(Written by Ken Crawford)

My BearTerritory.net podcast for the bye week is posted over there:

http://cal.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=861180

It’s a free podcast, even though it’s posted on BearTerritory, so have a listen.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

In addition to the obvious pushing violation on the 2nd ASU drive, there was the earlier on the same drive, drive-extending, “leaping” penalty on the blocked field-goal . I looked up the rules for this a couple days ago (and michias was nice enough to post the rule as well in the comments). It reads as follows:

No defensive player, in an attempt to gain an advantage, may step, jump or stand on an opponent. No defensive player who runs forward from beyond the neutral zone and leaps from beyond the neutral zone in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or try may land on any player(s). It is not a foul if the leaping player was aligned in a stationary position within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped.

So, just so we’re clear on the play, here’s what happened:

1. The Cal player of note is 5 yards (approx) behind line of scrimmage
2. Ball was snapped
3. Cal player takes 1 step forward
4. Cal player leaps straight up, still well behind the neutral zone
5. Cal player blocks kick
6. As Cal player is coming straight down when ASU player comes flying out from line of scrimage and knocks legs out from under Cal player as he’s about to hit the ground.
7. Penalty called on Cal player

So let’s break it down clause by clause to see if the Cal player broke the rule:

No defensive player who runs forward from beyond the neutral zone

OK, the Cal player in question does meet this requirement of the rule in that his step forward can be considered “running”, albeit a bit of a stretch, and he started from behind the neutral zone.

and leaps from beyond the neutral zone

Here’s the rub, right here. It’s the use of the word FROM. Generally speaking, the word ‘from’ is used when going ‘to’ some where. This is not always the case. I can call someone on the phone ‘from’ Ohio and it doesn’t indicate that when I’m done I’ll be somewhere else. However, the way this reads, it makes me think that the implication is that the leap must start ‘from’ behind the neutral zone and ends in the neutral zone. The idea being that all the linemen will be in the neutral zone when this forward (since he was running) leaping guy falls on top of them. However, taking the most broad definition of ‘from’ here, technically speaking, that’s not a requirement that he land in the neutral zone, so our poor Cal player continues to meet the clauses for the rule even if it wasn’t intended.

in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or try

No one would debate that the Cal player was attempting to block the kick so this clause is also satisfied.

may land on any player(s).

And sure enough, the Cal player did land on someone. Now, the ‘catch’ here is that he didn’t land on them because his jump took him into that person but because that person effectively ran under him while he was in the air. There was nothing our poor Cal player could have done to avoid coming down on him nor could he have anticipated that the ASU player would be under him when he started his vertical leap as the ASU player was caught up in the line at the time. So, as much as we’d like to excuse this clause, the reality is that it is indeed satisfied in this case.

So, when one takes the most broad definition of ‘running’ and the most broad definition of ‘from’ and the most broad definition of ‘land on’, sure enough, the Cal player did, as much as it is a stupidly written rule, commit a personal foul.

But here’s my gripe (in addition to the overly generous interpretation of the rule):

If we’re going to have this sort of a nit-picky call of the rules, then where THE HECK is the pushing call later in the drive. I’m OK that some refs are more sticklers for the letter of the law than others who take a more “intent” based perspective. What I’m not OK with is such wreckless inconsistency. It would have been the same ref who called the leaping penalty who would have been in perfect position to call the pushing penalty. And if that ref is going to be an AMAZING stickler for the leaping penalty when it is clear when you read the rule that while he may have JUST BARELY violated the letter of the law, he did not in any way shape or form violate the intent of the rule, then he’d better stinking call pushing in a case where not only was the letter of the law broken but also the intent AND the very strick interpretation that generally limits the use of the the rule in the modern era.

That’s the way I see it anyway. It was a bad call because it was a ridiculously broad reading of leaping and completely inconsistent with both the calling of the rest of the game and of how modern officiating is called these days.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

I know, I know. You must all be falling over with heart attacks. It’s only Monday. Ken doesn’t post his ridiculously late podcast until at least Thursday. But today is a new day!

Have a listen to my post-game thoughts on Nate vs. Kevin, our awesome defense, who looks tough in the coming weeks and much more.

 

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(Written by Ken Crawford)

It seems that the topic of pushing other players forward seems to be getting more attention with every passing year. Starting with the “Bush Push” in 2005, each year more and more controversies errupt about whether some play was legal or not.

Everyone agrees that the rulebook is pretty strick about disallowing any type of pushing on the player. The debate always swirls around the “current interpretation” of the rule and whether this play or that violated the standarding being used today.

