stanford shoulda destroyed us and we almost beat them.  In 2001, we were one Boller-Ward bomb away from tying up that game.  And that was when we were historically bad (as Stanford was this year).  And you need look no further than Saturday’s joyful UCLA-USC game to see when a heavy underdog can knock of a potential national champ in a rivalry game. 

In rivalry games, nothing is safe.  Nothing is sacred.   On TheBandIsOutOnTheField.com, one of the commentors there said he caught up with Bishop on the field after the game and Bishop said he hopes one day that the fans never rush the field.  Perhaps we’ll do that when Stanford gets demoted to Division III.  Until then, I hope we ALWAYS rush the field after the Big Game. 

Remember, it was not too long ago that they beat us 7 years in a row.  Up until our victories in 2007 and 2008, justice has NOT been served.  Maybe we can talk after that.   

Personally, I rushed the field for the 2000 team.  I was a 2nd year then.  Back then, there was normally a riot after we lost.  That year, after they scored their lightening quick TD to win in OT, the fans were too stunned to riot.  I swear nobody moved in the student section for like 10 minutes.  We all just stood there.  I remember seeing some of the 5th year seniors crying and being confused.  I was just a 2nd year.  They had been there for 5 years and never seen a victory.  That was the closest they had come.  I remember seeing the undulations of the Stanford side as they celebrated on our field.  They had just won for the 6th time, barely, over a team they were supposed to easily handle.  But they didn’t take it for granted.  That’s a pain I’ll never forget. 

So, yes, I was a bit shocked that people rushed the field.  But after I thought about it for a second, I realized that this rivalry doesn’t just start in 2002.  It has over 100 years of history and tradition.  And so, after patiently waiting behind Gramps for 10 minutes, I finally made my way down to the field to celebrate.  Maybe I was uncool or insufficiently ironic.  But all I know is GO BEARS! 

Here is one man’s take on this year’s bowl games, and why you should watch each and every one of them.  In chronological order…

San Diego Credit County Union Poinsettia Bowl
Who (is playing)? TCU Horned Frogs (10-2) vs. Northern Illinois Huskies (7-5).
Where (are they playing)?  San Diego.  Duh.
When (is it all going down)?  December 19, 8 PM on ESPN2.
First thoughts:  On the one hand, you have Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois, the NCAA rushing leader for this year, and a guy likely to crack the 2,000 yard mark.  On the other, cracking 2,000 yards rushing in a year doesn’t actually mean, you know, you’re a good player.  Kinda like J.J. Arrington.
Why (should you watch)?  According to Ivan Maisel, two of the nation’s very best running teams will be meeting in this one.  So at the very least, it shouldn’t take very long.  And you might want to stick around for halftime or the commercials to figure out why the hell the San Diego Credit County Union is sponsoring a bowl.

Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl
Who (is playing)? BYU Cougars (10-2) vs. Oregon Ducks (7-5).
Where (are they playing)?  The City of Sin.  Again, duh.
When (is it all going down)?  December 21, 8 PM on ESPN.
First thoughts: The Ducks have lost three in a row.  The Mormons are in their own private hell.  Hip hop hooray?
Why (should you watch)?  What happens when a bunch of Mormons head to Vegas for a bowl game for the second year in a row?  Tune in to find out!!!!  Also, for Oregon’s 5,474,892th different ugly uniforms of the season.  And does anyone else find it strange that there are college and minor league teams in Las Vegas, but no professional teams?   Like college and minor league athletes are somehow less likely to fix games than their counterparts making ten million a year?

R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Who (is playing)? Rice Owls (7-5) vs. Troy Trojans (7-5).
Where (are they playing)?  New Orleans.
When (is it all going down)?  December 22, 8 PM on ESPN2.
First thoughts:  Rice has a football team?  And could Troy have tried just a liiiiiiitle bit harder to come up with a mascot?
Why (should you watch)?  I’m sure this is going to be a great celebration for the city of New Orleans, the crowd will be excited, the city will be revived, and it’ll put you right to bed after a long day of Christmas shopping.  Happy holidays, everybody!

Papajohns.com Bowl
Who (is playing)? South Florida Bulls (7-5) vs. East Carolina Pirates (7-5).
Where (are they playing)?  Birmingham, Alabama.
When (is it all going down)?  December 23, 1 PM on ESPN2.
First thoughts:  How many Bulls are there in South Florida?  And where’s East Carolina?  East of North Carolina?  Or South Carolina?  And what about West Carolina?  What is with these directional schools?  You don’t hear about North California University or West Jersey.  Actually, West Jersey sounds kind of cool.
Why (should you watch)?  Maybe there will be a good Papa John’s commercial along with a huge discount for the holidays.  If only there were a Papa John’s within delivery distance of my place.

New Mexico Bowl
Who (is playing)? New Mexico Lobos (6-6) vs. San Diego State Spartans (8-4).
Where (are they playing)?  New Mexico.  You think?
When (is it all going down)?  December 23, 4:30 PM on ESPN.
First thoughts:  The only Lobos I’ve ever seen were enemies in Final Fantasy 3.  That’s pretty cool.
Why (should you watch)?  Because this will probably be the only time you’ll see any part of New Mexico, either on TV or in real life.

Part II tomorrow.