According to the National Weather Service’s forecast for tomorrow’s game, there is a 60% chance of rain.  Anybody currently working in Concord would be shocked by this, where it seems like its a billion degrees.  But hey, this is the government talking.  They don’t get anything wrong.  Except for everything. 

"Fair enough, umbrellas away!" you might be thinking.  Wait!  Stop!  It’s unlikely my mom will shoot, but there are other reasons you should stop!  According to the Game Day Information and Memorial Stadium Guide, you can’t bring in umbrellas!  Here is the list of prohibited items:

ITEMS PROHIBITED INSIDE STADIUM

For the Safety and Comfort of our Guests, the following items are prohibited inside Memorial Stadium:

But that’s SO 2006.  What’s in now?

"How lucky is it that the first Google image I click on for plastic Ponchos happens to be blue and gold?" 

I bet the student store has something.  Or failing that, you could try any number of fine poncho retailers such as P-Mart, PonchoVilla, and the ultra-modern "p."  Either way, if you don’t want to get arrested or have an umbrella taken from you, it looks like it’s poncho, poncho, poncho.  The other option is what I wore to the last Cal game that rained (USC 01): 8 layers of wool, 3 of polyester, and a giant hat.  To wit:

"Jon Stan, is that you?"

Note:  I was never the Drum Major, but their hat would probably keep water at least 8 feet away from your skull.  At least.  Either way, be prepared and let’s hope the only rain that happens tomorrow is passes raining down to our receivers. 

• Ted Miller’s Pac-10 Notebook brings our Bears good news on the injury front, as even though Matt Malele remains doubtful for Arizona this Saturday, Rulon Davis and Zack Follett are questionable and have a decent shot of playing.
• Some activist (with some random credentials, but I don’t really care) wants San Francisco to go an hour without power from 8-9 PM on Saturday - which will probably be the same time as the Cal/UCLA game.  Not a terribly big deal, since I don’t think anyone reading this is going to be a part of the boycott, but who knows.
  
• "There is no question we have enough guys on this team that remember last year." — Tedford
• Tedford seems to agree with the majority of Bears fans online who realize that the team has not played a perfect game yet.
• Pat Hill offers up the possibility that Oregon is doing well because they haven’t started class yet.  That doesn’t quite hold for the Bruins though, as Feldman points out; he also adds that that excuse/reasoning adds even more fuel to the Fire Dorrell camp.
  
• Now would not be a good time to break out the, "Shoot him like a horse!" chant.
• On a totally unrelated sidenote, I’m writing this during halftime of the Texas A&M/Miami game on ESPN - can anyone understand anything that comes out of Lou Holtz’s mouth?  How does a guy with mushmouth like that communicate at all?
• Bruce Feldman picks this weekend’s games.  He calls for a Cal victory, 34-20, citing Arizona’s poor defense and the fact that they’re extremely undisciplined.  Go Bears.
• As usual, pick your games NOW.