Poor Jahvid Best. After a beautiful sunny California day and 42-7 trouncing of the Rams, the day began to look very dark after Best went down. The guy just can't catch a break, he's continually getting injured. It started last year with the potentially career ending hip injury, then the bruised chest against Maryland, and now the dislocated elbow against CSU. The extent of the damage isn't known yet, but it doesn't look good for the Bears as they saw their top rusher go down with a gruesome injury. To make matters more interesting, the Bears struggled on offense under Kevin Riley and Tedford made it very clear that he replaced him with Nate Longshore, not just put in Longshore because we were laying the pipe so badly. Because of that, the QB controversy is back in everybody's minds and why not? As much of an avid supporter of Riley as I have been, the kid just hasn't looked very good recently. Nate came in and played well, not to say that he should get the job back but that Riley shouldn't get all comfortable with the #1 spot. The Bears have an important week in front of them as they look to get ready for the Arizona State Sun Devlis. They'll look to exact revenge for last season's embarrassment in Tempe, AZ.

Ok, so since I last wrote it seems as if everybody in the Pac-10 had lost badly except USC...oh wait, they just lost to Oregon State last night. So now what do you make of the Pac-10 conference? USC has destroyed everybody (including hapless Ohio State) and then travel to Corvallis to redeem their loss 2 years ago only to be outplayed by a team who had been routed in 2 our their previous 3 games. I mean, the Beavers lost to Stanfurd! So now "the best USC team of all-time" is 0-1 in the Pac-10, and they were the only flagship team in the conference after our wonderful performance thus far.

But I digress, as my main focus is the California Golden Bears' redemption against CSU. The Bears looked like they were hibernating in the first 3 quarters against Maryland 2 weeks ago, and they paid for it. After a bye week, they better be awake and ready for the 3pm kickoff at Memorial. CSU is by no means a juggernaut, but they pose the same threat as a team like Maryland. But let's be real, Cal has rarely lost at home (unless it's USC) in the past 5 years and I don't see this being a game we drop, especially after the loss to the Terps and the bye week. As always, I'll be at the game so hit me up with your favorite tailgate spot. GO BEARS!

I'm sure everybody is aware of the huge douche that DeSean Jackson is becoming. In last night's Eagles-Cowboys game, DeSean made a great play and was about to score on a 60 yarder from Donovan McNabb...until he fliped the ball away in his TD celebration BEFORE getting into the endzone. Here's the footage if you missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPo4vKoPd8Y

But, this is not the first occasion where Jackson has made an idiot of himself.

http://www.rivals.com/video.asp?section=football&pkey=&vidtype=publisher&vidid=6 249

In the US Army All-American game after his senior season of high school, Jackson tried to backflip into the endzone, taking off at the 6.5 yard line. That's a lot of distance to cover, and as great an athlete as DeSean is, he's not that good. He actually comes up a yard short and loses the ball out of bounds, taking away a sure TD just like last night. As much as I loved him at Cal, he's proving himself to be an egomanic who needs to get put in his place. I'm thinking like a stern talking to from Andy Reid or Donovan, and then a bone-crushing hit over the middle by some LB like Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher. Just my opinion though, feel free to share yours. But here's something that cannot be disputed: DeSean Jackson thinks wayyyy too much about himself and his abilities. Learn a little humility and you might just be better off. DeSean certainly is the "1 to watch" (as he proclaims)...the one to watch make stupid football decisions.

Well, so much for building up the conference's reputation. The Pac-10, always held in low esteem by the East Coast and most voters, really didn't do much of anything last weekend on the football field. We validated many doubters over the weekend, after the 10 team conference managed only 3 wins. Aside from #1 USC's dominance of Big Ten foe Ohio State, the rest of the conference looked horrible. #16 Oregon Ducks needed OT to put down unranked Purdue, and lowly Oregon State defeated hapless Hawaii. Other than that, the conference blew. #15 Arizona State decided to not show up (or show their true colors) against unranked UNLV in OT. Washington got rolled by Oklahoma, Washington State isn't going to win a game this season after losing to Baylor, Stanfurd drops one to TCU, and UCLA gets demolished by BYU 59-0. Oh, and Arizona lost to New Mexico, keeping alive the tradition of Mike Stoops' teams being wildly inconsistent.

My focus of course is always the Golden Bears, but even they couldn't brighten up the Pac-10's weekend. #23 Cal slept through the entire game against Maryland until the midway point of the 4th, putting up 22 points to bring the score from 35-6 to 35-27. The offense looked horrible, and the defense couldn't stop anything in the first half. The Terps played like the team that they were expected to be this season, after starting slowly in their first two games. Give them credit, the packed the box and didn't allow Jahvid Best or Shane Vereen to get going at all, forcing QB Kevin Riley to beat them with the pass. Well, he didn't, and when they finally did start to click offensively, it was a classic case of too little too late. Although disappointing and damaging to our national ranking, in the grand scheme of things all it really affects is our National Championship hopes, which, let's be real, weren't existent to begin with.

