CBKWit’s Mom on Monday’s Practice
It never ceases to amaze me, a Midwesterner, that residents of the Bay area do not remember that when the sun goes down, or the winds pick it up, it can feel pretty cold. Remember what Mark Twain said about the city by the bay in summer, about winter etc…?
Well anyone who has spent a late afternoon in Memorial stadium has experienced this drop in temperature. You don’ t see people in Ann Arbor wandering around with their arms inside their t-shirts as you routinely do at Memorial stadium about 7 PM. What, it can get kind of cold here? The wind bites?
Midwesterners have great respect for weather. They actually plan and pack for it, so they come to the games with fleece, gloves, hats and blankets, and liquid "blood builders," or what the old guys used to call booze. The Cal alumni sitting on the west side of the stadium seem to understand this.
But over there, by the band and near the visitors, sitting on splinter city, it is possible to be the hottest you have ever been in your life and then start to freeze. At one game, it was so hot a 55 year old guy I was with used my pink lipstick to protect himself from getting severally sunburned lips. He left the game early cause he only had a t shirt and the big wind started up. Sundown=cool down rapidly. Young Cal fans, visitors and suffering cal band parents take note.
Watching spring football practice yesterday was sort of a microcosm of this experience, but without the heat. Not too warm but getting pretty cold in the wind. My son the Cal grad and Berkeley resident, seemed to forget wind = cold, again. And he was born in Minnesota. We have real weather there and we know better. I had lots of layers with me, but yeah, it was cold.
My attention was riveted on the young punter who really made some nice kicks. He happens to look just like CBKWit’s younger (not little) brother and has the same number he has embraced for years, 19. Like the brother, #19 stands about 6′7" and has the really long legs. I’m guessing he wears about a size 15 shoe, which you can only buy on-line. Unlike the brother, he could launch them, so much so that the talented receivers always had to "hit the deck," and do push-ups to make up for all the dropped punts.
Aside from that, I just helped CBKWit identify the numbers on jerseys and got the general impression the defense was taking it on the offense. Go Bears and best of luck, but lay off the [WSU] Cougs, they’ve got some seriously tall fans who can take on #19 if needed. Stay warm/cool.
Of course, on Tuesday I came down with a nasty cold. Mom, you are right as always. Damn it.
I don’t know, it’s one thing to belatedly tell someone that the pictures they took from OPEN Spring practice should be pulled (do they think you guys were the only ones with cameras), but its entirely another thing to ask that you guys don’t discuss what you saw. If JT and the Athletics Dept. were concerned about this, they should have just closed ALL practices to the public. Sure, those of you in the area wouldn’t get to freeze your asses off, but I’m sure everyone would understand. It seems a bit ridiculous to make all these requests AFTER THE FACT. While I appreciate the good will being shown here, I think from a blogger’s standpoint a flip of the bird to the Athletic Dept is in order. What’s next, are they going to ask that you submit to a memory elimination procedure at Lawrence Livermore Labs? Just ridiculous!
Also, NOT TO JINX the run being made by the Cal Rugby team, but how about some Rugby love? They have absolutely demolished the competition en route to the Nat’l Semis against SMC. If Basketball or Football put in performances like that, they would definitely be front page news.
And can someone please tell me why the Nat’l Championship is held at the Turd?
Comment by oaktownmario — April 24, 2008 @ 8:54 am
Mario, I’ll answer the Rubgy question first:
We all love our Rugby team, and are continually amazed by their dominance. Their absolute obliteration of Tennessee in the sweet sixteen! was particularly impressive.
Still, one thing we try to do with this blog is to provide new, unique information and insight, rather than simply parroting things someone else has written. This can come in the form of eyewitness accounts, watching the games on TV or listening on the radio, doing statistical or video analysis, writing opinions, doing research, or even simply commenting on the work of other blogs or mainstream news articles.
Thus, our problem with Rugby is that we have yet to make it out to a game this year, and since we can neither watch the games on TV or even listen on the radio, all I have to go on are online news articles. While these are interesting, and I do read them, I don’t have anything particularly interesting to add. I don’t know if “Damn, those ruggers are good!” articles get old to read, but they do get old to write.
I couldn’t tell you exactly why the championship is held on the Farm, but it’s been that way for many years. I would guess that Stanford hosts pretty much every year because they have nice facilities that are amenable to hosting (isn’t private institution money wonderful?) I’ve made it down there for a couple championships, but not in the past two years. If I make it down there this year, rest assured I will be blogging about the experience.
Comment by ragnarok — April 24, 2008 @ 10:47 am
I think we may be guilty of taking the ruggers for granted because the only times they seem to lose (at least in the last three years) is when they play professional teams, or when they are in Canada.
As far as the athletic dept … well, there is no way they can be worried about this post. Seriously, discussing how cold it is in Strawberry Canyon and how midwesterners should know better doesn’t seem like very dangerous information. In fact, it doesn’t really even seem like information at all. No offense to mom’s everywhere, but if the next post is also about bundling up and the importance of a good breakfast I’m going to start to wonder whether SBN made the right choice here.
Other than that, I have to agree with Oaktown Mario … while posting pictures of formations may be a bit too intrusive, discussing how the team looks certainly can’t be.
Oh, and it’s a good thing I’m in SoCal … we got to put away our fleece, mittens, scarves and stuff a while back.
Go Bears!
Comment by SoCal Oski — April 24, 2008 @ 11:04 am
You’re right, we most certainly take Cal’s rugby success for granted. Thankfully, Jack Clark and the Rugby team does not.
A clarification: Athletics has not asked us to withhold our practice reports; we have done so ourselves, temporarily, while we work with them to determine exactly what information Tedford and his staff would like us to refrain from reporting. This whole issue has merely been a big misunderstanding, which we’re working hard to correct. We’re just being cautious while we build lines of communication, that’s all.
Until all that gets resolved, I hope you’ll enjoy my next post about the importance of sitting up straight and wiping your shoes on the mat before entering the house!
Comment by ragnarok — April 24, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
Tedford’s the man, but he wants absolute control over his surroundings more than any other coach I’ve seen. If a bridge is burned here, you might have to move your operation to Tightwad Hill. Or Google Earth? Good luck.
Comment by zoonews — April 24, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
Nasty Nate endorses Kevin Riley for Cal QB ‘08.
BTW, last nite we all watched Kevin lay the smack down on Coach Tedford during a late nite battle of NCAA Football ‘08.
Comment by Kenwick Thompson — April 24, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
SoCal Oski, you just NOW are wondering whether SBN made the right choice???????
We’ve been trying to figure out why they chose these 5 shmucks for months now! It makes no sense.
Comment by TwistNHook — April 24, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
One of the more fun posts I’ve read in a while. And how the heck is one’s mom allowed to go to these practices and not me? Sigh.
Comment by BearwithFangs — April 24, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
Well, the BearInsider is unreadable, and Okanes posts something interesting on his blog about once a month. I can only read so many human-interest stories in the local rag too. I hope whatever deal you’re working out will make sure this blog remains as interesting and fun as it has been, otherwise I suppose I’ll just pretend that the team doesn’t exist except for 12-13 Saturdays a year, because we sure as hell aren’t going to hear anything more than platitudes otherwise.
Comment by Ben — April 24, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
blog remains as interesting and fun as it has been, otherwise I suppose I’ll just pretend tha
Comment by Gucci Backpack — July 3, 2011 @ 6:01 pm
h I’ve seen. If a bridge is burned here, you might have to move your operation t
Comment by Ray Ban Wayfarer — July 3, 2011 @ 6:01 pm
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Comment by Gucci Diaper Bag — July 3, 2011 @ 6:01 pm