What many forget is it is NOT illegal to push a would-be tackler off the runner. So, not only do we have the vagarities of the “current interpretation”, we also have the subjective issues of whether the fellow offensive player is pushing the runner or pushing the tackler. Sometimes it is clear. Other times, particularly in a scrum, it’s not so clear.

All of this is background for the ASU’s 2nd touchdown on Saturday. The fans around me, I sit in the portion of the stadium closest to that particular play, were all up in arms about the pushing. I scoffed at it because I generally take a narrow interpretation of the rule and didn’t see anything unusual there.

That is until I got home and watched it on Tivo… HOLY SMOKES!

I’ve never seen a more blatant example of pushing that this. Herring’s feet were LIFTED OFF THE GROUND for the last two yards of the touchdown run. There were two ASU offensive line guys who literally picked him up and effectively used Herring as a battering ram to get into the endzone. If you’ve got a copy of the game, watch that section again. It was MUCH more blatant tha it seemed from the stands.

That should have been called. If there’s ever a time the pushing rule should be called, that was it.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

It’s Friday night before a Cal game, what is the last item on everyone’s agenda to prep for the Cal game the next day? Why finish up all of their unfinished business!

OK, I know my publishing of the podcasts are getting to be just a bit tiresomely consistently late, but hey, it’s not like anyone is paying me for this. So while I do wish I was getting these published on time, I also know those stinking bookshelves are still unfinished in the garage (ARG!?!) and work is pretty busy too.

In any case, have a listen.

 

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(Written by Ken Crawford)

My weekly statistical preview article has been posted over at BearTerritory.net:

http://cal.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=858652

As always it is a subscription article.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

The San Francisco Examiner is doing a ‘best of’ series and Cal Blogs got its turn yesterday. Excuse Me For My Voice was amongst the 6 picked. They had this to say about us:

The name might tip you off, but if it doesn’t I’ll just say that this is not your standard blog. When it comes to the writing, it’s definitely done with flair. Not only do they hit you with great informative articles, they do it in a way that is never dull. They also do podcasts to go along with their great commentary and photos from the game. This is a great site to live vicariously through these fanatics. Once you’ve read an article or listened to a podcast, you’ll be hooked.

Huh, I never thought of us as a blog that is “definitely done with flair”. If anything I though we were the stoggy old-timers who were the last to fly off the hook. But perhaps it’s our ‘flair’ for the sarcastic and the jovial nature of our podcasts that gives the best of writer that impression. Or perhaps it’s just the name.

The other blogs picked, with the exception of ‘The Bear Will Not Quit’ that I only learned of this fall, and so was not in contention when I picked the blog-roll for this year, are all on the blogroll.

(Written by Jason Snell)

What would happen if you tried to do a podcast from an iPhone using a voice-recording program and a microphone intended for phone calls and not podcasting?

You’d get something loud and buzzy. You’d get this podcast, in fact.

Join Phil and Jason live-on-iPhone from Section FF in Memorial Stadium (that’s us over on the right) — and from outside a lovely Mexican restaurant in Alameda after the game — for observations on the spot about Cal’s not-remotely-exciting victory over Colorado State.

Curious? How could you not be?! Join us for eight minutes of sheer audio heaven, with special appearances by the Cal PA system and the Cal Band.

Oh, and among the things we learned: sometimes the Voice Recorder program doesn’t save properly. So our keen first-quarter observations and some of our comments from the Mexican restaurant in Alameda didn’t make it in. Yeah, we’re just as sad about it as you are.

 

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(Written by Jason Snell)

The entire gallery is here.

Some good running early in the day:

But generally the Cal offense was anemic early:

Riley gave it a whirl but didn’t really impress:

But in the end, Cal won going away, and the team was happy:

(Written by Ken Crawford)

I hadn’t seen much mention of this elsewhere, but the Cal vs. ASU game on 10/4 has been picked up and will be televised by ABC at 12:30 PM. It’s the first ‘traditional’ 12:30 home game for the Bears in a long time. How long… er… look it up yourself!

OK, OK, OK… I’ll do it: It was the 2006 (yes, that’s no typo) Big Game which had a noon kickoff (and as they say in music, that’s good enough for Jazz (meaning ‘close enough’)). The last one actually at 12:30 PM was the 2006 Washingtong game.

Looking more broadly, the next three games have their time set, but we’re still waiting on UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford as well as one of two slots for the Washington game that will be televised.

For the UCLA game there is still a 12:30 PM slot available at ABC that will be decided on Monday 10/10 however, that’s also the weekend of the Oregon vs. ASU game so a lot will depend on where those 4 teams are in the standings. If UCLA continues the downward spiral, Cal may be out of luck for the big networks and it may be back on Comcast-West.

