Upon closer inspection of the photo of Desmond Bishop found in this post, it has become clear that he wrote "Yo Momma" on the black strips beneath his eyes.  How delightfully intimidating!

GO BEARS!

PS  Texas A+M’s Momma!

Edit:  Yep, I was wrong.  I just threw this up quickly on a break at work and mistakenly thought it was Bishop.  It’s actually Pimentel.  My mistake.  Thanks to reader SundayMorningQB for pointing it out.   Either way, Texas A+M’s Momma!

Cal Basketball lost another player this week, as Omar Wilkes has decided not to return for his senior season.  My initial reaction was something along the lines of ‘oh, here we go again…’  Recall my essay from last month regarding the large number of defections and attrition from Braun’s program; this seemed to be another in the long line of ballers who grew fed up with Braun and his system and decided to go elsewhere.  Now that Wilkes was leaving, who would be next?

However, it was refreshing to hear Omar’s reason for not coming back: he was done with school.  And not ‘done’ like ‘I’ve had enough of this crap’, but ‘done’ as in ‘I’ve finished my degree and want to start my career’.  Seriously?  A basketball player at a major division I program (and if you think Cal isn’t a major program, remember that Omar began his career at Kansas) who’s main goal was getting his degree?  I guess all of us college basketball fans have forgotten what the players are receiving their scholarships for.

Omar’s on track to finish his undergrad degree in Social Welfare, and even though he’s got a year of eligibility left, he’s decided not to go to graduate school and use up his eligibility.  Instead, he wants to get a job.  Good for him!  You might say, "Why not go to grad school?  Cal will admit you easy as you please, and pay for it too."  Well sure, but grad school’s not everything.  Upon finishing my own degree at Cal, I was so ready to get out of school and start doing something real, and I can understand how Omar would feel the same way.  Sometimes, you’ve just had enough of academia and are ready to enter the real world, degree in hand.  I, for one, applaud Omar, and wish him the best of luck.

To bring you some As baseball.  If you just watched the As-Mariners game on Tuesday April 3, 2007, you saw the As bullpen blow a 4-4 tie and lose 8-4.  The normally strong Kiko Calero and Justin Dukesomethingorother allowed 4 runs to score right after the As had tied it at 4.  Frustrating.

But what that added 8th run did was allow the Mariners to bring in their newest rookie pitcher, Brandon (college) Morrow (pro).  The Mariners drafted the apparently diabetic Brandon 5th overall last year.  Some people criticized them for passing on UNC’s Andrew Miller, but there were strong signability concerns for Miller.  And based off of only 8 innings in Spring Training, the Mariners were so enamored with Mr. Morrow they decided to keep him on the Opening Day roster. 

If you were watching the As game tonight, you got a chance to see (probably) the first draft pick from the 2006 draft to make the big leagues.  Impressive, if true.  Morrow pitched well.  He allowed 2 men on base, but did not give up a run and got the last 3 outs of the game.  Right now, I bet you he is very, very excited.

Mariners fans were concerned that by keeping him up with the team now, his confidence could be shattered if he plays poorly.  They hope to turn him into a starter in the future (he was both a starter and a reliever in college) and are nervous that if his confidence is shattered from rough, early patches that plan might never come to fruition.  A Mariners blog, www.Lookoutlanding.com, discusses the Morrow conundrum here.  A long, but fascinating read.  Lookout Landing is a great Mariners blog, funny and self-effacing.  Certainly a lot better than the petulant jerks at Halos Heaven. 

And why is this being posted on a Cal blog?  Well, as you might have guessed by now (and if you didn’t, enjoy the rest of your time at USC), Morrow went to Cal.  He was our best pitcher last year.  And Ragnarok and I got an opportunity to see him pitch last year against UCLA.  He actually got outpitched by this fat UCLA pitcher and, IIRC, we lost.  !

Nor did I get particularly good photos.  Here are the only 2 photos I got of the Mariners newest reliever:

Yeah, not that good, I agree.  Not Byron Storer good.  Not even Marshawn ghostriding injury cart good.  But this photo shows how highly touted Morrow was and how interested pro teams were in him (or, alternatively, the UCLA pitcher):

You can see all the scouts there with their pro team hats (Astros on the way left there).  Last time I can remember anything like that was for Conor Jackson, but mayhaps I missed a few players here or there.  Certainly, there were no Billy Beane sightings this time.

Nonetheless, it is exciting to see a Golden Bear succeeding at the next level.

Too bad it’s at the As expense!

GO BEARS!  GO As!  TRY TO BE MEDIOCRE, WARRIORS!!!! 

PS  Not Cal related, but as far as college baseball related, next big pitcher to go pro from this area is Aaron Poreda of my other alma mater, USF.