I get all of my sports news from sports.yahoo.com.  I’ve found they’ve got a good balance of content and aren’t too intrusive with the ads.  Additionally, they get lots of great columns from various publications for their readers.

I’ve always liked both Dan Wetzel and Stewart Mandel, both who’s columns show up on sports.yahoo.com, but Stewart has been on fire this new college football season.  His top 20 reasons why college football is superior to pro football is awesome.  Add that to his great column on how to watch multiple games on one TV which I had previously linked to and his amazingly common sense column about the proper way to rank pre-season teams (a point that had bothered me before as well) and you’ve got the best columnist in sports.

Thanks for the great columns Stewart and keep it up!

Well, I didn’t realize that two teams were playing on Thursday night to open the season, so my first week predictions are going to be sans Oregon St. (who decimated E. Washington) and Arizona St. (who started slow but finally put N. Arizona away).  But for the remaining games…

Cal 27, Tenn. 16: This game is going to start out fast and furious but the defenses will adjust.  I expect to see two touchdowns out of Cal in their first few possessions.  After that, they’ll grind out a hard fought victory as their defense is able to handle Tennessee minus a couple break-away plays.

Oregon 31, Stanford 17: This game has a lot of question marks in it… but not so many that the final outcome will ever be in doubt.  Expect that Oregon, particularly at home, will just overwhelm Stanford and the only reason that the game will be reasonably respectible is because the Oregon defense is young.

Washington 35, SJ St. 10: Washington seems to be one of those teams that takes care of business when it’s taking care of business time and a serious choking hazard when the opponent is more reputable.  Seeing as how SJ St. is… well… how best to put this… a team that even Holmoe didn’t want to schedule any more, I’m pretty sure that Washington will do OK.  But don’t expect them to bust out the big numbers.

UCLA 17, Utah 24:  I think Utah is going to be a very tough team for a VERY young UCLA.  My only qualm with my score is that Dorrell seems to be a very good coach and gets the most out of his mediocre teams.  However, he lost his QB, RB and start TE.  That’s going to hurt.  Utah, after a rebuilding year, is going to be back on their game and one of the better non-BCS teams this year.  This is the game they need to prove that they’re back and I expect them to come out with all cylinders firing.

WaZoo 6, Auburn 45:  OK, I used to make fun of WaZoo for always playing weak non-conference games.  I take it back.  We’ve got to make a rule in the Pac-10 that they’re not allowed to play big conference teams from the East Coast.  They’re just going to make the Pac-10 look bad.

USC 24, Arkansas 13: Alright, I’m the first to state that USC isn’t going to be any good this year.  Depending on how this game looks, you may even see me pick Nebraska over USC next week.  However, Arkansas is still Arkansas and I don’t see them having the fire-power to beat USC particularly considering their one offensive strength (a power run game) plays right into the one solid, question mark free part of the USC team: their run defense.

Arizona 28, BYU 24: I think this is going to be a tough game for Arizona, even if “Lunchbox” graduated from BYU and will no longer “grace” their offensive line (see the 9th paragraph).  I think the Arizona defense will be the difference in this game and keep a potentially dangerous BYU team under control.

OK, that’s my predictions.  Unfortunately I haven’t had time to finish my “prediction challenge” website.  I’ll do my best to get it finished by week #2.  In the meantime, anyone who wants to put their predictions can do so in the comment box.  Because of the moderation feature I use, nobody will see your predictions until after the games are done since I’ll be out of town from basically now until after all the games are finished.

Check back early next week for metrics on the games and my wrap up on the Cal vs. Tenn. game.

Well, Tedford finally put an end to the charade we all knew it was.  Longshore is going to get the start at Tennessee over Ayoob.  Tedford says that Ayoob will probably play “as the flow of the game” warrants.  Which to me means “If Longshore sucks it up, I’ll put in Ayoob.”

I’m hopeful we won’t have to worry about that.  Longshore impressed me in the 1/2 game he played last year and although I think he’ll have trouble if the pocket doesn’t hold up, I have faith that Tedford will be have a game-plan that avoids lots of drop-back situations.  I expect to see a similar game-plan to BYU: Lot’s of wide-reciever screens, slant passes, quick come-backers and of course, a Lynch’ing ground game.

