• Cal enters tomorrow’s game at Colorado State as about a 14-point favorite. No problem, right?
• Apparently you can’t expect to roll out of bed, show up at 11:00 a.m. Pacific at an opponent’s stadium and expect to dominate. You can’t even expect to roll out of the locker room after halftime with a 14-point lead and win, as we learned at Arizona last year.
• It amazes me when football teams overlook opponents. How much evidence do you need that on any given Saturday, anything can happen? Just look at last Saturday: Appalachian State took Michigan lightly, and they needed to block a last-second field goal to escape with a win.
• Before we offer brief analysis and present a prediction for tomorrow’s contest, let’s update a couple of NFL stories:
• Dallas quarterback coach Wade Wilson explained that he was using human growth hormone to try to cure impotence. OK, so now I see why the league suspended him for five games. You can’t give your offense an unfair advantage, just because they can’t score... oh, he was talking about his own impotence? Never mind.
Back in Tennessee one year ago, I volunteered my thoughts to anyone and everyone that the full story had not been told. It was only halftime in this home-and-home series. The impressive “W” by the Bears Saturday night gave the program and the conference some national street cred.
We’ll discuss the Bears in a bit, but we’re also fired up for real NFL football, so let’s talk about the pros (and cons) today, too:
• The NFL suspended Dallas quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson for using performance-enhancing drugs. That’s right, the quarterbacks coach. Could someone please forward me the memo that we now care what coaches are using? Did anyone care when Bill Parcells forced the Irving Sizzler out of business with his record-setting all-you-can-eat buffet performance?
• Wilson was trying to manage his diabetes, for crying out loud. What competitive advantage are we worried about him gaining? Does HGH allow you to channel your rational thoughts into Tony Romo’s head when he’s thinking about throwing into triple coverage?
• When the San Francisco Chronicle wrote the headline, “Teams Interested in (Andrew) Walter,” that was short for, “NFL teams are interested in Walter starting for the Raiders again so that the Raiders will continue to stink.”
THE Bears
• Dearrrr, SEC schools. Won't you come out west to play? Big respect to Tennessee for scheduling this series, but did they sign the deal in 2001 when the Bears were 1-10? Do you admire the courage of all of the AD's ringing the Michigan phone off the hook?
Happy football season, Bears. Get fired up! We’re back to give you more Cal football blog entertainment. We’ll continue writing these until the end of the season or until both of you stop reading them, whichever comes first.
We’ll give you previews of September 1 and the Pac-10 season. But first, in case you care about anything else that's happened this summer while I wasn't paying attention, let's talk amongst ourselves:
• In my book, Hank Aaron still holds the all-time home run record with 755. Declaring that Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s record is similar to saying that a 30-year-old in his mother’s basement surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s “scoring record” by using his Jenna Jameson doll 10,001 times.
• Dear, Greg Anderson. Won’t you come out to play? Oh, that’s right, you can’t, because you’re hanging out in jail for the fun of it instead of talking about Bonds.
• This week’s Beatles trivia: About whom did Lennon and McCartney write “Dear Prudence?” See the answer at the end of the article. We’re starting the season with an easy one, especially easy if I’ve asked you this question about a hundred times in a Berkeley bar after midnight.
• I’ve enjoyed Roger Cossack’s analysis of the Michael Vick case on ESPN, but he enjoys listening to himself talk a little much for my taste. The other night, he nearly tied the all-time record for saying “Michael Vick” in a sentence, a record set in July by Michael Vick.