The California Golden Bears take on the Maryland Terps this Satruday, but it's going to be an early one. That's right Bear fans, you gotta get up at 9am tomorrow to watch Cal kick some Maryland tail. A good way to do this is to continue pounding the ball with Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen, who have taken considerable pressure off of new starter Kevin Riley. The defense will have to deal with the Terps running back of Da'Rel Scott and WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, who are going to be skilled players who we have to keep in check. The thing with the Terps is that they've got some talent, but overall they're not very good. Give the ball to our two stellar runners, and let the defense take care of business. Go Bears!

Can you name all the NBA Live cover players? 1995 was the first year but the cover featured multiple NBA players.

The NHL is the most obscure major sports league, but if you can name all 30 of its franchises you're a pro!

Remember you only have 2 minutes so you have to be fast.

Think you know the Pac-10? Name all their starting QB's, as of Tuesday (8/9/08).

Can you name all 17 of these players and 1 mascot from the NFL to get arrested in the past year?

UC Berkeley finally got its approval to move forward with the removal of the oak grove near Memorial Stadium, and this is the reaction it got from the crazy Berkeley hippies. Police were out in full force and the protesters on the street and in the trees are having no qualms about making their final push a crazy one. I for one need to drive by to see it myself, but I've heard that all the trees are gone except for one, housing the final four tree sitters. What are your thoughts on the whole thing?

The newly ranked #23 Golden Bears put the spanking on the Cougars of Washington State this weekend 66-3 behind the running of Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen. Best racked up 200 yards on the ground and 3 TD's and Vereen added 80 yards and a TD; QB Kevin Riley had a modest game, completing 6/14 for 51 yards and a TD. I guess there wasn't much the Bears needed to do from the air, as both Riley and Nate Longshore combined for only 104 passing yards. The loss was the worst ever for the Cougars, who looked inept from the start and really suffered from bone-head mistakes as well as being completely overmatched talent wise. Cal got to show off their 3rd stringers along the way, as QB Brock Manison got his first collegiate action and TD after scoring on a 1 yard run late in the fourth. The Bears now travel to Maryland next week before coming back home for the Colorado St. game, the first ever at Memorial with no oak grove.

I finally got ahold of a video clip of this great 81 yarder by Shane Vereen, so enjoy it. Not taking anything away from this, but imagine if that was Jahvid Best on that run...those Spartans wouldn't even be in the picture! Looking forward to Saturday's contest at Washington State, let's hope the offense continues to hum along and the passing defense improves. Go Bears!

Cal head coach Jeff Tedford has finally made up his mind; Kevin Riley is the new undisputed starting QB, and Nate Longshore is the backup. After sharing time in the season opening victory over Michigan State, Riley will play the entire game against Washington State unless it's a blowout or he gets hurt (knock on wood). This likely marks the end of Longshore's career as a Golden Bear and it didn't end well; at one point he was considered a top NFL prospect and a potential Heisman candidate. As a 5th year senior, the QB will don a ballcap and clipboard unless something out of the ordinary may occur. Tune in for the 3:30pm PT kickoff on CSN-West or catch it on the radio at KGO Radio (810 AM) in San Francisco. Go Bears!

The rankings already have gone through a shakeup after the first weekend of college football, but unfortunately even after a nice win over Michigan State of the Big 10, the Golden Bears are still on the outside looking in. However, two Pac-10 teams made substantial moves, as #3 USC ascended to the top spot and unranked UCLA stormed into the rankings at #23 after their upset of Tennessee. The Vols looked really bad and Phil Fulmer has got to be on the hotseat after getting spanked two years in a row by Pac-10 teams in the opener (Cal did it last year). USC was impressive in their big win over Virginia as they leap-frogged Georgia and Ohio State for the top spot in the polls.

The 2008 California Golden Bears got off to a great start yesterday, defeating Michigan State 38-31 behind the running of Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen, and the steady play of new QB Kevin Riley. The defense looked better, although they gave up a bunch of passing yards and points in the second half. The biggest disappointment were two shots of deja vu for the Bears, when senior QB Nate Longshore got his turn to play and quickly reminded all of us why he's now on the bench. He went 3-5 with some nice passes, until his final two passes were picked off, one of which was returned for a TD. Longshore was booed off the field after his second pick, and it will be a long time if ever until he sees the field again. Riley looked impressive, as he completed 17-24 passes for 202 yards and 2 TD's, while making plays with his feet and keeping the offense moving.