According to fellow Cal blogger(s?), Rose Bowl Before I Die, we are the 3rd best Cal blog out there.  This clearly flies in the face of The Gospel of Seth located here and here.  Fair enough.  Fair enough. 

We are currently losing out to Tightwad Hill, who may or may not be in a Mexican prison and The Band Is Out On The Field, who has at least one writer currently NOT in a Mexican prison.   

Well, with Tightwad Hill clearly out of commission for the near future, it’s clear that that brass ring is for the taking.  Therefore, this group of ex-Cal Marching Band members challenges that group of ex-Daily Cal members to the only reasonable and logical way to determine the best Cal Damn Blog In The Land:   

MONKEY KNIFE FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S.  Rose Bowl Before I Die, I just wanted you to know that, even though I don’t know you, aren’t sure where you live, and couldn’t pick you out of a lineup of one, I was *this* close to buying you a Marshawn Bills jersey.  Hmmm, guess I’ll have to send it to Seth now!

Last year, ABC debuted their "Saturday Night Football" to rousing success.  Remember when we completely out-Oregoned Oregon with electric yellow unis last year?  Yeah, Saturday night football on ABC rocked.  Well, we get to do it again this year, hopefully with similar results, as Tennessee @ Cal will kick off the series’ second season on September 1st.  A cool early evening game at Strawberry Canyon in September?  Perfect.  A nationally-televised shot at redemption?  I like it.  Busting out some new threads?  Quite possibly.  The atmosphere will be electric, I can guarantee you that.

Stop for a moment and consider how far this program has come in five years under Tedford.  I mean, it’s happened gradually enough that we take it for granted now, but it wasn’t long ago that Cal on national TV was an aberration, only occurring when we were playing on some odd day of the week, like a Thursday night game at Utah.  Now, it’s not only possible, it’s practically expected, taken a bit for granted.  Oh, another national game?  Big exposure for our players?  Yeah, what else is new?

ABC has also picked up our November 10th game vs. USC, again to my complete lack of surprise.  This game will at least get regional coverage to the western part of the country, but a decision on who gets the national telecast won’t come until 6-12 days beforehand.  Other Pac-10 games on ABC:  USC @ Nebraska (Sept. 15), Washington State @ USC (Sept. 22), USC @ Washington (Sept. 29), Notre Dame @ UCLA (Oct. 6), and Oregon State @ USC (Nov. 3rd).  So, pretty much the traveling USC show, but we get a couple games in there too.  Yeah, we’re still second fiddle in the Pac-10, and it’s gonna beating ‘SC and winning the Pac-10 outright to change that.

Still, championship aspirations aside, revenge comes first.  Only 123 days to go!!

Thanks to reader Daniel Moon for passing this info on to us.

OK, so four Cal players were taken in last weekend’s NFL draft.  But what happens to the rest of the Cal seniors not taken?  Canadian Football?  NFL Europe?  Arena League Football?  Maybe.  Perhaps the Germans would be big fans of Joe Ayoob’s scatter-armed stylings.  Who can account for German taste anyway (see Hasselhoff, David)?

(Interesting side note found while perusing David Hasselhoff’s Wikipedia page:  The Maverick’s Dirk Nowitzki was asked what he does to concentrate when shooting foul shots. Dirk replied that he sings Hasselhoff’s "Looking for Freedom" to himself.  Uh, sure, whatever.  Go Warriors!)

Still, not being selected isn’t the end of the NFL dream.  Many players catch on as undrafted free agents.  In fact, the Seahawks, who already drafted Brandon Mebane in the third round, are expected to sign both Tim Mixon and Nu’u Tafisi as free agents.  No guarantees that they’ll make the team, but hey, it’s a shot, and at this point, I think that’s all they’re asking for.  If it works out, Seattle could become my new favorite NFL team (well, perhaps second behind the Buffalo Marshawns).

<Update> It looks like the Chargers have signed Erik Robertson, one of 23 undrafted free agents they’re giving a shot to.  Also, I have heard something about the 49ers signing Mickey Pimentel, but nothing on the 49ers website confirms this so far.

<Further Update>  Looks like Pimentel’s signed with the Carolina Panthers instead.  Too bad he’s not a Niner, but glad to see he’s getting a shot somewhere.