Yellow Fever’s been a bit busy lately (his last email to us came from the Minneapolis airport), so I’m filling in with a bunch of new of minor note from around the web.

First off, I hope you didn’t bother to watch last night’s basketball game in Eugene (a 79-70 loss).  Believe me, you didn’t miss anything worth watching.  (At one point in the middle of the game, I stopped watching so I could play some golf on my Wii.  Man, that thing is addicting!)  Here’s a couple recaps if you’d like the gory details:
- SF Chronicle
- AP (via Monterey Herald)
- SJ Mercury News

Good : the Bears were able to come all the way back from a 14-point 2nd half deficit to take a brief lead, sparked by great play from backups Harper Kamp and Jamal Boykin.
Bad : Everything else.  Poor shooting (10 missed layups), lazy defense, only 6 free throw attempts.  Visible frustration, and more poor decision-making by Jerome Randle.  Almost 6 minutes without scoring.  The miracle was that the Bears were only down 14 when they began their comeback.

Staying with basketball, mid-January is *way* too early for talk of the NCAA tournament bubble, but that won’t stop ESPN from running an article on it.  The Bears make an appearance under the heading "work left to do".  You’ve got that right.

California [10-4 (1-2), RPI: 74, SOS: 94] The Golden Bears have played a slate that’s better in name than in actuality this season. Wins over San Diego State, Nevada and Missouri highlight a so-so nonconference schedule that also features losses to K-State and Utah. A home split against the L.A. schools was an acceptable start to Pac-10 play, and they were game at Oregon on Thursday night, but they need to start picking up some conference Ws. That has to begin Saturday at league minnow Oregon State

Women’s basketball, on the other hand, is doing much better.  Much, much better.  They’re 14-2, 5-0 in the conference, their best conference start ever.  They swept the LA schools on the road last weekend, and are currently ranked 9th in the country.  The Chronicle, in covering last night’s defeat of Oregon in Haas Pavilion, went so far as to say they’re now "the biggest target in the Pac-10".

Of course, it’s lower-profile sports such as these that are the reason Cal’s athletic department is so highly ranked.  In fact, buoyed by men’s water polo’s second consecutive NCAA title and women’s volleyball’s final four appearance, Cal finished the fall ranked #1 in the Director’s Cup for the second consecutive year!  Last year, of course, Cal finished the year only in 9th place, but their lead over perennial winner Stanford is bigger this year, so perhaps we could see a changing of the guard?  I doubt it.

So, with the football season done, of course news turns to senior bowls and April’s NFL draft.  From ESPN’s Hula Bowl coverage:

• Cal WR Robert Jordan made himself difficult to overlook on Day 2 practice. Jordan doesn’t have tremendous size but he has been one of the more polished route-runners here. He’s making crisp cuts, exploding out of his cuts and showing great body control when tracking the ball downfield. His determination also turned some heads, as he fought Arizona CB Wilrey Fontenot for one ball and came down with the reception.

Regarding the draft, we still haven’t heard DeSean Jackson’s decision on whether he’ll leave early.  I can’t really see why he’d stay, but then, I can’t see why he’s taking so long to make this decision.  Anyway, we should know by the 15th, which is the deadline to file papers with the NFL.

One player who won’t be back to the Pac-10 next year:  Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart.  All I can say is:  thank god, and good luck at the next level, son.  You didn’t belong at the college level anymore.

Two coaches might not be long for the Pac-10.  First, Pete Carroll hasn’t immediately said ‘no’ to the Atlanta Falcons, who appear to be ready to offer him just about whatever he wants.  I don’t think he’ll leave, but when these things week dragging on, you start to wonder if maybe Pete’s ready to go out and prove he can coach successfully at the NFL level.  [Hint:  Atlanta’s not the place to do it.]

On the other hand, Ty Willingham is having to fight just to keep the job he already has.  A booster apparently offered to donate $100K to a law school scholarship if Willingham was shown the door, and another $100K if the AD was sacked as well.  UW’s not biting, apparently, and I don’t blame them.  He’s a good, proven coach, and he’s done what he could with a terrible team and the toughest schedule in the country.  Give him a couple more years, people!

If Willingham’s looking for an endorsement of his coaching ability, how’s this little nugget from the end of the article strike you?

On Wednesday, it was announced Willingham had been elected president of the American Football Coaches Association, which has more than 10,000 members.

The first review of "Tarnished Heisman", the new book on the Bush scandal (how’s ‘Bush Scandal’ for an overused phrase?), is out.  Some pretty damning evidence in there, and the author’s credentials are impeccable.  Still, while Bush may lose his trophy, I still haven’t heard anything proving that USC knew about this and did nothing, which would be the only way their national title could be taken away.

Hankering for news on the whereabouts of Cal fan favorite whipping boy Joe Ayoob?  Hanker no more!  Ayoob has apparently caught on with the Central Valley Coyotes, a 2nd-level Arena League team.  Good for him.  How low-level is this team?  Only $30 gets you a spot at an open tryout!  Maybe you too can attempt to track down passes from Ayoob, if only for a day.

And finally, a feel-good story of Cal football alums giving back.  Ryan O’Callaghan and Aaron Rodgers, both from the upper part of this state, are announcing plans to start a non-profit group to help aspiring football players from the North State area.  In addition to helping high-schoolers get scholarships, they want to run a summer football clinic, and have already looked to Tedford and DeSean Jackson for help.  Personally, I think this is a really cool idea, and could turn into a recruiting pipeline for Cal into the oft-overlooked northern part of this state.