LATEST STORIES FROM BEARS NECESSITY
Fade to Black
March 12, 2009 by
Bears Necessity
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Two years isn’t so bad.
People might have noticed my writing slow down to a trickle over the past several months, and with good reason. I didn’t really have a handle on how to build a Golden Bears community that could sustain itself, and my interest in writing for Bears...
A Very Longshore Engagement
March 11, 2009 by
Bears Necessity
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It’s weird to think three of my formative Cal football years have been spent agonizing over the play of Nate Longshore. And the agony was perpetual; he never seemed bad enough to be benched, but never good enough to be lauded. He was the perfect polarizer, someone who eternally...
Inside The Huddle with Tom Schneider
January 28, 2009 by
Bears Necessity
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Tom Schneider is familiar to most Cal fans as our finest placekicker in the Tedford era. After getting injured last season and being denied another year of eligibility, he transferred to Northern Alabama to complete his time as a college kicker.
California 88, Washington 85 (3OT)
January 13, 2009 by
Bears Necessity
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(Torrent is here; highlights of the final minutes of regulation and overtime are here, here, here & here; video tribute by danzig is
Only watched the game on my Blackberry last Saturday, so didn’t get time to see it until an hour or so ago. Here are the notes I typed up while ...
A Nod To the Future: Pac-10 Football in 2009
January 12, 2009 by
Bears Necessity
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Fall 2009 is a long way away for a Cal football fan, but it’s really hard for Golden Bears not to be anticipating the possibilities of next season. The Bears have made plenty of runs after the Rose Bowl fiasco of 2004, but there were always good reasons as to why Cal never were able [...]
Final Blogpoll Ballot
January 10, 2009 by
Bears Necessity
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Rank
Florida
Southern Cal
Texas
Utah
Oklahoma
Alabama
TCU
Ohio State
Penn State
Boise State
Oregon
Mississippi
Texas Tech
Oklahoma State
...
And Now We Wait Again: Cal Football Resurgent
December 09, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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Twelve games, fifteen weeks. How quickly the time goes. Football is one of those sports where you can ride the highs but escape the lows without feeling like you’re wasting an epic proportion of your time. If you sense a down year coming, if the season goes south, you can quit...
Inside the Civil War Playbook: Oregon 65, Oregon State 38
December 09, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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I thought the plays written up by Avinash of Bears Necessity were funny.
Inside the Civil War Playbook: Oregon 65, Oregon State 38
December 03, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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Days later, the entire Pac-10 continues to reel from the obliteration of Oregon State’s vaunted defense in the Civil War. With a Rose Bowl berth on the line for Mike Riley’s Beavers, how could the Ducks march into Reser Stadium and torch them in such spectacular fashion...
If Only There Were Trees To Cut: The Big Game Experience
November 25, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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So I attended my first Big Game on Saturday, and it was quite pleasant. Figures that I’d go four years of undergrad without attending one Big Game. I even passed on the 2004 one when we all thought we were chomping on roses–probably for the best, since I’d probably...
California Soul
November 21, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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(For information on watching The Big Game countrywide or locations of the ten thousand national meetups, click here) It hasn’t been your typical Tedford season. Expectations have been low from the get-go, infused with a brief sense of hope for several games, only to be dashed by our ...
California-Oregon State Report Card
November 20, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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Quarterback: 11-25 for 117 yards isn’t good. But then again, Riley was getting battered around like a pinball for much of the final three quarters. Getting rushed not only from the edges, but in between the tackles, at the gaps, from the sidelines, whatever. Nevertheless, other than the ...
Me And The Tree
November 20, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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So, it seems that we at Bears Necessity have been a little dumbstruck by the loss to OSU.A Now that my five-day hangover has finally subsided, I’m in a mood to skip right ahead to this week’s Big Game.A Earlier this weekA CGBA invited readers to share their fondest Big Game ...