Last night I got home from work and there was a big envelope waiting for me on the counter.  “What could this be?” I thought to myself.  Then I saw the return address… my heart lept in my chest…

Could it be!?!

Could it be!?!

Yes, they’re finally here!  It’s my cherished Cal Bears season tickets.  Just like I requested, the same as last year: Seats DD 44 1-3 and DD 45 1-2.  Two rows, right on the edge, right by the tunnel where I don’t have anyone sitting in front of me.  Oh yeah!!!

And while I’ve got you, as with most years, the tickets come with two coupons each for free tickets for the worst non-conference game on the slate.  That would be Portland State.  Having 5 season tickets, I have 10 Portland State coupons.  If you’re interested in getting into that game for free, let me know.

I’m not usually a fan of Scott Ostler, but this column was hilarious. Here are some choice quotes:

There’s nothing a team, a coach and a fan base prize more in their quarterback than mobility … unless the mobile quarterback is losing games, in which case, there’s nothing more highly prized than a quarterback who stands in the damn pocket like a man instead of skittering like he’s leading a prison break.

Or how about:

Health is a problem right now among backups. Walter has a bum throwing shoulder. Longshore (possible starter) has a bad back. Levy will take one more week to rehab from a rare condition, beer-mug elbow.

Beer-mug elbow… priceless.

I’m going to be out of town for next Saturday’s Cal game.  A very important one versus Tennessee.  Seeing as how I’ve grown to be somewhat of an expert on avoiding learning about the game when I have to Tivo it and watch it later, I give you the top 5 rules to avoiding the “spoiler”:

1. DO NOT wear any team apparel.  This is BY FAR the most important rule.  In fact, you should even avoid the team colors in any form whether or not the team logo is on it.  See, the overall key, as you’ll see from the rest of the list, is to not do anything to bring attention to yourself and your current plight.  Some think that making an announcement about not giving away the score is a better strategy.  I can tell you with assurance that those people are idiots.  Making an announcement is like putting melting bucket of ice-cream in front of a two-year old 15 minutes before you plan to take him to Church.  It’s only going to end up messy.  At best you’ll only get “conceptual” updates like “Ken, you may not want to watch that game when you get home.”  At worst, you’ll end up having the final score repeated to you so many times you’ll feel like an old punching bag with a sign saying “hit me” in a boys locker room.  So to recap team apparel = billboard saying “please ruin my day”.
2. Do not mention the game to anyone.  You must pretend it doesn’t exist.  This is by far a more difficult task.  One can easily remember not to pack anything with the team logo on it.  It’s much harder not to glance at one’s watch and think, “hey, the game just started.”  And don’t be fooled, psychic ability exists and ruining games is one of the most prevalent forms of said ability.  You must completely block it from your mind.  Don’t even think about thinking about thinking about thinking about the game.  Do whatever it takes.  Don’t wear a watch, put yourself in excruciating pain (just no dental work, those bums always want to chat while they have you in their chair), do whatever it takes not to think about the game.
3. Do you best to make sure that from kickoff time until you’re able to get to your recorded game, you stay away from people with access to the score.  This can be difficult particularly considering the reason that you aren’t either at the game or watching it live is usually something important like a wedding where you don’t have as much control over the venue as you’d like.  But within your ability you need to avoid people who might know.  This means things like not going into the bar area at the reception where sports news might be on.  In general this is a great time to get bonus points with your significant other by hanging around her friends (who are statistically far more likely not to know that the game of football exists much less what the score of your particular game might be).  However, a note of caution with that strategy: Your mind might wander and you’ll catch yourself being caught by the psychic in item #2.
4. Turn off/avoid all forms of communication.  This is more broad than you might think.  The obvious one is your cell phone.  But you also must consider one-way communication such as the radio and television (ANY channel).  Trust me, it’ll be just your luck that while watching the home shopping network they’ll show a porcelain bear and the idiot announcer will somehow make reference to the big upset at the game earlier in the day.  Radio, even music (in fact ESPECIALLY) music stations, can be just as dangerous as TV.  Many a fan franticly driving his car home has been caught by the “DJ fumble”.  If you’re a car music listener, bring CDs.  Additionally, DO NOT check your messages of any form.  No e-mail, no answering machines, no faxes, no whatever.  You’d be amazed how many messages you’ll get: “Hey Ken, what a comeback, eh?  Too bad they fell just short.”  The answering machine can be particularly tempting.  It might be important, right?  Well, you’d better tell that to your crushed pinky toe that you kept smashing to keep your mind off the game.  Have your wife check the messages while you go to a bathroom out of ear shot of the machine if necessary.
5. Avoid the neighbors.  This got elevated up into the top 5 after my last letdown last season.  I was nearly home-free as we were loading up the boys in the car at my Mom’s place when her next door neighbor, who just happened to know I was a season ticket holder, nailed me with the casual, “Boy, tough game huh?”.  See, the problem is that neighbors need to chit-chat.  What better way to do that than to bring up the game?  He knows you watch the games.  So, the key here is to be in and out as quick as one can be.  Operating behind a closed garage door can definitely help.  But when that kind of planning isn’t in the game-plan, just imagine yourself as a cross between bulldozer and a cheetah.  People need to be thinking about getting out of your way with the power and speed you’re operating at.  This has the added bonus of getting people out of chit-chat mode and into run for cover mode.  You don’t hear about the game and the neighborhood is a safer place: it’s a win-win.