For the Oregon game there is both a 12:30 PM ABC slot and a 3:30 PM FSN slot available that will be decided on Monday 10/17. I’m pretty confident Cal will get picked for one of the two. It just matters whether ASU vs. OSU is important enough to get the 12:30 spot over Cal vs. Oregon.

Oregon State has a 12:30 ABC slot and a 7:15 PM FSN slot available. There’s not a lot of good games that weekend and with OSU’s history of upsetting good teams, I think they’ll get picked up, but if either or both teams faulter sufficiently, this would be my guess for the obligatory “radio only” game for 2008.

Stanford is the odd one. While there are no contractual games available through the Pac-10, Cal hasn’t wrapped up a TV contract with CSN-W like they did for other games they didn’t have a contract option for. Does that mean this game won’t be on TV? Seems surprising if that’s the case. Perhaps they’re still in negotiation…

Finally, for Washingon, it’ll either be on FSN at noon or on ESPN(or 2) at 5:00 PM.

Let’s put this in table form shall we:

(Written by Ken Crawford)

My next article is published at BearTerritory.net. This is a pretty unique article in that I combine player quotes and statistics in a review of just how much an advantage the Bears have playing at home.

http://cal.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=855525

If you’ve been needing an article to push you over the edge to get your BearTerritory.net subscription, this should be the one. There are some mind-boggling statistics I dug up when researching this article that you won’t see without that subscription.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

After yesterday’s debacle (could you imagine how Cal fans would react if Cal was on top of the polls and got knocked off by Oregon State… oh wait), I’ve done some thinking about the whole “tough conferences” and “strength of schedule” arguments that fly around the country.

First, let’s start with the obvious issue of that there will be two very different responses to last nights game depending on where your loyalties lie. Pac-10 haters will say: “Man, not only is the Pac-10 super weak, but USC can’t even beat them. They STINK!” Of course Pac-10 lovers will say: “See, look at how good the Pac-10 is. Not even USC can beat everyone in it!”

Who’s right? I think the real answer is neither of them.

The reality is that conferences don’t play conferences. Teams play teams. There are certain teams that matchup well against other teams and there are certain teams that have a knack for the upset. Add in that if you play the same game multiple times, the winner isn’t always the same, and we fans make WAY too much of each individual game and each individual matchup and its implication not only for those two teams but, and this is the part that really boggles the mind, for the whole conference. Heck, we go so far to make sweeping conclusions about conferences that weren’t even a part of that game.

I’m sorry, but there’s no way to make sense of Oregon State > USC >>> Ohio State >> Troy > Middle Tennessee > Maryland >> Cal >> Michigan State >>> Notre Dame… etc. Although I wasn’t able to find a loop in this case, it’s only because we’re a few weeks in. If Notre Dame beats Stanford, the loop would be complete! (As Stanford beat Oregon State.)

As much as everyone knows how bogus the above logic is, it’s downright miraculous just how frequently the same logic is used by the same people who admit it’s ridiculous. It’s so frequent and so ridiculous, the only thing it is in the end is hilarious.

So, here’s MY analysis of things:

There’s no doubt the SEC is a tough conference. They’ve got the highest number of quality teams and whoever wins that conference, minus some unforseen complication, deserves to play in the BCS championship game. However, the SEC also has a high number of weak teams. Kentucky, Vanderbuilt, Mississippi and Mississippi State all have proven to be dramatically sub-par over the last decade with a rare exception here and there.

The same can basically be said of the Big-12. Although the quality of those top teams is a bit lower than the SEC, there’s no doubt that facing the best in the Big-12 is no cakewalk. At the same time, they’ve got Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State in the conference too.

Then you’ve got the Big East, ACC and Big-10. They’re all conferences that don’t have the fire-power on top, particularly this year, as the SEC and Big-12 and still have their share of weak teams. The possible exception would be the Big-10 that top to bottom might by the most solid conference on the wrong side of the Rockies.

Which brings me ot our beloved Pac-10. Is the Pac-10 the best conference in the land? No, it’s not. I’m not going try and blow that smoke where the sun don’t shine. USC, Cal, Arizona State, Oregon and Oregon State just wouldn’t match up against Georgia, Florida, LSU and whoever next best two of Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama ends up being. But you know what, there’s a LOT of tough competition in the Pac-10. On any given Saturday, even some of the mediocre teams in the conference can best the best. When’s the last time the conference champion in the SEC lost to a team in the bottom third? Well, it’s happened 3 out of the last 4 years in the Pac-10. And relatively speaking, the last few years have been some of the most unbalanced in Pac-10 history due to USC’s dominance.