Pac-10 Scoring Trends, 2004-2008
November 13, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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(Scoring offense is points scored by the team, scoring defense refers to points given up, just to avoid any confusion. This is not a competition between how many touchdowns Jahvid Best or Syd’Quan Thompson would score, although that would be sick.) WOOOOOOOOO! Graphs baby graphs...
CBS Sports Blogpoll Week 12
November 12, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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Rank Team Delta 1 Texas Tech 2 2 Alabama 1 3 Texas 1 4 Florida 2 5 Oklahoma 2 6 Southern Cal 2 7 Utah 4 8 Penn State 6 9 Boise State 1 10 Oklahoma State 5 11 Missouri 1 12 Georgia 1 13 Ohio State 3 14 Ball State – 15 TCU 6 16 Michigan State [...]
California-USC Report Card
November 11, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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Nate Longshore: Another strange performance. It wasn’t like Nate was bad, even though he had those two interceptions called back on bizarro penalties. Interestingly enough he seemingly replicated his 2006 USC performance with three nice rollouts. But the offense moved like it was playing ...
Initial Post-U$C Thoughts
November 09, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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1.A My first thought is SCREW YOU ‘SC.A I’m really tired ofA this program and its fanbaseA treating “knocking players out of the game” as its animating principal.A A For an example, see Conquest Chronical’sA Q&AA with CGB theA other day.A A If you need another ...
Will Cal's Offense Finally Break Through Against USC?
November 07, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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Continuing where Tony left off, it’s not hard to envision a scenario where USC goes down, and it starts on the defensive end. For all the complaints about Bob Gregory that have been voiced, there’s no doubt the defense has been the strongest part of the 2008 California Golden Bears. ...
Bears to claw it out with Trojans on Saturday
November 06, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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The USC-Cal "rivalry" will write another page in history this Saturday, as the Golden Bears travel south to take on the Trojans at the LA Coliseum. Now, the reason this "rivalry" is quoted like that is because Cal has yet to actually defeat USC since their 2003...
Nine Reasons Why Cal Might Beat U$C
November 06, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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In a week where the political sphere sawA a decisive underdog perform exactly like an underdog,A allow me to caution that these are reasons why CalA might beat U$C, notA a declaration that Cal will beat U$C.A In truth I only restrain myself for fear of jinxing the team.A Since way back in ...
California-Oregon Report Card
November 04, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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More postgame thoughts:A Hydrotech at the Golden Blogs, The Bear Will Not Quit, Bears With Fangs, Oski Talk, Ken’s podcast from Excuse Me For My Voice. Quarterback: To his credit, Riley was looking good out of the blocks after that “whaaa?” interception. Kevin converted all of ...
Time for A Change
October 31, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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I’m about to drastically reduce the number of posts I make here at Bears Necessity. I’ve been pondering this decision for some time, and I’ve realized that I’m not really efficient (as a writer, as a reader, as a human being) blogging on a day-by-day basis. Most of what ...
UCLA Observations
October 26, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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The Bad Drops and pass protection.A The former may improve, but so farA it isn’t trending that way.A A I was particularly disappointed to see MorrahA continue toA drop catchable balls.A A We know from experience that he has great hands– may they reappearA during the rest of the ...
How to Watch UCLA-California: Game Thread
October 25, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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In all likelihood I’ll be at the game tomorrow, so no liveblog this time. And real life has interfered with blogging, so there will be a slower set of posts for the next few weeks. Alaska and Hawaii are getting #1 Texas vs. #6 Oklahoma State and I am terribly envious of them...
Remember, Our Window Has Not Yet Closed
October 25, 2008 by
Bears Necessity
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A A couple days ago, Avinash wrote about the slowly-diminishing probability that the Tedford era will deliever on its promise.A In the face ofA yet anotherA very disappointing loss, Avinash quite reasonably wondered whether the window of opportunity was closing on Cal’s potential to reach ...
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