OK, that’s the top 5.  To get more detailed tips, well, you’ll have to signup for my masters degree program on the subject.  As a pre-requisite, make sure you read Steward Mandel’s article on how to watch multiple games at once on one TV.  The money quote:

I’m not saying this method is fool-proof, that you won’t miss some big plays here or there (though hopefully you’ll at least switch in time for the replay), but if you can manage to get in the zone, the one where you find yourself flicking from a 30-yard pass in one game to a third-down sack in another to a long punt return in another, it’s truly an indescribable feeling.

…in the ever continuing saga that is the Stanford band/mascot (if you can call a “tree” a mascot):

Stanford Tree banned from 2007 Women’s Basketball Tournament

I guess that in last year’s tournament the tree made a fool of himself.  This is only a couple months after the previous inhabitant of the tree made a fool of herself.  And from the article, apparently the entire band is indefinitely suspended right now for vandalizing school property.  And what did they vandalize?  Get this… their own building/trailer.

I’m beginning to think that the chaos they display on the field isn’t “on purpose” but just the best they can do. 

OK, as promised, the cal sub-blog is now back.  This time I made sure to save the template files to separate everything out.

So to recap:

If you want to see the whole blog: http://www.thecrawfordfamily.net/blog

However if you want to see just the sports stuff (mostly Cal Bears stuff): http://cal.thecrawfordfamily.net/blog

For those of you with Cal related blogs who link to my site please use the Cal link.

OK, that means only 3 more items (admittedly bigger ones) to do before next weekend:

1. Create the “Bear Territory prognosticator game” so that everyone can try and beat my predition skills.
2. Start “The Crawford Rule” page with my amazingly simple “computer poll” to match the AP poll.
3. Make predictions for all Week 1 Pac-10 games (Cal at Tennessee, Arizona vs. BYU, ASU vs. Northern Arizona, Stanford at Oregon, Oregon St. vs. Eastern Washington, UCLA vs. Utah, USC at Arkansas, Washington vs. San Jose St., WaZoo at Auburn)

Laser sailing is amazingly fun.  However, its got its downside: crash and burn.  I was looking through the recent pictures of the US Laser Master championships and came across this picture.  It pretty much sums up the downside.

How about these great quotes from his online chat on ESPN’s website last week:

Saratoga, CA: If you couldn’t be a running back, what other position would you want to play?
Marshawn Lynch: I would want to play rover.

That’s the kind of guy Lynch is: If he wasn’t running the ball, he’d want to be the player who got to punish the guy running the ball.

Geoff, LA: Worse mascot: that dopey tree or the skirt wearing trojan?

Marshawn Lynch: I don’t like either one of them. If it ain’t a Golden Bear, I don’t like it.

While I’ve got to say that the Tree is the most grievious mascot in world history, you got to like a guy who’s not willing to give either one of them respect.