What does this all mean? Only God knows, really. But what it does mean is that anytime I hear some pundit or some fan trash-talk “USC and the 9 dwarves” or even when I hear someone trash-talking the SEC or the Big-12 or even the Big-10 with the standard “well look at these handfull of games that prove my point!” logic, they’re going to get no respect from me.

It’s just not that simple.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

My weekly statistical preview article, comparing Cal to Colorado State can be found at BearTerritory.net:

http://cal.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=855229

It is a subscription article.

For what it’s worth, if you want to do your own analysis on the statistics I generate, remember that you can generate the exact same statistics for any Pac-10 matchup. Just click on the “Stats” link towards the top of the page and then select the teams you want to compare. You could compare two teams like, oh I don’t know, USC and Oregon State. Everyone knows USC blew out Oregon State last night, you didn’t even have to watch… right?

(Written by Ken Crawford)

My press-conference/Tuesday practice podcast is posted over at BearTerritory.net:

http://cal.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=854747

The podcasts don’t require a subscription, so all can go listen. There’s lots of audio of Tedford, Riley, Worrell Williams, Noris Melele and Darian Hagan as well as my commentary.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

I meant to post this over the weekend, so sorry for the short notice. If you’re in the Sacramento area and want to up your stalker credentials, coming to hear me speak to the Sacramento Grid Club tonight at 6:15 PM should be on the top of your priority list.

The Grid Club is a Cal sports fan club. I guess there are a number around the state. They have weekly meetings to go over the previous game and have speakers come in. They asked me to speak this week. (They must be completely out of qualified speakers. ) I’ll be speaking about how I became a part-time sports writer and give my thoughts on the Bears outlook going forward.

Here’s a quick rundown from the organizer, John Boskovich:

We always welcome new members and would love to have folks come to the club as a guest this Wednesday.

The Grid Club’s guest policy is that we invite anyone who’s interested to show up for a meeting or two, in order to check out the club and see what we do. We ask those who are going to come to more than two meetings to join the club. 2008 membership is priced at (what we believe to be a very reasonable) $55 (which includes attendance at all club meetings and also includes $25 off the price of the Tiny Bates Award banquet held in February.)

More details about the Sac Grid Club are available on the website, which is www.sacgridclub.com.

The location of the meeting is at the Sterling Hotel, which is located at the corner of 13th and H Streets in downtown Sacramento. The meeting starts at 5:15 with a review of the Maryland game film.

Come on out!

(Written by Ken Crawford)

Well, this seems to be the year of the remarkably late podcast. I’m still struggling to keep in front of everything I have to do. Those desks and bookshelves that were supposed to be finished before the season started and then by Labor day and then by last weekend are STILL not done. Luckily, I’m really close. The desks are in the house and are about 30 minutes of working time from complete (waiting for some glue to dry) and the bookshelves just need to be polished and have the cabinet doors and drawers attached before they’re done. So hopefully by this coming Sunday, everything will be done and I’ll be more prompt with my podcasts and you’ll see a lot more posting around here.

In any case, I did record the podcast shortly after the Maryland game. It was just a matter of editing all of it together. Here’s a list of all the quotes after my commentary:

1. Tedford on overall performance
2. Tedford on each player doing their job
3. Tedford on traveling coast-to-coast
4. Tedford on Best’s performance
5. Tedford on Maryland’s play versus previous games
6. Tedford on young receivers
7. Tedford on 3rd down conversions
8. Tedford on non-call on safety
9. Tedford on when one can challenge
10. Tedford on bye week coming up
11. Tedford on momentum and interception
12. Tedford on natural grass/turf
13. Tedford on how the loss affects the season
14. Tedford on confusion on field
15. Riley on Maryland’s performance
16. Riley on weather
17. Riley on running vs waiting
18. Riley on Jahvid Best’s performance
19. Best on playcall when he was hurt
20. Best on how bad he was hurt
21. Best on how he was stopped
22. Best on weather/traveling
23. Best on recovering from the loss
24. Best on mental errors
25. Best on natural grass/turf
26. Gregory on Maryland’s performance
27. Gregory on 1st half vs. 2nd half
28. Gregory on why team didn’t perform well
29. Gregory on rebounding
30. Gregory on weather
31. Gregory on areas that need work
32. Gregory on pass rush

 

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(Written by Jason Snell)

Robert O. Briggs, who “joined the Cal Band as a freshman in the fall of 1947 and essentially never left,” has died at the age of 81.

As someone for whom the opening ceremonies before a Cal game are as close as I’m ever going to get to the level of pomp, ceremony, and symbolic meaning of a Catholic mass (sorry, Ken), it’s fair to say that in some ways Robert O. Briggs was the leader of my own peculiar church choir.

Never knew the man, never spoke a word to him. But the fact is, the phrase that heads this blog post is a phrase that will take me back to my childhood, fall Saturdays spent in Strawberry Canyon at Memorial Stadium. And I know I’m not alone — Briggs’s name would be cheered every year at Alumni Band Day when it was announced that he was conducting both bands as a part of the halftime show.

The Chronicle obituary is sweet and, I’ll admit, the air on my bus ride to work this morning got a bit dusty as I read about Briggs and his commitment to the Cal band, especially this part:

Mr. Briggs never married and leaves no children. “You could say that the Cal Band was his family,” said Calonico. “It was a big part of his life.”

CAL BAND’S GREAT!

Jamie Rawson, Bass ‘77, has a remembrance of Briggs at California Golden Blogs. And Erin’s got a remembrance on her blog.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

I left from Maryland from the Baltimore Airport at 6 AM (waking up at 3:45 AM is no fun). After a stop-over in Atlanta I was home by 10:30 AM thanks to the 3 hour time difference. At which point my internal clock went haywire now trying to stay up until what was after midnight from an east coast perspective.

Overall, it was one heck of a trip. If only the Bears had won in Maryland, it would have been a smashing success, albeit a bit long and tiresome. My feeling this morning as I was driving into work is that I need a vacation after my vacation.

Just for the record, here’s a list of everything I saw (in order):

1. Spokane
2. Martin (WSU) Stadium
3. Longmeadow, MA and Hartford, CT (briefly)
4. NYC:
1. World Trade Center
2. WTC Cross
3. Lombardi’s Pizza
4. Empire State Building
5. Times Square
6. Rockafeller Center
7. St. Patrick’s Cathedral
8. Central Park (briefly)
9. United Nation’s building
10. Central Station
11. Ellis Island
12. Statue of Liberty
5. Philidelphia:
1. Liberty Bell
2. Independence Hall
3. Rocky Steps
4. Pat’s King of Steaks (home of first Phili Steak Sandwich)
6. Washington DC:
1. National Archives (Declaration of Independence/Constitution)
2. Washington Monunment
3. WWII Memorial
4. Vietnam War Memorial
5. Lincoln Memorial
6. Korean War Memorial
7. FDR Memorial
8. Jefferson Monument
9. Air and Space Museum
10. ESPN Zone DC
11. St. Matthew’s Cathedral
12. Dupont Circle
13. Union Station
14. Postal Museum
15. Capitol Building (Congress)
16. Supreme Court Building
17. Library of Congress
18. Arlington Cemetary (inc. Unknown Soldier Tomb and Kennedy’s Tomb)
19. White House
7. Byrd (U. Maryland) Stadium

Are you tired after reading that list? Because I am tired after doing it! All in all, although each stop lacked the depth I would have liked, I view it as a “survey” trip that when I go back with the family as the kids get older, I’ll better know where I want to and spend a lot of time. The only things I missed on my list was the National Cathedral, the Catholic Bascilica and 3 of the Smithonian Museums (Natural History, Holocaust, National History), all in DC.

It additionally more than doubled the number of states I’ve been to (not counting those I either just was in the airport or did when I was a kid too young to remember the trip) from 7 (California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Texas, Idaho and Ohio) to 15 (adding Washington, Conneticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland) . Woohoo!

In any case, it was also good to see the Bears play both their road games and I bet being in Maryland was a lot less frustrated seeing it (and having a good sense of what was going wrong as opposed to the limited view one gets on TV) than at home. Although I bet if I flew out just for the game I’d have a different perspective.

It’s good to be back home and expect more analysis posts during this bye week and my Maryland podcast by tomorrow morning.

(Written by Ken Crawford)

Here are my two articles that were published at BearTerritory.net after the Maryland game:

Cal-Maryland Postgame reaction
Toughness factor (about Javhid Best)

Both are subscription articles.

(Written by Jason Snell)

It’s that time, folks. Time for a waffle and some orange juice, as we wake up and start our weekend.

Oh, wait, that’s not it. It’s time for a Cal football game. At nine in the freakin’ morning?!

Fortunately for our correspondent Ken Crawford it’s more like noon — because he’s in College Park, Maryland at Byrd Stadium.

Me, I’m wearing my pajamas and sitting on my couch. But we’ll both be commenting on the game, live, as it happens. So stay tuned!

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